Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 6-25-21

June 25, 2021 | 15 Tammuz 5781

Candlelighting 8:36 p.m. | Havdalah 9:45 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 26 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Walking into the sunset Gordon’s Shoes sells business to Shoe Fly

Tree of Life lead architect Daniel Libeskind infuses his work with optimism, hope

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JCC offers new opportunities while battling financial scars of COVID-19

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By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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It wasn’t only the city that surprised the architect. Libeskind was taken aback by what he found at the Tree of Life building and “those incredible stained-glass windows,” he said.

“The building is what it is, but those were such an amazing work of art. I’m sure they had the power to influence people studying for bar mitzvah or sitting in the congregation.”

He was also impressed with the community, saying Squirrel Hill “was a really Jewish neighborhood … with a vibrant Jewish life.”

Libeskind will be leading a Tree of Life redesign project that he said will “affirm life,

or 126 years, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh has evolved to meet communal needs. This summer, the organization will continue to do so by offering a range of programming designed to bolster wellness — while simultaneously working to recover from pandemic losses.

“We are really looking to build a compelling, impactful and meaningful suite of services and experiences for existing and new members,” said Jason Kunzman, JCC’s chief program officer.

Those opportunities will relate to personal training, early childhood education, summer camp, volunteering and engagement with the Center for Loving Kindness. The aim, said Kunzman, is to improve “the quality of life for individuals and the broader community.”

Since the coronavirus crisis began in March 2020, the JCC has continued to address new needs while operating according to Centers for Disease Control guidance. Despite periods of closure, said JCC spokesperson Fara Marcus, the organization has served, distributed or delivered 76,215 meals to older adults and school-aged children; been the site of more than 1,500 COVID tests; provided COVID vaccinations to almost 10,000 people; and collected 1,520 blood donations. JCC staff and volunteers also addressed social isolation among seniors through more than 16,994 telephone wellness checks.

With COVID-positive cases decreasing and the number of vaccinated individuals rising in Allegheny County, the JCC is functioning in a unique moment, said Brian Schreiber, the organization’s president and CEO. Although the JCC will continue providing many of the pandemic-related services members have grown accustomed to, such as virtual programming — the

Please see Libeskind, page 14

Please see JCC, page 14

LOCAL Seeking gold

Pirates staffer Jeremy Bleich heads to Olympics with Team Israel Page 3

BOOKS ‘The Connection Paradigm’

 Daniel Libeskind

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

The link between ancient Jewish wisdom and mental health Page 8

W

hile on a visit to tour the Tree of Life building last month, architect Daniel Libeskind was impressed with Pittsburgh’s transformation.

Libeskind, a Polish immigrant and son of Holocaust survivors, visited Pittsburgh several decades ago when he toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Mill Run. At that time, the city had yet to emerge from its Steel City roots.

“I was stunned by how beautiful Pittsburgh is now,” Libeskind told the Chronicle. “It’s astonishing how it’s taken that history and turned it around to be a beautiful and fantastic city.”

Photo by Stefan Ruiz

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LOCAL Pitt’s Jerome Rosenberg dies at 99

HISTORY The Enoch Rauh Club

RECIPE Savory summer salad

Headlines Gordon’s Shoes sold, its longtime legacy no small feat — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

C

huck Gordon’s customers didn’t walk a mile in his shoes. They walked millions.

Gordon, a third-generation shoe salesman and former owner of Gordon’s Shoes, sold his business on May 31 to Shoe Fly, another Pennsylvania-based company. The deal preserves jobs for 17 former Gordon’s Shoes employees and ensures a proud legacy, according to Gordon, 72. Shoe Fly’s owners “have the same family values I do,” he said.

“And customers will still be serviced with the same staff they’ve always had.”

The genesis of Gordon’s Shoes dates back 150 years to the 1871 birth of Benjamin Gordon. As he was growing up in Vilna, Lithuania, Benjamin Gordon’s father died, and the family had no means to pay for formal education, so his mother sent him to be trained by a master shoemaker. For more than a decade, the boy impeccably — almost slavishly — learned the trade, according to his son, Herman Gordon, in a 1989 oral history with the Pittsburgh section of the National Council of Jewish Women.

“He could take an animal, and from that animal — the hide — skin it, do everything and make a pair of shoes,” Herman Gordon said.

With the knowledge and ability of a true cordwainer, Benjamin Gordon set out for America. He came to Pittsburgh via Ellis Island and began working in the Hill District in 1885. According to his son, Benjamin built up a business that eventually became “a cornerstone” in the bustling area.

“Dad was a kind man,” said Herman Gordon. “He never refused anybody who was in poverty or, at the moment, may be unable to buy shoes. If they paid, it was OK. If they didn’t pay, it was OK.”

 City basketball champions, sponsored

by Dr. Charles Gordon circa 1922

 Storefront circa 1944

Photos courtesy of Gordon’s Shoes

 Storefront circa 1930

 Benjamin Gordon circa 1885

By the time Herman Gordon’s son, Chuck, was born in 1948, Gordon’s Shoes was nearly a half-century old and part of the neighborhood fabric. Located at 2200 Centre Avenue and Kirkpatrick Street in the Hill District, the store was a place of fascination for young Chuck, who recalled heading down to its basement and feverishly unpacking cardboard boxes. He wasn’t interested in the Oxfords or leather lace-ups, though, but rather the Buster Brown comics sent along from the Brown Shoe Company. At the age of 7, Chuck Gordon realized he had a treasure.

“I knew if I ran down these rickety steps, I could read something no one else had read

yet,” he said.

Growing up, Chuck Gordon, like his father and uncles, worked at the store, and his involvement in the business grew through the years.

He officially joined the business full time in 1972, but things had changed by the late 1960s.

In 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and a series of neighborhood riots, Gordon’s Shoes left the Hill District and moved to Bloomfield where it began “very modestly,” said Chuck Gordon. During the next 30 years, after several renovations and additions, Gordon’s Shoes grew to a 15,000-square-foot space on Liberty Avenue.

“It was quite the place,” Chuck Gordon said. “We had a very strong business there.”

In addition to operating two full-service New Balance stores in Pittsburgh, the company continued evolving. In 2003, Gordon’s Shoes relocated to The Waterfront in Homestead. The move, said Chuck Gordon, was driven by a desire to be near other thriving businesses.

“When The Waterfront was starting to be developed around 2000, the neighborhoods were changing,” he said. “East Liberty and Lawrenceville weren’t like they are.”

Chuck Gordon has fond memories of the Homestead store. What he enjoyed most, he said, were the Gordons’ collected family images displayed there.

“I was always proud of the photos of the family, of my kids,” he said. “It had the history of my family.”

That appreciation for family helped fuel his decision to exit the business.

“As a young man I worked 70-to-80-to-90 hours a week,” he said. “When my sons were playing baseball or football, I missed a lot of those games, and I don’t want to make that mistake with my grandchild.”

Selling Gordon’s Shoes means the name on the shop’s sign will change, but thanks to former staff, new owners and the customers themselves, the legacy will continue, said Chuck Gordon.

“I did my thing, and did the best that I could do,” he said. “We were such a stable institution in the city — 136 years … We didn’t want all of those years of hard work to evaporate and go away.”

“Shoe Fly has the same gold standards and work ethic that we did,” he added. “They are honorable and the kind of people you want to continue your legacy.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Pirates staffer, pitcher for Team Israel heads to Tokyo Olympics — LOCAL —

By Sarah Abrams | Staff Writer

J

eremy Bleich played professional baseball for 11 years before switching to pitching analytics for the Pittsburgh Pirates coaching staff. Now, the left-handed pitcher and veteran of two MLB games, is preparing to head to Japan with Team Israel to compete in the 2021 Olympics.

The upcoming Olympics in Tokyo will mark the first time in 45 years that an Israeli team has qualified for the games. In 1976, Israel’s soccer team competed in the Olympics in Montreal.

Bleich — who pitched for 14 different organizations before his 2018 debut in the majors for the Oakland Athletics — began working for the Pirates in 2020.

Joining the Pirates staff “has been a good transition,” Bleich, 34, told the Chronicle.

“It’s been a great opportunity to look behind the curtain and see what baseball operations are like and how Major League Baseball functions, not only on the field, but also off the field. The whole Pirates organization has supported me on my quest to Team Israel.”

Bleich pitched for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, the 2019 European Baseball Championship and the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier, which

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Israel won to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Depending on the tournament, players need to satisfy certain requirements to play on Team Israel. For the Olympics, Bleich explained, players must be Israeli citizens, so he and several other American Jews made aliyah, getting dual citizenship to play in the Tokyo Olympics.

