Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 6-14-19 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

June 14, 2019 | 11 Sivan 5779

Candlelighting 8:34 p.m. | Havdalah 9:42 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 24 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Jeremy Piven visits Tree of Life

Local police visit Israel, exchange best practices

A panel of experts weighs in on relevancy of synagogue in 21st century

The actor came to Pittsburgh to pay tribute — and do standup. Page 2

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

LOCAL

how they protect the homeland, how we do things here in the United States, do some joint training with them and be exposed, and expose them to what we do here,” Orsini said. “It was a trip of a lifetime,” Orsini continued, noting that it was the first visit to Israel for each of the Pittsburgh participants. One of the challenges police face, Lauth said, is finding the right balance between security measures and openness, and visiting Israel helped him see how other communities find that balance. “There has always been that balance, because we want our synagogues, our churches, our schools, to be public buildings, open to the community and free for people to come in and worship and learn,” he said. “They are supposed to be happy places. That is something we have always sort of done behind the scenes. But after Oct. 27, a lot of that has come into question. How much security do we have to have? How much security do we need to have? What is our comfort level with that security? I found it very interesting, the opportunity to go to Israel and learn how things occur there as opposed to how they occur in the United States.” Lauth, who lives in Mt. Lebanon, has worked in its police department for 21 years,

ake a look in the pews during religious services at any local non-Orthodox congregation, and the message is clear: Jews are not showing up, or at least not in the numbers that they used to. A panel of Jewish spiritual leaders was assembled last week at Rodef Shalom Congregation to discuss the relevancy of synagogues in the 21st century, and to examine how to reshape Jewish communal life in the years to come. While there was no agreement among the speakers as to how to increase affiliation or how to reinvigorate congregational life, they all concurred there was a serious problem that must be addressed. Moderated by Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the one-hour forum was convened on June 5 following the congregation’s annual meeting. About 60 people were in attendance to hear the discussion among panel members Rabbi Aaron Bisno of Rodef Shalom Congregation; Rabbi Seth Adelson of Congregation Beth Shalom; Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha; and Cantor Julie Newman of Tiferet, a Jewish spirituality project. Greater Pittsburgh’s 2017 Jewish Community Study, conducted by Brandeis University, showed that the local Jewish population has grown 17 percent since the last community study in 2002. But while 53 percent of respondents to the 2002 study reported household synagogue membership, only 35 percent of Jewish households in 2017 are affiliated with a synagogue or another type of Jewish worship community. “We have had synagogues in Jewish life for 2000 years and we have had rabbis and cantors and leaders of those synagogues for

Please see Police, page 14

Please see Panel, page 14

Author sets novel in Pittsburgh

 Jason Haberman, Aaron Lauth, Ed Trapp, Brad Orsini, Jim Glick and Eric Baker Photo provided by Brad Orsini

Jamie Beth Cohen mined childhood for her new book. Page 3 WORLD Three generations

The Berkun family has enduring local connections. Page 4

$1.50

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

pending a week training with law enforcement and security officials in Israel was “eye-opening,” said Aaron Lauth, chief of police for the Mt. Lebanon Police Department. Not only did he learn that some of the security issues being dealt with in the Jewish state mirror the ones he faces on a local level, but he was also able to bring back to his police department useful techniques and strategies to help protect his community here. From May 16-25, Lauth, along with Mt. Lebanon Police Department’s deputy chief Jason Haberman, attended a law enforcement mission to Israel organized by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. Also on the trip was Brad Orsini, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Police Department Commander Ed Trapp; and Pittsburgh Police Department Sgts. Jim Glick and Eric Baker. This was the first mission of its kind, according to Orsini, and it included community security directors and police officers from Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit as well as Pittsburgh. “We went over to work with [Israeli] officials from many different departments on community resiliency, and to talk about

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Jewish anti-vax conference

WORLD

Israel’s Avigdor Liberman

FOOD

Creative canapes

Headlines Jeremy Piven joins Tree of Life for Shabbat — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

hen the name Jeremy Piven comes to mind, it is most often in the context of Ari Gold, the character he played for eight seasons on HBO’s hit series “Entourage.” Gold was a ruthless celebrity agent, and not a particularly nice guy. Piven’s spot-on portrayal of that character earned him three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Unpredictably, the classically trained, Jewish actor has pivoted career paths and is now touring the country with a stand-up routine. He was in Pittsburgh last weekend to perform four shows at the Improv at the Waterfront, and to join congregants of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha for Saturday morning services. He was given an aliyah, and joined the congregation for Shabbat lunch. When he heard about the massacre here on Oct. 27, “I felt kind of helpless and so far away,” said Piven, speaking by phone from New York prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh. “At that time, I immediately scheduled the next possible time to perform in that area. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until a few months away, so it’s been a little bit of time, but I still wanted to go and be around everyone and pay my respects and be around some good energy.” Piven was raised Jewish. He said he has been “observing my whole life, and was bar mitzvahed, and love being part of the Jewish community.” Most recently seen as a series regular in the CBS television series “Wisdom of the Crowd,” Piven also portrayed Harry Gordon Selfridge in the PBS series “Mr. Selfridge.” He is a veteran of stage as well, but about

In January, Piven took his stand-up routine to Israel, playing shows in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. “It was amazing,” he said. “I was kind of shocked because I didn’t know how many of the pop culture references that they would get, and they got them all.” Israel, he said, “is such a beautiful miracle. It’s such a young country, and they are all so vibrant, and it was just a lesson being there. I loved the energy of the place. And they have their own specific rites of passage, and part of it is going to the army, so people are incredibly wellequipped and hard-working and yet really know how to be present and have a good time and celebrate their freedom. So there is a lot to be learned from the Israelis.” p Actor Jeremy Piven spent Shabbat with Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha on his recent visit That was Piven’s second visit to the to Pittsburgh. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Piven Jewish state. His first was in 2016, along with an entourage of basketball a year ago, he launched his career as a players. He was invited by Omri Casspi, the stand-up comedian. first Israeli to play in the NBA. “It’s all part of the journey, because I am “I was lucky enough to go with a group lucky to have been classically trained, but at that was there to draw some attention to the same time, I also grew up performing Israel in a positive light, which is the way sketch comedy,” he said. “My first job out of they should be seen,” he said. “We donated a college was performing with Second City, motorcycle which is being used as an ambuwhich is basically improvising on your feet lance in Israel.” with a group of actors. And stand-up, at Although his parents were founders of the times, is improvising on your feet alone. famed Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, So I think it is the same engine, but a Illinois, performing was not his only interest different gear.” growing up. He was on his high school His turn as a comic “may confuse people,” football team, and his immersion into jock he acknowledged. “There will be people who culture broadened his worldview. will doubt me and, as you know from being “I was incredibly lucky to be a part of a Jewish, we’ve been counted out and we’ve bunch of different worlds that usually don’t been underdogs for centuries, so I welcome go together, including playing high school that, and I love the opportunity to rise to football, and also being in the Piven Theatre the occasion.” when I wasn’t on the football field, which

was a very interesting combination,” he said. “Very few people get to experience all those worlds, and I highly suggest it to anyone who has a kid growing up. “At my bar mitzvah, no one knew what to do with the yarmulke — they were using them as frisbees or pocket squares,” he laughed. “So I was incredibly lucky in that way, that I got to experience all different types of people and to learn intrinsically, in my bones, that we are all the same.” The Piven Theatre also was a very inclusive environment, he said. “If you couldn’t afford it, the kids would be on scholarship. Whatever it took. One thing that my family is not necessarily good at is business — we are just simply artists. And anyone that wants to come and work with us is welcome and that’s the way we have always been — open-door policy — which is actually the antithesis of the character I played, Ari Gold. “It’s interesting growing up and being a Chicago stage actor and then being confused for Ari Gold,” he continued. “I was walking down the street just now and a guy — it was very cute — instead of calling me Ari Gold, he called me Ari Goldstein, and said, ‘Can you sign a contract for me?’ That was adorable. I would love to sign that fictional contract.” Piven opens his show with addressing the fact that he is not his “Entourage” alter ego, he said, “to give people a context for me, to put them at ease and let them know it’s time to laugh. They are hoping I am going to be funny because they don’t know if I can do stand-up or not. And that’s also what the whole exchange is. I love this challenge.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Ellis graduate and novelist to return home — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

amie Beth Cohen no longer lives in Pittsburgh but her plot does. “Wasted Pretty,” released in April 2019 by independent publisher Black Rose Writing, follows protagonist Alice Burton, a 16-year-old Jewish high school student-athlete whose physical maturation and familial relationships spur an awakening. Cohen grew up in Stanton Heights and graduated from the Ellis School in Shadyside, and while her book is set in Pittsburgh in 1992 and incorporates elements of its author’s adolescence, the work is hardly autobiographical. “There is nothing that happens in the book the way it happened in my real life, except for the main character accidentally locks herself in the bathroom of a boy she has a crush on. And that is something that I was talented enough to do once,” said Cohen. “Everything else is fiction, however, it draws heavily from my teenage experience and my friends’ teenage experience and the experience of the teens that I was working

with when I was writing the book.” Basing the book in Pittsburgh and drafting portions of its story here were critical, she said. “I think for me, Pittsburgh is still the place that I feel the most vulnerable and the most safe.” Pittsburgh was where her parents, Neil I. Cohen and Susan Heller, met as students at Peabody High School. It was the city where her parents married and purchased a home, almost equidistant from their own parents’ residences. Pittsburgh was where Cohen’s maternal grandmother, Eleanor Persky, served as secretary to both Rabbi Solomon Kaplan and Rabbi Emeritus Alvin K. Berkun of Tree of Life synagogue. Pittsburgh was where her family did not belong to a congregation, but received The Jewish Chronicle weekly. It was the city where, at the age of 10, Cohen decided to become an author and drafted her first work, “Strawberry Seasons: A Play to Act Out,” based on a childhood board game revolving around the Strawberry Shortcake character. Now, Pittsburgh is mostly memories for the author. Cohen’s grandparents are dead and her father died in 2005. The house where she grew up is owned by another family. Her mother, now remarried, spends part of the

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p Jamie Beth Cohen

year in Florida. But “Wasted Pretty” brings Cohen’s old Pittsburgh back. “As an adult who writes young adult fiction, a piece of advice we often get is, ‘Write the book you needed when you were a teen’ ... and that is what I have done,” she said. “The book is about what it feels like to be a 16-year-old girl who is all of a sudden being looked at for her appearance and her body in

Photo by Mark Pontz Photography

a way she hadn’t been the year before, and all of the things that are exciting about that but also annoying and, in her case, dangerous.” While the novel is Cohen’s first foray into fiction, she is hardly a writing novice. As a freelancer, she has published in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun and Teen Please see Ellis, page 15

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Designed for ﬁrst time parents, this innovative program combines childbirth education with an exploration of Jewish traditions and rituals connected with pregnancy, birth, parenting and raising a family.

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To learn more or apply, visit: shalompittsburgh.org/jewish-baby-university/ Questions/accommodations for differing abilities? Contact Carolyn Slayton at 412-992-5263 or cslayton@jfedpgh.org

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How has the law helped to shape our destiny as American Jews? What insights can our legal tradition offer as we confront new and troubling forces of anti-Semitism?

David Wecht grew up in Pittsburgh and was an active member of Masada, the ZOA’s youth movement. He earned both his bachelor’s and law degrees from Yale. Justice Wecht practiced law in Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, and was twice elected Register of Wills & Clerk of Orphans Court. He then served for several years on the Common Pleas and Superior Courts before his election to The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2015.

There is no charge to attend but reservations are required and may be made at pittsburgh@zoa.org or 412-665-4630. PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JUNE 14, 2019 3

Headlines Three generations connected to Tree of Life — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer

ndrew Carnegie once famously said, “Pittsburgh entered the core of my heart when I was a boy and cannot be torn out.” Rabbi Jonathan Berkun shared that feeling as he reflected on the eight years he spent living in Squirrel Hill. “The whole city was filled with such friendly, warm, gracious people that it was a pleasure to be living in Squirrel Hill and Pittsburgh,” he said. “It was a very warm and hospitable community. Many of those qualities left a lasting impression on me and remain with me until today. The foundation values of kindness, passion, concern — those are part of the Pittsburgh Jewish culture.” Those values are also clearly foundational to the Berkun family, which has been dedicated to service for three generations. Berkun has served as a rabbi at Aventura Turberry Jewish Center since 2007. His father, Rabbi Alvin Berkun, is the rabbi emeritus at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha. And his son, Jeremy, is a member of HaZamir Miami. Jeremy recently returned to the city for a special free concert on May 19 at Temple Sinai, singing with 20 chapters of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir to express solidarity with the city of Pittsburgh.

