Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 3-25-22

March 25, 2022 | 22 Adar II 5782

Candlelighting 7:19 p.m. | Havdalah 8:19 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 12 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Remembering the incarcerated

Federation representatives observe Ukrainian relief in Poland

Parents remain vigilant, but feel children are safe at URJ summer camps

Aleph Institute seeks volunteers.

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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from personal care items like diapers and toothpaste to hot food, Finkelstein said.

On the second floor of the station, Finkelstein saw Ukrainians waiting with what little luggage they carried — usually only a bag or two. He said he was struck by the number of child refugees and the different organizations’ attempts to comfort them.

“Volunteers were walking around and handing out lollipops and candy to the kids, trying to give them some sense of normalcy in a completely unnormal world,” Finkelstein said. “Toys were out for the kids as well.”

A few blocks from where Finkelstein and Sufrin were staying, in another hotel’s conference rooms, JAFI had set up a processing center for those wishing to make aliyah to Israel.

There are about 200,000 Ukrainian Jews, according to Adam Hertzman, the Federation’s director of marketing. About 4,000 people have already applied to make aliyah, he said, but he expects that number to rise to between 10,000-20,000 in the coming weeks.

Despite the paperwork required to relocate Ukrainian Jews, JAFI is trying to turn around

ocal Pittsburgh parents and Reform Jewish leaders feel children are safe at Union for Reform Judaism summer camps and youth programs.

This is despite a recent ethics report released by the organization that found credible incidents of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct, including sexual assault, going back decades.

“The Report of the Independent Investigation” released by the URJ in February and conducted by Debevoise and Plimpton reported on incidents taking place over decades at the organization’s workplaces, camps and youth programs.

It found 17 instances of sexual misconduct by adults (aged 18 or over) against minors (under the age of 18). Of these, 10 involved children under 16 and seven involved campers or counselors-in-training under 18 who were subject to sexual misconduct by camp staff over 18.

The majority of the incidents were committed by college-aged camp counselors, none of whom currently work at any URJ camp.

Almost all of the incidents, which occurred between 1970 and 2017, occurred at URJ camps. The report didn’t find any incidents of sexual assault by adults against minors under 16 after the summer of 2017.

Sixteen instances of sexual misconduct between peers under 18 were found across all URJ’s youth programs. Thirty-nine incidents of sexual misconduct occurred between adults, most of which took place between young adults at camp, although some took place at other URJ workplaces.

The report made special note of former employee Jon Adland, who worked at Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute as a unit head

Please see Poland, page 14

Please see URJ, page 14

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LOCAL Before Fern Hollow

The Jones Hollow collapse

 Teddy bears and other toys donated for displaced Ukrainian children in Lublin, Poland.

Photo by Jeff Finkelstein Page 7

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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LOCAL Opera for all

Jewish Pittsburgher in “Carmen” Page 8

$1.50

eff Finkelstein recently returned from Poland, where he witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and David Sufrin, the Federation’s board chair, spent nearly 30 hours in Poland on a trip organized by the Jewish Federations of North America. While there, they saw the work of international partners, including the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the Jewish Distribution Committee (JCD). They made stops in both Warsaw, a Pittsburgh Federation sister city, and Lublin.

The Warsaw Marriott, the hotel where Finkelstein was staying, was directly across the street from the central train station.

Many of the displaced Ukrainians who enter the city by train are women and children; men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden from leaving Ukraine, which has been under martial law since the start of the Russian invasion.

Relief organizations set up tents outside the train station to provide relief — everything

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Jewish Women’s Archive

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Headlines Aleph Institute set to resume in-person visits to Jewish prisoners — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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abbi Moishe Mayir Vogel wants to flood the prison system — with volunteers.

Volunteers have been unable to visit inmates since 2020, when the pandemic forced enhanced safety measures, said Vogel, the Aleph Institute’s North East Region’s executive director.

That first Passover, occurring just a few weeks after the pandemic began, was difficult, he said, although prisoners did have Passover materials, including kosher meals, thanks to the work of the institute and the Department of Corrections, which went “above and beyond.”

The rabbi is hopeful that, this year, the institute will be able to again visit Jewish prisoners.

The Pennsylvania and New Jersey prison systems, as well as some federal prisons, he said, sent a notification on March 14 — just days before Purim — that volunteers would soon be able to enter the prisons.

Vogel said that one lesson he learned during the COVID crisis was “to do more.”

“Now that the door is open, we’ve got to increase our volunteers into the prisons 10-fold,” he said. “The system is ready; the inmates need it desperately. I don’t care if you have a beard or haven’t; if you’re Orthodox, or not, everyone has a lot to give. We should swarm our prisons, our Jewish inmates, our brothers and sisters.”

Vogel said that while the easing of restrictions was announced earlier this month, each prison has its own regulations.

p Inmates receive seder plates and shelf-stable kosher meals from the Aleph Institute.

p The Aleph Institute lets inmates know they haven’t been abandoned, especially on holidays like Purim.

Photos by David Rullo

“Some prisons, they embraced it,” he said. “Others, not so much. It takes time.

There are a lot of kinks, but thank G-d we’re beginning to be let in.”

Over the last two years, Vogel said, prisoners have learned to adjust. Inmates, he said, can buy digital tablets to communicate with loved ones through video conferencing.

Still, he believes, there’s no substitute for in-person visits.

“We all know that there is no comparison to sitting opposite a loved one and just shaking their hands,” he said.

Aleph Institute volunteers visit prisoners once a month, following training by the organization, Vogel said. The monthly schedule works best because those who visit more frequently risk getting burned out.

Vogel said he prefers playing the long game because it’s important that prisoners know they can expect a regularly scheduled and

consistent visit.

“Even if the inmate has a life sentence, he knows that he’s going to get a visit, he’s got someone on the outside who cares for him, who’s his mentor, who’s going to talk to him,” Vogel said.

The work of the institute doesn’t end when the inmate is released, Vogel said.

“We help them get jobs,” he said. “Today, it’s an easy thing to get people jobs. We get them housing, get them medical, we work with the Squirrel Hill Health Center, we work with others to make sure they receive the services they need to become productive people in society. We’ve got caseworkers working with them, holding their hand as they become productive members of society.”

The accomplishments of the institute are evidenced by the numbers, Vogel said. He noted that the national level of recidivism — when a released prisoner is sent back to

prison — is 76%. When an inmate is helped by the institute, the rate drops to just 8%.

Vogel said the reason is simple: Prisoners who receive help from the Aleph Institute, and other similar organizations, know they aren’t alone.

Because of the various programs offered by the organization, Vogel said that even those unable to visit inmates can still volunteer.

Prison is destructive, Vogel said, and he believes that punishment options should include alternative sentencing.

“When it’s a violent offender … that’s what prison is for but, when there’s a different way to punish a kid, we should push to provide alternatives to incarceration,” he said.

“There’s got to be a way to punish without the strain of prison.”

Until that time, Vogel is committed to ensuring that every Jewish prisoner receives visits from Aleph Institute volunteers.

He’s hoping those visits will begin before Passover. The institute also is working to provide seder plates and resources to every Jewish prisoner.

People in the prison system deserve dignity, respect and a chance to become part of the Jewish community again, Vogel said.

“We need to visit them in prison, we’re not discarding anyone, we’re not throwing them out,” he said. “The Nazis threw out Jews and [Roma],” he said. “We live with everyone. They’re part of our society. We’re going to help them and give them the tools they need to succeed. That’s why it’s so important to go to the prisons and visit them. There’s no better way to live than helping another person.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Pittsburghers preserve history through Jewish Women’s Archive — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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s March, and Women’s History Month, rolls along, several Pittsburghers are committed to preserving the stories of Pittsburgh’s Jewish women — virtually.

Rachel Kranson, director of Jewish studies at University of Pittsburgh; Martha Berg, archivist at Rodef Shalom Congregation; and Squirrel Hill resident Ruth Reidbord have all worked to bolster the Jewish Women’s Archive.

Now more than a quarter of a century old, the JWA has grown significantly from its 1997 origins. The JWA’s website draws more than 2 million visitors per year who engage with the organization’s vast offerings, including an encyclopedia, public programs, podcast, blog and even a fellowship for Jewish teens.

Kranson, a member of the JWA’s academic advisory council, has been affiliated with the organization for more than a decade.

“Back when I was in graduate school in 2004, the JWA gave me a research fellowship to support a project I was researching about the Jewish women who ran hotels in the Catskills,” Kranson said.

Thanks to the JWA, in 2005, Kranson

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p Women surrounded by posters in English and Yiddish supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert H. Lehman and the American Labor Party teach other women how to vote in 1935 Photographer unknown

presented her findings during a talk titled, “Staging the Ideal Jewish Community: Women Hotel Owners in the Catskills,

1950-1970” at the Annual History of the Catskills Conference, a program co-sponsored by the Catskills Institute and the JWA.

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Later, in 2007, the JWA co-sponsored a Please see JWA, page 15

MARCH 25, 2022 3

Call us FIRST. Familiar Innovative Respectful Sensitive Trustworthy

Headlines Sammy’s Famous Corned Beef closing downtown after 35 years But I’m getting older. And I thought it’s time.”

At its peak, several years after the Jan. 5, 1987, opening on Liberty Avenue, Sammy’s

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle Famous Corned Beef had five locations — four downtown and one in Bloomfield. ammy’s is about to serve its final It was a time-honored institution, where Corned Beef Special.

Pittsburghers could grab a Corned Beef After 35 years of operation and Special — sauerkraut optional — and amassing a litany of regulars, the downtown a pint of beer. staple and one of the business district’s last Sammy’s also operated a popular haunt neighborhood bars is set to close its doors near the Allegheny County Courthouse for permanently, owner Sam Firman said. Its 25 years. Today, it is a shuttered Burger King. last day of operation is Friday, March 25.

The last Sammy’s location reopened in “For the last 15 November 2020 after years, I’ve been COVID-19 closures working my way out but Firman said the of the business,” said pandemic didn’t Firman, who is Jewish weigh heavily on his and grew up in Penn decision. His lease is Hills, the son of a up, and he’s ready to B’nai B’rith volunteer. “take some time off “It’s a good time to and relax,” he said. call it a day.”

For now, Firman is Firman’s father basking in the attenworked in the hospition the closure is tality industry but the receiving. Sammy’s younger Firman said closing has made it he didn’t consider into local papers, repeating his dad’s p Screenshot from Sammy’s Famous as well as onto the path. He was working Corned Beef’s Facebook page region’s TV networks. in air conditioning announcing the store’s closure And, more imporwhen someone told him about the avail- tantly, a lot of old faces are coming out of ability of a Sheetz convenience store — the the woodwork to enjoy one last corned beef future Sammy’s at 901 Liberty Ave. — with sandwich with Firman. some equipment.

“It’s so heartwarming to see all these He took the leap, assuming he’d build the customers reaching out,” he said. “It’s business, then sell it. overwhelming.” PJC “Obviously, 35 years later, five bars and Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living restaurants later, I’m still there,” Firman laughed. “Truthfully, I loved the business. in Pittsburgh.

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Decorated retired Army chaplain visits Pittsburgh — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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haplain (Col.) Sanford Dresin is looking for a few good rabbis.