Pitching for Team Israel “was a perfect match for me to stick to my roots,” said Bleich, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Team Israel, he added, provides a space to connect his passion for baseball with his Jewish identity, joining teammates with similar backgrounds.

“Joining the Israeli Olympic team allowed me to be proud of my family and the path that my family has taken, while also playing baseball.”

The dynamic on Team Israel and the Pittsburgh Pirates is “totally different,” Bleich noted. “The Pirates are a Major League team and play 162 games. The Olympics is a six-team bracket pool play which can go any which way. The Israeli team is probably not built for 162 games, but we do have the opportunity to do damage in a short sprint. All of us are resilient, which I think works in our favor.”

Team Israel is supported by the Jewish National Fund-USA, which created a baseball field between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for national games and for training Team Israel, according to Lou Rosenberg, the lead professional in

 Jeremy Bleich

charge of JNF-USA’s Project Baseball. JNF-USA also raised funds to help finance Team Israel’s trip to the Olympics, he said.

“The guys are an amazing group,” Rosenberg said. “They’re bonded. They know that this is an amazing opportunity to create more of a positive international outlook on Israel.”

Rosenberg said he told Team Israel’s

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Photo courtesy of Team Israel

players to imagine the significance of seeing the Israeli flag on Olympics medals.

“It would make an amazing statement to the world to combat antisemitic and anti-Zionist hatred,” he said. PJC Sarah Abrams can be reached at sabrams@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

JUNE 25, 2021 3

Headlines Jerome Rosenberg, founder of Pitt’s Jewish studies program, has died at 99 — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

J

erome Rosenberg — a native Pennsylvanian who loved Judaism and Jewish causes, and became the longest-serving faculty member and administrator at the University of Pittsburgh — died on June 12, eight days short of his 100th birthday.

Rosenberg was born June 20, 1921, the youngest of five children in an Orthodox family living in Harrisburg. After weathering much of the Depression, he attended Dickinson College in Cumberland County, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He went on to get a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, and had a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago before moving to Pittsburgh in the 1950s.

His graduate work at Columbia was interrupted in 1944, when Rosenberg started working at the Manhattan Project during the development of the atomic bomb, according to media reports. His work revolved around chemistry as it related to the diffusion process for separating uranium isotopes.

In New York, Rosenberg met Shoshana Gabriel, whom he married in 1946. Together they raised two children, Jonathan and Judy.

Shoshana Rosenberg died in 2017 after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Ours was a house with lots and lots of

culture, lots of music, lots of Judaica and, most of all, incredible models for what it was to be a good human being,” said Judy Cohen, Rosenberg’s daughter, a retired administrator for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1953, Rosenberg came to the University of Pittsburgh as a chemistry professor, and he worked there until 2017, retiring at age 95.

Among a host of roles, he served as president of the faculty senate, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, vice provost and — in his final act — as the school’s integrity officer.

“He was a real workaholic,” said his son, Jonathan Rosenberg, a University of Maryland math professor who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. “He adapted to different situations incredibly well. He was a scientist and a chemistry professor but what he excelled at was being a university administrator — he really loved it.”

Rosenberg moved from Squirrel Hill to “Washington, D.C.’s equivalent of Weinberg Terrace” in 2017, his son said. At that Jewish living facility, Rosenberg solicited donations for the local Jewish Federation and organized communal Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday nights.

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg told the Pittsburgh PostGazette that Rosenberg “truly was extraordinary, a person with unbelievable intelligence and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy.”

“As he reached what others might have

considered to be retirement age, he completely reinvented himself by becoming Pitt’s chief research integrity officer,” said Nordenberg, who served as Pitt’s chancellor from 1995 to 2014. “Jerry loved being a part of the university community, just as we all loved having his good cheer and inspiring example in our midst.”

At Pitt, Rosenberg played key roles in Jewish Jerome Rosenberg causes — funding and building the Israel 

Photo courtesy of the Rosenberg family Heritage Room at the Nationality Rooms in “He never let us down,” Spiegel said. “He was the Cathedral of Learning, and establishing the very involved, very participatory. He was not school’s Jewish studies department. afraid to get up and lead services. It didn’t matter The creation of the Jewish studies program was no small feat, according to Alex Orbach, the time of the services, he was there. Every shiva a Pitt professor who first met Rosenberg in or minyan we had, he was there.”

Rosenberg also was there for his family, both 1977. Within three years of its founding, his children stressed.

Rosenberg had worked to secure two full-time After moving to Maryland, “he became a positions dedicated to the program — one of sizable presence, not only in his grandchildren’s them with tenure.

“He’s the founder and the shaper of Jewish lives, but in his great-grandchildren’s lives,” said studies at the University of Pittsburg today,” said Cohen, his daughter.

Rosenberg had six grandchildren and seven Orbach, who cited the program’s untenured great-grandchildren, and, in the three weeks lectureship that bears Rosenberg’s name.

“He was a Renaissance man, in terms of before his death, he attended a grandson’s music, in terms of art,” Orbach said. “He came wedding and a great-grandson’s first birthday to Pittsburgh and he stayed. He was a brilliant party, Cohen said.

“He was a major pillar of the community, and scholar, a methodical administrator. He was Pittsburgh’s greatest booster — he’d go around ethical and moral and consistent.” telling everyone it was the greatest place to live,” Rosenberg also was passionate about Judaism, said Rebecca Spiegel, president of the Young Cohen said. PJC Peoples Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, where Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer Rosenberg regularly attended services and read living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Janet Engelhart Gutterman, Federation trailblazer, has died at 74

compassionate individual who expressed — LOCAL — empathy for others, an ability to focus on one person as if they were the only person in

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle the room,” Rieger told the Chronicle. “When Janet became the CEO of the Federation anet Engelhart Gutterman, a former in Rhode Island in 2000, she was the only Pittsburgh resident who went on to woman executive in the group of the 40 largest become one of the first women to lead Federations. While that has always been a a regional Jewish Federation chapter, has shortcoming of the field, I am proud to say died. She was 74. that one of our own took on that leadership Gutterman, a native New Yorker who left role and set an example for others to follow.” her adopted home in Pittsburgh 20 years ago After moving to Rhode Island, she met to head the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, Rabbi Gutterman and worked to build died May 13 after a 22-month battle with connections between her daughter and his pancreatic cancer. children from a previous marriage.

Gutterman was born in Bronx, New York, “She really created a new family for us,” on Aug. 22, 1946, the daughter of Bernice and Rabbi Gutterman said. “Her last years were Milton Hess. She earned her undergraduate very fulfilled and happy.” degree at Hofstra University and started a In Rhode Island, Gutterman also served as career as a second-grade teacher in New a docent at the Rhode Island School of Design Jersey. She then moved to Pittsburgh and Museum, and thrilled at the opportunity to earned a master’s degree in early childhood introduce children to art. development from “She touched so Duquesne University. many people,” Rabbi A single mother Gutterman said. at the time, she “But the theme was raised her daughter, her smile. She had a Allison Spielman, smile that brought in Greenfield, her people to her …. She husband, Rabbi was a community Leslie Y. Gutterman, builder and there was told the Chronicle. a sweetness to her.”

Gutterman made Brian Eglash, a lasting impact in now the senior communal Jewish vice president and circles in Pittsburgh. chief development A strategic planner officer at the Jewish and planning Fe d e r at i o n of director for the Greater Pittsburgh, Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman and Janet Jewish Federation of  remembered that Engelhart Gutterman Greater Pittsburgh, sweetness. She hired Photo courtesy of Rabbie Leslie Y. Gutterman Gutterman won him as an assistant national awards for her work resettling refugees planning director — his first job outside of from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.

Israel — in 1997.

“There was a real glass ceiling — and she “Janet was the most incredible mentor to was recognized for her leadership,” said Rabbi me,” Eglash told the Chronicle. “The way Gutterman, who retired from the bima of she spoke to you, she was so nurturing and Temple Beth-El, a large Providence, Rhode engaging. She taught me so much about how Island, congregation, five years ago. “She did to be a Jewish community professional.” a wonderful job when she was here. She did At the Pittsburgh Federation, Gutterman record revenue raising for Israel … and she played key roles in strategic planning that was recognized as someone who acquitted steers the organization to this day, as well as themselves with excellence.” the creation of the Jewish Agency on Aging Howard Rieger, who led Pittsburgh’s Jewish (JAA), and the establishment of Partnership Federation before becoming president of 2000, which bridged Pittsburgh with sister the Jewish Federations of North America in city Karmiel and sister region Misgav in 2004, first met Gutterman when she was the Israel, Eglash said. professional head of the Westmoreland Jewish In her later years, Gutterman took up Community Council in Greensburg. painting, and continued expressing her love Historically, Pittsburgh was surrounded of flowers, her husband told the Chronicle. by a number of smaller towns with Jewish “To the end, she had warm feelings populations, all with independent communal toward the community in Pittsburgh,” Rabbi leadership. During the 1970s, most of these Gutterman said. “She was a star.” communities became part of what was called Funeral services were private. The family the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Communities requested that donations made in Gutterman’s and were officially linked to the United Jewish memory be directed to Temple Beth-El in Federation of Pittsburgh, now known as the Rhode Island. PJC Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer “Janet immediately impressed me with her professional skills — a great listener, a living in Pittsburgh.