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“This last Pittsburgh trip was one of the most emotional of my entire life,” Jeremy said. “I can’t express what it was like to see all the people that came to the concert. It means a lot to me and my family that I was able to go and support the city through music and love.” “It was bittersweet,” recalled Rabbi Alvin Berkun, as he thought about watching his grandson perform in the concert. “I’m very proud of my grandson. It brought back memories of Tree of Life, because I served as their rabbi for over 30 years. That’s the shul I davened in every Shabbos morning. I was literally on my way to services that October morning (when the Tree of Life shooting took place), but my wife called and said she didn’t feel well and asked if I could stay home. I did, and everyone who sat next to me in shul — I officiated at their [funeral] services the following week. My son, Jonathan, assisted me in these funerals because he knew all the congregants.” The elder Berkun thinks that Tree of Life played a part in his son working with youth groups and becoming a rabbi. “He was encouraged to play guitar at the end of Yom Kippur when he was just a teenager. From that perspective, it was great because it gave him a way of using prayer and his guitar skills and ultimately led him to be very Please see Generations, page 19

p Rabbi Alvin Berkun, rabbi emeritus at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, left, poses for a photo with his grandson Jeremy, a member of HaZamir, and his son, Rabbi Jonathan Berkun, right, rabbi at Aventura Turberry Jewish Center. Photo courtesy of the Berkun family

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Headlines Dispatches from an Orthodox anti-vaccine rally — NATIONAL — By Ben Sales | JTA

he weirdest part of an Orthodox anti-vaccine conference in New York last week was probably when the emcee, a rabbi wearing a black hat and white beard, quoted the Gospel of Luke. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” he cried, reciting the Gospels nearly verbatim in referring to advocates of vaccination. The rabbi might have been talking about the 200 people gathered in the basement of a haredi Orthodox wedding hall in Brooklyn to hear about the dangers of vaccines. While the scientific consensus supports vaccination and regards it as a historic boon to public health, the crowd and the emcee, Rabbi Hillel Handler, do not put much stock in that science. In Handler’s version of reality, doctors, rabbis and politicians are all hoodwinked by a massive conspiracy orchestrated by drug companies and the Centers for Disease Control to make money off of vaccines. Handler and the other speakers charged the CDC and its purported stooges with hiding the dangers of vaccines and destroying evidence that they find are harmful. They cited no credible evidence.

p Attendees view a PowerPoint presentation at an anti-vaccination rally in Brooklyn, June 4, 2019. Photo by Ben Sales

“This is all being orchestrated by the drug companies, which are very close to the CDC,” Handler told the crowd in a gender-segregated room at a catering hall in the Midwood neighborhood. “The doctors all march in lockstep with the CDC. The doctors don’t think they’re marching in

lockstep. They don’t understand that the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, is a totally corrupt swamp. … They are criminals.” The conference came amid an ongoing measles outbreak sparked by low vaccination rates, particularly in the Orthodox

community. According to the CDC, there have been 981 confirmed cases of measles in the United States this year. In New York City, according to the city’s Department of Health, there have been 566 confirmed measles cases since September, the highest totals since 1992. The city says most of the cases have involved members of the Orthodox Jewish community. The city required immunization in heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods earlier this year. Large Orthodox organizations have encouraged their communities to vaccinate. “[C]ountless rabbinical figures and leaders, including leading rabbis in the Agudath Israel movement and doctors serving these communities, have repeatedly encouraged vaccination in the strongest possible terms,” reads an April statement by Agudath Israel of America, a leading haredi group. “Indeed, the overwhelming majority of children enrolled in Jewish schools are vaccinated.” But there are some vocal holdouts. At the rally held late Tuesday night, organized by an anti-vaccine group calling itself the United Jewish Community Council, speakers cast doubt on established medical opinion and the CDC. The crowd, which appeared to be mostly but not entirely haredi, was receptive to the message and applauded. One attendee told another that large Please see Anti-Vaccine, page 15

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JUNE 14, 2019 5

Headlines AIPAC and J Street support bipartisan effort to restore funds for Israeli-Palestinian peace dialogue — WORLD — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

n array of pro-Israel groups are backing a bipartisan bill that would seed investment in the Palestinian areas and restore funding to peace dialogue programming that the Trump administration removed as a punitive measure against the Palestinians. The bill reads in part as a rebuke to the administration for ending funding for dialogue groups last year. It also reinforces backing for a two-state solution at a time when the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are playing down the prospect of Palestinian statehood. The bill announced last week has drawn support from groups that are often at odds over peace policy, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which generally aligns with the Israeli government on security issues, and J Street and Americans for Peace Now, which have frequently criticized the Netanyahu government’s and Trump administration’s approaches to the conflict. Other groups supporting the bill include the Jewish Federations of North America and its Israel advocacy affiliate, the Israel Action Network, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an umbrella for Jewish public policy groups. Leading its introduction are Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., a pro-Israel stalwart who chairs the powerful U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., a member of the committee. In the Senate, it is being backed by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who chairs the

p Rep. Nita Lowey, seen speaking at the AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C., in March 2019, is leading the charge for a bill to restore funding to peace dialogue programming. Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

peace push spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, which emphasizes investment. Kushner is convening a summit later this month in Bahrain to include investment by Arab states in Palestinian economic development.

“ To aid the pursuit of this dream, this bipartisan legislation would stimulate economic development and build community ties between Israelis and Palestinians. There are no shortcuts

”

to peace. …

— REP. NITA LOWEY foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, along with Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Col., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Chris Coons, D-Del. The bill, which would provide $50 million annually for five years for a “Partnership Fund for Peace,” ostensibly fits in with the

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“Although economic development is an important tool for stabilizing conflictprone settings and establishing connections between communities, economic development by itself will not lead to lasting peace,” the bill says in its preamble. “People-topeople peacebuilding programs further

advance reconciliation efforts by promoting greater understanding, mutual trust and cooperation between communities.” The bill also asserts, “It is the sense of Congress that building a viable Palestinian economy is central to the effort to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.” Lobbying for the bill was spearheaded by the Alliance for Middle East Peace, an umbrella for dozens of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue groups and programs, including educational programs like Givat Haviva, Hand in Hand and Neveh Shalom. ALLMEP swung into action last year after the Trump administration slashed the $10 million these groups get annually as part of the hundreds of millions it was ending in assistance to the Palestinians. “At a moment when important norms around resolution of this conflict are being eroded, and dehumanizing and violent attitudes —most markedly among the young — are growing, this is a critical ‘win’ for our community, and its collective mission to counter such trends,” John Lyndon, ALLMEP’s incoming executive director, said in a statement. The Trump administration cut the assistance in part because the Palestinian Authority refused to end subsidies to the families of Palestinians jailed or killed for attacks on Israelis, but also because Palestinian leaders opted out of peace talks after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It was never made clear why the Trump administration ended the relatively small

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amount of funding for dialogue groups, which did not reach the Palestinian Authority. Trump administration insiders have suggested that the programs never proved their efficacy because there was no Israeli-Palestinian peace. Supporters say the programs aim to tamp down tensions and create opportunities for Israeli-Palestinian interaction and leave peacemaking to diplomats. (Israel’s right wing prioritizes interactions with Palestinian individuals over those associated with dialogue groups, saying the latter reinforce a sense of Palestinian national identity at the expense of peacemaking.) Lowey said that one of the purposes of the fund was to lay the groundwork for a two-state outcome. “Time and time again, Congress has reiterated its support for a two-state solution that leads to two states for two peoples,” she said in a release. “To aid the pursuit of this dream, this bipartisan legislation would stimulate economic development and build community ties between Israelis and Palestinians. There are no shortcuts to peace, and this bill lays the foundation for this generation and those to come to engage in the hard work of peace-building.” Right-wing figures in Israel have lambasted some of the groups under the ALLMEP umbrella for bringing together former fighters on both sides and families of victims of violence on both sides, saying it creates a false equivalence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists. PJC

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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 FRIDAY, JUNE 14 Celebrate Pride Shabbat with Temple Emanuel of South Hills at 7:30 p.m. The service will include special readings and reflections and will be followed by a dessert oneg. For more information, visit templeemanuelpgh.org or call 412-279-7600. q SATURDAY, JUNE 15 Enjoy an Outdoor Game Day with Moishe House from 2 to 4 p.m. Warm up your pulls, hammers and scoobers and get ready to play! There will be frisbees, various balls, and outdoor activities. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults age 22-32. q MONDAY, JUNE 17 Yeshiva Schools annual dinner will be held at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Visit yeshivaschools.com for more information. Indoor Game Night is back at Moishe House from 7-9 p.m. Play Pictionary, Catan, Scrabble, or bring your own game. Contact

moishehousepgh@gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults age 22-32. q WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19 Squirrel Hill AARP will host its annual end of the season luncheon at noon, at the Comfort Inn Conference Center, 699 Rodi Road in Penn Hills. Following the lunch there will be installation of officers. Nick Fiasco will provide entertainment with his program, “Sounds of Sinatra and Friends.” Call Marcia Kramer before June 10 at 412-656-5803 to make reservations. q THURSDAY, JUNE 20 The Beth Shalom Academic Book Club discussion on the book “Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom” will be held at a location in Squirrel Hill. The book reintroduces readers to Solomon’s story and its surprising influence in shaping Western culture, and also examines what Solomon’s life, wisdom and writings have come to mean for Jews, Christians, and Muslims over the past 2,000 years. A copy is available to borrow from Beth Shalom, at the front desk. Visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming for more information. Temple Emanuel of South Hills hosts an Evening of Chamber Music at 7:30 p.m. in honor of Jacob Naveh. Naveh is retiring after tutoring South Hills b’nai mitzvah students for over 50 years. The concert will feature musicians from the Pittsburgh Jewish Music

Festival: Nurit Pacht, violin; Aron Zelkowicz, cello and Rodrigo Ojeda, piano. Tickets are $10/person and can be purchased at templeemanuelpgh.org/event/concert

and troubling forces of anti-Semitism. Free and open to the public, but reservations are required at pittsburgh@zoa.org or 412-665-4630. q TUESDAY, JUNE 25

q FRIDAY, JUNE 21

Jewish Family and Community Services offers free “Grounding Through Movement: Managing Symptoms of Trauma, Anxiety and Stress in Our Bodies” sessions to anyone suffering trauma from the aftermath of the Tree of Life shooting in room 202 of the Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill beginning at 6:30 p.m. Next session is Sunday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m. No registration is necessary. Visit jfcs.org/ events/events-calendar or a complete list of community support events in June.

World Refugee Day is free and open to the community from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Market Square (Market Street & Forbes Avenue). Enjoy crafts; food; African, Nepali and Greek dance groups; Venezuelan musician, dance and drumming from the Hill Dance Academy Theater, poet Osama Alomar from Pittsburgh City of Asylum, and more. Taste treats from Syria, Iraq, Turkey and more. Prom Shabbat at Moishe House from 7 to 9 p.m. Relive the biggest night of your young life with formal wear, stairwell pictures, slow dancing and a crowning of the prom court. Come in your snazziest prom outfit and prompose to a special cutie or come stag, no date needed. Contact moishehousepgh@gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults age 22-32. q MONDAY, JUNE 24 The Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh hosts “Anti-Semitism and American Law” featuring Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David N. Wecht. at 7 p.m. in the Eisner Commons at Congregation Beth Shalom. Justice Wecht will discuss how the law helped to shape our destiny as American Jews and what insights our legal tradition offers as we confront new

q SATURDAY, JUNE 29 Start your week off with a Havdalah Bonfire from 8 to 10 p.m. Bring your ukulele, clarinet, or voice and enjoy a night of singing, bonfires and s’more. Beer and snacks will be available. Contact moishehousepgh@gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults age 22-32. q SATURDAY, JULY 6 Beth Shalom hosts Noam Sienna for a study session at 12:45 p.m. centered on his work on the intersection of Jewish and queer identities. Sienna is the author of “A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts From the First Century to 1969.” For more information, visit noamsienna.com PJC

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

International New York Times cuts political cartoons The New York Times announced that it will no longer publish daily political cartoons in its international edition, in the wake of backlash over a cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered anti-Semitic. In the announcement made on Monday, the Times ended its relationship with two contract cartoonists. The international edition stopped running syndicated political cartoons two months ago. In late April, the New York Times international edition published a political cartoon that showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog (a dachshund) wearing a Star of David collar and leading President Donald Trump, who is wearing a black kippah. The newspaper later acknowledged that the cartoon “included anti-Semitic tropes” and that it was “an error of judgment to publish it.” James Bennet, editorial page editor, in a statement on Monday said that “for well over a year we have been considering bringing that edition into line with the domestic paper by ending daily political cartoons and will do so beginning July 1.” One of the fired cartoonists, Patrick Chappatte, wrote on his personal blog: “I’m putting down my pen, with a sigh: that’s a lot

of years of work undone by a single cartoon — not even mine — that should never have run in the best newspaper of the world.” He added: “I’m afraid this is not just about cartoons, but about journalism and opinion in general. We are in a world where moralistic mobs gather on social media and rise like a storm, falling upon newsrooms in an overwhelming blow. This requires immediate counter-measures by publishers, leaving no room for ponderation or meaningful discussions.” The New York Times won its first Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning last year, for a series that told the story of a Syrian refugee family. Berlin Jewish Museum takes heat for tweeting link to pro-BDS story The Berlin Jewish Museum is under fire for tweeting a link to a pro-BDS story. At issue is a tweet sent June 6 by the museum encouraging followers to read an article in the left-wing daily newspaper Taz about a petition in which 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars criticized a May 17 Bundestag resolution labeling the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement anti-Semitic. Facing a storm of criticism, the museum, which has come under fire for welcoming perceived anti-Zionists and representatives of the Iranian regime, tweeted on June 9 that it merely wanted to call attention to the discussion and “has in no way positioned itself against the resolution of the Bundestag.”

