Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 4-19-19

April 19, 2019 | 14 Nisan 5779

Candlelighting 7:45 p.m. | Havdalah 8:47 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 16 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Helping refugees

Rep. Frankel leads historic joint session to honor victims of October 27

Please see Election, page 25

Talking to Rep. Mike Doyle The congressman talks Israel, anti-Semitism and more.

Page 6 WORLD  The Pittsburgh delegation who traveled to Harrisburg for the historic joint session. The group included family members of the victims, survivors of the Photo courtesy of Barry Werber Oct. 27 attack and community members.

M Adam Reinherz travels to France and sees life amid anti-Semitism.

Page 4

I

Please see Session, page 25

LOCAL

embers of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, including survivors and family members of the 11 victims from the Oct. 27 attack at the Tree of Life building, traveled to Harrisburg last week for a rare joint legislative session.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, was among those to address the joint session.

He described how Squirrel Hill is not only the neighborhood he represents, but his childhood home.

“I learned to ride my bike on Fernwald Road and can still tell you where the good sledding hills are,” he said. “Because the neighborhood is densely populated and largely walkable, people know each other.

When the weather is nice, there is a rich social life on the porches and sidewalks as people chitchat and watch children play.”

By Adam Reinherz I Staff Writer

Many people learned about Squirrel Hill only after Oct. 27, he said, but its way of life, and the memory of those lost on that day, must not be forgotten.

During his 15-minute address, Frankel decried the rising threat of hate speech and warned that “repeated often enough, ignored often enough and rationalized often enough, these words create an environment in which atrocities are possible, maybe even inevitable. This phenomenon has cost us dearly in my community.”

Frankel introduced a resolution to establish April 10 as “Stronger Than Hate Day,” a day to “honor the individuals who lost their lives, the first responders and others affected by the deadliest act of anti-Semitic violence on U.S. soil.” Members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate voted unanimously to

Page 2

By Adam Reinherz I Staff Writer

Local Israelis react to April 9 election sraelis residing in Pittsburgh responded to last week’s election in their home country, when Benjamin Netanyahu secured his fifth term as prime minister.

With Netanyahu’s Likud party taking 36 of the 120 seats in Israel’s parliament, it appears certain “Bibi” will form a coalition of religious and right-wing parties. Likud narrowly edged out Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Benny Gantz, which took 35 seats.

Smadar Blumenthal, a Squirrel Hill resident, who came to Pittsburgh in the 1990s from Gedera, Israel, called the results of the April 9 election “not surprising.”

From conversations she had with those in Israel, she said, “it was obvious the right would have won.”

“To everyone who participated and watched, it’s clear that these last elections were actually a referendum on Netanyahu,” said Oren Dobzinski, a Squirrel Hill resident who was born in Tel Aviv. “The voters had to weigh two things: Netanyahu’s problematic personality and accusations against him versus his achievements, and I think for the majority of the people it looks like they said the achievements were more important than the problems or the drawbacks he brings to the table.”

Netanyahu has been indicted on charges involving fraud, breach of trust and bribery.

He denies the allegations.

Dobzinski said most Israelis remain largely unconcerned with Netanyahu’s alleged criminal activity because they’re more worried about bigger issues.

“I think most people realize the elections are between imperfect people or parties. No one is expecting to have a perfect leader or perfect party, and I think people are realistic and understand that the stakes are large,” he said. “I mean, Israel has a lot of problems, such as security problems, and I think people prefered to stay with someone who has been doing it for a long time and brought good results.”

Tali Matsliach, a former Haifa resident

JFCS matches immigrants with employers for a good shidduch.

Beauty and despair in France

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Headlines JFCS-trained refugees valued by Jewish employers — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

J

effrey Herzog is not in the business of helping people find mates, but he does know a thing or two about making a good shidduch.

Herzog has spent the last six years matching immigrants and refugees with employers through his volunteer work at Jewish Family and Community Services.

“We are job matchmakers,” said Herzog, who retired in 2012 after serving for 22 years as executive director of Rodef Shalom Congregation. “I have people who want to work hard. We need employers who want to hire these people, who know in the beginning there might be a high linear learning curve, but with a little more effort, they will get very good employees.”

Most of the refugees with whom Herzog works have little or no education. The work experience they gained in their country of origin is often limited to subsistence farming, or selling produce in a marketplace.

“In most cases, they came from refugee camps, and had no opportunity to learn skills,” Herzog said.

Yet, they bring with them to the United States a strong desire to be “self-sufficient,” Herzog said. “They are in survival mode.”

Herzog and others at JFCS prepare the refugees to enter the workforce here by counseling them, in their own language, on how to apply for jobs, how to travel to a work site, “all the things that other people learned elsewhere,” Herzog explained, noting that most of the refugees with whom he is working now come from the Congo, Syria and Iraq.

JFCS works with 25 to 30 local employers “trying to make the match,” Herzog said.

community among themselves. When one becomes proficient in English, for example, he can help to communicate employer instructions and expectations to those who are not. Because they often live in the same neighborhood, they can carpool to work.

The work at CleanCare, for some employees, consists of feeding items into an ironing machine for eight hours a day. That could be a challenging task, but nonetheless, the refugees Ostrow has hired have no trouble hitting their quotas, he said.

Temple Sinai currently has two custodians on staff placed by JFCS, Noor Haidary from Afghanistan, and Sanjay Gurung from Nepal.

“One of the advantages as an employer p Jeff Herzog, right, helps prepare is these guys are incredibly responsible,” refugees for getting their first job in America.

Photo provided by JFCS said Drew Barkley, Temple Sinai’s executive director. “They’re timely, and if they are going to be late, they let you “And the largest employers of refugees know. They are good citizens, and good happen to be owned by Jews.” employees who follow instructions.”

CleanCare, which supplies and launders Haidary and Gurung “are incredibly reliable, linens for hospitals, restaurants and the and very conscientious,” Barkley continued. hospitality industry, has hired hundreds of “They are pleasant to be around, and they refugees in recent years, and Woody Ostrow, also maintain levels of flexibility, if we need the president and CEO of the company is someone to work extra time. They’re great.” impressed with their work ethic.

In addition to learning a bit about “We will take all the refugees that JFCS Haidary’s and Gurung’s cultures, Barkley has,” said Ostrow. “We find virtually no enjoys “seeing their English comprehension turnover. People will stick with the job, increase over time.” people will show up.”

“Sanjay understands everything now, and JFCS, Ostrow said, is thorough in his English is amazing,” Barkley said. “He’s preparing the refugees so that they are ready obviously a very smart person.” to hit the ground running.

Temple Sinai has encountered no probSeveral of CleanCare’s employees are from lems with either employee, Barkley said.

Myanmar, and others are from Somalia.

“The screening Jeff [Herzog] does must be Hiring employees who are from the same excellent,” he said. country of origin has its advantages, Ostrow In addition to getting top notch said, because they are then able to build a workers, Temple Sinai also takes pride in

the fact that it is helping the refugees by providing them with steady employment, according to Barkley.

“We feel like we are doing something great for somebody,” he said.

Likewise, Rodef Shalom Congregation has hired JFCS-prepared refugees for its custodial staff, which is responsible for setting up, breaking down and cleaning up 4,000 events a year.

Currently there is one refugee employed at Rodef Shalom, Luis Marquez, who came from Ecuador via Colombia.

“They are also great people, not just great workers,” said Barry Weisband, executive director of Rodef Shalom. “They are so willing to be part of a team, and have a good work ethic.”

Marquez and his wife sought asylum in the United States a couple years ago, seeking “a better life,” said Weisband. “We have to be welcoming and understand the situation he came from and is in right now.”

Marquez is not yet a citizen, and is still learning English.

The congregation is helping him make his way in the United States, and assists him and his wife by answering questions about paperwork, and transporting them to medical appointments, as they do not have a car.

But perhaps most significantly, Rodef Shalom is allowing the Marquezes to live rent-free in an apartment in the building.

“This demonstrates we are practicing what we preach relative to our organizational stand on immigration,” Weisband said. “It allows us to extend a hand in a very meaningful way. Rodef Shalom supports immigrants from a macro level, and from a micro level, too.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines From Ethiopia to Israel — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Special to the Chronicle

T

hey say the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. That old adage is certainly true for Michal Samuel, who left her homeland of Ethiopia by foot, traveling through Sudan, to eventually arrive in Israel as a part of Operation Moses.

“In 1984 my family decided to leave Ethiopia. We left everything but some food and horses, we didn’t say goodbye to anyone in our village. We walked from Ethiopia through Sudan. We left with 20 families and walked for weeks at night. During the day, we hid from the Ethiopian army. It was a hard journey. We were robbed along the way. There was no water. I saw many people who died, but we were optimistic because we were going to Jerusalem.”

Samuel presented her story “From Ethiopia to Israel — The Long Journey Home” on Monday, April 1, at the Mt. Lebanon Public Library. During the hourlong talk, Samuel told of her experiences from the age of 8 when her family fled Ethiopia through the present day. She is currently the executive director of Fidel, a not-for-profit organization committed to helping the Ethiopian refugee population integrate into Israeli society.

Israel decided to officially recognize the right of return for Ethiopian Jews in 1977,

Samuel explained. Her family was one of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to escape the Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of then leader Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. After six weeks her family escaped to Sudan and refugee camps, administered by the Red Cross and Mossad, where they spent a year waiting to go to what they assumed would be Jerusalem. “We were lucky, we survived. There were about 4,000 Jews who died from malaria and other diseases.”

“One night we were told it was our time to go. I remember the darkness of the desert, walking through Sudan to the trucks that drove us to what I thought was the wings of an angel to take us to Jerusalem.” After a short plane ride, Samuel recounted her family kissing the ground of what they considered the Holy Land when they landed.

Several surprises awaited the young girl and her family. The first was that Israeli Jews were, by and large, white. This was the first time Samuel had seen white Jewish men and women. The second shock for the newly arrived refugees was that they weren’t actually at Jerusalem, rather they had landed at Ben Gurion airport, about 30 miles northwest of the city. It took her family another four or five years to finally arrive in Jerusalem.

“I remember it was exciting and new. There were buses and showers and lights, remember I grew up in a village without running water and went to the river to take a bath and suddenly you have showers in your home and

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p Michal Samuel

Photo by David Rullo

can cook, you don’t have to collect water. We had to adapt to Israeli life. It was easy for me.”

Samuel and her family moved to different absorption centers and while they were happy to be in the Jewish homeland, they struggled to integrate into Israeli society.

“My family never learned the language and couldn’t utilize their skills like they could have on a kibbutz.” She attended boarding school and college and while her education helped her integrate, “it’s been a struggle.

First to recognize I’m different, a different color, from a different society.”

Living in two worlds, Samuel would spend each Sunday away from school, acting as the spokeswoman for her family, taking them to various government agencies, banks, hospitals and doctors’ appointments.

“I wanted to not be a stranger in Israeli society. I learned everything about it.”

Her new life included an Orthodox, religious school which sometimes caused conflict with her family that still practiced Judaism as they had before leaving Ethiopia. “I had to make a decision. I decided the Orthodox way was not mine. It was something I had to adopt. I decided Israel had to learn about us, they had to learn about our culture.”

Despite deciding against the Orthodoxy of her boarding school, Samuel was able to become a part of Israeli society, serving in the army and attending college. She earned a master’s degree in education.

“I was the only one of my sisters that my father chose not to get engaged. He decided I would be educated. My family is a large tribe.

I have 64 nephews and nieces. I opened the door for them to study at university.

My family has now been educated, there are lawyers and doctors. I decided my life would be about helping others. I wanted to help other refugees not to make the same mistakes my parents did by sending their children to boarding school.”

Please see Ethiopia, page 22

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APRIL 19, 2019 3

Headlines First-person: Beautiful and terrifying, trip offers insight into plight of French Jews — LOCAL — Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

braham Azagury was going home.

His cousin was getting married in Aix-les-Bains, a city of 1,000 Jews located in the Alps. Azagury extended an invitation. The trip, he said, would offer insight on a life he left behind. Not entirely certain what to expect, I went.

I met Azagury in the summer of 2016, shortly after he and his family moved from Paris to Pittsburgh. From limited observations, they appeared to adapt. Their four children made friends with neighborhood kids and classmates, Azagury and his wife Alice had gainful employment and the family lived in a beautiful house in Squirrel Hill.

At the time, Azagury knew little English, but was confident that relocation boasted the best chance for calm. In early 2015, while he and his family considered moving, anti-Semitic attacks in France rose 84 percent from the previous year. Of the more than 500 incidents reported, the worst occurred on January 9 in Paris, when an Islamist killed four Jewish shoppers in a kosher supermarket.

p Abraham Azagury, right, stands beside his parents Rabbi Salomon and Corrine Azagury shortly before leaving Aix-les-Bains.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Although the Azagurys’ exit was spurred by rising anti-Semitic fervor and increased attacks on Jews, leaving was daunting.

Azagury was a successful optometrist who owned two shops. Alice had a good job as an attorney and their children were happy.

Moving to America meant leaving much behind: Although members of Alice’s family would soon embark on a similar exodus to the Steel City, Azagury’s parents, his seven siblings and scores of extended relatives and friends would remain.

At 35, Azagury acutely understood the trade-off. Emigration afforded his young family a chance to live a comfortable Jewish life. It also meant relative isolation. Pittsburgh’s Sephardic community is small and the number of French Jews is minuscule. Finding a familiar face at synagogue was unlikely, but at least his sons could wear yarmulkes on the way there.

Three years have since elapsed and Azagury’s English is now fluent. Going back to France, he told me, would yield perspective on the choice he made and grant me a chance to see France from a Frenchman’s eyes. So a few weeks ago we flew from Pittsburgh to Paris by way of New York for a six-day trip.

What I saw was beautiful, heartbreaking and confounding. Palpable joie de vivre was mixed with noticeable alarm, as radio reports regularly reported anti-Semitic activities: swastikas were drawn in public places, graves were desecrated and Jewish students were subject to hate. I encountered citizens (both Jewish and not) who lambasted their government, debated immigration reform and lamented their current state.

In the U.S., we are subject to similar daily discourse, but context matters. French Jews Please see Trip, page 5

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Headlines Trip: Continued from page 4

regularly encounter stark reminders — some etched in marble, some known only to those familiar with a venue’s past — that 75 years earlier their neighborhoods and walkways were deportation sites. The Other has a troubled narrative there, and like passing through the tapestried rooms of Château de Fontainebleau, walking in France is a trek through history filled with both splendor and dread.