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4/19/21 12:01 PM

JUNE 25, 2021 5

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.

text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, JUNE 28; JULY 5, 12, 19 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q FRIDAY, JUNE 25-SATURDAY, JUNE 26 q TUESDAY, JUNE 29 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Mayor’s Office, and Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, for a two-day service event at Westinghouse Park in honor of the Juneteenth holiday. Registration is required as we will be providing lunch. If you plan to volunteer both days, please sign up for both events. 9 a.m. jewishpgh.org/event/juneteenthwestinghouse-park-service-project q SUNDAY, JUNE 27 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with The Ghetto Fighters’ House, Genesis Philanthropy Group and the Rabin Chair Forum, invite you to a special Talking Memory program marking the 80th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa with guest speaker Professor Dieter Pohl who will give a talk on The German-Soviet War and the Holocaust – 1941.

2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/barbarossa q SUNDAYS, JUNE 27; JULY 11, 18, 25 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

Join Classrooms Without Borders for their final book discussion of “Light of Days” by Judy Batalion.

4:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.

us navigate and understand what is happening with the cease-fire with Hamas and the potential change of leadership of the Israeli government. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/israel-update-2021

q THURSDAY, JULY 22 q THURSDAY, JULY 8 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Rodef Shalom Congregation, is excited to offer the opportunity to watch the film “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” and engage in a post-film discussion with the producer Jochen Laube in conversation with Avi Ben Hur. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders. org/when-hitler-stole-pink-rabbit-postfilm-discussion

q WEDNESDAYS, JUNE 30; JULY 7 q SUNDAY, JULY 11; WEDNESDAY, AUG. 6 Join Classrooms Without Border’s Summer Book Club double-header read of “Citizen: An American Lyric” and “Just Us: An American Conversation” by Claudia Rankine. Resident Teaching Artist Susan Stein will lead the discussions as we consider microaggressions and the unseen ways racism lives in our society. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/ rankine-book-club

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh on Zoom to learn more about the Mega Mission 2022. The mission will take place in Israel June 13-21, 2022. This is your chance to hear the details and ask all your pressing questions. RSVP required to receive Zoom link. 7 p.m. jewishpgh.org/ event/21-mega-mission-2022-general-informationsession-7-11-2021

q TUESDAY, JULY 6 q MONDAY, JULY 12-FRIDAY, JULY 16 Given the events in the past three weeks, from the recent conflict with Gaza to the internal political upheaval in Israel, there is a necessity to get an educated view from the “inside”. Classrooms Without Borders is offering an opportunity to hear from in-house scholar – Avi Ben-Hur – as he helps

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The sessions are conducted by local and internationally recognized artists and educators. $100. 9 a.m. hcofpgh.org/events

Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for The Arts and Eyewitness Accounts of the Holocaust: A Workshop for Teachers. The fully remote, weeklong teacher training brings best practices of Holocaust education together with art and literature.

Tikvah Hadassah welcomes author Linda Cohen, speaking about her book, Sarinka: A Sephardic Holocaust Journey. Register by July 20. $10. 1 p.m. hadassahmidwest.org/TikvahSarinka. q SUNDAY, AUG. 1 Join the Westmoreland Jewish Community Council and make a High Holiday trivet followed by a potluck picnic lunch at Twin Lakes Park, pavilion 5. There is no charge for the picnic but there is a fee to create the trivet. 10 a.m. trivet making; 12:30 p.m. picnic. wjccwestmoreland@gmail.com q SUNDAY, AUG. 15 The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association is privileged to coordinate a sacred book burial for the community following its annual unveiling ceremony at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, 498 Oakwood Street, Shaler, 15209. Accepted materials include prayer books and/or any other sacred texts that cannot be otherwise discarded properly.

Materials can be picked up at any specified location by contacting the JCBA at JCBAPgh@gmail.com or brought to the cemetery on Aug. 15. 11 a.m. For more information, visit jcbapgh.org or call 412553-6469. PJC

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Headlines Playwright, professor, surviving passengers recall SS St. Louis tragedy — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

R

obert Krakow had tired of life as an attorney, so he became a playwright. Captivated by the events of World War II, Krakow drafted a mock trial of Adolf Hitler, “False Witness: The Trial of Humanity’s Conscience.” In the play, he incorporated a scene in which Anne Frank serves as prosecutor and William Shakespeare, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Ford testify as witnesses.

“False Witness,” Krakow told virtual attendees during a June 10 Classrooms Without Borders event, was so successful that someone from the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County asked him to pen another.

Krakow responded by writing “The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” a 35-minute play in which Roosevelt is tried for his handling of Jewish refugees.

At the heart of Krakow’s “Trial” is Roosevelt’s 1939 refusal to welcome the SS St. Louis — aboard the German ship were 937 Jewish passengers who were fleeing antisemitic Europe. After the ship and its passengers were denied entry into the United States, Cuba and Canada, it was forced to

p SS St. Louis surrounded by smaller vessels in the port of Hamburg

return to Europe. Historians estimate that a quarter of the Jewish passengers subsequently died in Nazi concentration camps.

The story of the SS St. Louis was reported worldwide. Because of the refusal of countries to welcome the ship’s Jewish refugees, the SS St. Louis proved a “spectacular propaganda victory for Hitler and the Nazis,” Krakow explained to his audience.

Following the staging of “The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” Krakow said, he

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organized a reunion for the surviving passengers of the SS St. Louis and launched a related foundation, the SS St. Louis Legacy Project. Then, Krakow and 14 surviving passengers traveled to the U.S. Department of State in September 2012, where Deputy Secretary of State William Burns — on behalf of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — not only welcomed the surviving passengers, but issued an apology by the State Department for refusing

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to address the Jewish refugee crisis prior to and during WWII. After coming at the story of the SS St. Louis from so many angles, Krakow began a new project. Using footage from the various events he and the surviving passengers participated in, Krakow created “COMPLICIT,” a documentary that included historic footage and interviews relating to the U.S. government’s refusal to welcome the ship’s passengers.

Joining Krakow at the CWB event were surviving passengers Sonja Geismar and Eva Wiener, as well as Professor Walter Reich, the Yitzhak Rabin memorial professor of international affairs, ethics and human behavior at The George Washington University.

Geismar shared childhood memories of Kristallnacht, her experience as a 4-year-old aboard the SS St. Louis, how she and her parents were fortunate to be welcomed into England, and how she strives to remind students that “hatred is not a personal problem, but a societal problem.”

“Hatred of any group — religious, racial, ethnic — is learned and can be unlearned through education, contact with the other and reaching out to establish dialogue and positive action,” she said. “People have to be upstanders, not bystanders, because

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Headlines ‘The Connections Paradigm’ links ancient Jewish wisdom and mental health — BOOKS —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

he newest approach in modern mental health might just be 3,000 years old — and Jewish.

In his new book, “The Connections Paradigm,” psychiatrist David H. Rosmarin explores an ancient concept in Jewish wisdom as he makes the case that humans are either connected or disconnected across three relationships in their life — the inner (or with themselves), the interpersonal and the spiritual — and that these relationships affect one’s mental health.

Rosmarin, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital, first heard of the “connections paradigm” from Rabbi Leib Kelemen, whom he calls his “religious mentor.” During a 2008 trip to visit Keleman in Jerusalem, Rosmarin told the rabbi he thought the world needed a spiritual approach to mental health, something that explained the struggles of society and offered practical solutions.

“There’s a Jewish approach to that,” Rosmarin remembers the rabbi telling him.

The psychiatrist spent the next several years learning about the paradigm from Kelemen.

“If people have those three relationships and they’re in good shape, people can thrive and flourish,” Rosmarin said, “and not only be protected from anxiety and depression and substance abuse — and all sorts of other maladies that people come to the hospital for — but more broadly to live a connected, happy,

thriving existence.”

Rosmarin attended the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto and spent time at a yeshiva before attending York University and the University of Toronto and receiving his Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University. He compared learning from Kelemen to being “a fly on a yeshiva wall that picked up this concept and used it in clinical practice.”

