Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8-30-19

August 30, 2019 | 29 Av 5779

Candlelighting 7:38 p.m. | Havdalah 8:36 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Into the woods

Hillel JUC students venture outdoors for study and solace.

Page 2 LOCAL Jewish Women’s Center closes

 Samuel Tarr, left, Leigh Stein and Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, representatives of Congregations Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park on Aug. 21.

Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates

After almost three decades, the JWC holds its final event.

Page 3

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s FEDTalks to focus on community and healing

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

LOCAL

F

Healing together

Families of mass shootings learn coping skills together.

Page 5

EDTalks returns to the 2019 Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual meeting on Thursday, Sept. 5, at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. This year’s theme, “Celebrating Community strength,” will have special significance, occurring only a little more than a month before the one-year commemoration of the Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life building.

The format once again resembles the familiar TED Talks, during which experts address topics including science, technology and culture through storytelling in brief talks from the TED stage. As part of their annual meeting, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will welcome three experts whom they are billing as “healers working locally, nationally, and worldwide.”

Jonathan Weinkle is a doctor at the Squirrel Hill Health Center. According to Adam Hertzman, Federation’s director of marketing, Weinkle “went into the medical field with the idea of bringing some of the ‘Jewish’ into medicine.” He’ll discuss his

book, “Healing People, Not Patients” and his goal of having doctors listen in an active way. Hertzman pointed out that Weinkle works with immigrants from countries including Bhutan and Nepal. “He’ll talk about the October 27 attacks and some of the things we can learn from his patients who are immigrants coming from war zones and how they can inform the way we think about healing.”

Rabbi Shira Stern is the consulting editor of “Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides” and a disaster spiritual care provider for the American Red Cross. She also serves as the director of the Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling in New Jersey. Stern will share insights about helping people access their own spiritual resources.

Of particular interest to Pittsburgh will be Dr. James Young. Hertzman calls Young “the world’s premier expert on the memorialization of mass casualty events.” As he explains it, “While doing his Ph.D. studies, Young was at Auschwitz, in the library and takes a break,

Tree of Life meets Tree of Life

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

wo leaders of a Ugandan Jewish community traveled to Pittsburgh last week to meet members of their communal namesake. The nearly 7,000mile introductory trip enabled Wanani Esau and Yonatan Katz Lukato, both of Kampala, Uganda, to speak with dozens of Pittsburgh’s Jewish residents and personalize a process originated months earlier.

In the days following Oct. 27, 2018, after 11 Jews were murdered inside the Tree of Life building, Esau, Lukato and others decided to rename their community in memory of the martyred Jews.

Calling themselves “Tree of Life Kampala Uganda” would be a fitting way to honor the victims and families, and connect diverse Jewish people, explained Lukato, 27.

On Aug. 19, after flying across the world, Esau and Lukato entered a room at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside filled with Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha

Please see FEDTalks, page 14

Please see TOL, page 14

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Welcoming a new rabbi

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Summer camp on Gaza border

Headlines Outdoor retreat inspires students and staff — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

s senior staff at Hillel JUC discovered, the secret to student leadership is lighting candles on Monday, singing as if it’s Friday, venturing into the woods for foreign language textual study and pairing students in unfamiliar groups.

If that sounds strange, that’s sort of the point, explained Danielle Kranjek, Hillel JUC’s senior Jewish educator.

In years past, prior to the start of the fall semester, student leaders from Hillel JUC traditionally gathered in Oakland for a series of weeklong presentations and trainings regarding upcoming activities.

This year, the decision was made to venture off-site, said Kranjek. “The vision was really to bring the student leaders from all the campuses together and to give them a Jewish leadership foundation for the kind of work that we do on campus.”

Invitations were extended to student representatives from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and Chatham University to attend a one-day retreat at Camp Guyasuta on Aug. 19. The 13-hour endeavor allowed nearly 40 students to participate in teambuilding exercises, increase camaraderie and familiarize themselves with Shabbat — one of Hillel JUC’s core activities — explained Carolyn Brodie, Pitt Hillel president.

Shabbat services and the accompanying Friday night dinner is “an inclusive space for different students from all the universities in Pittsburgh,” so it’s important that everyone has a common understanding, explained Roni Sosis, a member of Carnegie Mellon University’s student leadership board.

p 36 student leaders from four campuses participated in the Hillel JUC one-day retreat at Camp Guyasuta.

Photos courtesy of Hillel JUC

Despite being a common meetup spot for hundreds of Jewish university students, Friday nights at Hillel JUC can present numerous individuals with myriad levels of understanding. In recognizing such diversity of awareness, Kranjek and Hillel JUC staff organized a “mock Shabbat” at Camp Guyasuta so that student leaders could deepen their own ideas and be able to transmit greater knowledge to fellow students on campus.

At the retreat, “Danielle taught us a tune for lighting the Shabbat candles. We went over different rituals and the significance behind them to make sure all the student leaders were on the same page,” said Sosis.

Explanations were provided for “why we light candles, why it’s two Shabbat candles, why we wave our hands three times, all kinds of things.”

There was also discussion on “what a Shabbat space should look like and how we can bring that to life,” she added.

Focusing on Shabbat is critical, as it’s tough being a student leader if you are uncomfortable with the practices, explained Brodie. “I know that I have had a much better experience at Hillel now that I know kind of what I’m doing and I’m able to fully participate and take in all that Shabbat services with dinner has to offer.”

To those unaccustomed to the Friday night function, or the multiple services and gatherings of varying denomination or emphasis preceding the meal, the volume of activities and attendees can be overwhelming.

In the past, students like Brodie who were unfamiliar but interested in Shabbat rituals met with Kranjeck to learn more. Kranjek continues to educate Hillel JUC students, Please see Retreat, page 15

p Students rethought Shabbat

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Headlines Jewish Women’s Center closing after almost three decades — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

T

wenty-seven years ago, a group of local Jewish women was searching for a way to bring female perspectives into Jewish rituals. It was 1992, and even in some non-Orthodox congregations, women’s voices were often muted if not stifled. Not only were women rabbis still relatively rare, but siddurim were written mainly in patriarchal prose, and wearing tallithot and kippot was not yet normative among women.

The group began meeting once a month, at women’s homes, to celebrate Rosh Chodesh, sharing stories and prayers and rituals in their own voices.

Just one year later, the women decided to expand the scope of their group and form a nonprofit. Called the Jewish Women’s Center, the group set out to further the intentions of Jewish feminism.

After almost three decades of sharing holidays and insights, and creating new traditions, the JWC is dissolving. Its final event will be held on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 3 p.m. at the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives, located in the Heinz History Center. The event will include a celebration of the JWC’s accomplishments, reflections on the progress of Jewish feminism, and a

formal donation of the JWC records to the Rauh archives. The public is invited.

The time was right for the JWC to close, said Malke Frank, one of the organization’s founders, because it had accomplished its mission.

“We felt that we had fulfilled our vision in terms of the Jewish community locally, and the Jewish women’s movement was fulfilling the global vision of Jewish women being more involved in all aspects of Jewish life,” she said.

The JWC, which was independent and not affiliated with any other organization, eventually set down roots at the old Labor Zionist Center on Forbes Avenue, where it kept its records and maintained a library.

In 1993, the group held its first Jewish women’s seder during chol homoed Passover, an event that became a popular annual hallmark of the JWC, sometimes attracting up to 60 women.

Laura Horowitz created themed haggadahs each year for the seders, which has proved to be a very meaningful task.

“We have done everything from the matriarchs to intersectionality to ‘why does the seder plate look like that?’” said Horowitz, a longtime member of the JWC. “It has really shown me how comprehensive an observance Passover is. The possibilities for discussion are endless and it is really something that we have found we can use to reflect on our current situations wherever we are — whether that means personal,

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Jewish Women’s Center of Pittsburgh, Shabbaton celebration of Rosh Hodesh and Torah study.

Photo provided by Julie Newman

political, social, whatever it is — the seder gives us the framework to contextualize our lives within Judaism and it is so powerful.”

Providing meaningful context to Jewish women has been at the epicenter of most JWC events over the years.

“We made a really sincere effort of having programs that would enhance the life of a Jewish woman in the community, in her own family, maybe even the synagogue community and the general community,” said Frank.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

The group held a monthly book group, focusing for most of the years it met on Jewish and Israeli authors. It held Shabbat retreats and distributed a monthly newsletter. Tashlich services were held each year and the group added a Tu B’Shevat seder to its roster of events.

The JWC also “created new rituals,” Frank said. “If a woman had a need, if someone died Please see Women, page 15

AUGUST 30, 2019 3

Headlines Michelle Vines, events coordinator at Beth Shalom, to be honored — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

I

f you have ever attended a bris, b’nai mitzvah, wedding, shiva or Saturday morning kiddush anywhere in Pittsburgh, chances are Michelle Vines was also there.

For 45 years, whether as a waitress or overseeing the event itself, Vines has worked at almost every imaginable Jewish function, and after nearly a half-century of quietly and fastidiously facilitating everyone else’s occasions, Vines will be the subject of communal praise when Israel Bonds, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol — Beth Jacob Congregation and Congregation Beth Shalom honor her on Sept. 8 at Congregation Beth Shalom.

The recognition is unexpected and humbling, explained Vines. “I appreciate everything everybody’s doing. It means a lot to me,� she said.

Vines had little idea 45 years ago how it would change her life when she accepted an offer from her West Mifflin neighbor, Helen Frost, to work an event at Beth Shalom.

There was certainly fiscal incentive to saying yes to Frost, but there was also an opportunity for understanding, explained

of how many functions she has been a part of, but figures it’s well over a thousand.

She has made a lot of memories, and friendships from the process but the biggest gift is seeing the generations continue, she explained.

In one instance, Vines worked a child’s bris, then 13 years later his bar mitzvah, then his wedding and then his child’s bris. “It’s rewarding just to watch the lifecycle, the whole circle come together,� she said.

When Vines began, as a teenager, her first gig was as a waitress. Over the years her responsibilities changed, and p Michelle Vines Photo courtesy of Michelle Vines for the past two decades she has served as events coordinator at Beth Shalom. In that position she Vines. “Instead of babysitting, I just thought arranges the waitstaff, speaks to vendors and it’d be interesting to learn a little bit about plans the parties. “I make sure everything is running their religion and what she does.�

One event turned into another and smoothly,� she said.

As events coordinator, Vines isn’t responthen another, and apart from a two-year period of living in Florida, Vines, who is sible for ordering the food. That charge Catholic, has been working Jewish events in belongs to the caterers, and Vines has had Pittsburgh ever since. She hasn’t kept track her fair share of working with many of them

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throughout the city. When asked who served the best meals, she diplomatically declined to answer, but said the experience of working with so many individuals taught her that “people are people,� and that “you get along with everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are,� she said.

Within Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, Vines’ role is well established and greatly appreciated by the many she has worked with.

Deena Ross and Moishe Siebzener of Creative Kosher Catering called Vines “a beloved friend� and credited her with “decades of loyalty� and “service to the community.�

Vines’ Beth Shalom colleagues referred to her as a “dynamo of hospitality� and an “understated maven of functions.�

The compliments and attention are a bit uncomfortable, admitted Vines. More enjoyable is the work itself and those who surround her, as every so often a younger core comes to help on Saturday mornings.

Joining their grandmother with setting up kiddush at Beth Shalom are two young girls: one 11 and the other 8.

Said Vines, “I’m starting them young.�  PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Families of mass shooting victims from around U.S. form community, learn coping skills — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

I

t’s a community no one chose to be a part of, but the support members find from within it has been invaluable.

Earlier this month, families of victims and survivors of the Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life building joined with those from nine other cities that have been terrorized by gun violence at the Healing Through Love Meditation Retreat in Barre, Massachusetts. The three-day mindfulness and meditation retreat, held at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, was the first gathering of its kind, aiming to provide survivors and victims with coping techniques to manage the continuing suffering they experience, as well as to connect them with others who are going through similar trauma.

The retreat brought seven survivors of the Pittsburgh massacre together with those from locations whose names are now inextricably linked to gun violence, including Parkland, Aurora, Las Vegas, Chicago and Columbine. A total of forty-three survivors were brought to the retreat, set in a forest about an hour and half from Boston, along with 12 therapists and meditation instructors.

“To meet with other families who had been through this made a huge difference,” said Marnie Fienberg, daughter-in-law of Joyce Fienberg, one of the 11 people murdered in the Tree of Life building. “You wanted to connect with them.”

The retreat was fully funded for all participants, including airfare, lodging and food, underwritten by the Hemera Foundation.

All therapists and instructors volunteered their services.

Conceived of by Sharon Salzberg, one of the founders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, along with Shelly Tygielski, a mindfulness instructor in Broward County, Florida, who has been providing help to those affected by the February 2018 shootings in Parkland, the retreat aimed to “offer tools that people might use for greater healing and resilience,”

said Salzberg, who has been teaching meditation for 45 years.

The retreat originally was conceived to provide training for Parkland survivors, but after a contingent of those survivors came to visit Pittsburgh in April 2019, they suggested Pittsburgh survivors be included.

Once Pittsburghers were included, survivors from other shootings were invited as well, according to Tygielski.