The retired Army chaplain and current director of military programs for The Aleph Institute came to Pittsburgh last weekend hoping to inspire the next generation of patriots.

Throughout the weekend beginning March 18, Dresin spoke at Congregation Poale Zedeck, Congregation Keser Torah, the Lubavitch Center, Young Israel of Pittsburgh and Shaare Torah Congregation.

Chaplain (Capt.) Elisar Admon, a Squirrel Hill-based rabbi, organized Dresin’s visit.

Prior to Dresin’s arrival, Admon said he hoped the weekend would provide an opportunity for “everybody to hear about Rabbi Dresin’s experiences and how he touched so many lives.”

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rabbi in Wilmington, Delaware, Dresin found himself welcoming then-Sen. Joe Biden to services.

“To some degree, I was the POTUS’ rabbi,” Dresin jokingly remarked. “He would stop by quite often when he was campaigning or if there was an issue affecting the Jewish community.”

Along with his duties at The Aleph Institute, where he endorses rabbis for future military chaplaincy work, Dresin still serves as the civilian rabbi of the Pentagon and manages Jewish services there.

Dresin reflected that his career has been “very meaningful and worthwhile.” His nearly three decades of active duty enabled him to oversee many chaplains stationed worldwide, as well as undertake multiple assignments, including Chaplain 2nd Infantry Division, Korea; Chief of Chaplains, 7th Medical Command, Europe; and, Chief of the Department of Ministry, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dresin received four graduate degrees along the way, as well as military awards and decorations, including the Legion of Merit with

“ This is something unique that not a lot of people can do. It’s amazing to know that

”

people like him exist in the world.

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one oak-leaf cluster; the Bronze Star with one oak-leaf cluster; and, the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak-leaf clusters.

Dresin told the Chroincle he planned to share several stories during his Pittsburgh stay. He hoped his words would inspire earlystage rabbis to follow similar paths to the military, as it’s helped him develop various skills including organizational, homiletical and counseling.

Admon, an Army chaplain, said that Dresin’s talents have helped countless soldiers and their families over the years.

“This is something unique that not a lot of people can do,” Admon said. “It’s amazing to know that people like him exist in the world.”

Rabbi Shimon Silver of Young Israel of Pittsburgh said he was looking forward to Dresin’s visit, not only to hear about Dresin’s travels, but also to learn how he infused rabbinic wisdom into his work.

Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, executive director of The Aleph Institute - N.E. Regional Headquarters, oversees prison chaplaincy in the region. Although military chaplaincy and prison chaplaincy are “two different areas,” Vogel said, both are rooted in providing spiritual care to others.

Vogel said he was particularly impressed with Dresin’s rank and work with government officials, and that he tried to spread the word of Dresin’s visit because “he is someone we can all learn from.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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— CHAPLAIN (CAPT.) ELISAR ADMON, A SQUIRREL HILL-BASED RABBI Dresin spent nearly 27 years as an activeduty Army chaplain. In 1967, he joined the Army at age 24. Despite his readiness to serve during “the height of the Vietnam War,” his sentiment toward the war was “gray,” he said.

“There were a lot of people, Jews and Christians alike, who were avoiding the draft,” he said. “I wasn’t a draft dodger.”

Dresin spent his first two years of military service on an Army base in Maryland.

He then went to Vietnam, where there were about 500,000 American troops — 5,000 of which were Jewish, he said.

“They needed a rabbi,” he said, and to reach them, he would “get a helicopter and fly out to different bases.”

In Vietnam, as in subsequent stops in Korea, Europe and across the U.S., Dresin offered comfort and Jewish teachings. He had received ordination from Yeshivas Chasam Sofer in Brooklyn and shared the lessons of the Torah, Talmud and rabbinic literature along his travels. In the process, Dresin often found himself in historic settings. On the eve of the Berlin Wall collapsing, Dresin was serving in Germany.

Dresin and his teenage son entered East Berlin, “because we had military access,” he recalled. They went to a hardware store, where they bought a hammer and were “among the first people to chip away at the Berlin Wall.”

Dresin said his son kept some of the original graffitied wall and gave some away as Chanukah presents.

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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will 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 SUNDAYS, MARCH 27-MAY 1 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, MARCH 28-MAY 2 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q TUESDAYS, MARCH 29; APRIL 12 Join Temple Sinai on Zoom for “Cooking Like an Ashkenazi Grandmother” with a different instructor each week. In March they’ll teach how to make kugel, hamantaschen, matzah balls and gefilte fish.

Free. 6:30 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/event/cookinglike-ashkenazi-grandmother.html. q TUESDAYS, MARCH 29-MAY 24 Sign up now for Melton Core 2, Ethics and Crossroads of Jewish Living. Discover the central ideas and texts that inform our daily, weekly and annual rituals, as well as life cycle observances and essential Jewish theological concepts and ideas as they unfold in the Bible, the Talmud and other sacred texts. $300.

9:30 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh.org/melton-2. q WEDNESDAYS, MARCH 30-APRIL 13 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the Jewish Community Foundation present the eight-part

online course Answering Holocaust Questions.

In the course, Rabbi Danny Schiff will examine the questions asked of the rabbis about the darkest times, and their responses. How did the rabbis advise people to conduct themselves in the midst of those years of ultimate horror? How did they provide guidance when all normalcy had been lost?

And what can their insights teach us about who we are as Jews in 2022? 9:30 a.m. $75. foundation. jewishpgh.org/answering-holocaust-questions. q

WEDNESDAYS, MARCH 30-MAY 4

Bring the parshah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful. Study the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman.

12:15 p.m. bethshalompgh.org/life-text.

Join Temple Sinai to study the weekly Torah portion in its hybrid class available on Zoom. Open to everyone. Noon. templesinaipgh.org/event/parashah/ weekly-torah-portion-class-via-zoom11.html. q SATURDAY, MARCH 26 Join Temple Sinai to watch “Tikkun.” The film explores the journey of a young man questioning his faith. We’ll screen the film over Zoom and discuss afterward. This event is open to all and free of charge. templesinaipgh.org/event/movie-night-tikkun.html. q SUNDAY, MARCH 27 Join Temple Emanuel of the South Hills for CeaseFirePA Leadership Institute, a special educational presentation on gun violence prevention and gun safety policies in Pennsylvania. Sign-up is requested for all and is required for virtual attendees to receive the Zoom webinar login information.

10:30 a.m. secure.everyaction.com/6Ni6jM_ Wv0SGrEd__b1lQw2#!

The Monessen Public Library and Cultural Center

As costs are rising, are your bills piling up?

Financial help for the Local Jewish Community For pressing expenses Confidential, Accessible, No Repayment Contact us for more info and to apply 412.521.3237 | JewishAssistanceFund.org

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MARCH 25, 2022

Board of Trustees is proud to present the Italian Jewish Historical Program by Rabbi Barbara Aiello of Calabria, Italy. The rabbi will give an interactive presentation on the internet and will be available for questions. Noon. 326 Donner Ave. monessenlibrary.org.

Classrooms Without Borders and The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to the final session in a four-part series, “Rethinking the ‘Final Solution’ and the Wannsee Conference: Marking the 80th Anniversary of the Transport of 999 Jewish Women to Auschwitz: The Beginning of the Systematic Annihilation of the Jews.” 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/8th-anniversarytransport-of-999-jewish-women-to-auschwitz. q MONDAY, MARCH 28 On Feb. 24, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. It has caused a loss of life and destruction while uprooting hundreds of thousands of men, women and children.

The refugee crisis has quickly become monumental as neighboring countries scramble to provide necessary humanitarian needs. Join Classrooms Without Borders scholar Natalia Aleksiun and an esteemed panel of scholars and eyewitnesses as they examine this crisis and the consequences across Europe and the World. classroomswithoutborders.org/war-against-ukrainethrough-lens-history-culture. q

TUESDAY, MARCH 29

The Arab-Israeli conflict plays a large (some would claim outsized) role in current events. This course aims to unpack the causes and core issues that relate to the conflict. The goal is to make the subject accessible to educators and to give them the tools with which to grapple in the classroom with the subject at large and with breaking news. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/arab_israeli_conflict.

Join Jewish National Fund-USA for a series of interviews, panel discussions and more — all meant to facilitate a dialogue and expose the beautiful and diverse facets of modern Zionism, and its positive impact on many aspects of our lives, no matter where we are on the globe. Tune in as Russell F. Robinson and Rabbi David Wolpe discuss Conversations on Zionism: Does Israel Have Friends at the Pulpit? 7:30 p.m. jnf.org/eventslanding-pages/conversations-on-zionism. q

TUESDAYS, MARCH 29; APRIL 5, 12

Join Classrooms Without Borders for its weekly book discussion of “The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt” with Dr. Josh Andy.

Andy is a full-time teacher at Winchester Thurston School and an educational programs leader and Holocaust scholar with Classrooms Without Borders.

4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/weekly-bookdiscussions-the-last-ghetto-an-everyday-history-oftheresienstadts-dr.-josh-andy. q WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Classrooms Without Borders presents a post-film discussion of “Masel Tov Cocktail” with director Arkadij Khaet and Lihi Nagler, film scholar and an expert on Jewish and German film. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/post-film-discussionmasel-tov-cocktail. q SUNDAY, APRIL 3 Join the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle’s Book Club for a discussion of “The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family,” by Joshua Cohen.

The author will join us for part of the discussion. Noon.

Email drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org for the Zoom link and to register. Write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. PJC

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Headlines Before Fern Hollow, there was Jones Hollow — LOCAL —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

T

he collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge is reviving a familiar urban tale: the detour story. Hearing friends describe their daily struggles to move between Regent Square and Squirrel Hill — taking Penn, or the Parkway, or going through Frick Park — has given me new way to think about a local road catastrophe from a century ago.

In the summer of 1920, the city enhanced Bigelow Boulevard for the first time since the thoroughfare opened to traffic in 1901. Part of the work involved straightening a short section of the roadway above 26th Street. Bigelow Boulevard originally ran along the outer edge of what is now Frank Curto Park. If you’ve ever walked along that edge, you can understand why it was called “Dead Man’s Curve.”

The unstable hillside beneath Dead Man’s Curve was called Jones’ Hollow. It had troubled civil engineers for decades. To support the new road, they erected a stone retaining wall and hefty timber cribbing, and then they partially filled the hollow with dirt.

While straightening the road in 1920, contractors estimated that the Jones Hollow embankments could hold another 18,000 cubic yards of debris. They were wrong.

Soon mud was flowing over the retaining

p Crews build a temporary plank road over a collapsed section of Bigelow Boulevard in November 1920.

Courtesy of Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, University of Pittsburgh

wall. Then the wall gave. The oozing hillside took out most of a long Pennsylvania Railroad Co. storage hanger above Liberty Avenue and covered eight tracks. The cleanup was one of the largest steam shovel operations of its kind. The lawsuits dragged out for at least two decades.

The slide was still going a week later. Then cracks appeared in Bigelow Boulevard. Then chunks of the roadway broke loose and slid down the hillside as well.

The city closed the road and summoned Gen. George Washington Goethals. He had supervised the landslide-plagued Panama

Canal, and officials hoped he could halt the Bigelow slide. His assessment, slightly apocryphal, became legendary: “Let ‘er slide!”