The application of the connections paradigm to mental health, he said, has been the real innovation.

“I don’t think there are many people doing it,” he added. “I do think it’s unique.”

Rosmarin, whose article “Psychiatry Needs to Get Right with God” was published June 15 in Scientific American, said the mental health community has been receptive to the role of spirituality and religion in recent years.

He views the Torah as a repository of strategies and ways to build a connection with God and improve emotional health. He said “The Connections Paradigm” is a collection of those strategies.

“People’s relationship with God, whether close and connected or strained and absent, can have a large effect on the way they feel,” Rosmarin said.

The information in the book isn’t solely religious, however. The first section deals exclusively with a person’s relationship to themselves.

The connection one has with one’s body — including diet, exercise, relationships with friends and even the amount of nightly sleep — plays a vital role in mental health, according to Rosmarin.

Taking care of one’s body is “not commonly adhered to,” he said. “There are basic rules to the body, and we ignore them. Ever since Thomas Edison, no one gets enough sleep. The bottom

 David H. Rosmarin

Photo courtesy of The Center for Anxiety

line is, we’re not good. We’re not paragons of self-care in any way.”

He lamented the fact that people often don’t take the time to consider why they ignore their relationship with their inner selves.

“What’s your North Star?” Rosmarin asked.

“Where are we going? What’s your purpose?

What’s your values? If people respect their body and have a set of values, it’s part of being a healthy human being.”

Rosmarin’s book is broken down into three sections, each with four chapters containing a technique to connect with ourselves, others and our spirituality. He suspects everyone will find at least one helpful technique, even if they already are attempting to live a healthy life.

In fact, Rosmarin said despite the book’s Jewish underpinnings, “The Connections Paradigm” wasn’t written exclusively for a Jewish audience. Because of the universality of its principles, he said, he can give a talk at Columbia University one day and speak at a synagogue the next.

“This is a culmination of 10 or 15 years of work studying the paradigm, doing clinical work, helping my patients using the techniques and then finally penning the book,” he said.

“I’m happy that it’s out there and available for people to learn about.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Pittsburgh author pens new story collection, donates proceeds to food bank — BOOKS —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

bby Mendelson’s new story collection, “Reunion: Americans in Exile,” chronicles the lives of Americans torn from their places and pasts.

The 16 stories feature military men, missing persons, foreign service officers and fashion models. The plots are timeless and easily could have occurred during the past year as many Americans lives were torn apart by COVID-19.

Like so many others watching as neighbors lost jobs and community members suffered food and housing insecurities, Mendelson, who was in a high-risk group for catching the virus, found himself asking, “What can I do?”

“I couldn’t work the frontlines,” he said. “I didn’t have medical training; I can’t even put on a band aid.”

The answer came to the writer through his craft. Once completed, he decided to publish “Reunion” himself and donate the proceeds to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

“It’s not a Jewish book, but [the characters

8 JUNE 25, 2021

are] involved in tikkun olam. So, I said to myself, ‘What can I do that everyone can get behind?,’” he asked. “Lisa Scales (Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank President and CEO) is an old friend of mine. I’ve never heard anyone say one bad word about the food bank. Let them have the money. They need the money.”

The book isn’t a COVID-19 project, Mendelson said. He’s been working on the stories for the last 11 years, but turned his full attention to the project two years ago, after completing the text of the tabletop book “Spirit to Spirit: A Portrait of Pittsburgh Jazz in the New Century.”

Mendelson likened his work to a submarine with various rooms. The ship, he explained, has a writing room and a creation room, and then there’s the “what are you going to do with it, now?” room.

The more he observed the continuing effects of the pandemic, his concern grew, he said, for those whose stories never make it into the media.

The Squirrel Hill resident said the plight of some people living below the radar were highlighted in “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America,” by Barbara Ehrenreich, which investigated the 1996 Welfare Reform

Act and its impact on the working poor. He said his family experienced a similar situation, as immigrants, two generations ago.

“Look at the border now,” Mendelson said.

“We have something like 10 or 20 million people in this country who are undocumented, who are underinsured and underserved and are making sure we don’t pay $7 for tomatoes.”

Mendelson is quick to note that the people using services like food banks aren’t looking for a handout.

“One of my theories about being a human being — no one wants a handout,” he said.

“People want to earn; this is what we are hardwired to do.”

Scales said the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank was excited to learn of Mendelson’s donation.

“When I got the call from Abby, just out of the blue, I was just thrilled that he wanted to support the food bank in that way,” she said.

“And it’s such a significant way, right? I mean, 100% of the proceeds!”

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has a network of more than 600 community partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens, after school programs and senior centers.

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Scales said the food bank has received calls from additional nonprofits because of the pandemic, noting that food insecurity has increased 31% since the onset of COVID-19 and that there will be an increased demand on agencies like the food bank for several more years while society returns to normal and people get back to work.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank holds 11 drive-up food distributions each month, sometimes serving as many as 1,000 households at a time. For Mendelson, the how and why of helping were easy. He hopes his efforts will serve as inspiration for others.

“I’m an artist,” he said. “Writers write.

If I were a carpenter, I’d go to Habitat for Humanity. That’s what we do. As a small challenge to other artists, I would say, do something and dedicate it to a worthwhile charity like this because, God knows, they are in desperate need.”

“Reunion: Americans in Exile” is available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronice.org.

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Headlines The founding of the Enoch Rauh Club, in four takes — HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

I

n a 1998 oral history with the National Council of Jewish Women, the critic Barry Paris told a second-hand story about the founding of the Enoch Rauh Club — how it got its name and how it secured start-up funds for its youth basketball team.

He had heard the story from his father, Wyoming Paris, who had been a leader in the club for decades.

“He, as he tells the story, if I have it right, took the streetcar out to Squirrel Hill to where [the Rauhs] lived — I think with a friend, he would tell you the name and the age and size and height — and knocked on the door and asked to see Mrs. Rauh, and she kindly allowed them to come in, and seated them in her beautiful parlor, and they told her the story and made the request, and she came through,” Paris recalled. “She said yes.

And so I think that’s how — I know that’s how they got the uniforms and I think that’s how they got the name. They took the name Enoch Rauh Club in honor of their patron.”

A lot of what we know about the past arrives this way, as recollections of recollections. But this time, something unusual happens. The interviewer hands Paris a sheet of paper. It’s the same story, only this version had been written by Wyoming.

“Oh here’s the story!” the younger Paris says. “Let’s see how close I was.”

Paris now reads his father’s version, adding commentary: “‘I was one of four boys from the Hill District who originated the club. I suggested Enoch Rauh for the club name because of his respectful life and being the first Jewish councilman in Pittsburgh, copying the use of well-known names for clubs...

Long story about Enoch Rauh Club history and Mrs. Rauh inviting us boys to her home in Squirrel Hill to listen to our idea of a club honoring the well-known, respected Enoch Rauh. Another long story, but a quick answer — Oh, for him, this is succinct — for the most important assumption: Mrs. Rauh gave us a note paying for jerseys and shorts. Nothing else ever. We financed ourselves by getting small fees for playing in many Pittsburgh areas, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and the money from our own individual few dollars we made working various jobs.’”

The account continues, reaching an important conclusion. “Underlined are the original four boys invited to Mrs. Enoch Rauh’s home in Squirrel Hill to discuss using the Rauh name for the club,” Paris reads, and then he tells the interviewer, “And before that, underlined, are Shep Gefsky, Alex Singer, Maishe Wheeler and Wyoming Paris.”

p A photograph of the first Enoch Rauh Club basketball team from the

1919-1920 season, including Wyoming Paris, Shep Gefsky and Dan Schmidt Courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center The moment highlights how retelling a story often means refining it. In one version, two brave boys ride to Squirrel Hill to cold call a leading Jewish citizen. In the other, she invites four boys to her home. In one, the boys name their club in honor of their patron. In the other, patronage seems to be given in gratitude for the honorific.

The Enoch Rauh Club was among the best known and longest lasting of the hundreds of Jewish youth clubs founded in Pittsburgh

before World War II. By the 1940s, it was running a youth basketball league and a popular charity for local orphans.

Success often prompts a turn toward history, as does longevity, which is a form of success. In recollections from 1932, longtime Enoch Rauh Club advisor L. Daniel Schmidt recalled how he got involved with the group.

It was the spring of 1920, and he was a recent high school graduate living in the Hill District. One of the kids on his street, a boy

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named Shep Gefsky, asked him to become the adult supervisor of a new club.