Graciously, and with the patience of

communicating through translators, my hosts permitted me to appreciate this. Rabbi Moshe Sebbag, of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, who months earlier visited Pittsburgh in solidarity after Oct. 27, patiently led us through the gargantuan Romanesquestyle building over which he presides. The 19th-century marvel on Rue de La Victoire is marked by spaces such as where Herzl stood asking for Zionist support decades before the Holocaust and a crank-opening ark holding a Torah dedicated in memory of former congregant Col. Alfred Dreyfus, of the infamous “Dreyfus Affair.”

Throughout the trip, I kept returning to

this coupling of grandeur and dismay. In conversations, mostly occurring over food, I learned how France had welcomed Jewish families and enabled them to thrive. There are nearly 500,000 Jews in France. Yet now, for many of these people and their offspring, the sense of security they once had here is gone.

During lunch at L’As du Fallafel — the Lenny Kravitz-recommended eatery with lines down the street at 2 p.m. — owner Yomi Peretz recounted how his Israeli family built the famous restaurant over decades. As I enjoyed entrecôte and sat beside five young Parisian Sephardic Jews during dinner at Tikoun Olam, I needed to shout past more

than 100 other eaters, who at 10 p.m. celebrated birthdays with streamer-lit desserts and song, to learn how my fellow diners’ families arrived in France after World War II. During more audible moments, we discussed who still wore a yarmulke in public and why.

At Kavod restaurant, where the salmon carpaccio may have been fished from heaven, an asset manager related a familial plight. His daughter married and moved to New York. The distance is troubling, but he is happy she is no longer subject to the anxiety he and others face.

Please see Trip, page 26

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APRIL 19, 2019 5

Headlines Mike Doyle talks Israel, anti-Semitism and guns — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

M

ike Doyle, a Democrat serving his 13th term in Congress representing Pennsylvania’s 18th District, traveled on a J Street-sponsored trip to Israel, including the West Bank, in February. It was his second visit to the Jewish state.

Doyle chatted with the Chronicle this week, discussing a variety of topics, including Israel, gun control, anti-Semitism and Rep. Ilhan Omar. The interview preceded an off-the-record town hall-style conversation with the congressman on April 15 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, and sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Traveling to Israel with J Street

Doyle was invited on the J Street-sponsored tour of Israel by Nancy Bernstein, co-chair of J Street Pittsburgh. He toured the country along with her and Pittsburgh residents Rocky Schoen, Ronnie Cook Zuhlke and Fred Zuhlke. Also on the trip were four other members of Congress, and several members of J Street from around the country.

Although it was difficult to meet with many elected Israeli officials because they were in

the midst of primary season, the group did meet with Ambassador David Friedman, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli business leaders. Additionally, they had a security briefing with the IDF Strategic Planning Division.

“We also had a tour of the West Bank, where we had a chance to go to Palestinian villages and speak with Palestinians there,” Doyle said, adding that they “visited some Israeli settlements in the West Bank” as well.

The group “had a sit-down with President Abbas up in Ramallah, and his ministry and his intelligence service general. And we also had lunch with some Palestinian business leaders.”

Doyle said he “liked the trip because it was very balanced, we got a chance to see both sides of the coin and the region, and to see some of the challenges.”

A proponent of a two-state solution, Doyle came away from the trip “realizing that nobody is sure what the solution is there, but I think that some of the moves that our administration has made vis-a-vis Israel have not helped the situation in terms of a two-state solution.”

The congressman was critical of several actions of the Trump administration, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and “the cutting back of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.”

“This sort of tough-love approach he

seems to embrace is, I don’t think, having the desired effects. I think it is creating more hostility toward the United States and Israel on behalf of the [Palestinian] people as a result of the aid not flowing there.”

Doyle came back from the trip with the view that peace in the region, and a two-state solution, at least for the time being is “elusive just given the circumstances there now.”

Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar and accusations against her

“We have 63 new members in the Democratic caucus,” said Doyle. “I have yet to meet Congresswoman Omar, I have not met [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez or Rashida Tlaib. You would think they were the only three members we have in our caucus, because they, for various reasons, generate much of the press that is written about our new members of Congress.”

Because he has not yet met her, Doyle was hesitant to pass judgement on Omar and the statements she has made since taking office that many see as anti-Semitic, including the claim that members of Congress are improperly influenced by donations from the pro-Israel AIPAC. “My inclination initially with a new member [of Congress] that needs to understand that when they say something — probably my initial thought would have been to pull that person aside and try to mentor

them and say, ‘Hey what you say has an impact.’”

“Many people have taken what she says as being insensitive at best, and I think she’s being judged,” Doyle said. “But I p Mike Doyle think equally offenPhoto courtesy of Wikimedia sive is what the president did — to put that in a video and stoke up the anger that has been stoked up, and now she is under death threats — is certainly not responsible behavior on the part of the president either.”

The fact that Omar is among the first Muslim women elected to Congress, “puts her in a category where people are going to pay attention to what she says,” Doyle said.

“So I would hope that it’s a learning experience for her.”

“Weaponizing” the Omar controversy for political reasons is problematic, cautioned Doyle.

“I think the worst thing we could do is get in a situation where political parties just weaponize these things against one another,” he said. “The president had made statements that the Democrats hate Jews, that Democrats don’t support Israel. This is just Please see Doyle, page 24

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A United Front

Beside every Center for Kehilla Development Rabbi is a spouse who, like her husband, is deeply committed to leading by example

By Noa Amouyal

W

hen speaking with Yosef Platt, it is impossible to ignore how he looks at his wife, Racheli. When she talks, his face radiates pride and it’s clear he is listening to her every word. At one point when asked a question, with a shy, deferential smile, he points to Racheli and says, “You should ask her, she’s better at this than me.”

The couple were discussing their union and how they hope, once Yosef completes his fifth and final year at the Center For Kehilla Development, they are eager to show members of their new community the beauty in strength of honoring shalom bayis, the Jewish notion of harmony in the home.

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It’s had a tremendous impact on our family, especially when it came to learning about building strength of character,” Racheli said, explaining the added value of the rabbinic program.

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“Besides the agony, psychological scars and financial damage suffered by the divorcing spouses, there is often collateral damage, especially to children,” CKD’s dean, Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, explained. “Given the wealth of wisdom the Torah offers on how to create and maintain a thriving happy marriage, rabbinic couples can and should play a central role in resolving this crisis. So the CKD provides rigorous training for its couples in this area.”

What’s more, by educating the wife as well, she is given an empowering platform to serve the community in her own right.

For Racheli, this is a task she has taken to heart. “The most important thing is to work on yourself and lead by example,” she said.

The two strive to uphold the tenets of shalom bayis everyday, as it not only provides the guidelines for a happy and healthy home, but critical to following halacha.

“Shalom bayis is an extremely important ingredient to a Torah lifestyle. One’s character in that arena is directly related to one’s status in the next world. It’s a litmus test of judging one’s character, if

you will,” Yosef said.

CKD also helps these couples understand that marriage is a beautiful and awe-inspiring ritual - if followed properly.

“I went into marriage thinking it’s a partnership, like a business deal. But Kelemen opened our eyes to deeper Torah wisdom. My attitude is now, ‘How am I’m going to make this person’s life the best it could possibly be?’ No strings attached.

It will be impossible for anything to break this bond,” Avrami Teitelbaum said beaming, while sitting next to his wife, Rivka.

Married couple Rivka and Avrami Teitelbaum are eager to make Michal and Yehoshua a difference once Avrami completes the Center for Kehilla Blumstein are also grateful Development program. for CKD’s training with in black and white in the Torah for all to see. regard to child rearing as well.

CKD couples, then, are well-trained conduits Yehoshua is also appreciative that they refor that valuable information. ceived this training at the same time and learned “People need to see a good stable family. And to grow together as a united front. the Torah explains how to do that.” Yehuda and So once their studies are complete, these Ilanit Schor, said. “The main goal in CKD is to families will get to work enriching and instilling be there to help people be a good example. And, family values in their communities. Certainly hopefully, people will be able to share what’s on not an easy task. Ironically, though, advice on their mind and we’ll always be there to listen.” how to have a peaceful home and life is written

www.c4kd.org 6 APRIL 19, 2019

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Headlines New program to pair grandparents and grandchildren for year of learning — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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new initiative aims to encourage grandparents to take a larger role in imparting Jewish values and traditions to their grandchildren, hoping to capitalize on what Jack Wertheimer, a professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary, called “American Jewry’s great untapped resource.”

There is an influx of grandparents in the 21st century as baby boomers become senior citizens, and many of them may have the time and resources available to transmit Judaism to the next generation.

Called G2, the project provides monthly programming for grandparents together with their preteen grandchildren to connect deeper with their heritage and Jewish peoplehood.

The idea is for several pairs of grandparents and grandchildren to meet with others in their city to share experiences of Jewish life, with the aim of inspiring the younger generation to shore up their commitment to a Jewish future.

The project culminates in a trip to Israel for the grandparents and grandchildren.

G2 launched last year in a few pilot cities,

p The Cincinnati cohort of G2 in Israel last December.

Photo provided by Sharon Spiegel.

and organizers are now trying to get it off the ground in Pittsburgh. Informational meetings will be planned in the coming months.

As the baby boomer generation ages, the number of grandparents in the United States has naturally swelled. In 2014, there were 69.5 million grandparents in the U.S., up from 65.1 million in 2009, according to the Census Bureau. Baby boomers have a total population of 75.4 million. They are living longer, and tend to have healthier lifestyles than their forebears.

These boomer grandparents are well poised

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to take a more active role in transmitting Judaism, wrote Wertheimer in a 2016 article in Mosaic Magazine, citing several recent studies concluding that grandparents can make an important impact in buoying the Jewish future.

One such study, based on interviews with college students conducted in 2014 by researchers Barry Kosmin and Ariella Keysar, found that those college students whose grandparents accompanied them to synagogue and other Jewish settings while they were in middle school are apt to feel strong

attachments to Israel and the Jewish people.

Rodef Shalom Congregation is partnering with Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the Jewish Agency for Israel to launch the program here, although no particular congregational affiliation is required to participate.

“We would like to see five to seven pairs (a grandchild and one grandparent), or triads [a pair of grandparents and a grandchild],” said Kristin Karsh, human resources and special projects manager of Rodef Shalom, and Pittsburgh’s G2 facilitator.

G2 is part of the Partnership2Gether platform of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Participating cities chosen for the 2019 initiative are Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rochester, New York, Broward, Florida, Sydney, Australia, and those cities’ Partnership2gether regions in Israel, including Pittsburgh’s sister region, Karmiel/Misgav.

“One of the goals of our work is to bring Jews from around the world together with Israelis in a grassroots ‘people to people’ way,” said Jay Weinstein, director of the Jewish Agency’s Global Intergenerational Initiative, in an email. “Pittsburgh has a wonderful partnership with Karmiel/Misgav and an amazing Please see Grandparents, page 22

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APRIL 19, 2019 7

87 WORLD LOCAL

Headlines The optimistic afterlife of the old Labor Lyceum — HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

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undreds of buildings throughout the Hill District have a Jewish backstory. But, by my count, only six have Jewish symbolism on their facades, left over from the days when the neighborhood was predominately Jewish. The first is the former Irene Kaufmann Settlement House auditorium on Center Avenue. The second is the former Hebrew Institute on Wylie Avenue. The other four are former synagogues — all now churches.

For years, there was a sixth-and-a-half: the former Labor Lyceum on Miller Street.

It was a “half ” because its symbolism was Jewish, but not explicitly so. Its cornerstone had been chiseled away, leaving only the partial phrase “of the world unite” and the date “1916.”

The building had long been boarded up, making it hard to sense its significance.

This is where the archival record helps. Let’s rewind to September 3, 1916, when the cornerstone was laid. A Pittsburgh Daily Post photographer happened to be present on that Sunday, Labor Day weekend, when “close to 5,000 Jews” gathered to watch the ceremony.

The local chapters of the Workman’s Circle had formed Labor Lyceum Inc. in 1907 as an

umbrella organiJewish commuzation for Jewish nity, supporting lab or activity striking coal throughout the m i n e rs an d Hill District. A steel workers. decade of fundIt also reached raising, overlapout a hand to ping with World its neighbors.

War I, when Jewish According to charitable giving Dr. Ida Selavan was already pushed S chwarcz, a to its limits, finally pioneering histoculminated rian of our Jewish in the cornercommunity, the stone-laying cereLyceum was mony in late 1916. “the first white The Labor organization in Lyceum opened in  A portion of the cornerstone of the the city to rent Lyceum on Miller Street.

February 1917 and former LaborPhoto its hall to black courtesy of Rauh Jewish History became a meeting Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center groups for meetplace for at least ings and dances.” fifteen Jewish labor, Labor Lyceum fraternal, political, cultural and philan- Inc. sold its building in 1930, in a heartthropic organizations, including the Stogie breaking story too convoluted to tell here.

Makers Union Local 1, the Jewish Branch African-American groups in the Hill District of the Socialist Party of Pittsburgh and the then carried on the spirit of the building— Maretzer Relief Society. The Lyceum had a hosting events, speakers and meetings. In hall and a library, and it sponsored a Jewish late spring 1937, the New Theatre produced dramatic club, a Jewish choir and a Yiddish- a run of Irwin Shaw’s “Bury the Dead” that language secular school. theater historian Lynne Conner believes to From this narrow point of view, the be the first racially integrated noncommerLyceum advanced a broad outlook. It backed cial theatrical production in the city. causes with no direct connection to the It would be naïve to use these facts as proof

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that everyone always got along. They didn’t, not any more than they ever have. But the Labor Lyceum was a testament to the idealistic notion that people could get along, that it was possible. In a speech at the cornerstone laying ceremony in 1916, Dr. Max Goldfarb of The Forward said that, in a country where profit was often the highest ideal, the Labor Lyceum promoted the ideal of solidarity.

The Labor Lyceum became a Church of God in Christ in late 1937. The building had fallen into major disrepair by the time Derrick Tillman, President and CEO of Bridging the Gap Development LLC, acquired it in 2016. He reluctantly demolished it to accommodate a new affordable housing development that includes an innovative supportive services program for its residents. The building is set to open this spring.