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On Tuesday, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, slammed the museum for what he called “the last straw.” “The Jewish Museum Berlin seems to be completely out of control. Under these conditions, one has to wonder whether the term ‘Jewish’ is still appropriate,” he wrote. Online store slammed for products with ‘Zyklon B’ logo A British-based online purveyor of customized products is in trouble again, this time for selling items with the words “Zyklon B” printed on them. On sale via Redbubble were cups, T-shirts, cell phone cases and postcards bearing the brand name of Zyklon B, one of the chemicals Nazis used to murder millions in gas chambers. The Berliner Zeitung newspaper, which broke the story, published a photo of the Zykon B wares and said the logo resembles that of a popular oral hygiene brand. The products were removed from the website on Monday, the Daily Mail reported. Last month, Redbubble was pressured to remove miniskirts printed with the Arabic word for God — “Allah” — following a Twitter storm of criticism. Also removed recently — after a Twitter complaint from staff at the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial in Poland — were miniskirts and handbags printed with images of the death camp.

Jewish directors dominate at Tony Awards “Hadestown,” a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the underworld, won best new musical at the Tony Awards, and a coveted prize for its Jewish director. Rachel Chavkin won the Tony for best director of a musical, becoming the 10th woman to win best director for a Broadway play or musical. Sam Mendes, the Jewish director of the “The Ferryman,” won for best director of a play. “The Ferryman,” co-produced by Pittsburgh native Jamie deRoy, also earned a Tony for best play. Mendes won an Academy Award for directing “American Beauty.” Actress and comedy legend Elaine May received her first Tony Award — for best leading actress in a play. She stars in Jewish playwright Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” his semi-autobiographical play about a family dealing with the declining health of its matriarch. Actor Bryan Cranston, whose father is of Austrian Jewish descent, won the Tony Award for best leading man in a play for his performance as newscaster Howard Beale in “Network.” Sound designer Nevin Steinber, was awarded with Jessica Paz for their sound design of “Hadestown.” James Corden hosted the awards ceremony. PJC

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“CONGRESS IS CHANGING THE RULES FOR YOUR IRAS”

Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq.

Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney practicing at Marks Elder Law with offices in Squirrel Hill and Monroeville. Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com.

In May, the House of Representatives approved the “Secure Act”, a bill intended to “reform” 401(k) and IRA rules. The Senate is now considering its version of these reforms. This legislation, if enacted into law, will change the way IRA and other retirement plan contributions and withdrawals will be made and taxed. These changes are a mixed bag of good and bad for individual taxpayers. Under separate bills already passed in the House and pending in the Senate, positive changes include pushing back the age at which you are required to begin making taxable withdrawals from 70 1/2 to age 72; and expanding access to 401(k) plans for small employers and long-term part time workers. Also, taxpayers over age 70 ½ will be allowed to make contributions to traditional IRAs, as many people continue to work into their later years. However, other provisions will negatively impact taxes and estate planning for individual taxpayers who leave behind IRAs, 401(k) s etc. to be inherited by their children. These changes will mean that the long-term value to your children of an inherited IRA will be much less. When someone dies and leaves behind an IRA (or 401(k), etc.) to be inherited by someone else, we call it a beneficiary IRA. Tax rules then say how soon you have to start taking money out of the

8 JUNE 14, 2019

Compared to taxable investments whose growth is reduced by paying taxes every year, tax deferred IRAs, 401(k) s, etc. can grow more in the long term. Tax-deferred growth in an inherited beneficiary IRA can produce big gains It’s better to have to take the money out and pay in following decades, which the pending bills taxes on it later, in the future, and to push back the would take away. day when withdrawals and taxes reduce the value For example, a 25-year-old child who inherits of the account. an IRA can now postpone distributions over a The pending changes will drastically shorten the life expectancy of about 57 years. That year, her period of time during which money has to be required distribution would be only about 1.75% withdrawn from an inherited IRA. This means of the total – and the amount lost to taxes would taxes would be paid much sooner and the ultimate only be a fraction of that, depending on her other income and her marginal tax rate. after-tax value will be less.

the first $400,000 combined of IRA money, but the rest has to be distributed – and taxes paid – within only five years!

A surviving spouse gets the best opportunity to continue “tax deferral” – deferring or delaying the time when taxes have to be paid. A surviving spouse beneficiary can postpone when he or she will have to start taking required minimum distributions, and can also use a more favorable life expectancy table that results in smaller minimum required distributions, using either a “rollover” IRA or a “beneficiary” IRA (or can even take out all the money! Though it’s then all taxable...).

At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you and your family.

IRA – and paying taxes on it. Tax day is a bad day! When you have to withdraw money and pay tax, it causes the value to shrink, and eliminates the value of future growth, too. The worst taxes are taxes that you have to pay sooner instead of later.

These are advantages especially for a younger surviving spouse, and the best option often depends on the age of the spouse and their other financial circumstances. Under current rules, non-spouse beneficiaries like your children can generally stretch out required distributions and taxes over their life expectancy, which can be a long period of time. We call that a “stretch IRA.”

The House bill however will limit the stretch duration to 10 years. After 10 years has gone by, the beneficiary will owe taxes on the whole IRA amount. The Senate bill permits stretch treatment for

These changes are basically intended to boost revenue by increasing taxes. There are exceptions for spouses and young, ill and disabled beneficiaries. Financial planning alternatives could include taxfree life insurance solutions or charitable gifts or trusts instead. Also, Roth IRA conversions may be more attractive. (Money in a Roth IRA isn’t taxable, since the taxes already been paid, but is subject to the same mandatory withdrawal rules that can lengthen or shorten the opportunity for tax-deferred growth.)

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With the increasing costs of long-term care, having the help of a legal professional when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions that can result in keeping more of your money. We help families understand the strategies, the benefits, and risks involved with elder law, disability and estate planning.

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Headlines Who is Avigdor Liberman, and why did he force new elections in Israel? — WORLD — By Sam Sokol | JTA

o just who is Avigdor Liberman, the man who single-handedly forced Israelis to go to the polls for an unprecedented second time in a year? And is he really the champion of secular right-wing Zionism that he would have voters believe? Last month, less than two months after Israeli voters appeared to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a mandate to form a new government, coalition talks collapsed after Liberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party refused to join the government. Although Liberman’s party won only five seats in the 120-seat Knesset, that was enough to deny Netanyahu the 61-seat majority he needed to form a government. The sticking point was a draft law obligating haredi Orthodox men to participate in Israel’s mandatory military draft. Haredi Orthodox parties wanted to soften the text of the law. Liberman insisted he would not join the government unless the law was passed in its current form. “To my sorrow, the state of Israel is going to

elections,” Liberman told reporters, blaming the failure to form a coalition on the “complete surrender of the Likud to the haredim.” Whether this was a principled stand on behalf of Israel’s secular plurality — who have long resented the fervently Orthodox community’s exemptions from mandatory military service — or political opportunism remains a subject of debate here.

My friend, my enemy

Liberman, a native of what is now Moldova, was 19 when his family immigrated to Israel in 1978. He started his political career in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, eventually serving as director-general of the party and, later, the Prime Minister’s Office under Netanyahu during p Avigdor Liberman, center, holds a press conference following the dissolving of the the 1990s. In 1999 he established Israeli parliament, in Tel Aviv in May 2019. Photo by Flash90 the more hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu after splitting from Likud over what he government’s acceptance of a ceasefire party than as a faction representing the saw as Netanyahu’s weak stance on the between Israel and Hamas — he called it a interests and values of Russian-speaking Palestinian issue. “capitulation to terror.” Israelis who immigrated from the former He has since served under Netanyahu in a Soviet Union. Even at the party’s highest variety of roles, mostly recently as minister From Russia, with votes point, when it won 15 seats and became of defense. But he resigned that position At its founding, Yisrael Beiteinu was last November to protest the Netanyahu widely perceived as less of an ideological Please see Liberman, page 15

Speaking out on your future How can you start the conversation about finances with your significant other? Provided by: Lee Oleinick, Managing Director – Wealth Management, Walnut Wealth Management Group, UBS Financial Services, Inc., 412-665-9914 Having a meaningful conversation about money with your significant other can be difficult, especially if you’re not entirely sure what the conversation needs to accomplish. According to UBS’s “Own your worth” report, avoiding these financial conversations can have detrimental effects for women, especially considering that eight out of 10 women will be solely responsible for their financial well-being at some point in their lives, whether through divorce or widowhood.* The advice from women who are on their own is clear: Educate yourself now about investment decisions and be a full participant in your financial future. No matter what age you are, or whether you’ve been married for two months or for 50 years, it’s the right time to have a conversation about your financial future. That’s why we created a mini-conversation starter guide, full of powerful questions to help steer your discussion with your partner at various stages of life.

Millennial women

Fact: A surprising 61 percent of millennial women leave investment decisions to their husbands, compared to 56 percent of all married women.*

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are you taking a backseat when it comes to making the important financial decisions in your marriage? • Are the financial roles in your marriage established or still evolving? Have you had a conversation about your financial goals with your spouse yet?

How to start the conversation:

• “I want us to be equal partners in making financial decisions. What decisions do we have coming up in the next few years PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

that we should talk about?” • “I love that we balance each other and take charge of different responsibilities within our marriage. But when it comes to how we are saving or investing money, I think we both need to take an active role.”

Generation X women

Fact: Eighty-five percent of married women who defer to their spouse on big financial decisions believe their spouse is more knowledgeable, yet more than half of women who are now divorced or widowed say they would have done fewer household chores to make more time to learn about investing.*

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are you feeling the pain of being in the sandwich generation? Does investing just seem too complicated and like something you can’t handle right now? • Knowing that most women overestimate how much knowledge they need to begin taking a role in making investment decisions, is it possible that you know more than you think? • How to start the conversation: • “I’ve been putting off learning about investing because I feel overwhelmed, but I am going to learn. What resources can we look at together, so that we can learn together?” • “I know we have a long way to go until retirement, but let’s talk about some of our financial goals.”

Baby boomers and beyond

Fact: Not only have the rates of “gray divorce” doubled in the last 30 years, with one in four divorces occurring among couples over the age of 50, women’s average life expectancy is five years longer than men’s.* PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Questions to ask yourself:

• Is your legacy in place? Do you know what trusts or other retirement accounts are set up for your children or other relatives (or organizations you care about) to be able to inherit? • Have you thought about what effect death or divorce would have on your finances? Only 55 percent of women surveyed thought these life events would have a major impact on their finances.*

How to start the conversation:

• “It’s very hard to think about, but I want to make sure that if one of us passes away, the other knows exactly where we are financially and is ready to make the important decisions.” • “I read that 87 percent of men expect to provide their wives with a sense of financial security.* I know this has always been important to you. One of the most important ways I can feel secure is to make sure I’m actively involved in making the investment and other big financial decisions as we grow old together.” • Why wait to talk to your spouse about your financial future? In our research, we came across countless women who wished they had done things differently. Take advantage of their advice, and get the conversation rolling today. * “Own your worth: How women can break the cycle of abdication and take control of their wealth,” UBS Wealth Management USA, 2018. This article has been written and provided by UBS Financial Services Inc. for use by its Financial Advisors. In providing wealth management services to clients, we offer both investment advisory and brokerage services, which are separate and distinct and differ in material ways. For information, including the different laws and contracts that govern, visit ubs.com/workingwithus. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC.

JUNE 14, 2019 9

Headlines Volkswagen bringing ADL back to Europe — WORLD — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

erbert Diess believes he has a special obligation to combat the rise of the far right in Europe because the company he leads was once quite literally its engine. “Volkswagen has ... an obligation to care about anti-Semitism and racism,” the Volkswagen CEO told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a rare interview. “We have more obligation than others. The whole company was built up by the Nazi regime.” And now, alarmed by the boldness of the extreme right in Europe, Diess is taking action. The automobile manufacturing giant, which sells more cars than anyone else in the world, announced this week that it is funding the return of the Anti-Defamation League to Europe. The venerable Jewish civil rights agency has not had a presence on the continent since the early 2000s. At different times it once had offices in Moscow, Paris and Vienna. The pick is significant: More than its other U.S. Jewish counterparts, like the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the ADL in recent years has emphasized above all the threat of violence from the far right. While it continues to speak out against anti-Zionism,

p Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess signs a guest book at Auschwitz in Nov. 2018, where the company runs an educational program for apprentices. Photo courtesy of Volkswagen

the ADL has abjured to a degree the Jewish establishment’s reflexive both-sidesism that adds caveats about leftist anti-Semitism each time it emerges from the right. The ADL has

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Providing the Pittsburgh Jewish Community with immediate financial assistance for food, clothing, housing, medical, dental, utilities & transportation expenses Contact the Jewish Assistance Fund 412.521.3237 JewishAssistanceFund.org 10 JUNE 14, 2019

cast far-right anti-Semitism as a global threat that must be addressed in European capitals as well as in the United States. “We could not be more grateful for the

opportunity to collaborate to strengthen this transatlantic alliance,” ADL CEO Jonathan Please see Volkswagen, page 20

This week in Israeli history June 17, 1939 — St. Louis returns to Europe

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

June 14, 2009 — Netanyahu outlines demilitarized Palestinian State

The SS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria, completes its crossing of the Atlantic back to Europe after its passengers were denied admission to Cuba or the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays out his vision for a two-state solution, making five points: Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state; the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state; a refugee resolution that does not include Palestinian refugees moving into Israel; Palestinian economic development; and an end to new Israeli settlements.