Leigh Stein was on board as soon as she heard about the retreat, viewing it as “a chance to learn helpful tools and surround myself with others that understood my thoughts in a peaceful and calm environment — without even saying one word.”

“It was exactly what I needed and could not have come at a better time, just days after the El Paso and Dayton shootings,” said Stein, whose father, Dan Stein, was murdered in the attack at the Tree of Life building. “It was comforting to be in the company of others that just ‘get it’ and are unfortunately in my shoes.”

Stein’s mother, Sharyn Stein, also attended the retreat.

“I needed to go because this community is wonderful and supportive and loving and kind, but it is very difficult to go out to the streets of Squirrel Hill and have it with you constantly,” she explained. “I just needed a break. I just needed to go and have peace and quiet and not rely on people I knew, and I felt the people I met were so amazing and gave me so much strength, and that was a tremendous positive. It was good for me to get away.”

Giving survivors a chance to get away to a beautiful and peaceful environment, along with others who understand their pain, was one of the aims of the retreat, according to Tygielski.

“We thought it would be really great to get people out of their element and really feel like they are in a safe container, that they are removed from their day-to-day environment for several days and, more importantly, that they are around people that they don’t have to wear a mask around,” she said. “And they don’t have to explain anything because everybody that’s there understands their story, the Please see Families, page 20

p From left: Maggie Feinstein, Ellen Leger, Dan Leger, Marnie Fienberg, Marissa Weis, Michelle Simon Weis, Leigh Stein and Sharyn Stein

Photo provided by Leigh Stein

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AUGUST 30, 2019 5

Headlines Jewish jurists speak out on tikkun olam, Israel and anti-Semitism — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

J

ews have played storied roles in Pennsylvania jurisprudence, going back to 1822 when Moses Levy took the bench as the presiding judge of the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia. Levy also happened to be the first Jew to qualify as a lawyer in the United States.

Flash forward almost 200 years, and Pennsylvania’s appellate courts are now well-represented by Jewish jurists. The Chronicle spoke with four of the commonwealth’s Superior Court judges, and one Supreme Court justice, to learn about the role Judaism plays in their lives and their work.

Judge Alice Beck Dubow, Superior Court

Dubow, the daughter of Phyllis Beck, the first female appellate judge in Pennsylvania, took the bench of the Superior Court in 2016. The values of tikkun olam, with which she was Alice Beck raised, motivated her Dubow to go into law.

“The concept of tikkun olam has always been sort of a core principle of mine, and even

when I was a lawyer I did it because I felt I could use my legal skills to help people,” she said. “But when you are a lawyer, there is just so much you can do when you are in a courtroom because it is going to be a judge who makes the decision. So, that is one of the reasons that inspired me to become a trial court judge.”

Dubow served as a trial court judge for eight years, but decided to seek a seat on the appellate court to have a greater role in helping those most vulnerable, she said.

“As a trial court judge, you are dealing with vulnerable people every day,” Dubow explained. “You are somewhat limited in what you can do because you have to follow the law as defined by the Superior Court and the Supreme Court, and so I always tried to make decisions that were most helpful to vulnerable people. But sometimes you are limited by the law as to what you can do. So, by being on Superior Court, there are cases in which if the law is not there, I can gently nudge it in an area that helps people who are most vulnerable.”

Her Jewish values, she said, inspire within her a sense of fairness.

“For most Jews, the Holocaust is always in the back of your mind, and the vulnerability of Jews in Germany is always in the back of my mind,” Dubow said. “And so I think that also feeds my sensitivity to those who are vulnerable and also sort of feeds my concern of government overreach.”

Lately, she has been spending much of her

free time working with organizations that deal with child welfare issues.

Although she does not experience anti-Semitism on a day-to-day basis at home in Philadelphia, its rise concerns her.

“I am very concerned about the national discourse that is encouraging anti-Semitism at a much more global level,” Dubow said. “It troubles me a lot.”

As a judge, she is limited in what she can speak out about, she explained, “which is often very frustrating. But I feel some comfort with others speaking out about anti-Semitism. I think it is important that everybody be aware that it is out there and it is getting worse. The BDS movement troubles me. Without getting too political about it, I think that it stems at a certain level from anti-Semitism. So I do think that Jews need to speak out about it and protests are good. I think protests get people’s attention, make people aware of the issues.”

President Judge Emeritus Susan Peikes Gantman, Superior Court

“As judges, we are fortunate to use all the knowledge that we have received in training both in Jewish law and secular law,” said Gantman, who has been a Superior Court judge since 2003. “I grew up in an observant household and studied Talmud, Hebrew, Bible and prayers. This legacy taught me to be mindful of others, respectful and humble.

I wanted to make the world a better place and to save a little part of the world, tikkun olam. I wanted to pursue justice and truth.”

For most of her legal career, Gantman practiced Susan Peikes in juvenile law, domestic Gantman law, and appellate law.

“As my legal career developed, I thought I would be best suited to be a jurist so that I could continue to rule on cases to make certain that people got fair opportunity, and that is fortunately what I have been able to do on the bench,” she said.

She believes that many Jews go into law for that very reason.

“I think that people want to make a difference, that they want to solve problems,” she said.

Problem-solving and standing up for social justice is the responsibility of not only Jews, but the population at large, according to Gantman.

“I don’t think it is only Jews that have that calling, I think that it is everyone with moral conscience, and I think it is people of every religion,” she said. “One of the things we have to do is be respectful of individuals and allow people to present different points of view, and that is something that you are not seeing so much today. But that is not a new Please see Judges, page 7

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Headlines Judges: Continued from page 6

phenomenon, it’s just more discussed today because we have so many more outlets.”

The increase in anti-Semitism worldwide is “problematic,” Gantman said, noting a threat posed by “anti-Zionist” attacks as well.

She has a “deep affection for Israel and the Jewish people and I want to support the right of Israel to live in peace and security. And we are not so far away from when there was so much destruction of the Jewish people. 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and we are not that far away. My father liberated a camp. Many of our parents were involved in World War II, so we really have the responsibility. You don’t have to agree with everything that Israel does. But Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and there is like hyper-partisan demonization of political opponents right now. And sometimes people get involved with just saying something that doesn’t necessarily ring true. But we see a tremendously growing threat from the anti-Zionist attack on the existence of the one Jewish state, and that becomes a problem. And BDS is an attempt to strangle the economy of the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Judge Anne Lazarus, Superior Court

Lazarus has been on the Superior Court bench since 2010. Although she was raised

in a Jewish home, her family was not “particularly observant, but we were well educated,” she said.

After she married, she and her husband decided “it was very important to us to Anne raise a Jewish family, so we Lazarus belong to a synagogue. Our children went to Sunday school and Hebrew school. They both went on to Hebrew high school, and they both got teaching certificates to teach in Jewish day schools, which my youngest daughter did.”

Her dedication to the Jewish people runs deep. In 2008, she founded the Louis D. Brandeis Law Society, an organization in Philadelphia for Jewish lawyers and judges.

“We created a mission statement that not only dealt with tikkun olam, but it also dealt with dealing with some of the everyday stresses of being Jewish in a secular world and improving the living for Jewish lawyers and judges.”

When asked how her Jewish identity informs her work, Lazarus referenced another female jurist.

“I always think of Justice (Sonia) Sotomayor, who was asked about her background and what that would do if she got onto the Supreme Court and she said — I’m paraphrasing — ‘a wise Latino woman would bring a different perspective.’ And I think that being Jewish and understanding tikkun olam, and understanding Jewish values and the Jewish way of looking at justice

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

Aug. 30, 1944 — Harold MacMichael ends term in Palestine

Land of Israel, line the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who died of cancer the previous day.

The U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, formed four months earlier, meets for the final time. Its majority report, endorsed by eight of the 11 members, calls for partition into two states with an economic union.

Sept. 1, 1915 — Weizmann joins British Admiralty

Chaim Weizmann, later credited with playing a key role in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, is named an honorary technical adviser to the British Admiralty on the supply of acetone for the explosive cordite.

Sept. 2, 1935 — Rabbi Kook’s funeral

An estimated 80,000 mourners, roughly a quarter of the Jewish population of the

Judge Maria McLaughlin, Superior Court

When McLaughlin became a judge for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in 2011, she was not a Jew. Seven years later, when she took her seat on the bench of the Superior Court, she Maria had converted to Judaism.

McLaughlin “I think converting to Judaism affected by entire life, not just my calling on the bench,” McLaughlin said. “To me, the history of Jewish thought affected me coming from the outside.”

Although she is married to a Jewish man, McLaughlin converted “because I wanted

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Israel and Egypt in Geneva sign the Second Disengagement Agreement (Sinai II), brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger through shuttle diplomacy since March 1975.

Sept. 5, 1972 — Olympic Massacre in Munich

Black September terrorists kill two Israeli Olympic team members and take nine others hostage at the Summer Games in Munich. The nine hostages and five of the eight terrorists are killed during a botched German rescue attempt. PJC

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to convert,” she said. “If he had asked me, I wouldn’t have.”

Her conversion to Judaism, she said, was “an intellectual experience as well as a spiritual experience. Sitting with the rabbi, then going through the mikvah, it was just an incredible experience to me. Just furthering my education even more, because that’s how I look at it. I look at it as really an education.”

McLaughlin came from a devout Catholic family. Two of her aunts are nuns. Still, she was supported by her relatives in her decision to become a Jew. “I always say it is important to have faith,” she said. “No matter what you do, no matter what your position is in life, I can’t imagine not having faith. And to me, Judaism is so much more than just your faith because it is your Jewish life, it is a huge family, and that’s how I see it.”

Judaism informs her work, she said, because “it is based on laws. It’s the laws that govern our society, the laws that are the foundation of our national conscience. So that in and of itself makes Judaism have an impact on what I do on a daily basis.”

Jews have a responsibility to lead by example and by deed, said McLaughlin.

“I think that the Jewish people stand for that, being a revolutionary. We take our cues from Abraham. We each define our own chapter in our life. That’s what he did. So when I say we each have to teach and lead by example and deed, I believe that is part

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Rattled by attempts on his life, Harold MacMichael resigns as Britain’s fifth high commissioner to Palestine after more than six years of increasing restrictions on Jewish immigration.

Aug. 31, 1947 — Last Meeting for Special Panel on Palestine

certainly informs that.

“In my office currently I have a painting that was commissioned for me by my husband when I went on the bench, and it is a quote from Ecclesiastes about not judging the rich differently than the poor, or the mighty differently than the weak. And I think that does inform how you look at the law.”

Like many of her Jewish colleagues, she is “absolutely” concerned about the rising tide of anti-Semitism in this country.

“I think there are so many parallels between what was going on in Germany in the late 1930s and I think that some of the people in our government are fanning the flames and encouraging people to play to their worst selves,” Lazarus said.

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Headlines Congregation Emanu-El Israel welcomes new rabbi — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

R

abbi Leonard Sarko is looking forward to beginning his rabbinate at Congregation Emanu-El Israel (CEI) in Greensburg.

“I love the challenge of coming someplace new, of learning about a new community and getting to know the people,” he said. “It’s very exciting. It’s one of the nicer parts of the rabbinate.”

The rabbinate is a second career for Sarko, who was an environmental scientist for 35 years. He’s been a rabbi for about 15 years.

Sarko begins his tenure as the senior rabbi of CEI on Sept. 1. He previously served as the lead rabbi at Congregation Achduth Vesholom in Fort Wayne, Indiana for three years.

According to Robert Slone, co-chair of the rabbinic search committee, CEI’s former rabbi, Stacy Petersohn, told the congregation she was leaving before the High Holidays last year. Petersohn, who had one year remaining on her three-year contract, wanted to “get back into education rather continue as a pulpit rabbi.”

The congregation formed a search committee in October and began the process of looking for a new rabbi.

“We received a few Atlanta; a son living in resumes,” Slone explained.

Portland who works in “We started looking at computer security; and both rabbis and cantors a son who is a Jewish and interviewed one of educator in Seattle. each before meeting with While the family is Sarko through Skype.” spread across the country, CEI president Irene they find ways to stay in Rothschild said that the touch. “We have a family next step was to have custom where all the Sarko come to Greensburg children and three grandchildren get together for a and spend some time at the congregation. vacation in the summer,” “He came with his p Leonard Sarko Sarko said. “We’re a tight Photo courtesy of Leonard Sarko family so we Facetime wife, Karen, and he did a service for us. Everyone and Skype a lot.”

The rabbi realizes that some may view was very, very pleased with his demeanor, his knowledge, his comfort level, his ability a city like Greensburg as a challenging to interact with the congregation. He made a location. He doesn’t see it that way.

“Prior to being in Ft. Wayne, I worked very good impression.”

The search committee believed Sarko had with other smaller communities. There are both the experience and personality needed ways to attract membership outside of the core city and be able to service them. Maybe at the temple, according to Slone.