Tillman values neighborhood history. He salvaged the iconic cornerstone and donated it to the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives. He also went one step further, commissioning a plaque detailing the history of the Labor Lyceum and the Church of God in Christ. Through his generous efforts, the idealistic spirit of the building endures. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

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Calendar >> Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Submissions will also be included in print.

Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q

TUESDAY, APRIL 23

“Seed Bomb” making from 7 to 9p.m. at Moishe House. Celebrate Earth Day and give Mother Nature a bit of a boost. We will be making custom seed bombs for you to take home. Throw it in your yard or that vacant patch of ground, and watch nature do its thing.

Moishe House events are intended for young adults ages 22-32. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host author Sloane Crosley at 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave. The cost is $22, which includes a paperback copy of Crosley’s book, “Look Alive Out There.”

Visit pittsburghlectures.org/lectures/ sloane-crosley for more information. q THURSDAYS, APRIL 25,

MAY 2, MAY 16

Temple Emanuel will present Sacred Symphonies with Rabbi Don Rossoff. In this three-part class, participants will listen to and analyze three Biblically based modern compositions. No musical background is necessary and you are welcome to attend any or all of the sessions. April 25, 7:30 p.m.

“Rhapsody by Ernst Bloch” A study in leadership and power based on the book of Ecclesiastes; May 2 at noon – Symphony #1 – Jeremiah by Leonard Bernstein; May 16 at noon, Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein. Bring your own dairy brown bag lunch; drinks and desserts and drinks provided. Contact the Temple office at 412-279-7600 or templeemanuel@ templeemanuelpgh.org for more information. q

FRIDAY, APRIL 26

Celebrate the sun and the flowers with all things “spring” from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at Moishe House. We will have coily pasta, veggie spirals, slinkies and so much more. We will be welcoming Shabbat with services in the living room, followed by dinner in the dining room.

Moishe House events are intended for young adults ages 22-32. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information. q

THROUGH SATURDAY, APRIL 27

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s traveling exhibition Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race will be at the Heritage Discovery Center in Johnstown.

The exhibition examines how the Nazi leadership, in collaboration with individuals in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good, used science to help legitimize persecution, murder and ultimately, genocide. Admission to the entire Heritage Discovery Center will be free every Saturday during the exhibition in order to maximize the number of people who see it.

Visit jaha.org for more information. q

SUNDAY, APRIL 28

The Bereavement Support Group will meet at Temple Emanuel at 10:30 a.m. for previous and newly bereaved adults All are welcome.

Contact the Temple office with any questions at 412-279-7600.

Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence and CeaseFirePA will host “Looking Back, Marching Forward” on the six-month anniversary of the October 27, 2018, Tree of Life building shooting. At 1:30 p.m., community and faith leaders will speak at Temple Sinai, 5505 Forbes Ave. to honor the victims of the October shooting and talk about how to reduce gun violence. At about 2:30 p.m., the group will march to Schenley Park, where a tree will be planted as a symbol of the Squirrel Hill community’s continued hope and belief in the future.

All are welcome to this free event. Visit squirrelhillstandsagainstgunviolence.org or info@squirrelhillstandsagainstgunviolence. org for more information. Free tickets can be obtained at Eventbrite.com.

Moishe House will hold a Clothing Swap from 2 to 5 p.m. Clear out your closet and get a whole new wardrobe for free. Bring the clothes you no longer wear and take home some new outfits.

Clothes must be in good condition. People of all genders and sizes are welcome at this event.

Moishe House events are intended for young adults ages 22-32. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information.

A Community Conversation on Teen Mental Health will be held at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill from 4 to 6 p.m. with Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “IGen: Why Today’s SuperConnected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.” Twenge will speak about teens being addicted to their smart phones and social media. Contact Rachael Speck 412-697-3539 for more information and RSVP at jccpgh.formstack.com/forms/community_ conversation. q

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

The Waldman International Arts and Writing Competition allows students in grades six to 12 to submit original art and compete for academic scholarships. Participants come from across Allegheny County and Pittsburgh’s partner region in Israel, Karmiel-Misgav. This year’s Pittsburgh competition also features an extra category, an essay. The award ceremony, including Holocaust Educator of the Year, will be held at 7 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, Levy Hall. There is no charge. Visit hcofpgh.org/ waldman19 for more information.

Zikaron BaSalon: Young Adult Holocaust Remembrance Day Program will commemorate the Holocaust in a personal way, among friends, family and guests, in an intimate atmosphere. Join the young adult community for an evening listening to the personal story of a Holocaust survivor at a private home in Squirrel Hill (address will be shared once you register). Dessert will be served. Visit jewishpgh.org/event/ zikaron-basalon for more information. q

THURSDAY, MAY 2

Women of Rodef Shalom invite you to Hey Good Lookin’, Whatcha Got Cookin’? This event will feature wine and hors d’oeuvres in Aaron Court at 5:30 p.m., a cooking demonstration with chef Nikki Heckman of Bistro to Go at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. in Freehof Hall. The cost is $25 for members of Women of Rodef Shalom and $30 for all other attendees. Visit rodefshalom. org/rsvp to RSVP and to register.

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This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration program focuses on Women and the Holocaust, the Holocaust Center’s 2018-2019 program theme, and includes short readings from women’s diaries during the Holocaust.

The main event is a candle-lighting ceremony honoring Holocaust survivors, rescuers, liberators and Righteous Gentiles. This year’s ceremony will honor first responders from SWAT, 911 operators, fire, EMS and the Pittsburgh Police at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Katz Auditorium, 5738 Darlington Road.

There is no charge. Visit https://hcofpgh.org/ yomhashoah2019 for more information.

q FRIDAY, MAY 3 Chabad of Squirrel Hill will hold Loaves of Love, a morning of challah baking with a group of women, and learn from Sue Berman how to make key-shaped loaves, which are traditional for the first Shabbat after Passover.

Registration required at chabadpgh.com/lol

by May 1. There is a $10 charge. q

SUNDAY, MAY 5

Beth Shalom Men’s Club will hold Lox & Learning with author Dorit Sasson as she discusses her book “Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces,” at 10 a.m. The event is free. Contact the office at 412-421-2288 or derekhcbs@gmail.com to RSVP. Visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming for more information.

Rabbi Don Rossoff of Temple Emanuel will discuss “Zionism and Israel: The What and Whys of the Jewish State and the Connections We Have” at 10:30 a.m. There is no charge. For more information or to RSVP, contact the Temple office at 412-279-7000 or templeemanuel@templeemanuelpgh.org.

JFunds and PJ Library will present Making Cent$ of Tzedakah: A Penny Hunt with a Purpose from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center. Parents and their children ages 4 to 10 will hear a heartwarming story and participate in activities to learn how tzedakah is practiced in our community. Free pizza lunch included.

RSVP at tinyurl.com/pjmakingcents.

The Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania will host its 37th annual banquet and will induct Ross Gusky, Rob Ruck, Lenny Silverman and Jeff Weisband, along with the presentation of the Ziggy Kahn Award to Edward Gelman and Manny Gold Humanitarian Award to H. Arnold Gefsky. Student athletes will also receive the 2019 Nathan H. Kaufmann Scholastic Award. The banquet will be held at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Tickets are $70. Contact Alan Mallinger at 412-697-3545 for more information. q

MONDAY, MAY 6

South Hills Celebrates Israel from 5 to 7 p.m. with free Israeli street food, dietary laws observed, at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, 345 Kane Blvd. Visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/israel19 for a list of activities and more information.

Kollel Jewish Learning Center will hold a community event featuring Rabbi Yisroel Miller at Embassy Suites Hotel, 535 Smithfield St. There will be a light buffet at 7 p.m. followed by the program at 8 p.m. The charge is $50 per person. Contact Stacie Stufflebeam 412-214-7973 or Stacie@kollelpgh.org for more information or to make reservations.

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“The Soap Myth” starring Ed Asner at Rodef Shalom Congregation at 7 p.m., takes place more than a half century after the end of World War II when a young journalist sets out to write an article about a cantankerous Holocaust survivor and his crusade regarding the Nazi atrocity of soap. Visit hcofpgh.org/ soap-myth for more information and pricing.

q MONDAY, MAY 13 ZOA: Pittsburgh will hold the Charlene “Kandy” Ehrenwerth Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. in the Eisner Commons at Congregation Beth Shalom. Guest speaker Jonathan Weinkle, MD is the author of the book “Healing People, Not Patients: Creating Authentic Relationships in Modern Healthcare,” in which he takes the core Jewish ideal that humans are created in G-d’s image and maps out the nuts and bolts of a healing relationship. There is no charge to attend, but reservations are requested and can be made at pittsburgh@ zoa.org or 412-665-4630.

q TUESDAY, MAY 14 Chabad of the South Hills will present Spa for the Soul, an evening of relaxation, depth, beauty and spirituality at 6 p.m. with guest speaker Sara Chana Silverstein, author of “Moodtopia: Tame your moods, De-Stess & Find Balance Using Herbal Remedies, Aromatherapy, and More.” The evening will include a light dinner, spa treatment, silent auction and raffle prizes. Visit chabadsh.com or call 412-344-2424 for more information and to register. q

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15

The Derekh Speaker Series, a series of talks by authors from across the country made available through the Jewish Book Council, will feature The New York Times journalist Jonathan Weisman and his book “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump” at 7:30 p.m. There will be a book sale and author signing at the end. Visit bethshalompgh.org/beth-shalomspeak-series-5779 for more information. q

THURSDAY, MAY 16

Temple Emanuel and South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh present “An Evening with Dan Libenson” at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont at 7 p.m. Libenson is founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future and co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast, which promotes creativity and innovation in American Jewish life. Visit templeemanuelpgh.org/event/DL for more information about times and ticket pricing. q

SUNDAY, MAY 19

Chabad of Squirrel Hill will hold a Kids’ Mega Challah Event from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at 1700 Beechwood Blvd. The afternoon of challah baking will also include storytelling and Jewish unity and is open to children from preschool through grade five, with a special Bat Mitzvah Club table for girls in grades six to seven. Registration required by May 13 at kidsmegachallah.com. There is a $10 charge. q

TUESDAY, MAY 21

Chabad of the South Hills will hold a lunch for seniors at noon with a presentation on medications, hydration and sun protection

by Comfort Keepers. There is a $5 suggested donation. RSVP at 412-278-2658 or barb@ chabadsh.com and visit chabadsh.com for more information. PJC

APRIL 19, 2019 9

Opinion Doubling down on love — EDITORIAL —

O

ne year ago, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, spiritual leader of Tree of Life* Or L’Simcha, wrote a message to his congregants about the approaching Passover holiday. Acknowledging that the overwhelming preparations the celebration demands can engender feelings of dread, Myers encouraged his flock to shift its attitude, as it is this generation that is responsible for how, and if, the next generation will carry on the traditions of our people.

Myers wrote that although the holiday presents its challenges, “our attitudes approaching the holiday set the stage for what our children will do in the next

generation. If you really want to turn your children and grandchildren on to Passover, then a positive outlook is most important.”

Of course, no one could have predicted what Jewish Pittsburgh would face just six months later, but the essence of Myers’ 2018 Passover message is even more crucial today, at Passover, and in a broader context.

Although his words were aimed then at improving our attitude toward a particular holiday, they resonate more deeply now as we have been made acutely aware of the persistent and rising dangers of anti-Semitism in a real, horrifying, and heartbreaking way. If Judaism is to continue to survive in the face of hatred (a word that Myers now refuses to even utter), it is clear we must double down on instilling love for

our people and our heritage in our children.

In his 2018 Passover piece, Myers presented several concrete suggestions on how to do this. The first was to speak “only positively about the holiday.” Others implored adults to include children in the preparation process, to make them an integral part of it, and praising them for participating.

“Speak glowingly about the present, wistfully about the past, and hopefully about the future,” Myers wrote.

Throughout the centuries, there have been miscreants who have tried to destroy the Jewish people, in body as well as in spirit. At our seders this weekend, we will again recount the story of our ancestors who were enslaved in Egypt, and the Pharaoh who set out to kill our sons. We will celebrate our freedom, our

redemption, our survival, and our strength.

As we continue to process the unbearable pain inflicted on Jewish Pittsburgh by a modern-day anti-Semite wielding an assault weapon and murdering or wounding 13 cherished members of our community, let us resolve to double down on our efforts to impart the joy of our traditions and heritage to our children at our seders and continue to do so long after we have sung Adir Hu. “Life can never provide us with guarantees,” Myers presciently wrote. “Nevertheless, with the appropriate effort, you will set the stage for a joyous celebration of Passover for generations to come. I hope that 25 years from now, while seated at your child’s table, he or she will speak fondly of what you did. It is worth the investment and pays great dividends.” PJC

Netanyahu’s victory means the far right in Israel is about to get a lot more powerful Guest Columnists Evan Gottesman David Halperin

D

espite an exceptionally close race with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud looks well-positioned to form a governing coalition and remain at the helm of the Jewish state.

A fifth term for Netanyahu carries serious consequences for those interested in peace with Israel’s neighbors and the nation’s longterm security. West Bank annexation, which would undermine Israel’s legitimacy and democratic character by cementing permanent occupation of the Palestinians, has become a mainstream objective on the political right, particularly in this most recent campaign. In Washington, we will likely see more polarization as the Trump administration tacitly backs annexation to the chagrin of mainstream Democrats and many Republicans.

Netanyahu’s outgoing government coalition was the first in his 10 continuous years as prime minister that did not contain any centrist or left-wing parties. His next coalition is likely to lurch even further to the right, particularly on the annexation issue.

In the lead-up to this election, Netanyahu pulled out all the stops to ensure victory, including suggesting a victory by his opponents would lead to terrorism and taking active steps to suppress the Arab vote, sending Likud activists with hidden cameras to spy on Arab voters at the ballot box.

But perhaps most egregious, Netanyahu encouraged the political merger between Jewish Home and the far-right Jewish Power into the Union of Right-Wing Parties. The reconstituted Union of Right-Wing Parties will replace Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked’s pro-settlement New Right, which remained slightly below the electoral threshold 10 APRIL 19, 2019

for seats in the Knesset two days after the elections (there is an outside possibility this could change, depending on another look at the “double-envelope” votes of soldiers, prisoners, diplomats and hospital patients). The Union of Right-Wing Parties, like the New Right, backs West Bank annexation.