June 18, 1890 — Avraham Granovsky is born

June 15, 1949 — Knesset updated on Israel’s Frontiers

President Lyndon B. Johnson lays out five principles for the Middle East: the right of all nations to live in peace; justice for the refugees; the preservation of maritime rights; the end of the regional arms race; and the need for recognizable borders.

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett speaks to the Knesset about the status of Israel’s borders after armistice agreements have been signed with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.

June 16, 1947 — Bronislaw Huberman dies

Violinist Bronislaw Huberman dies at his home in Switzerland at age 64. A native of Czestochowa, Poland, he founded the Palestine Symphony Orchestra with his own money in the 1930s.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Avraham Granovsky is born in what is now Moldova. He signs the Declaration of Independence and serves in the first Knesset. He dies July 5, 1962.

June 19, 1967 — LBJ outlines 5 principles for peace

June 20, 1948 — Altalena arrives

The Altalena, a ship operated by the Irgun militia, reaches the coast at Kfar Vitkin from France with 900 immigrants and a cargo of weapons. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demands that Irgun head Menachem Begin hand over the weapons. Begin ignores an ultimatum and Israel sinks the Altalena, killing 16 crew members. PJC

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Headlines A famed French-Jewish philosopher is afraid to leave his home — WORLD — By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

s a French celebrity philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut belongs to a tiny group of VIPs who get to lead normal, paparazzi-free lives despite having film star-like recognizability here. Unlike most countries, France makes celebrities out of intellectual heroes. They’re revered, quoted and featured regularly on primetime television and even in film. But unlike many celebrities, intellectual stars are spared the spying and harassment from the media and overeager fans. French VIP thinkers have enjoyed the best of both worlds since before the 1930s, when the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso could be seen rubbing shoulders with ordinary Parisians at Café de Flore in the Latin Quarter. For Finkielkraut, though, this privileged existence has become increasingly difficult because he is a Jewish supporter of Israel. Amid growing anti-Semitism and social unrest in France, Finkielkraut, a best-selling author and retired university history professor at the prestigious École Polytechnique in Paris, has been accosted repeatedly by street protesters in violation of the law and the unwritten pact between French society and its brightest minds. “I can no longer show my face on the street,” Finkielkraut, 69, told the magazine Marianne in April after protesters nearly prevented him from speaking at a Paris university. His lecture was announced as canceled — but it actually was moved in a cat-and-mouse game designed to throw off far-left demonstrators. While Finkielkraut is reviled in some far-right circles for his Jewishness and pro-establishment sentiments, he has become increasingly reviled by the radical left for his criticism of political Islam and support for Israel (but not its control of the Palestinians: Finkielkraut is a founder of the dovish European Jewish J Call group styled after J Street). In 2016, amid booing and calls accusing him of fascism, Finkielkraut and his wife were chased away from a pro-labor protest against government austerity polices. But that incident paled in comparison to what happened in February, when marchers from the populist yellow vests protest movement spotted him on a street near his home on Boulevard du Montparnasse in the heart of this capital city. “I was curious to see the procession, so I came outside,” he said during a recent talk before members of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews. “I was shocked by how quickly I was recognized.” The encounter, which was filmed and widely shown in the media, was brief but violent. Finkielkraut, a tall, soft-spoken and at times self-effacing man sporting a trademark disheveled haircut, is seen standing silently as men approach him to hurl insults while dozens boo in the background. “F*** off, you dirty piece-of-shit Zionist,” one man hollers, adding an obscenity about Finkielkraut’s late mother, a Holocaust

cultural identity to nuance in art, Finkielkraut was admitted in 2009 to the Legion of Honor — his country’s highest recognition. In 2014, he received the ultimate honor for an academic when he was named a member of the Academie Francaise, a council of 40 greats elected for life. Bearing such accolades, his admission to the Academie alarmed and infuriated some critics, including Pierre Nora, a left-of-center fellow historian, also Jewish, who accused Finkielkraut of “provocative simplicity” in Nora’s letter welcoming Finkielkraut to the forum. Nora’s criticism notwithstanding, Finkielkraut is an enemy of far-right populism: In 2017 he called Bruno Gollnisch, a European Parliament lawmaker for the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, a successor of French Nazi p Alain Finkielkraut preparing to answer a question at an appearance in Brussels, Belgium in 2016 Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz collaborationists. But some left-wing critics — survivor from Poland. As police usher that “France belongs to Islam — not to the including protest leader Frédéric Finkielkraut to safety, more men and women French, not at all. And I have no place there. Lordon, who in 2016 called Finkielkraut converge on him, screaming about Palestine, This is anti-Semitic violence that is new, that “perhaps the most notorious propagator Zionism — and his mother. echoes other modalities of anti-Semitism.” of capitalist and identity-driven, racist One of the accosters then points to his Finkielkraut has positioned himself at violence” — resent Finkielkraut’s speaking own scarf, a kaffiyeh, or Palestinian shawl, the forefront of those warning against a out early on about the perceived failures and shouting: “France belongs to us! You racist! rise in violent anti-Semitism in France and excesses of liberal multiculturalism. You hater! You’re going to die!” creeping tolerance of it. In 2017, he joined In 2005, Finkielkraut was one of the first At the CRIF talk, Finkielkraut said the other intellectuals in an open letter alleging well-known thinkers to address what he video is more dramatic than how he experi- a “denial of reality” by authorities and called the “ethnic and religious dimension” enced the exchange. the media. It followed the relative silence of rioting in heavily Muslim French neigh“I’ve been commended for my dignified about the murder of a Jewish woman by her borhoods — a taboo at that time. demeanor during this exchange, but I’m anti-Semitic, Muslim neighbor. In April this year, Finkielkraut said that the afraid that’s only an interpretation of my (In April, he signed on to another letter “integration of immigrants has clearly failed” attempt to understand what these people wondering whether “psychiatry is the new in France because last year, 18 percent of were shouting,” he said. tool for denying reality” over the unusual newborn babies were given Muslim names. The French public reacted with shock to decision of the judge presiding over that “The first gesture toward integration is a the incident, which was a flagrant violation case to signal his support for the defendant’s French first name,” he opined. “And a name of the unwritten code of conduct vis-à-vis a insanity plea.) dignifying a different identity is separatist.” celebrity philosopher. It received front-page Such pessimistic questions are typical It’s a common mainstream sentiment coverage and uniform condemnations — of Finkielkraut. in France, where much of the country’s even from sworn enemies of Finkielkraut. During a now-famous private exchange in founding ethos seems to revolve around a Among them was Jean-Luc Melenchon, 2014, Natan Sharansky, the former refusnik secular and unhyphenated French identity. a far-left populist with many supporters and one-time chairman of the Jewish Agency But here, Finkielkraut was speaking from the anti-establishment yellow vests. for Israel, asked Finkielkraut whether out of his family’s own experience as inteMelenchon, whose party has faced repeated “European Judaism has a future in Europe.” gration-seeking immigrants. He often accusations of anti-Semitism — including by Finkielkraut replied with his own ques- juxtaposes that story with the sectarianism Finkielkraut — called a special news confer- tion: “Does Europe have a future in Europe?” of many French Muslims. ence over the incident. Sharansky said the comeback showed “pessiHis parents, Daniel and Janka, fled their “His detestable opinions notwithstanding, mism much deeper than mine.” native Poland in the 1930s for France. In in that incident not his opinions were Some consternation over the incident 1941, Daniel, a bag maker, was betrayed attacked. It was denying his humanity,” involving Weller and Finkielkraut had little by a neighbor in Paris, arrested by French Melenchon said of the philosopher. to do with Jews. officers working for the Germans and sent The incident prompted an indictment for In a country where a jihadist in 2015 to Auschwitz, which he survived. Janka racist offensive discourse against the man murdered 16 people at the Charlie Hebdo survived in hiding. Both their nuclear famiwho had said that Finkielkraut was “going to satirical magazine, the intimidation of a lies were all murdered in the Holocaust. die,” a 36-year-old convert to Islam named writer on the street seemed to many like a So when Alain was born in 1949, his Benjamin Weller. dangerous transgression. parents commemorated their fathers in the Nothing about the incident suggests Bernard Henri-Levy, another Jewish, distinctly French name of their only child, that France is an anti-Semitic country, centrist French philosopher, is often the philosopher said during the CRIF talk. Finkielkraut said at the CRIF talk. assigned police protection these days. “But naming me Aharon-Lazar “On the contrary, as the response to this But then Levy by his own admission is no Finkielkraut would’ve been a bit too much incident demonstrates the opposite,” he stranger to brawling. of a good thing,” he said, drawing laughs. said. What it does show, though, is that The attacks on Finkielkraut, by contrast, Finkielkraut said his parents were “angry, “the historical role of anti-Zionism is to were particularly shocking because of the the fury was there” for the betrayal they had install anti-Semitism as a form of anti- juxtaposition between their vulgarity and experienced by France. racism,” he said. his own meek demeanor and literary genius. “But they gave me a French first and He also interpreted Weller’s assertion A prolific and innovative writer of middle name: Alain for Aharon and Luc for about whom France belongs to as a claim essays and books about everything from Lazar,” he said. PJC

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JUNE 14, 2019 11

Opinion Dyke March discrimination — EDITORIAL —

ne would think that the organizers of last Friday’s Dyke March in Washington, D.C., would have been anxious for support from participants of all stripes who wanted to join the march and carry a gay pride rainbow flag. But it turns out that if the flag also had a large Star of David displayed in the middle — as a projection of Jewish pride in support of LGBTQ rights — that support was not welcome to the march. The reason, according to organizers? The Jewish star display in the middle of the flag was too similar to the display of the Star of David on the flag of Israel, an image that would make march participants feel “unsafe.” Then came the clarifications — and things got even more troubling. According to march organizers, Stars of David were welcome anywhere you wanted to wear one, even on a pride flag, but only if it was small and as far away from the center of the flag as possible. Wear a tallit, a kippah or tzitzit, they said. Just don’t bring anything that reminds anyone of the flag of Israel. The U.S. flag was also banned. Both are countries with “specific oppressive tendencies,” according to organizers, and their flags were not welcome. But the Palestinian flag was not banned. “Palestinian flags are allowed because we believe they represent the hope for freedom for the Palestinian people,” said

p 2018 Pride Parade Tel Aviv

march organizer Jill Raney, who is Jewish and a member of the group IfNotNow. Hypocritical, or just ironic? While Tel Aviv has been named the No. 1 gay city in the world by several travel magazines, and while LGBTQ people living in Israel are provided with legal rights not found elsewhere in the Middle East — including protections against employment discrimination and freedom to serve openly in the military — homosexuality remains illegal in Gaza. LGBTQ rights are likewise not protected in the West Bank. Two Jewish march organizers, Yael

Photo by Anton Mislawsky/iStockphoto.com

Horowitz and Rae Gaines, were explicit: “As we help build the inclusive, welcoming space of the DC Dyke March, we feel extra proud to be feygeles with a lot of chutzpah — to be openly self-loving anti-Zionist Dyke Jews.” Organizers’ use of Yiddish didn’t make the Dyke March policy any less offensive, nor did they make their argument more compelling. The publicized theme for the march was displacement, affordable housing and support of the LGBTQ community, all of which are endorsed by very large segments of the Jewish community and its pro-Israel,

Zionist core. As such, it is mystifying why organizers chose to manufacture a dispute over the Star of David — a cultural, religious and spiritual symbol —for naked political purposes that had nothing to do with march objectives. Moreover, the hint of anti-Semitism in the ban was not assuaged by Jewish organizers arguing, “I’m Jewish, so my decision to exclude Jewish symbols is OK.” Ultimately, a handful of protesters carrying Jewish pride flags were allowed into the march despite the ban. But this is not the first time that Jews have been excluded from LGBTQ events. In 2017, the Chicago Dyke March booted participants who were carrying the same Jewish pride flag. Yet in 2018, marchers at the Chicago Dyke March were spotted prominently sporting Palestinian flags. Multiple Jewish groups, including Keshet, Zioness Movement, A Wider Bridge, Jewish Democratic Council of America and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington criticized the Dyke March’s Star of David policy, as did the National LGBTQ Task Force — which withdrew as a partner in the march because of the policy — and they were right to do so. In a march whose theme was focused on tolerance, acceptance and inclusion, the clumsy, agenda-driven exclusion of a Jewish symbol was discriminatory and unacceptable. PJC

