Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 2-8-19

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P I T TS B U R G H

February 8, 2019 | 3 Adar I 5779

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Candlelighting 5:29 p.m. | Havdalah 6:30 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 6 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Alarmed by recidivism, panel urges criminal justice reform

As hate crimes increase, FBI looks to community for help

Racial Justice Summit provides platform for anti-Jewish rhetoric

Interfaith discussion agreed on enormity of racial disparities in incarceration, sentencing.

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

J or four weeks ago,” he said. The bags were filled with bird seed to give them weight so they would not blow away.

If a community member finds such a package, he should leave the bag unopened and call the police, Orsini instructed. The bird seed should not be touched, and no photos of it should be posted on social media.

Hate crimes against Jews in America rose by more than a third in 2017 and accounted for 58 percent of all religion-based hate crimes, according to data released in November by the FBI. The report noted a 23 percent increase in religion-based hate crimes in 2017 to 1,564, representing about 20 percent of all hate crimes.

While distributing a bag with literature and bird seed is not a hate crime, it is “hate speech,” Orsini said, and should be reported.

“We need puzzle pieces to put together a picture,” said FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Matt Trosan. “The more puzzle pieces, the better the picture, the more likely we are to mitigate the problem.”

The panelists explained that a federal hate crime is defined as one in which the offender

ust three months after the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, at the Tree of Life synagogue building, the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary — two miles away from the massacre site — hosted speakers who invoked age-old anti-Semitic tropes and bashed Israel and Zionism as “an anti-Semitic lie.”

On Saturday, Jan. 26, the 21st annual Racial Justice Summit — which is described on its website as creating “opportunities for attendees to learn, connect and act on behalf of racial justice” — included a session on the perceived injustices of the Israeli government and Jews.

During a panel presentation dubbed “Rewriting the Narrative: Reimagining the Future,” Susan Abulhawa, a PalestinianAmerican novelist, explained the launch of Zionism as “a political movement that was conceived by wealthy Jewish businessmen in Eastern Europe.”

Her remarks are recorded on video.

“When all these Zionists started immigrating to Palestine and eventually took over the country and kicked the indigenous people out,” she said, “the narrative was that these Europeans who had been in Europe for thousands of years, who had documented European history for thousands of years, in literature, and art, and culture, in science and politics, that these people were actually indigenous to Palestine and the indigenous people who had been there were, in fact, the squatters.”

Laura Horowitz, a member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, was present at the program, but walked out after a heated exchange with panel members.

Please see FBI, page 18

Please see Justice, page 18

Page 2 LOCAL Imam spouts anti-Semitism

 Four FBI agents joined Brad Orsini for a discussion on extremism and hate crime indicators on Jan. 29 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Photo byToby Tabachnick

Leader of small Larimer-based mosque found to have highlighted Jewish stereotypes.

Page 3 BOOKS Left and right share in problem Historian Deborah Lipstadt uncovers ubiquitous Jewhatred.

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By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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he FBI is seeking help from the community in gathering intelligence that could help prevent future hate crimes in the Pittsburgh area.

Four FBI agents joined Brad Orsini, director of Jewish community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, on Jan. 29 for a discussion at Rodef Shalom Congregation on extremism and hate crime indicators. The purpose of the program was not to talk about the massacre that happened at the Tree of Life synagogue building last fall, but to empower community members to identify and report indicators that could prevent the occurrence of future hate crimes, Orsini said.

“Anti-Semitism is increasing, and it is increasing in our community,” Orsini explained. “My job is to help the community recognize the signs of hate.”

Orsini held up a small plastic bag, one of many containing literature purportedly from the KKK that had been found a few weeks ago around Squirrel Hill.

“I’ve been here in Pittsburgh since 2004, and I never heard from the KKK until three

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Headlines Criminal justice panel finds faults in system — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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nstitutionalized racial prejudice remains 55 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That was the conclusion of a panel of criminal justice experts last week.

Anna Hollis of Amachi Pittsburgh, Rabbi Moshe Mayir Vogel of the Aleph Institute and Roy Waterman of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs cited statistics and anecdotes when describing a foul and ineffective system during a Jan. 28 event at the Alloy Studios, located at 5530 Penn Ave. The criminal justice system resembles “a giant onion,” said Waterman. “As you peel each layer and get closer to the middle, it starts bothering your eyes. The more you know, the more it’s going to bother you.”

Vogel, who oversees the Aleph Institute’s northeast regional headquarters and provides “preventive-education and faithbased rehabilitation programs,” pointed to a “76 percent recidivism rate in the United States.”

Now square that number with “the ripple effect” in communities of color, where “children are grappling with how to see themselves,” echoed Hollis, Amachi’s executive director. They may observe their parents arrested and wonder, “Will that happen to me?”

Young adults may turn to the media and see black people portrayed negatively, added Hollis. “It’s unbelievable what children have to contend with.”

For much of the 90-minute program, panelists substantiated their displeasure with the criminal justice system by recounting incidents from their organizational dealings or corroborating data.

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— including a call back or email for an interview or a job offer — compared with white men; men with criminal records were more likely than women with criminal records to receive a negative response from employers and white men with a criminal record had more positive responses than black men with no criminal record.”

Panelists at the Jan. 28 event, which was co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council and Repair the World, said racial inequality exists in all aspects of imprisonment.

“We have to start talking about these hard subjects, and if we don’t nothing’s going to change,” said Zack Block, Repair the World’s executive director.

After moderating the event, the East Liberty-based organization’s leader encouraged future action. A conversation about the criminal justice system p Panelists shared thoughts on the criminal justice system during a Jan. 28 event.

Photo by Adam Reinherz encompasses issues regarding “hunger, education, housing, transportation,” he “After 11 years of visiting prisons I realized opportunities to New Yorkers aged 18-25 said. “They’re all related, and we need to make I had to change this,” said Vogel. “Everyone and recently released from jail or prison. changes to all of those systems to create equity wants to be a productive member of society, “I know what it’s like to be in a place where in the larger community across all people.” but they don’t have the tools. We have to give I lacked purpose, direction and focus, but I “The Jewish community does a lot of them the tools.” also know what it’s like to find myself while work on social discrimination, but generFinding those opportunities is difficult, I was incarcerated,” Waterman told NY1. ally speaking is not as educated around replied Waterman, project manager for the “Some of the best untapped potential are mass incarceration as we are in other areas,” JCPA’s Criminal Justice Initiative. “When people who are incarcerated. Unfortunately, added Josh Sayles, the CRC’s director. “I you do the crime and do the time, it’s the people aren’t getting opportunities once think the takeaway … is that the Jewish beginning of a life sentence,” as imprison- they’re being released back into society.” community and the black community have ment forever remains a “black eye. It’s like a A 2014 study from Arizona State a lot in common. And there’s a number of modern day scarlet letter.”

University researchers buttresses such claims, issues that we can and should be working Waterman was incarcerated when he was as the report details not only a difficulty in together on more closely than we are, 19. He spent 13 years behind bars. Since then, obtaining employment post-release, but including but certainly not limited to crimhe has been touted for his activism. In 2016, racial biases among prospective employers. inal justice reform.” PJC cable channel NY1, named him “NYer of the Key findings indicate “both black and Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ Week” after co-founding Drive Change, a Hispanic men were less likely to receive nonprofit providing paid workplace learning a positive response from employers pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines

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Headlines Pittsburgh imam condemned for anti-Semitic remarks — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ittsburgh Imam Naeem Abdullah addressed Jews, often in anti-Semitic terms, in lectures uploaded to his YouTube channel between October 2016 and December 2018. Within the recorded sermons, Abdullah said Jews “make a mockery of their religion,” and “have all the money.” Abdullah additionally said, “If you look deeper behind the scenes, Jews [sic] running everything,” and claimed some Jews “were turned into monkeys and pigs, literally.”

Abdullah, who did not return a request for comment, is the imam of Masjid al-Mu’min, which is located inside a two-story house at 537 Paulson Ave. in the city’s Larimer neighborhood, and imam of the similarly stationed Nur uz-Zamaan Institute.

According to Masjid al-Mu’min’s website, the congregation was established in 1989.

Masjid al-Mu’min, which seems to cater to Pittsburgh’s African-American Muslim community, appears to have a small following, judging by the roughly dozen listeners to the imam’s sermons on YouTube. On social media, Abdullah has 245 Twitter followers.

In June 2018, Abdullah led prayers at a service marking the end of Ramadan. The service was held at Schenley Park and, according to news

p Pittsburgh Imam Naeem Abdullah is seen in this video clip invoking antiSemitic tropes.

Screenshot courtesy of MEMRI

reports, was attended by hundreds.

Focusing on numbers is beside the point, said Steven Stalinsky, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, which compiled Abdullah’s anti-Semitic remarks as part of a report it released last week.

“This is an imam that is spreading anti-Semitism; that is unacceptable,” said Stalinsky. “People should not accept it, whether there’s two people or 200 people

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or 2,000 people, it’s just not right. And our job is to monitor and educate and inform people. That’s what we do.”

MEMRI, which was founded in February 1998 as an independent, nonpartisan organization, discovered Abdullah’s remarks and emailed them to the Chronicle last week along with a report detailing Abdullah’s additional references to Jews.

“We maintain the largest archives in the world of translated anti-Semitic and

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Holocaust denial content from the Arab and Muslim world,” said Stalinsky.

“The same vile words espoused weekly in the mosques in Friday sermons and in the media and school books of the Middle East about Jews are now being spread throughout the U.S.,” he added. “Through MEMRI’s sermon project we have identified and translated anti-Semitic sermons, some including calls for violence, in California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Delaware, Minnesota, Virginia, Illinois and Michigan (as well as in Canada and Europe).”

Stalinsky voiced concern that Abdullah’s mosque is “less than 10 minutes away” from the Tree of Life synagogue building, where a suspected white-supremacist murdered 11 congregants on Oct. 27.

“This issue needs to be addressed by the Jewish community — including synagogues and leading organizations devoted to fighting anti-Semitism,” said Stalinsky.

“Since we began our project almost two years ago, many of them have failed to adequately address this anti-Semitism and have chosen to look the other way.”

Joshua Sayles, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, responded that it’s not so simple.

“We don’t want to give this guy any more attention than he deserves,” Sayles explained.

Please see Imam, page 20

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Headlines New Pitt pop-up course provides insight into anti-Semitism — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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he massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue building “hit close to home� for Carolyn Brodie, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. Although she did not know any of the victims, the attack occurred just two miles from campus, leaving her shaken. “My boyfriend lives in Squirrel Hill, and I have friends who know people who died,� said Brodie, a Harrisburg native who is the current president of the Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh.

Like many local college students, Brodie is having difficulty processing the murders of Oct. 27 and understanding why they happened.

She is hoping to gain some insight in a one-credit pop-up course offered this semester at Pitt called “Antisemitism Then and Now: Perspectives after Tree of Life.�

The 12-week course, which is also open to older adults enrolled in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, is being offered by Pitt’s Jewish Studies program with the cooperation of the European Studies Center, Department of Religious Studies, Department of History and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

“ I don’t know too much about anti-Semitism. This class is a way for me to understand what

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happened.

— CAROLYN BRODIE “I don’t know too much about anti-Semitism,� Brodie said. “This class is a way for me to understand what happened.

It’s important to understand anti-Semitism as it’s developed over time, and to look at its foundations.�

Four faculty members of the Jewish Studies program conceived of the class during the aftermath of the Tree of Life massacre, wanting to provide “a scholarly response to help the Pitt community put some of this into context and into perspective,� said Rachel Kranson, an associate professor of religious studies at Pitt.

When the Jewish Studies faculty conceptualized the course, they understood there would be “a lot of different ways to analyze the shooting. There are people who will look

at it as an example of gun violence — which it was — or people who will look at it from a psychological lens, what can cause somebody to act in such a violent way. But what we can offer, and what we felt needed to be offered, was the perspective of looking at it through the lens of anti-Semitism. That’s what we know, and that’s what we can contribute to the conversation.�

Through a series of 12 lectures, the course traces the rise and evolution of anti-Semitism, from medieval anti-Jewish legends to present-day hate groups and white supremacists. Scholars from several different disciplines, and with a variety of expertise, will be presenting 30-minute lectures, each followed by a 20-minute discussion period. “This is a moment when our students and

members of our community are hungry for answers,� said Irina Livezeanu, director of Jewish studies at Pitt. “We want to use the moment to dig deeper intellectually into what we can learn about anti-Semitism.�

Forty undergrads are enrolled in the course, which began on Jan. 23 and meets each Wednesday through April 17. It is also attended by about 20 Osher students, as well as a few auditors from both within and outside of the university community, according to Livezeanu.

The syllabus for the course was shaped by the strengths and expertise of the faculty, and covers “the big themes in anti-Semitism,� according to Livezeanu.

Included among the topics is “Racial AntiSemitism and Inquisition in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain�; the “Rise of AntiSemitism in Western Europe�; “Cultural Anti-Semitism in Eastern and Central Europe�; “Nazi Anti-Semitism�; a “History of Anti-Semitic Violence in America�; “RightWing Nationalism in Europe�; and “AntiSemitism and Anti-Zionism: Distinctions, Conflations, and Conjunctions.�

Two of the lecturers come from beyond the Pitt faculty: Lauren Bairnsfather, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, and Michal Friedman, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Please see Anti-Semitism, page 22

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Headlines ‘Antisemitism Here and Now’ exposes Jew-hatred on both sides of political spectrum — BOOKS —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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n “Antisemitism Here and Now” (2019, Schocken Books), Jewish historian Deborah E. Lipstadt analyzes the roots and rise of anti-Jewish hatred, documenting its manifestations from the political far left as well as the far right, unabashedly calling out its enablers as well as its hardcore mouthpieces.

Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University, is best known for her books “Denying the Holocaust,” “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” and “The Eichman Trial.” The 2016 film “Denial” is based on the libel case filed against her and Penguin Books by Holocaust denier David Irving. Lipstadt and Penguin prevailed at trial.

Lipstadt’s new book is written as a series of short, fictional letters between her and two amalgams of people she has met through her work: a “whip-smart Jewish student” who has taken several of Lipstadt’s courses, and a non-Jewish professor at the university’s law school. The structure works well, allowing its author to deeply delve into her subject while keeping the text straightforward and conversational.

While Lipstadt’s well-researched

revelations of the ubiquitousness of anti-Semitism are alarming, they are not alarmist.

In exposing the pervasiveness of hate groups and individuals propagating vitriol and committing violence against Jews, the author is clear to distinguish the danger of contemporary anti-Semitism from that of 1930s Germany’s “state-sponsored anti-Semitism, in which national and local governmental bodies as well as academic institutions enthusiastically participated.”

Jewish Pittsburgh, though the target of the most violent anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States, is a case in point, although Lipstadt finished her book before the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue building. The first responders here risked their lives to protect the Jews inside the building under attack by a far-right extremist, while afterward, members of the interfaith community, as well as local, state and national politicians expressed their support and solidarity with the Jewish community.

Still, Lipstadt does not let anyone espousing anti-Semitic rhetoric off the hook, including those she labels “anti-Semitic enablers.” While she writes that she does not know whether President Donald Trump is an anti-Semite, she details — with meticulous

citations — his many orations and tweets during the 2016 campaign that served as “dog whistles” to white supremacists, and his steadfast refusal to “seriously address the anti-Semitic behavior of his supporters.”