And so they did.

The slide continued through November Please see History, page 15

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Headlines Pittsburgh Opera singer prepares for ‘Carmen’ — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

L

ike thousands of children, Jewish Point Breeze resident Jenifer Weber was introduced to opera by Bugs Bunny.

Though decades have passed since Weber, 44, first watched those cartoons, Weber, a professional mezzo, remains drawn to the powerful sounds she first heard in “Looney Tunes.”

Looking back on her early introduction to opera, Weber said that she — like others of her generation — didn’t realize the vast musical exposure she received from watching an animated rabbit on television in her childhood Washington, Pennsylvania, home. But as enriching as that informal education was, Weber said, it also led to some misconceptions.

“It’s not just a fat lady who sings,” she said.

“We are all sizes.”

Weber sees opera as “a viable art form” that can lead audiences to self-discoveries and teach “new things about the world.”

Opera is often thought of as stuffy or exclusive, “and it would make me feel sad if people thought it was just for rich people, or just for white people, or just Christian people, or old people,” Weber said. “There is a style of opera for everyone, and I think

p Jenifer Weber

Photo by Daniel Welch

everyone should give it a chance — and more than one chance.”

Pittsburghers will have ample opportunities to do so beginning March 26 as Pittsburgh Opera performs “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The show, which is set in 1830 Seville, Spain, and is billed as “a roller-coaster of lust, deception, and murder,” runs through April 3.

Weber, a member of the show’s chorus, said that both longtime opera lovers and

those new to the art form can derive something meaningful from the show.

For Weber, every performance is significant as it allows her to further hone a well-developed skill set. After obtaining a bachelor’s in music from Indiana University and a master’s in music from University of Missouri-Kansas City, she appeared in productions worldwide. Following shows in Austria, Italy and across the United States, she returned to Pittsburgh to be closer to family and raise her own.

Rearing her children, 12 and 10, while working and making art can be a balancing act.

After waking at 6 a.m. and helping her children get out the door, Weber heads to work at a nearby bank — where she stays from about 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Soon after completing her workday, she runs home to change “because I don’t want to wear bank clothes to the rehearsal room,” she said.

Weber then drives from Point Breeze to the Strip District for rehearsal, which runs from 7-10 p.m.

She said she’s typically “so amped up” from rehearsing that after arriving home she hopes to fall asleep by midnight, then wakes the next morning at 6 a.m. to start the process again.

“It is exhausting and sometimes I drop the ball or forget to return phone calls to my friends, and I feel sad about it, but I

hope that most of the people who know me and love me know that I’m doing the best I can,” she said.

Weber also wants people to realize how hard singers, and other artists and performers, work to remain in the field.

“Many of us, if not most of us, go to school thinking we will … study hard, better our voice, have this beautiful instrument and get a job and another job and then we’ll be singing at the Met,” she said. “But that’s not the path for the majority of singers.

It’s a very small percentage of singers who make their living from stage wage. Most of us make money from teaching lessons or teaching at schools.”

Through the years, Weber has undertaken a host of jobs ranging from Kindermusik instructor to skateboard repairer, all while remaining a professional singer. She said she’d love to audition and perform more, and continues making the most of every opportunity she has.

She also wants people to give opera a chance.

“They say you have to try a food multiple times before you decide you don’t like it,” Weber said. “I don’t know if I would say that you have to try opera 26 times. But you should try it a bunch.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Segal Family Foundation helps launch video game promoting peace

p Screenshot of Minecraft’s “Active Citizen”

— LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

W

hat do Minecraft, the Dalai Lama and a nonprofit based in Fox Chapel have in common?

They all came together to show a new generation of gamers how to aspire to create world peace.

Earlier this month, the Nobel Peace Center, along with Games for Change and Mojang Studios, launched an immersive learning experience focused on civic engagement and citizenship available to all Minecraft: Education Edition players.

The game “Active Citizen” brings Nobel Peace Prize laureates past and present into the Minecraft world to help young people learn that peace is achieved through actions, big and small, game creators said. Through game play, students will develop an understanding of the skills needed to democratically and peacefully bring about positive change, and create their vision for peace — then bring their vision to life in an immersive Minecraft world.

And the work behind the game started in Pittsburgh.

Evan Segal, the Jewish Pittsburgh-bred chairman of the Segal Family Foundation, visited the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo several years ago with his wife and, after his visit, wanted to do more to bring Nobel Peace laureates’ dreams to a younger generation. After some conversation, he brought the group Games for Change into the loop — and the ball started rolling rapidly after they connected with peers in Oslo.

“We were honored to step into that ideation phase,” Segal told the Chronicle. “As luck would have it, they hit it off.”

The Segal Family Foundation, based in Fox Chapel, contributed funds to start or “seed” the project, officials said. Foundation officials declined to provide details on the total amount the group pledged.

The game starts at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, where players are introduced to Alfred Nobel, the creator of the Nobel Prizes.

The players will meet four Nobel Peace Prize laureates, learn their stories and help them overcome challenges to build toward peace.

The four Nobel Peace Prize laureates featured in “Active Citizen” are Malala Yousafzai, Wangari Maathai, Dalai Lama and Fridtjof Nansen.

The game includes accompanying resources on the web for classroom use, including lesson plans and teacher discussion PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Image courtesy of Evan Segal

guides for students aged 8-16.

“In each room, there’s lessons about peace and activities for kids,” Segal said. “If you take the words digital and analog and combine them, you get ‘dialogue.’ And dialogue is a functional component of peace.”

“Many of these ideas,” he added, “emanate from Pittsburgh.”

The game ends by calling on players to create a unique Minecraft build that represents active citizenship for them. The Nobel Peace Center will curate an exhibition of the final “Active Citizen” designs featuring contributions from players all over the world, game designers said.

“We believe that the stories of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates have the power to inspire people to create a better world,” said Kjersti Fløgstad, executive director of the Nobel Peace Center. “With this game, we want to inspire the next generation to become active citizens and get involved in causes they care about — on a platform where they feel at home.”

The “Active Citizen” project is the first collaboration between the Nobel Peace Center and Minecraft: Education Edition, and the first time the Nobel Peace Prize is part of a gaming activation of this scale.

Games for Change, a nonprofit that executive produces social impact gaming projects, facilitated the connection between Mojang Studios and the Nobel Peace Center, and has supported the Nobel Peace Center in the development of educational resources for use in 112 countries where Minecraft: Education Edition is used in schools.

Segal sees the roots of the new project in Pittsburgh and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” — incidentally, he helped organize an exhibit of photos of Rogers at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh shortly after the Oct. 27, 2018, synagogue shootings.

“Here, we’re deeply driven by tikkun olam,” or the repairing of the world, said Marla Werner, executive director of the Segal Family Foundation.

The organization provides “missiondriven giving” around two pillars: human kindness, and social and economic justice, Werner said.

“You don’t have to do everything but you can’t not do anything,” Segal said. “We understand the greatest ally of fear is silence.”

“We don’t lead with our checkbook,” he added. “We lead with our heart,” Werner said. PJC

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MARCH 25, 2022 9

Headlines — WORLD — Israel ranks as world’s ninthhappiest country

Israel placed as the ninth-happiest country in the annual World Happiness Report, an increase from 11th in 2021 and 14th in 2020, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The World Happiness Report is a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The report takes into account GDP, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption in developing its rankings.

Finland placed first for the fifth year in a row, followed by fellow Nordic countries Denmark and Iceland. The Netherlands and Luxembourg ranked fourth and fifth, followed by the Nordic states of Sweden and Norway.

The United States ranked 15th.

Afghanistan maintained its last-place status out of the 146 countries included.

Idaho GOP official tried to install an antisemite in Democratic leadership — as a distraction

Dave Reilly is a longtime far-right activist with an extensive record of antisemitic, racist and misogynistic statements.

So it would be hard to imagine him as a Democratic Party leader.

But that’s exactly what a Republican Party leader in Western Idaho tried to make happen, the JTA reported, citing the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press.

Dan Bell, the youth chairman for the Republican committee in Kootenai County, tried to rally fellow Republicans to switch parties to become Democratic chairs in a majority of 73 local precincts. The faux-Democrats would then elect Reilly as party chair — and the ensuing controversy would drain attention away from the Republicans’ bad-faith takeover of the Democrats.

Reilly, who attended the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, has said that “all Jews are dangerous” and that “Jews pretend to be white when it’s expedient for them.”

Bell told another Republican in a 30-minute phone call that the local newspaper reported, Reilly’s inflammatory record would make him a sacrificial lamb.

Statue of Jewish baseball icon Sandy Koufax to be unveiled

Jewish baseball legend Sandy Koufax will be immortalized this summer with a statue at Dodger Stadium.

The Hall of Fame pitcher will join trailblazing teammate Jackie Robinson, whose

bronze statue was unveiled in the centerfield plaza in 2017. Artist Branly Cadet, who made the Robinson statue, also created Koufax’s sculpture, the JTA reported.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced the statue in 2019, with its unveiling originally planned for the summer of 2020. The new ceremony will be held on June 18 before a game against the Cleveland Guardians. The first 40,000 ticketed fans will receive a replica of Koufax’s statue.

Koufax, now 86, became the youngest player to enter baseball’s Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1972 at the age of 36. That same year, the Dodgers retired Koufax’s jersey number, 32, alongside Robinson’s iconic 42, which is retired across the sport.

Among Jewish fans, Koufax is best known for a game he did not pitch. Game 1 of the 1965 World Series fell on Yom Kippur, and Koufax famously declined to play.

COVID cases climb in Israel

The number of coronavirus cases in Israel has climbed in recent days, The Times of Israel reported, noting almost 7,000 new cases on March 17.

The transmission rate climbed to 0.97; the rate represents the average number of people infected by a confirmed patient. Numbers over 1 indicate the pandemic is growing.

As of March 18, there were 40,242 active cases in the country, although cases considered serious continue to decline and totaled just 291.

The country’s death toll stood at 10,417.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on March 16 that the country will keep its indoor mask mandate in place for, at minimum, another month.

Psychiatric disorders climb 60% in Israel during lockdown

The number of patients in Israel suffering from psychiatric disorders jumped 60% in Israel during the 2020 national lockdowns, JNS reported, citing a study published by Clalit Health Services.

Using 771,636 medical files from central Israel and Jerusalem residents, researchers determined that the number of obese patients grew by 8%, smoking increased by 7%, high blood pressure rose by 6% and those suffering from cardiovascular disease climbed 14%. Those numbers are in comparison to 2019 totals.

Because of the three lockdowns, Israelis spent less time outdoors and reduced their visits to hospitals because of possible COVID-19 exposures in 2020, researchers said. PJC — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

SAFEGUARDING YOUR PRESENT & FUTURE

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

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March 25, 1950 — Saudi: We’ll never recognize Israel

Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Sheik Yusuf Yassin tells visiting U.S. official George McGhee that Arab states will never normalize relations with Israel, and “we shall never admit a Jew in Saudi Arabia.”

March 26, 1979 — Egypt-Israel Treaty is signed

Six months after signing the Camp David Accords, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and U.S. President Jimmy Carter sign the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty.