“I met the boys. They had organized in January of that year. Enoch Rauh of City Council, one of Pittsburgh’s leading citizens at the time, had passed away in November of the previous calendar. With the courage born of immaturity, they had written Mrs. Enoch Rauh requesting permission to name their club after her illustrious husband. Mrs. Rauh had graciously consented and forever after endeared herself to every boy in that club.” No streetcar here, nor a knock on the door. No jerseys, no shorts, no Wy Paris.

You may remember learning in school about “primary sources” and “secondary sources.” The distinction is proximity. A primary source is created by the people involved in an event and is ideally created as close to the time of the event as possible.

We have a primary source for our story. It’s the letter to Bertha Rauh, dated Jan. 25, 1920.

Shep Gefsky wrote it in schoolhouse cursive across four sheets of stationery. It begins with an apology. The boys had already been using Enoch Rauh’s name for their club, without asking for permission. They were rectifying the oversight “to play safe.”

Gefsky explains that a dozen Jewish boys had recently formed the club. They had easily agreed on a purpose — literary and athletic pursuits — but they were hotly debating their name. “Benjamin Goodstein suddenly called out the name of your late husband Enoch Rauh and the name was adopted unanimously.” The next two-and-a-half pages list the officers and committee members of the club. The list doesn’t include Wyoming Paris.

The first report of the Enoch Rauh Club appeared in the March 5, 1920, issue of the Jewish Criterion. A membership list published a few weeks later, in the March 26 issue, is the first mention of Wyoming Paris, who became a star of the basketball team.

The point isn’t to debunk anyone’s memories. It takes very little imagination to reintroduce Wyoming Paris into the story.

Ambiguous wording, false memories and incomplete documents could reconcile many of the conflicting details in these accounts.

Set all the facts to the side and what remains are the stories — or more to the point, the storytellers. Barry Paris delights in his raconteur father. Wyoming Paris defends the industriousness of his friends.

Dan Schmidt summons theatrical adjectives and adverbs to turn the story of some boys asking for permission into a tale of nearmythic adoration. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at rjarchives@heinzhistorycenter. org or 412-454-6406.

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JUNE 25, 2021 9

Headlines Rodef Shalom sets new minimum wage, aims for workforce equality — LOCAL —

By Sarah Abrams | Staff Writer

H

oping to create a “ripple effect in the community,” and to relieve some of the financial strain the pandemic has placed on its staff, Rodef Shalom Congregation will implement its own minimum wage of $15 per hour, according to Matthew Falcone, the congregation’s president.

The congregation’s new minimum wage applies to all positions — including fulltime, part-time and preschool employees.

It is more than double Pennsylvania’s current state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and the federal minimum wage, which is the same.

The congregation approved the minimum wage at its June 6 annual meeting, but its board of trustees had been having “conversations about increasing the minimum wage over the past six months to a year,” said Falcone. “Now, it’s finally here.”

When the pandemic struck, Rodef Shalom remained open, but fewer people were coming into the building, and the minimum wage is being introduced this summer, “when the building is completely reopened, with more people coming and going and with more events,” said Falcone. The Board “now has the ability to hire new people at a new level of pay, especially people just starting out.”

 Rodef Shalom Family Center teachers and students pre-pandemic

Rodef Shalom places a high value on its part-time workers, several of whom are members of Hillel Jewish University Center and other college students, according to Falcone.

“It’s hard enough to make a living trying to pay off college tuition, rent and meals,” he said. “It’s all the more important that students have access to more appropriate and fair levels of wages. Raising the minimum wage is the first big step we are taking to try and lead the entire congregation in the right direction.”

Rodef Shalom, he added, is also committed to working toward gender and racial equality.

“There are so many women who work

Photo by Mimsie Leyton

with us in so many different capacities and so many people of color with us, as well,” Falcone said. “The entire board of trustees and leadership hopes to ensure that the minimum wage threshold allows for more equity in pay.”

By implementing its minimum wage, Rodef Shalom also is acknowledging the importance of preschool workers, especially during the pandemic, Falcone said. Since the Rodef Shalom Family Center Preschool remained open during much of the coronavirus crisis, Falcone said he wanted to assure employees “that by working with [Rodef Shalom] they’ll be able to make a living.” For preschool workers passionate

about bringing Judaism to children at a pivotal age, “it is not just a job, it’s a calling,” he added.

Mimsie Leyton, director of Rodef Shalom’s preschool, praised the wage increase and the congregation’s commitment to early childhood education.

“I am so pleased that the leadership at Rodef Shalom recognizes the value of early childhood education and has made the decision to increase the wages for the preschool staff,” Leyton wrote in an email.

“Our preschool teachers work tirelessly to support the growth and development of the young children in their care. They deserve to be respected as professionals, and fairly compensated for the important work they do.”

While the congregation approved the wage increases just three weeks ago, the timeline for implementation is fast paced. Rodef Shalom’s leadership is currently working on logistics and hopes to officially apply the new minimum wage on July 1.

Falcone attributes Rodef Shalom’s decision to increase the minimum wage to the congregation’s core values. Operating during the pandemic was “such a herculean effort from the faculty to make sure that everyone was safe,” he said. “This opened our eyes as to how much people are invested in the community and Rodef Shalom, so [Rodef Shalom] wanted to make the same investment back into others.” PJC Sarah Abrams can be reached at sabrams@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

available for the ENTIRE

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Militants tunnel into Israel from Gaza, disable a tank, kill two soldiers, and capture a third, Gilad Shalit. He is held more than five years before being exchanged for 1,027 Palestinians.

June 26, 2004 — ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ writer Naomi Shemer Dies

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June 25, 2006 — Gilad Shalit is captured

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Musician Naomi Shemer, known for “Jerusalem of Gold,” dies at 73 after a long battle with cancer. She wrote “Jerusalem of Gold” for a festival in 1967, and singer Shuli Natan made it famous.

June 27, 1945 — Shin Bet Head Ami Ayalon is born

Ami Ayalon is born in Tiberias. A Medal of Valor winner, he commands the Israeli navy from 1992 to 1996, then leads the Shin Bet security service until 2000. He later represents Labor in the Knesset.

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June 28, 1967 — Jerusalem officially is reunited

Israel publishes the Jerusalem Declaration, announcing the reunification of the city under Israeli sovereignty after the Six-Day War. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol promises full access to holy sites.

June 29, 1946 — British round up resistance fighters

The British military launches Operation Agatha, two weeks of raids against Jewish resistance fighters, on a day that comes to be known as Black Sabbath. Some 2,700 Jews are arrested.

June 30, 1937 — Religious Kibbutz Tirat Zvi founded

German, Polish and Russian Jews establish Kibbutz Tirat Zvi in the Beit She’an Valley as one of the first religious kibbutzim during the “Tower and Stockade” effort to expand the borders of a future state.

July 1, 1973 — Israeli military attache is killed in Maryland

Col. Yosef “Joe” Alon, an Israeli military attache, is fatally shot in his driveway in Chevy Chase, Maryland. A Palestinian radio broadcast calls it revenge for a terrorist’s killing two days earlier. PJC

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Headlines with Palestinian officials gave Palestinian agencies responsibility for healthcare.

— WORLD — From JTA reports

Palestinian Authority cancels deal for 1 million COVID vaccine doses from Israel

The Palestinian Authority canceled a deal that would have seen Israel give it 1 million COVID vaccine doses in exchange for a later shipment.

The P.A. made the move because many of the doses were set to expire in the coming weeks, according to Haaretz. By the time Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced the cancellation, 100,000 of the doses had already been delivered.

The decision, made by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and approved by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, constituted a change of Israeli policy following months during which Israel was criticized for not helping Palestinians get vaccinated. Israel led the world in inoculating its population, and its vaccination rates have slowed recently after most of the population was vaccinated and case rates plummeted.

In return for the shipments, the Palestinian Authority was to send Israel shipments of Pfizer doses it is set to receive in the future.

The deal had been initiated by the previous Israeli government, which was in power through last week, but details had not been worked out. It was finalized by the new coalition before being nixed.

“The coronavirus knows no borders,” said Horowitz, the chair of the left-wing Meretz party, according to Haaretz, when the deal was still in effect. “This important step is in the interest of all parties. I hope that it will set in motion a collaboration between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in other areas as well.”

The U.S. State Department had initially praised the agreement.

“The United States welcomes cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to provide over 1 million COVID-19 vaccines to the Palestinian people,” spokesman Ned Price tweeted.

Human rights organizations criticized Israel for not immediately providing large amounts of vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza after it received its early Pfizer supplies. Critics said that Israel, as the occupying power of the West Bank, has a responsibility to vaccinate the territory’s residents regardless of nationality.