Yet unlike Bennett and Shaked’s faction, Jewish Power makes no pretenses of trying to fit in among polite company. It supports not only annexation but expelling Palestinians from Israel and the West Bank as well. The party, which is predicted to secure five seats in this Knesset, is comprised of acolytes of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach and Kahane Chai movements are banned and classified as terrorist organizations by Israel, the United States and the European Union. The Union of RightWing Parties leader, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, plans to request the Justice Ministry, giving him the ability to advance the same anti-judicial agenda that Shaked hoped to push. The racist and homophobic Bezalel Smotrich, No. 2 on the list, has his eyes on the education portfolio. Without a Netanyahu-brokered agreement, it is possible that neither party would have made it into the parliament.

Netanyahu took these dramatic steps, including elevating Jewish Power, in an effort to build an ideologically pure rightist coalition. This may be the only route for Netanyahu to legislate immunity for himself in the face of pending indictments in three corruption cases. From Netanyahu’s perspective, this could be achieved by passing the French Law, which stipulates that the prime minister cannot be prosecuted while in office.

Even if the law is not passed, Netanyahu will not risk a unity government with Blue and White, which can be guaranteed not to insulate the prime minister from prosecution. Instead, he will likely rely on the 14 seats held by the haredi Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties as well as smaller right-wing parties like Kulanu, Yisrael Beiteinu and the pro-settler Jewish Home party.

These small parties will yield outsize

influence in the next Knesset. Each will have an opportunity to play kingmaker, as Netanyahu will have to accede to their individual demands and build a government with a slim majority if he does not want a broad national-unity government with Gantz. The haredi Orthodox, who saw a better performance than in the last election, will be able to continue blocking any religion and state reforms. Some of the parties Netanyahu is trying to woo may demand plum ministries.

Foreign affairs and defense are traditionally the most coveted.

Before the election, Bennett was expected to demand the Defense Ministry, which would make him de facto governor of the occupied territories and grant him an influential perch from which to advance his agenda of West Bank annexation. Though Bennett’s new party apparently did not secure enough votes for him to remain in the Knesset, it does not mean the pro-annexation movement lost any momentum.

While far from being the central question of the campaign, which focused on Netanyahu’s fitness for office, annexation went from being a fringe topic in Israel to the heart of the national agenda in recent months. In the lead-up to the election, all the Likud candidates endorsed this platform to some extent. Jewish Home, Jewish Power, the New Right and Zehut each endorse officially absorbing all or part of the West Bank.

While Moshe Kahlon of Kulanu and Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beiteinu are not themselves annexationists, they are unlikely to risk another round of elections so soon after they barely passed the threshold. Annexation may be a price they are willing to pay.

The official integration of the West Bank into Israel would have fatal consequences for the prospects of a two-state solution, as land intended for a Palestinian state becomes sovereign Israeli territory. Given the Trump administration’s cozy relationship with Netanyahu, the U.S. administration will likely go on providing cover for annexation without protest. If the White House ever releases its peace plan, it is almost guaranteed to contain generous territorial provisions for

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Israel. But the Trump plan remains perpetually a few months away.

None of this bodes well for the relationship between Israeli and American Jews. Jewish Americans vote overwhelmingly Democratic (71 percent voted Democratic in the last presidential election) and a majority believe in a two-state solution. As Netanyahu enters his second decade in office, the community will be faced with uncomfortable choices about the future of American policy on Israel.

There are still some reasons to retain cautious optimism. This election is likely to be Netanyahu’s last. The Israeli Supreme Court would likely contest the French Law (if passed). The prime minister could last a few months or a couple of years, depending on how adeptly he plays the system. On the flip side, Gantz’s Blue and White won more seats than any previous Netanyahu challenger, and simultaneously joined Likud this year as the first two Israeli political parties to ever secure over 1 million votes.

The question now is how supporters of two states, democratic norms and the U.S.Israel alliance ride out the remainder of Netanyahu’s time in office. If there is no mainstream opposition in Washington to annexation, the field will be completely ceded to those who see growing opportunities to formalize a Greater Israel reality.

As Netanyahu enters coalition negotiations in the months ahead, he and his partners in the White House will be looking for signs of exhaustion from their political opponents on both sides of the Atlantic as an opening to advance their platform. The key is not to show them what they want to see or let up. PJC

Evan Gottesman is associate director of policy and communications at Israel Policy Forum. His work has been published by Foreign Policy, Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, among other outlets. David A. Halperin is executive director of Israel Policy Forum.

His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Politico, The New York Jewish Week and The Forward, among other outlets. From JTA.org.

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Opinion In re-electing Netanyahu, Israelis chose stability Guest Columnist Eric Mandel

A

fter the smoke clears from this contentious Israeli election, which amounted to a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure, it appears that Netanyahu will again be asked by Israeli President Rivlin to form the next government.

How did he win again?

As Israel’s former U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren said, “Our economy is excellent, our foreign relations were never better, and we’re secure … we know him, the world knows him — even our enemies know him.”

Unlike American voters, most Israelis choose security and stability over the unknown. In this election that was Gen. Benny Gantz and his new Blue and White party, which featured sterling security credentials among those headlining the ticket.

Gantz’s strategy highlighted Netanyahu’s corruption scandals, which apparently resonated with enough voters that his party received over 1 million votes, the most ever by a Israeli political party — except for Likud, also in this election.

However, the nation — and particularly its youngest voters — have moved sharply to the right following the second intifada in the early to mid-2000s, prioritizing security over domestic concerns. Paradoxically, compared to Americans, young Israelis lean more to the right than older generations because they came of age during and after the violent Palestinian uprising.

This is what enabled Netanyahu to keep his job. The prime minister is perceived as a steady hand in turbulent waters: Israel is surrounded on all sides by growing threats of radical jihadism — Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. Netanyahu is trusted on what he considers the No. 1 threat to the survival of Israel, the revolutionary theocracy of Iran.

Netanyahu has also been a very pragmatic leader, successfully managing Israel’s many conflicts. He has skillfully avoided a war with Hezbollah and Iran despite targeting hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah positions in Syria and Lebanon over the past few years.

And even with pressure from his own base to be more aggressive with Hamas, Netanyahu has avoided undertaking a major operation to overthrow the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip. He knows it would be a disaster if Israel conquered the coastal strip and became responsible for the lives of its 2 million residents.

Under his unprecedentedly long tenure, Israel has become more secure, with significant economic advancements and diplomatic achievements, especially in forging relations with the Arab world and Africa.

Many observers said that couldn’t happen unless there was peace first between the Palestinians and Israel.

Netanyahu was the first Israeli prime minister in 24 years to visit Oman. Last year he met with an Emirati ambassador — a meeting that Business Insider said “sheds light on one of the worst-kept secrets in the Arab world: the quiet ties between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors that are increasingly coming out in the open as they find common cause against mutual foe Iran.”

But what may be the most important legacy of this election may be the annexation debate over the West Bank. Will Netanyahu really annex some or all of the disputed territories? Was his promise to the faithful just more hyperbole, or was it a signal that the window of opportunity to act is now, as President Donald Trump may be gone from the scene in less than two years?

— LETTERS — Regarding gun laws “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” — Ronald Reagan This holds true for Mayor Peduto and his allies in City Council and the left in general (“Local gun restrictions widely praised in Jewish Pittsburgh,” PJC, April 12). Every time there is a gun crime committed, the knee-jerk reaction is to punish the law-abiding citizens with more restrictions. This is the insanity of the left as they believe that, even though their policies have failed, they have not done enough, so we need to do more.

These new laws will do absolutely nothing to stop crime. Case in point, New Zealand has much more restrictive laws and there was a massacre at two mosques. Chicago and California with their highly restrictive laws cannot stop these types of crimes. Banning certain types of firearms is punishing society for the crimes of a few. Semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips were banned under the Clinton era. This did nothing to stem gun violence.

Our constitution limits what the federal government can do to its citizens. We have a right to have arms and use them in a lawful manner. Violating the commonwealth’s laws to make yourself feel good and trampling on someone else’s rights is just wrong. I look forward to seeing the criminal complaints addressed for all of those who voted to break the law!

Andrew Neft Upper St. Clair

Focus on policy

voters, most Israelis

The comment in the PJC editorial of April 5 (“Israel’s Golan Heights) concerning Trump’s tweet about the Golan Heights is so typical of the anti-Trumper wail — always, it’s how Trump says it, or where he says it, or when he says it, or whatever, and not the policy itself.

What’s important is the policy — focus on that!

Jack Mennis Hampton Township

choose security

Paying tribute

Unlike American

and stability over the unknown.

The annexation debate is complex, and it is legitimate for Israel’s security establishment to discuss which disputed territory beyond the Green Line is indispensable for Israel’s security interests. Proponents of the status quo and those for disengagement should join the debate.

American Jewry, which is as liberal as Israeli Jewry is conservative, has legitimate criticisms of Netanyahu. He reneged on his promise to expand the egalitarian space at Robinson’s Arch next to the Western Wall, and the Israeli government has failed to recognize Conservative and Reform Judaism — the movements that the majority of American Jews belong to — as equally legitimate to Orthodoxy.

However, the hyperpolarized politics of America have blinded many American Jews, who don’t realize the real harm they do to Israel and themselves in siding with those whose criticism veers into delegitimization of the state.

After the euphoria and depression of the 2019 Israeli election results subside, we’ll be left with something extraordinary to be celebrated by all Israelis and Americans: Israel’s vibrant democracy again elected new national leadership in a peaceful vote.

Israel is a beacon of Western democratic and Jewish values — and whether you love or hate Bibi Netanyahu, Israel is still a miracle at 71. PJC

For anyone who wonders how it is that the Jewish community is extraordinary in so many ways, they may look to exemplary individuals like the late Dr. Sidney N. Busis (“Community leader Sidney Busis dies at 97,” April 5).

Dr. Busis was dedicated to all things noble: family, friends, faith, community and the profession in which he was a leader of longstanding.

Those who knew him are aware of his regard for every human being as a person of value, and his tremendous sense of humor.

Our beloved prayerbook references those “who spend themselves for the good of humanity,” a perfect characterization of the man who honored me with his friendship.

A giant of this era has passed on, but shall never be forgotten: an eternal legacy for his family and for all who had the privilege of knowing him. He left the world a far better place.

Oren Spiegler South Strabane Township, PA

Eric Mandel is the director of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network.

Mandel regularly briefs members of the U.S. Senate, House and their foreign policy advisers. He is a columnist for The Jerusalem Post. From JTA.org.

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APRIL 19, 2019 11

Headlines Following his visit, Bolsonaro said that Nazism was a leftist movement.

— WORLD — From JTA reports

Bolsonaro says comments on Holocaust taken out of context

Jewish groups praise bill to sanction Burma for persecution of Rohingya Muslims

Brazil’s president said that his comments on forgiving the crimes of the Holocaust were taken out of context.

President Jair Bolsonaro’s clarification was published on the Facebook page of the Israeli ambassador to Brazil, Yossi Shelley, and were addressed to the people of Israel in Hebrew, Portuguese and English.

“I wrote in the guestbook of the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem: ‘Those who forget their past are doomed to not have a future’ Therefore, any other interpretation is only in the interest of those who want to push me away from my Jewish friends,” Bolsonaro wrote in the post.

He continued: “Forgiveness is something personal, my speech was never meant to be used in a historical context, especially one where millions of innocent people were murdered in a cruel genocide.”

Bolsonaro was slammed publically by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin for saying at a meeting late last week with Evangelical pastors in Rio de Janiero that: “We can forgive, but we cannot forget.” His comments drew applause from the pastors.

Bolsonaro visited Israel two weeks ago, where he had a private tour of Yad Vashem.

Jewish groups applauded the introduction of a bipartisan bill in the Senate to sanction Burmese officials responsible for the persecution of the Rohingya people. The legislation calls for the United States to take a number of measures in response to the violence against the Rohingya.

Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Todd Young, R-Ind., introduced the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act on Thursday. It was co-sponsored by 14 lawmakers.

The Jewish Rohingya Justice Network, a coalition of 19 groups convened by the American Jewish World Service and representing major Jewish organizations and the four major denominations, had lobbied for the bill. Last month, AJWS facilitated meetings between its partner organizations in Burma and the lawmakers behind the bill.

Some 700,000 Rohingya people, most of whom are Muslims, have fled Burma, which is also called Myanmar, for Bangladesh amid persecution. Refugees and human rights groups say they are being ethnically cleansed by the army in the majority Buddhist country.

In December, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said it found “compelling evidence” of genocide by Myanmar’s military against

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the minority group and the House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring the crimes a genocide. However, the State Department has stopped short of doing so.

AJWS Program Officer Hannah Weilbacher, who has helped lead the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network, invoked the Holocaust in speaking about the importance of a Jewish response to the events in Burma.

“The Jewish community knows all too well the horrors of what happens when an international community stands idly by as a genocide unfolds,” she said. “The persecution, the violence, the human rights violations and genocide of the Rohingya people echoes the Jewish people’s history across time, across place, and really calls us to come together and have a unified Jewish response to this crisis.”

Jeremy Corbyn casts doubt on Labour Party’s ability to review complaints of anti-Semitism British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn admitted privately that evidence of anti-Semitism in the party has been “mislaid, ignored or not used,” The Sunday Times reported.

Corbyn made the admission during a meeting in February with Jewish Labour lawmaker Margaret Hodge, which was secretly recorded.

The Sunday Times called it the first time Corbyn has cast doubt on his own staff ’s

This week in Israeli history April 22, 2013 — Israel-Turkey talks begin

— WORLD — Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

April 19, 1977 — Carter team meets

President Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy team meets on Middle East policy and agrees on five points: a Geneva peace conference should be held by the end of the year; borders and the Palestinians are the toughest issues; the Soviet Union should try to moderate Arab views; no new arms sales should be agreed to; and Yitzhak Rabin’s resignation shouldn’t delay talks.

April 20, 1799 — Napoleon backs Jewish claim

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A month into a siege of the Turkish-held city of Acre, Napoleon issues a proclamation offering to hand Palestine to the Jewish nation if France captures it from the Turks.

But Palestine’s Jews feared the French and helped the Turks fortify Acre. Napoleon withdrew his army in June.

April 21, 2013 — Arms deal announced

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ability to tackle the problem that has dogged his leadership for years.

Hodge told the BBC she made the recording as an “insurance policy.”

In the recording, Corbyn discussed his intention to recruit Labour peer Lord Falconer to review the party’s complaints process.