March 27, 1949 — Poet Elisheva Bikhovsky dies

Elisheva Bikhovsky, 60, one of the “four mothers” of modern Hebrew poetry, dies of cancer in Tiberias. Though not Jewish, she was the first woman to publish a modern volume of Hebrew poetry in Palestine.

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March 28, 2002 — Arab peace initiative is unveiled

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presents to the Arab League what becomes known as the Arab Peace Initiative. It features two states along pre-1967 lines, a refugee solution based on U.N. Resolution 194, and normal relations between all Arab states and Israel.

March 29, 2002 — Defensive Shield is launched

Israel calls up 30,000 military reservists and announces Operation Defensive Shield after a brutal month of the Second Intifada.

During the 19-day campaign, Israel takes control of most West Bank cities.

March 30, 1135 — Maimonides is born

Moses Ben Maimon, known as Maimonides and the Rambam, is born in Cordoba, Spain.

(Some sources say it is 1138.) His family lives in Morocco and Palestine before settling in Egypt in 1166.

March 31, 1979 — ‘Hallelujah’ wins Eurovision

Israel wins the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Jerusalem, for the second consecutive year as Gali Atari and Milk & Honey take the title with the song “Hallelujah,” which becomes a huge hit in Europe. PJC

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Opinion Skirmishes over Israel’s legitimacy

L

— EDITORIAL —

ast week, a skirmish in the battle to promote Palestinian rights by delegitimizing the state of Israel broke out at the Sierra Club. The venerable environmental organization that is committed to defending the world’s most precious resources suddenly found itself uncomfortably embroiled in the debate over the legitimacy of the Jewish state.

For the past decade, Sierra Club has touted Israel’s biodiversity, desert environments and avian life and sponsored numerous trips there. One such trip was scheduled for this month. Then it wasn’t. Sierra Club explained that the cancellation was because such trips are “providing legitimacy to the Israeli state, which is engaged in apartheid against the

Palestinian people.” Reaction was quick, and was overwhelmingly negative. Within days, Sierra Club withdrew the cancellation and promised Israeli trips in the future.

The underlying challenge to the trips was brought by one of Sierra Club’s members who was supported by a host of pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist groups. In response to the cancellation announcement, several patrons of Sierra Club and major Jewish organizations objected to the decision and questioned why Sierra Club allowed itself to be dragged into a political issue that has no connection to the organization’s mission.

Sierra Club now confirms that it is committed to the enjoyment, exploration and protection of the planet and that it doesn’t take positions on foreign policy matters. We hope that’s true, and that Sierra Club recognizes the folly of allowing its mission and

credibility to be hijacked by those whose sole objective is the delegitimization of Israel.

But the naiveté of Sierra Club pales in comparison to the breathtaking chutzpah of the U.S. director of Amnesty International, Paul O’Brien, who told the Women’s National Democratic Club in Washington that Amnesty International is “opposed to the idea … that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.” In response to the uproar over the offensiveness of those remarks, O’Brien claimed that what he said didn’t express what he wanted to say.

We find that hard to believe since O’Brien continues to assert that he doesn’t trust the polls saying that American Jews support Israel. Instead, O’Brien, who is not Jewish, has the temerity to declare: “My gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a

safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.” And he posits that “[American Jews] can be convinced over time that the key to sustainability is to adhere to what I see as core Jewish values, which are to be principled and fair and just in creating that space.” O’Brien’s objective is a one-state arrangement where neither Jews nor Palestinians have the right to self-determination.

O’Brien’s ignorance is breathtaking. And we reject his gut-driven declaration that Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.”

Amnesty International’s continued support of O’Brien confirms that the human rights organization has lost its way and its credibility. Were we to listen to our gut, we would reject Amnesty International until it adheres to core human rights values, which are to be principled and fair and just. PJC

The heirs of Stalin, world peace, and Passover — from Beacon Street to Red Square and back Guest Columnist Paul Krause

I

first visited the Soviet Union in 1967 when I was in high school in Pittsburgh as part of an impossible Quaker dream to

bring peace to the Middle East, to Southeast Asia and to a racially divided USA. How our journey — organized by an ex-Marine who lived in Squirrel Hill and had become an activist for the American Friends Service Committee — might have helped solve such problems remains a small testament to the hopefulness of “the Movement” of the 1960s.

But in the intervening half century, and

especially in recent days, such hopes often seem to stand beyond comprehension.

That summer, I remember crossing the border from Finland into the USSR, at Vyborg, where Lenin lived between the February and October revolutions of 1917, and instantly confronting what became over the next two months a familiar, noxious companion: an odor unique to the Soviet Union that seemed

a combination of human sweat, garlic, smoke generated from the tubular, stumped cigarettes known as papyrosi, a pungent disinfectant and, doubtless related to its production, petroleum-based vodka.

The questions from Soviet border guards, and their searches of and confiscations from

Ukrainians speak Russian better than ethnic Russians in Russia, if only because Russian was what the imperial Soviet Union called “the language of between-nation communication.”

My 92-year-old mother’s Russian, like my late aunt’s, both born in Kyiv, and my grandma’s, born in Chernobyl, Ukraine, has no accent. They did not end up in Babi Yar in 1941 thanks to my grandma’s foresight, and when the train they fled on was

bombed and they had to continue on foot, it was a Ukrainian villager who gave them food and shelter, possibly saving them. No antisemitism on his part. Meanwhile, the similarity between the two nations has been both good and evil. Endemic as antisemitism has been in Ukraine, with its pogroms and Khmelnitsky’s massacres, so it has

time she showed a different side. Upon seeing the Women of the Wall reading Megillat Esther, rejoicing in the celebration of one of the most important women in Jewish history, the girl who had given me Shabbat candles came with her friends, jeering, laughing, pointing and taking pictures. I couldn’t tell if she realized that she had given members of our group Shabbat candles just moments ago.

While I tried to focus on my friends beautifully reciting Megillah, I could not escape from the fact that groups of ultra-Orthodox women were ridiculing us, and averting their children’s eyes so that they didn’t see such an offensive sight — women reading Megillat Esther.

How ironic is it that on the day that we celebrate Queen Esther’s using her power and voice to save the Jewish people, there are Jewish women who want to silence a group of women reading this very story? How twisted

is it that the young girl who has been taught to give Shabbat candles to women, a truly beautiful weekly tradition, has also been taught to turn and ridicule the same women just for celebrating a holiday differently?

Purim is supposed to be a completely joyous occasion. And I did enjoy hearing women’s voices reading the story of Queen Esther. I also enjoyed leaving the Kotel without getting spat on, threatened and called a whore. Despite the lovely service and our relative comfort and safety, I could not escape the hatred that inevitably taints every Women of the Wall service.

My sincerest wish is that all Jewish women and girls find empowerment in Judaism, just as Queen Esther fought for, and that no woman ever has to be silenced. PJC

Please see Krause, page 13

The black hole of Russia Guest Columnist Michael Vanyukov

I

have recently come across the translation of “black hole” in Hebrew. It’s “hor shahor,” rhyming as though it is not a chance combination of sounds. And those

sounds rang sinister to me — beyond the dark meaning of the black hole concept itself. The next day, Russia invaded Ukraine.

The feeling that the term “black hole” evokes in a non-astronomer like myself is hopelessness. So does Russia’s invasion, which will forever make enemies of two nations that come from the same root of Kievan Rus, conjoined almost like Siamese twins, whose languages are often mutually intelligible. Moreover, many

Please see Vanyukov, page 20

The Purim paradox Guest Columnist Yochi Rappeport

L

ast Friday morning, my experience at the Kotel was starkly different from Rosh Hodesh, yet still managed to sting.

That morning, I went through the security check just like any worshiper — I was not prodded, nor did I have every tiny pocket in my clothing checked. I was not greeted by a chorus of screaming, booing and whistling. I was surrounded by people dressed in costumes, walking around gleefully, shouting only “Chag Purim sameach!”

As I stood by the entrance to the women’s section, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive,

12

MARCH 25, 2022

a young seminary girl came by giving out Shabbat candles. I took the candles happily, as we laughed over having spoken in Hebrew despite both being English-speakers. “Purim sameach and shabbat shalom!” she called out as she walked down to the Kotel to pray with her friends.

According to Orthodox Judaism, women are obligated to hear megillah because they were part of the miracle that we are celebrating. We receive less vitriol from our opponents for reading the Megillah than we do reading from Torah. This is part of why we at Women of the Wall do not draw our usual crowds of protesters on Purim.

But on Friday morning, Shushan Purim, I was painfully reminded that for the ultra-Orthodox, women’s voices aren’t meant to be heard — even in the women’s section amongst other women on the holiday that celebrates a woman’s heroism.

About 20 minutes into our Megillah reading, the sweet girl reappeared, but this

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Yochi Rappeport is the executive director of Women of the Wall.

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Opinion Chronicle poll results: Nuclear weapons

L

ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Are you concerned about the potential for nuclear weapons to be used anywhere in the world in the next year?” Of the 202 people who responded, 49% said, “Very concerned” and 39% said “Somewhat concerned.” Just 11% said they were not concerned. Forty-one people submitted comments. A few follow.

With nuclear armed tyrants like Putin and Kim Jong-un, there is reason for concern.

Whatever will be, will be! Don’t worry about things that are out of your control. Just react to them in the best way possible.

I clearly remember back in the “middle ages,” when we were in grade school and used to have drills where we’d go into the school hall and sit on that hard floor with our heads between our knees, terrified! It was scary then, and it’s scary now. And it’s the same enemy!

Krause: Continued from page 12

our overstuffed suitcases — overstuffed with banned books and phonograph records — unmistakably signaled the power and fearfulness of a state that had not changed very much since the death of Stalin, not to mention since Khrushchev’s famous “de-Stalinization” speech of 1956.

We traveled through the Soviet Union, from the Finnish border and nearby Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), to Moscow, and then on to what was then The Ukraine, in three old but worthy Volkswagen Microbuses. I recall crossing from Russia, near Belgorod, to the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, the battles for which in World War II cost almost 300,000 Soviet casualties. It seemed unusually hot that summer, especially in August, and you could see heat waves rising from the interminable, rich “black earth” that had made Ukraine the breadbasket of Europe and drew together Hitler and Stalin in deadly covetousness for this land. Of course, these two bandits shared many antipathies and tactics.

In recent days, we have been reminded of the shared, deadly inanities of most authoritarian regimes. That Putin has called Vladimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, a Nazi underscores the bizzarro planet Putin and his acolytes inhabit. For Zelensky is Jewish, as are his parents, as was his grandfather, who, in the Red Army, fought the Nazis — which did not prevent them from killing other members of the Zelensky family. In Donald Trump’s view, Putin is a “genius” or, at the very least, “very smart.” Contemporary leaders of authoritarian regimes and of right-wing, popular movements, in Europe or in North America, also share various antipathies and tactics.

None of this was at all imaginable to me as a 16-year-old, back in 1967, even as I understood that the world order seemed to be on a PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Are you concerned about the potential for nuclear weapons to be used anywhere in the world in the next year?

11%

Not concerned.

1%

Don’t know.

49%

Very concerned.

39%

there is a current leader, who is one of the players, who would use nuclear weapons when it would not advantage them.

The elites who run the governments of the various countries of the world won’t be inconvenienced or have their lifestyles limited by nuclear war.

