APRIL 29, 2022 | 28 Nisan 5782
Candlelighting 7:56 p.m. | Havdalah 8:59 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 17 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Police make arrests, identify stolen property in separate crimes against Jewish community
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Gearing up for summer camp
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University of Pittsburgh adopts IHRA’s definition of antisemitism By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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Resuming favorite programming halted by COVID
awaiting a preliminary hearing. Brokos said she hopes he will be detained for a mental health evaluation. Brokos credits the victims who reported the incidents and provided an accurate description of the suspect promptly, as well as vigilant community members who identified Williams based on the description. “I think it was definitely an excellent community effort,” Brokos said. “That includes the police, as well.” Brokos said Federation and the Pittsburgh Police are still seeking information about separate incidents that occurred in Squirrel Hill on April 15 and days later in Mt. Lebanon. Anyone who had an antisemitic flyer in a Ziploc bag filled with rice thrown onto their property should call 911 and also report it to Brokos. In an unrelated case, the Allegheny County Police department is looking for help in identifying Jewish community members
fter Vasili Rukhadze, a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh, was accused in February of comparing wearing a face mask to being gassed in Auschwitz, Melanie Silver, president of Hillel JUC, wanted Jewish students on campus to know they had the full support of the school and its staff. So, after learning of the incident, Silver, a junior majoring in digital narrative and interactive design with a certificate in Jewish studies, reached out to local Jewish communal professionals to see what could be done to help. Hillel JUC Executive Director Dan Marcus, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council Director Laura Cherner and Dylan Groff, CRC associate, told her the answer was to have something in place that would ensure “something like this would never happen again,” she said. In response, Silver, partnering with Chabad on Campus President Ralphi Berlin, started a campaign to get the university to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. The two set up a meeting with Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion at Pitt. On March 30, the university formally adopted the definition. The student government board voted to support the definition on April 5, and it will be included in the university’s nondiscriminatory policy. Berlin, a junior studying finance business information, said he has been working for years to get the university and student government to do more to combat antisemitism. The IHRA is one of the only organizations with a working definition of antisemitism, he said, and it provides a framework of how
Please see Clinton, page 14
Please see Antisemitism, page 14
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LOCAL Local Jewish sports greats honored
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame hosts annual gala
Some of the items recovered from the home of Andrew Clinton
Photo by David Rullo
Page 5 By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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LOCAL “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life”
Documentary has world premiere at JFilm Festival Page 7
ittsburgh Police arrested Christian Williams, 31, in connection with threats made against the Jewish community on Sunday, April 19. Williams allegedly screamed obscenities and made threatening comments to community members on Murray Avenue near Shaare Torah Congregation on April 17. Additionally, Williams reportedly harassed people near a church in Oakland, although the nature of the threats is not known. Williams was arrested on Forward Avenue after being spotted in Squirrel Hill by a community member who contacted Rick Franks, the security director for the Jewish Association on Aging, according to Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Security Director Shawn Brokos. Franks notified Brokos, who contacted Pittsburgh Police. Officers arrested Williams after observing him acting erratically. Williams is in the Allegheny County Jail
keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL
Squirrel Hill numbers racket
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Headlines Camp directors gear up for summer 2022 and a hopeful return to ‘normal’
There’s something sweet about camp.
Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
— LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
L
onger days and warmer temperatures mean only one thing for a subset of Pittsburgh Jewish professionals: Summer camp is coming. And with buses set to roll and swimming pools ready to be filled, there’s plenty to be excited about. At Camp Gan Israel, plans are underway to make summer 2022 memorable for campers, said Rabbi Elchonon Friedman, who helps run the camp. He’s especially looking forward to the return to “normal.” Gan Israel, like other camps, spent the past
two years balancing COVID concerns with children’s programming. That meant the cancellation of several trips and activities due to risks of viral spread, Friedman said. Gan Israel will remain cognizant of health and safety this summer, Friedman said, but he’s excited for campers to enjoy previously canceled programs and to resume more typical social interactions. “One of the most important things in life is being able to interact with others, to have patience, to create friendships — these are the basic building blocks of life,” he said. The last two years of social distancing brought with them a reduction in peer-to-peer instruction. At summer camp, kids “go through a learning curve of how to deal with others.”
Ready to dip your toes into summer?
This summer, especially, should be a reminder of why camp and its various experiences are critical, Friedman continued: “They teach us how to be a mensch.” Rachael Speck, day camp director for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, said she’s looking forward to welcoming back programming “that’s been missing for the past two summers.” Whether it’s gathering as an entire camp for Shabbat or flagpole, going on field trips or even just carefree mingling, “we’re excited to get back to all of that.” As for what’s new this year, Speck said that the JCC is increasing its inclusion efforts. During the past three years, the JCC — through its summer camps and
after-school programming — has worked with Connection Counseling & Consultation Inc., a local agency that provides services to children and adults who might be categorized as neurodiverse. This summer, CC&C representatives will be on-site daily at J&R Day Camp and South Hills Day Camp, Speck said. By offering a continuous presence at camp and helping more than 800 campers with various emotional and mental health needs, CC&C professionals can ensure every child has a positive and successful summer, Speck said. Along with increasing its commitment to inclusion, the JCC is enhancing its property. Speck pointed to planned renovations Please see Camp, page 15
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Headlines ‘Squirrel Hill by the Numbers’ is a stroll through 20th-century Jewish underworld — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer
I
f part of your childhood included drinking a glass of Daily’s fruit juice, then you helped launder money made in the Jewish numbers racket, according to David Rotenstein. That’s just one of the facts Rotenstein will share during Doors Open Pittsburgh’s latest walking tour, “Squirrel Hill by the Numbers.” Participants will learn about the Jewish numbers syndicate, visit the homes where numbers barons lived, explore sites raided by local and federal law enforcement in the 1930s-1960s and see popular clubs and eateries frequented by the Jewish underworld. “Pittsburgh had a nationally significant Jewish organized crime syndicate, and it goes back to Prohibition and bootlegging,” Rotenstein explained. “In the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, it became associated with gambling.” Rotenstein first became interested in the history of the Jewish numbers racket in 2019 after reading about an aging racketeer, Sam Solomon, in Rob Ruck’s book “Sandlot Seasons: Sports in Black History.” In the tome, Solomon referred to Aug. 5, 1930, a day when lots of people in Pittsburgh bet on the same number, 805. He was quoted in the book as saying, “805 was a burner, where the hell was Jake Lerner?” While only a passing reference in the story, it sent Rotenstein down a rabbit hole, investigating not just Lerner and Solomon but names like Frank Nathan, Harry Angel and Meyer Sigal. “It became clear that these folks played a very important role in Pittsburgh’s history,” Rotenstein noted, adding that the men were
the heads of complex social networks that developed around informal economies. Rotenstein stresses this wasn’t the Mafia. It was, however, similar to other syndicates created by immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe — economic networks built to survive in a time dominated by Jim Crow laws, antisemitism and xenophobia, he said. Many of those associated with the numbers racket, Rotenstein said, held prominent positions in the business world. Daily’s Juice, for example, was created by Sigal and an Italian racketeer to launder money and create a front operation. Sigal, and other Jewish criminal bosses, weren’t alone in developing an enduring brand built on bootlegging or other nefarious means, Rotenstein noted, citing the Pittsburgh Steelers as an example. “Art Rooney is one of Pittsburgh’s most well-known sports business characters, but he built that business in bootlegging and gambling,” Rotenstein said. “The FBI actually considered him one of the biggest gambling figures in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the 20th century.” Like others involved in criminal enterprises, Jewish racketeers didn’t restrict their business to Pittsburgh. Lerner eventually ended up on the West Coast and established a money-laundering operation for the entire eastern crime syndicate, Rotenstein said. “It really was significant locally, regionally and, of course, nationally, with these larger social and economic networks that were forged right here in Pittsburgh, starting in the Hill District,” he added. Rotenstein grew up in Florida and has a doctorate in folklore and folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught history at several colleges and universities, including Carnegie Mellon University, and
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Headlines World music collective to perform historical Jewish and Ottoman works in Pittsburgh — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
I
n what’s become a familiar tune, a musical group that canceled a previously scheduled concert due to COVID-19 will finally be performing live. East of the River, a world music collective, is coming to Pittsburgh for two shows on April 30 at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The performances will feature music from Jewish and Ottoman traditions of the 13th to 18th centuries and invite listeners to explore sounds beyond the traditional Western canon. Daphna Mor, an Israeli-born recorder player and co-founder of East of the River, described the program as “very personal.” In addition to performing a set incorporating Hebrew, Arabic and Ladino works, the musicians will share deeply held traditions and enable their audience to hear music first played throughout the Middle East, Armenia, North Africa and the Balkans. East of the River comprises musicians with backgrounds in classical, jazz and folk traditions. Nina Stern, East of the River’s co-founder, studied in Basel, Switzerland, and plays recorder, chalumeaux and historical
From left: Nina Stern, Daphna Mor, Ronnie Malley, Tal Mashiach and Shane Shanahan Photo provided by
clarinets. Palestinian-born Ronnie Malley plays oud and sings. Tal Mashiach is an Israeliborn guitarist and bassist. Percussionist Shane Shanahan has spent the past 20 years touring the globe and performing with Yo-Yo Ma as a founding member of the Grammy Awardwinning Silkroad Ensemble. Each of the musicians, in their own right, is “just a dream,” but playing together is a gift, Mor said. While the group boasts an array of talents and traditions, East of the River is careful to not become a caricature of representation. “We do try to avoid making it a political statement,” Mor said. At the heart of the program “is
East of the River
a genuine love for each other and a genuine love for each other’s traditions and music.” She stressed that working with those of varied traditions while avoiding the political isn’t novel. Around the world, she said, other musicians have found ways to collaborate, communicate and recognize that “we have much more in common than apart.” Scott Pauley, co-artistic director of Chatham Baroque, helped arrange East of the River’s upcoming shows and said he was excited to see the performers expand listeners’ understanding of music. In recent years, Chatham Baroque, Renaissance Baroque and others have tried
to broaden “the definition of early music,” Pauley said. “For a long time, it’s been very Western European and Christian-oriented, as is a lot of classical music.” Pauley, a professional lute player, said he’s also looking forward to hearing the group use instruments like the oud or recorder in a “more early and non-Western style.” Donna Goyak, Chatham Baroque’s executive director, said the upcoming performance is just one “entry point” for Pittsburghers to learn more about the historical context of the music and to “help illuminate how the music is relevant to today.” Along with the performances, East of River’s Stern and Mor are holding a lecture on April 30 from 3-4 p.m. Titled, “Creating the Hamsa Program: Jewish Liturgy and Folk Songs, Ottoman Music, Instrumentation and Musical Arrangements,” the talk is one of two adjacent programs to help people understand the music’s relevance. The other program, Goyak, said, is an ancient coins exhibit at the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology in the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Museum officials have requested that after buying a ticket for East of the River, attendees reserve a time slot to visit the museum. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
HOW WE DEBATE While adopting the roles of government officials and environmentalists, our Middle School students hold a town hall meeting to discuss the merits and consequences of proposed energy initiatives to local communities. How will you empower your child to debate the issues that shape their world?