Israel has countered that prior agreements

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Donald Trump says American Jews ‘don’t love Israel enough’ and more should have voted for him

Donald Trump is still trying to figure out why more American Jews didn’t vote for him, arguing in a haredi Orthodox magazine interview that they “don’t love Israel enough” and the Israel-related moves he made as president should have earned him a larger share of the Jewish vote.

“You know what really surprised me?”

Trump told Ami Magazine. “I did the Heights, I did Jerusalem, and I did Iran — the Iran Deal was a disaster, right? And I also did many other things. Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you? I’m not talking about Orthodox Jews. I believe we got 25% of the Jewish vote, and it doesn’t make sense. It just seems strange to me.”

Trump referred to his decisions to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel’s government loathes.

Exit polls election night found Trump scored between 21% and 30.5% of the Jewish vote. He is also correct that an overwhelming majority of Orthodox Jews voted for him.

Jewish groups slammed Trump in 2019 after he said that Jews were disloyal for voting for Democrats and doubling down on the claim.

Fashion giant Zara condemns Jewish designer for lashing out at Palestinian model who called Israel ‘evil’

The fashion retailer Zara condemned one of its Jewish designers for telling a Palestinian model that “maybe if your people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals.”

Zara made the statement about Vanessa Perilman, the head designer for Zara’s women’s department, who wrote the comment on Instagram to model Qaher Harhash, who is from eastern Jerusalem.

Perilman initiated the discussion because Harhash had called Israel “evil,” according to reports. He has claimed falsely that Israel withholds drinking water from Arabs in Jerusalem while providing it readily to Jews.

“Israelis don’t teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do,” Perilman wrote to Harhash in one of several private messages on Instagram that were screenshot and later shared publicly.

“I think it’s funny that you are a model because, in reality, that is against what the Muslim faith believes in and if you were to come out of the closet in any Muslim country, you would be stoned to death,” she added.

Harhash wrote in response to Perilman: “Does your little brain teach you about power dynamics and how this could possibly hurt me?” and shared the correspondence, leading to criticism of Zara online.

“We condemn these comments that do not reflect our core values of respect for one another, and we regret the offense that they have caused,” Zara said in a statement about Perilman’s words.

Perilman has apologized to Harhash in private messages on Instagram, saying she spoke out of “anger” over alleged vitriol against Israel during and after its 11-day skirmish with Hamas last month.

Ukraine annoys Putin by honoring two sects with Jewish roots

Two tiny sects with Jewish roots are front and center in a diplomatic fight between Russia and Ukraine, JTA reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, unveiled a bill in May that he said was designed to help preserve the heritage of Kairites and Krymchaks, plus the Tatars, a Muslim people.

A few hundred Karaites remain in Ukraine and are remnants of a sect that broke off from mainstream Judaism in eighth-century Iraq.

The Krymchaks, who are nearly extinct, are related to the Karaites but are thought to be more heavily descended from Georgian Jews.

None of this sits well with Russian President Valdimir Putin, who said the bill’s perceived implication that ethnic Russians, who comprise about a third of Ukraine’s population, and other groups are somehow not indigenous to it.

Tom Nides named ambassador to Israel

President Joe Biden nominated banker Tom Nides to be his ambassador to Israel, JTA reported.

Nides was the deputy secretary of state for management and resources from 2011 to 2013 in the Obama administration.

He had good relations with Israeli diplomats, although he was less involved in substantive diplomacy.

Nides, who is Jewish and a Minnesota native, ran former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s vice presidential campaign in 2000.

Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, D.C., in his book, “Ally,” described Nides as “irreverent, hardworking, highly intelligent, and warm.” Oren said Nides earned his “affection and trust.”

Some in the centrist and liberal pro-Israel communities wanted Biden to tap former Florida U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler for the post.

He now heads a nongovernmental group advocating for Israeli-Arab peace.

German publishing boss tells workers to find new jobs if they oppose Israeli flag

Here’s the advice from a top publishing executive in Germany to employees who complained about his decision to fly the Israeli flag on the business’s headquarters: Find another place to work.

“I think, and I’m being very frank with you, a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after antisemitic demonstrations, should look for a new job,” Mathias Döpfner, the chairman of Axel Springer, said in a conference call with thousands of his employees around the world, Israel Hayom reported.

Döpfner has described himself as a non-Jewish Zionist.

The flag was raised last month as Hamas and Israel exchanged fire for 11 days, resulting in more than 250 fatalities, mostly on the Palestinian side. Many protests against Israel in Europe and beyond featured incitement against Jews and Israel, and several acts of violence in Europe and the United States were documented in connection with the protests.

Axel Springer owns several Israel sites, including Yad2 on real estate sales.

On its website, the publisher lists five “Principles and Values.” The second states: “We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel.”

The first is: “Standing up for freedom, the rule of law, democracy, and a united Europe,” followed by “support for the transatlantic alliance between the United States of America and Europe; commitment to a free and social market economy, and the rejection of political and religious extremism and any kind of racism and sexual discrimination.” PJC

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JUNE 25, 2021 11

Opinion When it comes to anti-Israel attacks on Jews, it’s time to name the enemy Guest Columnist Gil Troy

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he COVID-19 epidemic proves you cannot just treat a plague’s symptoms — you must root it out. Yet as incidents of Jew-bullying in the U.S. more than doubled in May compared to the same time period in 2020, too many American Jews complained about the symptoms while obscuring the cause. In a polarized polity, too many in the overwhelmingly liberal American-Jewish community either ignore or cover up left-wing complicity in the New Antisemitism, meaning anti-Zionist Jew-hatred.

Call it Zio-washing: bleaching the anti-Zionism out of modern antisemitism.

Consider the Jewish Theological Seminary’s “Statement on Antisemitic Crimes” condemning this “spate of brutal acts,” issued during last month’s military conflict between Israel and Hamas. The JTS lamented this “latest manifestation” of the “centuries-long phenomenon” of Jew-hatred.

And it claimed that “What is happening to Jews in North America shares much with other hate crimes perpetrated in our society.”

But something’s missing: The statement ignored Israel, Zionism and the New Antisemitism.

The antisemitic attacks and rhetoric during the latest conflict was largely fueled by the anti-Zionist left’s sweeping denunciations of Israel and Zionism. Wrapping their cause in Black Lives Matters rhetoric and righteousness, pro-Palestinian and pro-Islamist goons have committed many of the most recent anti-Jewish street crimes.

Claiming that the Jew-bashing “shares

Call it Zio-washing: bleaching the anti-Zionism out of modern antisemitism. much with other hate crimes perpetrated in our society,” the JTS statement masks this far-left anti-Zionist hooliganism with a phrase that usually points to haters on the right.

President Joe Biden’s May 28 statement also Zio-washed. He condemned this mysterious, coming-from-nowhere Jew-hating surge “in the last weeks.” Biden mentioned six incidents, from “a brick thrown through the window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan” to “families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles,” without mentioning Israel, Zionism or pro-Palestinian thuggery.

Not naming the distinctly left-wing roots of this hatred suggests that those doing the condemning do not want to alienate supposed allies.

Liberals were much more eager to name antisemitism’s perpetrators when they emerged from the Trumpian right or from the white supremacists that attached themselves to his agenda. Similarly, conservatives only see antisemitism when it comes out of the campus or anti-Israel left — to the delight of Jew-haters everywhere. Yes, antisemitism is “the latest manifestation of a centuries-long phenomenon of hatred and violence against Jews,” as JTS put it. But the “longest hatred” is also the most plastic hatred — pliable, artificial and occasionally lethal. No one should fall for the haters’ false rationales — or supposed other virtues.

We need zero tolerance for all Jew-hatred and all bigotry.

Offering clarity, the Anti-Defamation League declared: “Since the start of the May conflict between Israel and Hamas, there have been numerous antisemitic incidents around the world related to the conflict.

The perpetrators of these attacks deliberately targeted Jewish institutions in order to express their anger towards Israel. Whenever anti-Israel actions target” Jewish institutions “or individual Jews — in other words, holding Jews collectively responsible Israel’s actions — ADL considers such incidents as antisemitic.”

The ADL activists — non-academics — offered context and causation: These attacks didn’t pop up spontaneously. ADL connected the dots, noting that these thugs target Jews to bash the Jewish state. And they taught something others overlooked: that beating on Jews because you object to Israeli policy or Israel is antisemitic.

Still, the ADL’s description turned too cautious by not directly confronting the false, facile analogies comparing America’s complex racial dynamics with Israelis’ complex national dynamics with regard to Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Bedouins.

Our Canadian cousins got it right. On June 3, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs defined “antisemitism, especially in its modern guise of anti-Zionism,” as antiJewish violence compounded by “some of

our society’s most esteemed institutions — universities, school boards, political parties, unions, the media — ignoring Jew-hatred, and in so doing providing cover for it.”

