Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 4-22-22

April 22, 2022 | 21 Nisan 5782

Candlelighting 7:48 p.m. | Havdalah 8:51 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 16 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL The challenges of helping from afar

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Senate hopefuls make their case Local refugee to Pennsylvania’s Jewish voters recounts journey from Afghanistan to Pittsburgh

By David Rullo | Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

Ukrainian rabbi visits Pittsburgh LOCAL

F

A skateboarding park that promotes inclusivity in Swissvale

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman

Please see Candidates, page 14

Please see JFCS, page 14

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta

By David Rullo | Staff writer

T Meet Jewish Pittsburgher Kerry Weber LOCAL

he was the first candidate endorsed by the organization when he ran for his House seat in 2018. That election victory, he said, proved that he could win in districts that Donald Trump had won. Lamb also said he supports raising the minimum wage as well as President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Plan: better health care, child tax credits and climate change legislation.

Soifer asked whether the candidates would support reforming the Senate filibuster to help pass legislation, including voting rights.

All three said they would. Kenyatta noted that he fought against state Republicans who wanted to conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential election, and that he supported removing dark money from elections. Lamb stressed the importance of voting rights and said the filibuster has prevented passing the Freedom to Vote Act in the Senate, which supports same-day voter registration, early voting, voting by mail, election security measures and making Election Day a national holiday. Fetterman said that his campaign was the first to call for the elimination of the filibuster.

In a theme that has become common since 2018, Soifer asked if, in light of the massacre at the Tree of Life building, the candidates supported an assault gun ban.

All three candidates said they supported a ban on assault weapons, but Lamb noted that most gun violence in America is not committed by assault weapons. He called for

arhad Ariai has lived in Pittsburgh for just over two months.

The refugee, his wife and his aunt were evacuated from Afghanistan — first to Qatar, before being sent to Germany and then the United States — after the collapse of the government and the fall of Kabul late last year. Ariai worked for the U.S. government and military while in Afghanistan.

Joined by interpreter Ahmad Yousofzay, JFCS President and CEO Jordan Golin and Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jeff Finkelstein, Ariai, 25, spoke of his experiences during a press conference at JFCS’ offices on April 14.

Through Yousofzay, Ariai began his remarks by thanking the U.S. Army, government and JFCS for their assistance in helping him leave Afghanistan and settle in Pittsburgh.

He said the process was long and, at times, difficult. He recounted the journey, leaving Afghanistan with only a small bag, his bank account frozen and the country’s infrastructure decimated by the Taliban takeover. Nonetheless, he and his family felt secure, thanks to the help provided by the U.S. “We received all kinds of help,” Ariai said. “We never felt alone. Help and opportunities that have been provided was awesome. Thank you.”

Ariai has stayed in a hotel since arriving here, he said, explaining that securing long-term housing and employment has been difficult because he doesn’t yet have the documentation needed by lenders and employers.

He has been in touch with family in Afghanistan, he said, but the news has not been good. Relatives still in the country have relayed to him that the economy has

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JFilm opens April 28 virtually and in person

Eighteen Jewish-themed films to be screened

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he three frontrunners in the Democratic Senate primary — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb — largely agree on such issues as support for Israel, the need to ban assault weapons and climate change, but explained the nuances of how their policies differ during an April 14 online forum organized by the Jewish Democratic Council of America and Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania.

After opening comments by DJO’s co-founder Jill Zipin and JDCA CEO Halie Soifer, who served as host, the candidates introduced themselves. Fetterman outlined why he is in the race, highlighting his alignment with Democratic positions: a desire to raise the minimum wage; improving health care; strengthening unions; protecting reproductive freedom; safeguarding equality for the LGBTQ+ community; and protecting voters’ rights.

Kenyatta tailored his opening remarks to his Jewish audience. Considering the recent terrorist attacks in Israel, he said, it is imperative that Pennsylvania’s next senator “be outspoken and reaffirm our special relationship between the United States and Israel.” He highlighted his time as an anti-bias trainer with the Anti-Defamation League and said it is important to end antisemitism and racism.

Lamb began by saying he owed a debt of gratitude to the JDCA, and noted that

U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb Screenshots by David Rullo

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Repairing local cemeteries

LOCAL

Judith Robinson on life and art

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Black cod

Headlines Ukrainian rabbi serves community from afar — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

R

abbi Chaim Levinson has seen multiple transformations of Kharkov, Ukraine. He hopes to see one more.

Levinson, a Lubavitch emissary, had called Kharkov home for 23 years, a period during which the city and its Jewish community grew immensely, he said. A week after Russia invaded Ukraine, though, Levinson and his family fled. For five days they traveled through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Poland before reaching New York, whereupon entering “770” — headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement — Levinson was greeted with song and dance.

Levinson celebrated his safe return to the States, but said he feels torn because of the Talmud’s teaching that “those on the path to performing a mitzvah aren’t susceptible to harm.”

“You don’t just drop the community and leave,” Levinson said.

The challenge, he said, is that “in the beginning they were just bombing buildings and factories, but eventually they started hurting civilians. When a bomb falls a block from your house, and your house shakes, we realized it’s time for us to leave.”

Levinson was in Pittsburgh on April 10, delivering a lecture at the Lubavitch Center in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 120th birthday.

Months ago, Ukraine was the fifth-largest Jewish community in the world. Of its nearly 400,000 Jews, 45,000 lived in Kharkov, according to the European Jewish Congress.

Tens of thousands have fled since Feb. 24, but nearly 80% of Ukraine’s Jews remain in the country, the Associated Press reported

Rabbi Chaim Levinson (third from right) and family in Ukraine prior to the war

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Chaim Levinson

on April 13. Levinson hasn’t been in Kharkov for weeks, but his work there continues. In addition to helping community members exit the country along with his family, Levinson arranges transport out of Kharkov, provides displaced people with housing, secures food and medicine and continues teaching classes over Zoom, all from an office in New York, he said.

Caring for an attacked community thousands of miles away is difficult, though.

The basement of a synagogue where Levinson formerly prayed and taught is now a shelter. Nearby marketplaces are gone.

Factories and houses are destroyed.

“It’s not going to be so simple to recover from that,” he said.

Levinson said he remembers arriving in Kharkov more than two decades ago. At the time, there wasn’t continuous electricity, and the newspapers would print information about when and where lights would go out.

“I used to be giving a lesson in the synagogue and my wife would be sitting with my children in the dark,” he said. “There was no music, no video, nothing. And we’d be sitting in the dark for a few hours.”

Back then, few could pay for special lighting, and many people relied on candles.

Some people couldn’t even afford those, however, Levinson said. “Thank God we grew out of that, but I’m scared to think what will be after the war.”

The future is impossible to know and Levinson, a father of 10, isn’t sure when he and his family will return to Kharkov, but said he desperately wants to go home.

“My kids want to go back,” he said. “They feel that’s their place. We hope to go back and that Hashem will help.”

Divine providence is regularly on a rabbi’s mind, but the last few months have provided ample opportunities to consider God’s actions, Levinson said during his visit to Pittsburgh last week.

“We can’t understand Hashem, and we can’t understand his plans, but he does give us little hints,” Levinson said during his talk at the Lubavitch Center.

Whether it’s the miraculous speed with which documents are processed, or the position a bomb lands — and how many people are saved as a result — God is offering insight, Levinson said.

Levinson’s comments are a reminder that “Jews around the world are part of one family,” Rabbi Eliezer Shusterman said after the lecture.

Levinson agreed, and told the Chronicle that his appreciation for Jewish peoplehood grew while fleeing Ukraine.

Five days after leaving their homes, Levinson, his family and hundreds of other Jews arrived in Kishinev, Moldova, on a Friday. With evening approaching, Levinson wasn’t sure what to expect for Shabbat, but awaiting the refugees were volunteers and staffers from Chabad of Kishinev, who had secured housing and food not only for that group but hundreds of other refugees as well.

When Shabbat ended, before Levinson and his fellow travelers continued on, the Kharkovian leader offered to pay for the stay and services provided.

Their hosts refused any money, saying, “We don’t want to get paid for this. It’s our mitzvah,” Levinson recalled.

Hearing those words — and thinking about the efforts needed to serve Ukrainian Jewry now and in the years ahead — reminds Levinson of a parable about a cow that was unable to provide milk to its young. As awful as it was for the hungry calf, Levinson said, it’s even more painful for the mother.

“We are here in this world to provide, to do mitzvos, to help out,” he said. “And when we can help out, we feel this is our obligation. It isn’t our job. This is our instinct that requires us to do it.”

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, rabbi at the Lubavitch Center and the executive director of Chabad of Western Pennsylvania, encouraged attendees of the program to support Levinson’s work at jewishdiscovery. org/ukrainerefugees. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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APRIL 22, 2022

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Headlines Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association continues to expand reach — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

T

he Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh has had a terrific run over the past few years.

Formed in 1992 out of the merger of the United Jewish Federation Cemetery Association and the Hebrew Burial Association of Pittsburgh, the JCBA found its legs after the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh decided in 2015 to tackle the issue of helping to preserve Jewish cemeteries in the area — especially when those cemeteries’ families and congregations had faded into the past.

“The planning was extensive,” said Shelly Parver, assistant planning director for the Federation and a key player in the transition work with the JCBA. “There also was a pretty steep learning curve, given the scope of the issue.”

With “dozens and dozens” of smaller Jewish cemeteries throughout the region, the JCBA and the Federation had a big task ahead of them, Parver said. By 2017, they had a plan in place and, in 2019, lined up most of the funding. Since then, the JCBA has grown from running 11 cemeteries to administering or helping to administer about 30.

“Our charge was really to think of the whole future, the long-term health of these cemeteries,” Parver added. “This is an example of Federation’s planning work at its best. We came up with the plan, and we made it happen. The success of the JCBA in recent years is immense, far better than I would have expected.”

Barry Rudel, the JCBA’s executive director, has become a passionate advocate

for Jewish cemeteries, some of which have fallen on hard times.

“The community’s mission to re-envision the JCBA into a thriving, stable, strong burial association, after two years, is working,” Rudel said. “Most importantly, the long-deferred maintenance at many of the cemeteries has been and will continue to be addressed.”

Rudel stressed the Federation’s “significant early funding” was put to great use.

“We’ve now leveraged that funding five-fold,” he said.

JCBA’s latest achievement? Its board recently approved funds for restoration work and sustained maintenance at the circa-1873 cemetery for Tree of Life Congregation in Sharpsburg, Rudel said.

In 2021, the four Jewish cemeteries in Johnstown— Ahavath Achim, Rodef Sholom, Beth Zion and Israel Isaiah — were turned over to the JCBA. They were joined in 2022 by Kether Torah cemetery in Reserve Township.

The JCBA’s website unfolds stories of each cemetery, including photos of repaired gates and trimmed trees. Rudel, though modest, is proud of the work his group has been doing.

“We’re here for the community,” he said.

“And we’re grateful for the way they’re treating these cemeteries.”

Louis Kushner also was involved in the Federation’s work with JCBA — he is thrilled with the outcome.

“It’s gone better than anyone, I think, could have imagined,” Kushner told the Chronicle.

“We’ve had the full support of the Federation and its staff. We hired an excellent executive director. It’s going remarkably well.” PJC

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Headlines Kerry Weber uses Swissvale skateboard park to foster inclusivity — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

I

t’s Monday night in Swissvale, and Kerry Weber is squeezing a set of skateboard wheels. Weber, a former Washington County resident who now calls Point Breeze home, presses down on the plastic-wrapped packaging and explains how a rider’s experience depends on the wheels’ makeup and size.

Standing a few feet from Weber are a group of four helmeted adults. About a dozen skateboarders are elsewhere at Switch & Signal, an indoor skatepark in Swissvale.

Some of them are on boards, attempting tricks, falling; others are mingling, laughing and making the most of a Monday night beginner session. The group, spread out among Switch & Signal’s curated stairs, ramps and fencing, is a faction of Weber’s target audience.

Skateboarding is an inclusive experience, Weber said. That’s why Switch & Signal, the skateboarding park Weber owns and operates, has designated sessions for adult beginners, as well as slots catering to women, transgender and gender nonconforming people of all ages.

The inclusivity, which Weber promotes, is reflected in everything from Switch &

Kerry Weber stands behind the counter at Switch & Signal.

Signal’s programming to the music played inside the park and even Weber’s choice of lighting and paint colors.

The ramps’ different paint shades help people visualize where they are while riding.

The lighting is positioned for ample visibility, and the songs don’t blast from Switch & Signal’s speakers at a deafening pitch.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Skateboarding isn’t always easy for firsttimers or professionals, Weber explained, so it’s important that everyone can safely attempt a new — or familiar — activity.

Weber offers helmets, safety pads and skateboards at Switch & Signal. Adults are largely free to take whatever precautions they’d like, but children must be helmeted. At

this point in his life, Weber, 41, said he’s taken enough falls to know the value of wearing a helmet. But skateboarding, much like life, he said, is an individualistic expression.

Skateboarding — according to Culturally Situated Design Tools, a project founded

by University of Michigan researchers and supported by the National Science Foundation — largely emerged from the mid-20th century California surfing scene. Once the waves went “flat,” surfers needed a new activity so, using wooden boxes and wheels, surfers and other early riders eventually developed skateboards like those used today.