For the health of the community, vaccinate Guest Columnist Joshua Runyan

o now it’s come to this. Proving yet again that despite the unlimited creativity of human ingenuity and the equally unlimited potential of the human spirit, we are unfortunately powerless to stop the destructive power of nature and human ignorance, we have managed to rewind the clock to the early ’90s. Back when Boyz II Men topped the charts, the Midwest was facing rivers overflowing their banks and the United States was staring down measles outbreaks year after year. It was in 1991 that the vaccine-preventable disease killed nine children in Philadelphia, but just as people appear stubbornly insistent on continuing development right up to the river’s edge (or to otherwise neglect the maintenance of dams and levees), today a growing movement of parents are stubbornly refusing scientific consensus and neglecting to vaccinate their children. With the diagnosis of 981 cases of measles nationwide this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, we have surpassed the 963 cases reported in 1992 and are quickly approaching the point where measles, which had been declared eradicated, will be reclassified as active in the most developed nation 12 JUNE 14, 2019

in the world. And the Jewish community is part of the problem. For those who don’t know, several of the leaders of the anti-vaxxer movement in the Jewish community call the Philadelphia area (where I now live) home. Several institutions, including schools, have dangerously high levels of unvaccinated children. While some have, since last year, instituted policies to keep such children out of class and synagogue, not all have taken this most necessary of stands. And although we in Philadelphia have yet to experience a single case of the measles, let alone the outbreaks that have plagued communities in and around New York, I fear it’s not a question of if, but of when. Already, there have been five cases of the disease this year in Pittsburgh, and another one was revealed on Tuesday in Meadville, in the far northwest of the state. To be clear, measles is a deadly — and thoroughly preventable — disease, making its resurgence all the more lamentable. Before widespread use of the measles vaccine, an estimated 3 to 4 million people were infected each year in the United States, with an estimated 400 to 500 deaths and 48,000 hospitalizations annually. Because there will always be those who cannot be vaccinated, either because of age, depressed immune systems or allergies to specific vaccine components, we rely on the concept of herd immunity to confer benefits even on the unvaccinated. But the system breaks

down when parents of otherwise healthy children refuse to vaccinate them, and now we’re reaping the results. Those on the other side, relying on “science” that has been repeatedly debunked, alternately claim that the measles vaccine in particular causes autism or that vaccines in general are poisons unnecessarily being foisted upon an ignorant populace by a conspiratorial pharmaceutical industry allied with the government. They may be your neighbors, your friends or your family, making their claims all the more difficult to swallow. They argue that because vaccines are, according to Congress, “unavoidably unsafe,” they should not be given to children. But they misuse a legal term of art in making this claim, conveniently forgetting that most prescription medications are unavoidably unsafe, meaning that manufacturers cannot get rid of the possibility of adverse outcomes. Kitchen knives are also unavoidably unsafe, always having the possibility of causing injury; to get rid of the possibility of someone cutting himself with one would be to render it not a knife, but few people would be willing to start cutting their food with a spoon to avoid the chance. Now is the time for us to take action. First, we should mandate vaccinations by law, an effort which is currently gaining ground in Harrisburg. There, a bill being pushed by state Sen. Daylin Leach (D-District 17), would remove the availability of

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philosophical exemptions to vaccinations required to attend school. Second, we should make this an issue in our neighborhoods and communities. Like the necessity of seatbelts and infant car seats, the resurgence of measles is an issue of public health. But unlike seatbelts and car seats, a parent’s refusal to vaccinate her child doesn’t just expose that child to danger. Because of the possible breakdown in herd immunity, that choice — however well-intentioned — impacts us all. It’s more akin to drinking while driving, a choice that doesn’t just expose a driver’s passengers to danger, but exposes everyone else on the road to the possible consequences of his ill-advised choice. Some fear that even having these conversations threatens to tear at the fabric holding our community together. I’ll grant that the debate might be uncomfortable, but I trust that we’ll be able to reach a level of mutual respect based on the shared realization that we all want what’s best for our children. As a parent myself, I’m fearful of the day when an infant too young to be vaccinated is exposed to a disease brought here by a child whose parents made the affirmative choice to selfishly throw caution to the wind. May we never have to face such a nightmare. We’ve come too far as a society to allow that to happen. PJC Joshua Runyan is the former editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

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Opinion The problem with New York’s Jewish Museum Guest Columnist Ben Schachter

f not in Jewish museums, where can we find Jewish art and culture? Menachem Wecker, an art critic who often writes about Jewish and religious art, recently published an essay entitled “The Wreck of the Jewish Museum,” which appeared in Mosaic Magazine. It is a scathing critique of the renovated permanent collection on display at the Jewish Museum in New York City. The exhibition, “Scenes from the Collection,” is broken into several thematically arranged galleries so that historical objects are placed alongside contemporary art. Idiosyncratically arranged objects are one thing, but Wecker sees a bigger problem — that is, Judaism, or more precisely the lack of it.

This problem has two big elements. First, the museum insists on universalizing Jewish values. Wecker notes the opening wall text “asserts categorically that… [by] mixing together works by artists of various provenances… the museum is ‘affirming universal values that are shared among people of all faiths and backgrounds.’” Second, there exists, according to Wecker, curatorial bias against the main subject of the entire museum. Even when an opportunity to become curious about traditional Judaism arises, Wecker believes the staff seems to ignore the opportunity. Wecker’s ire is directed at whoever wrote the wall text for Anna Shteynshleyger’s photograph “City of Destiny (Schneur and Ester),” an image of a newly married Orthodox couple standing on the balcony of their home. The text describes their union as an “arranged marriage” and their community as “insular.” Wecker dislikes this description. “A dispassionate curator, let alone an

informed one,” Wecker challenges, “would have scrapped this throwaway reference to a non-existent arranged marriage,” a fact that could have been researched easily online and in so doing evince an “entry-level professionalism” on the part of the museum curatorial staff. This is a very nice way to say that the curatorial descriptions attached to this work and others are ill-informed and prejudicial against certain forms of Jewish expression. The appeal to “universal values” announced at the entrance is so endemic that any curiosity directed toward Jewish traditions, be they marginal or mainstream, is dismissed. Wecker’s critique made me think of several questions that might only be answered with a Pew-like survey. The Pew Research Center’s “Portrait of Jewish Americans” provided data on the composition of the Jewish population. It showed the percent of people that associate themselves in each denomination, levels of traditional religious observance, and other information.

What if we designed a similar survey around the appreciation, use and creation of Jewish culture and art? Perhaps we might find out interesting things. For example: What percent of people who visit Jewish museums are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or unaffiliated? Who watches “Shtisel”? What is the largest age bracket that listens to the Maccabeats, 613, Shai Tsabari or Netta? In other words, if Jewish museums, the institutions that purport to preserve, educate and challenge us regarding Jewish culture and art, are becoming less Jewish, and their audiences will eventually (if not already) reflect that, where do the affiliated, educated and practicing Jews go for art and culture? How exciting would a museum of that stuff be? PJC Ben Schachter is professor of visual art at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsyvlania, and author of “Image, Action, and Idea in Contemporary Jewish Art.”

Students, veterans on a journey of connection Guest Columnist Renee Abrams

he time was ripe for our customary refreshing of the American flags at Adath Jeshurun Cemetery located in Allison Park, and excitement peaked with the checking in of veterans and board members. Then, cars started arriving and middle schoolers poured out, filled with enthusiasm for the annual CDS/Adath Jeshurun “Salute to Our Veterans” event. Teachers, parents and other adults were eager to begin. Welcomes were exchanged as were the procedures for the afternoon, including directions on how to respect the American flag — never to touch the ground. Adath Jeshurun wanted to educate

all on the procedures of a military army funeral. Students volunteered to roleplay: Some were soldiers who called the orders, another played Taps.” They were taught the proper manner to salute, the importance of presenting the American flag to the grieving family, the value of honor and respect to those who served our country and the value of community service, especially for those who can no longer ask for help. CDS Middle School social studies teacher Chaim Steinberg reinforced historic information, including the fact that Decoration Day, now Memorial Day, was first recognized as a holiday in our very own Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, by three women in 1868. A tent had been erected to shelter chairs for three veterans who represented World War II, Vietnam and 9/11, while students began their tasks in small groups. One youth held a bundle of new flags, one held the old flags and one inserted a

obligation,” she said. “Those people helped America. They helped it thrive.” Quiet blanketed the ridge looking down upon the oldest section of the cemetery as all students and adults lined in single file. The first note of “Taps” was blown by one of the students and all slowly and respectfully raised their hands to salute and stiffly stood at attention until the conclusion of the presentation. Lauren DelRicci, ex-Navy veteran, summed up her interactions with the youth, stating that they will be attributes to America; they were respectful, disciplined and interested in their heritage and of the Jewish faith. She felt honored herself to be part of the proceedings. DelRicci said too often children are not aware of the sacrifices that have shaped our nation and created the very freedom we breathe every day. PJC Renee Abrams is past-president of Adath Jeshrun Cemetery.

Farewell, Angela

— LETTERS — On abortion I thank the Chronicle for offering varying Jewish perspectives on abortion in the 7 June edition (“Coroner Cyril Wecht reflects on life, and death, before Roe v. Wade”). I stand with renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, whose view is formed in part by his personal experience as a coroner who had the sad and somber duty of presiding over autopsies of women who died as a result of botched abortion attempts in the pre-Roe v. Wade era. Of course abstinence and birth control should be utilized by individuals if they do not want to risk pregnancy, but that is not enough. I agree with former President Bill Clinton, whose statement of 1996 has stood the test of time: Abortion should be safe, legal and rare. The procedure is something which should be between a women and her physician, not dictated by male-dominated legislatures primarily located in the anti-civil rights South. Thank you, Dr. Wecht, for lending the heft of your stature and experience to this critical issue at a time when a Trumpublican surge threatens women’s rights. Donald Trump formerly declared himself “very pro-choice.” He has converted to being “pro-life”/pro-fetus for political gain, and it has worked. How “pro-life” do you think he would be if one of the women with whom he had extramarital affairs had an inconvenient pregnancy? Oren Spiegler South Strabane Township, Pennsylvania PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

flag in each respective grave. Small groups enabled the youth to ask questions of veterans, such as: “Did you have different experiences within your units because you were Jewish?” and “What was it like to be Jewish in World War II as our boys were defending democracy while in the homeland of their forefathers?” Two seventh-graders, both repeat attendees, said they felt privileged to hear the vets’ stories and were inspired by their bravery and courage in the war. They want to come back to honor the Jewish veterans who gave their lives and are proud to be Jews and of their heritage. They realize how fortunate they are to be living in the U.S. Another student, who has come to this event for two years, does not have family buried at A.J.C., but said that every single one in her family went into the military. She comes to honor others who did the same. “I go to place flags because I feel that’s my

I am so disappointed to read that Angela Leibowicz is retiring after 17 years (“Community/ web editor Angela Leibowicz to retire from Chronicle,” May 31). My husband Morris and I have had a program on PCTV called “More Than Just Learning” for 30 years and she had often mentioned it in her column because we often had Jewish guests and Jewish subjects like the Holocaust. She often gave us tips. We hope she enjoys her retirement. The Shratters (Shirley and Morris) Pittsburgh

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JUNE 14, 2019 13

Headlines Police: Continued from page 1

and has served as its chief since 2015. Haberman, who is Jewish, has been in police work for 22 years. Prior to coming to the Mt. Lebanon Police Department about nine months ago, he served as a lieutenant with the Port Authority Police, where he focused on preparedness and counterterrorism. Some assumptions he and others had about Israel were dispelled by the trip. “The threats in Israel are very different, and the threat trends are different,” Haberman explained. “So while we maybe thought that their threat trend was the same as ours, I think we quickly discovered that they hadn’t had some of the school violence issues that we have, and that attacks on religious institutions are rare.” The Israeli officers also learned from their visitors. “They gleaned a lot from us,” Haberman said. “More so than what we thought. They really wanted to see how we balanced that community engagement part of it, and that

is something that struck me personally as something I didn’t expect. They were picking our brains as much as we were picking theirs.” The contingents from the four American cities were able to learn from each other, said Lauth. They were all able to pick up tips on how to improve policing in their own communities, “not just related to synagogues, but related to other religious institutions, related to schools, related to public facilities in general. This was an opportunity to learn new things. We have all been doing this awhile, but to go into that type of situation and to learn from others about how to do things more generally in your community, it was an awesome opportunity.” Some of the most impactful sessions they attended dealt with anti-Semitism and methods of dealing with police stress, according to Orsini. “[The Israelis’] perspective was an eye-opener,” he said. “For example, they did a mental health police stress presentation. It was probably the best ‘how to deal with stress on the job’ presentation I have ever heard in three decades. Their twist on PTSD with law enforcement and first responders, how to deal with it, how to recognize it, how

to not have burnout in your police department, in your security forces.” The stress that officers face in Israel on a daily basis is high, noted Haberman, and a bad decision could be disastrous. “These officers, in a way I couldn’t even imagine, work in an environment where, literally, they were on post eight hours a day. Prior to stress management, they had very little breaks. Now they are stepping away from that,” he learned. “They have very similar challenges, but to a higher degree there. A terrible decision, or a misinformed decision by an officer on the street in the Dan district will be very different from here, with different ramifications. It could really make for a tremendously terrible situation.” Another impactful part of the trip, the officers said, was a session about the Jewish Diaspora, culminating in a visit to Yad Vashem . “It was a very personal visit they had set up for us,” said Haberman, whose uncle was a Holocaust survivor. “The focus was of education of officers to understand the plight of the Jewish people and what had gotten Israel to the point of where it was today. It was a tremendous