“We felt he and his wife would fit in very you don’t go into Pittsburgh but there are a nicely with the congregation based on his lot of little burbs, Latrobe for instance. You age, experience, children, etc. People seemed can really expand out 150 miles into other to like him. We thought he’d meld into the suburban areas and attract these people. community nicely. We felt he had a strong When my parents were growing up, you Jewish presence that would be good for moved into an area because your relatives the community.” lived there. Now you move for a job. If your Sarko is moving to Greensburg with his job is in Latrobe, guess what, you move to wife. The two have three children: a daughter Latrobe, even with no one there. So, the married to a rabbi serving a congregation in question is, now you’re a Jew in Latrobe,

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how do you maintain connection with the Jewish community, how do you educate your children and celebrate the holidays? I’ve developed ways for them to do that without traveling 150 miles away. It’s through outreach to Jewish families that don’t have that access to larger communities and that’s something we can do in Greensburg. We can expand the membership that way.”

While he is new to the area, Sarko is not unfamiliar with it. His daughter attended the University of Pittsburgh, and recycling units he developed during his time as an environmental scientist are used by various industries outside of the city.

Despite his new location, one thing won’t change for the rabbi: his football team allegiance. “I grew up in Detroit, so I’m a Lions fan. That’s not an easy thing to do. They haven’t been good for decades.”

Rothschild is certain that Sarko’s personality is the right fit for CEI. “One of the things that impressed me, once Rabbi Sarko knew we would be hiring him, he asked for a list of everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries. His intention is to call them and wish them a happy birthday, a happy anniversary.

I thought that was wonderful and so personable. That’s one of the reasons we’re so excited to have him as part of our family.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Onward Israel participants reflect on summer of learning and fun — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

S

chool is back in session but two students aren’t ready to let go of summer. University of Pittsburgh sophomores Benjamin Ahlmark and Daya Sharon recently returned from participating in Onward Israel, a heavily subsidized immersive resume building experience for students and recent graduates interested in exploring particular fields of work in the Jewish state.

For Ahlmark, a chemical engineering major, the opportunity to spend eight weeks in Israel at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot was transformative.

“I learned about lab techniques. I did a lot of procedures, worked under a postdoc student and got to experience how to present in a professional setting,” said Ahlmark.

Ahlmark’s PowerPoint presentation, which he delivered in English before professionals, allowed him to “practice communicating in scientific terms, which is not as easy as it sounds,” he noted.

There is a definite value in being able to express complex ideas in simplistic ways, especially in an environment where most people don’t share a common tongue. In Ahlmark’s laboratory, there were Israelis, Eastern Europeans, Americans and people from all over the world, but “everyone spoke English,” he said. Even so, delivering a sophisticated yet accessible presentation on protein purification was a highlight, he explained.

For Sharon, understanding how much freedom is afforded to computer programmers was illuminating. “I kind of saw how a normal day in a programmer’s life was.

I got to see what I would be doing in my job,” she said.

Sharon, a computer science major, spent the summer with Picktorial, a Jerusalem-based company that creates photo editing tools for Mac users. During her time there, Sharon

— WORLD — From JTA reports

State Department removes ‘Palestinian Territories’ from website The State Department has removed the term “Palestinian Territories” from a web page listing countries and areas covered by one of its bureaus.

A spokeswoman said it does not reflect a change in U.S. policy.

“The website is being updated,” the spokeswoman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an email. “There has been no change to our policy.”

A journalist with Middle East expertise, Aaron Magid, noticed the change last week.

The State Department had listed “Palestinian Territories” as an area under the aegis of its Bureau for Near East Affairs at least until 2017.

p Benjamin Ahlmark

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Ahlmark

worked on programming matters related to the company’s website as well as helping Picktorial transition to “a different data viewing style,” she said. Whereas Picktorial staff had previously created manual charts and graphs, Sharon was charged with learning how to use Google Charts and teaching others how to employ it in the future.

Sharon acknowledged that she had little experience with the work she was supposed to do, but that’s basically the nature of the beast. “Computer science is very much learn as you go. You learn the concepts in class but applications are sort of learn on the job,” she said.

Despite spending her workdays in a Givat Ram office setting, Sharon was able to see vast parts of the country. Program officials from Onward Israel scheduled regular trips in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. “There was also a little Shabbaton we had on some sort of campgrounds,” she added.

As beneficial as it was to gain an instructive internship, the social component was equally rewarding, explained Sharon, who participated in Onward Israel through its

camp counselor track.

The specially tailored program enables individuals to complete a 5-week internship between early May and early June, thus allowing enough time for participants to serve as camp counselors during summer’s latter half.

In Sharon’s case, after completing her internship at Picktorial, she worked at Camp Tevya, a Jewish summer camp in New Hampshire. Being in Israel prepared her for the camp experience by enabling greater social connections, she explained. “When we were in Israel I organized a little meetup between my friends who went on Onward with me and the Israeli counselors who would be joining us, so coming back to camp we knew most of the Israeli counselors we were going to be working with.”

Participating in Onward Israel has become a sort of rite of passage for returning counselors at Camp Tevye, she added. “It’s just kind of a thing at my camp for returning third year counselors to do Onward. It was started a few years ago and people realized it was a great opportunity to do both an internship

Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s secretary-general, said on Twitter that the change was about “advancing the agenda” of the settlement movement.

The Trump administration has defunded virtually all of the money — about $400 million annually — that the United States had relayed to the Palestinians. It has also moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem while rolling its Palestinian interests sections into the embassy’s business. U.S. officials previously dealt with Palestinians out of a separate Jerusalem consulate.

Trump administration officials also have retreated from favoring a Palestinian state as an outcome of peace negotiations.

President Donald Trump, attending a multilateral summit on Monday, suggested that he may restore Palestinian funding should the Palestinians agree to rejoin the peace process. The Palestinians stopped cooperating with Trump after he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, with no

commensurate recognition of Palestinian claims to parts of the city, in December 2017.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Israeli Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz shaves trademark mustache to make a political point Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz has given a whole new meaning to the expression “Read my lips.”

Peretz sacrificed the mustache that he has sported in various stages of bushiness for the past 47 years to make a point about a future unity government.

“I decided to remove my mustache so that all of Israel will understand exactly what I’m saying and will be able to read my lips — I won’t sit with Bibi,” Peretz said about the possibility of his Labor-Gesher union joining a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview Sunday night on Israel’s Channel 12.

Some pundits suggested that Peretz pulled

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

and camp in the same summer and it gives you an opportunity to go back to Israel.”

As a teenager, Sharon traveled to the Jewish state with her camp for a similar period of time, but participating in Onward Israel was quite different. Going with camp “it was really packed with activities and tours and a lot of sightseeing. On Onward, you just go and they give you an apartment and a weekly stipend for food, a bus pass and your internship. Your free time is yours to do what you want with it. There’s a lot more independence,” she said.

Such autonomy really boosts participants’ experience, explained Dan Marcus, CEO and executive director of Hillel JUC. “First, there is the opportunity to immerse and live in Israel in a more in-depth and holistic way. Second, there is an opportunity to do an internship in your field of profession in Israel, and doing an internship in a foregin country separates you from others who are doing that work here. Third, there is value added by being in an immersive Jewish experience and getting to understand the modern Jewish experience by living it.”

Ahlmark, who had never left the United States prior to participating in Onward Israel, agreed. “I was surprised how connected I felt to the country,” he said.

Between experiencing Shabbat, observing an abundance of kosher food and enjoying the Sephardi and Mizrahi influences in cuisine, “I really like the experience of living there. I really like the culture,” he said. “I felt connected to the country.”

Ahlmark and Sharon were two of nearly 50 Steel City college students who participated in Onward Israel this summer.

“It was our biggest group ever,” said Marcus.

“It’s so much fun to live with your friends in a different country. We cooked for ourselves, we went out for dinner and we also got some work experience in our fields,” said Sharon.

“Overall, I had a lot of fun.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

the stunt in order to get more air time and revive his party’s sagging campaign.

“In the end, no one will remember anything about Peretz’s attempt to stifle rumors of a deal with Netanyahu, save for him sacrificing his mustache on the altar of his own irrelevance,” Einav Schiff wrote in Ynet, calling the interview “one of the saddest things seen on the small screen in recent years.”

The Labor Party is expected to barely pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold. The Labor-Gesher union is polling at four to five seats with three weeks to go before the national election.

Peretz said his upper lip will remain hairless until after the Sept. 17 vote.

Fun fact: Peretz trimmed his mustache for the first time in 2002 when the country’s Association for the Deaf contacted the veteran Knesset member to tell him that its members could not understand him because they could not see his lips. PJC AUGUST 30, 2019 9

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.

Rabbi Danielle Leshaw is a senior educator and campus support director at Hillel International. Visit bethshalompgh.org/ events-upcoming for more information.

q SUNDAY, SEPT. 1

Celebrate a sweet new year with Shalom Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Jewish community at the Ninth Annual Apples & Honey Fall Festival! Join us at the Waterfront Town Center from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for a celebration with apples and honey, crafts, activities, a bounce house, shofar making, entertainment, vendors, food and more! Visit jewishpgh.org/apples-honey to pre-register and take full advantage of all Apples & Honey activities and earn your Bee Stop Passport (your ticket to a sweet treat)!

We all have questions after October 27. How do these things happen? Why? Where was God? The 10.27 Healing Partnership with the Elul Program Committee presents Awaken, Reflect, Together, a discussion of these questions by community leaders. Planned by Beth Kissileff Perlman and Sara Stock Mayo at the JCC Kaufmann Building beginning at 4 p.m. All are welcome. q TUESDAY, SEPT. 3 Learn how the stories of Abraham, Hannah, Isaiah and Jonah illustrate themes of the Jewish New Year and help us prepare spiritually for the upcoming holidays at Spiritual Readings for the Jewish High Holidays with Rabbi Jonathan Perlman presented by New Light Congregation and Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church. The event takes place at 7 p.m. at New Light Congregation. Email info@ newlightcongregatin.org or call 412-4211017 to enroll. q WEDNESDAYS, SEPT. 4,

11, 18, 25

Jewish Family and Community Services presents Trauma Resiliency Group: An Integrative Approach to Healing, a free weekly gathering for anyone suffering the aftermath of the trauma of Oct. 27. Offered by Amy Lohr, LCSW, integrative psychotherapist, at JFCS, Room A/B, second fl., 5743 Bartlett St., Squirrel Hill. This is a change of location from the previous sessions at the JCC. q WEDNESDAYS, SEPT. 4,

11, 18, 25

“Heal, Grow and Live with Hope” Nar-Anon and NA meetings every Wednesday evening at Beth El Congregation, 1900 Cochran Road, 15220 at 7:30 p.m. Come to the office/school entrance at the end of the building to be buzzed in. Call Karen at 412-563-3395 and leave a message for more information. q THURSDAY, SEPT. 5 Celebrate Community Strength at FED Talks, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s 2019 Annual Meeting at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center beginning at 7 p.m. Experts will discuss what makes a person or community resilient, Jewish community leaders will be celebrated and Federation leaders will report on a year without precedent. Visit jewishpgh.org/ annual-meeting to preregister. Dietary laws observed. Free valet parking. Preregistration: $10/walk-in registration: $20.

Online registration closes on Tuesday, Sept.

3, at 10 a.m. q SATURDAYS, SEPT. 7, 14, 21 Rabbi Danielle Leshaw will lead a Derekh Study Series on several rebellion narratives within the Book of Numbers beginning at 12:45 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom (5915 Beacon St.). We’ll study prominent themes that surface in these texts: religious authority, entering the land of Israel, God’s (im)perfect Torah, and communal obligation.

10 AUGUST 30, 2019

q SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

q SUNDAY, SEPT. 8 You are invited to attend the closing program of the Jewish Women’s Center of Pittsburgh, Retrospective: 1992-2019 from 3-5:00 p.m. at the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives located in the Heinz History Center.

Come mingle, reminisce and enjoy light refreshments. Please RSVP by Aug. 28 to evite.me/zUeenuUehG . q MONDAY, SEPT. 9 Beth El Congregation of the South Hills presents their monthly lunch series, First Mondays with Rabbi Alex at 11:30 a.m. featuring Rabbi Alex Greenbaum and a guest. This month, Judah Samet presents his experiences from birth in Hungary to liberation from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and beyond. $6 and includes lunch. Visit bethelcong.org/events/ first-mondays-13 or call 412-561-1168. q MONDAY, SEPT. 9 Beth El Congregation of the South Hills welcomes George Savarese at 7 p.m. for Adult Ed Evenings. Savarese will discuss North Korea. Begins with a wine and cheese reception. $5. Visit bethelcong.org/ events/current-events/2019-09-09 or call 412-561-1168. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 11 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents Child and Infant CPR Basics at 7 p.m. Open to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone who wants to learn the basics of infant and child CPR. This short training is designed to provide the basic skills needed to feel comfortable and confident in the case of a medical emergency. Training will be conducted by Dr. Natan Cramer, emergency medical physician at Children’s Hospital, along with a team of physicians/ medical providers. Space is limited so be sure to register today! Cost is $25 unless previously enrolled in Jewish Baby University.

Visit jewishpgh.org/event/cpr-basics for more information and to register. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 11 Barry Rudel’s lecture Cambria County’s Jewish Community will take attendees through a fascinating journey of the Jewish people in this region and will share some religious artifacts. Rudel will speak at the Edensburg Borough Building, 300 W. High St. beginning at 7 p.m. as part of Cambria County Historical Society’s 2019 Fall Lecture Series.

q WEDNESDAYS, SEPT. 11, 18

Technology Drive). $180 per person, per year.

Visit shalompittsburgh.org/melton-youngadult-education/ for more information and to register.