Throughout the 1970s and early ‘80s, skateboarding’s popularity fluctuated, but by the mid- to late-1980s, movies such as “Back to the Future,” “Thrashin’” and “Gleaming the Cube” helped cement the activity’s place within popular culture. Since then, the industry has grown to almost $2 billion in value, according to Grand View Research.

Skateboarding has “commodified,” Weber said, similar to the way society has reconsidered its relationship to street art or graffiti.

What once blighted a city is being cherished, he added.

Although skateboarding has a “greater reach” than it did decades ago, Weber would like to see more inclusivity.

Programs like Switch & Signal’s Shred Please see Weber, page 15

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APRIL 22, 2022

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Headlines ‘The Last Letter’ looks at the generational trauma of the Holocaust — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

R

udy Baum was 86 when he tried — but failed — to take his life by sealing the garage door of his Dallas home and letting his car idle inside.

His daughter, Karen Baum Gordon, has spent years trying to piece together the details of the 2002 attempted suicide and found arms of the story stretching back to Hitler’s Germany.

Baum was born a German Jew in 1915 and left his native Frankfurt for the United States in 1936, Gordon said. After becoming a U.S. citizen, he joined the Army and, back in Europe, helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.

Baum tried to save his parents in the early years of World War II, but the two eventually perished in the Holocaust. Gordon, years later, realized how that weighed on her father.

“He created his own private gas chamber, in a way — what compelled him to do that?”

Gordon said in a recent interview with the Chronicle. “I really wanted to understand what that was.”

So, Gordon dove into the family archives.

She paid a professional to translate into English 88 letters written mostly by Julie Baum, Gordon’s grandmother, to Rudy Baum

Rudy Baum and daughter Karen Baum Gordon 2007

Photo courtesy of Karen Baum Gordon

between November 1936 and October 1941.

In these letters, Gordon discovered what her family experienced in Nazi Germany and the psychological impact echoing through generations.

“You could feel the world crumbling around them,” Gordon said.

After presenting a talk about the journey at her home synagogue in Brooklyn following her father’s March 2009 death, Gordon’s book was born. “The Last Letter: A Father’s Struggle, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Long Shadow of the Holocaust” was published by the University of Tennessee Press in late 2021. “‘The Last Letter’ is a captivating family memoir that spans events from the 1930s and Hitler’s rise to power, through World War II and the Holocaust, to present-day United States,” book promoters at the University

of Tennessee Press wrote. “In recreating the fatal journeys of her grandparents and tracing her father’s efforts to save them an ocean away in America, Gordon discovers the forgotten fragments of her family’s history and a vivid sense of her own Jewish identity. By inviting readers along on this journey, Gordon manages to honor victim and survivor alike and shows subsequent generations — now many years after the tragic events of World War II — what it means to remember.”

“Karen Baum Gordon’s ‘Last Letter’ is a most welcome addition to the literature created by children of survivors of the Holocaust in their attempt to repair the world, as she journeys courageously and intimately into her father’s and grandparents’ horrific histories, commemorating it, and opening a better future for her own children and for all of us,” Yael Danieli, founder and executive director of the International Center for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, told the Chronicle.

William H. Weitzer, who heads the Leo Baeck Institute in New York and Berlin, reads many books like Gordon’s and called works like hers part of an “important genre of books” with which the public should engage.

“The last people that actually witnessed things are quickly going away,” Weitzer said. “Now, it’s time for the children and grandchildren to tell these stories [and] come

to grips themselves with their own trauma.”

“I’m extremely fascinated about how people choose to tell these stories,” he added.

“It’s really interesting how they incorporate [the family and world histories] into their own lives, their own professions.”

The world around the book is small, Gordon said. It turns out Gordon’s parents briefly settled in Mt. Lebanon from 1946 to 1948, where Gordon’s brother was born. The family, however, went on to spend most of its years in the Dallas area.

Another Pittsburgh connection? Gordon’s great-great-great uncle, Abraham Geiger, was one of the founders of Reform Judaism; one of the leaders of Geiger’s seminary in Germany was Rabbi Walter Jacob, rabbi emeritus and senior scholar at Pittsburgh’s Rodef Shalom Congregation.

“I love these small-world stories that I keep finding,” Gordon said. “One of the most phenomenal things about this book is it’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

But Gordon, who is set to speak next week at a Yom HaShoah event in Dallas, said the intent of the book is broader than that.

“There’s an importance in remembering and there’s an importance in doing this kind of work,” she said. “You don’t have to be a history expert to learn more.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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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 SUNDAY, APRIL 24 Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and Prime Stage Theatre for “The White Rose.” This play by James DeVita remembers Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and their friends who created the anti-Nazi resistance group, The White Rose.

1 p.m. Prime Stage Theatre. $10. primestage.com/education/engage-program. q SUNDAYS, APRIL 24-MAY 29 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, APRIL 25-MAY 30 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q TUESDAY, APRIL 26

q WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

q SATURDAY, APRIL 30

The National Council of Jewish Women, along with JFCS, presents Help with LinkedIn, a three-workshop series that will get you up and running on LinkedIn. Starting with the basics of creating a profile and moving into networking, learning to navigate this powerful job search and networking tool can assist you in your career. Sign up for any number of the learning sessions. ncjwpghevents.org/ upcoming-events.

Join Temple Sinai to watch “An American Pickle.” Stay afterward to talk about it.

7 p.m. templesinaipgh.org.

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the cornerstone program of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. It is the day set aside to remember the approximately 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Center’s annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration is a solemn community gathering that features a candle lighting ceremony, thematic readings, and a memorial for local survivors who have passed away. This year’s online program once again features students from LIGHT schools conducting interviews, this year with two living liberators and two children of liberators. Holocaust survivors will light commemorative candles. 7 p.m. hcofpgh.org/events. q WEDNESDAYS, APRIL 27 -JUNE 1 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.

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 Temple Sinai to study the weekly Torah portion in its hybrid class available on Zoom. Open to everyone. Noon. templesinaipgh.org/event/parashah/weeklytorah-portion-class-via-zoom11.html.

q TUESDAYS, APRIL 26-MAY 10

Attend the JFilm Festival in person and online. The festival will showcase 18 Jewish-themed, independent feature films from around the world. There will also be exclusive virtual Film Schmooze discussions and you will have a chance to vote on your favorite film. The festival will screen three films in person, including the Pittsburgh premiere of the locally filmed “Cha Cha Real Smooth” and the world premiere of “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life,” along with 15 films screening virtually. For more information, visit FilmPittsburgh.org.

Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership for Seeds of Resilience: Growing through Grief, a holistic support group, as they journey to address grief through the healing power of gardening. This five-week program involves self-expression through gardening and writing. The group is open to all adults who have experienced grief, no matter where they are on their healing journey, and offers an opportunity to connect and grow with others. 10.27 Healing Partnership, third floor, Squirrel Hill JCC, 5738 Forbes Ave. Noon. To register, visit 1027healingpartnership.org. q TUESDAYS, APRIL 26-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 THURSDAY, APRIL 28-MAY 8

q FRIDAY, APRIL 29 Join the National Council of Jewish Women for Child Care Advocacy 101. Hear from child care advocates about developments in childcare in the region and state. Learn successful strategies to advocate for your needs as a working parent to your legislators, employers or anybody who will listen! Discuss the importance of storytelling in advocacy and leave with action points. Noon. ncjwpghevents. org/events/child-care-advocacy-101.

q SUNDAY, MAY 1 The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the next Chronicle Book Club meeting. We will be discussing “The Seven Good Years” by Etgar Keret on Zoom.

Noon. To register, email David Rullo at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for its virtual Yom HaZikaron ceremony honoring soldiers who gave their lives to defend the state of Israel and victims of terror. 8 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/yom-hazikaron-2. q TUESDAY, MAY 3 Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States and around the world. Recent events caused many of us to feel anxious and upset. We often do not know what to do with these overwhelming feelings. Join JFCS for Facing Antisemitism: Conversation and Support, as its professionals listen and offer support and coping resources. Noon. jfcspgh.org/antisemitism. q SUNDAY, MAY 15 Celebrate 74 years of Independence for the Jewish state of Israel with the Pittsburgh Jewish community while enjoying Israeli culture and cuisine at Yom Ha’atzmaut: A Taste of Israel. Sample Israeli cuisine, participate in joyous Israeli dancing, have fun with the kids at an arts and crafts table and bring a picnic blanket so you can spread out on the grass and enjoy the day. $10 per person; kids under 10 are free. Noon. jewishpgh.org/event/yom-haatzmaut-2. q WEDNESDAY, MAY 18; TUESDAY, MAY 31 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the VR documentary “By the Waters of Babylon,” a story of composers who created hope in a time of darkness and a modern-day string quartet dedicated to shining a light on their legacy. This limited screening event is a collaboration between the filmmakers, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Chatham University and Point Park University.

Screenings take place on May 18 and 31. Space is limited, advanced registration required. 7 p.m. Buhl Planetarium at the Carnegie Science Center. $0-$36. hcofpgh.org/events. q WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 Save the date for the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh’s spring event. Guest speaker Tammy Thompson, founder Catapult Greater Pittsburgh, will discuss how love, support and policy can pave a road to prosperity. Outgoing President Teddi Jacobson Horvitz will be honored, and new President Andrea Kline Glickman will be installed. 7 p.m. Rodef Shalom Congregation. Registration coming soon. ncjwpghevents.org/upcoming-events. PJC

State grants more than $500,000 to local religious nonprofits for security

P

ennsylvania awarded more than $500,000 to a dozen local religious nonprofits to bolster their security, State Rep. Dan Frankel and Sen. Jay Costa announced on April 14.

Local grantees include: Chabad of Carnegie Mellon University; Jewish Residential Services; Chabad of Squirrel Hill; Yeshivath Achei Tmimim of Pittsburgh; Lubavitch Center; Congregation Dor Hadash; Hillel Jewish University Center; Chabad Young Professionals; Rodef Shalom Congregation; Tzohar Seminary; and Temple Sinai.

“Our houses of faith are integral to a vibrant, diverse and loving Pittsburgh community,” Frankel said in a prepared

statement. “With this funding, the state of Pennsylvania acknowledges both the vital role that these organizations play and the dangers of today’s world. These places are the centers of their communities, places of peace, of hope, of friendship. No one should ever have to be afraid to step through their doors.”

Across Allegheny County, more than 20 religious nonprofits were awarded grants totaling more than $1.1 million, according to a press release from Frankel’s office. The grants were made possible by a bipartisan agreement to extend Act 83 of 2019, “legislation championed by both lawmakers in the wake of the Squirrel Hill synagogue attack in 2018, using

funding from the American Rescue Plan. This is the third year grants from the program have been disbursed,” the press release said.

“This community knows all too well the violence and devastation of hate crimes, and it’s a top priority of mine in the legislature to prevent those crimes,” Costa said in a prepared statement. “While I’m happy to announce today’s grants with Representative Frankel, I would be remiss if I did not also mention that we have introduced legislation that would empower law enforcement with additional tools to track hate groups and prevent violence. We await hearings in the state legislature on those bills.”

Grant recipients can use the funds for

security enhancements to protect the safety of the users of their facilities, including safety and security planning, purchase of security equipment, and safety and security training “Priority for funding was given to organizations that indicated their organization and/or membership was the victim of a hate crime, that received credible hatecrime threats, or that serves a population susceptible to hate crimes, which includes people of certain race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender and gender identity,” the press release said. PJC

compact style benefits the brevity of the pieces, perfectly matching his skewed and occasionally detached tone; Keret is a sort of bemused and sometimes baffled observer of the world and the people who inhabit it, and simply a wonderful writer.”

PGH. We invite you to join now if you are not already a member of the group.

— Toby Tabachnick

Join the Chronicle Book Club!

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its May 1 discussion of the memoir “The Seven Good Years,”

by Israeli author Etgar Keret.

From Amazon.com: “Etgar Keret is not your usual memoirist.

For his first foray into the genre — he is the author of several lauded short story collections — Keret chose the titular Seven Good Years between the birth of his son and the death of his father as temporal boundaries for a series of four- to five-page vignettes and ruminations, ranging from humorous to

6

APRIL 22, 2022

anxious (but humorous) to heavy (and humorous). And for the most part, those events don’t even define the content of this collection. Keret — a native of Israel — contemplates moments of his life against a backdrop of constant conflict, casting an absurd light on both the monumental and mundane: a time-wasting game of chicken with a telemarketer becomes an irritating memento mori; the terrorist subtext of Angry Birds comes disturbingly (if somewhat speciously) clear; a whimsical mustache conjures a story of a near-fatal encounter in Lebanon. His

Your Hosts

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

How It Works

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, May 1, at noon. As you read the book, we invite you to share comments and join discussions in our Facebook group, Chronicle Connects: Jewish

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

What To Do

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

Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.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

Headlines JFilm opens April 28 with virtual and in-person screenings — LOCAL —

By Chronicle Staff

J

Film, the region’s long-standing Jewish film festival, opens its 29th season with the Pittsburgh-filmed romantic comedy “Cha Cha Real Smooth” on April 28 at the AMC Waterfront. The festival, which runs through May 8, will feature two additional in-person screenings and 15 films available for viewing online.

On May 5, at AMC Waterfront, there will be an in-person screening of “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life.” Following the screening, director Patrice O’Neill will be in the house to discuss the film and answer questions.