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Headlines Jewish Sports Hall of Fame to honor several community members — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
T
he Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania is back on the field, up at the plate or, more simply, meeting in person. After a two-year pandemic-related hiatus, the group will hold its annual gala live on May 15 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. Alan Mallinger, a board member and group liaison to the JCC, called the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame “an important cause” and is looking forward to bringing the community together after the extended timeout. In 2020, the event was canceled, and in 2021 it was held online. Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame has raised and distributed more than $700,000 to support Jewish-related sports programs in Pittsburgh and Israel, board member Beth Goldstein said. Locally, funds support the JCC, Emma Kaufman Camp, Community Day School, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Youth Leadership, Special Olympics and Squirrel Hill Baseball. Money raised at the annual banquet supports Kibbutz Eshbal, as well as other youth sports organizations in Israel. Mallinger said this year’s event features an
Players in the YM & WHA Intermediate Intramural League in the early 1930s
Photo courtesy of Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives
impressive group of inductees and honorees, including Dr. Eric Anish, Josh Helmrich, Mike Levy, Dr. Robert Marcus, Andy Pakler and former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto. Anish, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and internal medicine and sports medicine physician, served on the Team USA Medical Staff at the 2011 Pan-American Games in Mexico
and the 2012 Olympic Games in England. In college, he was a cross-country and track and field mainstay at the University of Pennsylvania and later competed as a member of Team USA at the 1993 World Maccabiah Games in Israel. He won the Pittsburgh Marathon Masters Division in 2009 and was the first male finisher at 1,600 and 3,000 meters at the USA Track and Field
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Please see Sports, page 15
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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 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 FRIDAY, APRIL 29-MAY 8 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.
q SUNDAYS, MAY 1-JUNE 5
q TUESDAYS, MAY 3, 10, 17
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.
Join Classrooms Without Borders for a weekly book discussion of “The Holocaust & the Exile of Yiddish: A History of the Algemeyne Entsiklopedye” with Dr. Josh Andy. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/weekly-bookdiscussions-holocaust-exile-yiddish.
q MONDAYS, MAY 2-JUNE 6
q TUESDAYS, MAY 3-MAY 24
Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
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 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. 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 SATURDAY, APRIL 30
q TUESDAYS, MAY 3, 10
Join Temple Sinai to watch “An American Pickle.” Stay afterward to talk about it. 7 p.m. templesinaipgh.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 fiveweek 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.
Temple Emanuel of South Hills presents Havdalah, wine cheese and music with nationally known Jewish musician Ellie Flier. RSVP to templeemanuel@templeemanuelpgh.org. 7:30 p.m. 1250 Bower Hill Rd. templeemanuelpgh.org/event/ havdalah-2-2022-04-30. 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 Moishe House for Circus 101 - Private Session with Iron City Circus Arts. Learn beginner aerial arts, no experience required. 3:30 p.m. For more information, go to moishehouse.org/find-a-house/ pittsburgh/.
The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process leading to the mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It offers a powerful primary source teaching tool providing visual documentation of the deportation of masses of Jews to the extermination camp. This session, presented by Classrooms Without Borders and led by Yad Vashem educator Liz Elsby, will explore the story behind the Auschwitz Album, examining what can be seen, as well as what is left out, of the photographs. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/auschwitz-album.
q WEDNESDAY, MAY 4 Join Classrooms Without Borders for “Our Sons” post-film discussion with film director Avi Maor Marzouk moderated by Avi Ben Hur. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/our-sonsfilm-discussion. q WEDNESDAYS, MAY 4 -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. Join Temple Sinai to study the weekly Torah portion in its hybrid class available on Zoom. Open to everyone. Noon. templesinaipgh.org/ event/parashah/weekly-torah-portion-class-viazoom11.html. q MONDAY, MAY 9 Rabbi Danny Schiff presents Tackling Jewish Anti-Zionism from A to Z. Be a part of the conversation around Jewish anti-Zionism and how to tackle this growing challenge. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Beth El Congregation, Temple Emanuel, Carnegie Shul, South Hills JCC and the Jewish National Fund. 7 p.m. South Hills JCC, 345 Kane Blvd. jewishpgh.org/ event/tackling-jewish-anti-zionism-from-a-to-z-rabbidanny-schiff. 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. Temple Emanuel of South Hills’ first 5K walk/run to benefit SHIM welcomes walkers and runners of all ages for this non-competitive event. One hundred percent of the registration fee supports the South Hills Interfaith Mission. Bring nonperishable food donations for SHIM and take home a special Temple Emanuel water bottle. After your run, enjoy a treat from Pittsburgh Crepes or Kona Ice. Both food trucks will donate a portion of their proceeds from the day to SHIM. $18/person; $54 family max. To register, visit templeemanuelpgh.org/event/shim5k. 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 THURSDAY, MAY 19 Join Rabbi Josh Warshawsky and the Chaverai Nevarech Band for a Lag Ba’omer concert at Beth Shalom. Warshawsky is a nationally touring Jewish musician, teacher and composer who seeks to build intentional praying communities, and travels to synagogues, camps and schools across the country sharing his music and teachings on prayer. 6 p.m. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/lag-baomer. q WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 Save the date for the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh’s spring event. Guest speaker Tammy Thompson, the founder of 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
Jewish Pittsburgher killed in an act of violence in California
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t. Lebanon native Jonathan Bahm, 23, was murdered April 19 in his apartment in Anaheim, California. According to media reports, Bahm and his roommate, Griffin Cuomo, 23, were attacked by Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim in their apartment Tuesday morning. Fahim and Cuomo were coworkers at Pence Wealth Management. Fahim is accused of stabbing both Bahm and Cuomo to death. He is being held without bail and will be arraigned on May 6. The Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a press release that Fahim, 26, is being charged with “special circumstances” — lying in wait — in regard to the murders, which will make him eligible for the death penalty. 6
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The defendant was seen by a security guard on the apartment complex’s roof shortly before midnight. He was later seen on the same floor as the victims’ apartment the morning of the murders. He was still in the apartment when Anaheim police responded to a 911 call. “These young men were just starting to live out their dreams and find their places in the world,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “An intruder who stalked them and then slashed them to death in their own home interrupted those dreams. The callous way that two young lives were ended cannot be ignored, and we will do everything we can to ensure justice is served.” Authorities have not announced a motive for the crime.
Bahm graduated in 2017 from Mt. Lebanon High School and in 2021 from Orange County’s Chapman University with a degree from the Fowler School of Engineering. On a tribute page created by the university, Erik Linstead, associate dean of the school, remembered Bahm as a capable student who laughed at his jokes and was supportive during COVID and the move to online courses. “I’ll remember him as someone who made the effort to show me kindness when I needed it most,” he wrote. “Jonathan was the best friend anyone could ever ask for,” said Debbie Levy, a close family friend and a member of Temple Emanuel of South Hills, where the Bahm family is affiliated. “He was the epitome of a mensch.
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Everyone who knew him adored him and he loved us back. At Temple Emanuel’s Torah Center he was a favorite student. And there were a few of us lucky enough to have him as a madrich, a teacher’s assistant. Every child he helped teach adored him.” “My heart breaks with a family experiencing the deepest depths of tragedy,” Temple Emanuel Rabbi Aaron Meyer said. “Jonathan will be remembered by his friends and family as ‘the best of us.’ I pray the many joyous memories he created are a salve for the broken hearts.” A funeral was held for Bahm on Sunday, April 24, at Temple Emanuel. His obituary can be found on page 19. PJC — David Rullo PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Headlines ‘Repairing the World’ is inspiring look at Pittsburgh synagogue shooting’s aftermath
p Still from “Repairing the World: Stories from The Tree of Life”
— LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
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ournalists from around the globe came to Pittsburgh following the massacre at the Tree of Life building to report on the most horrific act of antisemitism in the history of the United States. Thousands of stories were written about the victims, their families, the killer. Survivors were interviewed about the details of that devastating Shabbat morning when 11 Jews were murdered in their house of prayer by a white supremacist who left a trail of hate on his social media accounts. But in the documentary “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life,” filmmaker Patrice O’Neill shows her audience what happened next: The inspirational story of the citizens of Pittsburgh determined to turn the phrase “never again” into action. “Repairing the World” is exactly what Jewish Pittsburghers, and their neighbors, have set out to do. The film will have its world premiere at the JFilm Festival on May 5 at the AMC Waterfront. O’Neill, who is a leader of Not In Our Town — a nationwide movement of people working to build safe and inclusive communities — spent three years filming “Repairing the World.”