For example, when Jewish GQ reporter Julia Ioffe was called out on the anti-Semitic website Infostormer for an article she wrote about Melania Trump, its followers were instructed to let her “know what you think of her dirty kike trickery.” As a result, Ioffe was targeted with a barrage of anti-Semitic, violent threats. When reporters asked Trump if he had a message for those targeting her, he shook his head, and when pressed, said, “I don’t have a message to the fans.”

When Trump retweeted messages from Nazi sympathizers, and spoke during campaign speeches of “international banks” and “global financial powers,” white supremacists understood these terms as endorsement for their anti-Semitic ideology, Lipstadt points out. The editor of the anti-Semitic Daily Stormer, in response to Trump’s words, wrote: “Our Glorious Leader and ULTIMATE SAVIOR has gone full wink-wink-wink to his most aggressive supporters.”

Lipstadt then turns her attention to the political left, calling out the actions and rhetoric of the United Kingdom’s Jeremy Corbyn

p Jewish historian Deborah Lipstadt analyzes the roots and rise of anti-Jewish hatred.

Photo by Osnat Perelshtein

and his Labour Party for embracing those with similar left-wing political objectives, “their Jew hatred” irrelevant.

For example, Lipstadt points to Corbyn’s 2015 defense of former Church of England vicar Stephen Sizer, who has published an anti-Semitic website claiming Jews are responsible for 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, murdering Palestinian children “for sport,” and “harvesting organs from Gentiles at gunpoint,” among other repugnant and false claims. Corbyn has described Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends” and invited its leadership to meet with him at Please see Book, page 20

Pittsburgh to world: Does pluralism matter?

— HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

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espite many hours exploring the hallways and hideaways of the Cathedral of Learning, I only recently considered the symbolism of its floor plan. The Nationality Rooms ring the Commons Room. Many distinct national identities surround a space of shared humanity.

The inspiration for this musing was the discovery of a remarkable collection of letters compiled by the Pittsburgh Conference of Jewish Women’s Organizations. The letters are responses to a questionnaire distributed by the Conference in 1929 and 1930, asking whether the Jewish people should have a Nationality Room in the Cathedral of Learning.

The original plan for the Nationality Rooms snubbed the Jews. Lillian Canter Schutzman of the Conference was appalled by this omission and set out to rectify it. She sent a questionnaire to 100 “outstanding persons,” hoping to compile a catalog of support for a “Jewish room.” Her list included notable Pittsburghers but also some of the most famous Jews in the world: Albert Einstein, Henrietta Szold, Julian Morgenstern and others.

Her effort failed, and it took nearly 60 years before the University of Pittsburgh

even in Timbuktu.” Der Tag dedicated the Israel Heritage editor Dr. Samuel Margoshes: Room in 1987. The histo“Yes, I do believe in a plurality rian David Rosenberg told of cultures in America. the story of Schutzman’s Anglo-Saxon culture has no campaign and its aftermath mortgage on a population in this newspaper on Oct. of one hundred and twenty 4, 2007. In the years since millions.” Zionist leader his article was published, Nahum Sokolow: “Personally, though, the Rauh Jewish I prefer plurality of culture to History Program & Archives the monotony of local genius. was given a folder containing But there are local political 39 actual responses to the interests in this problem on original questionnaire. p Louis Brandeis which I am not competent The collection is fasci- had to be nudged to to give a judgment.” Harvard nating for many reasons, not answer the Pittsburgh Business School professor the least of which is the giddy Conference of Jewish Pittsburgh pride of seeing Women’s Organizations’ Nathan Isaacs: “The third doesn’t mean “Cathedral of Learning” questionnaire.

Image courtesy question Rauh Jewish History anything at all to me.” typed onto the stationery of Program & Archives The questionnaire was so many famous people. But what is most interesting, to my mind, is how issued five years after America restricted respondents answered Schutzman’s third immigration. Schutzman asked: What comes question: “Do you believe in a plurality of next? Do the nations of the world get to bring their contributions to the Commons Room, cultures in America?”

The answers are lofty, indignant, irrev- or must their distinctions remain preserved erent, cautious, dismissive — and in the case in the Nationality Rooms?

Rabbi Goodman Rose of Beth Shalom saw of the Louis Brandeis letter reprinted here, terse and non-committal. “I regret that I no conflict: “Looking forward I hope the day have not a definite opinion,” the Supreme will come when there will be only one world Court justice wrote in the margin of a culture. Looking backward, you cannot reminder notice. blink the fact that the national culture of any English novelist Louis Golding: “I believe country, particularly of the United States in a plurality of cultures in America, and of America, is largely a composite. I prefer

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that people should have pride even though they live in the American melting-pot, in their national origins and what they stood for culturally, rather than that they forget their ancestry and be ashamed of their ethnic origin.”

Rabbi Herman Hailperin of Tree of Life considered it historically: “I believe in a plurality of cultures in America. This is not a matter of belief, but a fact of history. The richness of America has been due to the several contributions made by the various cultures of the world. This is true of American history from the very beginning of the Colonial period.”

My favorite answer comes from Rabbi Sol B. Freidman of Poale Zedeck. His tone avoids self-importance, cleverness and stridency, favoring simplicity instead. In any cosmopolitan country, he wrote, a plurality of cultures was inevitable. “Furthermore it gives the various nationalities represented in America an opportunity to know and learn something about the culture of other nations besides their own.”

That is certainly the effect of touring the Nationality Rooms, regardless of the intention behind their design. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Sen. John Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

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Calendar

q FRIDAY, FEB. 16 SHARP Dance Company, a Philadelphia-based modern dance company, will be performing a benefit show for the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue building shooting beginning at 8:00 p.m. at The Hillman Center for the Performing Arts, 423 Fox Chapel Road. “Spreading Love Conquering Hate” will consist of several exciting dance pieces including the 2018 collaborative dance project “Puzzle” co-choreographed by Joe Cotler (Koresh Dance Company Member) and Diane Sharp-Nachsin (Artist Director of SHARP) and “669” which was inspired by the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, a man who saved 669 children from the Holocaust. All proceeds will be donated to the victims’ families. >> Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Submissions will also be included in print.

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

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.

q ONGOING Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh is accepting applications for its Israel Scholarship Program to assist local students traveling to and studying in Israel. The program is committed to the future of the

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The Women’s Institute at Chatham University will present Music for Food with the Clarion Quartet at 7:00 p.m. at the James Laughlin Music Center. The Clarion Quartet will be performing works by Bohuslav Martinu and Mieczyslaw Weinberg with pianist Dimitri Papadimitriou. Visit chatham.edu/centers/ womens-institute for more information.

The Derekh Speaker Series will host Samantha Baskind at 10 a.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom. Baskind is an art history professor, and her book “The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture” is a study of how life in the ghetto and the uprising of its inhabitants have captured the American cultural imagination. There will be a book sale and author signing at the end.

Moishe House resident Tessa is turning 28. Let’s show her some love with a funkthemed party. Dress to impress in your brightest outfits and biggest hair and dance the night away with us from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

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

Shalom Pittsburgh invites young adults to an Beth Shalom Men’s Club will hold its evening with Mayim Bialik from 8:30 to 10 p.m. sports luncheon at noon with local sports as she talks about her life in Hollywood, her celebrities, dedicated this year to honor the career as a neuroscientist and her commitment memories of David and Cecil Rosenthal. The to the Jewish community. Submit your hamburger and hot dog lunch will be held questions when you register; if your question in the ballroom. The community is invited; is chosen you will be invited to meet Bialik at there is no charge. Visit bethshalompgh.org/ the BGS VIP pre-reception at 7:30 p.m. The events-upcoming for more information. program begins at 8:30 p.m. This event is for young adults 22-45 years old who have made a minimum commitment of $36 to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s 2019 Community Campaign. 2/28/17 The BGS10:32 VIP AM Page 1 JC Opn compass_Eartique Please see Calendar, page 7

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7 LOCAL

Calendar Calendar: Continued from page 6 q THROUGH SUNDAY, FEB. 10 “Etty” will be at the Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St. in Carnegie. Adapted and performed

by Susan Stein, “Etty” is a one-woman play adapted from the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum, a 28 year-old Jewish student who lived in the German-occupied Netherlands.

Using only Etty Hillesum’s words, the play presents one woman’s struggle to sustain humanity in the face of brutality. Visit classroomswithoutborders.org/events for more information. q MONDAY, FEB. 11 Moishe House will hold a tea-making workshop from 7 to 9 p.m. Contact moishehousepgh@gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults, ages 22-32. q TUESDAY, FEB. 12 Congregation Beth Shalom will hold a lunch and learn on the topic “Are All Wines Kosher?” on Feb. 5 at noon downtown and Feb. 12 at noon at Beth Shalom. Visit bethshalompgh.org/ lunch-and-learn for more information and to register. There is no charge. Contact 412-2797600, templeemanuel@templeemanuelpgh.org or visit templeemanuelpgh.org/event/wolfson for more information.

The Squirrel Hill Historical Society’s free February program will include the “History of Allderdice High School,” with speaker Mina T. Levenson, a teacher at Allderdice. The program will be held at the Church of the Redeemer, 5700 Forbes Ave. and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Visit sqhillhistory. org for more information. q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 13 Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Pardeep Singh Kaleka and Arno Michaelis will participate in a panel of community members for a discussion on Unifying Our Community in Response to Hate Conference. Register at attorneygeneral.gov/unify-pitt. q THURSDAY, FEB. 14 The Caregiver’s Coffee Club will be held from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Calling all moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nannies.

This informal meet up is for anyone who just wants to connect with other caretakers raising Jewish children. There is no need to register, just show up and hang out. Every meet-up will have a different location. Visit jewishpgh.org/event/caretakers-coffee-club or contact Meryl Franzos at 412-992-5204 or mfranzos@jfedpgh.org for more information.

AMOTT will host an evening of open conversation and learning, discussing

various topics surrounding women’s mental health, while touching on its connection to spirituality, specifically geared toward women in the Orthodox Jewish community. Women are encouraged to come join in the dialogue led by experts in the field, covering ways to cope with life’s challenges. Some topics include postpartum depression, dealing with stress or anxieties commonly found in the Orthodox community, counseling options and medication options. The program begins at 8:00 p.m. at the Center for Women, 1620 Murray Ave. There is no charge. q SUNDAY, FEB. 17 Congregation Dor Hadash will present a lecture on “Anti-Semitic and Other Hate Violence: The Current Context, Perpetrators and the Role of Social Media” presented by Kathleen Blee, distinguished professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, at 3 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, Levy Hall. Blee has researched and published widely about the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and other white supremacist groups. In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh massacre, she will discuss how such groups have fomented racist and anti-Semitic violence in the U.S. over the past century.

Registration is required by contacting admin@ dorhadash.net. q MONDAY, FEB. 18 Beth El Congregation will host the third evening of the Speaker Series with professor Jules Lobel and Rabbi Alex Greenbaum at 7 p.m. for a discussion on the Second Amendment and the Jewish view of bearing arms. The series is free and starts with a wine and cheese reception.

Visit bethelcong.org to make a reservation. q TUESDAY, FEB. 19 Chabad of the South Hills will hold a lunch for seniors and a presentation on fall prevention at noon. There is a suggested donation of $5. RSVP to 412-278-2658 or visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/healthy for more information.

Chabad of Squirrel Hill will host Farbrengen, an evening to say l’chaim together, hear inspirational words by Lou Weiss and Farrel Buchinsky on living a joyous life and sing lively Chasidic niggunim (melodies) led by the Davidson brothers and accompanied

by Aaron Berger on the violin and Rabbi Yitzchak Cowen on the piano. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at Chabad of Squirrel Hill, 1700 Beechwood Blvd. There is a $10 charge.

Visit chabadpgh.com/farbreng for more information.’ q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 All seniors are invited to come and singa-long with the Jewish Community Center Chorus, at the regular monthly meeting of the Squirrel Hill AARP at 1 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave., Falk Library. The meeting will include information on legislative matters concerning seniors,

current health report and business meeting.

Crochet chemotherapy hat patterns will be available; if you have a knitted pattern, please bring to share. The chapter would appreciate donations of used eyeglasses, cell phones with chargers and new travel size toiletries to provide to nonprofit organizations. If the Pittsburgh Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the AARP meeting is cancelled. Contact Marcia Kramer at 412-7313338 for more information.

Moishe House will hold a mediocre skill share for showing off some mediocre or useless skills of your own from 7 to 9 p.m.

Contact moishehousepgh@gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults, ages 22-32. q THURSDAY, FEB. 21 Steve Manns, fitness coordinator at the Jewish Community Center South Hills, will present Fitness Foundations at 7 p.m. There is no charge. Visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh. org/healthy for more information.

“What Squirrel Hill Can Learn from Chicago’s West Rogers Park,“ presented by Howard Rieger and Beverly Siegel, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. Visit jccpgh. org/event/what-squirrel-hill-can-learn-fromchicagos-west-rogers-park-at-the-jcc for more information.

Mahj and Martini with NA’AMAT Pittsburgh at Rodef Shalom Congregation will be held every third Thursday of the month from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. All ages, genders and levels are welcome. If you don’t know how to play and want to learn, this is perfect for you. RSVP to provide enough tables and martinis. Donations accepted to cover the costs. Contact Jackie Braslawsce at naamatpgh@gmail.com or 412-303-5769 for more information. q THURSDAYS, FEB. 21-MARCH 28 Chabad of the South Hills will host Kids in the Kitchen Cooking: For Shabbat From A-Z at 5:30 p.m. for ages 3 to 11. Each class includes the cooking segment, fun and hands-on learning on Jewish topics and oneon-one Hebrew Alef-Bet and reading. An adult must accompany the 3-year-olds. There is a charge. Contact mussie@chabadsh.com or 412-344-2424 or visit chabadsh.com/jkc for more information and to register. q FRIDAY, FEB. 22 Moishe House Murder Mystery Shabbat will be held from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Come on over for an elaborate game of “whodunit,” and try to solve the mystery (in character) before the killer gets you. As Agatha Christie once put it, “let us drink, laugh and make Kiddish. For tomorrow we die, or who knows - perhaps even tonight!” Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults, ages 22-32. q SATURDAY, FEB. 23

q SATURDAY, FEB. 23 Beth Shalom Congregation will hold Clues & Schmooze (with some booze), a fundraising and fun trivia event, including a raffle, open bar and snacks. Trivia will be in teams of 3-6 players. Bring your own team or be matched up at the door. Registration and drinks start at 7:45 p.m. and trivia games start at 8:15 p.m. The charge is $25 per person in advance, $40 per person at the door. Visit tinyurl.com/clues2019 for more information.