Two virtual “Film Schmoozes” will be complimentary for ticketholders to discuss “The Replacement” and “Three Minutes – A Lengthening” with university scholars.

As in years past, the festival’s films come from around the world, including France, Germany, Israel and Spain.

Reviews of five of the films follow. For a complete schedule and trailers, visit filmpittsburgh. org/jfilm/films.

“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”

(88 minutes) Fans of Norman Jewison’s brilliant silver screen adaptation of Broadway’s “Fiddler on the Roof ” will be fascinated by this compelling documentary about the making of the film. Featuring new interviews with those key to the movie’s development, along with captivating archival footage, “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen” shares the insiders’ perspectives on the creation of what film critic Pauline Kael called “the most powerful musical ever made.”

Narrated by Pittsburgh native Jeff Goldblum, the documentary includes such gems as interviews with the three actresses who played Tevye’s oldest daughters and Jewison’s childhood recollections of being the target of antisemitic bullying in school although he was not Jewish.

Behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s production and archival interviews with Topol, who played Tevye, provide a fitting tribute to the movie which premiered a half-century ago but has stood the test of time.

— Toby Tabachnick “Greener Pastures”

(90 minutes) In a list of greatest stoner films, “Greener Pastures” will never match “Dazed and Confused,” “The Big Lebowski” or anything by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Still, “Greener Pastures” is a complement to the genre. The Israeli film follows septuagenarian Dov and his efforts to exit the senior living center he now calls home. Believing that his new abode is akin to a prison, Dov hopes to gain independence by buying back the house he once owned. The problem, though, is that Dov doesn’t have the money to make such a purchase.

After realizing that the state provides seniors with medical marijuana, Dov concocts a plan, which leads him through a predictable path of crime, questionable characters and, ultimately, understanding. Dov’s realization is similar to what viewers come to appreciate at “Greener Pasture’s” conclusion: Sometimes the bestlaid plans are nothing more than smoke.

— Adam Reinherz “Image of Victory”

(128 minutes) Within a sweeping two-hour-long film, Israeli director Avi Nesher revisits the 1948 Battle of Nitzanim.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Fought between members of a southern kibbutz and the Egyptian Army during Israel’s quest for independence, the battle was one of only a few cases of Israeli surrender and long considered a source of humiliation.

Nesher takes issue with the latter, suggesting that reaction to Nitzanim is an oversimplification of the combatants’ efforts. By focusing on kibbutzniks and an Egyptian filmmaker, Nesher reveals the complexities of conflict, passion and time’s ability to reshape both. “Image of Victory” never deviates from being a war story but its takeaway is a reminder of the pricelessness of peace.

— Adam Reinherz “One More Story”

(91 minutes) “One More Story” opens in the middle of an awkward first date. After a series of embarrassing mishaps and uncomfortable miscues, Yarden Gat (Dina Sanderson) and her anonymous date (Guri Alfi) decide to reset and fast forward to a typical fifth date, “put it all on the table and tell each other how they suck.” Gat goes first and recounts a story that would scare away just about anyone.

The tale she weaves involves sleeping with her boss (Lior Ashkenazi), manipulating her friend (Maayan Blum) to go on a series of dates she can write about and, when he meets the girl of his dreams (Daniel Gal), works to keep them apart for the sake of her story.

The plot of “One More Story” is a fresh take on the boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl narrative.

It recounts the beginning of a love story for both couples but doesn’t feel overly complicated or forced.

Directed and co-written by Alfi, the Israeli rom-com is a smart, funny and fast-paced film that, despite being predictable, keeps viewers engaged until the final scene.

If there is one distraction for American audiences who don’t know Hebrew, it’s the English subtitles, which are often slightly incorrect and filled with grammatical errors. Even with the occasional distractions, though, “One More Story” is an enjoyable take on a familiar theme.

— David Rullo “Our (Almost Completely True) Story”

(92 minutes) Call it a feature-length, kinder “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

“Our (Almost Completely True) Story” is filled with actors and actresses of a certain age and pedigree playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Familiar faces like Mariette Hartley, Morgan Fairchild, Maeve Quinlan, Bernie Koppell and Tess Harper intermingle with industry insiders Jerry Sroka and Don Scardino, and seasoned character actors including Sam McMurray and Peter Onorati, in this gentle romantic comedy.

At its heart, “Our (Almost Completely True) Story” is a love story between Hartley and Sroka (real-life husband and wife). Viewers will feel comfortable with the film, whose scenes and soundtrack often evoke other movies and actors — including camera homages to Hitchcock and Sroka’s passion for reciting classic movie lines. Along the way, bad dates, auditions and encounters with exes provide plenty of laughs.

Allusions to period pieces and famed directors aside, “Our (Almost Completely True) Story” is a story of people and relationships. It shows the struggles of growing old in an industry addicted to youth, the attempts to deal with technology and new ways to work — and date — for actors not necessarily comfortable with the advances of time, and how to love while traversing the unfamiliar condition of aging.

Written by Sroka and directed by Scardino, “Our (Almost Completely True) Story” is akin to pleasantly floating down a familiar river. Just don’t expect a lot of rapids along the way. PJC — David Rullo PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”

“Greener Pastures”

“Image of Victory”

“One More Story”

“Our (Almost Completely True) Story”

Photos courtesy of Film Pittsburgh

APRIL 22, 2022

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Headlines ‘Philanthropy on a paying basis’ — LOCAL —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

D

irectly across from Trees Hall is a small housing complex: six identical brick quadplexes filling the square made by Alequippa Street, Robinson Street and Wadsworth Street. These modest buildings were the first effort by the local Jewish community to address affordable housing — and perhaps the first such effort anywhere in Pittsburgh.

The project emerged in the early 20th century out of growing concerns with housing conditions in the Hill District. A survey in April 1916 by the United Hebrew Relief Association had found severe overcrowding, shoddy construction, poor sanitation and high rents. In charts accompanying the report, Pittsburgh — meaning the Hill District — was presented as the most crowded and expensive major city in the country.

The report acknowledged that many of the neighborhood’s problems lay beyond the reach of any single social services agency. In an age without public welfare, few other options existed.

The deadlock had been spawning study after study — starting with the landmark Pittsburgh Survey in 1907 — but none ever seemed to lead to practical work.

And so the United Hebrew Relief Association tried something new. A committee led by Carrie Naumberg Cohen, Aaron Cohen and Robert Lewin chartered the United Housing Corp. in 1921. They raised about $120,000 in an initial stock offering and used the funds to buy an old mansion, which they renovated into three apartments.

From that initial base of funding, the corporation began building an apartment complex. Its original plan called for 12 units arranged in a square, surrounding a commons area of lawns, gardens and playgrounds. That first 12-unit development was intended merely as a pilot project for a new way of addressing housing problems.

The complex was designed and marketed as a Jewish project. Land was chosen for its proximity to Jewish amenities in the Hill. Early tenants were working-class Jewish families from the Hill. An early full-page ad in the Jewish Criterion read: “While other organizations are discussing the problem the Jewry of Pittsburgh is solving it.”

But the vision was broader than Jewish concerns.

Organizers claimed that their development was the first affordable housing project in Pittsburgh.

Even if it is hyperbolic, the claim is notable: It shows that they never intended to stop with Jews helping Jews. They were using the emerging infrastructure of Jewish assistance to develop a model that might someday benefit the entire city.

The United Hebrew Relief Association — a direct predecessor of JFCS Pittsburgh — was the oldest Jewish charity in Western Pennsylvania, and it became the first and largest beneficiary of the new Federation of the Jewish Philanthropies of Pittsburgh in 1912. The arrival of the Federation model marked a shift in Jewish charitable activity, a move toward a more holistic and analytic approach to problems.

The novelty of the United Housing Corp. was its financial structure. It was neither a charity nor a business. It was “philanthropy on a paying basis.” Investors bought shares and earned annual dividends, capped at 5% to keep rents low.

Within a year, the corporation had issued its 8

APRIL 22, 2022

A full-page advertisement in the Jewish Criterion from April 1, 1921, announcing a proposed housing development in the Hill District.

Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

first dividend at 2.5%. But people must have been skeptical of the project, or at least apathetic to it, because by late 1923 the corporation was lamenting the lack of communal interest.

“It is too bad that in the hustle and hurry of modern life the real work that the United Housing Corporation is doing has been more or less lost sight of,” the officers wrote in the Criterion that year.

Only three of the quadplexes had been built by summer. Another three were built over the following year, but the corporation struggled to find new investors. “Is there any great, kindhearted humanitarian who will come forward

to aid us in paying off this balance due upon the construction of the buildings?” the officers wrote in the Criterion.

None came.

In October 1925, the United Housing Corp. asked shareholders to approve $100,000 in debt financing to continue work on the housing complex. Shareholders appear to have balked. The project stopped at six units. The United Housing Corp. remained in existence for another 15 years, overseeing the rentals on its properties.

Those 15 years saw the Hill District steadily empty of its Jewish population. They also saw the arrival of New Deal public housing projects,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

starting with the dedication of Terrace Village about a block away from the United Housing Corp. complex.

That may explain why the United Housing Corp. sold all six buildings to a real estate broker in early 1940 and formally dissolved the corporation later that year. It was an experiment born of a certain time and place, and both circumstances had changed. 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.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines The influential group of Republicans who remain loyal to Liz Cheney: Pro-Israel donors — NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

W

ASHINGTON — Liz Cheney, the Wyoming congresswoman who is perhaps the fiercest critic of Donald Trump, isn’t too popular in her party these days: The House Republican caucus kicked her out of her leadership role and some influential Republicans want her out of the GOP, period.

But there’s one section of the party where she’s getting support: Pro-Israel Republicans continue to fundraise for Cheney.

Cheney’s bona fides as one of the best friends of the right-wing pro-Israel community since her father, Dick, was vice president and she held a senior Middle East policy position at the State Department, is helping her outraise her challengers in a primary in August, even though some of her erstwhile pro-Israel donors are wary of her war with Trump.

Bill Kilberg, a lawyer who is deeply involved in funding for Israel’s Hebrew University, last month held a donor bash for her in McLean, Virginia, the same tony Washington suburb where Dick Cheney is now based. Kilberg’s wife Bobbie told CNN that the couple intended to host the Cheney fundraiser at home but picked a larger venue as the RSVPs poured in.

That’s typical of the pro-Israel community, which prides itself on its loyalty to politicians that have stood up for the Jewish state for years, however dire their straits become, said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The RJC’s affiliated political action committee has endorsed Cheney and has given her the maximum of $10,000 in a cycle.

“We stand by our friends who have been leaders and supporters over the years, regardless of where they were on other external issues,” Brooks said.

Brooks noted that in addition to the Kilbergs, Jewish pro-Israel stalwarts who have held fundraisers for Cheney include Mel Sembler, the Florida-based shopping center magnate, and Eric Levine, who runs an eponymous white-shoe law firm in New York.

Cheney’s receipts with the centrist and right-wing pro-Israel communities run deep: Her father was one of Israel’s most vocal defenders in an administration already known for its friendliness to Israel.

He clashed with Condoleezza Rice during the 2006 Israel Lebanon war, undercutting her efforts as secretary of state to bring Israel to heel.

Liz Cheney worked for Rice at the time as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state, focused on Middle East issues. But she clearly sided with her father over her boss during that clash — at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in 2008, not long after she left the Bush administration, she blasted Rice’s pressure on Israel to close a peace deal with the Palestinians.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Rep. Liz Cheney speaks during a Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol meeting on Capitol Hill on March 28.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Even out of government from 2007 until her election as a Wyoming congresswoman in 2016, Liz Cheney was a frontline, pro-Israel warrior, emerging on op-ed pages as a political warrior ready for battle with lsrael’s critics. She earned cheers at AIPAC conferences blasting President Barack Obama for not following Israel’s lead in threatening military action to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear-weapon state.

Back in government as a congresswoman from a state with hardly any Jews, she assumed a role as a leader on pro-Israel issues. She co-sponsored an array of pro-Israel legislation and pushed for military engagement with Iran, a rare call even among hawkish Republicans.

Cheney took the lead in the summer of 2020 when Democrats warned Israel not to annex West Bank territory, spearheading a letter saying that Republicans would not get in the way of annexation.

So she has the resume to sustain substantial pro-Israel support, said Fred Zeidman, a Houston businessman who is a leader among Republican Jewish fundraisers, and who is not involved in the Wyoming race one way or another.

“Anybody that was for her is going to continue to be for her,” he said in an interview. “If you’d been a supporter of hers, you’ve got to stick with it, if for no other reason, as a matter of principle.

Cheney has raised a stunning $10 million overall this cycle, with close to $3 million in the most recent quarter.

But her pariah status among Republicans complicates matters for her supporters. Cheney is not simply a Trump critic; she co-chairs the congressional committee investigating the riot he spurred on Jan. 6, 2021, and has said Trump may be criminally liable.

There’s no Republican who Trump — still effectively the GOP’s thought leader — hates more than Cheney. He has made ousting her his first priority and has endorsed her GOP primary opponent Harriet Hageman, an attorney. A poll in December showed Hageman leading Cheney 38%-18% in the primary in one of the most Republican and pro-Trump states — and that was before Hageman secured Trump’s endorsement.