Iran, North Korea, Russia all have some kind of nuclear capacity. Scary world right now.

Too much saber rattling. North Korea, Russia, China are eager to start a big war.

Somewhat concerned.

This man has been a murderer and war criminal his entire life. He has shot down passenger planes and killed women and children. He has NO honor.

pull-out from Afghanistan and haven’t done enough to help defend Ukraine. Domestic energy policies have further weakened the U.S. The U.S. electric grid is in poor shape, and an attack would lead to millions of Americans deaths.

I think Putin is bluffing. Even with the new hypersonic weapons China and Russia have, and even though ours are not up and running yet as far as I know, Russia would still be pulverized, and he knows it.

Very scary!

Nuclear non-proliferation should be part of the political discussion … especially now. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

I believe that the threat of it is being used for political leverage but do not believe they will be used. It would not strategically advantageous for any country and I do not believe

U.S. leadership is weak within the U.S., let alone the world. The far left is out of control, and leadership is too busy placating them. We were asleep at the switch with the

Chronicle poll question:

precipice. The Six-Day War of that summer in the Middle East, Lyndon Johnson’s escalation of the war in Vietnam, and the growing unrest in American cities signaled a sea change that became a tsunami in 1968 — one which today, impossibly enough, seems dwarfed

by Putin’s machinations, the pandemic and the metastatic, worldwide growth of authoritarian politics. In Red Square in the summer of 1967, my friends and I innocently demonstrated against all wars; for some inexplicable reason, the Soviet regime allowed us to carry our placards and engage Soviet citizens, and newspapers across North America explained that we were the first foreigners to be allowed to stage a rally in the most sacred place of the USSR. A few years later, my cousin, Allison Krause, whose family was based in McKeesport, was one of the four shot in Ohio, at Kent State University, a murder achingly memorialized in the poem, “Flowers and Bullets,” by the Ukrainian poet and memoirist, bon-vivant, and occasional hack for the Soviet Communist Party, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. I heard him read it at the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, in 1972. Zhenya, as he was called, spent the night at my home in Oakland, and it was just too much fun for me and my pals.

But I remember that Yevtushenko forbade discussion of his two most famous poems, “Babi Yar,” and “The Heirs of Stalin,” written after Stalin’s body had been removed from the Mausoleum on Red Square where Lenin’s corpse continues to rest — and which I had seen on Saturday, July 29, 1967, the day we demonstrated for world peace in Moscow.

In important ways, the corrosive politics of our time, in Russia, and in the U.S., are hardly aberrant. Here, a second civil war no longer seems impossible. President Johnson himself predicted that the passage of the civil and voting rights bills of his administration, given the endemic racism of white America, would consign his beloved Democratic Party to certain

defeats for generations and push the country far to the right. Johnson got many things wrong.

But about this, he was spot on. And the ultimate benefactor was not Richard Nixon or his unvarnished mini-me, George Wallace.

It was the “genius” and “very smart” Donald Trump, Putin’s mini-me.

Several months ago, my beloved cousin, Lee Weiss, a renowned professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, passed away.

We spent much of our childhoods together, playing at his home on Beacon Street, and Lee teased me for years about my performance at one of our family seders. Our grandfather, Samuel M. Krause, who built a successful men’s store in Braddock, led the service and dutifully followed the ritual of hiding one piece of matzah, the Afikomen.

To conclude the service, Grandpa Sam of course needed to have the Afikomen, and Lee and I and our other cousin-partners in Pesach crime retrieved it from its not-so-secret hiding place. Grandpa, like all leaders of seders, was willing to “pay” for the matzah, and he asked each of us what we would like in exchange. Lee and my other cousins asked for a couple of bucks. Maneuvering to outflank them in the eyes of Grandpa and the assembled adults, I announced that all I wanted was “world peace.” What a sniveling

sycophant — Lee would not forgive me for decades, and we had many good laughs about this. But Pesach’s universal message of freedom remained sacred to us for the next six decades. I wonder if this message can be delivered this year, and I wonder where the heirs of Stalin will be on April 15, when Passover begins.

Not long before he died, Lee and I talked on the phone and laughed riotously about my Pesach request of 1959. But it no longer struck him as silly, Lee said.

So, perhaps that long-ago demonstration in Red Square was not entirely sophomoric.

One of the signs we carried read: “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” These words were spoken

by President Kennedy in his 1961 address to the UN General Assembly. On one popular site on the web, readers are warned that repeating such words at a dinner party would place you in the “pretentious” camp.

Maybe not. PJC

Do you think Daylight Savings Time should be made permanent? Go to Pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond.

Paul Krause is a former newspaper reporter, columnist, and editor and a retired history professor. A native of Pittsburgh, and a graduate of Shady Side Academy, he is the author of the definitive history of the Homestead Lockout of 1892, “The Battle for Homestead.”

— LETTERS — Rabbi Aaron Bisno is irreplaceable

I am not a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation, but I had the honor of meeting Rabbi Bisno on several occasions, and I cannot fully convey how much I like the man, as a rabbi and as a person. Being a senior citizen, I can speak with experience of the many rabbis I knew from childhood through the seven decades of my life. I have known many, some only spiritually but others personally and, without a doubt, I would place Rabbi Bisno at the top of that list. He is everything that a rabbi should be: knowledgeable, truthful and compassionate, and he can connect with the most observant to the least observant Jew. Losing him as the chief rabbi of Rodef Shalom will be a costly mistake. He is impossible to replace.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Howard Cohen Pittsburgh MARCH 25, 2022 13

Headlines Poland: Continued from page 1

applications in 48 hours, Finkelstein said.

Finkelstein and Sufrin also met with Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the chief rabbi of Poland, who stressed the need to help all Ukrainians who were suffering — not just Jews.

“He said, ‘We are helping Jews and we are helping all of God’s children,’” Finkelstein said. “I think that’s what we heard from all of our Jewish organizations. While they are focused on helping the Jewish community, they are not only focused on helping the Jewish community.”

Finkelstein and Sufrin spent time in a former yeshiva in the city of Lublin before heading to the Polish-Ukraine border. The basement of the building, Finkelstein said, was turned into a warehouse, housing stacks of diapers and piles of clothing. He recalled seeing a pile of teddy bears, which struck him as emblematic of the needs of the displaced children and families.

“It’s very stark to see at these sites women and children and senior citizens, very few younger men — who were back in Ukraine — believing they’re going home at some point at the end of this war,” Finkelstein said.

At the border they saw “a line of humanity,” Finkelstein said, people waiting in long lines for buses that would disperse them to temporary sites throughout the country.

Groups waiting to assist the displaced were comprised of NGOs from around the world, he said.

“There was a tent of the Sikh community, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses were there,” he said. “What was really amazing, the first

URJ: Continued from page 1

in 1977. Three incidents of sexual misconduct were reported with youths aged 13 or 14 at the time.

The now-rabbi has faced an ethics investigation by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 2018 for an incident with a 14-year-old girl.

Additionally, many former NFTY and Kutz Camp participants reported an overly sexualized culture.

Temple Sinai Rabbi Daniel Fellman views the reports as a good starting point by the URJ. He said he sends his two older kids to URJ camp, and they are going this summer.

“To our URJ camping system’s credit, they have taken real steps to change this behavior and to acknowledge it and create an environment that is much healthier,” he said.

Temple Ohav Shalom Rabbi Jeremy Weisblatt said he understands why there might be concern about URJ camps because CCAR rabbis from URJ congregations staff the summer camps.

Weisblatt came forward in a March 11 Chronicle story alleging he was the victim of a rabbi’s abuse at a URJ congregation while enrolled at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

“I still want my kids to go to Camp Harlam,” Weisblatt said. “I worked at Ramah, I saw how they ran it. They did a beautiful job. All things being equal, I would feel very 14

MARCH 25, 2022

p Relief boxes at the border of Ukraine and Poland

booth for every refugee coming across the border was an Israeli group. The Israeli flag is there.”

Finkelstein said that at a nearby shopping mall, the JDC displayed its logo, which includes the word “chesed,” the name the agency uses for welfare centers in the former Soviet Union. Because of the work formerly done by the JDC in Ukraine, when members of the Jewish community crossed the border, they already knew about the organization.

Finkelstein said that the past work done in the region by both the JDC and JAFI allowed them to begin helping immediately.

“These two organizations were able to pivot on a dime to understand the logistics

Photo by Jeff Finkelstein

and deal with the situation,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that an organization not on the ground can’t do so quickly. It shows the reason why we give funding to these organizations from our annual campaign and why we now need to raise supplemental dollars specifically for the needs that go beyond what we’re able to find on an annual basis.”

Hertzman said that the need is immediate and great, noting that of the 200,000 Ukrainian Jews, about 40,000 are low-income and live in approximately 1,000 locations across the country.

“There’s a huge number, I think it’s around 50% of those low-income Jews, who, for one reason or another, aren’t mobile, especially

“ To our URJ camping system’s credit,

they have taken real steps to change this behavior and to acknowledge it and create

”

an environment that is much healthier.

— RABBI DANIEL FELLMAN, TEMPLE SINAI safe sending my kids there.”

Sarah Levinthal said that she received an email from the URJ’s Camp Harlam shortly after the report was released. It included a link to the report and the URJ’s current policies. She said she wasn’t surprised to receive the email, believing the URJ is generally proactive in its communications.

“I’ve been impressed with the leadership and the responsiveness at the camp in general,” Levinthal said, “especially under [Camp Harlam Director] Lisa David. She’s very transparent about everything.”

The way the camp handled COVID, she said, shows that there is a real concern for campers, along with their health and safety.

Levinthal sends two of her kids to summer camp. She said even before the URJ report was released, she had spoken with her children about sexual misconduct because of their involvement with other youth organizations.

“I feel like, the societal move to be more open about these things and talking about these things is a real positive move and that’s something I’ve seen reflected at camp,” she said.

Lori Baran sends her kids to Camp Harlam, as well. She said she chose the site over other URJ summer camps because, like Levinthal, she was impressed with the multiple layers of supervision.

“It’s obviously worrisome to send your kids to an overnight camp where kids are basically counselors, right? Knowing these things could happen, that’s why I chose Harlam, even though it’s a pain to get there and maybe pricier,” she said.

Baran pointed out that worry for your children, no matter where they are, is an issue for parents.

“My daughter is at Schenley Park right now playing football, and I’m staying close

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

seniors,” Hertzman said.

JDC, JAFI and Chabad, he said, are bringing food, water and medicine to these people, and helping them with other emergency needs, like taking them to basements during bomb attacks, he added.

United Hatzalah, Hertzman said, has already provided more than 10,000 displaced Ukrainians with medical and humanitarian aid. By mid-March the organization had served 4,000 meals, delivered 30 metric tons of aid — medical supplies, clothing, food and hygiene products — and has 55 medics on the ground.

Hertzman said there are 600,000 Ukrainians in Warsaw alone.

Pittsburghers are responding to the need, Hertzman noted. Individual community members and foundations have already donated more than $900,000. The total short-term projected need is about $23 million, he said.

“We haven’t even started thinking about what the long-term is,” he said.

Many Pittsburghers feel a deep connection to the Ukraine community, Finkelstein said.