“He will look at the speed of dealing with cases, the administration of them and the collation of the evidence before it’s put before appropriate panels … because I was concerned that it was either being mislaid, ignored or not used, and there had to be some better system,” Corbyn said in the recording.

Hodge has been a harsh critic of Corbyn and faced disciplinary action after she confronted the party leader over whether Labour would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, during which she called him a “f***ing anti-Semite and a racist.”

The newspaper reported last week that the party while led by Corbyn has failed to investigate and discipline hundreds of anti-Semitism cases. The British Jewish Labour Movement hours later passed a motion of no-confidence on Corbyn.

Some 85 percent of British Jews believe Corbyn, who has long associated with Palestinian radicals and in one case a Holocaust denier, is anti-Semitic and they say he is responsible for a hostile environment in a party that for over a century was a natural home for Jews. PJC

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An Israeli delegation visits Ankara, Turkey, for reconciliation talks. Relations between Israel and Turkey broke down after nine Turkish citizens were killed in May 2010 in an Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara.

April 23, 1943 — Warsaw Ghetto commander’s last dispatch

Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto, writes his final message from a bunker: “Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men and women of battle.”

April 24, 1903 — Africa proposed for Jewish homeland

In a meeting with Theodor Herzl, British Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain proposes the creation of a Jewish homeland in Kenya. The Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 accepts the plan; the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905 rejects it.

April 25, 1920 — 1st Palestine High Commissioner named

Meeting in Italy, the World War I victors adopt a resolution that accepts the Balfour Declaration. PJC

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Headlines The kids are all right-wing: How Israel’s younger voters have grown more conservative over time — WORLD —

By Laura E. Adkins and Ben Sales | JTA

L

ike lots of millennials who have catapulted to fame, May Golan got her start on the internet, blogging about life in her South Tel Aviv neighborhood.

From there she gained a platform as a social activist, with 25,000 followers on Facebook and 16,300 on Twitter.

On Tuesday, hours before she won a seat in Israel’s Knesset, she reached out to voters in one last Facebook video.

“The right wing government is in danger,” she warned viewers, wearing a T-shirt with the words “Netanyahu. Right-wing.

Strong. Successful.” emblazoned in blue and white block letters.

“There could be a leftist government here,” she said. “We have so many hopes and dreams. We have hoped for a secure future, to return governance and sovereignty from the legal activism that’s strangling us, and those leftist nonprofits that end up making the most important decisions here.”

Golan, an incoming legislator for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, will be one of the youngest members of the

p The percentage of Israeli 18- to 34-year-olds who self-identify as right wing is consistently higher than the percentage of the general electorate, according to data taken from an elections survey by the Guttman Center at the Israel Democracy Institute. The survey was conducted on April 3, 2019.

Graphic by Laura E. Adkins/JTA

Knesset at 32. She has spent years protesting against African asylum seekers in her Tel Aviv neighborhood. In 2017, she said “A Palestinian state is a terror state.” She has appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” and criticized Hillary Clinton.

In other words, Golan is staunchly right wing. She’s also a lot like many Israeli Jews of her generation.

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While American millennials have a reputation for liberal politics, young Israeli Jews have gone the opposite direction over time.

For at least the past 10 years, these voters have identified as right wing at much higher levels than their parents.

According to the 2018 Israeli Democracy Index (an annual study by the Israeli

Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan Israeli think tank), approximately 64 percent of Israeli Jews aged 18-34 identify as right wing, compared to 47 percent of those 35 and older. An Israeli Democracy Institute survey conducted just one week before Tuesday’s election likewise found a direct correlation between age and support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: 65 percent of Israeli Jews aged 18-24, and 53 percent of those 25-34, favored Netanyahu winning re-election, while 17 percent and 33 percent, respectively, preferred his more centrist rival, Benny Gantz.

“There are young people who like Netanyahu’s ideology,” Eli Hazan, a Likud campaign spokesman, told JTA. “They see the diplomatic achievements of Netanyahu and believe in him. Those are the facts and that’s the reality.”

In addition to Likud, Israel’s youngest Jewish voters — they are increasingly Orthodox due to high birth rates in the haredi Orthodox and religious communities — likely helped Israel’s two haredi parties pick up three additional Knesset seats (for a total of 16) in Tuesday’s election. Other right-wing parties likely benefited from the Please see Right, page 28

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For You, Lord, are good and do good to all, and we thank You for the land and for the fruit of the vine.

Michael H. Marks, Esq.

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APRIL 19, 2019 13

Passover A Passover seder for Holocaust survivors brings joy, food and some good ol’ kvetching — SEDER —

By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

N

ine years ago, Ellen Grossman wanted to do something special for her birthday.

“I said we’ve had enough parties and enough pocketbooks and enough jewelry — do something different,” the Great Neck, N.Y., resident recalled.

So she decided to organize a Passover seder for Holocaust survivors, many of whom who had no actual seder to go to during the holiday.

That was in 2011. When the first seder was a success, Grossman decided to keep going.

On Wednesday, some 85 guests — Holocaust survivors and their spouses or caretakers — came together for the ninth annual seder in a brightly lit hall at the Barry and Florence Friedberg Jewish Community Center in Oceanside, on New York’s Long Island.

Grossman organized the seder with the help of the UJA-Federation of New York.

This year, she raised around $7,000 — more than enough to cover the cost of the event — and recruited some 30 friends to serve food

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p Tibor, left, and Livia Horovitz are Holocaust survivors from Hungary.

and clean up. A local kosher café, Bagel Boss, catered the event and donated some of the food for the seder, which was held two weeks before the start of the Jewish holiday.

For many attendees, coming to the seder has become a tradition of its own.

of Directors and Staff

Wish you and your family a Happy Passover

We welcome your support through referrals and tax deductible donations as we provide grants around the holidays and throughout the year.

Assisting people with significant financial needs.

Meyer “Skip” Grinberg President

p Ellen Grossman, right, pictured with volunteer Barbara Feder, has been organizing the seder for nine years.

“It’s been very exciting,” said Hedy Lebovitz, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, who now lives in Lawrence. “You get to see people that you really don’t see a whole year.”

Cantor Ofer Barnoy, of Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn, led an abbreviated seder

Photo by Josefin Dolsten

as attendees munched on matzah, haroset, eggs and bitter herbs. The meal — salmon, Please see Survivors, page 28

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Chag Sameach

May your Passover holiday and spring season be filled with joy, peace, and renewal.

Cindy Goodman-Leib Executive Director

412.521.3237 • P.O. Box 8197, Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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Name: JCC Width: 10.25 in Depth: 6.75 in Color: Process color Jason M. AdByNumber: - Haber, JCC South Hills Day Camps Director

WHY I CHOSE CAMP

Following my junior year of high school I was told that it was time to get a summer job. I was fortunate to have two options: the JCC South Hills Day Camp or Rite Aid on Bower Hill Road. Rite Aid paid 25 cents more per hour, so as a typical teenager I was leaning toward taking more money, but I knew in my gut that summer camp would provide a much more meaningful experience.

After discussing things with my parents, I decided to become a summer camp counselor, and I worked for four years at the JCC South Hills during my high school and college summers.

The job influenced me to major in education. After graduating with a teaching certificate, it was time to find another job, and I once again found myself as a camp counselor, this time at J&R Day Camp in Monroeville.

Fresh out of college, I now had an entirely different perspective on my summer employment.

While there was still the same laughter, happiness and pure joy that camp brought out in the children while they jumped in puddles, sang at flagpole, scored the winning goal or passed a new swim level, there was something much deeper and more profound going on.

Beyond all of the fun, we were helping to prepare campers for their careers in an era of unprecedented change and pace. Each and every day at camp we fostered the social and emotional awareness needed to succeed in the workforce of the future, and it continues today through our attention to campers’ self-knowledge, emotional regulation, empathy and perspective-taking.

I could never have imagined that the decision my parents helped me make all those years ago would lead me to a profession so profound in its impact on children’s lives. From problem solving to inclusion, from thinking differently to taking initiative and advocating for one’s self, camp is a unique environment where skills for life are taught in tangible ways.

JCC Summer Day Camps start in 59 days. Are your children signed up for a summer of connections, values, growth and fun?

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Passover 4 new children’s books for Passover — BOOKS —

By Penny Schwartz | JTA

F

our questions. Four cups of wine.

Four types of children. At Passover, the number four figures prominently in the rituals of the seder, the ceremonial holiday meal that can be mesmerizing and mystifying.

Four new delightful and brightly illustrated books for young kids will enliven — and help explain — the popular eight-day spring holiday, which this year begins on the evening of April 19. One features kids’ favorites from the long-running TV series “Sesame Street.”

A fifth new title, set in ancient Jerusalem, is a perfect complement to the seder that ends with a tune sung to the phrase “Next year in Jerusalem.”

A Seder for Grover

Joni Kibort Sussman; illustrated by Tom Leigh Kar-Ben; ages 1-4 In this first of four planned “Sesame Street” board books from Kar-Ben, publisher and children’s author Joni Kibort Sussman teams with longtime “Sesame Street” and Muppet book illustrator Tom Leigh to offer little ones an entertaining introduction to the Passover rituals and traditions.

The youngest kids and their grownup readers will want to join Grover, Big Bird and their “Sesame Street” friends at Avigail’s Passover seder to eat matzah, read the Haggadah and ask the Four Questions. Cookie Monster can come along, too – but only if he eats special Passover cookies. Grover tells his friends it’s good to invite guests to the seder. Even Moishe Oofnik the grouch is included.

Pippa’s Passover Plate

Vivian Kirkfield; illustrated by Jill Weber Holiday House; ages 4-8 In this lively, rhyming story, an adorable mouse named Pippa is preparing for the seder. She sets the table and stirs the chicken stew. But where’s the special shiny gold seder plate placed in the center of the table to display the ritual foods eaten at the ceremonial meal?

The kids will have fun as they follow Pippa in her search — from inside her house to the garden, fields and ponds outdoors. Along the way, the feisty Pippa asks for help from a cat,

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snake and wise owl, who are big and scary and make Pippa “cringe and quake.”

Author Vivian Kirkfield’s playful verse introduces kid to the seder rituals, while award-winning artist Jill Weber (“The Story of Passover”) puts readers in the scene with the cute gray and pink mouse. Her bright, large format illustrations are brightened with yellows and greens to match the springtime festival. The last page features Pippa’s Passover plate, which identifies all of the symbolic seder foods.

The Best Four Questions

Rachelle Burk; illustrated by Melanie Florian Kar-Ben; ages 3-8 Marcy is the youngest child in the family who has just learned to read, and it’s her turn to ask the Four Questions at her seder. But Marcy’s older brother, Jake, isn’t so happy to relinquish the ritual that has won him plenty of praise from his relatives. Marcy, a vivacious and inquisitive girl, turns down all offers of help to practice reciting the Four Questions.

Older kids may figure out that Marcy doesn’t realize that she’s expected to read the traditional questions from the Haggadah.

She’s come up with her own questions all by

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

herself. Here’s one: How many matzah balls in Grandma’s chicken soup? Read to see how the family and Jake react.

Rachelle Burke’s lively and engaging storytelling underscores the tenet of Passover that encourages participants to ask questions.

Melanie Florian’s brightly colored animated illustrations capture Marcy’s enthusiasm for the festive holiday.

Matzah Belowstairs

Susan Lynn Meyer; illustrated by Mette Engell Kar-Ben; ages 4-8 In Susan Lynn Meyer’s humorfilled t a l e, two families share a home in Apartment 4B, where they are eager to celebrate Passover. Young Eli Winkler is welcoming his human family’s guests to their seder in their “Abovestairs” apartment.

Under the Winkler’s floor is the young Miriam Mouse and her mouse family, who live “Belowstairs” and occasionally enter the Winkler apartment through a tiny round mouse hole.

This year, the Winklers have stored their matzah in a tightly sealed tin box and Miriam Please see Books, page 28

APRIL 19, 2019 15

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APRIL 19, 2019 21

Headlines Ethiopia: Continued from page 3

It’s because of this passion that Samuel now runs Fidel, one of the largest not-forprofits in Israel focused on education and the 145,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

Samuel concluded her presentation focusing on the challenges of the 30-40 year old Ethiopian community in Israel.

Explaining, “we are a new generation of leaders in Israeli society. We are not a problem; you have to hear our voice. We are here to stay.�

Barbara Burstin, a member of the history faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, explained that the Rayah Fund (which brought Samuel to Pittsburgh) was established to bring Israeli voices to America. “Americans just hear the political news and much of that news is not necessarily great, but what is going on in civil society is encouraging and exciting. Michal is one of the movers and shakers having an impact on her community and Israeli society in general that American Jews should hear about.

These are people American Jews should understand and know there’s another voice of Israel.�

After her talk in Mt. Lebanon, Samuel attended a conference of the National Council of Jewish Women in Washington, D.C., where she was to be honored for her work in Israeli society.  PJC David Rullo is a local freelance writer.

Warsaw added as Jewish Federation’s third partner region for Israel’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) Peoplehood Platform

T

he Polish capital of Warsaw has been added as the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s third partner region through the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) Peoplehood Platform. The P2G program aims to create enduring relationships between Israel and the Jewish communities of the diaspora.

P2G’s existing partnership between Pittsburgh and the northern Israeli regions of Karmiel and Misgav now will have the opportunity to take part in the post-Holocaust rebuilding of Jewish connection in Warsaw.

The Jewish Agency’s P2G program connects hundreds of Jewish organizations and communities around the world in 46 partnerships through hands-on projects and

personal interactions.

Pittsburgh is not the first city to extend its P2G platform to a third community. P2G’s Central Region Consortium/Western Galilee Partnership added the Hungarian capital of Budapest to its partnership about nine years ago.

To kick off the new relationship, four representatives from the Warsaw Jewish community and Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich will visit Karmiel/Misgav from June 16-19.

The same four representatives will also come to Pittsburgh in December. “With Warsaw joining our relationship, we have a unique opportunity to make an imprint and impact on a Jewish community that has many young people involved who are eager to make connections with

Jews from other communities and in Israel,� said Debbie Swartz, overseas planning associate at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, in a prepared statement. “Adding Warsaw to our partnership will enable us to truly put global Jewish peoplehood into practice,� said Jan Levinson, chair of the Warsaw Connection, in a prepared statement. “Having another diaspora community that is outside of the United States can put a mirror up in front of our faces, both here in Pittsburgh and in Karmiel/Misgav, and help strengthen our Jewish identities and strengthen our relationships with each other.�  PJC

Grandparents:

subsidized by Partnership2Gether, and Rodef Shalom, according to Karsh.