That makes public identification with Cheney a fraught prospect. She is not among the 20 Republicans appearing on the RJC PAC’s endorsement page, but Brooks said the page is not finalized.

“By definition, our contribution to her is an endorsement,” he said. “We are continuing to roll out our lists going forward.”

For now, however, the RJC is being cautious, denying Cheney their more

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

straightforward means of securing funds, through the RJC PAC. AIPAC, which once had a close relationship with Cheney, did not include her in its first slate of 120 candidates endorsed by its newly established political action committee, and she has yet to be endorsed by Pro-Israel America, a bipartisan PAC run by former senior AIPAC staffers.

Both groups said that it was early days; the Wyoming caucus is in August.

“Pro-Israel America is keeping close track of all races across the country, including the primary race for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district,” Jeff Mendelsohn, Pro-Israel America’s executive director, said in an email. “We are currently very focused on upcoming spring primary elections and intend to make additional endorsements moving forward.”

AIPAC’s spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, said more endorsements were coming.

“The AIPAC PAC has been in existence for less than four months,” he said. “We will continue our review and make decisions about contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle.”

Cheney might not be amenable to an Please see Cheney, page 15

APRIL 22, 2022

9

Headlines — WORLD — French prosecutors indict two men for assaulting a Jew who died while fleeing

French prosecutors indicted two men for assaulting a Jewish man seconds before he ran under the wheels of a tram and was fatally wounded, JTA reported.

One of the suspects, 27, is accused of “intentional violence in public.” The other, 23, is being charged with “intentional violence which led to involuntary manslaughter,” according to a statement issued April 15 by the prosecutor’s office of Bobigny, a Paris suburb where the incident occurred.

The indictment does not mention any antisemitic motive, according to the CNews television channel. The family of Jérémie Cohen, 31, has said it does not know whether he had been targeted because he was Jewish. Cohen’s father, Gerald, has said that his son often wore a kippah on the street though the family does not know whether he was wearing one when he was assaulted on Feb. 16.

The media initially reported the incident as a straightforward vehicular accident until the victim’s family found footage of the assault following a two-week investigation they conducted on their own.

Jewish approval of Biden drops to 63% from 80% last year

The good news for President Joe Biden is that a majority of U.S. Jews approve of the job he is doing, JTA reported. The bad news is that the number in a new poll, 63%, is a sharp drop from a year ago.

A poll released April 13 by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, showed Biden’s approval rating down from 80%.

The institute put a positive spin on the numbers.

“Jewish Americans continue to support President Biden and the Democratic Party at levels higher than the general American voting population, a trend that appears on track to continue in this year’s midterm elections and in the future,” said the group’s chairman, Martin Frost, a former Jewish Democratic congressman from Texas.

Biden’s approval numbers generally have dropped in the last year, a result of the quick exit from Afghanistan, a persistent pandemic and inflation that his government can’t stem, JTA said.

German-Israeli singer charged with lying about alleged antisemitic incident

A public prosecutor’s office charged the German-Israeli singer who said he was denied service at a hotel in Leipzig for

SAFEGUARDING YOUR PRESENT & FUTURE

wearing a Star of David pendant with false accusation and slander, JTA said.

Ofarim, 39, was indicted on March 31 by the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office. It is now up to the Leipzig Regional Court to decide whether to proceed with a trial.

At issue are Ofarim’s claims that an employee of Leipzig’s Westin Hotel insulted him on Oct. 4, 2021, refusing to give him a room because he was wearing a visibly Jewish symbol. Ofarim posted video footage to social media purporting to show the incident.

The accusation went viral, and Jews and others protested outside the hotel on his behalf. The employee was temporarily suspended.

It wasn’t long before doubts were raised about Ofarim’s account. The hotel shared its security camera footage with German news media: In it, there was no Star of David pendant to be seen around Ofarim’s neck.

Israeli universities to offer returning academics up to $186K

Israel will enable its universities to offer lecturers in high-demand disciplines benefits worth up to the equivalent of $186,272 to return to the country to teach after completing post-doctoral work overseas, Globes reported.

Israeli academic institutions suffer from a shortage of hundreds of senior faculty

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

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Israeli president hosts lone soldiers, Ukrainian immigrants at seder

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, his wife Michal and their three sons hosted their first seder at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on April 15, and the guests included lone soldiers and a Ukrainian immigrant family, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Hosting lone soldiers at seders is a longtime tradition. The soldiers are a man from Costa Rica and a woman from Argentina.

The Ukrainian family includes a mother and two children who arrived in Israel in March after crossing into Poland. Her husband and father had to stay behind, fighting for Ukraine. PJC — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

This week in Israeli history — WORLD —

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members in computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and physics. While there are enough Israeli professors and Ph.D. holders to fill those positions, about 1,600 of the best Israeli lecturers work at universities in the United States, Globes reported.

Globes noted that an Israeli lecturer at a top academic institution overseas can earn as much as four times more than what they would earn in Israel and command larger research budgets — making returning to Israel an unattractive prospect.

April 22, 1948 — Haganah seizes Haifa

The Haganah executes a three-prong attack to secure control of all of Haifa except for the port, which the British hold, amid the violence ahead of the Israeli Declaration of Independence three weeks later.

April 23, 2014 — Fatah, Hamas reconcile

Hamas and the Fatah-led PLO, which runs the Palestinian Aut hor it y, announce the end of their seven-year rift. Because Hamas does not recognize Israel, the brief reconciliation ends U.S.-facilitated Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

April 24, 1903 — Africa is proposed for Jewish Homeland

Meeting with Theodor Herzl, British official Joseph Chamberlain proposes a Jewish homeland in British-controlled East Africa.

Herzl sees the Uganda Plan as an interim step toward the return to Israel.

April 25, 1920 — 1st Palestine High Commissioner is named Herbert Samuel is asked to serve as Britain’s first high commissioner for Palestine the same day the San Remo Conference accepts the Balfour Declaration as part of the plan for the former Ottoman Empire.

April 26, 1881 — Pogrom hits Kyiv

Anti-Jewish violence since the assassination of Czar Alexander II in March sweeps into Kyiv. Rioters loot and destroy Jewish shops and homes. Authorities warned Kyiv’s Jews on April 25 to stay inside.

April 27, 1984 — Jewish Underground members are arrested

Fifteen members of the Jewish Underground, an anti-Arab terrorist group formed by members of the settler group Gush Emunim, are arrested before they can sabotage five Arab buses in eastern Jerusalem. They also plan to blow up the Dome of the Rock.

April 28, 2008 — Amos-3 satellite is launched

Israel Aerospace Industries launches the Amos-3 communications satellite, based on the Affordable Modular Optimized Satellite (AMOS) platform. It reaches orbit 80 minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan. PJC

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 10

APRIL 22, 2022

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Opinion Leading the people back to Egypt Guest Columnist Joshua Berman

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all it “the Exodus in reverse.”

In growing numbers, Israeli tour groups are flocking to Cairo, Luxor and Aswan to tour the sites of Egypt, and I recently led the first biblically-themed kosher tour there. The exposure to Egypt, ancient and modern, is a mind-bending experience.

It hits you the moment you get on the highway from Cairo International Airport.

Before you are two huge signs. To the right “Nasser City,” named for the dictator who sought Israel’s destruction in 1956 and 1967, and to the left, “6th of October City,” erected in commemoration of the surprise attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, 1973. I can vividly recall as a youngster sitting next to my father in shul on that Yom Kippur morning when the rabbi rose and announced, “Israel has been attacked; we don’t know where and we don’t know by whom.”

But blink an eye and this is what you now see: A kippah-wearing Jew jogging alone in Luxor and in Aswan greeted with applause and cheers as the locals call out morning greetings of “Sabah al-khair!”; 35 Jews walking through the densely packed

souk of central Cairo on a Friday morning as hawkers looking to peddle their wares approach, calling “Shalom U-vrachah!”; Jews making a minyan for evening prayers — in the lobby of the Cairo Ramses Hilton; local hotel kitchen staff checking their every move with our kashrut supervisor, eager to respect the laws of the Jews’ parallel to the Muslim dietary laws of halal.

In Egypt, for the first time in my life, I walked around a city where the vast majority of people were like me — devout practitioners of their religion. There was something liberating about not sticking out like a sore thumb in a secular liberal landscape.

To tour the sites of ancient Egypt is truly to walk in the footsteps of the Exodus. Here you read in hieroglyphs names like Miriam and Pinchas (Pinchas, an Egyptian name?

Who knew?), and brush your hand over mud bricks with straw that date to the time of the enslavement in Egypt.

Some of the discoveries are truly revealing.

At the seder table, we recall how God delivered Israel from Egypt “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” Most would be surprised to learn that this biblical phrase is actually Egyptian in origin: Egyptian inscriptions routinely describe the Pharaoh as “the mighty hand” and his acts as those of “the outstretched arm.”

When the Torah describes God in the same terms used by the Egyptians to exalt

their pharaohs, we see at work the dynamics of cultural appropriation. During much of its history, ancient Israel was in Egypt’s shadow. For weak and oppressed peoples, one form of cultural and spiritual resistance is to appropriate the symbols of the oppressor and put them to competitive ideological purposes.

Or consider this: When you write a sentence in hieroglyphs there’s a special rule — if the sentence contains the name of a god, that god’s name must be the first word in the sentence, no matter what it does to the syntax of the rest of the sentence. Think of a verse like Exodus 3:11: “And Moses said to the Lord, ‘who am I that I should go before Pharaoh?’” In hieroglyphs, you’d have to write this, “Lord Moses said to the who am I that I should go before Pharaoh?” That makes reading this stuff incredibly difficult, but as a man of faith myself, the idea behind it resonated with me: Put God first, and work your way around Him. One of the participants excitedly showed me that we have the same phenomenon in the halachah. The Torah says that the High Priest should wear a diadem inscribed with the words “Holy to God” (kodesh le-Hashem).

But according to the Talmud (Shabbat 63b), this must be written in two lines: in the top line, the tetragrammaton alone, and in the lower line “Holy to – .” And then it dawned on me: in sharing this “God-first” mentality,

I have something significant in common with these idol-worshipping Jew-enslaving Egyptians of old that I don’t with many of the people I consider good friends today.

None of this would be happening now without the Abraham Accords, whose tailwinds have carried Egypt along as part of the moderate Suni axis and its rapprochement with the Jewish state. Egyptair, which for years refused to fly its planes into Tel Aviv, now does so with daily service. To be sure, this is not for love of Zion but for love of mammon. The Egyptians want Israeli business travelers to transit to Africa through Cairo. They want Jews to visit Egypt because it helps their economy. But not so long ago, such interests couldn’t overcome animosity and radical ideology.

These opportunities challenge us to look at them anew as they look at us anew as well.

And, so, it’s a blessed time and a first step.

Following the cadence of the Haggadah, we may say: This year is different than all other years. And even If we can now peacefully visit Egypt, but the Egyptians don’t yet sing “Ha-Tikvah” – dayenu. PJC Joshua Berman is a professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and is the author most recently of “Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth and the Thirteen Principles of Faith” (Maggid). This piece first appeared on The Times of Israel.

Parents: Encourage your children to participate in student government Guest Columnist Elior Amar

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n one Tuesday night in February, a small group of Jewish students at UC Santa Cruz, where I serve as a shaliach (Israeli emissary) for the Jewish Agency for Israel, logged into the weekly Zoom meeting of the Student Union Assembly to support the adoption of a working definition of antisemitism.

The resolution referenced the definition written by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has been endorsed by countless governments and organizations. The IHRA definition maintains that, among other things, a fair critique of Israel is acceptable, but denying Jews of the right to self-determination is an antisemitic act.

Immediately, opposition was voiced within the student government. “I will not support any resolution that includes the IHRA definition,” declared one of the voting members, arguing that it would silence Palestinian voices and interfere with advocating for Palestinian liberation. The proposal was tabled and sent to a subcommittee in charge of diversity and inclusion for review.

The resolution was endorsed by the Diversity Commission and presented again the following week. This time, it faced even stronger objection, backed by more students

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APRIL 22, 2022

and multiple BDS activists from other universities. After several hours of heated debate over the motion, 13 members voted against it; nine abstained; and only three supported it — two of whom were Jewish.

That’s 13 votes against defining antisemitism amid a rising tide of Jewish hatred across the country.

Student union associations don’t have actual power over the administration’s policies. So, why does it matter that 13 voting members are refusing to define antisemitism? Student governments set the tone on issues of interest to the student population and speak on behalf of their peers. Their statements and resolutions cultivate a certain campus culture, and often reflect statewide and even national trends that influence their counterparts in other schools.

As Jewish presence in those spaces is very limited, Jewish and pro-Israel students are fighting a losing battle. The 10-80-10 principle — arguing that roughly 80% of the people do not have a strong opinion on a given matter, 10% are against it and only 10% are proud advocates — doesn’t hold when it comes to Jews and Zionism. Years of heavily biased media coverage, coupled with carefully designed campaigns demonizing Israel, have misinformed an entire generation.

Student Union members who opposed or abstained during the vote did not necessarily do so out of deep hostility toward Jews.

They did it out of fear. They didn’t want their names to be associated with supporting any form of perceived injustice. But they failed to recognize their lack of fact-based education

about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on our campus community.