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“Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. at Fisher Auditorium, 403 S. 11th Street, Indiana, Pa. The concert/ drama commemorates the Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed Verdi’s Requiem 16 times, as an act of defiance and resistance to their Nazi captors. Defiant Requiem is a complete live performance of

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Verdi’s Requiem interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration that tells this tale of bravery. This performance features the full Verdi Requiem with the chorus and soloists accompanied by a single piano, as it was in Terezín. The Defiant Requiem Foundation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Department of Music and the Penn State Altoona Department of Arts and Humanities, with funding from the Gretchen M. Brooks University Residency Project are presenting this performance. Visit https://www.iup.edu/eventdetail.aspx?id=257771 for more information. q SUNDAY, FEB. 24 Join Moishe House and I-Volunteer to pack medical supplies for targeted communities in need throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Come to MoHo at 12:15 p.m. for rides, or meet us at Global Links, 700 Trumbull Drive, 15205 at 1 p.m. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults, ages 22-32. q MONDAY, FEB. 25 Beth El Congregation will host the fourth evening of the Speaker Series with Rabbi Danny Schiff at 7 p.m. speaking on “The Countercultural Power of Humility.” This series is free and starts with a wine and cheese reception. Enjoy one evening or all.

Visit bethelcong.org to make a reservation. q THURSDAY, FEB. 28 Moishe House will hold game night from 7 to 9 p.m. Whether you long for the days of Pinball and Pac Man, or you prefer a quiet round of Go Fish, Victory Pointe is the place for you. Come to the house at 6:15 p.m. for rides or meet at Victory Pointe, 1113 E. Carson St. at 7 p.m. Contact moishehousepgh@ gmail.com for more information. Moishe House events are intended for young adults, ages 22-32. q SATURDAY, MARCH 2 JCC Big Night University, the 13th annual Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s fundraiser, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit the JCC Annual Fund. Visit jccpgh.org/ donate-support-jcc/big-night-2019 for more information. q SUNDAY, MARCH 3 Join the Youth Department and the Beth Shalom Men’s Club to watch the Pitt Women’s Basketball Team vs. Louisville, at 1:45 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center, 3719 Terrace Street. Cost is $5, with tickets to be paid for and picked up in advance at Beth Shalom. RSVP by February 8 to Marissa Tait at youthdirector@bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAY, MARCH 4 Beth El will host the fifth evening of the Speaker Series with Rabbi Danny Schiff discussing Israel’s Nation State Law, A Loving Critique at 7 p.m.

The series is free and starts with a wine and cheese reception. Visit bethelcong.org to make a reservation.

The Beth Shalom Purim Carnival, “Purim in Space,” will be held at Beth Shalom from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. For $10 each you can enjoy lunch, games and crafts and a trip across the universe. Contact Youth Director Marissa Tait at 412-421-2288, ext. 463 for more information. PJC

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 7

8 WORLD

Headlines Anti-Israel protest again sparks controversy at LGBTQ conference — NATIONAL —

By Ben Sales | JTA

A

nti-Israel protesters took the stage unannounced at Creating Change, an LGBTQ conference that was the site of a raucous anti-Israel protest in 2016.

At the opening of this year’s conference, organized by the National LGBTQ Task Force, a group of activists holding Palestinian flags took the stage and led a 13-minute protest for Palestinian liberation and against Zionism. The speakers, who came from a coalition of more than 30 groups called #CancelPinkwashing, were not interrupted or asked to leave by the event organizers.

A video of the event shows speakers leading chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”

The conference took place Jan. 23-27 in Detroit.

The first speaker at the protest, Stephanie Skora, charged that the conference did Please see LGBTQ, page 9

8 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

p Members of the Jewish Caucus at Creating Change, an LGBTQ conference, in January 2019. Clockwise from top left: Daniel Bahner, Robert J. Saferstein, Noah Strauss, Jason Landau Goodman, Jennifer Heiser, Rachael Fried, Mordechai Levovitz.

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Caucus

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9 WORLD

Headlines LGBTQ: Continued from page 8

not include pro-Palestinian programming because it could upset donors. She invoked Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat who is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress.

“In a state that elected the first Palestinian woman to the U.S. Congress, there is still a ban on Palestine at Creating Change, because the Task Force is afraid that people are going to come here to seek their full liberation, and donors might get mad,” she said. “Right now, our content is being censored, our liberation is being silenced and our voices are being shut down because the Task Force is too cowardly to have a conversation on one of the leading social justice issues of our time: Palestinian freedom.”

Skora, speaking after the conference, also complained that that the only Jewish workshop this year was a meeting of the Jewish caucus, and that there was no Muslim caucus meeting. In addition, Skora said that the coalition submitted seven proposals for workshops on Palestinian issues, all of which the Task Force rejected.

A statement from #CancelPinkwashing said that the lack of Jewish and Muslim programming is a “violent erasure [that] reinforces the antisemitism and Islamophobia already deeply rooted in Creating Change.” It called on the Task Force to endorse the movement to boycott

Israel. Pinkwashing is a term that connotes what critics see as Israel’s covering up of human rights abuses by trumpeting its LGBTQ-friendly policies.

“Since they’re blanket rejecting workshops that talk about Palestine, that’s trickling down to censorship of Jewish and Muslim programming at the conference out of fear that conference attendees will talk about Palestine in those spaces because other spaces to talk about Palestine aren’t provided,” said Skora, who serves as the coordinator Chicago chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish group.

The second speaker of the protest, Mina Aria, called on the Task Force to fight “pinkwashing, Zionism, Islamophobia and colonial violence.”

The protest this year recalled a similar one at the same conference in 2016, when pro-Palestinian activists tried to disrupt a Shabbat program hosted by A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel LGBTQ group that also advocates for LGBTQ rights within Israel. The protesters chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, pinkwashing has got to go.”

On Jan. 27, the National LGBTQ Task Force wrote in a Facebook post that it “firmly condemns anti-Semitism. We firmly condemn Islamophobia. We firmly condemn attacks on each other’s humanity. The perpetuation of white supremacy is harmful to all.

There are a number of misunderstandings and misinformation being thrown around.”

Representatives of two organizations, Keshet, a national LGBTQ Jewish group, and Jewish Queer Youth said that public protests on a range of issues are a regular part of Creating Change every year. Mordechai Levovitz, Jewish Queer Youth’s executive director, said that protests in past years have advocated the Black Lives Matter movement and criticized exclusion of transgender people. The Task Force, he said, lets the protests run their course.

“The task force has developed a de-escalation tactic to deal with the protests,” said Levovitz, who has attended Creating Change for nine years. “They come, they always come on stage, they let the protesters speak for about five to 10 minutes, they say what they have to say, they get off the stage.”

In a statement, Keshet pushed back against calling this year’s protest anti-Semitic, saying that anti-Israel protests and anti-Semitism are not always the same thing. It called accusations of anti-Semitism this year “inflammatory and divisive.”

“To be clear, we believe that there is no room for anti-Semitism in the LGBTQ rights movement or in any other liberation movement,” the statement said. “While we believe that criticism of Israel is at times anti-Semitic, we do not believe that it is necessarily anti-Semitic.”

Keshet was part of the conference’s Jewish caucus this year. James Cohen, Keshet’s senior director of development and communications,

said that the Task Force is not anti-Semitic.

“We appreciate their statement that anti-Semitism has no place in the LGBTQ rights movement,” said Cohen, who was not at the conference. “Both the LGBTQ movement and the Jewish community are wide enough and strong enough to hold diversity of opinion.”

But Tye Gregory, executive director of A Wider Bridge, wants the Task Force to take a stronger stance against a protest that he says targeted a certain group of conference attendees. He said the Task Force’s staff “either don’t have the core competence to fix this problem or don’t care what we have to say.”

“When you say Israel and Zionism are the problem, you’re directly implicating other attendees at the conference and stirring up hate,” Gregory, who was also not at the conference, said. “I want to make sure those in the Jewish community and those who care about Israel outside the Jewish community have a welcoming space.”

Skora also criticized the Anti-Defamation League, saying it has “committed acts of severe violence against the queer and trans liberation movement.” She also claimed that the ADL spied on gay rights groups in the 1980s.

“These accusations are false and absurd,” an ADL spokesperson wrote in an email.

“ADL has a long history of fighting for LGBTQ rights.” PJC

Keep your identity your own

How can you best safeguard your personal information in the digital age?

Provided by: Lee Oleinick, Managing Director – Wealth Management, Walnut Wealth Management Group, UBS Financial Services, Inc., 412-665-9914 Security breaches and data leaks regularly populate headlines.

In 2017, identity theft affected 16.7 million victims and cybercriminals stole $16.8 billion, according to a 2018 study.1 While identity theft is prevalent, if you take the right steps to protect yourself, you can avoid the most common traps.

From your e-mail inbox to your physical mailbox, you have plenty of tools at your disposal to keep potential identity thieves at bay. With a little preparation and self-education, you can avoid the worst identity and cyber threats, and rest easy knowing your financial assets are safe.

information. Consider a locked mailbox or make sure to pick up your mail right away when possible.

Additionally, take care to shred any documents with personal information before dropping them in the recycle bin.

Depending on your social media use, a criminal may be able to line up your name and address with the information you post online for identity theft. To avoid an unattended mailbox, use a mail hold when traveling, a free service provided by the post office. You can set one up at your local post office or on the US Postal Service website.

Stay alert with e-mail

Don’t fall for phone scams

One of the most likely places to come into contact with bad players online is your e-mail inbox. Whether you are at work or at home, it is important to remain diligent and look out for red flags in any e-mail you receive.

Jamie Howard, Deputy Head of Fraud Risk Management and Investigations at UBS, says you should “never click on links in e-mails from organizations you don’t recognize.” Ninety-one percent of cyber attacks start with a phishing e-mail, according to one report.2 But if you do open a suspicious e-mail accidentally, delete it right away and avoid clicking any further. You must never open the attachments, as that’s what lets the malware into your computer.

If your bank calls you, they won’t ask for your usernames, passwords, address or Social Security number. Unless you know the person on the other end of the phone, never give out any personal information.

Clever fraudsters may have some of your information already, which makes it seem like they are calling from a trusted company. Even if the caller ID says it is your bank, it may actually be a professional criminal across the world. Using a technique called “spoofing,” identity thieves are able to make your caller ID say whatever they want.

When in doubt, hang up and dial a published customer service number for the company. You can easily find a trusted customer service number on the back of your credit or debit card, a recent statement or a company website.

Monitor your mail and shred aggressively While cybersecurity is an important way to prevent identity theft, you have to remember the threat of physical paper, as well. In affluent neighborhoods, unlocked mailboxes allow thieves to easily steal your name, address and other identifying PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Stand up to identity theft and keep your information safe When you take small steps and follow common sense, you can decrease your stress about potential identity theft. Make PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

yourself a more difficult target by only working with reputable companies, keeping your information private when possible, consistently monitoring your bank accounts for unauthorized charges and staying alert to common threats and scams.

Though there are unfortunate situations in which falling victim can be out of your control, by remaining vigilant you can decrease these odds and take immediate actions when necessary. Through safeguarding yourself against a potential identity thief, you can rest easy knowing your personal and financial information remain in your hands alone.

“2018 Identity Fraud: Fraud Enters a New Era of Complexity,” Javelin, February 6, 2018, javelinstrategy.com/coveragearea/2018-identity-fraud-fraud-enters-new-era-complexity.

1

“Enterprise Phishing Susceptibility and Resiliency Report,” Cofense, 2016, cofense.com/enterprise-phishing -susceptibilityreport.

2

This article has been written and provided by UBS Financial Services Inc. for use by its Financial Advisors.

In providing wealth management services to clients, we offer both investment advisory and brokerage services, which are separate and distinct and differ in material ways. For information, including the different laws and contracts that govern, visit ubs.com/workingwithus.

UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. FEBRUARY 8, 2019 9

10 WORLD

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Florida puts Airbnb on notice over removal of Jewish settlements Airbnb has been put on Florida’s list of scrutinized companies over its decision to remove listings of rooms and homes for rent in West Bank Jewish settlements.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Cabinet voted to place the company on the list following a recommendation by the state Board of Administration. The company has 90 days to respond.

The state could move to ban its pension fund from investing in Airbnb if it goes public, as reported, by as early as June or at least by 2020.

“This is not a policy that applies to all these disputed territories evenhandedly,” DeSantis said in announcing the decision. “It singles out Israeli Jews in the West Bank. It does not apply the same de-listing to Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, and that is wrong and that runs afoul of Florida law.”

DeSantis has ordered state employees not to stay at Airbnb homes while traveling on state business.

Airbnb responded to the Jan. 29 vote.

“We unequivocally reject and oppose the BDS movement and are disappointed by today’s vote,” the company said in a statement while noting that over 20,000 Airbnb hosts in Israel have welcomed 1 million guests.

Airbnb announced in November that it would remove the listings of some 200 apartments and homes for rent in the settlements, but not in Palestinian communities.

The company said it consulted with experts to learn about the historical disputes in the region to decide whether it should be doing business in “the occupied territories.”

Airbnb operates in 191 countries and regions and more than 81,000 cities. Recently it announced that it would delist two contested autonomous areas in the republic of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abhkazia 11 arrested in rioting at Ethiopian Israelis’ protest over alleged racist police brutality Six officers were hurt and 11 protesters were arrested as dozens of young Ethiopian Israelis clashed with police at the end of a protest against alleged racist police brutality.

The youths threw rocks and glass bottles at police and set fire to garbage cans following the Jan. 30 afternoon and evening protest in Tel Aviv.

Police moved in to halt the rioting, leading to additional accusations of police violence.

The Israel Police said in a statement that it “allowed the protesters to express their freedom of speech and their right to protest, while using great restraint, despite blatant provocations done by some participants.

Unfortunately, when the demonstration ended, a handful of protesters chose a way of violence, attacking and wounding six police

officers, vandalizing property and disrupting the public order by throwing stones, bottles and other objects.”

On Thursday, a Tel Aviv court ordered the release of the 11 Ethiopian-Israeli protesters, saying they had no criminal records.

The protest started with hundreds of demonstrators blocking major intersections in Tel Aviv and ended with several thousand protesters at Rabin Square. The demonstration came more than a week after a 24-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, Yehuda Biadga, was killed as he ran at a police officer with a knife. Biadga is described as mentally ill.

The officer, who has been put on leave pending an investigation, said he feared for his life, but the protesters charge that he fired because Biadga was black.

Ethiopian-Israeli community leaders say it is the latest incident of many involving police brutality, and that there is a pattern of racism and abuse by police toward Ethiopian Israelis.

Malaysia stripped of 2019 World Para Swimming Championships over Israeli participation The International Paralympic Committee stripped Malaysia of the right to host the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships over its refusal to allow Israeli athletes to enter the country to participate.

The IPC made its announcement last week. Malaysia, it said in a statement, “failed

to provide the necessary guarantees that Israeli Para swimmers could participate, free from discrimination, and safely in the Championships. This includes full compliance with the IPC protocols related to anthems and flags, and where required the provision of relevant visas.”

In doubling down earlier last month on his country’s refusal to allow Israeli athletes into the country for any event, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mahathir Mohamad challenged the International Paralympic Committee to take away the world event, expected to draw hundreds of swimmers from 70 countries, from Malaysia.

Malaysia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Entry to Malaysia on an Israeli passport is prohibited.

“The Paralympic Movement has, and always will be, motivated by a desire to drive inclusion, not exclusion. Regardless of the countries involved in this matter, the IPC would take the same decision again if it was to face a similar situation involving different countries,” the committee said in a statement.