“A lot of our families come from there,” he said. “It’s part of Pittsburgh’s nature that when Jewish communities are under attack, in any way, whatever that attack means, we step up. We’ve done it during different attacks within Israel. We step up and give above our weight class. It’s our nature as Pittsburghers.”

Donations to Federation’s Ukraine Relief Fund can be made at jewishpgh.org/ support-for-ukraine. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. by because I’m concerned anytime my kids are anywhere. But nothing I’ve seen about summer camp has made me feel like I should be afraid,” she said.

Temple Sinai member Elizabeth Collura said the URJ report showed that there is some risk of misconduct or abuse anytime children and adults interact, no matter the situation or organization.

Collura’s daughter also attends Camp Harlam. She believes the report shows lessons have been learned from past missteps.

“What we’re seeing is that there’s now attention being paid to it, people are more serious about giving repercussions for that sort of conduct; there’s more serious acknowledgment that it is unacceptable and that victims are being listened to better,” she said.

Understanding that light is the best antiseptic, Collura believes the report has caused all parties to be more aware.

“These types of terrible things happen all around and we need to be vigilant in preventing them. I think camps, over the last several years have been vigilant are going to be even more vigilant,” she said.

The URJ runs 15 summer camps, including regional overnight camps, two science/technology specialty camps, one sports camp and one creative arts camp for approximately 10,000 youths aged 6 to 18. Another 6,000 teens participate in programs coordinated by NFTY: The Reform Youth Movement. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines JWA: Continued from page 3

conference Kranson co-organized which focused on American Jewish Women in the mid-20th century.

“Because of the research generated during that conference, I went on to co-edit ‘A Jewish Feminine Mystique?: Jewish Women in Postwar America.’ That volume was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies,” Kranson said.

Last year, Kranson joined three other Jewish women’s history scholars to teach an online history course through the JWA. In the course, which was dedicated to “The Hidden History of Jews and Reproductive Rights in America,” Kranson discussed “Jews and the politics of abortion after Roe v. Wade.”

Berg’s relationship to the JWA stems mostly from its Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, first published in 1997 as “Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.” Publisher Moshe

History: Continued from page 7

1920. To maintain Bigelow Boulevard as a thoroughfare during that time, the city built a wooden plank road over the collapsed roadway. Although anchored to the bedrock, the road shifted with the slide over the following weeks and had to be adjusted every so often. Would you have driven over it?

Imagining the impact on Jewish life

The slide is not really a Jewish story. Even at the time, the local Jewish Criterion didn’t cover it. But the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse shows how a civic event can impact the patterns of communal life. I thought it would be fun to imagine how the cracks in Bigelow Boulevard might have impacted Jewish Pittsburgh in the final months of 1920.

Pittsburgh had about 60,000 Jews at the time, and they lived all over the city.

The Hill District was still the largest Jewish neighborhood. It had all the biggest communal institutions — the places with the most Jewish people passing through them on any given day: Montefiore Hospital, the Jewish Home for the Aged, the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House, the Hebrew Institute, and the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association. The

Shalvi and editors Paula Hyman and Dalia Ofer expanded the work for their 2006 CD-ROM collection, titled, “Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.” In 2009, the JWA published the collection online.

Since then, the JWA has continued expanding the encyclopedia. With thousands of entries, the encyclopedia has more than 1 million users worldwide each year, editor Jennifer Sartori and JWA CEO Judith Rosenbaum noted in 2001.

Berg’s essay on Lillian Freehof, the wife of Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof (1892-1990), recently went live on the encyclopedia. Through Berg’s entry on Freehof, readers discover how she successfully undertook numerous responsibilities, including author, national organizer and rebbetzin married to a prominent 20th-century Reform rabbi.

Berg said her entry on Freehof grew out of a shorter biography she wrote for the 2016 self-published work, “Her Deeds Sing Her Praises: Profiles of Pittsburgh

largest Jewish business district was lower Fifth Avenue in Uptown.

Squirrel Hill, Oakland and East End were the fastest-growing Jewish neighborhoods. The Strip District, Lawrenceville, Homewood, Deutschtown, Manchester, Hazelwood, South Side and Beechview all had small, active communities.

The automobile is largely responsible for this dispersion. The early 1920s was the moment when the car allowed some people to easily live across multiple neighborhoods.

Bigelow Boulevard was designed to speed travel between the growing eastern neighborhoods and the city center. It’s probably no coincidence that the Jewish community of the East End emerged just a few years after Bigelow Boulevard opened.

The leaders of B’nai Israel Congregation were downtown merchants who left the Hill District for inner ring suburbs. Max Azen, for example, maintained memberships at both Beth Hamedrash Hagadol on Washington Street in the Hill District and also at B’nai Israel in East End in the early 1920s. He lived at 708 N. Negley Ave., and ran a furrier business at 1023 Fifth Ave. Without the straight shot of Bigelow Boulevard, he likely would have zigzagged through the crowded streets of Shadyside, Oakland and Uptown.

Squirrel Hill commuters probably felt the impact, too. Few people today use Bigelow

Jewish Women.”

“When the Jewish Women’s Encyclopedia was planning its recent expansion, they wanted to include more about Jewish women who had worked with disability communities,” Berg said.

The JWA asked Berg to develop the Freehof entry and include more “emphasis on Lillian’s work with Braille books,” Berg said.

The entry on Freehof is just one of several that showcase Pittsburgh’s accomplished Jewish women, as Bertha Floersheim Rauh, Luba Robin Goldsmith and Elaine Lobl Konigsburg are all included in the encyclopedia, Berg added.

Squirrel Hill resident Ruth Reidbord drafted the Konigsburg entry, as it was “important to have Elaine recognized,” Reidbord said.

Konigsburg was a Carnegie Mellon University graduate, writer and illustrator. She also won the Newbery Medal, a literary award, twice.

Through its encyclopedia and other offerings, the JWA has helped countless

 Louis Colton lived in the Hill District and commuted to Squirrel Hill in the late teens and early 1920s, likely using Bigelow Boulevard.

Courtesy of Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Boulevard to get downtown from Squirrel Hill. But the Boulevard of the Allies didn’t exist in November 1920. Construction was just beginning at the downtown end.

In fact, the Boulevard of the Allies was created in part to alleviate congestion on Bigelow. Bigelow originally connected downtown to Schenley Park. The original idea was a scenic 14-mile system of boulevards and parks, like Boston’s “Emerald Necklace.” You could take Bigelow to Schenley Park and then connect with Beechwood Boulevard, which twisted all the way to Highland Park along present-day Washington Boulevard.

With the rise in automobile ownership, beauty was sacrificed to efficiency. The goal was increasingly to move as many people downtown as quickly as possible.

Traffic also went the other way.

Even though Rodef Shalom Congregation had been on Fifth Avenue nearly 15 years by

users understand the “history of the Jewish people,” Kranson said.

The JWA’s encyclopedia, Berg said, has been one of her “go-to reference resources for women’s history for more than 10 years.”

Kranson isn’t surprised.

“The JWA helped establish Jewish women’s history as an integral component of Jewish studies, not only within the academy but also for the general public,” Kranson said. “This paved the way for a new generation of scholars — myself included — who could take it for granted that their research on Jewish women would find an interested and engaged audience. I could not have become the scholar I am today without the Jewish Women’s Archive. I consider it an enormous honor to be able to contribute to a resource that has offered me so much. I continue to use the JWA in my own research and teaching, and intend to do so for the rest of my career.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

late 1920, about 5% of its membership still lived downtown, in the Hill District and on the North Side. Bigelow would have eased their travel considerably.

Bigelow may have even assisted a small but notable group of eastbound commuters living in the Hill District. In the late teens and early 1920s, Louis Colton lived on Webster Avenue and ran the Squirrel Hill Grocery on Murray Avenue.

At the time, Kirkpatrick Street connected with Bigelow Boulevard, allowing Colton and others like him to easily access the boulevard system. The connection was severed with the construction of Bedford Dwellings in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

And then there are the Jews of the Strip District. The blocks between 27th and 29th streets were largely occupied by Jewish merchants. They had a small synagogue at 28th and Liberty, tucked against the curved stone embankment of the 28th Street Bridge.

Imagine them coming outside after morning services, taking a few minutes to watch the steam shovels scoop away the mud, and then rushing off to open their shops. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at rjarchives@heinzhistorycenter. org or 412-454-6406.

Tune in to Chronicle Cooks

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join us on Zoom for a live cooking demonstration by vegan chef Diana Goldman — just in time to help you plan your Passover menu.

Goldman will teach viewers how to make a hearty vegan dish to add to their seder meal: quinoa salad for Passover. The salad works as either an entrée or a side.

Goldman is a Sierra Club cooking show host and plant-based nutrition educator based in Boston. She received a B.S. from Cornell University in nutrition science and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. She loves

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

sharing recipes on her blog, Beantown Kitchen, and was awarded one of the top 100 plant-based blogs by Feedspot.

To join the Chronicle’s April 6, 7:30 p.m. event, email newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org and write “Chronicle Cooks” in the subject line. We will send you the Zoom link prior to the event.

The recipe for quinoa salad for Passover can be found at beantownkitchen.com/ quinoa-salad-for-Passover. PJC  Diana Goldman  Quinoa salad for Passover

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos courtesy of Diana Goldman

— Toby Tabachnick MARCH 25, 2022 15

Life & Culture A simple Asian-inspired menu — LOCAL —

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

T

his simple salmon with Asianinspired flavors is a crowd-pleaser.

It’s uncomplicated enough to make during the week, but I also often add it to my Shabbat menu.

Once you have the basic ingredients in your home, it’s easy to mix up fresh salad dressing and quickly make miso soup to accompany the fish.

All recipes are included. It takes about 35 minutes to whip up the entire meal.

Ginger miso salmon Ingredients for the fish marinade

(I call it a marinade, but you can mix this up, pour it over the salmon and cook immediately without waiting for it to marinate in the fridge.)

2 2 2 1

tablespoons soy sauce or tamari tablespoons honey tablespoons white miso paste tablespoon apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar 1 tablespoon avocado oil or neutral vegetable oil 2 tablespoons orange juice 1 garlic clove, crushed

p Salad with Asian-inspired dressing

noodles, avocado, sesame seeds or pomegranate arils for color. A bunch of freshly chopped bok choy adds a wonderful crunch. p Ginger miso salmon 1 1

Photos by Jessica Grann

teaspoon crushed fresh garlic pound of salmon, skin on

Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl.

Heat the oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Rinse the fish, and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Place the salmon skin-side down onto the tray, and pour the marinade evenly over the fish.

Place tray on middle rack of oven and bake salmon for 30-35 minutes. Don’t overcook the fish — it will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven.

Ingredients for the salad dressing: 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice 1 small garlic clove, crushed 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, crushed 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar 1 tablespoon avocado oil or another neutral vegetable oil A pinch of salt and pepper

Put all ingredients into a lidded Mason jar, and shake until it emulsifies.

This is great on a simple salad, but you also can top the salad with Asian-style crunchy

Miso soup:

The miso soup is simple: Just add 1 tablespoon of miso paste to 1 cup of water. If I’m serving four people, I bring 4 cups of water to a boil, then add 4 tablespoons of miso paste and gently simmer for a few minutes before serving.