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Photo courtesy of Film Pittsburgh
The end result is a moving portrayal of a city flung into the depths of shock and despair but resilient and motivated to do good in response. O’Neill interviewed more than 120 community members in making “Repairing the World.” Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, emeritus Post-Gazette Editor David Shribman, shooting survivor Andrea Wedner and her family, Maggie Feinstein of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, Rabbi Ron Symons of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and Lauren Bairnsfather of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh are among the Jewish Pittsburghers sharing their perspectives as members of a people targeted by hate for centuries but who are determined to change the paradigm. “We’re not letting hate close our doors, ever,” Myers poignantly says. The film, though, reaches far beyond the city’s Jewish community. Wasi Mohamed, former executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, explains how his community rose up to aid its Jewish neighbors following the attack. Steeler Zach Banner shares how he took a fellow NFL player to task after he made an antisemitic comment. PostGazette columnist Tony Norman describes the many bridges — both literal and metaphoric — that were crossed in the aftermath of the
massacre. Former Mayor Bill Peduto explains how Pittsburgh’s City Council passed three laws aimed at curbing gun violence less than six months after the shooting — legislation that quickly got overturned by a court. Scenes from a vigil at the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues organized by Allderdice High School students the night of the attack; a rally held by the group Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, which was formed following the massacre by members of Dor Hadash Congregation; footage from the Eradicate Hate Global Summit held downtown in 2021 — where world leaders came together to deliver solutions to hate — are just a few of the vignettes O’Neill uses to illustrate how the shooting brought the wider community together for a common purpose. The film delves into the scourge of white supremacy and examines its threat, not only toward Jews, but other marginalized communities such as Blacks and Asians, as well as actions taken by Pittsburghers to thwart it. When Asians in Squirrel Hill are the target of hateful rhetoric during the early weeks of the pandemic, Jewish Pittsburghers take to their defense. Marian Lien, president of OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates Pittsburgh Chapter, tells how she was told to “go back to China with the virus.” “The Jewish community said, ‘Tell us what
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you need,’” she recounts. Quiet acts of resilience are showcased as well. A rose garden is planted in memory of Rose Mallinger, a 97-year-old grandmother who read the Prayer for Peace at Tree of Life every Shabbat. Achieva, the residence of Cecil and David Rosenthal, launches the Love Like the Boys initiative to promote random acts of kindness. One year after the attack — on Oct. 27, 2019 — the families of the victims request the community to engage in a day of service and the community obliges by cleaning up the grounds of a cemetery, sorting items at a food bank and making blankets for refugees. Ultimately, “Repairing the World” is a film about the power of relationships — those formed after and as a result of the massacre, and those forged beforehand. As the JCC’s Symons says, “We are redefining the word ‘neighbor’ as someone you have a moral responsibility toward and who has a moral responsibility toward you.’” This film may well be a call to action to citizens across the country to ensure their own communities are safe and welcoming to all. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. This review was based on a version of the film prior to its final cut. APRIL 29, 2022 7
Headlines Legal watchdog urges federal court to reverse decision on Texas anti-BDS law — NATIONAL — By Dmitriy Shapiro | JNS
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he Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a brief on April 21 aimed at reversing a lower federal district court’s decision that Texas’s anti-BDS law violates First Amendment freedom of speech rights of government contractors. In a news release, the Brandeis Center called a January ruling by a federal district court “nothing less than a naked assault on principles of equal treatment” and “has no basis in the law.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District began reviewing briefs filed in the case, which was appealed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after the lower court’s ruling that put an injunction on the law. Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, joined the Brandeis Center in filing its brief. The Brandeis Center argued that Texas’ anti-BDS law targeted conduct that discriminated against Israel, not speech, and that courts have long ruled that the First Amendment does not protect against discriminatory action. According to the Brandeis Center, the judge failed to recognize the longstanding precedent upholding the constitutionality of laws that prevent government employees and contractors from discriminating, and that states cannot be required to use public funds to subsidize discrimination. The Texas anti-BDS law disincentivized state contractors from engaging in discriminatory boycotts of Israel but had no impact on speech against Israel. The law was challenged by the Houstonbased A&R Engineering and Testing Co., which when its contract with the city of Houston was up for renewal was asked to certify that it does not and will not boycott Israel. The owner of the company, Ramsy Hassouna, testified that he is not antisemitic though is a proponent of the BDS movement. “Under Texas law, contractors are, in fact, permitted to speak passionately and to advocate openly in support of a boycott of Israel. An economic boycott, though, is discriminatory conduct, not speech, and is not protected by the First Amendment,” the release stated. The brief cited cases such as Grove City College v. Bell, in which a judge rejected a
p U.S. and Texas state flags fly on the dome of the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.
challenge to a law that required recipients of federal tuition assistance to certify that they do not discriminate based on sex. In Bob Jones University v. U.S., the judge ruled that conditioning tax-exempt status on a university’s adoption of non-discrimination policies does not infringe on First Amendment rights. The Brandeis Center wrote in its brief that there are many laws that “require government contractors to refrain from discrimination on the basis of national origin, race, religion or other classifications as a condition to receiving government contracts.” So far, 32 states have similar anti-BDS laws as Texas with 22 requiring contractors to certify their compliance.
‘Prevent taxpayer money from paying for discriminatory conduct’
Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman
of the Brandeis Center and former assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights, said the litigation is a nuisance, but he’s confident that at the end of the day, the law will be found constitutional. Even the district court, he said, didn’t accept the argument that the whole law was unconstitutional—only a piece of it— but the whole law was blocked due to a preliminary injunction. The federal government also requires its contractors to refrain from discrimination based on national origin and race. A boycott that focuses on a single country is considered national origin discrimination, according to the Brandeis Center, subjecting people and products from that nation to adverse treatment. “Legislatures routinely impose conditions on government contracts for reasons like wanting to protect against discrimination. It’s only when antisemitism is at issue that
Photo by CrackerClips via iStock Photo
people start yelling about the freedom of speech,” said Marcus. “I strongly support the First Amendment, and I think it’s right to be very careful to protect the freedom of speech, but in this case, we’re talking about a basic provision to prevent Texas taxpayer money from paying for discriminatory conduct.” The result of the case will not only impact Texas but will be felt in other states where BDS laws face similar challenges from those claiming that boycotting Israel is not discrimination against Jews. “For those people who are trying to marginalize and stigmatize and hurt the Jewish people, there is no bigger, stronger, more threatening tool than the BDS movement,” said Marcus. “So it’s nonsense to suggest that a BDS proposal is separate from antisemitism. They’re antisemitic through and through. To support BDS is to be engaged in a form of discrimination, and it should be treated that way.” PJC
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Headlines Refugees from Ukraine are slated to join the March of the Living commemoration event at Auschwitz, JTA reported. The refugees are among 2,500 people from 25 countries who signed up for the mission to the former death camp, the first since March of the Living suspended such activities due to COVID-19, the educational group said in a statement. The march brings young people from around the world to Poland and Israel to study the history of the Holocaust. The event on April 28 culminates in the traditional two-mile march between the Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau camps near Krakow in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the statement said.
Passover and Ramadan. “Hillel’s continued support for the state of Israel after this attack contradicts our values of human rights and justice and we are unable to participate in a co-sponsored campus event at this time,” the group posted to social media. The student group’s post said that it did not discover Hillel would be a co-sponsor of the interfaith event until after the Muslim students agreed to be a part of it. AU Hillel Executive Director Jason Benkendorf said the event went on anyway with other campus partners. “We are disappointed that the MSA chose not to participate and are hurt by their decision to express their disagreement with Israel’s actions by boycotting our campus Jewish community,” Benkendorf said. “We don’t believe this is in keeping with the values of our campus.”
American University Muslim student group withdraws from seder over Israel support
Supreme Court rules Jewish art dealer heirs can use courts to recover painting Nazis stole
— WORLD — Ukrainian refugees to join March of Living at Auschwitz
The Muslim Student Association at American University in Washington, D.C., canceled its participation in an interfaith seder and Iftar event with the campus Hillel chapter, citing Hillel’s support of Israel amid renewed violent clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, JTA reported. The group had been a co-sponsor of the event to commemorate
The Supreme Court ruled that heirs to a German Jewish art dealer could use the U.S. court system to reclaim a valuable painting the family used as a bargaining chip with the Nazis — even though the painting is now owned by Spain, JTA reported In a unanimous ruling on April 21, the justices found that the property law dispute could be debated in court in California,
where the descendants of Lilly Cassirer live today. Justice Elena Kagan, the court’s only Jewish member, wrote the opinion. “Our ruling is as simple as the conflict over [the painting’s] rightful owner has been vexed,” Kagan wrote in the case of Cassirer Et Al. v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. In 1939, Cassirer surrendered the French painting “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain,” by 19th-century Impressionist Camille Pissarro to the Nazis in exchange for an exit visa so she could leave the country amid rising persecution of Jews. Two decades later, Cassirer’s descendants accepted compensation from the German government — only to later discover that the painting had undergone a journey of its own, from an art gallery in St. Louis to a private home in Switzerland to an art foundation owned by the Spanish government.
Report: Israel the eighth-largest nuclear power
Israel has 90 nuclear warheads, making it the eighth-largest nuclear power, according to a report by the American Federation of Scientists, Globes reported. There are about 13,000 nuclear warheads worldwide, led by Russia (5,977), the United States (5,428), China (350), France (290) and the United Kingdom (225). The other countries with nuclear weapons are
Pakistan (165), India (160), Israel and North Korea (20). When the Cold War was winding down in 1987, there were more than 70,000 nuclear warheads. “The U.S. is still reducing its nuclear stockpile slowly. France and Israel have relatively stable inventories, according to the “Status of World Nuclear Forces” report. “But China, India, North Korea, Pakistan and the U.K., as well as possibly Russia, are all thought to be increasing their stockpiles.”
Travel abroad surges in Israel in March
Israelis traveling abroad in March approached pre-pandemic levels, The Jerusalem Post reported. In March, there were 498,600 Israelis traveling abroad, much higher than in March 2020 (100,600) and 2021 (66,500) but still below March 2019 (551,600). The Central Bureau of Statistics data include the age distribution of travelers and indicate that all age groups have resumed traveling. Younger groups did resume traveling more readily than their older counterparts. For example, the number of departures for those 20-24 was only 6% less than the same month in 2019. But the number for those 60 and above was 17% lower. PJC — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
This week in Israeli history — WORLD — Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
April 29, 1979 — Prisoners of Zion arrive in Israel
May 2, 1921 — Rioters kill writer Brenner
Writer Yosef Haim Brenner, a pioneer of modern Hebrew literature and a founder of the Histadrut, is among six people killed on the second day of violence between Arabs and Jews around Jaffa.
May 3, 1882 — Russia institutes May Laws
Five recently released Soviet prisoners are flown to Israel. They were convicted in 1970 of hijacking a plane to escape the Soviet Union. Their story catalyzes the movement to free Soviet Jewry.
April 30, 2003 — Quartet offers framework for peace
The Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations issues its Roadmap for Peace, a framework for talks to achieve a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians.
May 1, 1956 — Eshkol approves building Ashdod
Finance Minister Levi Eshkol authorizes establishing Ashdod on the site of a former Palestinian village, Isdud, along the coast between Tel Aviv and Ashkelon. The first residents arrive in November. 10
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Russian Czar Alexander III tightens restrictions on Jews by enacting the May Laws, part of a crackdown since the assassination of Alexander II in March 1881. The laws include a ban on real estate ownership or management.
May 4, 1947 — Irgun blasts prisoners out of Acre
The Irgun carries out a complex operation to break 30 of its men and 11 Lehi members out of the British prison at Acre (Akko). Six of the 41 are killed; eight are recaptured. In the chaos, 182 Arabs escape.
May 5, 1985 — Reagan visits Bitburg, BergenBelsen
President Ronald Reagan visits the BergenBelsen concentration camp, then speaks about German-American reconciliation at the military cemetery in Bitburg, where more than 2,000 Nazi SS soldiers are buried. PJC
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Agewell Homecoming Week May 2-6 JCC Squirrel Hill
Special Events • Giveaways • Raffles Movies • Shabbat with Rabbi Ron
Director Liza West and Chef Trent Seeberger of Aladdin Food Services welcome you back to J Cafe.