The event, which had been scheduled from July 29 to Aug. 4, is a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

“All World Championships must be open to all eligible athletes and nations to compete safely and free from discrimination. When a host country excludes athletes from a particular nation, for political reasons, then we have absolutely no alternative but to look for a new Championships host,” Andrew Parsons, IPC president, said. PJC

This week in Israeli history Feb. 11, 1995 — AJC adopts new policy

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

Feb. 8, 1878 — Martin Buber born

If you were born in 1954 you will be turning 65!

These are a few of the highlights of that year!

Army vs. McCarthy Hearings Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka France leaves Vietnam World Series broadcast in color for the first time.

Bill Haley and the Comets arrive NBA - Minneapolis defeats Syracuse On The Waterfront • Rear Window • Caine Mutiny First children receive the Salk vaccine

Consider giving Dan a call He has been helping seniors for many years.

Dan Askin

412-901-5433 • askinsure@msn.com 10 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Philosopher Martin Buber is born in Vienna.

After his parents’ divorce when he is 3, he spends much of his childhood in Lemberg, Ukraine, where he is raised by his grandparents in a religious home. He gets involved with the Zionist movement while a student at the University of Leipzig and makes aliyah in 1938.

Feb. 9, 1994 — Israel, PLO sign 2nd agreement

Five months after signing the Declaration of Principles for the Oslo peace process at the White House, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat meet in Cairo and sign an agreement on Palestinian self-rule and security cooperation in Gaza and Jericho.

Feb. 10, 1913 — Charles Winters born

Charles Winters, who is not Jewish, works as a government purchasing agent during World War II and runs an air transport service delivering produce in the Caribbean after the war. Recruited to help obtain surplus U.S. military aircraft for secret shipment to Israel, Winters purchases and helps deliver three B-17s, the only heavy bombers Israel has during its War of Independence.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

The American Jewish Committee announces a new policy statement on Israel-Diaspora relations in light of growing differences between the communities. Unlike the original 1950 agreement between the AJC and Israel, which emphasized the independence of the U.S. and Israeli Jewish communities, the new policy statement focuses on interdependence.

Feb. 12, 1958 — First basic law enacted

The Knesset votes 96-0 to pass the first of a continuing series of basic laws that together fill the role of a national constitution. Basic Law: The Knesset confirms that the Knesset has 120 members and meets in Jerusalem.

Feb. 13, 1931 — British PM rejects White Paper

Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald sends a letter to Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann disavowing the threats to Zionism posed by the Passfield White Paper.

Feb. 14, 1896 — Herzl’s ‘Jewish State’

Theodor Herzl’s “Der Judenstaat” (“The Jewish State”) is first published in Vienna. It calls for Jews to organize themselves to gain their own territory, oversee immigration and settlement, and eventually form their own state. PJC

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11 color WORLD

Headlines Despite star power, boycotting Israel has little appeal in the UK — WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

T

he British branch of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel possesses a weapon matched by few other affiliates: star power.

More than any of its international counterparts, BDS UK enjoys the support of renowned musicians like Roger Waters, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Richard Ashcroft and Jarvis Cocker, whom boycott activists like to parade in various petitions. Also on board are eminent filmmakers like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, and even the celebrated actress Julie Christie has signed on.

(Last week, several of those stars signed yet another petition, urging the BBC to push for the 2019 Eurovision song contest to be moved out of Israel, which they accuse of employing “apartheid” policies.)

The pro-Israel camp has its own British celebrity advocates, including singers Morrissey, the Australia-born (but U.K.-based) singer Nick Cave and the band Radiohead.

What effect are these celebrities having in the fight for British hearts and minds?

Some insight can be found in the largest-ever poll on the popularity of the BDS campaign in Britain, the results of which were published Jan. 30.

p Roger Waters speaks at a press conference in Rome last year. He is a leading celebrity in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images

It doesn’t look too good for BDS. In the poll of 4,005 British respondents, only 10 percent agreed that Israel should be boycotted, compared to 46 percent who disagreed, according to the Ipsos MORI polling company. It conducted the survey in 2016 and 2017 for the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the Community Security Trust.

Significantly, another 42 percent said they either had no opinion or did not know, with the remaining 2 percent saying they would

rather not express an opinion.

The study found a distinct correlation between support for BDS and the view of Israel as an apartheid state.

Asked whether they agree that Israel is an apartheid state, 21 percent of respondents agreed, compared to 19 who disagreed. Here, too, the largest group by far was the “don’t knows,” with 42 percent.

Muslim respondents were almost four times likelier to agree with the need to

boycott Israel than the average, the report said. But also among Muslims, the boycott contingent was in the minority and no fewer than 16 percent of respondents from that group disagreed with boycotting Israel.

Another key finding came from the report’s attempt (the most comprehensive so far) to tackle the contentious claims that BDS is motivated by anti-Semitism. Boycott advocates say Please see U.K., page 25

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FEBRUARY 8, 2019 11

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Headlines Talmud-inspired learning craze sweeps South Korea — WORLD —

By Tim Alper | JTA

S

EOUL, South Korea — In 2014, Kim Hye-kyung found herself staring into an educational abyss.

The mother of two lives in study-mad South Korea, a nation where parents fork over a combined $17 billion on private tutoring every year. Children start early — 83 percent of 5-year-olds receive private education — and the pace keeps intensifying until, at age 18, students take the dreaded eight-hour suneung university entrance exam. Flunk the suneung and your job prospects could nosedive. Pass with flying colors and you may land a coveted spot at a top-ranked university.

“I hated the idea of sending my children to private academies, where teachers cram information into young heads with no thought for nurturing creativity,” Kim Hye-kyung said.

“When my kids were younger, I read them books or took them out instead of sending them to academies. But as they grew older, I started worrying that their school results would suffer as a result of my decisions.”

Kim Hye-kyung was in this quandary when, by chance, she came across a book by a Korean author about what for her was a novel study method. It was chavruta, a

p A South Korean woman and her child read Talmud-themed books at a Seoul bookstore.

method used by Talmud scholars in which pairs of students debate and ask one another questions based on ancient rabbinic texts.

“When I read about chavruta, I immediately felt an emotional connection,” Kim Hye-kyung said. “It was the educational path I’d been dreaming of. I thought my heart was about to burst with joy.”

Most South Koreans have never met a Jew. Aside from a small Chabad house in

Photo by Tim Alper

this capital city and a few informal groups of (mostly secular) Jewish expats, South Korea’s Jewish community is virtually nonexistent. As such, South Koreans know next to nothing about how Jews live, what they eat (and don’t eat) or what they believe.

However, there is one fact about Jews that just about every South Korean can recount.

“Jews account for just 0.2 percent of the world’s population, but 23 percent of Nobel

Scholar-in-Residence Weekend with Rabbi Lisa Grushcow Friday, Feb. 15–Sunday, Feb. 17

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FRIDAY, FEB. 15 7 PM Shabbat Evening Service 8:30 PM Special After Oneg Presentation: The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality SATURDAY, FEB. 16 8:30 AM Torah Study: The Strange Case of the Suspected Wife: Text Study of Numbers 5:11–31 11:30 AM Potluck Lunch with Presentation: Inclusion in the Book of Exodus: Two Models for Community 5:30 PM An LGBTQ+ Conversation: Join us for an evening focusing on Jewish LGBTQ+ experiences.

SUNDAY, FEB. 17 9 AM Brunch with Presentation: Coming Out of Comfort: Hard Questions & the Search for Connection. RSVP to Judy Rulin Mahan at (412) 421-9715 ext. 110 or Judy@TempleSinaiPGH.org by 5 PM on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

Temple Sinai is an inclusive community that embraces, supports, and values all people, regardless of ability or needs, to participate in every aspect of our Reform Jewish synagogue life. For more information or to request an accommodation, contact Judy Rulin Mahan at (412) 421-9715 ext. 110 or judy@templesinaipgh.org.

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12 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Please see Talmud, page 19

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Rabbi Lisa Grushcow is the author of Writing the Wayward Wife: Rabbinic Interpretations of Sotah and the editor of The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality.

Prize winners have been Jewish,” Seoulbased student Choi Jae-young related. “And despite all the time and money we spend on education, only one Korean has ever won a Nobel award. That irks many Koreans. It makes us want to learn Jews’ secrets.”

Some South Koreans think the key to unlocking such “secrets” can be found in Jewish approaches to education.

“Koreans don’t have to emulate Jewish belief systems,” educational researcher Seol Dong-ju said, “but we do need to copy the way Jews teach their children.”

The result is dozens of private chavruta-themed academies, with busy branches in major cities throughout the country, catering to everyone from toddlers to adults. Some make use of Korean-language Talmudic texts, while others follow entirely secular curricula.

Kim Jung-wan, who directs one such academy — the Havruta Culture Association — explains that South Korea’s Jewish education quest is over 40 years old. It began in the mid-1970s, when Korean translations of Talmud-inspired stories by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, an American military chaplain stationed in Japan, first arrived in Seoul bookstores.

Tokayer’s stories were a runaway success.

The Talmud, the vast Hebrew and Aramaic compendium of first millennium law and lore, effectively went viral in South Korea:

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Headlines Orthodox rabbis compare abortion to murder — and Orthodox women are angry about it — NATIONAL —

By Ben Sales | JTA

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EW YORK — When New York state liberalized its abortion law last week, the Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention unsurprisingly released statements slamming the action.

And they were joined by two large Orthodox Jewish religious organizations: the Rabbinical Council of America and Agudath Israel of America. The RCA is the umbrella group for centrist Orthodox rabbis. Agudah represents haredi Orthodox Jews.

“Jewish law opposes abortion, except in cases of danger to the mother,” read the RCA statement issued last week. “Most authorities consider feticide an act of murder; others deem it an act akin to the murder of potential life.

“The RCA maintains that ‘abortion on demand,’ even before twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, is forbidden,” the statement continued. “There is no sanction to permit the abortion of a healthy fetus when the mother’s life is not endangered.”

The Agudah in its statement declared that “Jewish tradition teaches that a human fetus has status and dignity, and that abortion is prohibited in the vast majority of pregnancies.”

Both groups said their statements merely reflect age-old Jewish legal opinions on when and how it is permissible to terminate a pregnancy. They also said they are not nearly as absolute as Christian groups on the issue.

Abortion, however, isn’t usually at the top of the Orthodox Jewish establishment’s legislative agenda. What’s different now is that a distinctly liberal abortion law has been passed in a state with a large number of Orthodox Jews. And it comes at a time when the Orthodox Jewish world is moving to the right politically and voting along the same lines as conservative Christian communities.

“As you go to the right [religiously], you see people whose politics are more in line with those of the political right,” said Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice president of the RCA. “What our statement does is give a very centrist, traditional understanding of what the issues of abortion are that’s divorced from the politics of it.”

One other major Orthodox organization, the Orthodox Union, demurred from commenting on the issue.

“Because of the complexities involved with the halachic aspects of abortion, the OU has long refrained from lobbying on laws governing these issues,” the group said in an email.

Agudah and RCA emphasized that they are not opposed to abortion in all cases, as Catholic and evangelical groups tend to be.

Both said that Jewish law not only permits but in some cases requires abortion — for example, if the expectant mother’s life is threatened. And both said abortion could be permitted in other cases as well, like if it

would prevent serious psychological harm to the expectant mother.

Under New York state’s new law, called the Reproductive Health Act, there are no barriers to abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion is allowed until the end of the pregnancy if the woman’s life or health is in danger, or if the fetus is not viable. And abortion is decriminalized and moved into the state’s health code.

This conflicts with traditional Jewish law, Agudah and the RCA said. Some Jewish legal opinions consider abortion to be murder, while others say it is prohibited either as damage to the mother or as a waste of a potential life. The two Orthodox groups said abortion is prohibited for non-Jews as well because the Torah prohibits murder for everyone, not just Jews.

“Halacha permits, indeed requires, a Jewish woman to terminate her pregnancy if there is any reasonable concern for her life, even, some major decisors have explained, if the concern is psychological in nature,” Avi Shafran, Agudah’s director of media relations, wrote in an email.

“Otherwise, abortion is forbidden (though not necessarily considered murder, as some other faith systems feel). From a public policy perspective, the devaluation of even potential human life is a societally unhealthy one. It will perforce spill over to the devaluing of all human life.”

Agudah has consistently opposed abortion in most cases. The statement noted that the group opposed the landmark Roe v. Wade decision permitting abortion nationally. And the Orthodox Union also opposed New York state’s 1970 law permitting abortion, which the new law replaces.

But Rachel Fryman, an Orthodox social worker on Long Island, supports the new law because it will remove some hardship from what already is a difficult decision for Orthodox women. Before the law passed, Fryman said, women who received rabbinic guidance to have a late-term abortion would have had to travel out of state and find a new health provider. Now they can have the abortion in-state.

“As a clinical social worker, a frum woman who has experienced infertility and multiple pregnancy loss, who has asked [for rabbinic guidance], I do not understand why this statement was necessary,” Fryman said, using a Yiddish word connoting religious observance. “When a woman has consulted with a rabbi and been given the religious recommendation to have an abortion, this gives her the opportunity to do it locally, without the emotional and financial hardship of finding a provider and having to travel out of state.”

Both Shafran and Dratch said that all decisions about abortion should come after a conversation between a woman and her rabbi. For Rabba Sara Hurwitz, president of Yeshivat Maharat, an Orthodox seminary that ordains women clergy, that case-by-case

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Headlines

BECOMING MORE INDEPENDENT AT CAMP As parents and caregivers of children, we take pride in their milestones. The skills they learn and independence they gain is a source of pride. We want to set them up for later in life by giving them access to the building blocks for success.

Camp is the perfect place for kids to practice making decisions for themselves without parents and teachers guiding every move, while still in a safe and supportive environment. At Camp, children can explore the many decisions that go into daily life and learn the different outcomes for those choices.

What types of decisions do children tend to explore the most?

Picking out their clothes in the morning tends to be what our younger campers enjoy. Blue shorts with blue socks and a blue shirt, why not? At Camp, it doesn’t matter exactly what decisions the campers are making – it’s that they’re making decisions.

Having the confidence to choose for themselves acts as a confidence booster that feeds into other opportunities at Camp.

That feeling of having done something on their own will give them the extra push to try other things at Camp that they may have been hesitant to try earlier. These experiences act as a ladder of sorts, bringing them to new heights in their lives. The more confidence they gain from making their own decisions, the more they will continue to try new things, the more independent they will become in their own thinking.

—Aaron Cantor, Director, Emma Kaufmann Camp

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FEBRUARY 8, 2019 15

14 color 16 color OPINION

Opinion Simon says — EDITORIAL —

M

any in our community view North American universities as bastions of anti-Semitism. They point to the strength of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement on college campuses and the groups (including Jewish ones) that support it, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, as indicative of a vehemence against the Jewish state that is rooted in anti-Semitism.

That view may be correct. But a new voice in the debate — a solidly pro-Israel student from Stanford University, one of the campus hotspots in the BDS effort — is turning conventional wisdom on its head.