Panel: Continued from page 1

about that time frame,” Schiff said to the panel. “The synagogue has been the cornerstone of Jewish life. What is going wrong? What is the current malaise that we see in synagogue life caused by? Why are we in the predicament that we are in?” Declining membership could be a function of declining need. The original purpose of synagogues — to help Jewish immigrants successfully integrate into American society while retaining their Jewish identity — is no longer essential, according to Bisno. “I don’t think anything went wrong,” he said. “I think we were wildly successful.” “American synagogues are a 100-year-old institution or so, premised on a set of assumptions that we have moved beyond,” Bisno explained. “We don’t have those concerns anymore. We no longer need the things that the Jewish community required or expected 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago.” The synagogue, he said, “has to re-understand what it is as an organization.” It is imperative to re-envision synagogues, Adelson said. “The question is how should we do that? What I have tried to focus on — I’ve been at Beth Shalom now for four years — is trying to regain the traditional sense of synagogue as serving two essential purposes: a beit tefillah, a house of prayer, but also a beit midrash, a place of study. And I think somewhere along the way, synagogues lost the beit midrash. We as Jews don’t know enough of our tradition ... the key to understanding everything in Jewish life is Hebrew, and how many of us speak Hebrew?” Adelson stressed that Jews must focus on Hebrew in order to “understand the richness of the sources on the Jewish bookshelf from which we have become very distant.” Learning from Jewish sources is the key, he said. “I think that there is tremendous value, particularly in this world in which people are looking for something, they don’t know what it is. They know they don’t like prayer because 14 JUNE 14, 2019

p From left: Rabbi Aaron Bisno, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, Cantor Julie Newman, Rabbi Seth Adelson, Rabbi Danny Schiff Photo by Toby Tabachnick

prayer is boring, and it is hard to understand. But I think that when you open the books of the Talmud, when you open Midrash and study halachic tracts, we find that these lessons still speak to us across the ages.” While Newman said she appreciated the doors that Hebrew can open for Jews, she advocates “meeting people where they are.” “I think people know there is a feeling of lack in their lives and we try to fill that in a lot of ways: family, friends, communities that we connect with. Synagogues need to exist. But Tiferet is a Jewish spirituality project. Tiferet lives between the space between the synagogue and the wilderness. I think synagogues will need to change and not every synagogue will look the same. In fact, they will look very different based on where they are and who belongs.” Newman envisions a “Jewish ecosystem” with “many on-ramps for people.” Spiritual practices, she said, are “really compelling for people in this time and place,” and can include “singing, group singing, meditation, yoga and other sorts of embodied practice.” Myers, whose congregation has been

housed in Rodef Shalom since the massacre of Oct. 27 and is now in discussions about what to do with its synagogue building, noted that the challenges Tree of Life*Or Simcha faced prior to the massacre will still exist when the building reopens. “‘What should the Tree of Life be?’ are conversations that we are having,” Myers said. For Jews in America, he said, a contemporary congregation “is like a cafeteria. We pick and choose what we do to identify and be self-identifying as Jews.” Since Oct. 27, Myers has been speaking to his flock more about God and faith, and “it makes people uncomfortable,” he said. “If Jews can’t talk about God, what are we supposed to talk about? We are in the God business up here. So to me, it has to start with putting God back into the equation.” Community cooperation could provide a way to enrich Jewish congregational life, Bisno posited. “I think the trick is to get out of our own way as congregations, to be no longer concerned with who gets the credit for something, and aware that we can’t do everything,” he said.

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educational opportunity for all of us.” The Israeli officers and those from the other American communities had a keen interest in learning about Pittsburgh’s response to the Tree of Life massacre. Orsini put together a presentation on the communal response as well as the law enforcement response to the shooting, including securing the community that Saturday night and through the next month. Orsini explained the “hand in hand” coordination between law enforcement and the Federation, and shared best practices and the lessons learned as a community. The Israel mission “was hands-down the highlight of my career, without a doubt, and I have been very fortunate in my career,” said Haberman. “The real highlight was taking away the fact that even though our host really had a vast amount of experience, they were looking for other answers as well. And they weren’t above asking those questions. They were really looking to exchange ideas, and take those ideas and put them into practice. And I guarantee we will continue those conversations.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

He suggested that a way forward could have each congregation focus on just one aspect of Jewish life, and do that really well. “It seems to me that the challenge we have is to figure out to operate in such a way that we are client-focused, Jew-focused, family-focused, rather than congregationally focused,” Bisno said. “As long as we don’t care who gets the credit, we can accomplish great things if we are willing to reorganize the entire system.” But what if, Schiff queried, regardless of creative solutions, synagogues disappear? Can Jewish life be sustained without synagogues? “Clearly people are living Jewish lives absent the synagogue,” Bisno responded. “Our challenge is to figure out what role the synagogue has going forward and how we can best meet that task.” While no definitive answers emerged from the conversation, David Kalson, senior vice president of Rodef Shalom, saw the willingness to talk about the issue as a promising first step in tackling it. “It was confirming to me that these are challenges every congregation faces — of expensive real estate and dwindling congregations and trying to find a path forward that provides meaning,” Kalson said. “Rodef Shalom has for over 100 years been a sacred space, but what has really made it sacred in this last eight months has been having Tree of Life and Dor Hadash embraced by our congregation in this building,” he continued. “It changes the way I look at this sacred space, and it changes the way I look at a building and to recognize we do need these spaces, but how we populate these spaces and what we do within these spaces has to be different. This evening really drove that home, and I hope this is just the beginning of a sustained conversation on this critically important topic.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Ellis: Continued from page 3

Vogue. Cohen would love to write full-time, but is subject to certain barriers, including the absence of universal health care, she said. Even without winning the lottery or securing a patron, Cohen plans to continue writing, shifting between fiction and nonfiction. “Nonfiction allows me to deal with current events and things that are important to me in a very immediate way, and one that is very quick to gratification. I can write an

Anti-Vaccine: Continued from page 9

pharmaceutical companies like Bayer and Merck, which now produce vaccines, had collaborated with Nazi Germany. (Bayer was a division of a larger company that did collaborate with the Nazis, though now it is under different ownership. Merck, originally connected to a German company of the same name, split off into an independent American firm in 1917, before the Nazis came to power.) “If you had bought a mutual fund in the ’30s, back in Nazi Germany, you would have done phenomenally,” the attendee remarked. After Handler, speakers included Dr. Daniel Neides, a former vice chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute who resigned last year after writing a column questioning vaccines. (He later apologized, saying he “fully supports vaccination” and

Liberman: Continued from page 9

Israel’s third-largest party in 2009, it was still seen primarily as a “Russian” organization. Since then, however, fewer Russianspeakers have felt the need to vote for a purely ethnic interest party. In April’s election, Yisrael Beiteinu only received five seats, one less than it held previously. Such a showing didn’t bode well for the party’s, or Liberman’s, political future. “What happened is that [Liberman] understood that he had reached the bottom of his ability [to mobilize] the Russianspeaking community,” explained Ksenia Svetlova, a former minister of Knesset and Moscow native who represented the leftleaning Zionist Union in the last parliament. “He was close to not crossing the electoral threshold [for winning any seat at all]. The next time could be two or three seats.”

The new secular champion

Secular and many religious Zionist Israelis have long resented the haredi exemptions from military service and their leaders’ tight control of religion and state issues in the country. But opposition to the haredim was traditionally the province of the left and center, as when Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid Party, ran his 2017 election campaign with pledges to fight religious coercion. Liberman, by contrast, is combining 15 JUNE 14, 2019

essay on Monday and it can be published by Friday,” she said. Fiction, meanwhile, permits access to a character’s “headspace,” which she finds rewarding — as do readers, apparently. She said the response to “Wasted Pretty” has been positive. “I think teens are getting exactly what I had hoped they would get out of it. They’re seeing themselves. They’re seeing both the excitement and the annoyance, and understanding that it is all a balance,” she said. “What has surprised me the most are the dads who are reading the book and saying,

‘Oh my gosh, I understand my daughter better,’ or, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I had read this when I was a teenager.’” On June 22, Cohen will be one of 25 authors at the Peters Township Public Library for its second annual Read Local/ Eat Local event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. She encourages people to come and meet her. As for takeaways from “Wasted Pretty,” she’s reluctant to suggest people pay attention to any one thing. “I put a lot of myself into that book, and I put a lot of my concerns and my beliefs into that book, but those beliefs will resonate

differently with each reader,” she said. “There are issues of body image. There are issues of addiction. There are issues of sexual assault. There are issues of gender politics. There’s a story arc surrounding the family dynamic. Each person comes to that book with their own host of issues and concerns, and I think that will inform what it is they then take from the book. “The experiences you have from birth to 18 are so transformative.” PJC

was trying to open a conversation about their safety, not question their use.) But the bulk of the program was led by Del Bigtree, a Hollywood producer without medical qualifications who styles himself as an expert on vaccines. He directed the documentary “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.” Last month Bigtree spoke to a similar rally in Monsey, New York, also the home of a large haredi community. Bigtree led the audience through a textheavy PowerPoint presentation claiming that vaccines have led to a rise in autism among children — claims that have been rejected by every mainstream medical or public health group. He compared those promoting vaccines to a cult and cited Andrew Wakefield, a British physician who lost his license after promoting the debunked link between vaccines and autism. In dramatic fashion, Bigtree talked about the “exploding cases of diabetes” (linked, in

his mind, to vaccines), drawing out the word “explooooding” and shaking his body as if he were reverberating from a bomb blast. “I know that a lot of people read, ‘Oh, Del spreads misinformation,’” he said. “That’s an opinion. I like to call it ‘missed information.’ This is the information that the mainstream media establishment doesn’t want you to hear.” Bigtree, along with claiming that vaccines are harmful to children’s health, aimed to convince the audience that doctors are untrustworthy and unreliable. He claimed repeatedly that we are experiencing “the greatest decline in public health in world history.” (In fact, due in large part to vaccines, global child mortality, a leading indicator of public health, fell from 18.2% of children born in 1960 to 4.3% in 2015, and a hundredfold since the 18th century.) “Why should I allow a medical establishment that’s overseeing this great a decline in

public health mandate anything?” he said to applause. “They clearly have no talent at making us healthy.” Over the course of about 12 minutes, Bigtree linked vaccines to the Holocaust and then to child sacrifice. He compared them to Nazi experimentation on unwilling Jewish medical subjects, then to the intentional ritual murder of children, in an effort to debunk the scientific consensus that a critical mass of vaccinated people, or herd immunity, means that even those who cannot be vaccinated for genuine medical reasons will have some protection from getting sick. “It’s hard to imagine what it would be that would let you accept killing an innocent child,” he said. “What if I presented to you that this would make it worth it? This is the argument, right? Herd immunity. Herd immunity is the reason we’re allowed to kill some children.” The crowd applauded. PJC

secularism with a nationalist platform. Ethnic parties have always had limited lifespans in Israeli politics and Liberman realizes this, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute. Liberman knows “if he wants to remain a strong force in Israeli politics, he needs to reinvent himself or extend his base of support, and to do that he is trying to appeal to a broader base: those who identify as right-wing and secular,” said Plesner. Many on the right are wary of the growing closeness between the Likud and the religious right, which is providing the haredim with increasing political clout, Plesner explained. “So that created (if you are cynical) a political opportunity for Liberman and (if you believe in the authenticity of Liberman) the necessity for him to do what he did,” Plesner said. Svetlova is skeptical. “Liberman is seen as trying to reinvent himself as the new defender of secularism in Israel, which is splendid because for 20 years he did nothing in this regard,” she said, noting he took no concrete action on issues such as civil marriage or public transportation on Shabbat. “It’s a very cynical move. He is counting on the public to have a short memory.” Others, especially those with ties to Liberman’s camp, tend to see things differently. One political insider familiar with Yisrael Beiteinu who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that in recent years the haredi camp has overreached and engaged in religious

coercion beyond enforcing the “status quo.” (The Times of Israel has reported that one of the haredi demands during recent coalition negotiations was a law permitting gender segregation in public venues.) “There has been mentality in government that haredim don’t concede or compromise — everybody else does. And for the first time in Israeli history somebody called them on it,” the insider said, asserting that many people are “secretly or not so secretly happy that someone finally stood up to extortion.” According to this theory, Liberman should see a boost in the polls. In fact, according to one poll released in recent days, Yisrael Beiteinu may receive nine seats in the next election, scheduled for September.