Welcome Back to the JCC for In-Person Dining!* *For AgeWell at the JCC members. Reserve by 4 pm of the previous business day by calling 412-567-1715 JCCPGH.ORG
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Opinion Israel at 74 — EDITORIAL —
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om Ha’atzmaut, which begins at sunset on May 4, invites us to look at Israel through a long lens and see how utterly different it is today than when it came into being 74 years ago. There are many who remember how encircled and outnumbered the just-declared state was on the fifth day of Iyar in 1948. There was no guarantee that Israel wouldn’t be overrun and wiped out by the surrounding Arab armies — not then, and not in 1967, when a similar coalition, backed by the Soviet Union, threatened war while the United States was too distracted by Vietnam to offer even moral support. Many remember 1967, how Israel survived and how it prevailed again in 1973,
but not without the cost of 2,400 lives lost and a badly strained economy. It was Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt in 1979 that removed the most powerful Arab country as a strategic threat to Israel’s existence. That agreement wasn’t universally welcomed, but it has lasted more than four decades. Today, threats and enemies remain, but unlike in the past, many countries are normalizing relations with Israel — a country that is technologically advanced, economically stable and tied to its partner and strategic asset, the United States. The close American connection and the end of the Cold War have contributed to the melting of the Three No’s of the 1967 Khartoum Resolution: “No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it....” In its place, the Abraham Accords includes Arab countries that have said yes to all three prohibitions.
The annual Gallup poll of country favorability found that 71% of Americans gave Israel a “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” rating. That’s in line with average favorability ratings since 2013 and a leap from the 45% in 1989. The results put Israel in good company; among the countries Gallup rated, only Canada, Great Britain, France, Japan, Germany and India ranked higher. Lately, Israel has become positively associated with coronavirus research. With each surge of the pandemic, it was often a surprise to hear Israel mentioned in the media as one of the countries that was doing something right in beating back COVID. In January of 2021, before most Americans even got their first inoculation, The Atlantic highlighted how Israel had vaccinated six times more of its population than the U.S. Writer Uri Friedman said the reason Israel was able to act so efficiently “traces back decades
to the embryonic health infrastructure created before the State of Israel even existed.” Israel’s universal health system, present at the country’s founding, was able to reach a population in danger seven decades later. Then there are the more anecdotal accolades. Tel Aviv made the Forbes list of the world’s 15 best cities, coming in eighth. And Time Out ranked Tel Aviv as the world’s most fun city for the second year in a row and the second-best city in the food and drink category. Speaking of food and drink, Israeli food is having a bit of a moment in the States, too, as chefs like Michael Solomonov introduce the public to both familiar and unfamiliar culinary offerings. Israel — like all other countries — is not perfect. But on the occasion of its 74th anniversary, let’s celebrate its vast accomplishments. PJC
Of liberation, from generation to generation Guest Columnist Dionna Dash
D
uring this past semester, my final one of college, I have had the extraordinary chance to study abroad in Nantes, France, a Northwestern town known for its Paris-like architecture and signature buckwheat crêpes. Being Jewish in France has been difficult at times and rewarding at others — I have faced antisemitism and ignorance, but I also got to spend a lovely Passover in Paris meeting Jews from around the world at the local Chabad. I had been warned about all this before I came — friends told me to be hyper-vigilant when wearing my hamsa necklace in the streets, my program’s staff advised us it was better to keep religion a personal matter while in the country, I struggled with the decision whether to put “kosher” or “vegetarian” on my host family request form, knowing France’s rules about “laïcité,” the French principle of avoiding being ostentatiously religious in one’s public life. I had assumed before this trip that certain moments and experiences would make me hyper-aware of my Judaism, would make me feel annoyed, isolated, maybe even scared, but I was not fully aware of how intimately grief and catharsis are tied, of how often beauty is born of violence. There was one moment in my semester that was more difficult, yet also more healing, than any of these other experiences. In early February, the 27 students on my program, along with a few staff members, set out for the D-Day beaches of Normandy. We were scheduled to visit, as our itinerary listed sans further description, the Caen Memorial, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, and the Pointe du Hoc. The three-hour drive down was relatively carefree; cemeteries always make me slightly uncomfortable but 12
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I was ready to be entrenched in history and solemnly pay my respects. We stopped at a gas station about halfway through our drive, and I quickly collected some rocks from a nearby gravel path to put on the graves that afternoon. What the itinerary had failed to inform us of was that this so-called memorial was actually an entire museum dedicated not only to the Second World War, but to the Holocaust, complete with a recreation of an underground Nazi bunker and pre-recorded sounds of bombs crashing overhead blasting from the ceiling speakers. There was a wall of pictures of French Jews who had perished — the unknowing, smiling faces of families, a boy in a tallit and kippah at his bar mitzvah, endless images adorned with the surname “unknown.” I stood there for half an hour, looking at each face until they all became blurred into abstraction. There was a letter found in the dirt of Auschwitz where a man testified to the horrors of the camp and listed the names of his lost family members. He implored the “dear finder of this letter” to go to his house and find pictures of his family and keep them with this letter. There were no pictures next to the letter in the display. There was a copy of Paul Éluard’s 1942 poem of resistance, “Liberté,” promising to write its name with rocks, ashes, blood, to search for it even in the marches of death. There was a picture of a pile of shoes in a concentration camp with a tiny pair of baby shoes resting crookedly on top. I broke down crying and my friend had to pull me outside, where my sobs blended with the recordings of the bombs crashing. Despite these horrors, I felt oddly safe inside the museum. My gold hamsa shone brightly against my dark sweater, my thoughts reassuring me that surely no one would harm me here while staring into the face of past atrocities. When we returned outside, the wind had become ferocious, as if it, too, was grieving the nameless, smiling faces plastered on the museum’s walls. The air had an undercurrent of salt to it, the beaches beckoning us to our
next distressing site. On the path to Omaha Beach, my feet were met not with sand, but with rocks, like the ones hanging heavy in my pockets, intended for the unmarked graves. The American Cemetery was a sea of crosses with a couple Jewish stars, the majority of the tombs’ inhabitants unknown. The graves are right next to the beach, with a brilliant view of sparkling water and calm waves. It felt unfair, unjust, that such beauty should exist in a landscape marred with death. It was enraging to stand on a beach so peaceful and beautiful and know that so many people died there. Yet nature has healed there, without a trace of the past, as if we simply did not disturb it; it would remain tranquil forever, indifferent to the destruction of humanity. By the time we reached Pointe du Hoc, the location of a series of German bunkers and artillery stores during the war, rain had started to pour, mingling with the wind that was blowing so strongly it nearly knocked me over, stinging my face as it whipped into my cheeks. These bunkers were captured on D-Day by American forces after they scaled the 110-foot cliffs leading up to the shore, reducing the 225 Rangers who began the assault to only 90 cursed survivors. I thought about how calm, temperate, even gorgeous these beaches would have been in early June, and how excruciatingly, suffocatingly hot it must have felt to wear pounds and pounds of battle gear while scaling their bluffs. The German bunkers are all grassed over now — nature’s attempts to heal — yet the terrain remains uneven, the land pockmarked with knolls and valleys, like titanic footprints of an angry, stomping deity. It was hard to stand on those beaches, to whisper prayers in that cemetery. I was exhausted and angry and grief-stricken. Yet there was also a deep sense of healing, of something twisting in a dark part of my core. It felt almost like a return, like I was letting someone, or some element, know that it was safe to come back now, that I was here and alive and bearing witness to all that had happened in these spots. My immediate family did not perish in the
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Holocaust. My great-grandparents immigrated to the States before the rumblings of World War Two had begun to arise in Germany. Both of my grandfathers served in the American military during World War II. The soldiers in the Normandy graves were their brothers in arms, fighting for the liberation of the Jewish people, a people my family was part of. These soldiers were seeking the liberation of Europe, walking uphill into gunshots, while my Granddad was collecting the bodies of their brothers gunned down in the Marshall Islands. I am simultaneously a product of European Jewry and American immigration. I chose to come to France, to stay here, to live freely as a young, Jewish woman in Europe. The men buried in that cemetery did not. They will never return home. Even in death, their bodies remain in France, despite their resting place being considered American soil. Walking those beaches in Normandy was a sort of generational catharsis, a way of acknowledging the atrocities and sacrifices faced by both of my heritages — the American soldiers who fought for Europe’s liberation and the European Jewry whose resilience remained strong throughout their perish or survival. I had never before properly grieved the intimate intertwining of these two groups, of my entire ancestry colliding in one symbolic location. Stepping back onto the bus, I felt light, almost as if I was floating. My head was pounding from the incessant tears and wet sand was caked onto my shoes, but through all the pain there was a sliver of tranquility. No one spoke on the drive back. Yet the silence did not cling like a dark cloud threatening a downpour, but rather lay gently, like an ethereal blanket of soft, sturdy, hands resting atop our shoulders and guiding us forever forward. PJC Dionna Dash, originally from Philadelphia, attends the University of Pittsburgh, where she studies communications and linguistics and is a student leader at Hillel JUC. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Opinion Why the ‘Libs of TikTok’ founder’s Jewish identity was fair game Guest Columnist Andrew Silow-Carroll
I
n the autumn of 1965, a New York Times reporter met in a Queens luncheonette with Daniel Burros, a chief organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in New York State. The reporter, McCandlish Phillips, had a difficult subject to bring up with his racist and deeply antisemitic interviewee: He found out that Burros’ parents were married by a rabbi, and that Burros himself appeared to have been raised and bar mitzvahed in an Orthodox Jewish home in the Richmond Hill neighborhood of Queens. “Are you going to print that?” Burros asked. When Phillips said he would, Burros threatened to kill him. Burros did not carry out that threat, but the story ends in violence: After reading the article that ran on Oct. 31, “State Klan Leader Hides Secret of Jewish Origin,” Burros shot and killed himself.