Join Temple Emanuel of South Hills at 7 p.m. for Israel’s Election – What to Watch For. Rabbi Aaron Meyer will lead a discussion on the implications of the Sept.

17 Israeli election. All are welcome for this free event. RSVP to templeemanuel@ templeemanuelpgh.org or 412-279-7600.

q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18

q THURSDAY, SEPT. 12 It’s 5 o’clock somewhere! Come join Pittsburgh’s Jewish Young Adult community for a Young Adult Happy Hour as we kick off the programming year. Newcomers, grad students, native Pittsburghers, everyone is welcome! Visit shalompittsburgh.org/ event/young-adult-happy-hour for more information and to register. q FRIDAY, SEPT. 13 Gather together for Shabbat dinner as Shalom Pittsburgh kicks off their I-Volunteer series! I-Volunteer is for adults of all abilities to volunteer and socialize together. We’d love for you to join us for one event or all of them. Visit jewishpgh.org/event/i-volunteershabbat-dinner-2 for more information and to register. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 15 The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Assn.

(JCBA) will hold its annual unveiling of headstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery on Oakwood St, Shaler Township at 10:30 a.m. Headstones for Blyuma Gitlin, Joseph Weiss and Olga Klein will be unveiled.

Rabbi Eli Seidman, Director of Pastoral Care for the Jewish Association on Aging, will officiate. The community is invited to attend.

For further information contact the JCBA at 412-553-6469, jcbapgh@gmail.com. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 15

q THURSDAY, SEPT. 19 Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for Drag Queen Bingo. Doors open at 6 p.m. $20 per person, includes bingo and show. Food, drinks and raffles. Visit dragqueenparties.com for tickets. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 22 Conquer the unknown at the Steel City Showdown: Beast of the Burgh, 3-5 mile obstacle challenge through the JCC of Pittsburgh’s 100+ acre Henry Kaufmann Family Park woods. $55 for 9-9:45 am heats; $50 for all other heats; $25 for kids race. Visit active.com/monroeville-pa/running/distancerunning-races/steel-city-showdown-2019 for more information and to register.

Kids will get a fresh start by visiting Chabad of the South Hills’ Rosh Hashanah Farmers Market at the South Hills JCC at 2:30 p.m.

They’ll go from booth to booth exploring the holiday’s culinary themes with unique recipes: round artisan challah, apple mocktails and more. Designed for children ages 3-11. To register call 412-344-2424. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 22

Join Women of Rodef Shalom for brunch with author Barbara Burstin who will discuss her latest book, “Sophie, the Incomparable Mayor, Masloff.” Burstin appears as part of the 85th Annual Solomon B. Freehof Book and Author Series beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Aaron Court. RSVP by Sept. 11 to gjkatz@aol.com. q MONDAY, SEPT. 16

The Jewish Community Foundation presents the 2019 Fall Forum featuring Dr. Erica Brown in conversation with Rabbi Danny Schiff on Leading Issues in Contemporary Jewish Life.

Featuring the presentation of the 2019 Gift of Consequence Award to Sandy and Larry Rosen. Visit jewishpgh.org/fall-forum to learn more and register. q TUESDAY, SEPT. 24

Join Rodef Shalom (4905 Fifth Ave) for Urban Art: A Discussion as architect Kent Bloomer talks about his unconventional sculpture designed for the entrance to Freehof Hall. The fee to attend is $10 (congregation members $5). A reception follows. For more information, call 421.621.6566 x140.

Chabad of the South Hills presents a PreHoliday Seniors Lunch at 12 p.m. Enjoy a delicious lunch with honey cake and a presentation by the Jewish Association on Aging. Raffle prizes. $5 suggested donation, wheelchair accessible. For more information and to preregister, please call 412-278-2658.

q MONDAY, SEPT. 16

q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills welcomes Peter Dinardo at 7 p.m. for Adult Ed Evenings. Dinardo will discuss free speech. Begins with a wine and cheese reception. $5 Visit bethelcong.org/ events/current-events/2019-09-16/ or call 412-561-1168. q MONDAY, SEPT. 16 – MAY 18 Join the first ever Melton Adult Jewish Learning course just for young adults (22-45) and learn the Rhythms & Purposes of Jewish Living. Classes are taught by local rabbis and will be held every Monday at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (2000

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

The Squirrel Hill AARP will hold their first fall public meeting at 1 p.m. The open meeting will be in the Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Falk Library (4905 Fifth Ave.). Handwriting analyst Michelle Dresbold will share her experiences in multiple trials and will discuss different handwriting styles and what they can reveal about a person’s personality.

Contact Marcia Kramer for more information, 412-731-3338.

Learn about AgeWell and other community and government services available to seniors at a free presentation at Temple Emanuel (1250 Bower Hill Road) beginning at 7:30 p.m. Seniors will learn about services available to help them stay in their home and adult children will learn where to find help when they become caregivers. RSVP to templeemanuel@templeemanuelpgh.org 412-279-7600. PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Bret Stephens leaves Twitter after user compares him to bedbugs — NATIONAL —

By Gabe Friedman | JTA

B

ret Stephens has left Twitter abruptly, apparently motivated by a spat with a George Washington University professor on the social media platform.

“Time to do what I long ago promised to do,” The New York Times opinion columnist tweeted before deactivating his account. “Twitter is a sewer. It brings out the worst in humanity. I sincerely apologize for any part I’ve played in making it worse, and to anyone I’ve ever hurt.”

The episode started after an internal Times memo was leaked saying that bedbugs were seen in the newsroom. The New York Post reported that multiple areas in the paper’s building were evacuated and cleaned.

Later in the afternoon, David Karpf, an associate professor of media and public affairs at GW, joined the many who had tweeted about the insect issue.

“The bedbugs are a metaphor,” Karpf wrote. “The bedbugs are Bret Stephens.”

The Washington Post reported that Karpf ’s tweet had about nine likes (and zero retweets) — indicating few had read it — until Stephens responded.

Stephens sent Karpf an email, and copied the school’s provost, The Washington Post reported.

p Bret Stephens at a Christians United for Israel summit in in 2015.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

“I’m often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people — people they’ve never met — on Twitter. I think you’ve set a new standard,” Stephens wrote. “I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a ‘bedbug’ to my face. That would take some genuine courage

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and intellectual integrity on your part.”

Karpf ’s tweets, including one with a screenshot of Stephens’ email, subsequently went semi-viral. Many commenters said Stephens, who regularly writes in support of free speech on campus, had overreacted, especially in alerting Karpf ’s employer.

Asked for further comment by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday, Stephens

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sent only a link to a June 2018 article he wrote for The Times titled “‘Tell Them I Was Not Afraid’” that details a memoir

by Holocaust survivor Raya Mazin, his maternal grandmother’s first cousin. While most of Mazin’s family was murdered during the war, she and her future husband escaped from their hometown of Riga, Latvia, under heavy fire from German soldiers.

Stephens used the story to critique comments by Alexander Gauland, a co-leader of the far-right German Alternative for Germany, or AFD, party. Gauland had said “Hitler and the Nazis are just a speck of bird shit in over 1,000 years of successful German history.”

“I needed to learn anew just what that ‘speck’ had meant for my extended family,” Stephens wrote.

No mention of bedbugs — though perhaps Stephens was comparing Karpf ’s words to a Nazi slur.

He also told The Washington Post that his email to Karpf “speaks for itself.”

Stephens, a conservative on the predominantly liberal opinion pages of The Times, has often been a lightning rod for leftleaning and pro-Palestinian criticism. A frequent critic of Donald Trump, he has also been attacked from the right. Before winning a Pulitzer Prize for commentary at The Wall Street Journal, Stephens was editor of The Jerusalem Post. PJC

AUGUST 30, 2019 11

Opinion Trump and the Jews — EDITORIAL —

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ast week President Donald Trump bemoaned the state of the Democratic Party, saying, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” Given that roughly 80 percent of the Jewish population votes Democrat, the remark quickly spurred reaction from many Jewish pundits, politicians and organizations. Much of the comments centered on the issue of “loyalty.” Was Trump suggesting that Jewish Democrats are disloyal to the U.S. or to Israel? And was he hinting around the anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty?

Before the president clarified his meaning a couple days later (answer: Israel), the media launched into a frenzied Talmudic discourse about the president’s wording and phraseology — as if Trump’s stray, impetuous remarks or tweets are reflective of deeply held beliefs and carefully developed policy positions. We know that’s not the case.

Yet the hyper-focus on the president’s words, and the resulting cascade of comments on their intent, impact or merit obscures fundamental issues for our community: What does it mean for Jewish Americans when the president uses our community as a political talking point, and

p President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in March.

Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images

what are the implications of him passing public judgment on the majority of us?

Many of us shrug it off as another campaign strategy, and don’t pay it much heed. But many others take the comments seriously, since they know that Trump, as agitator in chief, is remarkably effective in driving wedges between members of different communities in an effort to attract more votes. And a fight over Jewish votes is

exactly what he wants.

According to a recent Associated Press report, “Trump and his allies are trying to lure Jewish voters who they think could be turned off by liberal Democrats’ growing willingness to criticize the Israeli government. In a razorclose election, picking up a few thousand votes in key counties in states such as Florida and Pennsylvania could make a difference.”

Group identity politics have become more

pronounced in recent history, as those identifying with particular races, religions and ethnicities are pitted against one another for the purpose of political gain. Now, Jews have been thrown into the mix, with our president pitting us against each other as he declares who is, and who isn’t, a good Jew. Also troubling was the embrace of Trump’s comments by some evangelicals, eager to weigh in on his value to the Jews. According to a tweet by conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root: “President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him.... like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God... But American Jews don’t know him or like him….It makes no sense!”

Trump loved the comment and retweeted it. But supportive retweets by Jews were very limited, and we join those who are fundamentally uncomfortable with the idea of our community, our values and our allegiances becoming a political commodity — not to mention the messianic imagery, which might be hilarious if it were not so disturbing.

Neither the president nor his surrogates speak for us. Our community is sophisticated, savvy, thoughtful and independent.

We will think and speak for ourselves. PJC

Stop saying women convert to Judaism just for marriage Guest Columnist Kylie Ora Lobell

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henever a celebrity decides to convert to Judaism, headlines like this abound: “Karlie Kloss confirms conversion to Judaism to marry Joshua Kushner.”

“Zooey Deschanel joins these other stars who changed their religion for love.”

“Converting for Love (Like Natalie Portman’s Husband)? The Talmud Forbids It.” Written in this way, these headlines — and the articles that follow — perpetuate the idea that people, especially women, convert to Judaism in order to get married.

This framing puts conversion on the same level as, say, a prenup, or, in a more cynical light, an ultimatum.

There are some people who convert to Judaism for marriage — maybe at the demand of an in-law or even a partner — but I’ve never met a convert like this.

Converting to Judaism is complicated. It requires a complete overhaul of your belief system, along with rigorous study, the giving up of familiar rituals and sometimes familial relationships, and an acknowledgment of the fact that you are joining a people who have been hated, for no logical reason, ever since they came into existence.

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I would know because I am a convert.

And, like most converts, I didn’t convert for marriage. I converted for myself.

My now-husband Daniel introduced me to traditional Judaism when we met nine years ago. He took me to a Chabad house for a Friday night dinner, and from there, I was so intrigued that I ended up going to Jewish classes and decided to convert through an Orthodox beit din.

For the next five years, I kept learning, took on a kosher diet, started celebrating Shabbat and the holidays, and slowly increased my observance. I was an atheist with absolutely no religious background prior to this, so it wasn’t an easy adjustment at times.

But I kept on pushing through, because when I went to Friday night dinners, I felt a part of the Jewish people. When I read the Torah, I felt a sense of calm wash over me. When I learned the laws, they made sense. When I saw other observant married couples, I knew this was the life I wanted.

Throughout my process, people would ask me, “Are you converting for Daniel?”

I’d say, “No. Are you kidding? I’m doing this for me.”

The beit din assesses your sincerity when you’re converting. I had to meet with my rabbi several times, over the course of several years, before he determined I was ready to go to the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath. When I was at the mikvah, he asked me if I was prepared to take on all the mitzvot (commandments) to the best of my ability.

He asked me if I was aware that the Jewish people are so widely hated.

“What would you do if there was another Holocaust?” he said. I told him, “I’d go with my people.”

Even though it is offensive, I can understand why some would question converts.

The history of the Jewish people is so rife with tragedy that it can lead people to be pessimistic or skeptical. However, those who convert for disingenuous reasons are not truly converts.

If you are not sincere when you go to the mikvah, your conversion is automatically invalid. This was a famous ruling from Rabbi Yitzchak Schmelkes, who wrote in 1876, “If he undergoes conversion and accepts upon himself the yoke of the commandments, while in his heart he does not intend to perform them — it is the heart that God wants and [therefore] he has not become a proselyte.”

The Torah clearly tells us to love converts and to not make them feel like they are strangers, like we were in Egypt. When you accuse someone of converting for somebody or for marriage, you are diminishing their devotion and labeling them as an “other.” You are not welcoming them in with open arms.