The bold statement detailed five ways that anti-Zionists are not “just” criticizing Israel but committing Jew-hatred, including “When in the name of criticizing Israel, anti-Zionists pelt Canadians with stones, that is antisemitism.”

While buoying antisemites, Zio-washing explains how an increasingly loud minority of rabbis and Jewish studies professors feel comfortable bashing Israel and repudiating Zionism. Empty institutional statements suggest that many American Jewish leaders fear embracing Israel and Zionism too ardently.

Fortunately, Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt and others formed the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition to represent most American Jews: proudly pro-Israel and pro-peoplehood. Still, when I grew up, Zionist rabbis didn’t need the adjective — we just called them rabbis.

Sun Tzu taught: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” But “If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Comfortable in their Jewish skins, these rabbis, like most Israelis, are ready to confront the antisemites. Only with such confidence — and true allies ready to diagnose the problem clearly and fight the problem systematically — will we be able to contain this growing, and all too often perfumed, Jew-hatred. PJC Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar in North American History at McGill University currently living in Jerusalem. He is an award-winning American presidential historian and a leading Zionist activist. This piece first appeared on JTA.

Pride, and the Pittsburgh Platform Guest Columnist Matthew Falcone

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his is an exceptional Pride Month for me as I became the first openly queer president of Rodef Shalom Congregation. In the world of Pittsburgh Reform Judaism, I think this announcement was received as relatively uneventful news — partly, I believe, due to timing.

Beth Chayim Chadashim (the world’s first explicitly gay- and lesbian-centered synagogue in West Los Angeles) was founded in 1972, a decade before I was born. While I was still in grade school, URJ (Union of Reform Judaism) and the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) declared that gay Jews were full and equal members of the religious community.

By the time I came to Judaism, the Women of Reform Judaism were actively advocating for LGBT equality within the faith and the

12 JUNE 25, 2021

CCAR had joined a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage.

At that time, not all branches of Judaism were nearly as supportive or outspoken, which made Reform Judaism, for me, the obvious choice. In late 2010, my husband and I tied the knot at Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C. (with a Reform rabbi presiding), under a chuppah adorned with six stars, one for each state where marriage equality was legal.

What initially brought us into Rodef Shalom’s building, though, admittedly was not Reform worship, but rather a desire to connect with other members of the Jewish LGBTQ+ community. Pittsburgh was to us a new city and Bet Tikvah (a queer-centric minyan) and OUTrageous Bingo — both located in Rodef Shalom’s building — were familiar features, similar to endeavors we actively engaged in in D.C. One of the members of Bet Tikvah introduced me to High Holiday services at Rodef Shalom and, well, the rest is history.

The more I came to know Rodef Shalom’s

history, the more its narrative resonated with me because it so closely paralleled queer historical narratives with which I was more intimately familiar. To boil each down to their most common elements: A group of folks not fully able to participate in larger society spend a tremendous amount of effort making gradual progress over decades, and generations, until the very fabric of society in which they want to participate changes so that they are included.

At Rodef Shalom, the rabbis and congregants were successful in fighting for legal and social equality, and, in the process, quite literally redefined what Judaism is. In what must have taken a tremendous amount of chutzpah, they firmly broke with Orthodox Judaism and pursued a new path, which culminated in the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885. In no small part, these are the people who made it possible for me (a convert) to not only be a practicing Jew, but for my family to exist as it does today. Because of them, being Jewish was a religious decision and not just being part of a “nation” (a term

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

present in the Pittsburgh Platform that today we might define as ethnicity). This made conversion infinitely more accessible and being Jewish in America for many became an act of identifying oneself. In LGBTQ+ communities today, the idea of self-identification plays an important role.

I know this is by no means a common interpretation of the events that transpired in and around the Pittsburgh Platform and the evolution of Reform Judaism, but we all tend to look at the forces that influence our lives through our own, unique lenses. Making these connections are even more personally important, as the historical record at Rodef Shalom Congregation is unfortunately opaque when it comes to LGBTQ+ individuals in leadership positions. But like for all things, there is a time for change. And for us, June has historically been a month filled with change. Happy Pride! PJC Matthew Falcone is president of Rodef Shalom Congregation. He lives on the North Side with his husband and two children.

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Opinion One generation departs, another steps up, and the children move ever forward Guest Columnist Sally Abrams

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ometimes when a torch is passed, it’s an actual flame handed off from runner to runner in a torch lighting ceremony. It’s thrilling to see the athlete sprint with confidence and purpose, torch thrust high. The next runner awaits, ready to take the flame forward. A quick handoff and the torch advances toward the next outstretched hand.

We see the exhilaration on each runner’s face; we can only imagine the responsibility the runner feels to keep the flame moving ahead.

Don’t drop the torch. Don’t fall. Don’t fail.

As the first of our grandchildren headed to Jewish overnight camp this week, a torch has passed to me. A torch whose warmth comes not from fire, but from memory. The torch was handed off to me by my parents and in-laws and the parents of so many dear friends, devoted grandparents who never missed the Jewish summer camp sendoff.

They stood in the hot, crowded, chaotic synagogue parking lot, bestowing their grandkids with hugs, kisses, and words of encouragement. No matter how long it took to load the buses, they stayed. When the air

The parents who needed a helping hand to get me to camp are benefactors for other children now. brakes released with a huff and the buses at last lurched forward, they waved until the buses were out of sight.

Sure, some of that was simple devotion, the boundless love that connects grandparents and grandchildren. But these grandparents also understood the essential role Jewish overnight camp plays in building Jewish identity. Not only is camp joyful and fun, camp makes being Jewish joyful and fun. Something you’re proud to be. These camps create experiences that connect kids powerfully with Judaism, enabling them to embrace the heritage that is their birthright.

So, those grandparents showed their enthusiastic support with a big farewell. They wrote letters and sent care packages. On Visitors Day or Visitors Weekend, there they were again, lugging picnic baskets and stepping carefully over the uneven ground. They

loved the vibrancy of Jewish life at camp, and they said so again and again. Some of these grandparents may have helped pay for camp, too. Their support, in ways large and small, delivered two powerful messages to their grandchildren: You matter. And this matters.

With a few exceptions, those beloved elders have passed from the scene. But their example remains.

It’s the example I’ve had in mind this week, as the next generation of our family heads to Jewish overnight camp. Now, it’s my turn, our turn, to carry the torch forward.

It’s also making me think broadly about the ways a Jewish community shows all its children: You matter. And this matters.

Jewish summer camp is a big-ticket item.

Scholarship funds will always be needed.

That’s how I was able to go to Jewish summer camp so long ago. The cost was a

fraction of the cost today, but it was still totally out of reach for my blue-collar parents. Thanks to the generosity of someone I never knew, maybe someone else’s grandparents, I was able to go. Twice. It changed my life forever.

Years ago, I established a modest camp scholarship fund at our Jewish Federation in memory of my parents. The parents who needed a helping hand to get me to camp are benefactors for other children now. I always ask the scholarship coordinators to convey a parallel message to the recipients: Sometimes one who needs a boost today will be in a position later to help someone else.

There are many ways to be a “grandparent.”

It’s time to dash off a message to my little campers. No more “snail mail”; now the camp prints out email messages and delivers them to the kids.

Times change, but one thing never will: The sound of the air brakes releasing, and the lurch of the buses moving ahead will always fill my eyes with tears. It’s the poignant sound of time passing; one generation departs, another steps up in its place, and the children, the sweet children, move ever forward. PJC Sally Abrams co-directs the Speakers Bureau of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. This piece first appeared on The Times of Israel.

The future of female clergy is now Guest Columnist Daphne Lazar Price

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oward the end of first grade, my class began preparing for a siddur party where each student would receive their own inscribed prayer book. Part of the celebration was a class play. As the teacher handed out parts, she asked who among us wanted to have the biggest role in the performance, the rabbi. Hands immediately shot up — and when I looked around, I realized that I was the only girl among a sea of boys who wanted the part. And wouldn’t you know it, the role went to me. On the big day, I got dressed up in a brown striped suit, a black hat, and a long dark polyester beard. Why? Because in the late 1970s at my Orthodox coed community day school, no one could imagine a rabbi looking any different than the stereotypical male typecast, let alone female.

For nearly a quarter of a century, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) has been advocating for expanding women’s rights and opportunities within the framework of halakha to build a vibrant and equitable Orthodox community. As executive director of JOFA, I’m proud of the work we have done to advance women’s synagogue leadership. Our Devorah Scholar program, spearheaded by Ann and Jeremy Pava of Micah Philanthropies, has helped to motivate synagogues across North PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

America to place women in newly created spiritual leadership roles to enable communities across North America to benefit from women’s scholarship.