While the Pittsburgh pairs will meet together monthly, they will also meet virtually with pairs from the other participating cities before joining together in Israel. “It’s an amazing opportunity for grandparents to really pass down their legacy to their grandchildren and create a bond that will last a lifetime,� said Stephanie Rex, Rodef Shalom’s director of communications and marketing.

The monthly meetings will include opportunities for grandparents to share their experiences of Jewish life, and value-based

activities. Last year, Cincinnati participated in the program as its pilot city, said Sharon Spiegel, director of Youth Israel Experiences for the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. “It’s a yearlong process of making connections and sharing values and morals and family history between grandparents and grandchildren,� Spiegel said. “That’s an invaluable gift, that grandchildren get to have formalized opportunities and experiences to learn, and share these morals and values and family history.� PJC

Continued from page 7

connection in which we could launch G2, bringing grandparents and grandchildren from both sides of the ocean together.�

The Israel component of the program “is critical to G2,� Weinstein said. “Grandparents from Pittsburgh will meet in person (including home hospitality) their new ‘family’ from Karmiel/Misgav.�

The Israel trip — which costs $1750 per person, plus airfare — will be partly

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Life & Culture The Jewish mastermind behind OPI nail polish — WOMEN IN BUSINESS —

By Arielle Kaplan | Kveller

S

uzi Weiss-Fischmann, 62, used to aggressively bite her nails. It was a chronic, nervous tick, and it had to stop.

After all, she was the co-founder and creative director of a global nail polish company, and chewed-up cuticles wasn’t a good look for the woman shaping the beauty industry.

This is just one fascinating tidbit from “I’m Not Really a Waitress,” Weiss-Fischmann’s new book about how she went from a childhood in communist Hungary — where she secretly studied Hebrew with a rabbi — to becoming globally recognized as the First Lady of Nails.

A second-generation Holocaust survivor,

OPI — it stands for Odontorium Products Inc. — was born.

Weiss-Fischmann’s career is the envy of many, but creating tongue-in-cheek names for bold nail polish colors like “A Grape Affair” and “A Butterfly Moment” is just a fraction of what the beauty mogul did for OPI. (In fact, Weiss-Fischmann sold OPI to Coty in 2010, but she remains a brand ambassador and is still in charge of naming colors.)

In “I’m Not Really a Waitress” — the title is also an iconic nail polish color — WeissFischmann chronicles her road to changing the beauty game. Kveller caught up with the soon-to-be grandmother to talk about the Jewish values that influenced OPI’s success, and how she earned her title as the First Lady of Nails.

OPI’s humorous polish names are legendary. Tell me about the meetings held to create names for the OPI collections.

make a difference in their life. If you can make a difference in one person’s life, you did good.

The names were such a huge part of the brand’s DNA. It was always based on a geographic location, and of course, we love to eat, so we always had food from the respective city or country that the collection was named after, and then we kind of just had fun. I mean, we came up with literally crazy names — of course, some unmentionables, for obvious reasons. But, it was a democratic process. So the names went up on the board and the majority vote won.

It was the highlight of every collection and every season. I think as the years went on we just got better, and better. The names aged like wine — they got more humorous. I would go into salons sometimes and watch people anticipating the new colors of a collec-

My parents. My mom is an amazing little lady, she’s so strong. I mean, she was my hero. My dad was a very loving father, he was very family-oriented. At work, it was George Schaeffer, my brother-in-law. He was a great business leader and teacher.

As for fashion, I love Chanel. I think as far as leaders, I’d say Golda Meir. I’m not just naming her because she’s a woman. I think she was an amazing leader, and role model to all women, not just Jewish.

Who are your role models?

You wrote a lot about the Shabbat dinners you hosted every week.

Tell me about them.

Shabbat dinner was a very important part of our life. Friday night dinner kind of put the whole week together. My son didn’t go to a Jewish high school, and the football games were usually on Friday night. He could go, but only after the kiddush, the motzi and dinner. I think it’s very important to raise children with something constant in their lives, some sort of discipline that ties the week together. Traditions like having a sukkah, Passover seders and Rosh Hashanah were always part of my kids’ lives, and I hope when they have children they will continue to have the same traditions.

As a working mom, you wrote about barely having time to eat or pick your kids up from school. Why is it so important for you to take time out of your week to do your nails?

p Suzi Weiss-Fischmann

Weiss-Fischmann is the fiery Jewish mom behind OPI, the nail lacquer brand known for its witty names. When she started the company with her brother-in-law, George Schaeffer, in the mid-1980s, the pair knew nothing about nails. Nu? Just why did they plunge into the manicure business?

Well, the duo was running a dental-supply company, and Schaeffer noticed that nail technicians were buying dental acrylics to make nail extensions. Unimpressed by the scarce and boring polish options available for women at the time, Weiss-Fischmann and Schaeffer realized there was a hole in the beauty market that they could fill.

The nail industry needed a splash of glamour, and with Weiss-Fischmann’s eye for color, the duo confidently pounced on the opportunity ripe for the taking. And thus

Photo courtesy of Kveller

In the beginning of the book, you talk about — in contrast to the United States — growing up in an environment where women had careers and didn’t rely on their husbands for an income. How did that affect your character, and your career?

There’s no limitation to women. The only limitations are what you put on yourself. I grew up where women were doctors, engineers, lawyers, and they were all university educated. The men usually seemed like losers, or, you know, maybe less accomplished. I never felt that I couldn’t do anything and when somebody made a stupid remark, I shrugged it off.

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tion. But, just as much as they anticipated the colors, they always flipped the bottle to see the names. That’s what gave them that personal connection with OPI. It was so important to us to gain the loyalty of the consumer.

Tell me more about the DNA of OPI, the importance of tzedakah, and how your Jewish values influenced your leadership.

My father said it very simply: You give, and you get. And that always happened in my life.

We were very charitable. Especially being immigrants, we know what this country gave to my family, and George’s family. People always ask, “what can you do to make your life better?” I always say that if you’re able to, give financially, or mentor somebody and

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You have to prioritize. Certain things you have to do for yourself because you know, us women are multi-taskers. We can do so many things: We’re organizers, we take care of the budget, we plan the meals. I mean, there has to be a new adjective to describe what women do. So it’s time to take a few minutes, or an hour, just for yourself. Getting a manicure and pedicure is always kind of that main getaway because, you know, you get a little massage and it gives you that instant gratification.

I loved everything that I did with OPI, but my greatest passion are my two kids and my husband. I mean, you know, the family is always No. 1. That’s how I grew up, and you know, in this crazy world as I say, it’s your family that’s always there.

At the end of the book, you said that your new passion is to pass on everything OPI journey to the next generation, l’dor v’ador. Why is it important to you that you share your story?

I think storytelling is very important. I feel that it’s my duty to help raise new leaders that are in business, and philanthropy. It’s so important to be able to share with other people and inspire other people to achieve great things. And I feel like it’s what I can do best now. The importance of storytelling cannot be undermined. And what do us women do best when we get together? Tell our stories. PJC APRIL 19, 2019 23

Life & Culture City Theatre’s “The Burdens” lampoons communication in the digital age California, working on getting his songwriting career off the ground. The two, who are in constant virtual contact, eventually come up

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer with a plan to get rid of Zad-Zad. References to the Jewishness of the charhe Burdens,” a world premiere acters is constant throughout the show. The which is running at City Theatre playwright, who is Jewish, based the play on through May 12, is a play about his own family experiences. Maybe that is why a family, but it is most definitely not a family he felt compelled to make his show’s characplay — at least not one for families with ters Jews. I found myself wishing they weren’t. young children.

Neither character is particuWritten by Carnegie Mellon larly likeable — although not University alum Matt Schatz in ways that Jews are stereoand directed by City Theatre’s typically unlikable — but they returning artistic director, are people with questionable Marc Masterson, the dark morals and foul mouths. comedy about Jewish adult Catherine Lefrere gives a siblings opens with obscene strong performance as Jane, language, relies on profanity who turns out to be a richly for much of its humor, and layered character, and has the two characters in the outstanding comedic timing. p Matt Schatz show are flawed in ways that Photo provided Ben Rosenblatt convincingly are downright disturbing. plays Mordy as the more That said, “The Burdens” nonetheless innocent “little” brother still longing for his delivers profound social commentary on sister’s approval. Some of the best moments communication in the 21st century, and at in the show are when he performs Mordy’s times, is laugh-out-loud funny. original songs — the lyrics are clever, and he The plot is fundamentally connected to has a beautiful voice. the means in which the characters, siblings There is a lot packed into the 75-minute Mordy and Jane Berman, communicate. show, which covers relationships, aging and Face-to-face interaction is limited to just one the weighing of values in a family “that uses or two scenes, and instead, their dialogue is humor to get through hard times,” as Schatz exchanged through text messages, emails said in an interview in the program. and, less often, voice messages. The texting “Autocorrect and miscommunication are leads to some hysterical and confusing a big part of this play,” according to Schatz. moments, just like it does in real life. Sarcasm “How small virtual miscommunications is not always detected, and autocorrect can or misunderstandings can have real-world be as frustrating as it is comical. consequences. And also how it’s easier to Married older sister Jane is an attorney type something than it is to say something living in New Jersey, and is worried about to someone’s face.” PJC their mother, who is burdened with caring for Toby Tabachnick can be reached at Zad-Zad, their 100-year-old curmudgeonly grandfather. Mordy is a struggling musician in ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

— THEATER —

“T

Doyle: Continued from page 6

ridiculous. I have a 25-year track record of supporting Israel, and our majority leader — Steny Hoyer — there is not bigger supporter of Israel than him.”

Israel is a strong ally, Doyle noted, but that does not prohibit U.S. leaders from criticizing its administration.

“This is an ally of ours,” he said. “Now, are we critical of administrations in Israel? I’m critical of this current administration in my country; I don’t think that makes me anti-American. I’ve been critical of administrations in Israel, too, but not the support we have for the country and our alliance. So, I think it is a dangerous precedent when the president is trying to make it sound like Democrats are moving away from their alliance and friendship to Israel. It is absolutely untrue.”

Increasing anti-Semitism in the United States

Doyle pointed to ADL statistics, showing a nearly 60 percent rise in anti-Semitic 24 APRIL 19, 2019

incidents in 2017.

While noting that a lot of these incidents occur on college campus, Doyle also cited statistics that “three-quarters of the violent murders are being done by white supremacists. The data is there. It’s not speculation or anecdotal.”

“Clearly,” he said, anti-Semitism “is on the rise,” and some of Trump’s rhetoric could be fueling it.

“Hate begets hate and eventually leads to violence,” said Doyle. “When people fill their heads with hate, and start to believe that some other group — whether it is a religion or a race, or whatever — is somehow either threatening to them, or subhuman, and decide to act on it, that’s what you see. These people, their heads are filled with hate, they are unstable to begin with, then add a cache of weapons in the house to that, and that is a prescription for the kind of tragedies that we are seeing here in Squirrel Hill, and in Christchurch, New Zealand, and all over the country.”

The president, he said, instead of speaking in words that “would unite us,” often speaks in words “that divide us.”

“When he says things — the way he says

p Actors Ben Rosenblatt, top, and Catherine Lefrere perform in “The Burdens” at City Theatre through May 12.

Photos by Kristi Jan Hoover

them are just dog whistles to these extreme groups out there that it is OK to behave in the way they are behaving,” Doyle said. “He doesn’t come right out and say it that way. It’s more subtle than that, so he can always say, ‘Well, that’s not what I meant.’ But I think the message is fairly clear at times.

“I think he needs to understand that he has the biggest bully pulpit in the world as president of the United States, and when he says something, there are people who pay attention to it, and they feel empowered to behave a certain way. He is certainly not helping the process.”

Gun control

Although the recent gun control legislation passed by Pittsburgh’s City Council could be overturned at the state level, Doyle still thinks that passing it was “the right thing to do,” especially in light of inaction on gun control at the state and federal level.

“I think it is safe to say that the Pennsylvania state government and the federal government are not acting — that we have seen tragedy after tragedy after tragedy after tragedy, and Congress do absolutely

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

nothing except have a moment of silence.

And the state laws haven’t helped much either,” he said.

“I understand the frustration that people in the city felt, especially after witnessing what we witnessed in Squirrel Hill,” he continued. “Sometimes you just have to make a statement. I think cities, not just Pittsburgh, but you’re seeing cities across the country that are starting to take these things into their hands, if nothing else then to stir debate and public opinion toward the state and federal government to act.”

The City Council legislation, which places restrictions on military-style assault weapons like the AR-15 rifle used in the Tree of Life massacre, he said, “was something worth doing given all the tragedies we are seeing in our country, the result — when you look at these mass murders — of weapons that aren’t designed to do anything other than kill people efficiently. These are military-style weapons, and they shouldn’t be in the hands of civilians.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Headlines Session: Continued from page 1

enact the resolution.

“The respect that Rep. Frankel and the leadership in the Pennsylvania House and Senate showed meant so much to the victims’ families and helped with our healing process,” said Michele Rosenthal, sister of Cecil and David Rosenthal.

“It was nice and great to be appreciated and recognized in the way they did,” echoed Barry Werber, a survivor of the attack.

Joshua Sayles, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, was among those who traveled by bus from Pittsburgh to attend the event. He praised Rep. Frankel and House Speaker Mike Turzai “for making this happen.”

“Everybody in leadership understands how devastating this is to our community,” added Sayles.

“We have not had a joint session of this kind since September 25, 2001, to remember the tragedy of 9/11 in our country. That is the gravity with which we are treating what happened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 2018,” said Turzai.

Being at the joint session was “an extraordinary experience. It’s a shame it had to take place under these circumstances,” said Werber.

Jeffrey Finkelstein, Federation’s president and CEO, described the scene in an

p Rep. Dan Frankel speaks during the ‘Stronger Than Hate Day’ as the Pennsylvania Legislature held a rare joint legislative session to honor the victims of the terror attack at the Tree of Life building.

Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Legislature

email as “so memorable. All the commonwealth’s leadership was in the room. They heard Rabbi Jonathan Perlman from New Light Congregation open the session with an invocation and Rabbi Cheryl Klein from Dor Hadash close with a benediction. Both Representative Dan Frankel and Senator Jay Costa addressed all of us, speaking emotionally from deep in their hearts about what happened in their neighborhood to

challenge Blue and White faced.

“People were not ready enough to trust Continued from page 1 a new party. It takes some time,” she said.

“Maybe there will be another turn of elecwho lives in Somerset, disagreed with the tion in a year or two and they will gain more notion that Israel is better off now. support and interest of many people that Regarding security, she said, “the last eight went with the Likud for so long.” years have been a nightmare for people living Having all but secured his fifth term, in the area surrounding Gaza. In terms of Netanyahu will replace David Ben-Gurion education, the level of education compared as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. to the OECD in Europe got lower from year That fact is troubling, said Matsliach. to year and the level of education got worse.”

“Every little kid who was born over the When it comes to health care, there are past 13 years, all he knows is Netanyahu as “not enough hospitals, not enough equip- a role model. The corruption is so bad and ment, not enough beds, people are put in the this is the model for the youngest. Morally, corridors and the dining we want to see a change rooms,” she said. “Doctors — not only who leads are working impossible the country but what are extra time, it’s really their values?” inhuman to work in these The situation is best conditions. There is not understood through metaenough money invested in phor, explained Dobzinski. health. People are going to “Let’s say you have to the ER and waiting for 12 undergo a serious operation to 24 hours for someone and you have two options: a to help them. If you want surgeon who is experienced an MRI or any kind of p and performed the operIsraeli Prime Minster exam which requires more Benjamin Netanyahu, and his ation hundreds of times equipment you can wait wife, Sara, greet Likud party successfully, but as a person supporters in Tel Aviv. three to four months or six Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images he is a horrible person and months unless you have not a good man. And on the money for an exam in one of the private the other hand you have this mensch, a great facilities. For people with cancer, they can be guy, but he has no experience and actually has dead already.” a pretty bad track record. Which one do you Matsliach additionally decried the state of choose? It’s pretty clear which one I would transportation: “There are not enough new choose, and this is how I see it.” PJC roads in proportion to the amount of cars.”

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ Matsliach had hoped for a different outcome to the election, but understands the pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Election:

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their neighbors.”

“I’m the kind of person who when a couple is getting married and the bride is walking down the aisle, I look at the groom to see his face. I was looking at the faces of the legislators to see how they were reacting. No one was on their phone. No one was distracted. It was so powerful what was being said,” recalled Meryl Ainsman, Federation board chair.

“To see a group that does not normally convene together and agree on stuff to unite the commonwealth on something that everyone should agree on meant a lot,” said Rosenthal. “This journey is not an easy one, and to remember our loved ones and honor their memory meant so much to myself and I believe the other families,” she added. “None of us know where this journey is going to take us, but it’s important to carry on. Every person’s loved one means something special for them, and this trip to Harrisburg and the opportunity with Rep. Frankel was just so respectful, and the love and support from the people we met is what means a lot, that’s what is getting us through this.”

While standing before legislators and public officials, including Gov. Tom Wolf, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Frankel memorialized the victims of the terror attack: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Mel Wax and Irv Younger.

That act of keeping their memories alive was greatly appreciated, noted Rosenthal.

“Losing my brothers, there are no words. I continue to say you are part of a club that no one should be part of. The 11 families who unfortunately have been brought together, I think that all of us, we don’t want our loved ones to be forgotten.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Commonwealth considering security grants to nonprofits

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ennsylvania state senators are considering legislation to create a security grant program for nonprofits, including religious institutions, Jewish Community Centers and nursing homes, according to the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, which represents Pennsylvania’s Jewish communities before state government.

Senators Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester), Judith Schwank (D-Berks) and Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) recently circulated a co-sponsorship memo for members of the Pennsylvania Senate urging them to consider co-sponsoring such legislation.

The envisioned program would start with $10 million for security grants with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency as the facilitator of the grants.

The actual legislation is still being developed.

At a meeting between the coalition and Gov. Tom Wolf following the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue building, “an idea emerged to protect organizations that serve our communities and to create an

atmosphere of tolerance, respect and understanding,” the co-sponsorship memo states.

“The idea and legislation are based on the legislative approach we used last year to meet the problem of violence in our schools,” the memo continues, noting that at that time, a grant process was established to provide “for technology and building adaptations, and for programs to help students in psychological distress and isolation.”

The proposed legislation would “create a similar approach to address security needs and confront violence and intolerance against organizations whose membership is diverse and whose purpose is to serve our communities or to foster tolerance, respect and understanding in our Commonwealth,” the memo states, adding that grants would be available for security improvements for the facilities used by such organizations, “as well as grants to create a dialogue leading to an atmosphere supportive of tolerance, respect and understanding.” PJC

— Toby Tabachnick

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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APRIL 19, 2019 25

Headlines

Torah We are obligated to see ourselves Rabbi Chuck Diamomd Passover

I p Abraham Azagury, right, poses with his grandmother, Marie Benayoun.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Trip: Continued from page 5

What I saw and heard was both gorgeous and upsetting, and nowhere did I find this duality more evident than in Aix-les-Bains, a city of unbounded beauty. For four days, and more meals than I can count, we stayed with Azagury’s parents, Rabbi Salomon and Corrine Azagury, at their home overlooking the French Alps’ southeastern peaks. Next door a farmer tilled his land while his sheep grazed on the hillside.

Between eating nut-filled-chocolates and singing “Bendigamos,” a Spanish hymn, I learned that Azagury’s Moroccan father came to France at 16. Azagury’s Algerian mother arrived earlier. Her mother, Marie Benayoun, 89, recounted life in North Africa: her eightday-long wedding, how when the Americans arrived during World War II the only English she learned was “very good” (it’s what the Americans said after every meal), and how though her family lived in Algeria for hundreds of years, she was forced to flee in 1961 so that her own children could live safely as Jews.

At a wedding we all attended together, I watched as this matriarch was enveloped by her offspring. I watched her grandchildren clasp her hands, and I watched how, when saying goodbye, she hugged Azagury, her oldest grandson, who had left one life behind for another, just as she did many years ago.

These embraces, like the one shared between Azagury and his parents outside their home before we departed, were painful to observe. Azagury has no immediate plans to return. He exchanged family and fear for family and hope. But life is so uncertain, as our drive from Paris to Aix-les-Bains had reminded us.

It was mid-morning when we set out from

Paris to drive to Aix-les-Bains. Azagury was driving and wearing a yarmulke. I wore a cap. As we drove, a car approached from the right. The driver swerved in front of us and slammed the breaks. He came to a complete stop, in the left lane of the highway, as did we.

He peered into his rear-view mirror, thrust his finger in our direction and shouted. Cars passed at high speeds. The driver threw his car in reverse, and in order not to crash we too drove backwards on the highway. He came to a stop — still pointing, still shouting.

In silence we sat as cars raced by. Finally, he switched gears and drove away.

Thirty-six hours later, Azagury related the incident to his friend, who also wears a yarmulke, as we sipped beer at L’insolite.

Azagury was sure it occurred because the other driver saw his yarmulke. The story was met with no surprise. Azagury’s friend told him as difficult as it was to leave his family, his business and his country behind, Azagury made the right decision. He told Azagury to never move back to France. He said that he did not know how much longer, even in the peaceful setting of Aix-les-Bains, Jews will be safe.

In a December 2018 report from the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency, 95 percent of French Jews described anti-Semitism as either a “very big” or “fairly big” problem in the country today.

The findings follow a 2013 survey, noted the FRA: “Due to the continued prevalence of anti-Semitism on the ground, the opinions formulated in 2013 remain valid in 2018.”

I have been back for days and people keep asking about my trip. It is difficult to explain: I am not a French Jew. I was there for less than a week. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. Je n’ai pas de mots. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Name: E.J. Strassburger LEGAL NOTICE | TESTAMENTARY Width: 5.0415 in Estate Depth: 1.5ofinSidney N. Busis, Deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No 021901974 of 2019.

Color: Black Co-Executor, Neil A. Busis, 6934 Rosewood St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208 Ad Number: 3664_1 Richard J. Busis, 460 Wyngate Rd., Wynnewood, PA Co-Executor,

have always prided myself on my ability to create strong groups. In my early years as a USY advisor at Beth Shalom here in Pittsburgh, our chapter grew from 20 participants to 120 within a few years time. Teens were welcomed and encouraged to become part of our group, to feel like their participation mattered and made a difference.

Likewise in Great Neck several years later, at the highly lauded Youth House program at Temple Israel, we grew in number from 40 to 170.

In more recent times, during my work as a rabbi at Beth Shalom, Or L’Simcha and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha and currently at Kehillah La La, the emphasis on a partici-

much rather be a participant than a guest, an observer on the outside looking in.

This Friday night we sit down to enjoy the first seder of the Passover holiday. It is a mitzvah to welcome guests into our home. It is our greatest hope that these guests become full participants in our seder rituals. Each family has their own rituals and practices; each family has developed their own seder history that is shared each and every year.

When we read from the Haggadah this year, we will once again recite that “it is not enough simply to remember or even retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, but we are obligated to project oneself into the story in order to personally experience the move from slavery to freedom.”

We must become participants! We are obligated to do so. By becoming participants, we have a much more meaningful experience.

We must become participants!

By becoming participants, it becomes a much more meaningful experience.

pation that mattered truly made a difference and provided us with many successes.

Preparing for my summer at Camp Ramah in Canada, I was recently informed that I was welcome to come to camp for the first week or so, but that a tight housing situation prevented me from staying what has become my normal two weeks. It has become clear to me that I was no longer considered a participant in camp but had become a guest — an honored guest, but a guest.

Maybe I made that transition years ago but am only beginning to recognize it now. After giving this some thought, I realized that I’d

So this year I will once again do my best to become part of the Exodus from Egypt. I will do my best to encourage my family and friends to do the same.

(And, for those who care, I have no intention of being just a guest at Ramah for my week there. I will do my best to be a participant and to have an impact as I have always tried to do in the past!)

Chag Kasher veSameach and Shabbat Shalom. PJC Rabbi Chuck Diamond is rabbi of Kehillah La La.

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Obituaries ANGEL: Lorraine Angel, on Thursday, April 4, 2019. Beloved wife of the late Norman Angel; beloved mother of Jay (Margaret) Angel and the late Shelley Gast; beloved grandmother of five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. After relocating from Orlando nine years ago, she was a happy resident of Riverview Towers. She was lovingly cared for at Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at the end of her life. She was an enthusiastic volunteer at the Congregation Poale Zedeck office for many years and an active participant at the Jewish Community Center senior meals program. Burial was on Friday, April 5, in Orlando, next to her husband and daughter.

The family would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to Pat Wisniewski for her exceptional love and caring. Contributions may be made to Congregation Poale Zedeck, the Pittsburgh Kollel or the Jewish Association on Aging. May her memory be for a blessing. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory, LTD., Lawrenceville.

Mullen: Barbara (Segal) Mullen. The powerful, intelligent, creative, witty, inexplicable, unexpected and loving force of life known as Barbara (Segal) Mullen, took her last breath peacefully at home in Pittsburgh on March 31, 2019, at the age of 81. She is survived by her two children, Blair Cristie Ebadi-Mullen and Reid James Mullen; their spouses, Amin Ebadi and Teresa Ann Phipps; her brother, Gerald Segal; grandson Matteen Olivier Ebadi and her beloved caretaker, Kamala Dawn (Baur) Gibb. Barbara was born November 7, 1937, in Pittsburgh to Anne (Weinberg) Segal and Samuel Segal. She attended boarding school at Moravian Academy and then moved to New York City where she attended Parsons School of Design. She was lured back to Pittsburgh as, per the Jewish tradition, her mother set her up on a blind date with a “promising” young man named Robert Throckmorton Mullen. At the end of their first date, he proposed marriage to her … when you know, you know. They shared 45 years of love and laughter until he passed away on February 19, 2003. Barbara obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and worked as

an artist her entire life. She was a loving and devoted wife, mother and best friend to her two children. She will be remembered with warmth, love and laughter as the larger than life person that she was who firmly set the example for her children to always walk to the beat of your own drum. In her old age she needed a walker but insisted upon still wearing her 4-inch high heels, at 78 she was still climbing ladders to paint the ceilings of rooms in her house. She loved to scavenger for hidden treasures in thrift stores, and to hold onto useless items as she often said, “I might need that for something later.” She lived every day of her life to the fullest until the end. A celebration of Barbara’s life will be held in a private family service at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Doctors Without Borders or Alzheimer’s Research. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SKIRBOLL: Stanley Gerald Skirboll, born March 31, 1929, he died April 12, 2019, just 11 days past his 90th birthday. He was the loving son of the late Jack and Anne Skirboll; devoted and unwavering husband to Esther (Reidbord) Skirboll; loving father to Lee and Susan Skirboll; brother to Linda Zwang and Alan (Jacquie) Skirboll; uncle and dear friend to so many in the Skirboll and Reidbord families; as well as many others from his professional and social life in Pittsburgh.