“Why do my peers oppose Israel?” sophomore and Jewish Student Association board member Benjamin Simon wrote in a new Wall Street Journal online opinion feature called “Future View.” “Not because college students are anti-Semitic, but because most hold one truth to be self-evident: Powerlessness implies moral legitimacy. The Israelis are powerful; the Palestinians are not. As such, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is merely a struggle between victim and oppressor, and nobody wants to support the oppressor.”

To be sure, Simon’s view is not a new one.

It’s a derivative of the David and Goliath

p Thousands marched in Washington, D.C., to protest against U.S. support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza in 2014.

Photo by rrodrickbeiler/iStockphoto.com

pro-Israel narrative that was prevalent in the pre-1967 era. That support lost ground to pro-Palestinian activists as Israel gained in military might and economic progress.

But, according to Simon, “campus pro-Israel

groups [still] try to portray Israel as a victim — a victim of international bias and unprovoked aggression from its Arab neighbors.”

Simon questions the effectiveness of that narrative, since even though Israel may be

under threat, it isn’t powerless. Instead, he suggests that pro-Israel advocates make the point that “power doesn’t automatically imply moral turpitude; and conversely, powerlessness does not guarantee goodness.”

Simon argues that pro-Israel advocates should accept the fact that many perceive Israel as powerful, and then work to change the framing of the debate over morality and legitimacy. Israel can be powerful and still strive for the protection of human rights, the development of justice and the achievement of peace. We inherently know this, of course, but according to Simon, there aren’t too many of us making that kind of a pitch when facing off against groups such as JVP, IfNotNow and Students for Justice in Palestine.

The takeaway from Simon’s piece is that pro-Israel advocates need to understand and work through issues relating to the reality of the Israel-Palestinian power dynamic as they advocate for a safe, secure and sovereign Jewish state. That’s probably a good idea. And it is probably also a good idea to recognize that given the complexity of the arguments and the changed dynamics of power on the ground, just because someone criticizes the Israeli government, that doesn’t necessarily mean that person is an anti-Semite. On the flip side, just because someone identifies as progressive, that does not necessarily imply that person is not an anti-Semite. PJC

Showing up as a progressive Zionist in activist spaces Guest Columnist Sara Stock Mayo

I

had the honor of speaking last month at Pittsburgh’s Women’s March. While the national leadership was under intense scrutiny, many felt it important that the local march embraced two Jewish speakers: Rebecca Glickman, a 17-year-old who mentioned the names of every victim of the Tree of Life shooting, and myself, a liberal Zionist who stated this as part of my identity in my remarks. Not everyone in the Jewish community understood my decision to speak, but through many conversations with people who have varied beliefs, I felt encouraged to share my experiences being a progressive activist during a time of increasing divisiveness in our country.

We are divided in our beliefs, but even more divided by our inability to engage with others

who feel differently. Throughout my various experiences of working in the Jewish community, I have strived for balance and nuance, which these days are harder to come by.

A lot has been said lately about anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism (both separately and intertwined) in leftist activist movements. It needs to be addressed, no doubt. It is difficult to navigate complicated narratives and relationships within movements, and many find their backs against a wall when trying to formulate opinions on whether to stay or to leave.

For anyone who considers themselves left of center, there is a deep feeling of loss when having to confront this. When one’s passions, ideals and pursuit of justice align with other like-minded groups, it is understandable to feel betrayed by the very people who claim to have provided “safe spaces” where your voice has been valued in the past.

It is important to recognize that everyone’s lived experience and pain must be seen and acknowledged. Perhaps the larger question is how we choose to move through the pain

There is no one right way to engage in difficult conversations. We all must lead with good intentions and try to assume the best intentions of others.

16 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

and create opportunities for growth and reconciliation. There is no one right way to engage in difficult conversations. We all must lead with good intentions and try to assume the best intentions of others, while we build relationships grounded in trust.

And yet, there is an understandable amount of mistrust amongst progressive Zionists, and herein lies the greatest tension.

While many Jews on the “new left” consider themselves anti-Zionist, there are those of us who remain steadfast in embracing Israel as our national Jewish identity. We would like to be able to be “both/and” rather than “either/or,” but as the United States becomes more polarized on both the right and the left, we are often put in positions of choosing a side that doesn’t allow for expression of our full identity. Some of us choose to remain in these spaces and call out anti-Semitism when we see it, but this has become a cumbersome and lonely task.

It is essential to dismantle all systems of oppression, ranging from white supremacy to discrimination against LGBTQ communities, to sexism, Islamaophobia and anti-Semitism.

All of these things fall under the category of white nationalism, the biggest threat to all marginalized groups. While anti-Semitism is a very real issue on the left, there is a false equivalency when comparing this to anti-Semitism on the right. Rhetoric on the left is triggering and unacceptable, but the actions of those who fall under the umbrella of white nationalism seek to destroy us entirely.

People on the left need to be educated to use the term “Zionism” in the correct

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context and not as code for racism, apartheid and slavery, as it is often referred to in progressive spaces. Progressive Zionists see criticism of Israel’s ongoing occupation as a moral imperative. And yet, we will not descend into the anti-Israel hate speech and one sided-narrative being spun by the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Some of us even consider BDS as a valid form of non-violent protest and are able to see the fine line between economic pressure through boycott and the desire to wipe Israel from the map. Protest is valid and oftentimes warranted — eliminating the state of Israel is not.

So, where do we go from here? How do we stay in dialogue with the progressive left? How can we be both activists and bridge builders?

While I don’t have answers, I know that I am not willing to give up hope. Silence in the face of injustice is never an option, but we cannot allow others to define the entire agenda.

This is complex, messy and painful work, and mine is certainly only one perspective, but it is my way forward. I welcome dialogue with anyone willing to come to the table who cares to listen deeply, show respect and concern, and be open to growth in committed dialogue which is only borne of real relationships. PJC Sara Stock Mayo is the director of Ruach and Music at Temple Ohav Shalom and co-leader of the independent minyan Chavurat Shirah.

She is involved in social justice movements and is the managing director of Pittsburgh Playback Theatre.

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OPINION 17 color15

Opinion Anti-Semitism and the ‘visible’ Jews Guest Columnist Ben Cohen

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ne evening about 30 years ago, my girlfriend, who is now my wife, came home to our small flat in London, her eyes swollen with tears and the backs of her knees and thighs covered in painful bruises.

An hour earlier, she had been walking through Kings Cross train station when a young Chasidic visitor to the city, lost in the web of the London Underground, approached her asking for directions. She duly took him to the correct platform for Heathrow Airport, picking up one of his suitcases along the way.

As she dropped him off and started walking back in the direction of her train, she heard footsteps running up behind her. Before she could turn around to see properly what was happening, she felt a series of brutal kicks to her legs. An oafish voice hissed “you Jewish c---” into her ear as the kicks landed again.

Then her assailant, a white male whose face she only glimpsed, ran off, leaving her terrified and dazed, while everyone else around her carried on as if nothing had happened.

I have to admit, I did a lousy job of comforting her after this ghastly episode. I was shocked and worried and angry, but I was also confused when she mentioned, with touching sweetness, her relief that the young Chasid had been safely away from her when the attack occurred.

“Wait, what do you mean?” I blurted, as she sat down on our sofa with a cup of tea.

“He attacked you because he thought you were Jewish or because he saw you helping

the Chasidic kid?” Exasperation flashed across her face. “What difference does it make?” she snapped.

My stupid question was a salutary lesson in how I’d internalized anti-Semitic stereotypes more than I cared to admit; it dawned on me that I’d asked it because, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, my wife didn’t “look Jewish.” But to the lout who assaulted her, she was as much of a Jew as the young Chassid she’d assisted — and she was therefore unambiguously the victim of an anti-Semitic attack. Like many victims of anti-Semitic violence, she didn’t report the assault to the London transport police, and neither did I, processing the incident instead as an ugly and painful memory.

To this day, it still troubles me that among my first reactions was to wonder why the assailant had identified my wife as a Jew. The internalization of anti-Semitic stereotypes offers part of the answer, but there is, perhaps, an additional explanation that is even more disturbing — that somehow violence against those of us who are visibly Jewish is more easily explained and rationalized than it is against those of us who are not.

If the assailant had spotted my wife helping the young Chasid with his suitcase, then there, to my mind, was a rational explanation for why she’d been targeted. But what if the assailant had just decided on the spot that she was Jewish and therefore a legitimate target for his hatred? That was perhaps too unpleasant to contemplate.

We will never know what my wife’s attacker was thinking in that moment. But when it comes to anti-Semitic violence these days, that awkward distinction in my head — between those of us who are publicly visible as Jews and those who are not—is still very much in the air.

On a purely empirical level, it’s a distinction that makes sense, insofar as hate-crime statistics show that “visible” Jews are more likely to face random violence as Jews than are “non-visibles” because, of course, they are identifiable as such by their clothing. But on a moral and political level — and this is the lesson I learned from my wife’s experience—it is a distinction without value.

It reinforces, among both Jews and non-Jews, the notion that violence against visible Jews can be comfortably explained away; lunatics prowl the streets of our cities, and some of them are anti-Semites and racists with no self-control, so a Jew took a beating because he was unfortunate to be wearing a kipah in the wrong place at the wrong time. Next time, wear a baseball cap, you might advise.

These generic platitudes are of little help in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., home to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, where in the last three months about a dozen Chasidic men have been brutally beaten up, leaving many in the community fearful, as one rabbi told me this week, of walking a couple of blocks to go to the store or visit a relative. The most recent incidents took place within a few minutes of each other, in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week.

Three African-American youths attacked a 22-year-old yeshiva student who was chatting on his cellphone, leaving him bloodied and disoriented on the sidewalk. Minutes later, the same youths attacked a 51-year-old Chasidic man, dragging him to the ground as they kicked and punched him without mercy. Two of them have since been arrested by the NYPD and charged with hate crimes.

It’s a miracle, frankly, that none of the victims of these or the previous attacks have been killed, but if this trend is allowed to continue, that can easily change. Since the

anti-Semitic riots of August 1991 in Crown Heights, there has been real progress in good relations between the Orthodox Jews and African-Americans (and these days many other ethnicities) who live in the neighborhood side by side. And yet, there is clearly a counterprocess at work, expressed in the kind of violent and delinquent anti-Semitism that has become horribly familiar over the last decade to French Jews living in poor neighborhoods of Paris alongside much larger Muslim immigrant communities.

Jewish community leaders in Crown Heights are right, therefore, when they insist on a proper investigation by the city authorities into the circumstances underlying the current spate of anti-Semitic violence. To casually invoke “historical grievances,” the Black Lives Matter movement or any other convenient filter as the sole reason for these attacks doesn’t help anyone. Similarly, the correct observation that the Crown Heights situation is very much an exception, and not the rule, for most American Jews shouldn’t lead us to complacency.

Violence against “visible” Jews is at the same time an expression of hatred toward all Jews and those perceived as Jews. True, the “non-visibles” among us are not on the frontlines — at least, not when we are casually walking the streets of our cities — but that is no reason for us to pretend that what’s happening in Crown Heights is not our problem. Make no mistake: The fundamental impulse behind these assaults is the same impulse behind the Oct. 27 mass shooting of 11 men and women who became visibly Jewish as soon as they entered Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue building. PJC Ben Cohen writes a column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics.

— LETTERS — Community newspaper is part of the problem

During the last several weeks the Chronicle has been publishing editorials around anti-Semitism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

One common theme is that in progressive organizations and now the Democrat Party, anti-Semitism is on the rise.

We have the 21st-century version of the Nazi brown shirts with the pink pussyhat-wearing marchers. There are two freshman congresswomen, both Democrats, who are openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. The rising star of the party, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, is their biggest cheerleader. Then there is the Democratic governor of Virginia, who as a medical student appeared in black face in a picture with a man in Ku Klux Klan robes.

It appears the party leadership is afraid of these bigots, as they are refusing to publicly condemn them. With all of this happening on the left, the president and conservatives are accused of being racist and full of hate.

And then there is Europe. In Ireland there is a bill criminalizing any goods imported or purchased in Judea and Samaria. Other E.U. countries are leaning toward banning shechitah.

The latest rounds of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bashing are coming from the left and left-leaning organizations. The Chronicle is a part of this in that it publishes cartoons and editorials promoting these ideas and bashing only one side.

It is time to call out the left, the Chronicle and Democrats for their bigotry, and learn that when they point a finger at people who do not agree with them politically, they are revealing their true beliefs and inflecting it on those they accuse.

Andrew Neft Upper St. Clair We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or email letters to:

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Letters to the editor via email:

Address & Fax:

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Website address:

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Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Fax 412-521-0154

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 17

16

Headlines FBI: Continued from page 1

is motivated by bias against race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. The crime does not necessarily need to rise to the level of violence.

“Any defacing or hateful graffiti on a religious establishment” can be a hate crime, said intelligence analyst Jade Burka. If any such graffiti is discovered, community members should document it with photos and report it to Orisini, local law enforcement or the FBI. The FBI “cannot and does not ‘surf ’ for offensive or hateful speech or materials,” he noted. But, “if a community member says he feels threatened, that opens the door to the FBI to go looking.”

To help the approximately 200 community members who turned out for the program identify indicators of the presence of hate groups, FBI staff operations specialist Madisyn Moore projected a slide of 15 common symbols used by hate groups including the KKK, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Keystone State Skinheads.

“Our goal is to make sure these incidents don’t occur in the first place,” Moore said, again urging the crowd to report any sighting of any of the symbols or any other indicators of hate.

Behavioral indicators can include “leakage,” revealing “some kind of observable behavior that sounds like it is alluding to violence,” and the increased dissemination or sharing of propaganda.

While there is no profile for a perpetrator of violent extremism, “statistically it’s white men,” she said.

In about 73 percent of hate crimes, the offenders have a connection to the attack site; 77 percent of anti-Semitic attacks were preceded by a week or more of attack planning, Moore said. That typical week of planning “is an opportunity for the community to report something suspicious.”

Justice: Continued from page 1

“I’ve been debating going to the Racial Justice Summit for a while now,” Horowitz wrote on Facebook. “I wanted to go to hear and learn, but I was afraid I’d encounter some viewpoints that were hostile to my Jewish existence. I decided to go this year.

I’ll never go back.

“A speaker on the last panel, a Palestinian woman, described Zionism as being created by ‘rich Jewish bankers,’ challenged the connection of the Jewish people to the land because we didn’t manage to keep our property documents after 2,000 years of being expelled from one state after another, and then said that the Jews want two states.”

Horowitz was “angry,” she wrote, “and a roomful of people sat there and watched this Jew hating go on without saying a word. I support the need for the Palestinian people to have their own state. I support the same need for my own people. I consider myself a progressive and will support progressives, even when they refuse to support me.”

Abulhawa described the hijacking of 18 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

p A sampling of symbols used by hate groups

Racially motivated extremists have been shifting “away from the fringes to the mainstream,” Moore cautioned. The trend is a movement away “from the stereotypical look of a KKK member,” aiming to “come across as respectful, fill political seats and increase recruits.”

The internet has facilitated the proliferation of extremists, allowing them to radicalize without even formally affiliating with a hate group, according to Moore.

Because social media and other internet posts can be deleted, community members seeing hateful speech or symbols online

planes by Palestinians in the late 1960s and early 1970s as “violent resistance,” and condemned the “narrative” that shifted to depict them as “terrorists.”