The story of the Orthodox Jew turned self-hating Klansman is often brought up in journalism classes as a case study in disclosing what a subject would prefer to keep hidden. Burros had put himself out there as a public figure, and his biography — and his secret — were considered fair game. Neither of the top Times editors at the time — A.M. Rosenthal and Arthur Gelb, who co-wrote a book about Burros — expressed any qualms. “He was who he was, he did what he did, and I no more would feel guilty of saying that a certain person robbed a bank,” Rosenthal once told an interviewer. “Was I happy that he killed himself? Of course not. I did not feel that we had done anything but the appropriate thing. It was he who was misappropriating his life, both in what he was doing and how he chose to end it. There were other ways he could have ended it — he could have quit!” I thought about the Burros case last week, after The Washington Post ran an article about the far-right Twitter account “Libs of TikTok,” in which reporter Taylor Lorenz named the woman who had been running the account anonymously. Among other
things, she noted that the woman, Chaya Raichik, is an Orthodox Jew. Lorenz gleaned the information from one of Raichik’s own previous Twitter bios, mentioned it once, and moved on. Critics of the article, mostly on the right, accused Lorenz of harassing and “doxxing” Raichik — that is, revealing personal information about someone who appeared to prefer anonymity online. Lorenz’s defenders — mostly on the left — said the reporter was just doing journalism, and noted that Raichik herself was in the business of posting videos by obscure LGBTQ activists and gay-friendly teachers, who were then held up for ridicule and harassment in the right-wing ecosphere. Lorenz’s editor defended her reporting methods, saying they “comport entirely with the Washington Post’s professional standards.” Raichik, the statement added, “in her management of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account and in media interviews, has had significant impact on public discourse and her identity had become public knowledge on social media.” The Post’s statement itself comports with how most mainstream journalists would
have handled the story: With her 700,000plus followers and demonstrable impact on the right-wing media and even pending GOP legislation, Raichik’s identity and background were ripe for disclosure. Jewish Twitter had a separate beef with Lorenz, however, with many asking how Raichik’s Orthodox background was relevant to the story. “Why was it crucial for @TaylorLorenz to mention the creator of ‘Libs of TikTok’ was an Orthodox Jew?” the group Stop Antisemitism tweeted. “Violent antisemitic attacks, especially in NYC, are skyrocketing. This does nothing but give an already bias lunatic more ammo to attack Jews!” The Coalition for Jewish Values, an organization of right-wing Orthodox rabbis, said that “identifying the Twitter user as an Orthodox Jewish woman placed her at heightened risk of physical harm.” But if identifying someone as Jewish subjects them to antisemitism, that seems to be a bigger and more insurmountable Please see Silow-Carroll, page 15
Chronicle poll results: Elon Musk and Twitter
L
ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Are you in favor of Elon Musk buying Twitter?” Of the 155 people who responded, 54% said no and 25% said yes. Twenty-one percent said they didn’t know. Forty-six people submitted comments. A few follow. I’m for free speech but don’t want to see Trump back on Twitter. Hopefully he would put an end to Twitter’s censorship of views they don’t like while censoring real hate speech. Free speech is important to our society! The super-rich monopolies on media.
shouldn’t
have
Finally, a breath of fresh air that will support First Amendment free speech rights instead of quashing anyone that does
not conform to their Biden Presidential Protection Program platform. There is something wrong when big tech enables the terrorist mullahs of Iran, as well as Putin’s criminal surrogates, to post, while at the same time censoring a former president and conservatives.
Don’t know.
25%
Elon Musk will make Twitter an unbiased, as free as possible platform (barring criminal contents). Many of us Twitter users have been vigilantly blocking and reporting bullying, uncivil and hate speech and found it has toned down its use online, at least for our individual accounts. I am concerned Mr. Musk’s “Free Speech” stand has a very different definition than ours.
21%
Freedom of speech! I will risk being offended to live in a free speech society.
54% No.
Honestly, who cares at this point!? Is there nothing more important in the world going on than whether some self-important billionaire interferes with social media? Excuse me, but innocent people are being slaughtered because today’s version of a czar says so, and millions have died because of a disease that some folks refuse to believe exists, and we’re supposed to care about what Elon Musk does? Please!
technology companies stymie it in favor of one side. Elon will take Twitter and make it a real town hall.
Free speech is embedded in America’s DNA. Most of the social media and
I cannot emphasize “No” more strongly.
Yes.
The balance between allowing free speech and not allowing hate speech is subtle and nuanced and, alas, Elon Musk is neither. PJC — Toby Tabachnick
the
word
Chronicle poll question:
Are you wearing a mask in indoor public places, including mass transit? Go to Pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
Clarification
— LETTERS — In defense of Point Park professors
I am responding to Chronicle reporting about a legal dispute at Point Park University (“Point Park prof says she’s still ‘shunned’ on campus as litigation proceeds,” April 15). First, I wish only the best for everyone caught up in this distressing matter. Also, I’ve known professors Robert Ross and Dwight Hines at Point Park for about 12 years, and I worked with them for five years before I retired. I found them to be excellent, dedicated, ethical colleagues, devoid of antisemitism and every other prejudice. Moreover, as a Jewish faculty person, in more than 40 years at the university I never experienced antisemitism or anything remotely like it from anyone. Robert Alexander Pittsburgh PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Are you in favor of Elon Musk buying Twitter?
In “State grants more than $500,000 to local religious nonprofits for security” (April 22), two local Jewish organizations were omitted from the list of those that received state security grants. In addition to the 11 grantees listed in the story, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob Congregation and Chabad Lubavitch of South Hills, Inc. also received grants from Pennsylvania to bolster their security. PJC 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 Address:
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Website address:
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 pittsburghjewishchronicle.org/letters-to-the-editor
APRIL 29, 2022 13
Headlines
Some of the items recovered from the home of Andrew Clinton
Clinton: Continued from page 1
who may have been a victim of theft by Andrew Clinton, Brokos said. So far, several members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community have come forth accusing Clinton, a 20-year-old male who lives in Squirrel Hill, of stealing items from their homes. He is in custody at the Allegheny County Jail on $20,000 bail after his arrest earlier this month on more than a dozen charges of theft in Fox Chapel and Ohara Township. On April 21, police searched the home
Photos by David Rullo
of Clinton’s parents. During the search, numerous Judaica items believed to have been stolen were identified. Several large bins of stolen Judaic relics, books, portraits and other religious items were found in Clinton’s parents’ basement, according to Det. Francesco Rosato Jr., who is assisting Allegheny County Police with the investigation. Officers recovered some of the items and photographed and documented others. Police were unable to seize many of the items found because they have not been reported as stolen, leading officers working the case to believe victims have underreported crimes involving Clinton.
Clinton posed as a handyman to gain access to homes in Squirrel Hill, Fox Chapel and Ohara Township. He has been known to impersonate a home improvement contractor, general contractor, landscaper, HVAC technician and gynecological resident. Clinton has posted messages on the Jewish Pittsburgh Facebook group under the false account of “Paul Wolfe,” according to Brokos. At times, Clinton, who is not Jewish, purported to either be Jewish or someone wishing to convert. He attended functions at Jewish institutions before rabbis and others expressed concern. After community leaders consulted with Brokos, Clinton was banned
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David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. investment from the school’s diverse community to help advance its work, Pickett said. “The decision to add the IHRA definition to our website is a direct reflection of this commitment,” he added. “It came out of our discussions with student, faculty, staff and Jewish groups on campus and was an area of emphasis. It’s critical we continue to be as collaborative as possible while we advance our efforts to promote more equitable and inclusive experiences on campus.” Silver said the announcement of the adoption of the IHRA definition was only recently added to the university’s website, and while there was no official announcement from the university, the student government board promoted it on Instagram and other social media platforms. In a semester that started tainted by the remarks of a visiting professor, Silver said she feels the university recognizes the importance of the Jewish community. She said she recently attended a dinner at Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s house and was seated next to Dean of Students Carla Panzella. “She mentioned that she was in meetings where IHRA was discussed,” Silver said. “That made me feel seen.” Berlin, too, said that although Jewish students may have felt supported by the university in the past, the acceptance of the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism helps to show the Jewish community is an important part of the Pitt community. “I think this was just the next step forward,” he said. PJC
Antisemitism: to handle antisemitic incidents. “Having the university accept the definition really empowers Jewish students to feel more comfortable on campus and to feel like it’s supporting them and our community,” Berlin said. Published in 2016, the IHRA created the working definition to provide a guide to determine whether statements and actions qualify as antisemitic. It reads in part: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” In the last six years, more than 865 international organizations, governments, municipalities, NGOs, universities, athletic clubs, corporations and other groups have embraced the definition. Hillel JUC’s Marcus said that it was because of student-driven leadership that the motion to adopt the definition passed at the university. “We’re grateful to the student government and grateful to the senior administration of Pitt,” Marcus said. “This was something that Hillel JUC viewed as imperative for the benefit of Jewish student life.” The Jewish student leaders exhibited determination and tenacity in their commitment to having the definition passed, Marcus said. The university is committed to fostering an inclusive environment and welcomes collective
from several Jewish institutions due to his questionable behavior. Pittsburgh Police consider Clinton to be dangerous and urge caution to anyone who encounters him. Pittsburgh Police are asking for anyone believing they were a victim of Clinton to contact Det. Rosato at the Zone 4 station at 412-422-6520. Questions and concerns may be directed to Brokos at sbrokos@jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5229. PJC
p Hillel JUC President Melanie Silver and Chabad on Campus President Ralphie Berlin worked to ensure the University of Pittsburgh adopted the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism. Photo provided by Melanie Silver
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Headlines Camp: Continued from page 2
of the locker rooms and amphitheater space at Henry Kaufmann Family Park in Monroeville and said that by improving outdoor areas, like the amphitheater, not only will there be more shaded space for campers but a spot to welcome families for Shabbat or Havdalah-related programming.
Rabbi Sam Weinberg, of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, said he, too, is excited for campers and families to experience the benefits of summer camp. “After the past two years, it’s no small thing to say that we’re excited to go on trips again,” he said. While Camp Hillel plans to treat participants to a host of great regional outings, Weinberg said he’s especially excited for campers and staff to receive uniquely
designed summer 2022 gear. “We’re getting cool bags,” he said. “I’m not sure if they’ll be drawstring, but they’ll have two-to-three fonts, at least, and some surprising colors.” Many people don’t realize what camp gear represents, Weinberg continued. “The summer is about surprises, untapped potential and overflowing ambition. Nothing better embodies that than a really cool bag you get from your summer camp.”