If you look at what Karlie Kloss has said about converting, it’s beautiful, and I could not have said it better myself: “It wasn’t enough to just love Josh and make this decision for him … This is my life and I am an independent, strong woman. It was only after many years of studying and talking with my family and friends and soul searching that I

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made the decision to fully embrace Judaism in my life and start planning for a future with the man I chose to marry.”

While falling in love can be the catalyst for this lifestyle, ultimately, it is up to the convert to continue on with it. And while they’re taking the steps, and certainly once they have taken them, it is up to us to make them feel welcome and at home.

I am very open about being a convert, and thankfully, most of the people I’ve encountered in my community have been not only welcoming to me, but have treated me like I’m part of their families.

There are times when I do feel like the other, like when I go to a wedding and I don’t know any of the Israeli songs people are singing along to, or I can’t find an English siddur in a shul. But I just stop and remind myself how little time I’ve been a Jew in comparison to everyone else. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn.

When it comes to how we talk about converts, we have a long way to go as well.

Instead of talking about conversions in the context of marriage, and instead of judging, let’s be openhearted. Converts strengthen the Jewish people. They love us. And we should love them, too. PJC Kylie Ora Lobell is a copywriter, editor, marketer and publicist who has written for New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and numerous other outlets.

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Opinion Veganism is a core Jewish value Guest Columnist Juliet Stein

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s an Ashkenazi Jew, I grew up with an inherent nostalgia for an Eastern European diet. It was not that long ago that our grandparents and great-grandparents wrestled with starvation, migration, the Holocaust. And heavy, hearty fare sometimes meant the difference between life and death.

We carry our ancestors with us, and we honor them with our food. The smell of brisket, the crunch of a toasted bagel slathered with cream cheese and lox, the all-powerful remedy of chicken noodle soup. Lamb chops simmering in hot, dark broths. Challahs shining under a layer of brushed egg.

The laws of kashrut make it difficult to consume animal products. In the Garden of Eden, God actually commanded veganism (Gen 1:29). It was only after the flood that God allowed the (restrictive) eating of animal products as a concession to people’s inability to control themselves (Gen 9:2-5).

But even then, what animals can and cannot be eaten, how they must be slaughtered and prepared, and the discouragement of consuming both meat and milk together was, for its time, revolutionary in its circumscription. Newly liberated from Egypt and operating in an environment where food was scarce, God made it difficult for us to consume animals.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen believed that the laws of kashrut were a thinly veiled admonishment for meat eating, designed to highlight the importance of all life and eventually lead people away from animal consumption. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin stated that “the dietary laws are intended to teach us compassion and lead us gently to vegetarianism.”

If Holocaust survivors like Alex Hershaft and Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz advocate for a vegan diet because they know what it is like to be treated like an animal, what does that say about, well, how we treat animals? Is Judaism not about tikkun olam, treating others with compassion and healing the world?

The recent, fiery deforestation of the Amazon is speculated to be a direct result of the meat industry illegally clearing land for cattle. How can we engage in tikkun olam while also supporting the animal agriculture industry, which is the largest contributor to climate change?

If animal products were produced during biblical times like they are today, I imagine God would see the carnage and degradation and declare animals and their secretions off-limits for consumption. When Judaism prohibited tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, the needless suffering of animals, it did not foresee the level of suffering in our modern animal agriculture.

Two thousand years ago, chickens were not packed in overcrowded factories with their legs breaking under the weight of their

— LETTERS — Pittsburgh’s Achilles’ heel

genetically modified bodies. Cows were not milked to death, cutting their 35-year lifespan to five years while their days-old offspring are slaughtered for low-grade veal or high-grade leather. Animals were not killed by the trillions, every year, for profit.

This is not the Judaism I know. This is not the Judaism of our ancestors.

Though our traditions are the skeletal structure of our religion, Judaism has muscles and tendons that can bend and stretch with the times. Girls can now have bat mitzvahs and women can now be rabbis. We no longer stone adulterers, nor engage in animal sacrifice within our temples. Our core values include education, hard work and the family unit.

But for a religion that coined the term “Jewish guilt,” I wonder at our apathy for the animal products we consume in the name of tradition. The other day I saw a crass reduction of this dilemma on a social media page, distilled down to: “Tradition is peer pressure from dead people.” Ironically, Judaism is a religion that encourages debate. My Hebrew teacher in high school joked that the best Hebrew word was “aval,” meaning “but.”

Deliberation is a core value of Jewish engagement. Therefore, isn’t it fair to question the ethical quandary of animal products within Judaism, without being accused of trying to dismantle Jewish culinary tradition?

Can we engage with expanded empathy without the fear of irrevocably changing our religion for the worse?

I once visited a livestock auction; they are open to the public. I saw goats and sheep packed together, most of them sick with infection or hoof rot, and near-death, black doll-eyes glassy with pain. The holding pens for the pigs had flooded and they sat in their own waste with scars from whips and open sores from cattle prods.

I saw cows and calves being beaten by disgruntled workers, sometimes to death. In the summer heat, animals were forced into metal trucks baking in the sun and died from dehydration before the truck even pulled out and started the drive to the slaughterhouse, eventually labeled “DOA.” This was an FDA-organic facility, and the meat will be labeled “grass-fed” and “humane.” I remember wiping my tears with the last dry square of my shirt.

Veganism is not about renouncing Judaism. It is about challenging Judaism to follow through with its core morals and values regarding the sanctity of life, the compassion for one’s neighbor and breaking the cycles of violence that have been inflicted upon us throughout history.

If God created man from the earth, I would argue that with regard to animals, we are creatures of the same mud. And the thing about traditions? You can always make new ones. PJC Juliet Stein is an archaeobotanist and a board member of the Jewish National Fund Futures Philadelphia Chapter. She works at a foundation dedicated to Jewish education and Israel advocacy, and volunteers at Rancho Relaxo, a sanctuary for rescued animals.

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I would like to express my strong support for the many insightful points made in Howard Rieger’s guest column, “Pittsburgh’s dirty little secret,” in the July 26, 2019, edition of the Chronicle.

Air pollution and the emission of carcinogens by Clairton Coke Works and other facilities represents Pittsburgh’s Achilles’ heel, and is why Pittsburgh ranks in the bottom 10 of cities nationally in regard to pollution levels. This is indeed harming our health. And Rieger is absolutely right to emphasize the quizzical silence on the part of local health and medical experts, as well as the inadequacy of pollution control measures instituted by the Allegheny County Council.

The culture of deference toward U.S. Steel and other western PA polluters — including Royal Dutch Shell, which is building a giant ethane cracker plant in Monaca — must end.

Joshua B. Forrest Pittsburgh

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AUGUST 30, 2019 13

Headlines FEDTalks: Continued from page 1

he went outside, and saw people walking around with strollers and eating food they bought from vendors and he said to himself, ‘What is going on, this is Auschwitz?’”

This realization started Young on a path that would lead him to develop the language used to discuss not only the biggest mass casualty in human history but also “how what we do today in our current cultural context informs the way we discuss, present and memorialize the Holocaust.”

Hertzman continues with Young’s story, “Fast forward to the ’90s. He’s had a successful career at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; he led the Jewish studies department there. He’s getting ready to retire and gets a rash of calls from organizations, governments and places about the topic he’s been thinking about for the past 30 years.”

In 1997, Young was appointed to the five-member jury for Germany’s national “Memorial to Europe’s Murdered Jews” in Berlin and was a member of the jury for the National 9/11 Memorial. It was this work that led Federation to ask Young to speak at their Annual Meeting. Hertzman explains, “we called the 9/11 Memorial and they said, you don’t want us, you want James Young. Once I started to understand his background it blew my mind.”

Young said that he asked himself “why me?” when he received Federation’s call. His answer was that Pittsburgh has “questions in the back of their mind about commemorating the attack

TOL: Continued from page 1

congregants and others.

The joyous gathering, which featured speeches, singing and the collective recital of “Shehecheyanu,” allowed listeners to hear the history of Uganda’s Abayudaya community, which started in 1919 after the circumcision and conversion of Semei Kakungulu. Since Kakungulu’s establishment of the Abayudaya (Luganda for “People of Judah”), the Ugandan Jewish community grew and now numbers almost 3,000 residents between nine communities.

The Abayudaya enjoy good relations with their Christian and Muslim neighbors, explained Lukato.

It is a welcome change from decades ago, as the years under Idi Amin’s rule “were hard times,” said Esau.

Between 1971 and 1979, with Idi Amin as Uganda’s president, Jewish rituals were prohibited, yet despite having to often observe in secret, the small Jewish community survived.

“We are part of the people who persisted with Judaism and we are proud of the fact that we are still practicing,” said Esau.

Every Jewish community has challenges, and that is why “it was very sad for us,” to hear of the pain inflicted in Pittsburgh, he continued. Traveling to the Steel City and showing support for fellow Jews was a way to further relations between the communities.

“Even in hard times, there are always 14 AUGUST 30, 2019

p James Young

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh

on the Tree of Life. There’s been a year of quiet mourning and now they want some context.

In my work over the years I’ve consulted on several memorial processes including the 9/11 Memorial in New York, working with the Norwegians on the July 22 memorial process, Argentina’s memorial to the desaparacidos.

I was on the jury in Berlin and have written

people on your right hand or your left hand,” said Lukato.

Prior to completing their presentation, the visitors invited attendees to join in singing “Shema Yisrael,” while Lukato strummed his guitar.

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, recited the “Shehecheyanu” prayer and expressed thanks for the unique occasion.

“This is the beginning of a relationship between Tree of Life and Tree of Life,” he said.

Moving forward, Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life will send books to Kampala’s Jewish community and “bring the love to them,” continued the spiritual guide.

The efforts will build on previous acts of Steel City goodwill. Nearly a decade ago, former Beth El USY co-president Zoe Tabachnick arranged for prayer books to be sent to Ugandan Jews, reported the Chronicle.

Several years later, supportive efforts continued as Beth El’s Men’s Club sold Ugandan yarmulkes at Beth El and to other Men’s Clubs nationwide, USY participants raised money for the Abayudaya and the South Hills congregation gifted a Torah to Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, spiritual leader of the Abayudaya, wrote Rabbi Alex Greenbaum in a message to congregants.

The fact that Uganda’s Jews want to give back and recognize Pittsburgh’s Jewish community is moving, explained Joe Charny, a member of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha.

several books on Holocaust memorials.”

“One question,” Young said Pittsburgh will need to ask as it moves forward is if the Tree of Life shooting “is part of the antiimmigrant, anti-Semitic, white nationalistic violence” experienced throughout the world.

He believes it’s important when thinking how to memorialize tragedies like the Tree of

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh

Life massacre to “remember the lives that were lost instead of simply the destruction alone.”

No matter how many times a mass casualty event takes place, Young explains each community must discover its own way to memorialize the tragedy. “There aren’t many examples of how to commemorate the loss. We don’t have a tradition to memorialize this type of loss.” Each community, he concludes, “will have to work to figure out how to commemorate the loss for future generations.”

Community leaders will also be recognized at the annual meeting, including Farrell Rubenstien, the recipient of the 2019 Emanuel Spector Memorial Award and Daniel Marcus, recipient of the 2019 Doris & Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award.

Hertzman believes this year’s annual meeting will be an insightful event for the community. “Last year, I was excited because it was the first year of doing FEDTalks.

I’m much more excited this year because the topics and speakers are so compelling given what we’re thinking about now. It’s extremely topical.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Yonatan Katz Lukato, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers and Wanani Esau finally meet after months of communication between the Pittsburgh Photo by Adam Reinherz and Ugandan communities.

“It’s amazing that we live in a world that we can make these connections,” said Audrey Glickman, a Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha member.

Hearing the story of Ugandan Jewry afforded a particular resonance, explained Barry Werber, of New Light Congregation.

“They’ve suffered for their religion, as we have, as did those Jews in Europe,” he said.

“They are in a really difficult situation and for them to have this consideration of us

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when they are in a very hazardous situation is very touching,” echoed Charny.

“Neighbors come in many different ways and it’s an honor that they thought of us out of the ashes,” said Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha past president Suzanne Schreiber. “This is something really wonderful and unique. We need more neighborly moments.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Retreat: Continued from page 2

but as the Friday evening experience at Hillel JUC continues to grow and encompass more schools and students there was a recognition that the needs of an already diverse Jewish student group were expanding.

The idea of empowering student leaders through a simulated Shabbat originated from researching the Shabbat experience on campus, explained Kranjek.

“What’s become clear is that we need to develop a richer way of bringing students into the idea of Shabbat than just coming to Friday night dinner. In the past we’ve always touched on learning about it as part of our week of activities, but we’ve never really sat down around a table and gone through the rituals outside of the actual day of Shabbat,” she said. There is an absolute benefit in exploring Shabbat in a third space

Women: Continued from page 3

and she wanted to do something together with us in terms of mourning a beloved person or a friend, she created it and we worked with her. Or, several of the women decided to give themselves new Hebrew names, so we had a ritual around that.”

Together, the women learned about the mikvah, and the ways in which non-Orthodox women might want to use the ritual of immersion to mark life transitions, such as a divorce or a miscarriage.

Each year, the JWC sponsored a tzedakah project, alternating between domestic causes and causes focusing on women and children in Israel.