“Now that narrative has persisted to this day,” she continued. “As long as the world can believe that, then everything Israel does is OK with us.”

When Horowitz objected to Abulhawa promoting anti-Jewish stereotypes, panel moderator Bekezala Mguni, who describes herself on her website as a “radical librarian” and activist, said that Jews are the oppressors of the Palestinians, according to an article in the Jan. 31-Feb. 6 issue of Print.

After Horowitz’s protestations, Abulhawa said: “I resent the idea that you think there’s two sides, because there aren’t two sides [to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict]. It’s like saying there are two sides to apartheid or two sides to slavery. There’s one side that’s immensely powerful and one side that isn’t.

There’s one side that’s engaged in a settler colonial enterprise and one side that’s an indigenous population being wiped away.”

She labeled the “the entire Zionist enterprise” as “anti-Semitic, because it hijacks an ancient religion. … It presumes to speak

should preserve them with screenshots, she added.

Supervisory intelligence analyst John Fulcastro cautioned against engaging with extremists online, warning that such debate could make one vulnerable to both cyber attacks and physical attacks.

Offensive words or actions do not need to rise to the level of a hate crime in order to report them, the agents stressed.

“Some things that were reported to Brad [Orsini] led us to significant investigation in a school district,” revealed Fulcastro. “You may have stopped a school shooting.”

Photo provided by FBI

Everything “has intelligence value, everything fits into our puzzle some way,” said Burka.

“It may not rise to the level of a federal hate crime, but we are looking at the big picture.”

To report suspicious or hateful activity, the panelists encouraged community members to get in touch with Orsini at BOrsini@ jfedpgh.org, call the FBI at 412-432-4000 or go to www.fbi.gov/tips.

To report an immediate threat or danger, call 911. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p The Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has long been accused of facilitating anti-Israel sentiment.

File photo

in the name of all Jews as if all Jews are of one mind, are all on board, which is a lie also. And it’s an anti-Semitic lie, I would submit to you.”

In November 2018, Abulhawa was detained at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

and ordered deported. Israel’s Immigration Authority told local media that Abulhawa was refused entry over a 2015 incident in Please see Justice, page 19

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Talmud: Continued from page 12

In the decades since, hundreds of Korean versions of the Talmud have appeared, mostly deriving from English-language translations and commentaries. These range from picture story books for children to thicker, more ponderous volumes for adults.

But South Korean Talmud fever also sparked a highbrow fascination with Jewish knowledge — one that has spawned all manner of remarkable publications, including a Koreanlanguage translation of the Haggadah, the book Jews read at the Passover seder.

And, as Kim Jung-wan explains, interest in the Talmud eventually led Korean academics to explore how Jews study religious texts.

They began to learn about yeshivas, academies that are devoted to Talmud scholarship.

South Korean consultants paid visits to some of Israel’s busiest Talmud study centers.

What they discovered inside sent their hearts aflutter: vast halls resonating with the clamor of heated student discussion, with teachers’ voices nowhere to be heard.

Pairs of Talmud students — chavruta comes from a Hebrew root meaning “friend” or “companion” — locked horns in lively debate over texts, parsing its logic and debating a series of written questions posed by teachers.

Abortion: Continued from page 13

sensitivity is why “no statement” is the best option for Orthodox organizations.

Hurwitz, who emphasized that she was speaking only for herself, pointed toward a 1990 statement from the RCA on abortion that she felt was more nuanced. The statement opposes abortion in most cases but “takes note of the different values of the many religious communities in America that are often at variance with one another, in the nature of a politically pluralistic society.” It also “proclaims that neither the position of ‘pro-life’ nor the position of ‘pro-choice’ is acceptable to Halacha.”

This week’s statement from the RCA, Hurwitz said, may make Orthodox women afraid of seeking out the necessary guidance

Justice: Continued from page 18

which she refused to answer questions by security personnel when she attempted to cross into Israel from Jordan. According to the Immigration Authority, she was told then that the next time she planned to visit Israel she would have to coordinate her entry in advance, which she did not do.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh ceased publicly partnering with the PTS in May 2018, following its hosting of a lecture by the Rev. Naim Ateek, founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The Federation had

For many South Korean thinkers, this was the “secret” they had been after since the 1970s: a learning methodology that added dynamism to book-based learning and removed the teacher as the focal point of lessons.

Kim Jung-wan’s own long chavruta journey began in 2001, when an academic acquaintance suggested he use the Talmud as a teaching tool for his son, then just a year old.

“I kept exploring the subject. I was fascinated,” he said.

Kim Jung-wan went on to study Hebrew at the Israel Culture Center, an affiliate of the Embassy of Israel in Seoul.

“Eventually I began attempting to translate parts of the original Talmudic text into Korean using the Schottenstein Englishlanguage translation as a reference,” he said.

“This month, I am heading to a yeshiva in Israel, where I’ll study for a month. It wasn’t easy for a non-Jew like me to gain admission, but I managed somehow.”

In fact, most Orthodox yeshivas follow a policy of tactfully dissuading non-Jews from pursuing Talmud study. South Korean academics, however, appear undaunted.

Skeptics urge caution, noting that South Korean education fads tend to come and go, especially in the ultra-competitive world of private academic institutions. Critics warn that while advocates are currently singing chavruta’s praises on TV talk shows, the phenomenon

may prove to be another flash in the pan.

But the evidence suggests otherwise.

The methodology is gaining mainstream acceptance fast, moving from private academies into conventional public classrooms.

In December, one of the largest teachers’ trade unions in the country, the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, struck a memorandum of understanding with the Havruta Culture Association. The resulting partnership will see scores of regular schoolteachers learn how to initiate chavruta-style learning sessions.

“Many newfangled educational trends have come and gone here,” Lee Hyo-sang of the teachers’ federation said. “Most fall out of fashion after about five years after failing to deliver on their proponents’ promises. But chavruta is different. It has a history that goes back centuries.

“KFTA experts visited numerous chavruta academies and found that, rather than being overly quiet like most typical Korean classrooms, they all thronged with noisy discussion and debate. It’s a breakthrough in Korean classroom culture. It could find applications in schools, households and even businesses.”

Even preschoolers are getting in on the action.

Yoojung Kindergarten, a preschool in northern Seoul, recently added chavruta modules to its curriculum. Children listen

to stories from the Talmud and then embark on chavruta-style peer discussions.

“We wanted to find a fun, lively classroom activity that would promote creativity, but also help with moral education,” principal Jung Geum-sook said. “Chavruta seems to tick all of these boxes.”

Parents also believe they can play a part. As she began to read more about the way Jewish scholars practice chavruta in yeshivas, Kim Hye-kyung started thinking of ways to adapt the same methodology at home.

She began with family readings of picture story books, encouraging her husband and children to ask one another chavruta-style questions at every step of the way.

“It opened up a whole world of unexpressed thoughts and feelings,” she said.

“We discovered that the questions we asked had no right or wrong answers. The whole process became both enlightening and fun.”

Kim Hye-kyung has gone on to apply her home-chavruta methodology to a range of secular subjects including math, languages and science, and has ended up writing two popular manual-style books outlining her methods.

“Chavruta discussion-based learning is even effective for children preparing for exams,” she said. “It helps them form an emotional attachment to impersonal-looking study materials that would otherwise bore them to tears.” PJC

when considering whether they should have an abortion.

“The process and the decisions that go into a woman needing an abortion are complex and need to be carefully considered between the rabbi, doctor and family in any woman’s life,” she said. “To have a concrete, black-and-white statement doesn’t allow for nuance, and I think it scares women from being able to seek out the care and help they may need, and to me that’s dangerous.”

This week’s RCA statement, said Rabbi Sarah Mulhern, seems to adopt the language of the Christian right. Mulhern, a faculty member at Shalom Hartman Institute, a Jewish think tank, noted the statement uses the phrase “abortion on demand” and speaks of abortion in terms of murder.

Mulhern said most Jewish legal authorities don’t see abortion as equivalent to murder.

“I think the categories of personhood and

murder are not really the native categories the Jewish discourse has used to evaluate the ethics of abortion,” she said, also speaking personally and not on behalf of her institution. The statement, Mulhern said, seems to “import the language of the normative American right. I don’t think it’s the most helpful and I wish they would have made different choices.”

But Dratch of the RCA said his organization’s statement differs from the strictly prohibitive language of the Christian right, and that women’s needs are a core part of any conversation about abortion.

“What’s important to us is to understand facts and what our tradition tells us,” he said.

“On this issue our position differs significantly from the Catholic Church or others on the right who are opposed to abortion in all circles.

We’re not deaf to the impact on women in terms of their emotional and physical health.”

Very little Jewish discussion of abortion is

black and white. Just as Orthodox groups do not advocate a blanket prohibition on abortions, the liberal Reform Jewish movement does not condone abortion in all cases, says Reform Rabbi Audrey Korotkin.

While Reform Judaism says that Jewish tradition clearly prioritizes the life of the expectant mother over that of the fetus, Korotkin said the movement would discourage using abortion as a form of birth control. But as a matter of public policy, the Reform movement has repeatedly opposed any legislative limits on abortion access.

“It’s not just that the woman’s life is in danger,” said Korotkin, a member of the Reform Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Responsa Committee. “There could be a situation of extreme illness, extreme emotional health. We believe that women ought to have access to the full range of reproductive medical services.” PJC

expressed concerns with the anti-Semitic rhetoric commonly used by Ateek and the one-sided, anti-Israel philosophy embedded within the theology he advocates.

When Josh Sayles, director of the Federation’s Community Relations Council, met with leadership at the seminary to share the Jewish community’s concerns about giving the founder of Sabeel a platform in Pittsburgh, he was dismayed to be told, “We don’t see it the same way,” he told the Chronicle at the time.

“We are open to meeting with their leadership to explore how we can begin to rebuild trust,” Sayles said on Feb. 3. “Part of that process would mean that moving forward, when we reach out to PTS to alert them to anti-Semitism on their campus — especially

in light of Oct. 27 — that we are not met with, ‘We don’t see it that way.’”

Also at this year’s summit, the local chapter of IfNotNow, an organization of Jews seeking to end Israel’s presence in the West Bank that has led demonstrations against Jewish communal institutions, ran a breakout session “on antisemitism, its roots, and relationship to white supremacy,” according to IfNotNow’s Facebook page.

The Racial Justice Summit has included anti-Israel presentations at least since 2017.

Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist and pro-BDS organization frequently called out by the Anti-Defamation League for its “radical” positions against Israel, led a workshop at the summit in 2018 about the “DeadlyExchange,” described as “police training exchanges

between the U.S. and Israel — and how we can work together to end it.”

In 2017, the summit hosted a workshop titled “The Joint Battle Against White Supremacy and Racism: Black Lives Matter and Palestinian Liberation Movement.” It’s aim, as described online, was “to educate and motivate the masses of justice minded people to see the struggle for Black Lives in the U.S. and the struggle for Palestinian Lives in Israel and Occupied Palestine as the same struggle against the same enemies of white supremacy as manifested in the US and Israeli institutions and policies.” PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 19

20 16

Headlines Book:

Imam: Continued from page 3

Continued from page 5

“We should be aware of who he is, but we should not give him so much attention that it helps him spread his hateful message.”

At the same time, “while this guy is a bigot, he doesn’t appear to cross the line to incitement,” said Sayles, “and everything he does falls under the constitutionally protected First Amendment.”

Brad Orsini, the Federation’s director of security, said that even protected speech can spark concern.

“We don’t care how miniscule it is,” said Orsini. “If you see signs of hate or anti-Semitism, please report it immediately.”

While Stalinsky also accused the local Muslim community of turning a blind eye to incitement, Wasi Mohamed, who became executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh in 2015, denounced any manifestations of hate in an email.

“Islam unequivocally condemns all forms of racism and prejudice,” said Mohamed. “The Quran commands us to appreciate our differences … grow from understanding those differences … and to reflect until we remove arrogance from our hearts so we never resemble the Pharaoh. … We are specifically commanded to actively protect places of worship of those who practice different religions, and the profundity of this commandment and its implications cannot be understated.”

Gathering at the Masjid.”

Abdullah is not worth the attention, said Sayles. “He’s a nobody. He’s got a miniscule number of followers online and on social media, and I’ve spoken to local Muslim leadership who have told me he has an equally miniscule number of followers who show up at his mosque.

“This guy is clearly an anti-Semite spouting hate not only toward Jews but also toward Christians,” added Sayles. “He twists history in a way that is inconceivable to anyone with a grasp of religion or world religions in general.” PJC

Parliament. In 2010, he responded to a caller on Iranian Press TV who described Israel as a “disease” that Arabs must “get rid of,” with: “Thank you for your call.”

Through these and scores of other examples, Lipstadt drives home the point that both those on the left and the right should be “discomforted” by the anti-Semitism in their own ranks.

“That discomfort should be caused by an acknowledgement on everyone’s part that extremism and anti-Semitism are not found only among people on the other side of the political spectrum. As long as we are blind to it in our midst, our fight against it will be futile,” she writes.

The book describes other insidious and overt manifestations of anti-Semitism, from the “dinner party anti-Semite” who makes off-thecuff remarks about Jews based on stereotypes, to Nazis marching in Charlottesville, to progressives who “toxify” Israel. It is imperative reading for anyone interested in gaining a greater understanding of the origins and the threat of this unique form of bigotry.

Tragically, in the wake of the Tree of Life massacre, “Antisemitism Here and Now” is acutely timely. PJC

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

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

p Anti-Semitic stereotypes are found throughout Imam Naeem Abdullah’s online videos.

Screenshot courtesy of MEMRI

Mohamed, who specified that he was speaking personally, did not specifically condemn Abdullah, but emphasized that “there is no place for anti-Semitism. Not in Islam. Not in Pittsburgh. Not anywhere.”

Mohammad Sajjad, who answered the phone at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh last week, said that when it comes to Abdullah’s remarks, “the Pittsburgh Muslim community doesn’t hold that view or feel that way.”

Still, Stalinsky demanded more and referenced Abdullah’s presence at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh on Jan. 26. A flyer from the event denotes a lecture given by the imam at 6:30 that evening on “The Importance of

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18 CELEBRATIONS/TORAH

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Brooklyn Grau, daughter of Aaron and Caren Grau of Peters Township, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Feb. 9 at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. Brooklyn’s siblings are Sam and Gia Grau. She is the granddaughter of Vince and Rose Crisanti of Pittsburgh and Steve and Linda Grau of St. Petersburg, Fla. PJC

Anti-Semitism: Continued from page 4

Not all strains of anti-Semitism could be covered in a 12-week course, Livezeanu noted. There are no lectures scheduled focusing on Soviet anti-Semitism, black nationalist anti-Semitism, left-wing anti-Semitism in Europe or anti-Semitism in the Arab world.

“There are so many angles we could explore.

We recognize that we can’t do everything, and we can’t be exhaustive,” Kranson said.

Jae-Jae Spoon, professor of political science and director of Pitt’s European Studies Center, will be delivering a lecture about European right-wing nationalism.

“In European politics in the last five to 10 years, we’ve seen this huge rise of these far-right political parties that are espousing these kinds of ideas, these very strong anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, Euroskeptic ideas among various parties, including anti-Semitism … in some of the rhetoric,” Spoon said. “And these parties are getting elected; they are really influencing the political debate and discourse in Europe today.”