Numbers: Continued from page 3
has worked as a consultant and writer since the ‘80s. He has been researching the history of Jewish organized crime for the last three years. Part of the work Rotenstein does involves community engagement, including walking tours and pop-up events. He previously led a walking tour of the Fifth Avenue corridor and its connection to organized crime. The tour was the first he did with Doors Open Pittsburgh after conversations he had with founder/ Executive Director Bonnie Baxter. Baxter founded Doors Open Pittsburgh after learning of a program called Open House Chicago, where hundreds of buildings in the Windy City were opened for visits. “It made me realize there were so many buildings in Pittsburgh that I’d never stepped foot in, so I thought, ‘I’m going to bring that idea back home,’” she said. In 2016, Doors Open Pittsburgh started with a two-day event downtown that grew to include the Strip District and the North Side. When COVID prevented her from offering tours of buildings in person, Baxter hosted a virtual event. Last year, she began offering small
Sports: Continued from page 5
Academy, he helped lead the Bulldogs to the WPIAL AAA championship and the PIAA state quarterfinals in the 2021-’22 season. He also served as Pittsburgh Allderdice’s junior varsity basketball coach and assistant coach on the varsity team that won 10 of the past 13
Silow-Carroll: Continued from page 13
problem than any one journalist can address or avoid. It assumes, without evidence, that antisemitism has become so pervasive that living and identifying publicly as a Jew has become an existential risk. And it clashes with an ethos of Jewish pride and self-confidence that educators are trying to instill in Jewish schools and camps, and no doubt in the synagogues to which many of The Washington Post’s critics belong. Jews are visible and assertive in public life, and in almost every occupation you can think of. Jews are overrepresented in activist spaces where the arguments are impassioned and sometimes unhinged. They don’t live as marranos. It’s not clear why Raishik deserves special handling, especially when she has PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
p Racketeers Jake Lerner (second from right) and his brother Ike (second from left) relaxing with friends on the patio of Jake Lerner’s Tucson ranch in the late 1940s
Photo from the collection of David Rotenstein
Camp Hillel will visit Kennywood, nearby parks and other places that were harder to visit the past two years. But what’s really exciting, Weinberg said, is the thought of seeing so many campers smile when they see everything that’s been ordered for the summer. “We’re getting T-shirts, bags, even gray hoodies,” he said. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
perfectly with Doors Open Pittsburgh. The walking tour wraps around the commercial and residential parts of the neighborhood where the principals in bootlegging and numbers gambling lived and plied their trade, Rotenstein said, and will include homes where significant plans were hatched, as well as some of the city’s most well-known gambling clubs. Attendees will also see sites famous for the violent acts that occurred there. Rotenstein said the 2½-hour walking tour will be a mix of social and architectural history and a chance to enjoy some nice weather. He is quick to note that the tours aren’t just for out-of-towners. “People with lifetime experiences in these neighborhoods take the tours, and their memories enrich the experience,“ he said. “So, it’s not just me talking as a tour leader. It’s a collaborative effort where everybody gets to play a role if they’re interested.” “Squirrel Hill by the Numbers” runs April 30, May 21 and Sept. 17. More information is available at doorsopenpgh.org/event/squirrelhill-by-the-numbers/2022-04-3. PJC
walking tours with different themes. “Our mission is all about fostering the appreciation of Pittsburgh’s architecture in history,” Baxter said. “We like to do it a fun
way, and a creative, offbeat way.” The organization’s offbeat manner is captured perfectly by its social media tagline #benebby. She said that Rotenstein’s tour fits in
City League boys’ basketball championships. An Allderdice graduate, Pakler coached the JCC’s boys varsity basketball team from 2002-2012, leading the team to four Greater Pittsburgh Independent Basketball League championships, including a three-peat. Peduto, Pittsburgh’s mayor from 2014-2022, will receive the Manny Gold Humanitarian Award. Among his contributions, Peduto created a playbook for
dealing with mass shootings and has helped survivors, fellow mayors and communities recover in the aftermath of horrific events. Additionally, 22 student-athletes will receive the Nathan H. Kaufmann Scholastic Award during the May 15 banquet. Recognizing the achievements and contributions of so many students and community members is a reminder that Pittsburgh isn’t only known for its teams, but as a place filled
with wonderful people, said Goldstein, whose late father (Bob Goldstein) and uncle (Shelly Goldstein) served the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame for years. Following in their footsteps and championing youth sports in Pittsburgh and Israel is especially meaningful, she said. “It gives me a lot of pride.” PJC
willingly placed herself at the white-hot center of our national argument. Of course, I work for a Jewish media company whose job it is to report on Jewish accomplishments, scandals and curiosities. It is no surprise that I always find the fact of someone’s Jewish background interesting and relevant. And I can understand why Lorenz thought so, too: Religious beliefs are a major element driving politics these days, no more so than on the right, where faith and policy align when it comes to activism around abortion, LGBTQ issues and pandemic restrictions. As The New York Times noted in a recent article about religious fervor within the pro-Trump right, “[M] any believers are importing their worship of God, with all its intensity, emotion and ambitions, to their political life.” The Times was talking about charismatic Christianity, but other observers have been
noting how Orthodox Jews, unlike the largely liberal, non-Orthodox Jewish majority, have increasingly embraced the Republican Party and Donald Trump in recent years. This is great news for groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition, and community leaders in Brooklyn and other Orthodox enclaves have hardly been shy about their turn to the right. The same trend also alarms some within and outside Orthodoxy. “The fact that Chaya Raichik is a orthodox Jewish woman is 100% relevant to the Libs Of Tiktok story,” said a writer who tweets as @EvelKneidel. “The rapid radicalization of orthodox communities in recent years is dark and twisted.” Welcome or dark, the Orthodox connection between faith and right-wing politics is a subject worth exploring. And that is exactly how my colleagues at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency treated the information that “Libs of TikTok” was run by an activist
who identified herself as Orthodox. In a thoughtful article, Ron Kampeas reported on politics in the Orthodox community, and discussed whether Raichik is representative or an outlier. Putting Raichik’s religious background in that context gave me, and I hope the article’s readers, a window into how to understand the present political moment and the roles all sorts of Jews are playing. The fact that a right-wing Twitter activist is Jewish is hardly as juicy as the oxymoronic tale of the Jewish Klansman. Still, I see why Lorenz included the fact. And I only wish, instead of the brief mention, she had offered a fuller exploration of its relevance to the story at hand. PJC
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David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor in chief of The New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency where this first appeared. APRIL 29, 2022 15
Life & Culture Biases trashed in Jewish playwright’s ‘The Garbologists’ — THEATER — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
T
he first show playwright Lindsay Joelle wrote for her “truck trilogy” told the story of two young Jewish best friends in a mobile Chabad Mitzvah Tank. Her second, “The Garbologists,” gives its audience a glimpse into the lives of sanitation workers. It premieres at City Theatre on April 30 and runs through May 22. The two plays traverse very different ground, but their themes are similar, Joelle said, speaking from her home in New York. The granddaughter of a survivor in Poland’s underground resistance movement, and the daughter of a first-generation Israeli-born American, Joelle is intrigued by the stories of people who are often overlooked by society at large. “A theme that defines everything that I write is taking people that seem at first glance very ‘other’ — either to each other or to the audience or both — and then seeing how quickly you can forget that they are ‘other’ and put yourselves in their shoes and feel like you are on this journey with them,” she said. “So by the end, you have an increased awareness and increased empathy.” “The Garbologists” is billed as “an unconventional buddy comedy” and follows the odd couple pairing of first-time sanitation
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APRIL 29, 2022
p Lindsay Joelle
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Joelle
worker Marlowe, a liberal Black Ivy-educated woman, and lifer Danny, a conservative white male, in their New York City garbage truck. Joelle hopes the show will help audiences “start noticing sanitation workers in your community in a way that you never did before.”
She had the same goal in mind with her play “TRAYF,” about two 18-year-old Chasidic men from Crown Heights in a Mitzvah Tank in 1991. For many people, it can be a “little bit alienating” at first glance to see men in fedoras and suits asking strangers if they’re Jewish, Joelle said, “especially if you don’t understand
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
the context of their community or the reason that they’re out there on the corner, trying to engage Jewish people. But by the end, or hopefully much sooner than that, you realize that they’re just two guys. They’re 18-year-old best friends who are excited about their new truck, and worrying about dating and girls and obsessed with their music collection — even though their music collection is tapes of a 90-year-old Lubavitcher Rebbe…. But it’s the same human drives, it’s the same interests. It’s the same bond of friendship.” “TRAYF” recently completed a five-week run at the Geffen Playhouse in New York. “The Garbologists,” which had its co-world premiere at the Philadelphia Theatre Co. late last year, was workshopped in Pittsburgh in 2019 as part of the MOMENTUM Festival at City Theatre. The inspiration for “The Garbologists” came about six years ago when Joelle met a sanitation worker, the husband of a friend, during a weekend getaway. She hopes that audiences will come to appreciate the contributions of sanitation workers and will recognize them as the essential workers they are, a realization she came to while immersing herself in their world for several years as she developed her script. “I found that I had a lot of preconceptions that were just off-target about who’s drawn to this career and what the career is like, and Please see Garbologists, page 20
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Life & Culture ‘Let There Be Light’ finds meaning between the lines — BOOKS — By Sasha Rogelberg | Contributing Writer
L
iana Finck’s “Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation” is hardly the first time a mere mortal reinterpreted the story of creation. In 2009, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb published “The Book of Genesis,” a tome depicting the 50 chapters of Genesis in explicit detail. Crumb, with exhaustive line work, illustrated the men of the Bible as beefy and wooly cavemen, the women as indecent and full-bodied, their rudimentary clothing torn to reveal ample flesh underneath. On the cover alongside Adam and Eve is another provocative image: An old, white man clothed in a billowing white robe, with a white beard dangling near the ground over which he is hovering. The graphic novel adaptation of the first book of the Torah was meant to be a very literal — and very Christian — interpretation, but the depiction of God as light-skinned and masculine persists in popular culture. In “Let There Be Light,” published April 12 by Random House, that isn’t the case. A cartoonist duly employed by The New Yorker and a Fulbright Fellow, Finck opts out of meticulous drawings of burly men and an aged God to present her own one-and-only God: a stick-figure woman in a triangular dress, a single swooping blob delineating a plain haircut, a diminutive crown donning her head. Behold, the omniscient God of our ancestors. But really, the simple-looking girl Finck conceived God as is just that: Finck’s conception. “Let There Be Light” is far from a feminist polemic about what would happen if God was depicted in Biblical texts as a woman. Instead, Finck asserts that just as humans are made in God’s image in the story of creation, God can be made in the image of an unassuming cartoonist whose squiggly-line text bubbles and uneven shading make it clear she is far from perfect. Finck has long opted for simple drawings to convey complex human ideas and stories, and her work in “Let There Be Light” is no exception. God sits on her puffy, minimalist cloud and peeks down at her creations, from a wobbly Adam, Eve and Lilith the snake to Joseph, whose prophetic dreams are, according to Finck, so boring, that she refuses to illustrate them.
p Book cover
Image courtesy of Random House
In her sometimes simplified and abridged telling of Genesis, Finck interweaves midrashim: In the telling of the story of Isaac, Finck describes him as a laughing child until Abraham, asked by God, intends to sacrifice him.