Stan was a longtime advertising executive in Pittsburgh, in partnership and as owner of his own agencies. His cornerstone account, the advertising group, The Grand Olds Gang, were also his lifelong friends and allies. Stan was a genuinely solid person who had a calming and positive presence on those he met. He was known for his generosity, his sense of humor, his ethical stance and his love of family. He will be very greatly missed. A private family burial was held Sunday, April 14. If desired, donations in Stan’s name can be made to his favorite charity, the Special Olympics, Attn: Web Gifts, 1133 19th Street NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036‐3604. “Ichi Bon Nae” Stan, Rest in Peace. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 412-621-8282. schugar.com PJC

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday April 21: Rae E. Abady, J. Bernard Block, Cernie Caplan, Sol Fox, Philip Hanauer, Sr., Herbert E. Hirsh, E. Abe Keizler, Samuel L. Krauss, Edith Tanzer Levendorf, Luella Mattes, Louis N. Miller, Esther Unitan, Harry Weisberger, Aaron Weiss Monday April 22: Betram I. Adler, Pearl Braun, Louis Cohen, Joseph Cooper, Samuel Davidson, Adolph Edlis, Erwin R. Glick, Bernard Gold, Saul Goldberg, Mildred Winer Grossman, Flora Klein, Jennie Peetler Kliman, Julius Lebovitz, Sophie Ida Meyers, Oscar Radin, Sadie Reznik, Ben Rothman, Albert Silverberg, Jacob C. Tanur, Dora C. Weiss, Mollie Weiss, Mary Zoni Tuesday April 23: Harry Ellanovitz, Jennie Friedman, Bertha Kaiser, Philip K. Landau, Dr. Edwin Sheldon Protas, Hannah R. Rubinoff, William Taper, Norman Weinberg, Helen Jaffe Wolk Wednesday April 24: Fannie Ackerman, Harry Birnbaum, Ben Fleischer, Anne M. Flitman, Lillian H. Goldfield, Edward L. Gordon, Rachel Haltman, Sidney Lawrence, Jack Lundy, Louis Nauhaus, Fannie Pollock, Marcus P. Rose, Herman Aaron Rosenblum, Jacob Rubenstein, Matilda S. Strauss, Ferd N. Taub, Rose Tick, Bessie Rebecca Traub Thursday April 25: Isaac Abramovitz, Sarah Balkman, Merle N. Berger, David D. Bernstein, Helen Lorinczi Braunstein, Philip Golden, Beatrice Hollander, Albert Lawrence Jacobs, Harry Kornstein, Harry Melnick, Edna Gertrude Rothman Richman, Tillie Pechersky Serbin, Joseph Sherwin, Andrew H. Spitz, Saul Stein, Harry Stevenson, Pearl Wishnovitz, Albert Abraham Wolk Friday April 26: Nellie Baker, Solomon Balfer, Jennie Bergstein, Richard W. Brown, Joseph Cook, Sophie Glick, Philip Goldberg, Rev. Solomon Horwitz, Jennie Ruttenberg Joseph, Leona Kaminsky, Fanny Kaufman, Esther Kohn, Frank Leff, Alex G. Levison, Regina Margolis, Max Neiman, Ruth Paris, Diann Taxay, Mollie Wikes, Rachel Young Saturday April 27: Sadie Gelb Braunstein, Max Fischman, A. Morris Ginsburg, Edith Glosser, Celia Greenberg, Abraham Horowitz, Hannah Kamin, Isador Klein, Samuel Klein, Abraham Jacob Kwall, Bernard David Levine, Mattie Goldie Levine, Michael Liff, Rose H. Lowy, David Myers, Max Pretter, Norman Rose, Nettie Rosenthal, Dr. Zanvel Sigal, Myer Solomon, I. Weinbaum

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Headlines

in the army, successive wars in Gaza have only hardened that perception.

“They were born after the Oslo process started, they were exposed to the bloodshed during the second intifada, they are coming right after military service,” Hermann told JTA. Hazan, the Likud spokesman, said that “people who grew up in the middle of the Al-Aqsa intifada don’t trust the Palestinians, don’t believe in peace. They really want there to be peace, but there is no partner.”

For younger religious Zionist voters in particular, the disengagement, which

displaced some 8,000 Jewish settlers, “was considered an absolutely devastating moment that they’ve vowed never to return to,” Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and a public opinion expert, told JTA. “The general narrative is, we gave up this land, they sent rockets in return,” Scheindlin said. “The national religious have considered it a national trauma ever since then.”

Scheindlin said that what younger voters haven’t experienced might matter even more.

“There’s been no peace process, no handshakes, no agreements,” she said. “Any negotiations have been

zero-expectation negotiations.”

But along with being children of the conflict, this cohort is shaped by their religiosity. A larger percentage of young Israelis is haredi Orthodox and religious Zionist than in previous generations, and religious Jewish Israelis tend to be more right wing. “[How religious you are] is the best predictor of whether someone is left, right or center,” Scheindlin said. And the age divide is growing, she added, “given that religious people have more children and higher population growth.”

Right-wing parties have also attracted young voters because they prefer the same platform: social media. Netanyahu, who is famously averse to speaking with the Israeli press, is most comfortable tweeting and posting videos to Facebook. Those happen to also be networks popular with young Israelis.

“Bibi hates interviews and he very much prefers to have a completely controlled narrative, which is why he’s made enthusiastic use of social media,” Scheindlin said.

“Every word is measured. Two of his closest advisers are his social media advisers. So much of his personality is on social media.”

So did Jewish millennials deliver Netanyahu this election? It’s a bit too soon to tell. But Scheindlin said that while exact figures aren’t out yet, it’s safe to assume that the right wing had youth on its side.

“I don’t think a Likud victory will be driven by young people because religiosity will scatter their votes” across a variety of right-wing parties, she said, “but they will definitely be helping a right-wing bloc.” PJC

“My husband is very particular with food,” his wife, Livia said, after Tibor complained several times about the meal’s lack of flavor.

Kvetching aside, the event resonated deeply with the couple.

“Twenty eight relatives of mine died in Auschwitz — my grandparents, my greatgrandmother, my aunt, my cousins,” Livia said. “So for me when I see all the people, it’s something special in my heart.”

Saul Itizovicz, who wouldn’t give his exact age but said he was “around 90,” found comfort in being surrounded by others.

“It’s really nice and a healthy one to be invited to a place where you can forget the loneliness in the home,” said Itizovicz, who came to the seder with his wife Malka.

“Sometime because the children are not around no more, so we feel a little lost in space, because we have to wait for a telephone [call] from here, a telephone [call] from there,” he continued.

For Sarah Knecht, 81, the seder provided a way to celebrate Passover without having to worry about time-consuming preparations.

“I’ve always celebrated it in my own way with my own family and now it’s getting a little bit harder to cook up these big meals.

So I’m really grateful that we have a place to go where we can have a kosher seder,” said Knecht, who came with her husband Ted. For other attendees, the seder provided a new cultural perspective. Sharon Williams, who works as a caretaker for Charlotte

Schwimmer, has been attending the seder with her client for four years. Williams, who is Christian and originally from Jamaica, said that she has learned about the similarities between Judaism and Christianity. This year, she even sang along to some of the songs.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s interesting because you want to learn. You learn so many things and see that they are the same thing in your culture.”

Meanwhile, Lebovitz, who used to go to the event with her late husband, loved seeing the joy on other attendees’ faces.

“Everybody is happy when they come,” she said. “They’re happy to see each other and all this atmosphere of being together, getting to see others.” PJC

illustrations provide readers the unusual view from the mouse perspective. In a double-page illustration, Eli is kneeling and wide eyed when he discovers Miriam under a bookcase with the afikomen wrapped in a bright blue napkin embroidered by his grandmother.

where a curious boy named Shimri is told he’s too young and small to help his older and bigger family members plow the fields and draw water from the faraway well. But His Grandma Eliora reassures him that “Big ideas can come from small mouths,” and urges him to look closely and listen.

Shimri learns that King Hezekiah is looking for ideas on how to bring water inside the city’s walls and wonders if the king will listen to a small boy’s solution to the problem. Weber’s timeless, folk-style tale will strike a chord for young readers who will share Shimri’s frustration.

The warm desert tones of Inbal Gigi Bousidan’s illustrations evoke the landscape and lifestyle of ancient Jerusalem. An author’s note explains the fictional story is inspired by Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which was dug during the eighth century BCE, an engineering feat for its time. PJC

Right: Continued from page 13

younger, more religious vote as well.

Younger voters in Israel have been disproportionately right-wing for a while.

“There are two main theories about age,” Tamar Hermann, co-editor of the the annual Israeli Democracy Index and a professor of political science, told JTA. “One theory says when you are politically socialized, between 18 to 34, then it stays with you throughout your entire life. The other theory says that your political views change with age in a specific direction; people become milder with age.

“I cannot tell you whether they are more to the right because young people tend to be more radical, and certainly the left right now doesn’t offer a radical left-wing worldview, or because they are just young and this will change.”

The trend might have to do with the events that shaped their formative years.

An 18-year-old Israeli wasn’t alive during the heyday of the peace process in the 1990s, nor when the Israeli left last won an election, in 1999.

Young Israelis grew up during the second intifada, which saw hundreds of Israelis killed in suicide bombings. The aftermath of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, which occurred when this group was between 4 to 20 years old, has led many young Jewish Israelis to resent any leader who is willing to cede any more land currently under Israeli control. Since some of this group has served

Survivors: Continued from page 14

roasted potatoes, broccoli, beans and carrots — was “very good,” said Lebovitz, 87, though she was careful to clarify that the food was not her reason for coming.

“I’m coming to see other people,” she said.

“To be together, to spend an afternoon with other survivors. That is what it’s all about.”

Tibor Horovitz, who happily sang along to many of the blessings and songs, said his favorite part of the event was “the tradition.”

But there was one tradition the 86-year-old couldn’t get on board with: the lack of salt in the food.

Books: Continued from page 15

Mouse hasn’t been able to find any stray pieces — not even crumbs – for her family’s holiday. When the determined Miriam crawls through her hole, she spies Eli’s father hiding the afikomen, the piece of matzah needed to conclude the seder meal. Who will find the hidden matzah first, Eli or Miriam Mouse?

Kids will delight when Miriam Mouse finds the perfect solution for both families.

Mette Engell’s large and colorful

28 APRIL 19, 2019

p Likud supporters wave party and national flags as they gather at its headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 10, 2019.

Photo by Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Shimri’s Big Idea: A Story of Ancient Jerusalem

Elka Weber; illustrated by Inbal Gigi Bousidan Apples & Honey Press; ages 4-8 In this gracefully told story, Elka Weber takes kids back in time to ancient Jerusalem,

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APRIL 19, 2019 29

22 COMMUNITY

Community Fulfilling Jewish values

J-Serve is the Jewish service component of Youth Service America’s annual Global Youth Service Day and is a collaboration between BBYO and Repair the World, in partnership with Good Deeds Day. Since 2005, J-Serve has provided teens with an opportunity to band together through service as a united global network committed to fulfilling the Jewish

values of gemilut chasidim, acts of loving kindness, tzedakah, just and charitable giving and tikkun olam, the responsibility to repair the world. Every year, Jewish teens worldwide join each other on this special day and throughout the spring to make their community and the world a better place.

p Waiting for the day of service to begin, teen leaders pose for a photo before kicking off their 21 different community service projects and advocacy programs focused on gun reform, refugee rights and community cleanup throughout the Pittsburgh area. t As part of J-Serve 2019, local Jewish teens partnered with “From Israel to Pittsburgh” to create care packages for children in both the surrounding Pittsburgh area and Israel. Teens crafted and decorated gifts for children in need.

Photos by Lindsay Migdal

Celebrating success

Worldwide good deeds happen

The Friendship Circle’s annual gala, Friends All Around: All Aboard! was held on Sunday, April 7 at the Pennsylvanian, downtown. Close to 650 supporters were in attendance to celebrate another successful year of inclusive programming and the high school graduation of its seniors. Attendees enjoyed a FC graduation ceremony honoring senior friends, food, music, a mobile auction and a prize raffle.

Good Deeds Day, a worldwide event managed locally by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Volunteer Center, took place on Sunday, April 7. The Volunteer Center offered 52 opportunities to more than 600 volunteers who helped neighbors, improved neighborhoods and did valuable work in partnership with area nonprofits. For the first time, J-Serve teens participated on the same day as other Good Deeds Day volunteers. This year’s Good Deeds Day corporate sponsors were Comcast and Giant Eagle.

t From left: Event co-chairs, Lynn Farber, Cindy Vayonis and Merris Groff

p Friends all aboard

30 APRIL 19, 2019

Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle

u Alongside dozens of volunteers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Brycen Kent helped make peanut butter– and–jelly sandwiches that were included in school lunches distributed by Light of Life Ministries. Good Deeds Day participants provided 300 school lunches.

p For the third year, The Neighborhood Academy and other volunteers participated in Good Deeds Day by renovating a home in Garfield in partnership with Open Hand Ministries.

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Photos by Elan Mizrahi

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23 color COMMUNITY

Community Officially opened

p Executive Director of Jewish Residential Services Nancy Gale, left, and JRS Board Chair Judy Cohen celebrated the dedication of Krause Commons last week at an event honoring donors to the capital campaign that helped fund the building. The building was named in memory of Seymoure and Corinne Krause. The building is on the site of the former Poli’s Restaurant and houses JRS’s administrative offices, an expanded Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse and 33 units of affordable housing, 17 of which are reserved for individuals with disabilities.

p Robert Levin and Barbara Krause cut the ribbon at the dedication ceremony for Krause Commons. Speakers included U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, Mayor Bill Peduto and State Sen. Jay Costa.

Photos by dKoch photography

Shabbat Across Pittsburgh

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers honored for valor

Machers & Shakers

Sixteen-year-old Eitan Weinkle of Squirrel Hill was elected national mazkir (president) of Young Judaea at its February National Convention. A second generation “Judaean,” Eitan will begin his term in the middle of Young Judaea’s 110th year. Founded in 1909, Young Judaea is the oldest Zionist Youth movement in the United States and focuses on the strengthening of social responsibility, leadership development and Zionist and Jewish identity among its school-aged and teen members. Eitan has been an active member of the Pittsburgh Young Judaea community since elementary school.

Eitan follows in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Jonathan Weinkle, who was also deeply involved in Young Judaea. t Eitan is with three of his fellow 20192020 mazkirut (board) members

Photo courtesy of Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize on April 15 for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the shooting deaths of 11 people and the wounding of seven others Oct. 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue building in Squirrel Hill. The emeritus executive editor, David Shribman, who led the staff as the tragedy unfolded, was in the newsroom for the announcement and asked for a moment of silence for the victims.

“We are not so much celebrating as affirming … the job we were put on this earth to do,” Shribman said. “Let’s dedicate ourselves to the memory of those whose lives were lost,” according to the Post-Gazette.

Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

p Friday, April 5, Shabbat Across Pittsburgh brought together young adults from across the spectrum of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. The event — hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division, JGrads CMU, and JGrads Pittsburgh — was held at the Chabad of Pittsburgh Social Hall, Squirrel Hill. From left: Adam Livingston, Wendy Levenson, Max Hill and Sandy Spira.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, right, from Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha was honored last week at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s 2019 National Dinner in Los Angeles, California. Medals of Valor were given out to those who exemplify the good deeds of outstanding individuals who honor mankind and whose courage and bravery shine a light in the darkest of places. Myers received his medal for his community service and his actions during and after the Oct. 27, 2018, Tree of Life synagogue building massacre. His medal had the inscription, “He who saves a single life, it is as if he has saved an entire world.”

Photo courtesy of Young Judaea

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