You can add veggies or cubed tofu, but the miso soup is very good plain with a few strips of nori seaweed sheets added in before serving.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

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Life & Culture Two new Haggadot to enrich Passover 2022 — BOOKS —

By Aaron Leibel | Contributing Writer

The Rational Passover Haggadah, by Dennis Prager and edited by Joseph Telushkin.

(Regnery Faith, 2022) Night of Beginnings: A Passover Haggadah,

by Marcia Falk. (The Jewish Publication Society, 2022)

Book covers courtesy of ??

O

ne will stimulate your mind, the other will stir your aesthetic spirit.

That’s the verdict on the two Haggadot published this month in time to help guide you through April’s Pesach seders.

Despite their merits, the question is: Should you buy either to use for your Passover celebration?

“The Rational Passover Haggadah” is meant to enhance contemplation of the holiday and beyond. In his brief introduction, author Dennis Prager writes: “This Haggadah is intended to serve as a guide to life, to God, and to Judaism.”

Specifically, he notes, “sacred texts need to be explained in a rational manner and made relevant.”

This book certainly would make discussions at the seder table more interesting because it presents such provocative questions for discussion.

For example, Was there really an Exodus? Yes, says Prager, there is evidence that the Jews were slaves in Egypt and escaped to freedom. One such piece of evidence deals with the many details of ancient Egyptian life found in the Torah. How could those who wrote the story centuries later and had no contact with Egypt have known about those particulars, if Jews had not lived in, and left, that country?

Does Judaism rest on any doctrine of faith? Yes, the author writes, “God as the Creator of the Universe and God as the Liberator of the Jews from Egypt.” Had the Jews abandoned either belief in exile, they would have ceased to be Jews.

Other questions in the book include: Why Isn’t Moses Mentioned in the Haggadah?

How Important is God to Meaning in Life?

Is It Possible to Reconcile a Good God With Unjust Suffering? Do All Those Who Believe in God Believe in the Same God? Only the intellectually courageous — and those willing to stay up all night — would ask these complex, but fascinating questions at the seder table.

The other new Haggadah, “Night of Beginnings,” using drawings and poetry among other tools, aspires to “reveal meanings beneath the surface of the Pesach ritual and to deepen our personal connection to the holiday,” according to author — and illustrator — Marcia Falk.

In pursuit of that goal, Falk has uprooted much of the tradition associated with the holiday. For example, in the ritual dealing with karpas, the greens, traditionally we thank God, PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

“creator of the fruits of the earth.” In “Night of Beginnings,” we instead recite a verse from Zechariah and then “bless the source that awakens the greening of the earth.”

Drinking the four cups of wine traditionally calls for blessing God, “who created the fruit of the vine.” In contrast, the author presents a quote from the Book of Amos (“The mountains will drip wine and all the hills will wave with grain”) and then her blessing (“Let us bless the ever-flowing wellspring that nourishes the fruit of the vine”).

Once again, God is missing from the blessing, as is the case throughout the book.

The Four Questions are set out as in other Haggadot. But then the author notes that the Talmud’s cataloguing of the four archetypes of sons asking the questions (Wise, Wicked, Simple and Who Does Not Know How To Ask) is for many people “problematic and unhelpful.”

She suggests four new categories of children: The Child Who Wants To Know, The Child Who Feels Apart and Alone, The Simple Child and The Child Who Cannot Ask. What to make of all this? At first glance, we might conclude that if this is what it takes to bring some Jews closer to Judaism and to the holiday, then so be it.

However, I see two serious problems. One has to do with comfort of individual Jews and the unity of the Jewish people.

If you had a magic carpet that could transport you to sederim around the world on Pesach night, you would feel at home everywhere as you heard blessings over the wine, the greens and other items. But not at a seder using “Night of Beginnings.”

Then, there is its effect on Judaism. If you open the Jewish tent so wide as to allow anything and everything to be called “Judaism,” then we may find ourselves left with nothing that distinguishes the Jewish religion from others.

This Haggadah has its strong points. It is attractive, filled with drawings of flowers, original poems and a 21-page narrative laying out the story of the Exodus.

But it constitutes much too radical a break with tradition.

As I noted earlier, “The Rational Passover Haggadah” is loaded with thought-provoking questions. I intend to borrow a few for discussion at my seder table.

But I’m afraid that my guys always are anxious to get to the “festive meal” — I blame my wife’s formidable culinary skills for their preference for food for the stomach over sustenance for the soul — and then to “Had Gadya” and the end of the seder.

As to the Haggadah, I’ll be sticking with the America-Jewish standard, the Maxwell House Haggadah, that’s been doing its best to make sense of the seder table and keep us at there through the end of the festivities for 90 years. PJC This piece first appeared in the Washington Jewish Week.

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B’not Mitzvah

A tale of two Purims Hannah Markowitz, daughter of Michelle and Pace Markowitz of Mt. Lebanon, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Temple Emanuel of South Hills.

Hannah is the younger sister of Myer and is the granddaughter of Anita and Martin Markowitz of Cape Coral, Florida, and Irene Luchinsky and the late Harold Luchinsky of Collier Township. Hannah is in seventh grade at Mellon Middle School and enjoys horseback riding, playing field hockey and reading. For her mitzvah project, Hannah is volunteering with the After School Program at South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM).

Izzy Nataniela Myaskovsky Goldstein, daughter of Mr. Russell Goldstein and Dr. Larissa Myaskovsky, will become a bat mitzvah at Adat Shalom during Shabbat morning services on Saturday, March 26, 2022. Grandparents are Sandra and Marshal Goldstein; Sima Myaskovsky and the late Arkady Myaskovsky. PJC

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Rabbi Mark Goodman Parshat Shmini | Levitus 9:1 - 11:47

T

he last big public event we went to as a family was in March 2020, when my daughter and I got decked out in matching costumes for Purim at Beth Shalom — I as the Shadow Man from Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” and Etta as Celia Facilier, the Shadow Man’s daughter from the Disney TV show “Descendants” (if you’re confused right now, just Google it.)

That was Monday night, March 9. I remember the feeling in the room and the upbeat-but-uneasy looks from some of the other parents and congregants; a nervous “haha, boy things sure are weird in the world with this new virus, huh?” vibe that seemed to be unsure, but not afraid. We saw the news in China. We heard the stories from Seattle.

None of it computed — because none of us had any idea what was coming. It was a lighthearted evening — we won a prize for “best family costume” — before a long, dark night.

On March 11, the WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. On March 13, the president declared a national emergency, and, in short order, every state went into lockdown.

The next two years would be marked with struggle and suffering. Isolation and uncertainty. And death and illness. The rhythm of life fundamentally changed. The way we work, the way we socialize, the way we pray and the way we dress all have changed due to the pandemic. But after social distancing, and masking, and getting vaccines and boosters, we seem to be mostly through to the other side.

Last week, on March 16, my daughter and I returned to Beth Shalom for a very public Purim celebration for the first time in two years. It was indoors (and masked), but the familiar rhythms and feelings of the service

were there — it wasn’t in isolation and over Zoom. People hugged and kids got balloon animals and there were hamantaschen. Etta dressed as Isabela Madrigal from “Encanto” (you probably don’t have to Google it.) It felt like an end — a pair of Purim celebrations bookending a long and mournful middle.

In Parshat Shmini we learn two disparate ideas: that Aaron’s sons were killed for bringing “strange fire” before the mizbe’ach, the altar; and the rules for kosher and unkosher animals. In Leviticus 11:42, we get the line, “Anything that crawls on its belly ... you shall not eat.” The word belly here is gihon, and if you were to look in a Sefer Torah, you would find that the vav in gihon is enlarged.

This is because, according to Masoritic scribal notes, the vav is the middle letter in the entire Torah — a book of more than 300,000 words.

There’s a small lesson here: When we’re in the middle of something, we don’t notice it. Middles, unless otherwise announced in some manner (like a giant vav), go by unnoticed. They feel like just another day of drudgery and toil — and the pandemic felt especially toilsome and bitter and unending.

Far be it for me to proclaim, with my lack of medical knowledge or epidemiological terminology, that the pandemic is “over.” But from Purim 2020 to Purim 2022, we have certainly passed through some kind of boundary denoting a shift. It is worthwhile, I think, to take stock at this moment in our lives of all that we have been through, and to ask: How have we grown? How have we changed? Where did we fail, or succeed?

And what are we grateful for that we must embrace a little more in the years to come? PJC Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman is the spiritual leader for Brith Sholom Jewish Center of Erie, Pennsylvania. He also serves as interim director of Derekh and Youth Tefillah at Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

Join the Chronicle Book Club!

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its April 3 discussion of “The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family,”

by Joshua Cohen.

“The Netanyahus,” winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2021, is set at a college in not-quite-upstate New York in the winter of 1959-1960. From the publisher: “Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian — but not an historian of the Jews — is co-opted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family unexpectedly in tow, Blum plays the reluctant host, to guests who proceed to lay waste to his American complacencies.

Mixing fiction with non-fiction, the campus novel with the lecture, ‘The Netanyahus’ is a wildly inventive, genre-bending comedy of blending, identity, and politics that finds Joshua Cohen at the height of his powers.”

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Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer

How It Works

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, April 3, at noon. As you read the book, we invite you to share comments and join discussions in our Facebook group, Chronicle Connects: Jewish PGH. We invite you to join now if you are not already a member of the group.

What To Do

Buy: “The Netanyahus.” It is available from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting.

Happy reading! PJC — Toby Tabachnick

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Obituaries BERKOWITZ: Irene (Piri) Berkowitz passed away at age 98 on Saturday, March 5. Irene was born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia, the daughter of Martin and Ida Weinberger. Irene was a Holocaust survivor who survived three different concentration camps and the death march.

Irene came from a family of seven girls and one boy. Irene and three of her sisters, Rose Lebovic, Ella Berkowitz and Violet Weinberger, were the only members of the fami ly to sur v ive t he war.

Irene was married to Max Berkowitz who died young, leaving her to raise her two daughters, Vera (Les) Greenberg and Marsha (Richard) Walters. Irene was blessed with six grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren who gave her so much joy. Irene was a very strong, courageous woman who overcame life’s challenges and remained positive throughout. Irene was a giver, always doing things for others and will be greatly missed.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), or a charity of the donor’s choice.

GRYFE: Rochelle (Shelly) Glick Gryfe, March 8, 2022, of Getzville, New York, formerly of Pittsburgh. Dearest wife of Alan Gryfe; beloved sister of Steven (Helene) Glick and Helene Glick Landman (Bruce); aunt of Bill (Elana) Glick, Larry (Farrah) Glick and Michael Glick; great-aunt of Russell Glick; daughter of the late William and Florence Glick. Also survived by Alan’s parents, Cyril and Arlene Gryfe; his sisters Brenda (Mike Wulkan) Gryfe and Leah (Matthew Price) Gryfe; and their sons Joseph and Rhys Becker and Max Price.

Shelly defied the odds, battling a rare form of cancer for almost three years. She had a distinguished career as a vice president of marketing research at Fisher-Price Toys and traveled the world, but her relationship with family and friends really meant the most to her. Services and interment were private.

Memorial donations may be made to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (cholangiocarcinoma.org/gryfe/) or Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo (hospicebuffalo.com/ giving/give-hospice/).