In the telling of the book of Genesis, Finck takes some major liberties. Ditching the desert, she draws Abram as an art school student, assigned by God to create a great masterpiece. He wears a sloppy, curly pompadour and thin, wiry glasses instead of the usual robe. He sets up an easel in Central Park and becomes more of an image of a 2014 hipster nightmare than the Jewish forefather. The story of Joseph is likewise transformed. Gone is the land of Egypt, and in its place is an underwater land where the Sea King rules. Joseph, a Hebrew man with two feet, becomes a fish out of water among Egyptian merpeople. But the absurdities Finck leans into do nothing to detract from the point she’s trying to make. After all, are the stories of the Torah and of creation not absurdist to begin with? Spontaneous darkness and light? A tree of knowledge with sinister implications? Finck, in her author’s note, writes that she isn’t particularly religiously minded. Her skepticism of the biblical telling of creation are clear, as are her grievances with the way women, enslaved and victims of sexual abuses are often swept under the storytelling rug. Yet clearly she believes the stories of the Torah have merit. Even if, in her mind, they aren’t factual, they at least contain truth. In her sometimes simplified and abridged telling of Genesis, Finck interweaves midrashim: In the telling of the story of Isaac, Finck describes him as a laughing child until Abraham, asked by God, intends to sacrifice him. Knife brandished toward him, Isaac stops laughing. Finck writes next to an understated asterisk at the bottom of a page that Isaac would become a totally different person after the intended sacrifice. Trauma changes people. Published only three days before Passover, “Let There Be Light” is, almost painfully, an apt telling of the events of so long ago, but also a telling of the times today. Though Biblical texts have long been upsetting and alienating to some, the minimalism and restraint of Finck’s panels are a balm. When the minutiae of Biblical time and space are gone, what remains is the mind and soul of the readers, who are gently invited to see themselves in the archetypes of characters in a world once absurd and far away, but now held closely in a page between their fingertips. PJC Sasha Rogelberg writes for the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication where this first appeared.
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APRIL 29, 2022 17
Celebrations
Torah
B’nei Mitzvah
Marijuana is not necessary to reach spiritual heights
Haliel and Steven Selig are thrilled to announce the bar mitzvah of their son Jonah Selig on Saturday, April 30, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. Jonah is currently in eighth grade at Fort Couch Middle School. He is actively involved in USC Soccer and enjoys parkour and spending time with friends. We are so proud of Jonah for the hard work that he has taken on to make this day happen.
Mitchell Jack Randall, son of Wendi and Eric Randall, will become a bar mitzvah at Adat Shalom during Shabbat morning services on Saturday, April 30, 2022. Grandparents are Roz and David Ainsman and Shirley and Thomas Randall. PJC
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Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel Achrei | Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30
“R
abbi, what does Jewish law say about getting high?” That is one of the most frequently asked questions by young people today. Ever since the legalization of marijuana in many states, conscientious youth have wondered whether Torah considers it as kosher as these state laws do, especially when it is used to have a spiritual experience. While there is much to say on the matter, I want to put forth only one angle of the issue. Torah believes in humanity in a way that humanity has not yet come to appreciate. While skeptics see the Torah’s restrictions and commandments as an insult to human intelligence and man’s capacity to figure things out on his own, the truth is the exact opposite. Torah sees in us far deeper greatness than we ever imagined. We imagine that we can be perfectly fine creations even without the Creator’s guidance. Leaving the absurdity of the notion aside, there is a greater error being made here: the assumption that G-d created us to remain on the side of creation, when in fact G-d created us with the capacity to join Him on the Creator side, to be full partners with Him in creation. A few days ago, a woman explained her reluctance to have her baby boy circumcised. “If G-d had wanted the boy circumcised, He would have made him that way.” This sense of awestruck helplessness, as if there is no possibility that we might improve on the way G-d made the world — as if that is not the entire point of our being here in the first place — is terribly misplaced. Surely she would agree that one must attempt to cure those G-d has made ill; one must clothe those G-d has impoverished; one must educate those G-d creates ignorant (everyone). We often underestimate ourselves in this way. G-d created the entire universe and everything in it. But when it came to us, He did much more than that. He invested not only His creative energy in us but also His very essence. This is why, as a byproduct, we have Divine qualities such as free choice, and many of us have a (confused) belief that just like G-d, we have no Creator (G-d forbid.) These are symptoms of the fact that G-d invested Himself in us and challenges us to partner with Him, not just worship Him. The mitzvot that He has us perform are G-dly
acts that are as much a part of the Creation story as the original statement, “Let there be light!” G-d created an incomplete universe and leaves the completion in our hands. The Torah is the how-to guide, but the G-dly soul He breathed into us from deep within Himself is what makes it possible for us to finish what He started. This awareness of our own exalted natures should give pause to anyone who believes that in order to reach spiritual heights, we need mind-altering substances like marijuana. The mind and the heart are the seat of the G-dly soul. Someone in possession of a G-dly soul has no need to be in possession of marijuana. Sure, it might make things easier and more effortless, but such shortcuts are an insult to our own capabilities, they cheat us out of the opportunity to reveal — with hard work and mental and emotional exertion — the deepest elements of Divinity present within ourselves, and they cheat G-d out of the fulfillment of His master plan: that we, in all our humanity, be His partners in Creation. This is one of the reasons for G-d’s disappointment with Nadav and Avihu, two sons of Aharon Hakohen, who entered the Holy Temple under the influence of alcohol. Considering their immense G-d-given potential for holiness, the fact that they felt they needed a foreign substance to get there was catastrophic. They felt it would bring them closer to G-d; it would deaden their physical senses and open up their senses to the Divine. But it is specifically via those physical senses that G-d envisioned us getting close to Him, thereby bringing those senses — and the physical world at large — close to Him with us. For such is the depth of the soul’s power, that it can even reveal the Divinity that G-d embedded in the physical flesh and senses and make them holy. So is using marijuana to be more spiritual a kosher endeavor? I’ll leave the halachic verdict to the halachic authorities. But one thing is for sure: We can do better than that. We must do better than that. We are not here for experiences. We are here with a job. And that job demands that we dig into the deepest, loftiest parts of our raw, unaltered selves. When we do that, we will discover treasures of the kind we never imagined. PJC Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel is executive director of The Aleph Institute — North East Region. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.
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.
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Obituaries BAHM: Jonathan Andrew Bahm, of Mt. Lebanon, had his life tragically cut short in an act of violence on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at the age of 23. Beloved son of Amy and David Bahm, grandson of Lorraine and Robert Mundell and Ellie and the late Gary Bahm, protective brother of Bryan and Evan Bahm, and loved by aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends as close as family. Jonathan was a graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School’s Class of 2017, Chapman University’s School of Engineering Class of 2021, and was an aspiring video game designer. Inspired by his teachers at Mt. Lebanon and Chapman, he had a tremendous way with young people at Temple Emanuel and as a counselor at his beloved Emma Kaufmann Camp. Jonathan elevated goodness and kindness to an art form, never had a bad word to say, and was described by his friends as “the best of us.” Services were held at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. Interment Mt Lebanon Cemetery, Temple Emanuel Section. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jonathan’s memory may be made to Temple Emanuel of South Hills and Emma Kaufmann Camp. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com DATZ: Hyman Datz, on Monday, April 18, 2022. Beloved husband for 52 years of Diane (Segal) Datz; loving father of Marc and David Datz, both of Pittsburgh; brother of Thelma (Datz) Monstein of Las Vegas, Nevada, and the late Rose (Datz) Uscher, Sol and George Datz; also survived by beloved nieces, nephews and cousins. Hyman was an amateur Golden Gloves boxer growing up in the Bronx. He went on to become a United States Marine stationed in China toward the end of World War II. He moved to the city of Pittsburgh where he met Diane and built a family. In his career early on, Hyman worked as a salesman for women’s clothing as well as in a steel mill. Ultimately, Hyman started his own home improvements business called Hometown Builders, of which he was president. He worked in the business well into his 80s. He was smart, caring, thoughtful, tough and determined. He overcame a lot to become a success and a beloved family man. Graveside services and interment were held at Beth Abraham Cemetery. Contributions may be made to JFCS Pittsburgh (jfcspgh. org). Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., schugar.com. KREISMAN: Janet F. Kreisman, 95, of Squirrel Hill, died at her home April 5, 2022, following a brief illness. The first of Kreisman’s many careers was as an ad writer in her native Philadelphia, where she also wrote and produced a local television show. Sponsored by the Philadelphia School of
Charm and Modeling, “Your Key to Happiness” offered fashion, beauty and exercise tips, as well as interviews and performances by visiting c e l e br it i e s . Gu e s t s included singer Nat King Cole, who Kreisman remembered as very charming. After a year and a half in Santiago, Chile, for her husband’s work, Kreisman and her family came to Pittsburgh in 1963, moving into a house in Squirrel Hill that she occupied until her death. In 1967, Kreisman opened a branch of the acclaimed New York boutique Paraphernalia. That first store, on Meyran Avenue in Oakland, was joined by four more, including two simultaneously at opposite ends of the Monroeville Mall. The stores featured the hip fashions of the day and provided employment to a generation of teenage girls and 20-something women. Her daughter, Julie, recalled that Kreisman would return home after a full workday, make dinner for her family, and go back to work. Later ventures included the independent Parafemina boutique and her final retail venture, The Glitzy Collection on Noble Street in Swissvale. After retiring from retailing in 1994, she reinvented herself and worked part-time in the specialty pharmacy business, where she demonstrated a gift for convincing health insurance companies to pay. Kreisman never wavered in her zeal for liberal politics, beginning with her 1948 support of Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party campaign for the presidency. Through that campaign she met her husband Arnold Kreisman, from whom she was divorced in the late 1970s. She was an active proponent of the civil rights movement and was an activist against the Vietnam War. She marched on Washington for both causes and was often seen at Pittsburgh marches for a variety of causes. In 1964 she was a founder of the still ongoing 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, perhaps the most influential group of its type in Pennsylvania, and remained on its board for decades. Kreisman said her greatest accomplishment was raising her daughters, Erika P. Kreisman and Julie K. Freeman, both now Pittsburgh attorneys. She also had tremendous pride in her grandchildren, Alex Goldblum and Katie Freeman, and son-in-law Irv Freeman. Kreisman was born in Philadelphia in 1926 to Eva and Max Friedman and was raised there. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by brother Eddie Sachs and sisters Francis Benson and Ruth Krouse. Along with her daughters and son-in-law, she is survived by her grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Service and interment private. Please contact Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., at 412-621-8282 or the family with inquiries about memorial plans. Donations may be made to ACLU of Pennsylvania (aclupa.org), the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh (hcofpgh.org), or a charity of the donor’s choice.
Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from ... In memory of... A gift from ... In memory of...
Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen Wolk Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albert Wolk Harry & Ronna Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Morris B. Pariser Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jack Goldstein Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yosef Goldston Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Goldston Geraldine Gomberg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence Gomberg Andrea & Martin Sattler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leo Sattler
THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday May 1: Shirley Bilder, Ruth Fleser Coplon, Blanche Epstein, Alfred Gordon, Harry Greenberg, Fannie Horowitz, Tillie G. Kubrin, Joseph Lederer, William Lewis, Edward Mermelstein, Hanna W. Pink, Albert Silverberg, Annabelle M. Topp, Florence P. Wedner, Louis Zacks Monday May 2: S. Abel Alterman, Louis Berman, Florence Cohen, Lillian Finn, Bertha Goodman, Harry M. Greenberger, Sidney Greenberger, Sadie Klein, Frederick Knina, Phillip Ruben, Stanley Slifkin, Karl Zlotnik Tuesday May 3: Elias Bloomstein, William Bowytz, Samuel Broffman, Mollie Goisner Dugan, Milton E. Golanty, Anna Goldblum, Celia Greenfield, Eva Korobkin, Reba Lazar, Anna Miller, Sarah Offstein, Rose Orringer, Martha Rosen, Bella Siegal, William H. Whitman, Eva Grossman Willinger Wednesday May 4: Louis Americus, Isadore Berman, Hyman Caplan, Isadore Abraham Frand, Lea S. Golomb, Ida Greenberg, David L. Gusky, Arthur Samuel Herskovitz, Max Hochhauser, Dora Berman Horwitz, Sam Lurie, Celia Marcus, Sadie Mullen, Lee Calvin Plevin, Dolores K. Rubin, Philip L. Silver, Helen Strauchler, Phillip Tevelin Thursday May 5: Bella H. Cohen, Pearle G. Conn, Sheila Dobrushin, Paul Leipzig, Abe I. Levinson, Saul Mandel, Louis M. Myers, Morris B. Pariser, Wolf Shoag, Joseph M. Swartz, Louis Wolf, George Zeidenstein Friday May 6: Max Azen, Gilbert Bernstein, Sonia Firestone, Herman Frankel, Lena Sanes Goldman, Barbara Gross, Solomon Hahn, Shirley Lebovitz, Donald Lester Lee, Harriet Berkowitz Linder, Harold Leo Lippman, Sam Littman, Moss A. Ostwind, Hilda Stern Press, Samuel Raphael, Dr. William Reiner, Carl Rice, Goldie Rosenshine, Scott Samuels, Scott Samuels, Rev. Meyer Schiff, David Shussett, George Teplitz Saturday May 7: Harry Broff, Katie Elpern, Lottie Fleisher, Arthur Goldsmith, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Goldston, Sam Goldston, Yosef Goldston, Beate Gruene, Pearl Katz, William Kliman, Selma Neiman, Imre Neubauer, Jacob Schulman, Rosalee Bachman Sunstein, Sidney Yecies, Rose C. Zapler
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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19
LEBOWITZ: Donna Shrader Lebowitz, of Baltimore, Maryland, passed away on Monday, April 18, 2022, at the age of 83. She is survived by her beloved husband, Edwin Lebowitz; children, Jack (Amy) Lebowitz and Carol Nove; and grandchildren, Charlie Lebowitz, Naomi Lebowitz and Sarah Nove. Donna was predeceased by her cherished daughter, Linda Susan Lebowitz; and parents, Bertha and Max Shrader. Donna was someone who loved her family above all else.
Garbologists: Continued from page 16
also, the personality type that’s drawn to this career,” she said. “I mean, he (her friend’s husband) was just very emotionally open and present and vulnerable and warm and smart. You know, college-educated, had a previous career in audio engineering, and just really had a deep appreciation for not only sanitation but for the benefits of the job and the strong union. You work for 22 years and you get to retire with a pension and health benefits and half pay for life. He was making a six-figure salary and very proud to be working in sanitation.” In doing her research, Joelle met sanitation workers across the country and found
She was a devoted mother and grandmother, but first and foremost the lifelong partner to her beloved husband, Ed. Services were held at Beth El Memorial Park, on Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 11 a.m. Contributions in her memory may be sent to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, ATTN: M&M Fund, 333 E. Lancaster Ave, #414, Wynnewood, PA 19096; or The American Heart Association, 300 5th Avenue, Suite 6, Waltham, MA 02451. Please see the Sol Levinson website for shiva details.
John. Also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Graveside service and interment were held on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Temple Sinai Music Fund, 5505 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com
MAHAN: Charles E. “Chuck” Mahan, on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Beloved husband for 39 years to Judy Rulin Mahan. Loving father of Matthew Rulin Mahan. Brother of Terra, Michelle, Susie, Brian, Joan and
MALLINGER: Michael I. Mallinger, MD, passed away April 23, 2022, at the age of 72 after a long and courageous battle. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Nancy (Schwartz), and two children, Rachel (Michael) McVeagh and Robert (Sarita) Mallinger, and his three beloved grandchildren, Noah McVeagh and Ryan and Avery
there was a general feeling of being invisible while in uniform, she said. “They feel like nobody wants to hear about sanitation — unless sanitation does something wrong, and then it’s all the papers can talk about. But everything they do right — you know, all the snow removal services, which is a big part of sanitation in New York City, everything they do to keep the streets clean and free of disease, even during the pandemic — nobody was giving three cheers for these essential workers,” she said. Joelle grew up in a suburb of Chicago with a large Jewish community. She recalls sometimes attending two or three b’nai mitzvahs in a weekend. But she didn’t learn about her grandmother’s resistance work during World War II until she was in junior high school. That’s when her grandmother wrote her
autobiography and finally spoke about her experiences smuggling weapons and other items into the ghettos, and moving people across borders into safer areas, “where if they were captured, they’d be sent to labor camps instead of death camps.” “She just had an incredible wartime story that, on one hand, makes me very proud to be a descendant of hers, and on the other hand, is just a really horrible family origin story to inherit and carry around,” Joelle said. “And I think that informs my everyday life. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I think about it at least once a day.” That legacy, she said, “is a major driver of this interest in writing plays about the dangers of assimilation, the benefits of assimilation, the quest to connect to your roots, the desire to reject your roots, and that
Mallinger, to whom he was the best “Kuppa.” In addition to his wife and his children, he is survived by his sister Paula Eger of Penn Hills and was predeceased by his parents, Saul and Gertrude (Levy) Mallinger. A compassionate physician, Michael was beloved by his colleagues and patients, many of whom were with him for the entirety of his 40-plus-year career. Michael appreciated the simple things in life: his family, a great meal, a Saturday matinee and a good “Seinfeld” reference. He will be forever missed by all who knew and loved him. Services were at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Homewood Cemetery. Contributions can be made to the Hillman Cancer Center, 5115 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. schugar.com PJC
kind of push and pull — seeing people as ‘other’ versus learning to see people as allies.” In “The Garbologists,” putting a conservative, middle-aged white man in a garbage truck with a liberal, Ivy-educated Black female “may not seem like a Jewish theme,” she said, but its roots come from learning how to interact “with somebody that feels ‘other,’” and learning how “to make them your friend or your family — your extended family. How do you assimilate them into your community versus how do you hold on to your own identity and make individual choices and have autonomy over your life? I mean, it’s all coming from the same place for me.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Headlines Aaron Sorkin’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’: A 21st-century retelling of a classic story
p A courtroom scene from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch
— THEATER — By David Rullo | Staff Writer
W
atching a production of Jewish writer Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaption of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” is like revisiting a hometown you left decades ago and that you returned to for a family function. The streetlights are the same and you can recall some of the businesses, but the images
now appear slightly off-kilter with new buildings and the loss of landmarks you’re sure existed in your youth. The touring production of “Mockingbird” ran at Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center from April 19-24. It will be in Cleveland at the Playhouse Square/Connor Palace Theatre from April 26 through May 15, and it’s worth the trip. The plot of the play is essentially unchanged from the classic novel: Atticus Finch is called on to defend Tom Robinson (played by Yaegel T. Welch), a Black man accused of raping a white woman in the town.
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The trial and subsequent events are told through the eyes of Atticus’ daughter Scout, her brother Jem and their friend Dill — but the tone is updated to, perhaps, make a few pointed comments about modern America. Superbly acted by Richard Thomas, Atticus is less concerned with the racial injustices faced by a Black man accused of a crime he didn’t commit than he is with validating his belief in the sensibilities and goodness of his neighbors. He’s convinced that when the jury deliberates on the case, Robinson will be acquitted because he
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simply couldn’t have committed the crime. Atticus’ faith in his community is shattered when his neighbors convict Tom, who is eventually murdered by prison guards saying he attempted to flee. Sorkin is more willing to imply the murder was motivated by racism — rather than duty — than was Lee in her novel. Sorkin also writes poignantly about a certain type of Southerner who wears the loss of the Civil War, unable to shake the shame of the defeat. The dialogue references 1930s Alabama, but its meaning stretches into 21st-century America. Jacqueline Williams plays the perfect foil to Atticus as Finch housekeeper Calpurnia. She continually points out the naivety of Atticus while advocating for her own pride, and that of her community, with perfect comedic timing. As good as Thomas, Williams and Welch are — and they are very good — the star of the play is Melanie Moore’s Scout. The actress draws comedy, outrage, drama, familial loyalty, love and skepticism from Sorkin’s words. One almost doesn’t notice that Scout, Jem and Dill are all played by adult actors. In fact, their age is forgotten next to 70-year-old Thomas, best known for portraying John-Boy on television’s “The Waltons” beginning in 1972. Like Sorkin’s “The West Wing,” “Sports Night” and “A Few Good Men,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” has an uncredited costar — the dialogue. Sorkin is known to require the actors he works with to recite his lines unchanged. It appears as if that has held true for the traveling cast, which seems up to the task of digging deep into the dialogue to find both the rhythm and meaning of language written for Broadway with the creator watching from above. At more than 2 hours and 30 minutes, “To Kill A Mockingbird” requires more concentration than the average theater attendee might normally commit. Those willing to accept the challenge will find a version of the work filled with emotion, that speaks to America’s modern sensibility and needs. Just don’t expect shades of Gregory Peck to remain when the final curtain falls. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Community It’s cool to be crunchy
Quite the cleanup
Community members joined Shaare Torah Congregation for matzah baking.
Chabad of Pitt and Hillel Jewish University Center welcomed nearly 350 students for a seder on April 15.
p In every generation ...
p Front row: Evan H. Stein, Ronen Stein, Sam Stein and Rabbi Elisar Admon; Back row: Avi Admon, Ezra Kraut, Aaron Kraut, Dan Kraut and Moshe Wasserman
Photo courtesy of Evan H. Stein
Passover programming at Friendship Circle Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh hosted a Passover Party and Book Club session. Apart from making matzah houses, participants read “Little People, Big Dreams: Andy Warhol” by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara with illustrations by Timothy Hunt.
p Good charoset always brings out the smiles.
Photos courtesy of Chabad at Pitt
From the ground to your seder table Kindergarten students at Community Day School harvested fresh horseradish for Passover use.
p I get by with a little help from my friends.
p Way to dig into some good learning.
p Get the party started.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh
u Quinn Clark gets to the root of the matter.
Photos courtesy of Community Day School
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
APRIL 29, 2022 23
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