Since 2013, the JWC has been engaged in interfaith and intercultural programs with women from the Muslim community. In 2017, it was honored by the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh at its Humanity Day Award

Judges: Continued from page 7

of our faith, and I believe that is what Jewish people do, what they had to do to survive, against all odds.”

Israel is important to McLaughlin, who considers herself a Zionist, “and proud to be.” Her son, who is not Jewish, has studied in the Jewish state, volunteered on a kibbutz “and fell in love with Israel.”

She also recognizes the dangers anti-Semitism pose to the Jewish people, and sees Israel as a potential refuge if things get out of hand.

“We are not in a good place for the Jewish people,” she said. “It could be really our lives someday, you don’t know.”

Justice David N. Wecht, Supreme Court

Wecht, who was born and raised in Squirrel Hill, has served on the highest 15 AUGUST 30, 2019

on a different day, she continued. “I think in some ways, it’s very difficult to teach about Shabbat on Shabbat, because in the moment, someone is having their own spiritual experience. And I think if you do it outside of the context of the actual Shabbat moment it gives people a more open mind and a more open heart to look at things from a different perspective. It feels less judgmental. It feels more experimental.”

The playing field is leveled and student leaders from all of the universities are reminded that “we’re all in this together,” agreed Leah Berman-Kress, president of the newly formed Jewish students association at Chatham University.

Togetherness was at the heart of the retreat, as apart from mimicking a Friday night, the 36 participating students were divided into twos and given Jewish texts to study.

Analyzing ancient writings in “chavruta” or with a companion is central to Jewish study, explained Kranjek. As employed, the

process allowed participants to sit across from one another, “see each other face to face,” and not only learn unfamiliar works but “learn someone new.”

The experience can be “challenging,” said Brodie. “You’re challenging each other, but that’s the best way to do it because then you can grow from each other and learn.”

Hearing other perspectives, and not just those that reinforce your views, affords greater appreciation of not only a text but of values, explained Berman-Kress.

“At Hillel there’s a lot of people who come from very different backgrounds and different approaches to Jewish life, so to have this idea that it’s a good thing for us to have different opinions and to be adversarial in a way, to have conflicts or disagreements, but to be able to strengthen each other through this disagreement” provides a constructive method for reaching the other, said Sosis.

Whether it was students publically reading Hebrew for the first time, or exploring the

practices of Shabbat, “I’m feeling so inspired by our students. They took a lot of risks,” said Kranjek. “There were a lot of little moments where people stepped out of their comfort zone to try something new and as much as it was inspiring to me, I think it was inspiring among the peer group to see each other do that.”

Long after the smell of s’mores cooking on a campfire dissipates, the image of student leaders at Camp Guyasuta will remain, explained Kranjek.

For the students to step away from campus and enter nature with the purpose of accepting greater responsibilities “it was very powerful in terms of setting the stage,” she said. “I think that we will be taking our own risks and having our own encouragement among the staff team to be bold with each other and to give everything that we have to the students and see where it lands.” PJC

ceremony, and also received a citation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and a proclamation from Allegheny County in recognition of its interfaith work.

For Horowitz, who joined the group early on and was an active member of its board for many years, the JWC provided a means to engage with Judaism in a way that made “a great deal of sense” to her, coming from a household focused on social justice and with “very little ritual.”

“It was way into Judaism that I had not experienced before,” she said. “It was a way to connect with women who I found interesting and inspiring.”

Having not found any other place where Jewish women were meeting on a regular basis, for Horowitz, the JWC provided “a whole different way of looking at things.

It was something that we could shape ourselves, something that reflected what our concerns were and a way to for us to see Judaism within our own framework.”

One of the “most powerful experiences” Horowitz had with the group over time was

“simply hearing women’s voices davening” at the Shabbat services they sometimes held.

“There was no reason for us to have ever heard that before,” she said. “Just hearing the beauty and the purity of those women’s voices was profoundly moving to me.”

Eventually, as women found their place in the wider Jewish world, the necessity for the JWC faded, and attendance at its events decreased, according to Frank, which led to the board’s decision to dissolve the organization.

“It was a consensus on the part of the board that we felt like we had done what we set out to do, and we are very happy with that,” Horowitz said. “A lot of what we brought to Pittsburgh is now normative. I mean, nobody ever saw a Miriam’s cup, nobody had a women’s seder. I don’t think there were any all-women led services before we did ours.”

Congregations began instituting their own Rosh Chodesh groups, according to Frank, which “was an indication of our success.

That’s why they weren’t coming to ours any longer, they were doing their own, which

was perfectly wonderful. A lot of the things we started doing because they weren’t in the general Jewish community came into existence, like the women’s seder, like egalitarian siddurim, so we fulfilled our mission in terms of the impact of the Jewish women’s movement on Jewish life. How many more women rabbis are there now? And you see more women wearing tallithot and kippot.”

The JWC “expanded the horizons for Jewish women in Pittsburgh,” said Horowitz.

“And now I think we are in a different environment in terms of discussions about gender, and gender identity and race and Judaism and a lot of really complex questions that were not on our agenda when we started.

We were trying to get our voices heard at all.

We’ve done that. Now it’s time to go on to the next set of concerns. And we are very happy to hand those decisions and paths over to the people who will come next.” PJC

court of the commonwealth since 2016. He attributes his strong attachment to Jewish peoplehood and to Israel in large part to the education he received at the old Hebrew Institute. He has David N. visited Israel many times, Wecht and has made sure that his four children have also spent time in the Jewish state.

“Israel is a major part of my life,” Wecht said. “Throughout my life I have been reading about Jewish history, Israel, and the Jewish people. These subjects are something I think about daily.”

Being Jewish did not influence his career decisions in “any overt or conscious way,” he said. “I couldn’t speak for other judges who are Jewish, what influences them, but speaking for me, there was no conscious linkage between being Jewish and seeking to become a judge or continuing to be a judge.”

When Wecht is not at work, he spends

“a lot of time reading and thinking about issues important to the Jewish community and Israel.” Although his position on the bench prohibits him from being involved in the political process, he is able to write and to teach as part of his judicial role, including about the resurgence of anti-Semitism, a topic with which he is very concerned.

Last April, he was interviewed in Tablet magazine, discussing in detail, and in strong terms, his views on the rising threat of anti-Semitism. Included in that interview was Wecht’s criticism of political leaders who fail to call out anti-Semitism. When questioned about anti-Semitic rhetoric coming from members of congress, specifically Rep. Ilhan Omar, Wecht responded: “I think any member who engages in such rhetoric should be disciplined. Period.”

While Wecht cannot lobby or take an active role in the political process, he urges others to do so.

“So whether people want to be in a party or not be in a party, people should be

involved in the world, and Jews especially should be involved in sticking up for themselves and sticking up for the Jewish people and sticking up for the Jewish state in whatever role or whatever party or whatever movement they choose to be involved in,” he said. “But it has never been a good thing in Jewish history for Jews to stand back and not speak up for themselves and not speak up for their fellow Jews, which is very important. So all of Israel is responsible for one another. That’s from the Talmud, and it’s very important and it bothers me tremendously when Jewish people do not perceive the needs and the problems and challenges that confront Jews anywhere in the world, when they don’t feel that is something that impacts them as well. I think that Jews should never live in their own cocoon, and they should learn the lessons of Jewish history.” PJC

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

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture 10 authors who capture what it’s like to grow up in an interfaith family — BOOKS —

By Julia Metraux | JTA

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rowing up, I struggled to find my place in the Jewish community as an interfaith Jew. By some people’s standards, I am not Jewish enough, despite having an American Jewish mother, because I have a Swiss Calvinist father. Celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas growing up was my norm, but discussing my holidays and family interfaith traditions sometimes made me feel isolated.

I didn’t know other interfaith Jews growing up, so the first ones I met were through books. Specifically, Margaret in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” was the first modernish Jewish interfaith girl I encountered. What I’ve found is that many of these characters, like myself, merge traditions from different faiths and have trouble navigating their blended identity.

Today, I continue to enjoy reading books and other pieces of work that capture what it’s like to grow up in an interfaith family.

Here are 10 authors, including interfaith Jews, parents of interfaith Jews and authors who write characters from interfaith families, who nail what it’s like to come from a mixed religion family.

1. Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret

by Judy Blume I first came across this book when I was in fifth grade while binge-reading Judy Blume’s young adult novels. The main protagonist of this story is Margaret, an 11-year-old who has a Christian mother and Jewish father.

Margaret, who was raised without a religious affiliation, chooses to study people’s religious beliefs in an effort to figure out her own religious identity.

It’s wild to think that this book came out more than 50 years ago. From a subplot about girls wondering when they’re going to get their periods to navigating one’s religious identity, this book is still incredibly relevant and worth a reread as an adult.

2. Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

by Mira Jacobs When I was younger, I asked my parents a lot of questions about my religious identity and identity in general, much like Mira Jacob’s son Z, who has an Indian-American mother (Jacob) and a Jewish father. In this graphic novel, Jacobs showcases the dialogue that she and her son have had, from his questions about race to her in-laws (and Z’s grandparents) being avid Trump supporters.

3. Forest with Castanets

by Diane Mehta Born to a Jewish-American mother and an Indian Jain father, Diane Mehta’s debut book of poetry explores her cultural identity. Mehta, who was born in Germany and moved to her father’s home country of India shortly thereafter, revealed that she didn’t 16

AUGUST 30, 2019

know that she was Jewish until moving to the United States, when her mother signed her up for “school at the local synagogue in New Jersey.” In “Forest with Castanets,” Mehta writes beautifully about a complicated subject — religious interfaith identity.

4. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

by T Kira Madden If you haven’t heard of “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls,” you may have been living under a rock. T Kira Madden, whose late father was Jewish and whose mother is Chinese and Hawaiian, said her parents allowed her to learn about “every different religion, every culture.”

Madden, who also chronicles her experience growing up with parents who struggled with addictions in her book, says she hopes that people who feel like outsiders can “recognize some version of themselves, or some element of themselves” in her book.

5. The Whole Story of Half a Girl

by Vira Hirandandi Born to a Jewish-American mother and a Hindu Indian father, Vira Hirandandi said she “grew up feeling not quite enough of one or the other” in an interview with Publisher’s Weekly. In “The Whole Story of Half a Girl,” the protagonist, Sonia Nadhamuni — who also has a Jewish-American mom and an Indian dad — faces pressures from her peers to define her identity, which is a pressure that I felt from my peers, too. Like Blume’s “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret,” this young adult novel captures what it’s like to navigate one’s interfaith identity as a young girl.

6. I Wanna Be Your Shoebox

by Cristina Garcia In “I Wanna Be Your Shoebox,” the main character, Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch, has a JewishJapanese father and a Cuban mother. I don’t have fond memories of eighth grade, and Yumi’s experience is going similarly poorly: Her family is losing its house, her school is cutting her beloved orchestra program and her grandfather Saul is dying. This novel is refreshingly realistic. One of my favorite parts is when Yumi’s mother calls her a poster child for the 21st century because of her mixed heritage.

7. Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas

by Pamela Ehrenberg In this children’s picture book, little Sadie and her multicultural family — her mom is Indian and her dad is Jewish — celebrate Hanukkah while mixing in some of her mother’s Indian traditions, like eating dosas.

While I do enjoy reading novels that tackle the complexity which can often arise from being in an interfaith family, it’s nice to read simple stories of how different religions and cultures can complement each other.

8. Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes

by Laurel Synder Born to an Irish Catholic mother and a Jewish father, Laurel Snyder has written a plethora of young adult novels and children’s picture books. This is my favorite of hers; it’s an anthology she edited. “Half/Life” contains a series of essays that showcase various experiences of Jews growing up in Jew-ish homes. It’s a great read if you want

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glimpses into just how different interfaith Jewish families can be.

9. Sonora

by Hannah Lillith Assadi Novelist Hannah Lillith Assadi, who is Jewish and Palestinian, published her debut novel “Sonora” in 2017. In an interview with Jewish Boston, Assadi said that she identifies “with both identities” and “grew up celebrating the High Holidays as well as acknowledging major Islamic holidays.”

Like Assadi herself, Ahlam, the main character here, is the daughter of a Palestinian father and a Jewish mother who was raised in Arizona. The novel is told from the point of view of Ahlam and follows her and her friend Laura’s journey to New York City.

“Sonora” is captivating — but don’t just take my word for it. The book was a 2018 National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Honoree and a recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Literature.

10. Poetry and books

by Phil Kaye Born to a Jewish father and a Japanese mother, Phil Kaye, in an interview with The Knockturnal, said he “felt like this odd duck” growing up, as he didn’t know any other Japanese-Jewish kids. Kaye is also the co-director of Project VOICE with Sarah Kay, a fellow Japanese-Jewish poet. In his 2018 book “Date & Time,” which is a fulllength poetry collection, Kaye touches on everything from being a mixed race and interfaith kid to millennial stereotypes. PJC This article originally appeared on Alma.

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Life & Culture Summer for Israeli kids near Gaza border — YOUTH —

By Noa Amouyal | JNS

I

t was supposed to be the first sight that greeted them as they entered the camp: a vivid sign welcoming the children, surrounded by colorful balloons.

But not a single balloon was put up for fear that the mere sight of them would upset campers.

This is the life of the children in Israel’s Eshkol Regional Council, roughly 10 miles from the Gaza Strip.