“I’ve always voted right but never for Lieberman. This time around, I am seriously considering putting his name in the ballot,” said one immigrant from the U.S. with a haredi background who wants to see change in the Orthodox camp. “My concern is less about drafting haredim and more about the lack of urgency with integrating the fastest-growing segment of Israel’s population into the workforce,” said the immigrant, who asked to be identified only as Yitzhak because of the sensitivity of the issue. “It’s interesting that while [the haredi parties] make demands about Shabbos, the army and gender segregation, you never hear a word from them about the most pressing issue facing their community: the crippling and growing poverty which economists consistently rank as the leading challenge facing our economy.” Added Yitzhak: “I’ve been worried about Lieberman’s populism and cynicism in the past, but sadly, he is the only one on the right even claiming to have principles when it comes to haredi demands.” Batya, a college student from Jerusalem, agreed. “In my academic circle, the party is really unpopular, so if anyone I know is supporting him, they’re not talking about it. But I find the party more appealing for forcing new elections,” she said. “I am considering supporting him because he combines an emphasis on traditional Israeli values with right-wing politics. Secularism plus conservatism is very appealing to me.” PJC

The view from voters

Such gains, however, may depend on how much Likud chooses to make Liberman the target of their ire, said Danny Hershtal, an American immigrant and former Yisrael Beiteinu activist. After spending their budgets on the last election, many parties are broke and will rely heavily on “free attention,” he said. If Netanyahu chooses to stop mentioning Liberman (last month he called his erstwhile ally a “leftist,” which has become a slur in Israeli politics), it could negatively impact his electoral chances. “If Likud smarts up and stops taking about him, he’ll disappear and not pass the threshold,” said Hershtal. So far, however, Liberman’s approach has its fans.

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Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture Today’s canapés — FOOD — By Linda Morel | Contributing Writer

Smoked Salmon Canapés | Dairy

Yield: approximately 24 canapés

½ lemon 4-5 pieces of pumpernickel bread 8 ounces plain cream cheese ¼ pound smoked salmon, cut into 24 squares 1 heaping tablespoon capers, drained on paper towels 3 tablespoons dill sprigs

With a sharp knife, cut the lemon into 3 thin slices. Cut each slice into 8 triangles. Reserve. Use the remainder of the lemon for another purpose. Cut the bread into 24 bite-sized pieces. Spread cream cheese on top of each piece. Place smoked salmon pieces on top of the cream cheese. Dot the smoked salmon with 2 or 3 capers, followed by the lemon triangles. Place a dill sprig on top. Serve within a couple of hours, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. Ricotta and Olive Canapés | Dairy Yield: approximately 24 canapés

12 pieces of Italian bread 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese (Polly-O brand is kosher) 1 cup of Kalamata olives, pitted, drained and cut in half 10-12 basil leaves, chopped

Cut the bread in half or into bite-sized pieces. Spread the ricotta on top of each piece. Dot with a couple olive halves and, with the back of a teaspoon, gently press them into the ricotta. Sprinkle chopped basil on top. Serve within a couple of hours, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. Hummus Canapés | Pareve

Yield: approximately 24 canapés 4-5 pieces of multigrain bread 1 pound container of plain, unflavored hummus 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced fine ½ cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts 4 tablespoons chives, chopped

Cut the bread into 24 bite-sized pieces. Spread hummus on top of each piece. Dot diced cucumber over the hummus. Sprinkle nuts on top, followed by chives. Lightly press down with the back of a teaspoon so the ingredients stay in place. Serve within a couple of hours, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. Mushroom Canapés | Pareve

Yield: approximately 24 canapés 1/2 lb. mushrooms, shitake, cremini or white 5 tablespoons olive oil, or more if needed 6 garlic cloves, minced Kosher salt to taste 4-5 pieces of sourdough bread, cut into approximately 24 bite-sized pieces

Clean the mushrooms well and drain 16 JUNE 14, 2019

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on paper towels. Dice them and then chop them fine. Reserve. In a large frying pan, briefly heat the oil on a medium-low flame. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Sprinkle on salt. Sauté, stirring frequently, for 5-8 minutes, or until the mushrooms turn golden brown. Remove them from the flame for a minute or two. Meanwhile, briefly toast the bite-sized pieces of bread. Use an additional plate to assemble the mushroom canapés before moving them to a serving platter, as assembling them is messy. Place a spoonful of mushroom mixture on each square of toast. Use the back of another spoon to flatten the mushroom mixture into the toast pieces. Serve on a platter while still warm. Gluten-Free Zucchini Canapés Dairy Yield: approximately 20 canapés

1 zucchini 12 ounces fontina cheese (Les Petites Fermieres fontina slices are kosher) Paprika to taste 4 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Rinse the zucchini under cold water and scrub it with a vegetable brush. Pat it dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife, cut the zucchini into ¼-inch thick slices, about 20 slices. Cut the fontina cheese into squares about the same size as the zucchini circles. Starting with the zucchini circles, layer 2 slices of fontina on top, followed by a sprinkling of paprika and topped with parsley leaves. Serve within a couple of hours, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. PJC

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Photos courtesy of iStockphoto.com

he word “canapé” has buzzed in my ear for decades. It implied fancy food, but I didn’t know what that meant. A quick visit to Merriam-Webster conveyed that a canapé is a piece of bread, toast, pastry or even a cracker topped with savories, often in layers. Quite simply, it’s an hors d’oeuvre traditionally served with drinks at receptions or formal parties. A canapé is meant to be bite-sized. I began experimenting with canapés, both making them and eating them, an occupation I highly recommend. While nibbling on sensational culinary combinations, I learned some things along the way. It’s easier to pile up and eat ingredients if the layer above the bread is thick and creamy, such as hummus or a soft, spreadable cheese. Topping canapés with fresh herbs makes them pop, giving them eye appeal and huge flavor. Ingredients can be anything from fish or meat to edible flowers. Because so many people are on special diets, I invented dairyfree and gluten-free canapés. While canapés are an elegant snack, there’s no reason to wait for grand occasions to serve them. They perk up pool parties and barbecues, and are a delicious surprise when you invite people for drinks. The sight of carefully crafted hors d’oeuvres makes guests feel pampered. Serve these beauties on cake stands of two or three levels or pass them on porcelain platters. Warning: You need a lot of canapés because they are consumed quickly.

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House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill that Will Devastate the Estates of IRA and Retirement Plan Owners. If you have an IRA or retirement plan and were hoping to leave your heirs a tax-preferred

legacy, you should take this information very seriously. On May 23, 2019, in a 417-3 vote, the House of Representatives passed a new tax bill called the SECURE Act which could be more appropriately called the “Extreme Death-Tax for IRA and Retirement Plan Owners Act.” The bill is promoted as an “enhancement” for IRA and retirement plan owners because it includes provisions allowing some workers to make higher contributions to their retirement plan. It also eliminates the existing cutoff of age 70½ by allowing workers of any age to contribute to Traditional IRAs and extends the required minimum distribution age to 72. The fine print, however, spells massive income-tax acceleration for the families of IRA and retirement plan owners after the death of the IRA owner. The consequences of this bill will be devastating to people who have worked hard their entire lives, played by the rules, and accumulated significant amounts of money in their IRAs and retirement plans. This proposed massive acceleration of taxes really betrays those conscientious savers who socked money away under the assumption that they would be able to pass that money on to their children in a tax efficient manner. Under existing law, non-spousal heirs of an IRA owner can “stretch” or extend the taxable distributions of an inherited IRA over their lifetime. The benefit of protracting the distributions of an inherited $1 million IRA could mean as much as a million or more additional dollars to the heirs of the IRA owner over their lifetime compared to what would happen with the House bill. It’s all about how quickly taxes are or are not collected. Under the SECURE Act, the entire IRA or retirement plan would have to be distributed within 10 years of the death of the IRA owner. The Senate is also proposing changes to the “stretch” rules. In mid-April, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,

reintroduced their Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA). The Senate version proposes a 5-year distribution deadline (instead of 10 years). This distribution rule is softened somewhat by the inclusion of a provision that would exempt inherited IRAs and retirement plans balances of $400,000 or less per beneficiary (which is different than prior proposed legislation that had a $450,000 exemption per IRA owner). Our “peeps” think the Senate may just accept the House version in terms of the death of the stretch IRA. But I think it is clear they will, to a large extent, kill the “stretch IRA” as we know it. The stretch IRA and Roth IRA conversions have been our signature issues for many years. So, we are responding to the SECURE Act in a big way. As a regular reader of the Jewish Chronicle, we offer you the following resources and options: 1. A new e-book which can be accessed at www.paytaxeslater.com/DeathoftheStretch IRABook. You will have to enter “Client” for the password to gain access. We are hoping to have it posted by the time you receive this column. If not, try back in a few days. After the changes are passed into law, we will update the e-book. 2. A short video explanation at www.paytaxeslater.com/DeathoftheStretchIRAVideo. 3. Revised workshops incorporating the potential changes, the next two are Saturday, June 29th in Squirrel Hill (see description below) and Saturday, July 20th in Fox Chapel. 4. A webinar on Tuesday, June 25th at 1 p.m. To register, please go to www.paytaxeslater. com/Webinar. 5. We have already e-mailed updates to those who have signed up for our e-mail newsletter. We will continue to send e-mail as developments and our responses to the developments continue. If you have not done so yet, please sign up for our e-mail newsletter by going to www.paytaxeslater.com.

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JUNE 14, 2019 17

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

Nothing is superfluous Rabbi Shneur Horowitz Parshat Naso Numbers 4:21 - 7:89

n this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Naso, the Torah describes the donation that the leaders of the 12 tribes brought for the Mishkan, the portable temple that traveled with the Jewish nation throughout their sojourn in the wilderness. In all, the leaders donated 12 cattle and six wagons. These wagons and cattle were used to transport the heavy beams of the Mishkan whenever the

wagons and cattle, making the life of the Levites a little easier? The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that everything in the Mishkan served a purpose; there were no extraneous components. The same can be said regarding these wagons; if there would be even one more wagon or one more cow, they would be superfluous. Yes, they might have made the job of the Levites less stressful. However, if they were not absolutely essential to the Mishkan, they were not desired. Here, the Torah is teaching us a powerful lesson. G-d gave each of us unique strengths

G-d gave each of us unique strengths Nancy and David Johnson joyfully announce the engagement of their son Eric to Kathleen Kerr. Kathleen is the daughter of Dena and Martin Kerr, who currently reside in Annapolis, Maryland. An Allderdice alum, Eric received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Italian at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is also teaching. Kathleen, who is a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University and is earning a Master of Science in nursing at Carlow University. The couple plan to marry next summer.

and talents. At times, we may view certain aspects of our personality as extraneous. … Just as there were no extra wagons for the Mishkan, so too, none of our talents or skills

Wedding Elyse Markovitz and Dan Wiedemann were united in marriage Sunday, May 26, 2019, at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. A reception followed the ceremony at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. The bride, daughter of Jeff and Randi Markovitz of Jefferson Hills, is a licensed speech pathologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida. The groom, son of Steve and Ellen Wiedemann of Boynton Beach, Florida, is a project manager for Motorola. The couple is at home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, following an eastern Caribbean cruise. PJC

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are superfluous.

Jewish camp would travel to a new location. The Talmud, in the tractate of Shabbos, comments that the Levites, who supervised the construction and transportation of the Mishkan, would run in between the wagons to stop the beams from falling off. The beams were piled high on top of each other, and it was always necessary to safeguard against falling beams. This begs the obvious question: If the leaders of the tribes knew how many beams there were for the Mishkan, would it have been so hard to have donated a few more

Chai

and talents. At times, we may view certain aspects of our personality as extraneous. We do not see the purpose to this side of ourselves. We do not see the practical application of a particular talent. However, we must constantly bear in mind: Just as there were no extra wagons for the Mishkan, so too, none of our talents or skills are superfluous. Each can and must be used in the service of our fellow man and of Hashem. PJC Rabbi Shneur Horowitz is the director of Chabad Lubavitch of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

News for people who know we don’t mean spiced tea. Every Friday in the

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Obituaries MARKS: Harriet Ackerman Marks, age 95, publicist for Fred (Mister) Rogers and owner of Maggi and LUV stores, died June 5 in her Sarasota, Florida home after a short battle with cancer. Widow of Erwin “Jack” Marks; mother of Bruce, Ann, Jonathan & Jane Marks; and grandmother of ten. Funeral services will be held Monday, June 10 at 10:30am at Mt.

Lebanon Cemetery, 509 Washington Rd., Pittsburgh PA. Contributions in her memory can be made to the Jack & Harriet Marks B’nai Mitzvah Scholarship Fund at Temple Emanuel, 1250 Bower Hill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. Arrangements entrusted to William Slater Ii Funeral Service, Scott Twp., 412-563-2800 www.slaterfuneral.com PJC

Name: JAA Width: 5.0415 in Depth: 6.75 in Color: Black Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: Ad Number: 1747_1 A gift from ...

In memory of...