Ten days later, on March 5, two colleges at UC Santa Cruz were defaced with antisemitic and anti-Black graffiti. Within hours, the university issued a statement condemning the incident. Several days later, driven by pressure from its Jewish members, the Student Union expressed its wholehearted solidarity with the Jewish and Black communities, committed to undergoing annual antisemitism training and urged the administration to take action.

Riding on momentum has its benefits, but it is not a long-term strategy. In the events that preceded the vandalism, Jewish students in this progressive-liberal school were told which sources they are allowed to quote from, what language they are allowed to use to define their identity, and what is and isn’t considered a crime against their people. No other ethnic group is faced with so much hypocrisy on a college campus.

What happens in college doesn’t stay in college. When students don’t feel safe expressing their Jewish identity, they learn to hide it. If students can’t talk openly about Israel, they learn to avoid it. Consequently, those who support the boycott of Israel in the name of disingenuous social justice dominate the space and even affect decisions in the corporate world, like the one made by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company to end its operations in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem.

If we don’t want other people speaking for us, we have to be in those spaces and

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

speak up for ourselves.

Parents of college students need to understand the following: Their children don’t need to compromise their academics or devote too much time to this issue. They don’t have to run for student body president or another public office or even be interested in campus politics. In most cases, simply by regularly attending council meetings, students are granted voting power. Their mere presence can make a difference.

Much of the support expressed by UC Santa Cruz’s administration and the Student Union Assembly following the incident is a direct result of our students’ strongwilled fight to be heard and respected. I’m convinced that had we not had any representation in those spaces, the impact on our community wouldn’t have been recognized in the same elaborate and sincere manner as a call to action. Their ability to see the situation clearly, speak confidently and work with their peers collaboratively allowed them to stand up to antisemitism and persuade others to stand by their side.

As we approach the end of this academic year and the beginning of another, I encourage parents to think of the impact their children can make on this world simply by speaking up.

Remind them of the importance of connecting with the Jewish community and being vocal about their identity. Every one of us has a voice, and every one of us deserves to be heard. PJC Elior Amar is the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at Santa Cruz Hillel. This piece first appeared on JNS. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Chronicle poll results: Haggadot

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ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Which Haggadah are you using (or did you use) this year?” Of the 101 people who responded, 53% said, “The same Haggadah we use every year. It’s tradition,” and 22% said they were using the Maxwell House Haggadah. Ten percent said they were using a new Haggadah this year and 9% said they made their own Haggadah. Thirty-three people submitted comments. A few follow.

We switched to the PJ Library Haggadah due to the growing number of kids at our family seder.

We use a children’s-style book that tells the stories well. We use it even though our children are now grown.

We have many kinds of Haggadot and pick one each night according to the whim of the moment. Not everyone at the table has the same one, which makes the seder more fun and allows for

Which Haggadah are you using (or did you use) this year?

Don’t know – we’re going somewhere, and don’t know what the host will be using.

7% 21%

53%

Maxwell House!

The same Haggadah that we use every year.

It’s tradition.

9% We make our own Haggadah.

10% A new Haggadah this year.

more commentary.

We have lots of Maxwell House and provide those for everyone, but in the end, people each choose their own from

our extensive collection. I’ve been using the Artscroll Kids Haggadah lately, purely because of the large print!

We use traditional and modern Haggadot and then take things from the internet, as we do one traditional seder and one themed seder — depending on the age and interests of the guests — that is more topical.

I have created a Haggadah, bringing together aspects of many other Haggadahs that I find meaningful. It’s a fun process, though I need to delete some and not just add!

I still love the smell I get from the Maxwell House Haggadah. It brings bask such good memories of my Zeidie leading the service and falling asleep and all the grandkids hiding his teeth. What good memories. This was actually better than the afikomen.

We use the same “base” Haggadah each

year but supplement with material from various others. We try to have something new each year, and sometimes guests bring other Haggadot too. We get variety, and we don’t have to buy a bunch of copies every time we find something new.

Thirty-minute seder.

We’ve used the same (circa late 1950s) Haggadah since the late 1960s. “Tradition ... Tradition!”

The one I’ve written is actually fairly traditional, but egalitarian too. I tweak it every few years. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle poll question:

Are you in favor of Elon Musk buying Twitter? Go to Pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC

How a tiny Italian village brought 14 mothers and children to safety and peace Guest Columnist Rabbi Barbara Aiello

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agda M. was born in Poznan, Poland, to a Jewish family that hid their identity from Nazi persecutors. Lidia C. has Jewish roots that extend back to the Inquisition and the forced conversions in Spain that led her ancestors to observe Jewish rituals in secret.

Magda and Lidia know about desperate situations. That’s why they are an integral part of In Esther’s Name – the Ukrainian Refugee Project. These two courageous women, both mothers, both living here in Serrastretta in south Italy, are part of a small but determined committee whose members have worked to bring suffering Ukrainian women and children — Jewish, Christian and secular — to the safety and peace of our mountain village.

As rabbi of a small Reconstructionist congregation, Ner Tamid del Sud (“the Eternal Light of South Italy”), my 15 years in the “toe” of the Italian “boot” have given me the opportunity to experience firsthand the strength of the Calabrian “b’nei anusim” and how that strength translates into direct help to those in need.

In southern Italy we have a saying, “sega la segatura,” which means “saw the sawdust,” implying that talking about a problem suffices for taking an action. For us Calabrians, “sega la segatura” doesn’t apply. From this common sense approach to difficulty, In Esther’s Name was born.

“We don’t call it Purim,” said Luciana, a synagogue member and a native Calabrian.

“Here in the mountains it is called the Feast of Esther. We fast and pray that we will PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

have the emotional strength to take action to help others.”

Which is exactly what In Esther’s Name has done. The result: Five Ukrainian mothers and their nine children have found safety and peace in our mountain village.

“We combined our strengths,” said Carolina, whose committee was tasked with finding housing for the families. Carolina and her husband are expert woodworkers.

They create custom furniture, mostly reproducing antique styles. “We see the interior of houses every day,” said Carolina, who applied her expertise to build individual living arrangements for our refugees.

As one of the managers of our local international airport, Lidia heads the transportation and logistics committee. Lidia, along with local residents, worked around the clock to find COVID tests, flights and airline tickets for our families, while Angela, a local attorney, handled the myriad documents required of refugees by the Italian government.

Thanks to Magda, and expert teachers Giusy and Gessica, an Italian culture and language program for the children got off the ground in record time.

What have our refugees brought with them? These courageous mothers arrived with their precious children, legal documents and small backpacks with a change of clothes, a few diapers for their babies, and a trove of memories that graphically demonstrate the terror and danger they faced.

Hannah and her 9-year-old daughter Mira remember the horror of the war on Ukraine.

Here’s what happened.

“We run from Kyiv to a cottage in the forest. It has only one room with no heat, water or electricity. This is our stove that was the only warm place in the house. See the bread? We dried the bread on the stove to have something to eat. We went into the woods and collected wood for the stove.

We brought water from melting snow. We covered the windows with dark fabric so the planes would not see the house. So they would not shoot at us.”

And now, nearly one month later, In Esther’s Name is making a difference.

Antonio is 9 years old and was born in our mountain village of Serrastretta. His mother Magda, the granddaughter of Polish Jews who hid their identity during the Holocaust, speaks Italian, English and Polish and has been a fabulous help in creating “tranquilita`” for our refugee group.

Antonio has accompanied his mother to each refugee event and in three weeks’ time Antonio has come to know Miroslav, Olena’s 7-year-old son.

For the first three days Miroslav did not speak. Not one word. Traumatized by what he had seen and heard in their escape from Kyiv to Warsaw, his first utterance as his mother took a seat in our local restaurant, was a piercing scream.

“Mama! Mama! NO.” Miroslav was adamant that his mother should not sit near a window. Through our interpreter we learned why. Little Miroslav was terrified that “a bomb will come to break the window.

The glass will fly and cut you to pieces.”

Antonio, a youngster himself, knew just what to do. Taking Miroslav by the hand, Antonio used gestures to convince Miroslav that they could play a card game together — and somehow, with neither child knowing the other’s language, they began to play.

Two weeks later, the Italian boy and the

boy from war-torn Ukraine continue to spend time together. When I asked Antonio how it was going, Antonio flashed a big smile and said, “Miro e’ il mio megliore amico.”

Miro is my best friend.

As the future unfolds, what will our mothers and children choose to do? Each woman has a husband who is either a soldier in the Ukrainian army or an “auxiliary” who is applying his job skill to the resistance movement. Caterina, one of our refugee mothers, is the wife of a Ukrainian Orthodox priest.

It is our hope that some, maybe all, of our families will want to start a new life here in Serrastretta. If so, we will continue to raise funds to bring their husbands here to Italy to join them because we believe that the benefits will be great. Young families who will grow our synagogue will also augment the population of an Italian village whose numbers are dangerously low.

“Chi sa?” Who knows?

What we do know is that our committee of seven dedicated women combined skill with compassion and In Esther’s Name we made it happen. We demonstrated that indeed one person can make a world of difference. PJC Rabbi Barbara Aiello, originally from Pittsburgh, is Italy’s first woman rabbi. She serves Sinagoga Ner Tamid del Sud, Italy’s first Reconstructionist synagogue and the only Italian synagogue dedicated to helping “b’nei anusim” discover and embrace their Jewish roots.

We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail or email letters to: Letters to the editor via email: letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Address: Website address:

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 pittsburghjewishchronicle.org/letters-to-the-editor

APRIL 22, 2022

13

Headlines Candidates: Continued from page 1

enhanced background checks, saying that antisemitism and domestic terrorism is on the rise and need to be addressed.

“There is no rational reason why we should allow civilians to own weapons of mass death,” Fetterman said, arguing that this was another issue that could be addressed with the elimination of the filibuster.

Kenyatta said it was important to not only ban assault weapons but to hold gun manufacturers accountable.

The candidates next explained how they would support the middle class and economic justice.

In addition to his belief that the minimum wage should be raised, Fetterman said he supports a billionaire minimum income tax and wants to ensure that corporations pay their fair share of taxes. Kenyatta said that supporting the middle class and economic justice is the “reason I’m in the race,” and that billionaires like Elon Musk must pay their fair share.

JFCS: Continued from page 1

collapsed. He was not sure if they were safe, saying they, too, were in danger because they assisted the U.S. The process of resettling refugees from

“We used to make steel. Now we make health care,” Lamb said, pointing out that those jobs don’t pay the same as the manufacturing jobs they replaced. He is calling for additional tax credits and increased access to unions.

All three candidates said they support racial justice and a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.

Citing a poll listing climate change as the most pressing issue for Jewish Americans, Soifer asked how the candidates would address the climate crisis.

Fetterman highlighted his time working on the Environmental Defense Fund as part of President Barack Obama’s administration.

He said the solution required a longterm commitment.

“We cannot be the party of science and pretend that this is a two- or five-year process,” he noted.

No new dollars or tax incentives should go to “extractive industries,” Kenyatta said. “Now is the time we need to double down and move as quickly as possible to greener forms of clean energy.”

Lamb said the issue will be best addressed through national security and that it should be

confronted the same way the space race was in the 1960s and the Manhattan Project before it.

All three spoke of the need to work with NATO and the importance of sanctions to combat Russian President Vladmir Putin’s Ukraine incursion.

Asked about their support of security funding for Israel, Lamb said he has voted to continue funding during his time in the House and did not support any conditions on the funds.

Fetterman, too, said he supported the funding and was disturbed by a vote against funding the Iron Dome. He also expressed his opposition to the BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) movement against Israel.

Kenyatta said that as a senator, he would “absolutely” vote to continue security funding for Israel.

All three voiced support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

Asked if they supported the Iran nuclear deal, Kenyatta called former President Trump’s policy of maximum pressure “maximum stupidity.” He said he supported the efforts to rejoin the agreement to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.

Afghanistan has been different than the process of resettling people from other countries, Golin explained.

JFCS, he said, has resettled more than 250 refugees in three months. In a typical year, the agency resettles about 200.

The process has been chaotic, Golin admitted, saying that it’s not simply the

numbers that have been challenging but an accelerated timeline as well.

JFCS, he said, usually has a two-week notice before refugees arrive. With those fleeing Afghanistan, though, the agency sometimes was only told as little as five hours in advance of a refugee’s arrival. The shortened timeline has made it difficult to secure needed resources.

The Pittsburgh housing crunch hasn’t helped. JFCS, Golin noted, has had to use extended-stay hotels for refugees like Ariai when it can’t locate apartments.

“The job of a resettlement agency like ours,” he explained, “is to greet the family, bring them to their new home, orient them to life in the country.”

JFCS, Golin said, provides information about the health care and education systems and cultural orientation. It also assists in finding jobs for new refugees who have no U.S. work history and, often, can’t speak English.

This work is expected to be completed in three or four weeks, after which the government no longer provides funds, Golin explained.

In addition to its work with Afghan refugees, Golin said he expected JFCS to begin assisting Ukrainian refugees as well.

The agency has received no timeline or number of refugees to expect in Pittsburgh,

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Lamb said Trump’s decision to leave the agreement was “a disgraceful breach of America’s word.” He said it was important to rejoin the agreement but to view the Iranian government, which has become more hard-lined since the U.S. pullout, with skepticism.