A year of indiscriminate rocket attacks, protests along the border fence and incendiary balloons hurled into Israeli territory has put them on edge.

But a visit to a local camp at the Yuvalei Ha-Bsor School tells another story — one that doesn’t tend to make headlines. An afternoon with campers reveals that although they may be bruised, even traumatized, they love their home.

“We try not to let the security situation change our lives. As soon as we are scared to get out of our own home, they’ve won,” said Adam Russell, 16. “I love living here.

I would love to raise a family here, despite what’s happening.”

Comparing the usually tranquil agricultural community to his previous home in London, he recalled that now he’s free to be a kid. “In London, I wasn’t allowed to go get the newspaper by myself. Now I’m free. Kids do what they want here.”

Russell is one of several camp counselors who work hard at setting a good example of resilience for kids who have trouble adapting. Ever since a harrowing weekend in May, when Hamas launched 600 rockets across the border that left four Israelis dead, life in the region has resembled the calm after the storm.

For the some 500 kids enrolled in camp, they have a rather jam-packed schedule.

From headphone-listening parties to bowling to swimming, the older kids spend much of their time off campus grounds. Almost every

p Adam Russell, a counselor at Yuvalei Ha-Bsor School’s summer camp in Israel’s Eshkol Region last month.

Photo by Eric Narrow/JNF

day, they go on a field trip outside of the Gaza Envelope. For older kids, getting away from home for the day offers a cathartic release.

Those daily adventures include relaxing activities like going to the movies, amusement and water parks, and bowling. The outings offer a brief escape that gives them a glimpse of how the more “normal” side of Israel lives.

For the younger kids, educators have to be a little more creative, as most activities are confined to the indoors. After all, even in times of peace, most plans involve staying inside should an emergency situation suddenly arise. That said, the 6- to 9-yearolds keep plenty busy. Their days are filled with music and painting lessons and indoor soccer, to give just a few examples. Still, the trauma endures.

“We deal with healing emotional wounds here,” noted Aya Altman Cohen, one of the two adult educators at the camp. “We tell our kids to go back to normalcy, but sometimes, they don’t want to go back to routine.

As adults, it makes us examine our own behavior. After all, we’re not robots. What does it say about us that we’re so willing to get back to routine?”

Unlike school, which has a regimented schedule, life at camp is much more lax.

Since their school and camp are hosted in the same building, while the kids do return to the same structure, the atmosphere is very different.

“We want them to interact with us and each other, and ease into this transition of summer vacation,” said Altman Cohen.

For some, it was difficult to adjust to a new routine, as any change in schedule can be triggering. Altman Cohen recalls many instances when camp began several weeks ago, where many kids expressed being homesick and some would even lash out in anger.

It’s anecdotes like these that underscore the duality of life under fire. Of children who want to be children, but sometimes being parted from the warm embrace of a parent, even during times of peace, is too much to bear for young kids.

‘This is our life’

Limor Or, another senior adult educator, has three kids of her own. The older ones downloaded several apps and closely monitor all aerial activity via their phones. Despite all being under 16, they’ve become familiar with both the sound and look of Egyptian and Israeli aircraft, and are always predicting when the next confrontation will occur.

“I’m very invested in this generation. These children will either be an apathetic or a dedicated generation,” Altman Cohen predicted, adding that they’ve had to contend with near-constant security threats since birth.

As a result, many have ADHD, separation anxiety and don’t trust easily. But, by the same token, a conversation with eight sixth-graders revealed they wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

A discussion with them can veer from what to do about Hamas to what’s the best nail polish brand, further demonstrating that childhood interests, even those concerning fashion, can interrupt real-life threats.

And that childhood innocence was very much on display as kids played air hockey, basketball and danced to music blaring from the stereos.

“It’s sad, but this is our life,” Amit, one of the sixth-graders, said matter-of-factly. “It’s been quiet lately. But even that’s stressful because we don’t know when the next red alert will be.”

“I sometimes ask myself why do I need to know about red alerts? Why does a small kid need to think he or she is under attack?” posed Naya, also in the sixth-grade class.

Another girl, Shelly, looks forward to camp and didn’t want to miss a single day. Even on the day of her bat mitzvah bash, she refused to skip out on camp, and spent the whole day there before rushing home and getting ready for the big celebration that night.  But educators are looking forward to starting a new chapter this fall.

This particular school is located 7.2 kilometers (about four-and-a-half miles) across the border. The Israeli government provides protected shelters for all Israeli territory that’s seven kilometers within the Gaza Strip border, leaving this school just outside that range. However, a new school that will be completely fortified is opening at the beginning of the academic year, supported by the region’s partner, Jewish National Fund-USA. Which means for the first time in a generation, first-graders won’t have to interrupt their day to seek shelter during a red alert.

Limor Eilat, the Resources Development Coordinator for the Eshkol Region’s municipality, hopes the new facility will bring a sense of security to the 2,500 kids who will be attending the new campus this fall.

“For the first time, when a red alert blares, the children won’t have to drop everything and run to a bomb shelter,” said Eilat. “For an entire generation of children, that was their ‘normal.’ So we’re very hopeful that this new facility will educate kids in a safer, more secure environment. This is a basic right that all kids are entitled to.”

That said, despite the ongoing security threats, the kids seem happy where they are.

“People from the center of the country always ask us why we don’t leave,” said Or, another of the sixth-grade girls. “We don’t want to move. Our friends are here. Our life is here. We just want to be safe.” PJC

Justice Department seeks death penalty for Tree of Life shooter

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he Justice Department filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty against an alleged shooter who killed 11 Jews inside the Tree of Life building. The filing, which was made on Aug. 21 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, listed multiple reasons for pursuing the death penalty, and stated the Justice Department “believes the circumstances” in this case “are such that in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified” because the alleged shooter intentionally killed 11 people, intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury to 11 people, intentionally participated in an act resulting in the death of 11 people, created “grave risk of death to additional persons” and that the killings were “motivated by religious animus.”

The alleged shooter “expressed hatred and contempt toward members of the Jewish faith and his animus toward members of the Jewish faith played a role in the killings,” said the Justice Department.

Weeks earlier, leaders from Dor Hadash and New Light congregations, both of which previously shared space in Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha’s building and suffered fatalities in the Oct. 27 attack, wrote to Attorney General William Barr, asking the Justice Department to avoid pursuing the death penalty.

“Congregation Dor Hadash requests that the parties agree to a plea deal in which the perpetrator would accept a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole in exchange for the prosecution’s agreement not to seek the death penalty,” wrote Donna Coufal, Dor Hadash’s president. “We believe

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that the elimination of a trial and publicity for the shooter serves the interest of our congregation, as well as the general public.

A plea bargain for life without parole will prevent this individual getting the attention and publicity that would inevitably come with a trial.”

“I would like the Pittsburgh killer to be incarcerated for the rest of his life without parole,” wrote Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of New Light. “A drawn out and difficult death penalty trial would would be a disaster with witnesses and attorneys dredging up horrifying drama and giving this killer the media attention he does not deserve.”

Following the Justice Department’s recent filing, Dor Hadash released a statement expressing dismay with the prosecution’s course of action.

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“Today, we are saddened and disappointed to learn that Attorney General Barr will pursue a trial and seek the death penalty for the perpetrator of the attack on October 27, 2018,” said the statement. “We continue to mourn with our fellow congregants and community members who have lost loved ones and survived unspeakable terror. We continue to reject hatred and all systems of oppression, and follow the tenets of our faith, which teaches us that only through our shared humanity can there be an end to hatred and violence.”

Tree of Life also responded to the filing, saying in a statement, “Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha does not have a statement on this matter; we have confidence that justice will be served.” PJC —Adam Reinherz AUGUST 30, 2019 17

Celebrations

Torah

Bar Mitzvah

Reverence for tradition Ephram Chayim Myaskovsky Goldstein, son of Russell Goldstein and Dr. Larissa Myaskovsky, will become a bar mitzvah at Adat Shalom during the Shabbat morning services on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019.

Grandparents are Marshall and Sandra Goldstein and Sima Myaskovsky and the late Arkady Myaskovsky.  PJC

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Rabbi Howard Stein Parshat Re’eh Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17

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arashat Re’eh begins with a dichotomy: a choice between blessings for following God’s commandments and curses for disobeying. The primary focus of the text is both warnings against following the practices of foreign peoples (and, indeed, injunctions to destroy their sacred sites) and a series of passages describing the proper worship of God. In addition to descriptions of the laws of kashrut and the festival calendar, we are commanded only to bring our offerings to the place God has chosen.

Although not named, this site is clearly intended to be the Temple in Jerusalem.

One interesting verse is Deuteronomy 13:1: “Each thing that I command you, this you shall keep and practice; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.� Sifrei explains the first part of the verse, emphasizing each individual commandment, as teaching us that an “easy� commandment should be as dear to us as a “hard� one. Something that is easy for us to do should be approached with the same degree of focus and seriousness as something that is difficult.

Sforno comments on the second part of the verse in two ways. We should not add any commandments because the addition could be something repulsive (the example he gives is that of sacrificing one’s children). We should not take away from the commandments because doing so could obscure the reason for that commandment; that is, we must learn the reason for the commandment rather than doing away with it.

These classical sources emphasize the importance of each commandment as a source of meaning for us. This is also a lesson for us as we consider the breadth of what it

means to be Jewish today. Certain commandments seem obscure to us, and it is tempting to disregard them entirely. However, we must be mindful of the lessons of history; understanding where we are now and where we are going requires an understanding of where we have come from. Judaism teaches us reverence for our heritage as a key value.

There is a value in learning from and wrestling with what seems obscure as much as with what intuitively makes sense to us.

On the other hand, there is sometimes a desire to respond to the surrounding society and shape our Judaism based on this impetus to fit in with our neighbors. While there is certainly value to maintaining good relations with our non-Jewish neighbors, we must view our differences as opportunities to teach and to learn rather than as occasions to homogenize our beliefs and practices. We must be cautious in adding to our practices so that we do not inadvertently disrupt the holistic system of Jewish life.

Judaism has never existed in a vacuum.

Our people has always lived in the tension between particularistic separation from and universalist coexistence with the surrounding peoples. Radical changes occurred to Jewish life in the years after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in the year 70 CE. In the intervening 2,000 years, carefully considered changes have allowed Judaism to adapt and therefore to survive. This process will continue; indeed, we are seeing significant changes in the landscape of Jewish life today. With reverence for our tradition as well as a willingness to reinterpret that legacy, Judaism will remain a vibrant force for good in our world.  PJC Rabbi Howard Stein is a rabbi at Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek in Lima, Ohio. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries COHEN: Norbert M. Cohen, passed peacefully on Saturday, August 24, 2019. Beloved husband just shy of 63 years to Joanne (Harvey) Cohen.

Loving father of Jeffrey (Phyllis) Cohen and Steven (Erin) Cohen.

Brother of the late Earl (surviving spouse Lynn) Cohen. “Pop-Pop” to Aly, AJ, Michael and Rachel Cohen. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Norbert’s family would like to thank the staff in the Memory Care Unit at Locust Grove. Graveside Services and Interment were held at Ohav Zedeck Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Merakey (formerly Allegheny Valley School) 315 W. Prospect Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15205 or Alzheimers Association, 1100 Liberty Ave., Suite E201, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc.schugar.com E DE L S T E I N : Ev a Bamberger Edelstein, born June 23, 1927 in Lichtenfels Bavaria (Germany) passed in Monroeville, Pennsylvania at the age of 92 on Thursday, August 22, 2019. Beloved wife of Rabbi Jason Z. Edelstein. Loving mother of Philip (Debbie) Edelstein, Sharon (Bradley) Simon and Joseph Edelstein (Lori Defilippi).

“Omi” to Rebecca, Max, Jared, Tori and Jordan. In her early years, Eva attended boarding school in Italy and later lived with her family in England (1938-1948) after fleeing the Nazis during World War II. She moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1948, where she met and married her husband of 67 years Jason Edelstein in 1952.

Together they lived in Williamsburg, Virginia (1952-1953); Cincinnati, Ohio (1953-1958); Honolulu, Hawaii (1958-1960); and Monroeville, Pennsylvania from 1960 until her passing. Eva was a classically trained ballerina who performed with the London Ballet Company and later in Charleston, South Carolina. Eva started teaching ballet in Cincinnati, Ohio and later became the first yoga teacher in the Greater Pittsburgh area

when she started teaching out of the family home in 1970. Eva was a pioneer of consumer advocacy who helped establish and grow the Alliance for Consumer Protection. In 1966, Eva was invited by President Johnson to the White House to be recognized for her role in implementing Truth in Packaging legislation.

In her 70s and 80s Eva explored her spiritual and artistic inclinations through various course work and personal expressions best reflected in her watercolor painting and calligraphy works. She took great joy in cooking and surprising people with her random acts of kindness and charity. “I have sailed many seas, landed at foreign ports, guided on a steady course to reach safely, the harbor of 75 years” — Eva Edelstein, 2002.

Services were held at Temple David.

Interment Temple Sinai Memorial.

Contributions may be made to Temple David, 4415 Northern Pike, Monroeville, PA 15146. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated.schugar.com ROSENSTOCK: Martin J. Rosenstock, 98, on Wednesday, August 21.