The pattern is playing out in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary and Poland, according to Spoon, who intends to give students “a sense of the landscape of what’s going on now and what these parties are talking about and how they are attracting voters.”

Spoon said she also will touch on some of the controversial rhetoric coming out of Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Corbyn and his party have been accused of anti-Semitism by all three U.K. Jewish newspapers. (Eighty-five percent of Jews in the United Kingdom believe Corbyn is an anti-Semite, according to a poll by London’s Jewish Chronicle,) “The left in the U.K. — and other countries, not currently but in the past — we’ve seen connecting what can be perceived as anti-Semitic comments with anti-Israel

comments, and Corbyn has been kind of teetering between the two where he has been making very strong anti-Israel/pro-Palestine comments that are being seen as also anti-Semitic, although he is claiming that they aren’t,” Spoon said. “That is definitely part of the conversation, and I will definitely be touching on those things.”

The final lecture, on hate groups and white supremacists, will be delivered by Kathleen Blee, sociology professor and dean of Pitt’s Dietrich School and the College of General Studies. Blee is a member of Congregation Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations attacked at the Tree of Life synagogue building by a white supremacist.

She will be speaking primarily about contemporary hate groups, with a focus on the internet and social media’s role in empowering these groups, and “how and why people get involved, and why they sometimes leave that world,” she said. She will also discuss how “these groups can move people toward violence.”

Jack Lyndon Wells, a Pitt freshman from the North Hills, has enrolled in the course to try to gain a deeper understanding of the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States and to learn what can be done to stop it.

“I think a lot of Pittsburghers feel the same as me,” said Wells, who was raised Catholic. “The attacks in Squirrel Hill really scared me. There are dangerous forces that I feel we are seeing again in America, and I feel that all people can do something to stop the rise of anti-Semitism.

I think it’s important to be educated on the past or we are doomed to repeat it,” he said.

Kranson hopes that the course will “help educate people about the various contexts that produced anti-Jewish hatred over thousands of years,” she said. “And I hope that looking at it from all these different angles will be able to offer some insight into what happened here.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Rabbi Daniel Yolkut Parshat Terumah Exodus 25:1-27:19

P

arshat Terumah opens with a shopping list of elements necessary for the construction of the Mishkan, the tent in which God’s presence would be manifest in the camp: “And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass; and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair; and rams’ skins dyed red, and skins of tachashim, and acacia-wood; oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set,

with the aristocrats among them designing whole courtyards, and the building of these structures leading to a deforestation of the area. It was these structures that are the sukkot, the booths, celebrated annually when we leave our homes for temporary huts for the Festival of Sukkot. It is from that wood, Ibn Ezra suggested, that they built the Mishkan, reading literally the words “[materials] that were found with them.” According to this reading, the Jews literally took apart pieces of their homes to find the building blocks to craft a home for God. The Mishkan itself, according to the Midrash Tanchuma, is a powerful representation of an idea in Jewish thought that the purpose of creation is to allow God into this world and

The Mishkan itself, according to the Midrash Tanchuma, is a powerful representation of an idea in Jewish thought that the purpose of creation is to allow God into this world and into our lives. for the ephod, and for the breastplate. And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”

For centuries, commentaries have struggled with the questions of the provenance of these precious items for a nation living in the wilderness. Some can be accounted for from the riches taken from Egypt as reparations for centuries of servitude, others harvested from their immediate surroundings and still others available for purchase from passing merchants, as suggested by Rabbi Yitzchak Abravanel. Among the most intriguing, though, are the massive wooden beams for the Mishkan.

Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra speculated that in the environs of Mount Sinai were massive acacia forests, and when they came, they built thousands of shelters, some of which he imagined must have been quite extensive,

into our lives. So how do we achieve that?

Using the image of Ibn Ezra is potentially transformative in enabling us to view our lives as the building blocks of a life that allows Hashem to be palpable in our world.

Our assets, our skills, our abilities, even our vulnerabilities — if we have the courage to use them as vessels for a life, sanctified by Torah and mitzvah observance, and to dedicate the resources that we conventionally think of as the elements of our personal footprint in the world — have the potential to allow ourselves to be architects of personal Mishkans, of creating a world where God is accessible to his creation. PJC Rabbi Daniel Yolkut is the spiritual leader of Congregation Poale Zedeck. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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19 color OBITS

Obituaries BROWN: Ruth Lipson Brown (4/28/1936 – 1/28/2019), age 82, of Los Angeles, died on Monday, January 28, 2019. Beloved wife of Bennett Brown; loving mother of Marc Brown (Betsy) of Pittsburgh, Pa., Stephen Brown (Betsy) of Cleveland, Ohio, Douglas Brown (Diane) of Manhattan Beach, Calif.; loving grandmother of Andrew, Sam, Anna, Rebecca, Isaac, Daniel and Christopher; beloved sister of Joan Muellner of Cambridge, Mass., and Helen Lipson of Portland, Oregon. Ruth was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Cornell University, where she was Chapter President of her sorority, Sigma Delta Tau. It was at Cornell that she met her husband of 60 years, Bennett. Upon graduation, they married and moved to Cleveland, where their first son, Marc, was born. They subsequently moved to Pittsburgh in 1961 where their two other sons, Steve and Doug, were born. While raising her family, Ruth obtained her Master of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh. She then spent a decade as a geriatric case worker with Jewish Family & Children’s Service (now Jewish Family and Community Services).

Ruth and Ben moved to Los Angeles in 1985, leaving the cold weather behind. A psychotherapist in private practice for several years, Ruth also volunteered with Planned Parenthood, tutored immigrants in English and was active in her Temple Havurah. Ruth had a keen eye for detail and, when she was young, loved to paint. She enjoyed going to the theatre, reading books, and watching

movies. She and Ben regularly attended ballroom dancing classes in Los Angeles and participated in several book groups. An avid reader, Ruth gravitated toward literature focused on Judaism, theology and history.

She also loved to travel and, importantly, was never one to say no to dessert! Ruth will be remembered with love by her family and friends, and was tickled to have celebrated her and Ben’s 60th anniversary last June with her three sons, their wives, all of the grandchildren, her two sisters and brother-in-law.

Ruth always had a smile for her family and strangers alike and loved to hum her favorite songs. All arrangements will be in California. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Planned Parenthood, P.O. Box 97166, Washington, DC 20090-7166 or at weareplannedparenthood.org.

COHEN: Norman E. Cohen on Tuesday, January 29, 2019. Beloved husband of the late Hannah M. Cohen; loving father of David Elliot (Laureen Seeger) Cohen and Dan (Stacy Browdie) Cohen; brother of Barbara (Stewart) Brenner of Williamsville, N.Y.; treasured grandfather of Kara, Will and Lucas Cohen, Andrew, Maddie and Josh Cohen, and Angela and Grace Seeger.

Born in Jamestown, N.Y. in 1928, Norm proudly served in the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. He met the love of his life, Hannah Mintz, on a blind date and immediately proposed to her.

They were happily married for 62 years.

Norm started as a furniture salesman at

Reliable Home Furnishings in Erie, Pa. He bought the business and started other furniture stores in Erie and Pittsburgh. He was a civic leader in Erie, where he was chairman of the Redevelopment Authority, the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Norm was universally loved and regarded as a true gentleman by everyone he met. Services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Interment Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF), 501 Martindale Street, #670, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com COLEMAN: Dr. Morton Moe Coleman, on Monday, January 28, 2019. Beloved husband of Greta Gold Coleman. Loving father of Howard (Linda) Coleman and Jim (Adele) Coleman. Brother of Phyllis (late Lester) Dreyfuss. Papa to Hannah Coleman (Alvaro Vela), Aaron Coleman and Chuck McCumber. Great-grandfather of Miles Vela. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Institute of Politics through the office of Institutional Advancements, University of Pittsburgh, 128 N. Craig Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 or The Pittsburgh Foundation, Five PPG Place, Suite 250, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. schugar.com

FLEISHMAN: Selma Marcus Fleishman passed away surrounded by her broken hearted loved ones on Saturday Feb. 2, 2019. She was the loving wife of the late Abe Fleishman. Selma was the daughter of the late George and Rose Marcus and was preceded in death by her siblings Ethel Harr, Sadie Brand, Mildred Reed and George Marcus. She is survived by her loving children Mindy Fleishman and Gary( Diane) Fleishman. Selma was the proud and adoring grandmother of Dr. KateLyn Allison( Brandon) and her special smile buddy great grandson Brett Allison. She is also the proud aunt of several nieces and nephews. She was a master at motherhood ,mahjong, canasta, cooking and baking and last but not least she was a fiercely loyal letter to the editor writing Democrat. Services and Interment private. Donations if so desired may be made to the Dr Stanley Marks MD Research Fund -UPMC Cancer Pavilion Suite 1B 5150 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. She did not die from cancer he got her to age 90 for which her family is eternally grateful.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. www.schugar.com

Please see Obituaries, page 24

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Easy Steps You Can Take to Combat Hate Now 2200 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-521-2732 www.paytaxeslater.com

them, and in their memory, work for good.

Anti-Semitism in Pittsburgh is nothing new. Back in the 1920s my great grandmother, Annie Jacob Davis, and others helped establish Montefiore Hospital, one

nearly 60 percent according to the 2017 Anti-Defamation League Audit of AntiSemitic Incidents. The ADL is one of, if not the most respected organizations fighting anti-Semitism and racial injustice.

James Lange, CPA and Attorney

Here are some of the ADL’s “Action” Steps:

The shots that killed the eleven worshippers

Sign the ADL Petition.

at Tree of Life Synagogue on October 27, 2018 reverberated throughout the region and the entire world.

For many of us, it was intensely personal.

One of the victims was Joyce Feinberg.

Joyce was a long-time client and one of the nicest women I’ve ever worked with. One consolation is that not only did the Jewish community come together, but there was an outpouring of support throughout Pittsburgh and even all over the world.

All the flowers and memorials have been moved inside the Tree of Life lobby now.

With the passage of time, the stress of daily life and the onslaught of other horrific events, it is normal for our attention to turn elsewhere. We must never become numb to the tragedy. The most basic thing that all of us can do for the victims is to never forget

Text ACTION to 51555 to receive ADL Action Alerts.

Report hate crimes or bias-related incidents in your area.

Engage in respectful dialogue to build understanding among people with different views.

Urge Congress to help improve federal data on hate crimes by supporting the NO HATE Act (S. 662/HR 1566).

Empower young people in the aftermath of hate.

of many Jewish hospitals in the U.S. One of the primary purposes of the Jewish hospitals was to employ qualified Jewish doctors who could not get work elsewhere.

But, unfortunately, more blatant acts of anti-Semitism are growing at an alarming rate. In 2017, anti-Semitic incidents surged

I sit on the advisory board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and several other board members approved this message, so this isn’t just my opinion.

The issue for many of us, including me up until recently, is we didn’t know what to do.

Please allow me to recommend two re-

sources: Locally, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is engaged in a “If you SEE something, SAY something!” campaign to help identify and assess any potential threats to our community. Please visit www. jewishpgh.org for details.

On a national level, the ADL has 10 action steps you can take to fight anti-Semitism and racial injustice around the world. On their site, www.adl.org, on a page called “Take Action,” the ADL outlines those 10 things which can combat hate now. Since learning of this resource, I took eight out of ten of the recommended steps. Most can be done quite easily. Of course, ADL has a link to a page for donations, but that is only one of their action points. Please go to www.adl.org to learn more.

If you would prefer making a local impact, please visit the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s website at www.jewish pgh.org.

Jim Lange’s 2018-2019 Tax Planning Card is now available as a free download at paxtaxeslater.com/taxcard.

This card helps you estimate your federal taxes and includes tables for standard deductions, retirement plan contribution limits and Social Security tax. If you would like help minimizing your taxes or understanding how you might benefit from a Roth conversion, please call our office at 412-521-2732.

The foregoing content from Lange Financial Group, LLC is for informational purposes only, subject to change, and should not be construed as investment or tax advice. Those seeking personalized guidance should seek a qualified professional.

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FEBRUARY 8, 2019 23

20 color OBITS

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 23

GZESH: Diane Kart Gzesh passed away peacefully on January 27, 2019. She was the beloved wife of Carl Gzesh, her loving husband of nearly 43 years. She was the proud matriarch of a large blended family of seven children: David, Anita née Handley (Ted Heyman), Richard, Frank Linet, Steven, Cheryl née Linet (Ben Levey) and Mindy née Linet (Michael Goldenberg). Born in Pittsburgh on April 10, 1935, she is predeceased by her parents, Morris and Belle Kart and dear brother Harold. She is also survived by nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Diane worked at Sears in East Liberty for 25 years, as well as at Burdines and most recently as a medical technician in Boca Raton. She had an infectious sense of humor that will be missed by all who knew and loved her. She was deeply invested in her community having served as membership chairwoman at Hadassah and a lifelong member of B’nai Israel Congregation.

Interment was at the Star of David Memorial Gardens in Fort Lauderdale. Donations can be made to JNF Planting Trees in Israel or the charity of your choice.