Fetterman said the world can never tolerate a nuclear Iran, and that Iran is pro-terrorism. “I absolutely support the Biden administration’s attempts [to rejoin the agreement],” he said.

In closing remarks, Fetterman said that control of the Senate hangs in the balance of this election and stressed the need to counteract Republicans. Kenyatta said it was important that a working government represent working people, and to focus on the needs of the American people rather than on “the guy who was impeached twice.”

Lamb pointed to Republican attacks on health care, LGBTQ+ equality, immigration and education.

The Pe n ns y lv an i a primar y election is May 17. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. but Golin said up to 100,000 Ukrainians are estimated to eventually be resettled in the U.S. Finkelstein was at the Poland-Ukraine border three weeks ago. He drew parallels between the Ukraine refugee crisis and the Passover story.

“We have to stretch our arms out and help as much as possible,” Finkelstein said.

He said he was particularly touched by the women and children he saw while there, noting that most Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are needed for the war effort and aren’t allowed to leave the country.

The arduous journey for the refugees, Finkelstein said, included not only a trek through war-torn Ukraine but waiting in lines for up to 14 hours to enter Poland.

“Those sights will forever be seared into my memory,” he said.

“I think it’s important to remember,” Golin said, “that we are a country of immigrants.

We are a country built by people who have come from all over the world seeking a better life. That’s a tradition we’re continuing today.”

For Ariai, that better life has already begun. At the end of the press conference, he announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child. The due date: July 4. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Afghan refugee Farhad Ariai (far right) was joined by interpreter Ahmad Yousofzay, JFCS President and CEO Jordan Golin and Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jeff Finkelstein (far left) during an April 14 press conference

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by David Rullo.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Two antisemitic incidents occur in Squirrel Hill over Passover weekend — LOCAL —

S

quirrel Hill was the site of two separate incidents of antisemitism last weekend.

On Friday night, April 15, a hate group known to operate in California, Florida, New York, Colorado and other locations across the country, distributed flyers filled with antisemitic tropes in the community.

Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said it appears that Squirrel Hill was targeted for geographic reasons and that the flyers were not directed to any specific person. More than 20 families had the flyers thrown into their driveways.

Brokos called the incident “an introduction to this group that otherwise has not had a presence here before. The group is very active across the country, but we are now just

seeing this activity in Pittsburgh.”

Jon Prince’s family found a flyer on their property. After returning home from a seder, his 17-year-old son noticed the flyer at the end of their driveway while taking their dog for a walk.

Prince said the incident was “unsettling,” not only because it occurred in his neighborhood but also because his home is less than a mile from the Tree of Life building.

The most violent incident of antisemitism in U.S. history occurred at the synagogue, resulting in the murders of 11 people from three congregations.

“I brought it inside,” Prince said of the flyer. “My wife looked at it, and we were shocked and then we walked throughout the neighborhood to see if anyone else got them and literally everyone else did.”

The Squirrel Hill resident said that if the incident was meant to separate people the hate group failed.

“This was intended to drive people further apart,” Prince said. “People of different nationalities, different religions. The only thing it did was bring people closer.”

A second incident occurred Sunday, April 17, at 12:15 p.m. at Phillips and Murray avenues.

According to Brokos, a male yelled “F--- Jews” as he walked down Murray Avenue past Shaare Torah Congregation.

Police were notified, but the man was gone when they arrived.

The Black male, aged 35-40, has a slim build, is approximately 5’8” to 5’9” tall, and wore an olive-colored jacket with “1917 Krusaders” written in black marker across the back, Doc Martens, joggers and a black knit cap.

Anyone who has information about either of the incidents should call 911 and report it to Brokos at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, SBrokos@jfedpgh.org.

Photo by Jamie Lebovitz

Brokos urged anyone traumatized by either incident to reach out to Jewish Family and Community Services or the 10.27 Healing Partnership. PJC — David Rullo

Chronicle nominated for 12 Golden Quill Awards — LOCAL —

C

hronicle Staff Writers Adam Reinherz and David Rullo, Editor Toby Tabachnick, and freelance writer Justin Vellucci are finalists for this year’s Golden Quill Awards, an annual competition sponsored by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania that recognizes professional excellence in journalism.

Winners will be announced during the

Weber: Continued from page 4

Your Fears, a skateboarding and yoga workshop for women, trans and/or non-binary people, should help, he said.

Weber attributes some of his ideas about inclusivity to his Jewish identity.

As a child in South Strabane Township, in Washington County, Weber was the only

Cheney: Continued from page 9

AIPAC endorsement: She was furious with the group for including among its endorsees dozens of Republicans who refused to certify Biden as president.

“America’s relationship with Israel has never been more important,” she said last month. “Those of us who have never wavered in our support for Israel or our fight against anti-Semitism in the US & around the world want @AIPAC members to know your leadership is playing a dangerous game of politics.”

Cheney’s campaign did not return a PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

annual Golden Quills dinner on Tuesday, May 24 at the Rivers Casino.

Reinherz is a finalist in the following categories: Arts/Entertainment (“Chaiflicks: The Chanukah Gift for When You Don’t Want to Give Pajamas”); Education (“College Is a Pressure Cooker, The Pandemic May Make It Burst”); and Sports (“Youth and Sports Return With Newfound Appreciation”).

Rullo is a finalist for: News Feature (“A ‘Respectful Acknowledgement’: Oct. 27 Survivors on Rebuilding Tree

of Life”); Medical/Health (“Pittsburgh Jewish Leaders Are Handed Frontline Role in Mental Health,” along with Chris Hedlin of PublicSource); History/Culture (“Its Building’s for Sale, but Beth Israel Synagogue Takes It ‘Shabbos by Shabbos’”); Arts/Entertainment (“Award-Winning Poet Addresses Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting in New Book”) (“Holocaust Center Marks Genocide Awareness Month With ‘Miracle in Rwanda’”); and Lifestyle (“Healing Ink Offers Free Tattoos to Those Affected By

Tree of Life Shooting”).

Tabachnick is a finalist for Business/ Technology/Consumer (“Experts Talk About Implications of Social Media Crackdown”).

Vellucci is a finalist for Traditional Feature (“‘Our little Mitzvah’: Local Mom Donates Vast Quantities of Breast Milk”); and History/Culture (“Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Torah’s Encompass Rich History”). PJC

local Jewish skateboarder. He recalled several antisemitic incidents from his adolescence but said the significance of those experiences became clearer as he aged.

There’s a space for everyone within skateboarding, Weber said. And when it comes to Switch & Signal, the park can grow if it remains a safe space for learning.

Reactions to Monday’s night beginner session indicate the Jewish skateboarder is right on track.

North Side neighbors and coworkers Rebecca Grabman and Carina Kooiman attended the Switch & Signal program and described the setting as “super-welcoming.”

“This place is amazing,” said Jennifer Torrance, a Brentwood resident. “Everyone cheers you on. It’s such a positive, encouraging place.”

Fellow Brentwood resident Forrest Stuckey said Weber’s efforts to make people — and especially beginning skateboarders

— feel included are apparent.

“Kerry sees me. He knows who I am,” Torrance said.

“This is a friendly place to learn to skateboard, to roller skate, to inline skate. If you want to try something out, we’ll be here without judgment,” Weber said. “This is what we do.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

request for comment.

Ben Chouake, the president of NORPAC, a pro-Israel PAC that endorsed Cheney last cycle but has not this time around, said the group’s reluctance to endorse her stemmed from her dim prospects.

“That’s really terrible for an incumbent,” he said of her poll numbers. “We’ve supported her in the past, she’s good on the issues, but she has a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” he said referring to her battles with Trump in a state where the former president remains popular.

“She’s taken positions that put her in a very unpopular position in her state.”

Cheney is reportedly hoping Democrats will vote for her in the primary and that Hageman will split the Trumpian vote with

Anthony Bouchard, a state senator who is completely aligned with the former president’s ideals, even though he did not secure Trump’s endorsement. A bid by Trumpfriendly state lawmakers to nix a Wyoming law that allows members of one party to vote in the other’s primary failed. Even so, political analysts say that it will still be hard for Cheney to eke out a win in the primary.

Hageman also has the backing of some of Cheney’s most important former allies: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, as well as an array of donors who have given to Trump in the past.

Cheney also has some establishment backing, but from Republicans who, like her, have likely broken with Trump for

good, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McCarthy and the congresswoman who replaced Cheney a year ago as the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, Elise Stefanik of New York, were both onetime Trump critics who are now all in with the former president. Cheney is the vanguard of a faction of the party, also led by McConnell, who believes it’s time to leave Trump behind.

“There are clearly schisms within the party, and there’s going to be people who strongly support Liz and will stand by or there are other people that won’t,” said Brooks, the RJC director. “I mean, that’s just the reality, the snapshot of where we are today.” PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

— Toby Tabachnick

APRIL 22, 2022

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Life & Culture Poet Judith R. Robinson reflects on articulate and artful life — POETRY —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

J

udith R. Robinson is particular about language, so it’s not surprising that while describing her decades-long career as a poet, novelist, blogger and instructor she often cites verse.

“There’s a quote by Moireen Fox,” she said. “‘I care not for heaven and I fear not hell / If I have but the kisses of his proud red mouth.’”

“There in two lines,” Robinson continued, “you have the perfect example of a woman who is madly in love, without the cliché of ‘madly in love.’”

Robinson has shared Fox’s poem “The Fairy Lover” with students at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute for more than 20 years, but one needn’t register for her course to discover the Oakland resident’s love of poetry. Speaking with Robinson, or reading her work, makes clear that poetry, writing and a regard for language are integral to her.

During a career that’s spanned longer than she’s willing to share, Robinson has contributed to numerous journals and anthologies, authored chapbooks and larger publications, edited other poets’ manuscripts and blogged regularly for websites, including the Chronicle’s.

She plans on reading from her newest work

T HE

— “Buy a Ticket: New and Too many Jews accept Selected Poems” — during an or promote falsehoods April 27 book launch party about Israel, Robinson said. and at the Greater Pittsburgh People should realize that Festival of Books on May 14. antisemitism is akin to death In a lead-up to both events, and taxes — something Robinson told the Chronicle that exists “in every age that poetry has a singular through our history.” ability to articulate emotion Robinson remains and experience. steadfastly committed to “Nothing else quite delivers purposefully using her words, but occasionally delves into the same kind of truth with Judith R. Robinson the same kind of precision,” other methods of communireadies for several she said. “Poetry is what upcoming literary events. cation, such as painting. people turn to in all sorts of She said she’s still learning Photo courtesy of Judith R. Robinson the craft and described her situations, in joy or misery.”

She cites her own life as proof, noting efforts as “more experimental,” adding that that people have asked her to pen a poem “painting for me is just a wonderful way of for an upcoming wedding or recent death, expressing things and relaxing.”

Painting also brings her back to writing, and she often turns the lens inward when writing — like in “Buy a Ticket” where she she said.

There’s an interesting intersection between addresses the loss of her son, memories of her father, the Holocaust, Masada and the murder word and image, Robinson said. Whether of 11 Jews inside the Tree of Life building on it’s a poem about a work of art, like John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” or Louise Oct. 27, 2018.

Robinson has a proud Jewish identity McClenathan’s “Berrying,” much of poetry and said she doesn’t shy from confronting “can be interpreted visually and, similarly, antisemitism or the swelling anti-Zi- there’s a narrative going on in many paintonist sentiments expressed by some ings,” she said. other landsmen.

For Robinson, a lifelong Pittsburgher, the “I am a Zionist, and as such, I sometimes city presents a constant interplay between feel that I am at odds with other Jewish people image and word. Having lived in three of about the importance of Israel,” she said.

Pittsburgh’s zip codes, she often commits

JEWI SH

P A I N T

ASSOCIATION

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AGING

The Painters The Art of Aging

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her memories to print. In a 2017 poem she wrote decrying Amazon’s potential move to Pittsburgh, she recalled the “burning truth” of this area. She said that the imagery was inspired by her childhood memories of people driving at night to watch “the hills burn.”

She said those days — a period when she, her brother and cousins would sleep in the front yard of their Squirrel Hill home on hot summer nights — were simpler and safer.

Lest one confuse Robinson’s nostalgia for an aversion to progress, she said she happily embraces technology and writes regularly on her computer but is concerned about artificial intelligence and its ability to encroach on human talent and emotion.

“Life is so precious, and it is so varied and full of possibilities,” she said. “I hope that machines are not going to be able to match us in the arts or in creativity.”

While some others, most notably at neighboring universities, work on technological innovations, Robinson said she’ll continue focusing on her craft and living as fully as she can.

The latter, she added, is best accomplished by following the mantra: “Try to fight negativity, and try to see the best in things. It’s a tough world but it’s the only one we have.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

P RESENTS

2 0 2 2

Tickets on sale now at jaapgh.org/events or call 412-586-2690 • Stage AE | Reception begins at 6 pm

Proceeds benefit JAA’s ongoing care and services to Pittsburgh seniors JAA is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh JAA_PJC_April2022_3Painters-FINAL.indd 1

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APRIL 22, 2022

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

4/18/22 4:00 PM

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Life & Culture Black cod: Searing rather than shmearing olives, we enjoyed every bite. I’m so glad I listened to the fishmonger!

I challenge you to try searing black cod — versus shmearing it on a bagel — with this easy recipe.