Anonymous ......................................... Mildred Moss

Michael Levin ............................Morris Shakespeare

Anonymous .......................................... Minnie Reich Anonymous ....................................... Barney Snyder Anonymous ........................................Florence Stein

Harold & Debbie Goldberg ........ Penina R. Goldberg Stanton Jonas ......................................Rhoda Jonas

Generations: Continued from page 4

comfortable working with the youth group and things like that.” His son, who has two sisters who no longer live in Pittsburgh, recalls with fondness his time at the synagogue: “It was beautiful. It was an enchanted life, Jewishly and personally and communally. I was the only son of my father. As the son of the rabbi, I felt very special all the time.” Like any family with Pittsburgh roots, talk quickly turns to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Alvin Berkun remembers being given tickets to a game after moving to the city. His son told some people that they were going to the stadium and the rabbi recalls, “people were amazed that we were able to get tickets after just moving to Pittsburgh.” Attending games became a tradition for father and son. Jonathan recounts, “My father

David Rullo can be reached a drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

In memory of...

Mr. Stanford J. Levin .............................. Helen Levin

Mr. Marc Bilder ................................ Dr. Milton Bilder

was always attracting tickets to home games. He and I attended virtually all of them from the time we moved to Pittsburgh when I was 10 to the time I left for college at 18. Those are the warmest memories I have, not only of the city but also of quality time with my father.” Despite living in Florida, Jeremy has continued to root for the team, saying, “I am a very, very big Steelers fan; almost bigger than my father.” And he remembers well what makes Pittsburgh such a special place, “from the way people drive to the way people greet each other to the way people show concern for one another, the ways in which the community comes together in times of celebration and times of sorrow. It’s not a small town but it has a very small-town feel. From passion for local sports to issues of concern for the Jewish community to connecting to Israel, it’s just a beautiful place.” PJC

A gift from ...

Anonymous ........................................... Arthur Moss

Mr. George H. Pattak ............................Phillip Pattak Harvey Rosenblum ....................... Sylvia Rosenblum Sally Santman ...............................Simon Gastfriend Joel Smalley .....................................Stanley Simons Freda Spiegel ........................ Sarah Pear Greenberg

Mrs. Rachel Leff ...................................Rebecca Leff

Richard S. Stuart .............................. Edith Liberman

Rushie Leff............................................Rebecca Leff

Iris Amper Walker ................................. Lillian Amper

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday June 16: Rebecca Adler, Dr. Hyman Bernstein, Nellie Bricker, Anne Stein Fisher, Elsie Lichtenstul Goldbloom, Samuel Hankin, Albert Jacobson, William Moldovan, Rose Rattner, Norma Rosenstein, Samuel Rotter, Martin Rubin, Blanche Sigel, Seward Wilson Monday June 17: Sarah Lee Backal, Samuel Bernstein, Irving H. Cohen, Lena Davidson, David Friedman, Tillie Gordon, Marjorie Leff, Morris Hyman Leff, Fannye B. Mermelstein, Freda Oawster, Phillip Pattak, Samuel Schneirov, Florence Sherwin, Morris Thomashefsky Tuesday June 18: Lillian Amper, Beatrice K. Barnett, Dr. Milton Bilder, Meyer M. Braun, Belle Farber, Ida A. Friedman, Leonard Hyman Gettleman, I. Max Greenfield, Charles L. Jacobs, Stella Leedy, Stella Brown Lipschz Leedy, Carl Lipson, Ralph Leon Markowitz, Cele Monheim, Alta M. Orringer, Morris Shakespeare, Sarah Teplitz, Sara Weinberg Wednesday June 19: Sybil B. Berkman, Florence Boodman, Herman Braunstein, Sherman B. Golomb, Helen D. Landman, Louis Rider, Cecelia M. Schmidt, Libbie R. Seiavitch, Hilda Z. Silverman, Gertrude Simon, Irving Spolan, Sara Titlebaum, Rosella Herzberg Wanetick, Abraham Weiner, Chava Wekselman Thursday June 20: Jennie Bleier, Dr. Mortimer Cohen, Jacob Garber, Mayme Gerson, Morris B. Green, Lillian Handmacher, Leah Kramer, Helen Langer, Robert Langer, Samuel A. Lichter, Abe Mazer, Abraham Rothenstein, Morris A. Schwartz, Betty Silberblatt Friday June 21: Israel A. Brahm, Howard Finkel, Tillie L. Gallagher, Dr. Harold Saul Kaiser, Leroy A. Klater, Jack Masloff, Fannie Miller, David Reubin, Anshel Rosen, Sylvia Rosenblum, Minnie Schilit, Benjamin B. Sklar, Sidney Whitman Saturday June 22: Sylvia Barmen, Barney B. Dobkin, Stanley Flansbaum, Belle Goldman, Saul Goldstein, Fanny Kurfeerst, Jacob Landay, Max H. Leib, Esther Littman, Joseph Morantz, Max R. Morgan, Geraldine Sadowsky, Jennie Santman, Margery L. Selkovits, Helen P. Suttin, Bertha Weisberger

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JUNE 14, 2019 19

Headlines Volkswagen: Continued from page 10

Greenblatt told JTA, discussing the support from Volkswagen. Diess took time out from touring Volkswagen’s U.S. operations to announce the launch at the ADL’s annual Washington conference. His speech was off the record, but it echoed many of the precepts he put on the record in his interview with JTA earlier in the day in a tony office bleached white with stark lighting and space-age furnishings about 10 blocks from the White House. The talks to establish the founding of an ADL office in Berlin have been underway for about a year, Diess said. But they acquired greater urgency recently with the release last month of an official German report showing a 20 percent spike in hate crimes targeting Jews and foreigners, and a recommendation later in May by the anti-Semitism commissioner in Germany that Jews not wear kippahs in public. “Anti-Semitism is creeping up again, so clearly we have to do more. We’re doing nearly not enough,” he said. Funding for the Berlin office will be in the low seven figures and will last for three years, with an option to continue, a Volkswagen spokesman said. In a press release, the ADL listed four components of its initiative, which will include Germany and other European

countries: education against bias in schools, in workplaces, lobbying in European capitals and research through surveys. “The initiative will focus on assessing the root causes of anti-Semitism, extremism and bigotry in society and develop programs to counter it through advocacy and education, similar to the model ADL has used in the United States to fight anti-Semitism and discrimination against vulnerable populations for more than 100 years,” the release said. German manufacturers, including in its automobile industry, were generally implicated in the Nazi regime’s crimes against humanity, particularly slave labor. Volkswagen became a symbol of the prosperous, racially pure future Adolf Hitler promised Germans: affordable cars available to every German family. Photos proliferated at the time of Hitler inspecting prototypes. With the launch of the war in 1939, Volkswagen switched to manufacturing armored vehicles, and it was among the first to use slave labor, mostly from the Soviet Union, but including hundreds of Jews from other parts of Nazi-occupied Europe. A company physician in charge of child care for babies born to the slave laborers was executed by the British after the war for neglecting the infants; their mortality rate at the “nursery” was close to 100 percent. Since 1986, Volkswagen has endeavored to acknowledge its Nazi-era past, paying $2 million to underwrite a 10-year research project

about its slave labor record that was published in 1996. The company offers its apprentices the option of spending two weeks at Auschwitz as part of their training; they learn about the Holocaust and restore the shoes of the victims that are displayed at the site as one of the only physical traces of their existence. Some 4,000 apprentices have taken up the option. Diess, 60, toured Auschwitz in November and met with the apprentices. He frets at the return to Germany of anti-Semitic hatred that he says was largely unknown during his upbringing, noting that the school he attended in a town near Munich was named for the martyred Jewish diarist Anne Frank and educational visits to the Dachau concentration camp were commonplace. “It’s really disturbing that the last five years it is creeping up again,” he said, noting the emergence of a robust far-right movement not only in Germany but in other European countries like Hungary and Poland. He insists that Volkswagen’s own recent PR stumbles are not germane to the initiative with the ADL. In 2015, Volkswagen apologized for lying about violating emissions standards worldwide, and Diess himself was caught up recently in a faux pas. In March, speaking to Volkswagen managers at the company headquarters in Wolfsburg, he made a pun on the German acronym for earnings before interest, “Ebit,” saying “Ebit macht frei.” That echoes the phrase “Arbeit macht frei,” “work makes you free,” which predates the Nazi era but has come to be irrevocably

associated with the Nazis and adorned the gate at Auschwitz. “Saying this in a place like Wolfsburg,” the site of the company’s one-time slave labor crimes, was insensitive, Diess told JTA. “I regret that, and if someone was hurt, I apologize,” he said. The ADL said in its release that the U.S. programming it plans to replicate in Germany includes training in combating anti-Israel bias. Diess was enthusiastic about the approach, noting the rise in Germany of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hostility among Muslims, as well as Volkswagen’s extensive Israel operations. Diess, wiry and generally of an energetic, happy disposition, grinned in describing his company’s investment in an Israeli startup that hopes to have an electric self-driving, ride-hailing service on the roads by 2022. “We are fighting both things,” anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias, he said. “This is a personal view: The Jewish people are making such an important contribution to the world, in science, in arts, in trade, in business,” Diess said. He added that “it is important to work with Israeli companies, it makes sense, on the one hand, because of our history.” On the other hand, he said, reverting to efficient CEO mode, it also has “nothing to do” with our history. “Israel,” he said, “has become a hub and a center of [research into] autonomous vehicles.” PJC

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Community Author visit

Author Barbara Stock visited Pittsburgh to discuss her book “Anything Is Possible: A Child’s Journey to America and Hope.” Stock spoke at Congregation Beth Shalom, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and Pinsker’s. The book describes the Stock family’s 1909 immigration to Pittsburgh from Russia. Stock is a relative of the O’Connor, Beck and Pelled families.

Celebrate good times

t Barbara Stock signs books at Pinsker’s.

p Meryl and David Ainsman responded to applause after being named recipients of the 2019 PNC Community Builders Award on May 30 at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s CELEBRATION! event. The award recognizes Jewish Federation leaders whose volunteer efforts have resulted in a stronger, more vibrant Greater Pittsburgh community.

u Left to right: Barbara Stock, Maya Pelled Beck, Mordechai Pelled and Judy O’Connor view a naturalization document of grandparents and great-grandparents from Stock’s book, “Anything Is Possible: A Child’s Journey to America and Hope.”

Photos by Bonnie Morris

Machers and shakers Cindy Shapira was named chair of United Israel Appeal. The organization is a subsidiary of the Jewish Federations of North America and a link between America’s Jewish community and the people of Israel.

Rabbi Jeremy Markiz, director of Derekh & Youth Tefillah at Congregation Beth Shalom, has been named president of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

p Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh board chair Meryl Ainsman (center) joined (from left) Linda Joshowitz (Community Campaign co-chair), Jan Levinson (Community Campaign co-chair), Ellen Teri Kaplan Goldstein (Community Campaign vice-chair), and David Sufrin (Jewish Federation development chair) at CELEBRATION! Photos by Joshua Franzos

Clock runs out

Greenfield Glide

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s track team concluded its season following a May 30 meet at Schenley Oval. Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Councilman Corey O’Connor welcomed runners to the 37th annual Greenfield Glide. The June 2 race welcomed nearly 300 participants and featured notable finishes from former Chronicle intern Jonah Berger (2nd overall) and Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh students Dov Gelman and Kayla Weinberg, who both won their age groups. Photo by Adam Reinherz

22 JUNE 14, 2019

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Community OnBoard graduates set sail Twenty emerging board members representing 15 Jewish organizations graduated June 2 from the OnBoard Program. For 18 months, attendees participated in intensive board training seminars, implemented a project for their organizations with professional

coaching, devoted 30 hours to personalized Judaic study and traveled to Israel to learn about the country through their nonprofits. Each agency was granted substantial funding for board development initiatives. t OnBoard graduates

Photo by Sandy Riemer

No more pencils, no more books Students of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning met at the home of Barbara and Bryan Rosenberger to celebrate their graduation after two years of Melton study. The Melton School is a program of the Jewish Federation’s Foundation and is underwritten by the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning Endowment Fund, established by the Edgar Snyder Family. u Pictured Melton graduates, all participants in the South Hills Melton program, and their instructors are, first row, left to right: Jo Schuman, Anne Watzman, Debra Levy, Georgia Kent, Barbara Rosenberger, Melissa Dreyer; second row: Rabbi Danny Schiff (instructor), Ronald Watzman, Holly Rudoy, David and Amy Bahm, Debbie and Ron Schneider, Bryan Rosenberger, Judy Balk; third row: Rabbi Mark Goodman (instructor) with daughter Etta, Barry Asman, Bruce Rudoy, Paul Herman, and Rabbi Ron Symons (instructor). Melton graduates not pictured: Naomi Herman, Phil Levy and Beth Pomerantz.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Lag B’Omer BBQ

p Masha Glukhovskaya and Michael Supowitz joined I-Volunteer for its annual Lag B’Omer BBQ at Friendship Circle’s rooftop in Squirrel Hill on Wednesday, May 22nd. I-Volunteer is a collaboration organized by the Jewish Federation’s Volunteer Center in partnership with Shalom Pittsburgh, The Friendship Circle, Repair the World and Moishe House to encourage young adults between 18 and 45 of all abilities to combine entertainment with community service in a comfortable social setting. Together, they perform meaningful work within the Pittsburgh community.

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p Sheryl Milch helped make craft projects for children in the hospital. The projects will be distributed by Caitlin’s Smiles.

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Photos courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

JUNE 14, 2019 23

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