Beloved husband of the l at e Na n c y Ohl Rosenstock, father of Keith (Linda) Rosenstock and Donna Rosenstock, brother of Shirley Westerman.

Grandfather of Dr. Philip and Nathan Rosenstock and Elizabeth and Jake Pastor.

Also survived by nieces, nephews, great- and great-great nieces and nephews and many caregivers. Martin graduated Allderdice where he was a member of several City Champion baseball and basketball teams. He was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII as a B-17 bombardier flying 35 missions over Germany. He then became the 3rd generation at Canadian Fur Company downtown and owner from 19571989. A fitness fanatic, he ran daily for over 50 years. A gentleman, Martin was loved and respected by family and admired by many.

Ser vices and Interment private.

Contributions can be made to Jewish Family and Community Services, 5743 Bartlett St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. PJC

Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from ...

In memory of...

Anonymous ...................................................... Sarah Americus

A gift from ...

In memory of...

Howard Podolny .................................................. Fanny Cohen

Anonymous .................................................... William Americus

Jere Leib.....................................................Rose Leib Rothman

Amalia Clark ............................................................... Rita Hertz

Lynne Lazarus Shapiro ....................Darrell H. (Buddy) Lazarus

Bernard Dickter ...........................................Susan Ellen Dickter Carol & David Steinbach ................................. William Richman Carol Ann & Leslie A. Klein ................................... Joseph Klein Craig M. Match ..................................... Match-Zwibel Families David & Edris Weis .................................................Dora Shaffer Dr. Susan Snider and Family .........................Howard S. Snider Esther Zapler Siniakin ................................... Rose Celia Zapler

Mark & Ellen Diamond .................................. Leopold Diamond Marsha Burdman .................................................... Frank Miller Michael D. Baseman ................................Milton Saul Baseman Mitchell Toig ............................................................. Morris Toig Mitchell Toig .....................................................Pearl Beck Levy Mr. George Pattak ...................................................Leon Pattak

Frank Rubenstein .......................................... Hinda Rubenstein

Natalie & Stanley Faleder......................................Alick Portnoy

Gloria Greenfield ...................................................Liuba Horvitz

Sharon Snider ................................................Howard S. Snider

Harold & Cindy Lebenson ................................Sylvia Lebenson

Sondra Herman-Davis ........................................... Eva Herman

Harvey and Wendy Gillis .....................................Martin D. Gillis

Sondra Herman-Davis ...........................................Abe Herman

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday September 1:Saul Alber, David Bass, Max Bloom, Gertrude Chotiner, Leopold Diamond, Louis Farber, Sadie Friedlander, Louis Friedman, Milton S. Gordon, MD, Rose Grace Halpern, Alihu Klein, Sarah Levenson, Raschel (Ray) Levine, Anna Rabinovitz, Hinda Kuhl Rubenstein, Samuel Verbin, Adolph Wirtzman Monday September 2: Joseph Cooper, Max Eger, Louis Eisenfeld, Meyer Fiman, Pearl Greenfield, Abraham Pittler, Charles Shapiro Tuesday September 3: Joseph Cooper, Max Eger, Louis Eisenfeld, Meyer Fiman, Pearl Greenfield, Abraham Pittler, Charles Shapiro Wednesday September 4: William Americus, Tillie Bennett, Samuel W. Berk, Zelda Glantz Chasick, Bernard Edelstein, Howard W. Jacobson, Mollie Kurtz, Sara Melnick, Sharon Lee Morton, Milton Moskovitz, David Pearlstein, Rose Rom, Alex Ruben, Fannie Shapiro, Leo Spiegle, Harry Treelisky, Louise Ziskind Thursday September 5: Lillian Bergad, Florence Bertenthal, Fannie Cohen, Patty Danovitz, Lena Darling, Rose Gold, Dora F. Greene, Bernard J Harris, Jeanette Miller Horowitz, Leah Katz, Pearl Laufe, Selma G. Leventon, Harry Malkin, Rabbi Pincus F. Miller, Stefanie Ann Miller, Sylvia Monsein, Harry L. Richman, Max Roth, Gwen Amy Shakespeare, Oscar Wilson, Isadore Sidney Wolfson Friday September 6: Anna Friedman Calig, Rose Calig, George H. Danzinger, Ella Friedman, Edith Goldstein, Liuba Horvitz, Marcel Lucja, Frank Miller, Frances Rosen, Benjamin David Schwartz, Becky Weiner, Annie Wirtzman, Nathan Zapler Saturday September 7: Harry Z. Davidson, Rev. Henry Friedman, Helen Handlesman, Samuel E. Jacobson, Mimi Lawrence, Pauline Racusin Leventon, Jennie D. Miller, Rachel Mintz, Jennie Papernick, Ernst Perlstein, Roy Ruttenberg, Dora Shaffer, Sarah Snyder, Mildred Tannenbaum, Sophie Tauber,

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New details of Oct. 27 commemoration

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imes have now been set for activities that will take place on the one-year commemoration of the Oct. 27 massacre at the Tree of Life building. Community service projects will be held throughout the city beginning at 11 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m. Torah study at Rodef Shalom Congregation will take place from 2-3:45 p.m. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. for the memorial service at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland at 5 p.m. The 10.27 Healing Partnership will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Registration will be required for both the community service events and Torah study.

Preregistration will not be required for the

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ceremony at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. The hall seats 2,300 and anyone unable to sit in the auditorium will be able to overflow into the hallway where systems are being developed to livestream the ceremony.

Brad Orsini, community security director at Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, is working closely with the city developing and implementing a security plan for the day.

That security will involve both uniformed and undercover police.

A website has been created specifically for the remembrance: pittsburghoct27.org. PJC —David Rullo

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LEGAL NOTICE Estate of Marion P. Riemer, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 05161 of 2019.

Sanford M. Riemer, Co-Extr., 2911 Shady. Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 and Helene Riemer Berman, Co-Extrx., 1436 Beechwood Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or to Bruce J. Boni, Esq., 819 Pine Hollow Rd., McKees Rocks, PA 15136.

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AUGUST 30, 2019 19

Headlines Families: Continued from page 5

language of loss, the depth of their grief.”

Being with others who had experienced trauma similar to hers was comforting, and also “gave hope” to Ellen Leger, whose husband Dan Leger was shot and seriously injured at the Tree of Life building. “They can pass down information,” Leger said. “Like one girl from Las Vegas, she kept telling us from the beginning, ‘You are coming up to your one-year anniversary, be ready for it, it’s going to be terrible, it’s going to be difficult but you are going to get through it,’ because she just went through it. There is nobody else out there who can say that to us and really know. These people really get it, and they understand the ups and downs.”

Mindfulness and meditation sessions at the retreat offered “practical tools that people can take home with them and continue to practice,” Tygielski said.

Fienberg has already been using some of the breathing exercises she learned at the retreat in dealing with insensitive questions and comments from people.

“People say things, and they totally don’t intend to, but they are not nice,” she said.

“They don’t mean to, they are just being curious. But we are not the people to be curious with, we are the family members.

What they have found is, if you have tools to help you calm down and relax and take a breath and see the intention of the question, you will have a better experience, that person will be answered, or if you need to tell them to back off, you can do that as well.”

Sharyn Stein is also utilizing some of the techniques she learned in Barre as the one-year remembrance of

Oct. 27 approaches.

“As the time gets closer, there is a lot going on, and I find that I am just falling apart,” she said. “And I take myself back to Barre, Massachusetts, and say, OK, just use those breathing techniques. Try.” The retreat was non-religious, and non-political.

In addition to survivors of mass shootings, five women from Chicago whose sons had been killed by guns in isolated events were invited as well. Part of a group called Purpose Over Pain, the Chicago mothers were sponsored by the Obama Foundation.

“They were able to bring a completely different perspective,” noted Tygielski.

Several Pittsburgh participants mentioned connecting deeply with some of the mothers from Chicago, and noted that regardless of the circumstances surrounding the killing of a loved one, the grief is acute.

“Some of those women from Chicago had sons killed by police officers,” noted Dan Leger, “and there was a woman on the other side of the room whose husband was a police officer who was killed during a drug interaction, trying to make an arrest. And here they are.”

Dan Leger was reluctant at first to attend the retreat, he said, but ultimately found the experience to be profound.

“My reluctance was because, first of all, trust is a factor that has been tampered with here, and so really trying to make sure that anything that is offered to us as victims is something that is trustworthy is sometimes hard to distinguish,” he said. “Many people offer things to us that are really ways for them to feel better than to genuinely make us feel better. And they are not aware of that, but it becomes a burden in some way. Then, there are other people who, might plainly, want to just take advantage of us, and so that was my reluctance.”

Additionally, because of his injuries, “the idea of leaving town, getting on an airplane, physically is not something that is pleasant for me,” he added.

But the program “gave everybody enough space so that quiet that permeated some of the exercises just really gave that opportunity for people to either go to the place that they needed to resolve — such as in my case some of those dark places — or to go to a place where they were in touch with how far they had come or wherever they needed to travel. It was a great gift.

“I felt grateful to be there,” he added. “The kindness of strangers never ceases to be just so heartwarmingly present, the generosity and the kindness.”

Maggie Feinstein, director of the newly created Pittsburgh Resiliency Center, also attended the retreat “as a learner,” she said.

“I am interested in these peer networks, what do we do to strengthen them, what is the right dynamic, what are the ones that are healing versus maybe damaging to certain people,” she said.

Tygielski and Salzberg are already working on securing funding to hold another retreat next year, as, tragically, there is no shortage of family members of gun violence victims.

Tygielski also hopes to work with Feinstein and the Resiliency Center, sharing best practices and helping to find local resources in Pittsburgh for those still processing the trauma.

“That’s the intent, to create a sort of playbook, if you will, because there is no playbook for something like this where at the very least we can say, ‘here is a menu of things we have done that have worked and have resonated with people,’ and vice versa of course,” Tygielski said. “And there will be things that you all do that will probably be helpful and instrumental here.”

Being with survivors of other mass shootings, Ellen Leger realized how fortunate the Pittsburgh group is to have such widespread and meaningful support.

“The woman from Columbine, she said after it happened, there was nothing for her, it was just sort of ‘get on with your life,’” Ellen Leger said. “We have had such phenomenal support from minute one, from everybody in the Jewish community, the Pittsburgh community. People have gone through similar experiences with none of that, and still they manage to get from one day to the next.”

Although Fienberg “didn’t want to be part of this group,” she said she is “very grateful that there are people looking out for us and thinking about how we help each other, and I am very hopeful that in the future I can return that and pay it forward as well.”

Sharyn and Leigh Stein have already been corresponding with people they met at the retreat, drawing strength from one another.

“I met amazing people, and we really have a bond, and it’s helpful,” said Sharyn Stein.

Her daughter, Leigh, considers her Barre friends her “meditation mishpacha.”

“I feel like I have known these people forever,” Leigh Stein said. “Everyone instantly bonded. Unfortunately we are all in the same boat. We have all been affected by gun violence.

“I am now in a ‘group,’” she continued. “A group that I would give anything to get out of but I can’t. I am stuck in this group for the rest of my life. Only other members of this group understand. That powerful connection was what meant the most to me during my time in Barre. In a world that can make us feel so isolated and misunderstood connecting with others that ‘get it’ is life-giving.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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AUGUST 30, 2019 21

Community Jewish Heritage Night fills the seats t Members of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s young adult group enjoyed the seventh inning stretch.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

u From left: Hal Grinberg, Samuel Tarr, Leigh Stein, Joey Stein, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers and Aaron Myers participated in the ceremonial throwing of the first pitch at Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park on Aug. 21.

Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Peace, love and more music 50 years later Dean Kross, who attended the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, returned with his family to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in upstate New York to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event.

p Dean Kross and spouse Sue Friedberg chilling before Blood, Sweat & Tears performance.

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p Gil Kross, Sue Friedberg and Casey Kross picnicked before the Doobie Brothers performance.

Photos courtesy of Dean Kross

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Community Summer fun at Temple Emanuel Temple Emanuel kids enjoyed the summer by swimming, hanging out and spending time with their rabbis.

Allderdice teen travels to Israel

t Abigail Segel, a sophomore at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, joined the NFTY “Adventure Program” in Israel. During the four week trip, Segel hiked in the mountains, swam at beaches in Eilat, slept under the stars, rode camels at a Bedouin campsite, climbed Masada and learned about Jewish history. Segel’s trip was supported by Pittsburgh’s Israel Scholarship Program and ZOA.

Photo courtesy of ZOA

p It’s all smiles at Camp Harlam.

Torah and Turf

p Nothing ends summer like the Torah Center kickoff pool party. p Rabbi Yossi Berkowitz of the Kollel Torah Learning Center spoke with potential flag football players during a Torah and Turf kickoff event.

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Yossi Berkowtiz

Hats off to you

Maya Davis, left, and Naomi Davis enjoyed Congregation Poale Zedeck’s summer barbecue. The Aug. 25 grilling affair enabled eaters to enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs and baked beans all while a balloon artist sculpted designs to their wearers’ delight.

Photo by Rob Davis

p Rabbi Jessica Locketz, left, and Rabbi Aaron Meyer, right, visited with Temple Emanuel campers at Emma Kaufmann Camp.

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