HARRISON: Anthony Miller Harrison, M.D., born on December 6, 1938, and died on Monday, January 28, 2019, due to the debilitating and progressive symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Harrison

lived his life devoted to and embraced by his family, friends and profession. He is survived by his wife, Rosanne Isay Harrison; children, Alexander Marc (Mary Carole), Edward Isay (Mary Lou) and Janet Harrison Kuzmishin (John). He was the beloved grandfather of Alex, Martin, Rosetta, Benjamin, Elliott, Thomas, Rachel and Samuel. He is also survived by his brother Michael (Susan Graham) and nephew, Craig. Tony, son of Milton Harrison, M.D. and Mamie May Gross Barron, was born in Philadelphia. He moved to Pittsburgh, lived in Squirrel Hill and attended Allderdice High School. Tony and Rosanne met when they were 14 and married 9 years later on June 23, 1962. Tony attended Washington and Jefferson College. He credited W&J with providing the foundation for his future academic accomplishments and love of learning. He excelled at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and was inspired to become a surgeon. Tony, now Dr. Harrison, completed his internship at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh and then joined the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Boston. After his tour in the North Atlantic, he returned home to Pittsburgh, drawn by his strong devotion to family and community. He completed a surgical residency and burn fellowship at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. With a handshake, Dr. Harrison

joined Sidney A. Rosenburg, M.D. in surgical practice and established General Surgical Associates. Under his leadership, the practice grew to be the largest private surgical group in Western Pennsylvania. He was principal in the formation of the Penn Group Health Plan, which later became Health America, where he served as the Chief of Surgery. After years in private practice, Dr. Harrison joined the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC as a professor of surgery. This role enabled him to fully demonstrate his love of medicine, commitment to patients and surgical skills to numerous medical students and residents. He worked to instill in them dedication, competence, humility and the importance of waking up early as he rounded on all of his patients before his first surgical case! He received multiple teaching awards for his devotion to students and the profession. He was vice chairman and the chief for the Division of Community Surgery as well as a consultant and director for IsMeTT, a transplant and research facility managed by UPMC in Palermo, Sicily. He served on the board of trustees for Montefiore Hospital, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation. Tony spent the majority of his weekends and holidays at Deep Creek Lake. He enjoyed sailing, snow and water skiing and fishing (all skills learned as an adult). He particularly enjoyed doing yard work and spending time in his garden. He was the weekend chef with many successes (soufflés) and failures (rhubarb

pie). He needlepointed for many years and was fond of reminding people that, as a surgeon, he “sewed for a living.” According to Tony, his most valued accomplishments were “the most wonderful marriage; three loving, decent, humane and intelligent children; and a professional life filled with constant challenge, intellectual stimulation, kind and appreciative patients and fine students who have excelled in their work.” He asked that his epitaph read “He had the best of all things and knew it.” If desired, memorial donations may be directed to the Jewish Association on Aging, the Humane Society, The Anthony M. Harrison, M.D. and Rosanne Isay Harrison International Education Fund, Medical and Health Services Foundation, 3600 Forbes Avenue at Meyran Ave, Forbes Tower, Suite #8084, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or another cause of your choice. Services and interment were private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com Please see Obituaries, page 25

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday February 10: Abe P. Bennett, Lou Ann Krouse, Ella Levy, Dr. Yale S. Lewine, Louis Luterman, Alyce H. Mandelblatt, Benjamin D. Miller, Esther Nauhaus, Esther Rudkin, Jacob Schoen, Frances B. Sigal, Isaac W. Solomon, Sidney Stark, Samuel Veinegar, Harry Zalevsky

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Monday February 11: Mary Alpert, Alec W. Chinn, Gertrude Chizeck, Sara F. Cohen, Florence Farkas, Marvin Klein, Eugene Light, Isaac L. Rosenfeld, Charles Schwartz, David Stern, Raye Supowitz, Helen Weinberger Tuesday February 12: Conrad Irving Adler, Bernard Berkman, Henrietta Buck, Julius Closky, Albert Farber, Samuel Farbstein, Frances A. Feinberg, Dr. Abraham Finegold, Israel Fireman, Charles Korobkin, Morris S. Levine, Tillie Lippock, Joseph Miller, Harry B. Orringer, M.D., Harold B. Pollack, Phillip Weinberger Wednesday February 13: Ella Alpern, Samuel J. Burke, Ruth Chell, Emil Glick, Edward Green, Meyer Hart, Rosella B. Horvitz, Harold Levine, Bessie R. Levinson, Jay Calvin Miller, Abe Rader, Stanley E. Rosenbloom, MD, Max Wikes, Rose Ziff Thursday February 14: Frances A. Barniker, Esther R. Broad, Samuel Cushner, Mary J. Darling, Maurice Firestone, Marion H. Jacobson, Marvin L. Kaufman, Ethel Mallinger, Emanuel Mervis, Emanuel Ripp Friday February 15: Tillie Berenfield, Shirley L. Borcover, Hyman Cahen, Morris Gilbert Davidson, Pauline Davis, William Davis, Charles Glick, Eleanor Granowitz, Jack Greenfield, Julius L. Gusky, Sondra Hansell, Florence L. Hochhauser, Samuel Hodes, Mollie Koss, Esther Mandel, Thelma Marder, Jacob Marks, Max A. Moses, Estelle S. Nernberg, Rebecca Rubin, Max Seltman, Markus Sherman, Fannye Taper, Israel Whiteman, Josephine Olbum Zinman Saturday February 16: Frank B. Bortz, Eva Fox, Minnie Herring, Isadore S. Levin, Oscar Levine, Joel Litman, Sophia S. Meyers, Sadie Pearlstein, Julius Rosenberg, Louis S. Rosenthal, Freda Rubin, Ida Shieff, Ethel Simon, Harry Uram

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 24

LEFKOWITZ: Francine K. Lefkowitz. When it was said, “God couldn’t be everywhere so he created mothers,” they were thinking of Fran.

On Friday, February 1, 2019, she passed comfortably after a brief illness. Survived by her husband of 63 years, Alan Z. Lefkowitz of Pittsburgh, Pa.; three adoring children, Curtis R. (Kelly) Lefkowitz of Los Angeles, Calif., Gail A. Lefkowitz of Pittsburgh and David E. Lefkowitz of Los Angeles; and her brother R. Edward Kaplan (Audrey) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Family was everything to her. Her nephews, Michael D. Kaplan (Elle) of Denville, N.J., and Kenneth A. Kaplan (Ellen), called her Aunt Frankie, but you didn’t need to be her relative to call her that. Many of her children’s childhood friends remained in her life until the last. She also “adopted” a couple of surrogate grandchildren along the way to add to the three grandchildren who carry her last name, Sidoine P. Tournissac-Lefkowitz, Maylis L. Tournissac-Lefkowitz and Rebecca R. Lefkowitz. Burial and interment are private. A memorial service was held at

U.K.: Continued from page 11

their response is merely to Israel’s human rights violations and control of Palestinian land.

In addition to being asked about BDS and apartheid, respondents to the poll were asked also to agree or disagree with a set of assertions regarded as anti-Semitic, including “Jews think they are better than others,” “Jews get rich at the expense of others” and “Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purposes.”

The respondents who supported BDS and the apartheid analogy were significantly likelier than others to agree with these “more traditional anti-Jewish tropes,” the report said.

Among supporters of a boycott, only 5 percent endorsed none of the anti-Semitic tropes. By contrast, 58 percent endorsed five tropes or more. Among those who indicated that they think Israel is an apartheid state, 16 percent endorsed no anti-Semitic trope, while 47 percent endorsed six anti-Semitic tropes or more.

It “would be wrong to regard agreement with either the apartheid or boycott statements as being anti-Jewish under all circumstances,” the report’s authors wrote, noting that 16 percent of the respondents who agreed with the apartheid statement displayed no anti-Jewish feelings. But, they added, “the fact remains that agreement with either statement positively correlates with anti-Jewish sentiment.”

Yet perhaps the poll’s most significant finding is how many respondents, about 42 percent, had no opinion on the BDS and apartheid issues either way.

“It is all too easy in heated debates about complex political matters to forget, or even

Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions in Fran’s name may be made to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, 201 N. Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, or to Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com REISMAN: Stanley J. Reisman, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, of Forest Hills, formerly of Churchill, passed away at the age of 92 on January 17, 2019.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1926, he spent most of his boyhood in Johnstown, Pa. He served his country in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946, then earned a degree in electrical engineering from Penn State University, State College.

Returning to Pittsburgh after marrying Joan Miller, the love of his life, he went to work for Westinghouse. Eventually, after four years of night classes at Duquesne University School of Law, he earned his law degree, and he successfully practiced law into his mid-80s.

He found joy in traveling with Joan the world over, and in riding his bicycle on the streets of Pittsburgh. He was generous with his time

dismiss, the fact that not everyone has an opinion,” the report’s authors, David Graham and Jonathan Boyd, wrote. Boyd is the executive director and Graham is a senior research fellow of the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

But the data they compiled shows that both sides have largely failed at engaging large swaths of the British public — with an emphasis on young people.

Women and young people are far likelier than other groups to be undecided or neutral, the study said. In the apartheid question, the undecideds accounted for the majority of respondents under 30, compared to only 26 percent undecideds among those in their 70s. And on the boycott question, undecideds accounted for 28 percent of respondents aged 16 to 29 — the largest proportion of undecideds of all other age groups.

To Mark Gardner, the communications director of the Community Security Trust — British Jewry’s watchdog and security group — these and other nuances show that the British celebrities promoting BDS “are largely irrelevant, despite the impression some of us may have about what they represent.”

By contrast, the ongoing debate about the British Labour Party’s spiraling anti-Semitism crisis, where Israel plays a central role, “is causing a lot of people to come out against anti-Semitism and come down on our side of the fence,” he said.

Mostly, though, Gardner said the analysis shows that there is “untapped potential for both sides.” He hopes the data from the survey “will be used as an effective tool to better understand where the fight against anti-Semitism is impacted upon by BDS and attempts to delegitimize Israel.” PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

and philanthropy to those in need. He is survived by his children Marc Reisman, Jan Steinle, Carole Brecht and Laurie McKivigan, his grandchildren, Max Reisman, Bud Steinle, Rachel Stachokus, Allison Benson, Thomas Brecht, Katie DiMaria, James Brecht and Steven Brecht, and his great-grandchildren Todd Steinle, Asher Benson and Nolan Stachokus.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Joan and his sister Lois Reisman. A memorial service and gathering will be held on February 17, 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Contributions in Stanley’s name may be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 412-621-8282, family owned and operated schugar.com ROSECRANS: Elaine Rosecrans, of Mt. Lebanon, on Tuesday, January 29, 2019.

Beloved wife of the late Morry J. Rosecrans; mother of Judith (Steven) Gordon, Sandra (Stewart) Metosky and the late Robert M. Rosecrans. Grandmother of Brian, Susan, Laurie, Matthew, Michael and the late Peter.

Also survived by nine great-grandchildren.

Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. schugar.com ROSENBERG: Arline Levinson Rosenberg, 93, passed away on January 27, 2019, at

the Deerfield Retirement Community in Asheville, North Carolina. She was born October 15, 1925, grew up in Pittsburgh, attended what is now Chatham University, and earned her master’s degree in psychiatric social work from the University of Chicago. Arline remained professionally active while raising a family in Storrs, Connecticut, and retired with her husband to Asheville, North Carolina. She was preceded in death by her parents (Rose and George Levinson), her husband (Dr. Murray Rosenberg who predeceased her by 22 years), and her sister (Harriet Levinson Epstein.)

She is survived by her children and their spouses: Dr. Joel Rosenberg (Dorothy) of Asheville and Sue Rosenberg Wieser (Ben) of Vienna, Austria. She is also survived by her grandson David Rosenberg of Atlanta, Georgia. Many thanks are extended to the staff and residents of Deerfield who eased her final journey with Alzheimer’s disease.

A remembrance will be scheduled as per her wishes at a future date. Morris Funeral Home, 304 Merrimon Avenue is in charge of arrangements. Condolences may be sent through the website www.morrisfamilyfuneralhome.com. PJC

Tree of Life shooter now facing hate crime charges

A

federal grand jury added 19 new counts against Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 people and wounding several others on Oct. 27 at the Tree of Life synagogue building. The new charges include 13 violations of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as well as related counts for discharging a firearm during those crimes.

In a “superseding indictment,” Bowers was charged on 63 separate counts. The indictment specifically alleges that Bowers willfully caused bodily injury to 11 deceased and 2 surviving victims because of their actual and perceived religion.

According to prosecutors, the day of the attack, Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue building with multiple firearms, including three Glock .357 handguns and a Colt AR-15 rifle, and opened fire, killing and injuring members of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash congregations. The indictment further alleges that Bowers injured several responding police officers.

On Oct. 10, Bowers posted comments on the website gab.com critical of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and a link to a list of congregations, including Dor Hadash,

that had supported refugees, according to the indictment. Prior to entering the Tree of Life synagogue building on Oct. 27, Bowers reportedly posted on gab.com: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

His gab.com profile also included a statement expressing the belief that “Jews are the children of Satan,” as well as several posts using anti-Semitic slurs.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Troy Rivetti and Soo C. Song, along with trial attorney Julia Gegenheimer, are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

Bowers faces a maximum penalty of life without parole, followed by a consecutive sentence of 250 years’ imprisonment, for the hate crime charges. Twenty-two counts in the indictment are offenses for which he is eligible for the death penalty.

Bowers is represented by attorney Judy Clarke, a lawyer from California with federal capital case expertise. Clarke’s past clients include “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

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Community International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Stark Award presented

On Sunday, Jan. 27 the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a screening of the film “Korkoro” at Regent Square Theatre.

The film is a tribute to Romani victims of the Holocaust.

On Wednesday, Jan. 30 Deborah Graver received the William and Olga Stark Young Leadership Award.

The award, presented annually by the Federation, recognizes the achievements of an outstanding young leader who serves as a role model and exemplifies the ideals essential for the next generation of Jewish community leadership. The presentation occurred at the Federation’s new office at 2000 Technology Drive.

In accepting the Stark Award, Graver noted that she has brought her children to community meetings and volunteer opportunities since they were babes in arms, so they could absorb the importance of community involvement. The Stark Award was presented to acknowledge Graver’s countless hours of volunteerism and leadership. Within the Jewish community she has served on the boards of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, the Agency for Jewish Learning and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. She has served the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh on the Planning and Funding Committee, the National Young Leadership Cabinet and the Cemeteries Task Force. Currently participating in the Wexner Heritage Program, Graver is on the board of trustees of Carlow University and the executive committee of the United Photo by David Bachman Way’s Women Leadership Council.

p Event volunteers Adi Rapport and Debbie Stueber with a friend

Neighborhood movie gathering A movie and conversation: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” a documentary about the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, was shown at the JCC on Sunday, Jan. 27, the first in the series Movies We Have to Talk About, an initiative of the Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and community partners.

p Holocaust survivor Yolanda Willis standing with Arnold Gefsky and Judy Robinson outside the theater

p From left: Bill Isler, Rev. Tim Smith, Joanne Rogers, Rabbi Ron Symons

p An attendee asks questions about the Romani experience in a talkback after the film.

Photos by Melanie Friend Photography

p Attendees at the movie and discussion

26 FEBRUARY 8, 2019

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by Matt Unger for the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh

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Community Schenley Ice Breakers

Open house

Members of the Schenley Ice Breakers met with representatives of Israel’s national ice hockey team on Jan. 27. The Israelis spoke briefly to the students, took photographs and signed autographs. The Schenley Ice Breakers is an informal clinic, consisting of both Jewish and non-Jewish students from first to eighth grade that provides organized drills and play time each week. The clinic was originally formed to provide ice time to Jewish students who could not participate in the clinic offered on Saturdays.

p From left: Meryl Ainsman, chair of the board, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and Jewish Federation staffers Linda Gordon and David Chudnow explored newspapers from the time capsule created in 1953, when the Federation’s office in central Oakland was dedicated. The Federation moved into its new office on Jan. 2.

Photo courtesy of Stacey Pressman

Keeping it cool

Pittsburgh Young Judaea held its annual ice skating event this year at Schenley Oval on Sunday, Jan. 27. A fun afternoon was had by all!

p Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald (left) toured the new office of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh with Jeffrey Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Federation. The new office, which implements the open-office concept, includes many spaces for formal and informal collaboration among staff and community members. p Pictured are Young Judaeans from second to 12th grade. Local advisor Chaim Steinberg is in the back row, on the right.

Photo courtesy of Karen Morris

Hockey and Hillel Academy

p Rabbi Amy Bardack, director of Jewish Life and Learning, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, places a mezuzah by the entrance to the new office in South Oakland by the Monongahela River. The mezuzah was a gift to the Pittsburgh Federation from the Jewish Federations of North America, a special gift in light of the Oct. 27 shootings and aftermath.

Bardack remarked that the words inside the mezuzah remind us that listening to each other and loving our community are at the core of the work of ensuring a vibrant, thriving Jewish Pittsburgh. The installation occurred at an open house, Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Photos by David Bachman

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p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh students sang the Israeli National Anthem to Israel’s national ice hockey team before their game with the Pittsburgh Penguins alumni on Jan. 27.

Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

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