MORGAN: Jacqueline Vicki Morgan, 53, daughter of Susan Slotnick and the late

Stanley Slotnick, Amy Morgan and the late Ira Morgan, sister of Alyssa Morgan Fafel and Steven Fafel, and aunt to Sasha and Dylan Fafel, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 19 in New York City. Recently diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, Jackie persevered through many physical challenges from her 20s until her passing, without ever losing her sense of humor. Jackie, who spent her school years traveling frequently to live with her Pittsburgh family, graduated from Boston University with a BS in sociology, and earned her master’s in social work from Fordham University, which led to her work in social justice and criminal rehabilitation.

She was a paralegal in the New York district attorney’s office, worked at a nonprofit women’s and children’s victims advocacy agency, and in the corporate investigations department of a private investigation firm.

She thrived working for the New York State Department Of Corrections as a probation officer. She will be remembered for her sharp wit, her ability to find humor in almost anything and was always the life of any party.

Contributions may be made in her memory to Tree of Life Congregation.

STEINBERG: Cindy Ehrenreich Steinberg, 73, of Boynton Beach, Florida, formerly of Natrona Heights and Mo n ro e v i l l e , Pennsylvania. Beloved wife of the late Mark Steinberg. Cherished longtime fiancée of Jim Cull. Beloved mother of Michael and Bradley (Sara) Steinberg.

Loving daughter of the late Sarah and M. Bernard Ehrenreich. Sister of Mindy (Kevin) Keane and the late Marlene Ehrenreich Salus. Also survived by cousins, nieces and friends. Cindy attended Robert Morris College. She was employed by CCAC-Boyce Campus for 24 years. She also was on staff of the JCC Early Childhood Development Center and Gateway School District. She was a lifelong member of Hadassah. Former member of Women’s American ORT and Temple David. She enjoyed tennis, traveling, reading, knitting and needlepoint. Special thanks to cousin Dr. Alan Schwartz of Phoenix, Arizona, for all his love and support through the years. Services at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside, on Thursday, March 24, at 12 noon.

Visitation one hour prior to service, (11 a.m.

- 12 noon). schugar.com PJC

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Headlines Vanyukov: Continued from page 12

been in Russia. Except, of course, it’s still hard to imagine that Russia will ever elect an openly Jewish president rather than a KGB-spawned dictator.

It is not even possible to use the terms “Russians” and “Ukrainians” as denoting fully distinct entities, because, for a long time, there has been no barrier between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine. These peoples also include many ethnicities — not only ethnic Ukrainians and Russians — let alone the offspring of mixed marriages in many generations. Numerous Ukrainians and Russians live in what has now become for them enemy territories.

There is a great difference between the two countries, however. It could be because of the enormous steppes of Russia, frozen and covered with snow in winter, or because of its imperial past, which confers delusions of grandeur on people eternally suppressed by the all-powerful state. It does not matter

what makes Russia, in contrast to Ukraine, a hor shahor, with no light at the end of the long dark tunnel of its history. And the best proof of that is the reactions of people in Russia to what is “not a war.” I’ll go along with Putin’s refusal to use the “W” word — but not for his demented reason: I am talking of the butchery of peaceful Ukrainians by the Russian army, and of what the people of Russia say to that. And I am not talking about the “masses,” whose opinion has never mattered to the decision-makers in Russia.

This is about my classmates — graduates of the preeminent school in the Soviet Union, the Moscow State University (MSU), sort of the Harvard-cum-Yale of the USSR. It is soul-crushing how many among those who stayed in the USSR, and then Russia, bought into Moscow’s Goebbelsian fiction — so transparent it could not even be called propaganda. If their intelligence did not protect them from that, you can forget about the rest. Yes, there are demonstrations, but those mean nothing to the ghouls in Kremlin.

I have read with heartache a letter supporting

Putin’s regime’s slaughter in Ukraine signed by the entire leadership of the top Russian scientific society, the Russian Academy of Sciences, including the MSU’s rector, who have thus become complicit in crimes against humanity.

Not that it is the first time when supposedly high intellect has no connection with morality — the actions of German professors during the Nazi regime tell the same story. Paraphrasing Hannah Arendt, in a monstrous society, evil is banal. Then, where evil is banal, a normal human reaction becomes heroic.

Now, the opinions of my former classmates and colleagues who are emigrants like myself are monolithic in support of Ukraine and condemnation of Russia. Amazingly, however, that is combined with entirely different positions on the connection of U.S. politics to that situation. For many of them, the fact that there were no new wars nor Russian invasions under Trump does not do anything to their assessment of the roles of the Obama-Biden administrations, which have been enabling, if not encouraging, Putin’s depredations. Partisan blinkers

prevail over facts.

This leaves me with a dark thought. It is possible that the reason they did not buy into Putin’s lies is that they simply had not been constantly exposed to them, like they have been to the progressive agitprop of the “organs” of the Democratic Party (using the official term for the Soviet servile media): The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, etc. Despite the party’s statism and Soviet-like demagoguery, like the majority of the U.S. intelligentsia, they reflexively malign Trump and have been ready to believe any preposterous nonsense about him spewed by those organs, while the opposition is censored. The thought is very dark indeed, because I am not sure how far this country is from becoming a hor shahor. PJC Michael Vanyukov holds a Ph.D. in genetics and is professor of pharmaceutical sciences, psychiatry, and human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh. He immigrated in the U.S. as a refugee from the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago.

Accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial will be in Pittsburgh

T

he federal judge presiding over the case against the man accused of murdering 11 Jews in the Tree of Life building in 2018, has ruled that the trial will be held in Pittsburgh.

The ruling came in response to the defendant’s motion for a change of venue in which he claimed that an impartial jury could not be empaneled in Allegheny County.

In the January motion, the defendant’s attorneys argued that negative pre-trial

publicity foreclosed the possibility of a fair trial, citing a survey of 1,150 people eligible for jury duty that indicated potential jurors here were more inclined to be prejudiced against the defendant than elsewhere in the state and in Washington, D.C. The defense also argued that local media stories depicted the defendant in a negative light.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

U.S. District Judge Robert Colville rejected the defendant’s arguments. “Under applicable

standards, the publicity at issue does not present the type of relentless, saturating, and blatantly prejudicial exposure that warrants the relief sought,” Colville wrote, noting that the attack occurred more than three years ago, that publicity “has diminished since the date of the attack,” and that a trial date has not yet been set.

Colville, however, left open the possibility of reversing his decision later “if circumstances suggest that the ability to empanel a fair and impartial jury has

been compromised.”

The judge also noted that the defendant’s motions to suppress his antisemitic statements and social media postings, were denied.

“While one would not describe the publicity as advantageous to Defendant, it falls far short of the grossly damaging coverage present in cases in which a change of venue was constitutionally required,” Colville wrote. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

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Community Jewish Association on Aging celebrates Purim

Empire state of Purim

Jewish Association residents marked Purim on March 17 with costumes, music and dancing.

Chabad of the South Hills celebrated a NYC-themed Purim party. t Here’s to the colossus of Purim parties.

p Naomi poses in a Purim crown.

p Shirley holds a hamantaschen while enjoying the holiday festivities.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Association on Aging

Purim fun at the JCC The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh celebrated Purim with numerous fun-filled activities. t Early Childhood Development Center students prepare and deliver handmade Mishloach Manot baskets to JCC staff.

p Let’s hear it for New York.

Photos courtesy of Chabad of the South Hills

It’s not Shark Week but…

p Temple David’s Rabbi Barbara Symons gets into the Purim spirit while dressing as a shark.

Photo courtesy of Temple David

p Teenage members at the Second Floor bake hamantaschen, which were later sold with proceeds going toward ending hunger.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

22

MARCH 25, 2022

Chabad of the South Hills and its CKids Jewish Discovery Club hosted a Purim Bake Off and Bake Sale on March 13.

All proceeds went to charity — Matanot L’aeyonim — and helped participants fulfill one of the four mitzvot of Purim.

The kids raised $136 for the Mishpacha Orphanage which is run by Chabad in Odessa, Ukraine. Every dollar was then matched by Chabad and donated to Keren Racheim, a charity that supports p Helping here for afar local families in need.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Photo courtesy of Chabad of the South Hills

Raising money for Ukraine

Community Bat Mitzvah Centennial

Straight ahead for more Purim fun

Congregation Dor Hadash marked the centennial of the first American bat mitzvah with a communitywide event on Sunday, March 20. The event was hybrid, with options for in-person participation at Rodef Shalom Congregation as well as streaming, and included a catered kosher lunch, workshops and a keynote address by Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism. The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh, Rodef Shalom Congregation and Reconstructing Judaism co-sponsored the event.

Temple Sinai hosted a drive-thru Purim Carnival on March 13.

p Harton Wolf and Todd Miller distribute Purim goodies.

Photos by Tami Prine

p John Landis gets into the Purim spirit.

High tech and Israel collide at Carnegie Mellon p Community members gather at Rodef Shalom Congregation to celebrate the centennial of the first American bat mitzvah.

Tartans4Israel, the Israeli cultural and professional organization of Carnegie Mellon University, hosted High-Tech, a hybrid business conference featuring Israeli technology and innovation last month. The conference welcomed 200 Carnegie Mellon students, who learned about different industries within high tech, gained tangible business skills, networked with influential Israeli entrepreneurs and leaders, and developed an understanding of how Israel plays a powerful role in these industries. The conference provided students the opportunity to attend industry-specific panels, to network and build relationships with influential business leaders through a Shabbat dinner and a Sunday bagel brunch, and the chance to participate in a Makathon — a design hackathon, through TOM Global, to exercise and develop marketable skills. High-Tech was an opportunity for Hillel JUC to partner with diverse campus organizations, and several outside Jewish organizations, such as Tepper Business School, Jewish National Fund, Special Olympics of PA, and 412x972.

Photos courtesy of Hillel JUC p From left: Event organizer Carolyn Ban, past president of Congregation Dor Hadash Donnal Coufal and Reconstructing Judaism President and CEO Rabbi Deborah Waxman Photos by Caiolinn Ertel

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And the winner is no secret p Hillel JUC staffer Zoe Hertz, second from left, joins student leaders.

p Team members Rabbi Mark Goodman, Eugene Mariani, Nahum Shalman, Ilanit Helfand and Amitai Bin-Nun, took first place at a clues and schmooze event at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Photo courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom

p Nathan Dekhovich, Nofar Katzav, Alec Bender and Jeremy Nichols

What a number

Machers and Shakers

Eighth-grader Zeva Gumerman broke a Community Day School record for reciting and singing 100 digits of Pi.

Daniel Rothschild of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative was inducted into the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects, the AIA’s highest membership honor.

His elevation is based on a career of exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society. This honor is bestowed on only 3% of all architects nationally. Rothschild’s professional designation will be changed from AIA to FAIA.

u Zeva Gumerman celebrates Pi Day (March 14) with CDS math teacher Leslie Frischman.

Laura Cherner, director of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, Aliza Gordon of Orr’s Jewelers, and Liz Powell of Jewish Association on Aging, were included among Pittsburgh Business Times’ 30 under 30.

Photo courtesy of Community Day School

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Photos courtesy of Hillel JUC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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