Seared black cod

Serves 2

Ingredients: 16 ounces raw black cod (yields two cooked 7-ounce portions) 10 black Kalamata olives 2 teaspoons olive oil 2 tablespoons capers 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1⁄4 cup extra dry vermouth 1⁄4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or water, for a dairy meal) 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper Directions:

Seared black cod

Photo by Carole Lampel Mantel

— LOCAL —

By Carole Lampel Mantel | Special to the Chronicle

D

id you know that black cod and sablefish are one in the same? I didn’t realize there was any other way to eat sablefish other than smoked and on a bagel.

Then the fishmonger at Penn Avenue Fish Co. encouraged me to try black cod, explaining that it is a white fish but not a member of the cod family. It is also known as butterfish and is often described as a cousin to the Chilean sea bass.

Its high fat content gives black cod a silky texture and rich, buttery flavor, but the fish also has a high omega-3 content, making it

super healthy.

I often make this recipe with Chilean sea bass instead of black cod and serve it over “zoodles” (zucchini noodles) in place of pasta for a carb-free meal. I love that the olives and capers bring out the flavors without adding salt.

For Shabbat, I tested this recipe with black cod and, even though I forgot the Kalamata

Heat olive oil in a pan.

Sear fish for 2-3 minutes.

Turn fish, season with pepper, then add garlic and capers After 2-3 minutes, add the extra dry vermouth followed by the chicken broth and cover.

Simmer for another 2-3 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

Serve over zucchini noodles, pasta or with your favorite vegetable. PJC Carole Lampel Mantel is an independent health coach and home chef. She can be reached at darbypaw@aol.com.

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APRIL 22, 2022

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Celebrations

Torah

Engagement Announcement

Ray of hope

Nancy and Shelley Farber are Rabbi Joe Hample delighted to announce the upcoming Pesach VIII Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17; marriage of their daughter Mia Rose Numbers 28:19-25 Farber to Andrew Byron Barber.

He is the son of Karen and David y tax professional says I did a Barber of Springfield, Illinois, and clever thing in 2021: I turned 65.

It’s very much to my advantage.

Naples, Florida. The wedding will Entre nous, I never intended to get old. take place in Sonoma, California, on May 14, 2022. The couple resides in It was inadvertent. And I became a rabbi later in my journey. I was ordained at 52 in Santa Cruz, California. PJC Los Angeles, a city so amoral that even the

M

Temple David wishes you and yours a Happy Passover in 5782!

Temple David | Weiger Religious School | Monroeville, PA www.templedavid.org | 412-372-1200 |

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60th Annual

Sunday, May 1 to Saturday, May 7

Enjoy wonderful Greek food, pastries & lively dancing

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Sunday: Noon to 8p Monday to Thursday: 11a to 2p and 4p to 9p Friday: 11a to 2p and 2p to 10p (music till midnight) Saturday: 1p to 10p (music till midnight) Online ordering available all week (starts Sunday at 4p) Order by visiting www.stnickspgh.org St. Nicholas Cathedral located on the corner of S. Dithridge St. and Forbes Ave., across from The Carnegie Museum.

airport is called LAX. Who am I kidding? I should tell you the meaning of the Torah?

The last couple of years have battered everyone’s faith. Pandemic, polarization, war in Europe. Has God given up on us? Who could blame God, if so? But I embrace the theology of Martin Buber. God is as accessible as our spiritual resilience, our scope for transformation. The question is, in what ways are we prepared to evolve?

The end-of-Passover haftarah includes the famous words, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid... and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 11:6-7). That’s not what we see on our news channels — quite the contrary — but we trust it is possible. If Russia and Ukraine (or China and Taiwan) are so similar, why can’t they coexist peacefully?

“Let them not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain” (Isaiah 11:9).

Here in Morgantown, this year’s seder — like last year and the year before — was virtual. We weren’t still quarantining, but no one planned a menu in advance because no one could predict the public health situation.

This made me sad. I grew up ultra-Reform, but Passover was the one holiday my family consistently observed. I drifted from Judaism in early adulthood, but a hankering for the Haggadah pulled me back. How can we not share charoset and maror? Are we Jews, or aren’t we?

The nechemta, the silver lining, is that I celebrated the second night with a faceto-face seder in Preston County, on West Virginia’s border with Maryland. I only know one Jew in that neck of the woods, but she invites her friends and neighbors, and hires me to lead the not-so-kosher program.

Everything’s easier in Preston County.

When young, I assumed the problems of

civilization would get solved in my lifespan, but as the world grows messier and my time grows shorter, it seems unlikely. The one ray of hope is us. We can always reimagine ourselves and our community, if and when we are ready. What are we waiting for?

The haftarah declares, Ush’avtem mayim b’sason, “You shall draw water joyfully from the fountains of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).

You and I can make salvation tangible: with matzah and gefilte fish, with vaccination and air filters, with tact and patience — “with malice toward none, with charity for all,” to quote that great prophet Abraham Lincoln.

We are shocked by the politicization of the virus; the crisis that should have brought us together has instead sharpened our divisions. But what’s the Jewish response? Only to “do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8), a text engraved over the door of my boyhood synagogue in Larchmont, New York. Isn’t that what we’re here for?

I hope you enjoyed your brisket and tzimmes, your eggs and saltwater, your jelly slices and macaroons. But even more, I hope you feel freed from tired norms and limits, hardened habits and patterns. So many of us American Jews are bored or embarrassed by God. Too often we see God as a relic of the old country, a belief of our ancestors. But God is as real as our desire to change — and when has change ever been more necessary than right now? We must heal the nation and the earth with our empathy, our respect for every person, our openness to every viewpoint. Today.

As you stow the Elijah cup and afikoman sleeve for next year, please remember to pivot from g’nut (shame) to shevach (glory).

Let this be not only the last Pesach with masks, but the last Pesach with qualms and quibbles and quarrels, with dread and doubt and disdain. Who’s better equipped than we to make it happen? Let us resolve to part the Red Sea of suspicion and animosity, and scale the shore of compassion and solidarity.

So may it be God’s will. PJC Rabbi Joe Hample is the spiritual leader of the Tree of Life Congregation in Morgantown, West Virginia. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

Legal Notice Aussenberg, Earl a/k/a Aussenberg, Earl C., deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 02290 of 2022.

Frederick N. Frank and Phyllis M. Baskin, Co-Executors, c/o Gregory M. Pocrass, Esq., 33rd Floor, Gulf Tower, 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

LEGAL NOTICE Mitchell Sperling, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA, No. 02157 of 2022, Gerri L. Sperling, Executrix, c/o David J. Slesnick, Esq., 310 Grant Street, Suite #1220, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

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APRIL 22, 2022

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Obituaries ACKERMAN: Jeffrey Bruce Ackerman was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1953 and lived there until he went to Penn State University where he received a B.S. in psychology. He then attended Northeastern University School of Business where he was awarded an MBA. It was around this time that he met the love of his life, his wife Lyn, and after living apart for two years while she attended law school in Philadelphia, they were married in June 1978 in a beautiful wedding at the Barclay Hotel in Philadelphia, where they danced the night away to the disco music of “Saturday Night Fever.” They honeymooned in California and then made their home in Squirrel Hill, where they lived their entire married lives.

Jeffrey and Lyn rediscovered their Jewish roots in their early 30s and began living an observant lifestyle, sending their three children to Hillel Academy and then Yeshiva University. Jeffrey was very proud of being able to send his children to college and graduate school. He began a successful career in commercial real estate, first with Arnheim and Neely and then with CBRE, where he held the title of managing director for over 10 years. He thrived in the world of commercial real estate and was very well respected for his business knowledge, great interpersonal skills and leadership, as well as a passion for real estate. Jeffrey strove every day to be the best he could be, and always gave 110%. In his spare time, he loved football and was an ardent Steelers fan (and Penn State as well).

Jeffrey’s true passion was his family. He loved and adored his three children, Danny (Talia), Rebecca and Hannah, and was immensely proud of their accomplishments, as well as his two beloved grandchildren, Alexandra and Zachary. In addition to his wife, Lyn, and his children, he is survived by his brother Richard( Elaine) of Squirrel Hill.

He was predeceased by his brother Mark.

Recently Jeffrey had undergone major openheart surgery to replace his aortic valve, and handled the surgery and recovery with courage and great determination. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.

Funeral arrangements entrusted to the Gesher HaChaim Jewish Burial Society.

Contributions may be made to Shaare Torah Congregation, the American Heart Association, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh or Yeshiva Ha’Atid of Teaneck, New Jersey.

GOLDMAN: James “Jimmy” Goldman. On April 14, 2022, Jimmy passed away at home, aged 85, surrounded by his loving and adoring family: his wife of 60 years, Susie; his brother Richard; children Carl, Judy and Robert; his most treasured grandchildren, Leah, Jack, Jacob and Mya; and his nephews and nieces. Jimmy discovered a love of drawing at an early age and continued this passion at the Carnegie Tech School of Architecture.

Upon his graduation in 1960, he earned the Alpha Rho Chi medal, which is awarded to a student who has shown the qualities of leadership, attitude, and personality. After graduation, Jimmy married Susie and they PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

moved to San Francisco, where Jimmy practiced architecture with a concentration in seismic design. In 1964, he became a registered architect.

When Jimmy and Susie returned to Pittsburgh, Jimmy worked for Ralph Drury, and then became an associate and later partner at Urban Design Associates. In 1990, Jimmy’s love of competitive swimming led him to venture on his own as a sports facility consultant. Jimmy used his experiences as a competitive swimmer to design numerous natatoriums internationally and throughout the country. Not only did Jimmy commit himself to excellence in physical fitness, but he also inspired those around him to join in on his athletic endeavors. Jimmy started the group of master swimmers that became the first American team to compete in the Maccabee Games in Israel. He was also responsible for initiating the JCC’s annual indoor triathlon and outdoor biathlon, the 1650 swim at Carnegie Mellon University and the annual Autumn Ligonier bike ride.

Jimmy was known for his positive outlook on life that touched so many others’ lives along the way. With his energy, kindness, and welcoming personality, he will be forever missed and treasured by all who knew him.

A visitation and memorial service took place at Rodef Shalom Congregation on Monday, April 18.

Contributions in Jimmy’s honor may be made to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh at jccpgh.org or at 5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15217 Attn: Development. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family-owned and operated. schugar.com GRAY: Mark H. Gray passed away on April 16, 2022, in Pittsburgh following a brave battle against cancer. He was 79. Mark was the former president and CEO of Gray Baumgarten Layport, a Pittsburgh advertising//marketing agency.

His career in advertising spanned over 50 years. Born and brought up in New York, he was a journalism graduate of Penn State University. Mark is survived by his wife, Carolyn (Carol), a marriage lasting for 59 years. He is also survived by his children, Lisa Glaser (Don) of Pittsburgh and Richard Gray (LeeAnne) of Los Angeles; grandchildren Ben Rosen, Emily Rosen and Zoe Gray; brother and sister in-laws Perry and Nancy Rofey; nephew Scott Rofey (Olivia) and sons of New York; niece Dana Rofey (Adam Golomb) and daughters of Pittsburgh; and Lee and Robert Weisbard and families of Denver, Colorado. Mark served many years as president and board member of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, as well as a board member of the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, Just Harvest and as a volunteer for the Pittsburgh Blues and Roots Festival (autism), as well as other nonprofit organizations. He enjoyed great food, good books and loved watching sports, especially Steelers, Penn State and University of Michigan football. Our sincere thanks to his many caring doctors, nurses and the staff of UPMC Family Hospice.

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

In memory of...

A gift from ...

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Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Belle Broder Phyllis Pearl Astrov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Betty Pearl Ron & Larraine Bates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy L. Fisher Roberta Feldman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Feldman Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Labovitz Dorothy Samitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Benjamin Steerman Stephanie & Nicole Zinman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Elva Hendel Perrin

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday April 24: Marvin Adams, Lillian Ethel Brown, Samuel Feldman, Anna Goldman, Sidney M Levine, Florence Rosenfeld Myers, Lillian Rogoff, Marcus P. Rose, Sylvia Rosenfeld, Jennie R. Rush, Jacob Sadwick, Solomon Stalinsky, Edith G. Steiner Monday April 25: Sarah Alpern, Benjamin Americus, Alter L. Baker, Morris Benjamin, Morris Bergstein, Sherry Hilda Berkowitz, Sadye Burnkrant, Arthur R. Cohen, Robert M. Colnes, Myer Farber, Louis Freedman, Abraham Goldberg, Ida Cohen Hahn, Albert Lawrence Jacobs, Pfc. Lee Robert Katz, Benjamin Paul Krause, Harry Levine, Fannie Mayer, Sadie Nadler, Sol Niderberg, Edward J. Pearlstein, Anita Closky Rothman, Ida K. Samuels, Dorothy Z. Sandson, Julius Schwartz, Freda Ferber Thorpe, Emma Winer Tuesday April 26: Isadore Ash, Jennie Breakstone, Sam Dizenfeld, Robert F. Glick, Zelda Glick, Sarah Harris, Celia Jacobson, Margaret Green Kotovsky, Sam Labovitz, Mildred Levine, Ethel Mallinger, Beatrice Blumenfeld Nathan, Morris Perelstine, Louis Rubin, William Sacks, Bess H. Strauss, Bertha Swartz Wednesday April 27: Sara Altman, Zachary Caplan, Lester Wolf Cohen, Philip M. Colker, Joseph M. Epstein, Isabel Glantz, Adel Horwitz, Maier Krochmal, Joseph M. Lazier, Hyman Lederstein, Ben Levick, Nathan Levy, Isadore Mendelson, Rae Pariser, Leah Simon, Norma Stockman, Earl Roy Surloff, Isidor Weiss Thursday April 28: Shirley Bernstein, Fannie Caplan, Irene Elenbaum, Pearl Rebekah Friedman, Julia R. Goldsmith, Louis L. Goodman*, Betty Shermer, Beatrice P. Smizik, Frieda Troffkin, Lawrence Martin Wallie, Jacob Young Friday April 29: Israel Blinn, Morris D. Canter, Clara Esther Choder, Bennie Chotiner, Mollie S. Davis, Rebecca Fineberg, Lillian Forman, Rachel Hodes, Max Kalser, Albert Katzman, Sarah Kramer, Julian H. Rozner, Ida Schmidt, Henry Singer, Benjamin William Steerman, Irving M. Stolzenberg, Sylvan B. Sunstein, Belle Treelisky, Sara H. Udman, Morris S. Unger, David Whitman, Leroy L. Williams Saturday April 30: Joseph Abraham Abady, Jacob Ash, Joseph A. Block, Selma Winograd Cohen, Max Felder, Mollie Fiman, Abraham Friedman, Jacob Goldman, Harry Hertz, Bella Hostein, Pearl Janowitz, Fae Greenstein Klein, Rose Lebowitz, Jacob Levinson, Morton (Bud) Litowich, Bessie Mallinger, Anna M. Oppenheim, Morris Pearlman, Evelyn M. Perlmutter, Meyer Schlessinger, Alvin Silverman

Temple Beth Shalom Cemetery-Clearfield Clearfield was settled in the early 19th century and incorporated as a borough in 1840. The region became a center of lumber and coal activity as industrial operations began moving materials along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

A few Jewish families in Clearfield organized B’nai LeviHouse of Jacob Congregation in 1917. In 1946, a new group of post World War II Jews re-organized the community into the Clearfield Jewish Council. The congregation acquired and renovated an old Pennsylvania Telephone Company building at 110 East Locust St. in 1949 and obtained a charter. The group changed its name to Temple Beth Shalom in 1965.

The congregation established Temple Beth Shalom Cemetery within Crown Crest Memorial Park between Curwensville and Hyde. Like many Jewish cemeteries in smaller towns, the original purchase far exceeded the need, as the rather large Section W holds only nineteen graves. The earliest burial date in the cemetery is 1964.Temple Beth Shalom closed around 2010, sold its synagogue building to Clearfield Arts Studio Theatre, Inc. and merged with Congregation Brit Shalom in State College.

The records of the congregation are held within the RauhJewish History Program and Archives.

The cemetery began an association with the JCBA in 2022.

For more information about JCBA cemeteries, plot purchases, to volunteer, to read our complete histories and/or to make a contribution, please visit our website at www.JCBApgh.org, email us at jcbapgh@gmail.com, or call the JCBA office at 412-553-6469.

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

Services and interment private. A celebration of life memorial will be planned for the near future. If you would like to make a donation in his memory, please consider the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, pittsburghfoodbank.org. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com ISAACS: Gilbert H. Isaacs passed away on Thursday, April 14, just shy of his 88th birthday. Gil was the beloved husband of Maxine Isaacs; a doting father to Aaron (Kristel) Isaacs, Rachel (Michael) Warrington and Karen (Scott) Beaudway; and an adoring grandfather to Jacob and Sophie Beaudway and Noah Isaacs, as well as a much-loved uncle and great-uncle. Gil was born to Aaron and Anna Isaacs on April 17, 1934, the younger brother of Evelyn (Oidick) and Betty (Eisenberg).

He attended the University of Maryland for undergraduate and medical school.

He became an endocrinologist; interest in thyroid cancer due to radiation treatment resulted in him joining the very first class of physicians to take the nuclear medicine boards. After fellowship in Boston (where he met and married Maxine), Gil became a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corp in 1966-68. After discharge, Gil and Maxine moved to Pittsburgh, where he taught and practiced. They welcomed their son Aaron in 1969, followed by twins Rachel and Karen in 1973. Gil practiced at Montefiore Hospital and then Allegheny General Hospital. Gil and Maxine belonged to Temple Emanuel, and joined Beth Samuel Jewish Center

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after moving to Valencia in 2004, where he served as financial secretary. Gil enjoyed stamp collecting, bridge and socializing with friends, but enjoyed nothing more than being with his children and grandchildren, his greatest pride and pleasure. Graveside services and interment were held on Tuesday, April 19, at 11 a.m. at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery/Temple Emanuel section. A community service of remembrance will be held on Thursday, April 28, at 10:30 a.m. at Beth Samuel Jewish Center. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Beth Samuel Jewish Center, 810 Kennedy Drive, Ambridge, PA 15003. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com REBB: Marlene Blumenthal Rebb. She was born July 8, 1934, to Alex and Sarah Blumenthal in Pittsburgh.

Marlene‘s older sister was Reva and a couple years later sister Ann was born.

Marlene graduated Peabody High School.

When her mother passed, Alex remarried Esther Patz. From early on she found that education interested her. She went to the University of Pittsburgh and majored in business administration. Her first job was at the Burroughs Corp teaching teachers and bookkeepers. Marlene married Charles Landay. Marlene left the business world to become a mother to Steven. From there she earned her teachers’ degree from the University of Pittsburgh, becoming a member of Alpha Delta Kappa sorority.

Marlene enjoyed four decades of teaching at Pittsburgh’s high schools. Her passion was educating and her students. In 1971 life changed again, marrying George Rebb and becoming mother to his four teenagers.

Marlene and George so enjoyed spending

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time with their extended family and friends while traveling locally and abroad. Marlene always volunteered, including working the polls, the Monroeville Mall Ministry, synagogue, and importantly with Oasis/ Literacy Pittsburgh. A devoted wife, she cared for George as his health waned.

Marlene is survived by her sister Ann Stone, stepbrothers Steven and Stuart Patz, children Steven Landay, Robert (Cheryl) Rebb, Mindy Johnson, Jerry (Pat) Rebb, and Mark (Bonnie) Rebb, 11 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and countless cousins, nieces, nephews and extended family.

Graveside service and interment were held at Adath Jeshurun Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Jacksonville Hospice at promedicahospice. org, or literacypittsburgh.org.

“BYE FOR NOW” Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com ROCHER: Agnes Rocher, age 94, of Scott Township, Pennsylvania, died on April 11, 2022. She had been a longtime resident of Point Breeze and then Oakland until moving to Providence Point several years ago. Beloved wife of the late George Rocher. She is survived by her son Leslie (Wendy) Rocher and her daughter Veronica (Jonathan) Schmerling; her four grandsons, Benjamin Rocher, Joshua Rocher, Bruce (Ariel) Schmerling and Evan Rocher; and her two great-grandchildren, Isaac and Emma Schmerling. She was also preceded in death by her beloved and talented granddaughter Elizabeth Schmerling. Born in 1928 in what is now Pannonhalma, Hungary, to her late parents, Laszlo and Elizabeth (Fleischmann) Lowy, she enjoyed

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a happy childhood until World War II. Incarcerated in various concentration and labor camps, she was liberated by the British Army from Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. She was reunited following liberation with her pre-war beau, George, who was incarcerated in the same concentration camp.

After George nursed her back to health, they returned to their hometowns in Hungary where they were married in 1946. Leaving Hungary soon thereafter, they worked for ORT to care for and educate Jewish children orphaned by the Holocaust. They settled in Paris in 1947 where their children were born. The family immigrated to the United States in 1960-61, settling in Pittsburgh.

Agi, as she was known to her friends, was blessed with a gentle spirit and disposition, but also had the fortitude and strength to address the many challenges that came her way. Elegant and gracious, she brightened any room she entered and put a smile on every face. She enjoyed reading, sewing, gardening, daily walks and spending time with her family. She was famous for her fine European baking that she shared with family, friends and neighbors. She generously supported the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual Yom HaShoah program. She was an extraordinary woman who will be missed by family and friends alike. Services were held at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. Interment Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Charitable donations may be made in her memory to The Elizabeth S. Schmerling Endowed Scholarship, Attn: Aly Abrams, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, MSC 1202-414-03, St. Louis, MO 63130; the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, 0 Woodland Road, Pittsburgh PA 15232; or a charity of one’s choice.

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

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Smith-Rosenthal Team

Jason A. Smith & Caryn Rosenthal Jason: 412-969-2930 | Caryn: 412-389-1695 Jasonasmith@howardhanna.com Carynrosenthal@howardhanna.com

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Pittsburgh PA 15232 Shadyside Office | 412-361-4000

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Real Estate

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

F O R S A LE SQUIRREL HILL • $550,000 FIRST TIME OFFERED! Unique 5 bedroom,G3 bath home. 2 car garage. Special DIN architectural masterpiece of a kitchen.

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I can assist you with ALL of your real estate needs.

Cheryl Gerson | REALTOR® Coldwell Banker Squirrel Hill Cell Phone: 412-401-4693 Cheryl.Gerson@PittsburghMoves.com

FOR SALE KEEPING IT REAL IN REAL ESTATE!

OAKLAND • THE WINCHESTER CONDO • $324,900 Fabulous with one of the only balconies.

DINGUpdated kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, N E P 2 integral parking spaces, pool and guest suite. Call Kate White 412-310-0765.

FOX CHAPEL MEWS • $549,000 Bright, spacious most desired 3 br, 3 ba unit in a neutral palate with upscale updates throughout. The open floor plan offers many options for a home office.

A large patio welcomes morning sun. Ideally located near the elevator and storage.

Numerous bldg. amenities. See with Etta Golomb 412-725-6524.

SHADYSIDE • $1,300,000 • CONTEMPORARY CARRIAGE HOUSE A secluded gem in the heart of Shadyside in this architect/owner home.

Efficient in size, light-filled rooms throughout, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, updated features, and set on a private manicured lot, just minutes from shopping, schools, downtown, and public transportation. One of a kind! Shown by appointment with Etta Golomb, 412-725-6524.

SOUTHSIDE • $299,000 • ANGEL ARMS • HISTORIC FIRST TIME OFFERED! Gorgeous 2 bedroom 2 bath open condo with deck and wonderful appointments. Rare Find. Owner sacrificing and says sell. Beautiful!

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Squirrel Hill Office 6310 Forbes Ave. , Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-480-6554 mobile/preferred 412-421-9120 office deniseserbin@howardhanna.com

Denise Serbin, Realtor HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE

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Business & Professional Directory ANTIQUES & RUMMAGE

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WANTED:

CONGREGATION B’NAI ABRAHAM

519 N. Main Street Butler, PA May 1st, 9am -2pm May 2nd, 9am- 1pm

Grandma’s & Pap’s VERY Old-Vintage Clothing, Hats, Costume Jewelry, Leopard Coats, Purses, Shoes, Bellbottoms, Hawaiian Dresses & Shirts, Lingerie.

Quantity Preferred, will pick up.

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CNA AVAILABLE

HOME HEALTH CARE AVAILABLE

CNA seeking personal care position.

HOME HEALTH CARE FOR THE ELDERLY

I have over 25 years of experience and excellent references.

Also able to assist with ‘to & from’ appointments Don’t delay, call Dorothy today: 412-537-0567!

(Please leave a message if I miss you and I will return your call ASAP)

My name is Joy Lyew. I am a bi-racial woman specializing in home health care for the elderly.

My father was Jewish; my mother was Jamaican.

I grew up in New York City, and have worked in NY hospitals as a nurse for 30 years.

I recently worked in Sarasota, Fl. for Mrs. Sherle Berger and the Bergers have kindly asked me to return with them to their Sq. Hill home to be Sherle’s home helper on the weekends beginning in May. I would be pleased to find another client for the other 3-4 days.

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$30/hour. Joy@412-715-1447

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APRIL 22, 2022

21

New Spaces, New Classes!

HAPPY.

HEALTHY.

WHOLE.

Get into it. JCCPGH.org 22 APRIL 22, 2022

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Community Digging up good results Community Day School kindergarteners harvested fresh horseradish for Passover.

Quinn Clark gets to the root of the matter.

Something so bitter was never so sweet.

Noah Droz is unearthing a discovery.

Photos courtesy of Community Day School

Time to make the matzah

Learning continues with J Days

Chabad of the South Hills hosted a model matzah bakery.

Even when school isn’t in session, there’s always a place to go. Students joined J Days at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh for a series of fun-filled field trips.

Hanging out at Heinz Field

Science is fire.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Participants separated wheat kernels and made matzah from scratch.

Photo courtesy of Chabad of the South Hills

A Passover gift GIFT hosted a Passover intergenerational art competition. The contest enabled participants from Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools to learn about inclusivity and caring for the elderly. Thirty entries were judged by the GIFT board, which awarded three first-place winners and three second-place winners.

Hava Markel and Chanchi Zimbovsky join GIFT’s Rochel Tombosky and art teacher Stephanie Shropshire.

Photo courtesy of GIFT

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

APRIL 22, 2022

23

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Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

Empire Kosher Chicken or Turkey Franks

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APRIL 22, 2022

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