Despite barriers placed before us, and the many added hurdles women still have to jump over, today we have come to embrace that clergy figures are not limited to men alone. Dedicated Orthodox women who are committed leaders have helped open doors and forge new paths. Graduates and alumni of Yeshivat Maharat, Ohr Torah Stone, Drisha, Nishmat and GPATS and other higher learning institutions for women are leading the way and modeling different forms of leadership in synagogues, schools and communal institutions. This spring, between Yeshivat Maharat and Ohr Torah Stone, nine women completed intensive learning programs that better position them to become leaders. Already Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter (also a Devorah Scholar), Rabbi Dina Najman and Rosh Kehillah Mijal Bitton are leading Orthodox congregations in the United States The most recent development was the hiring of Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis at “Shirat HaTamar” congregation in Efrat as a spiritual leader. These are all important and exciting steps in the right direction.

Over the last few years, women’s spiritual leadership in the United States and Israel has been growing. The value added by creating a space for women spiritual leaders who will serve as role models in Orthodox synagogues is immeasurable. The positive ripple effects will benefit community members, both young and old for generations to come. As

Orthodox educational institutions and synagogues work toward changing the current status quo, young girls will see themselves reflected in spiritual leadership roles and will be able to find female-identified mentors and inspirational models to emulate.

Is there still work to be done? Of course.

Job availability and pay equity pose one set of challenges, as does ageism and sexism. But now we have a growing number of smart, inspiring and learned women holding leadership positions in key religious institutions who will help lead the way. And we need to engage whenever a voice chimes in to say that there is no room for women leaders, because it is profoundly untrue. And it makes that voice sound both insecure and perhaps even (dare I say), foolish because they are so out of touch with reality. JOFA has long championed advancing women’s Judaic and text-based learning, teaching and leadership opportunities in formal and informal educational settings. Halakha continues to provide an expansion of opportunities rather than obstacles for ongoing spiritual growth for individuals, institutions

and communities at large. It is not “unOrthodox” or a challenge of halakhic norms to ensure, support and expand women’s access to learn and to lead. Instead, we must all work together to change the minds of those who refuse to recognize that women enrich and strengthen Orthodox communities.

Every time we place a woman in a leadership role in our religious institutions, we are modeling positive growth to our membership and beyond. Looking back at my Orthodox upbringing, and as I look at the current and growing landscape that surrounds us, what once felt like a dream and impossible to envision as a child, is not only possible — it’s a reality. PJC Daphne Lazar Price is the executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) and an adjunct professor of Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law Center.

She is active in the Orthodox community in her hometown of Silver Spring, Maryland, where she lives with her husband and two children. This piece first appeared on The Times of Israel.

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JUNE 25, 2021 13

Headlines Libeskind: Continued from page 1

but also address what happened, why we are building a new building in the first place.”

Libeskind is no stranger to finding healing through art and architecture: He worked in academia — as what he called a “paper architect” — before completing the design of his first building when he was 52. The Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabrück, Germany, opened in 1998 and hosts the work of the German-Jewish painter murdered by the Nazis. In 2001, Libeskind’s Jewish Museum Berlin, dedicated to Jewish life in Germany before, during and after the Holocaust, opened.

After the September 11, 2001, attack at the World Trade Center — when militants associated with al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes, flying two into the twin towers in New York City and killing almost 3,000 people —Libeskind was chosen as the master planner for the memorial space, naming his work Memory Foundations.

He said that other projects on which he’s worked, such as shopping malls and skyscrapers, are fundamentally different from designing spaces that memorialize tragedy.

“Because they are projects dealing with

memory, and memories are the fundamental ground of architecture,” he said. “It’s not an additional element. It’s the ground…

Every building has to recognize where it’s located, what its less visible history is, where are those voices crying out to be addressed.

To me, to be sustainable, it has to reach the roots of memory.”

Now he will help plan the next chapter at the Tree of Life site, where 11 Jews were murdered during Shabbat services on Oct. 27, 2018.

The newly designed building, Libeskind said, will be the right size for Tree of Life’s current congregation, and will also be an important space to the wider Pittsburgh community, and the country.

“It’s not just a renovation of an old space,” he said. “This is a place where a major pogrom took place and Jews were murdered. We associate those evil things with Europe and the Nazis, but this is a very symbolic place.

“This is a place where Jews were murdered because they were Jews, because they were praying in a synagogue,” he added. “This is not just local. This is a project that should touch everyone’s heart.”

When asked if people would want to return to the site of the deadliest antisemitic

attack ever in the United States, Libeskind said history has proven they will.

“It has happened many times,” he said.

“When I was at Ground Zero, thousands of people perished there. People said, ‘This is a cemetery. No one will want to come there.’

But with my master plan, we paid homage to the people who perished with an amazing memorial … but also created a vibrant space that doesn’t shift New York into pessimism.”

The key, he said, is to use remembrance as the foundation for a beautiful and hopeful future.

“It’s a very Jewish thought, that history is not a story with a bad ending or a good ending,” Libeskind said. “It depends on what we do, and how we feel about it.

How we steer it.”

To that end, the architect is looking to create a new beginning for the Tree of Life building, whose purpose is linked to the congregation, the public and new partners like the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

“We want to give it a strength and flexibility so that the building can really live in the 21st century,” he said. “We want to make an open building. People can come here, people can rent space, people can have conferences and parties. People can see the logical relationship between the story of the

Holocaust — what must never happen again — and what happened here on that fateful day in Squirrel Hill.”

Those purposes can be achieved, Libeskind said, through light, acoustics and the materials used.

While Libeskind and his company, Studio Libeskind, are the lead architects, they are partnering with the local architecture and urban design firm Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, which has worked on numerous Jewish projects in the city, including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and Temple Emanuel of South Hills.

Libeskind said that local architects are essential to a project of this scale, pointing out that they know the community and have connections to a network of people that would otherwise take a lifetime to build.

In the end, Libeskind said that architecture is about the promise of the future.

“The only prerequisite for an architect is that you’re an optimist,” he said. “You’re always laying the foundation for the future.

You’re actually building into the earth for the future.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

JCC: Continued from page 1

JCC operates 211 live online group exercise classes per week — there is a push to bring people back into the building, he said.

In the coming weeks and months, members will see a resumption of familiar JCC activities and a reopening of communal meeting spaces, offerings “that have been part of the JCC fabric that we have not been able to have,” said Schreiber.

On June 28, the JCC will no longer require that vaccinated people 12 and older wear masks, and indoor group exercise classes will restart. By September, said Schreiber, the JCC hopes to welcome seniors back for daily lunches at J Cafe.

These upcoming milestones follow other programming that has returned to pre-pandemic normalcy. On May 29, the JCC Family Park in Monroeville reopened to members. On June 1, the Squirrel Hill Centerfit platinum locker room reopened with wet-area modifications. On June 14, open lap swimming — limited to three swimmers per lane — returned to both the Squirrel Hill and South Hills pools.

Prior to each decision regarding reopening, the JCC relies on CDC guidance and assistance from the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, said Kunzman. Whether it concerns reopening strategies or operating Emma Kaufmann Camp, every step is “pressure tested” by PRHI. It’s an approach that’s proven successful and will be relied on in the days ahead.

“Improving the quality of life for individuals and the broader community, that’s our path forward,” Kunzman said.

While JCC members are excited to resume favorite activities and try out new programs, the organization isn’t yet out of the clear, according to Schreiber.

The pandemic is not yet over, he noted, 14 JUNE 25, 2021

 JCC Early Childhood Development Center students use magnifying glasses.

and the devastating financial effects of COVID-19 remain. Between requested freezes and cancellations since March 2020, the JCC lost approximately half of its paid membership units.

Nearly $1 million dollars in funding from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s COVID Relief Program has helped the JCC operate and address expenses pertaining to various pandemic-related protocols, such as paying for health screening apps

or increasing the number of buses so that children can be appropriately distanced traveling to summer camp.

“In this interim period, that support is really valuable,” said Schreiber. “We’re still at a place where our revenues are not in pre-COVID levels by a longshot, and we’re still running significant expenses to serve the community.”

Despite financial hardships, the organization is striving to meet communal

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo provided by Fara Marcus, JCC

demands much the same way it has for 126 years.

“It’s going to take some time to rebuild the core base of the agency, but the only way you rebuild the core base is by providing as much as you can and then evaluating what the community needs look like,” Schreiber said. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines St. Louis: Continued from page 7

bystanders make you complicit.”

Wiener was 10 months old when she and her parents boarded the SS St. Louis. Too young to remember the voyage, Wiener recounted the tale her parents often related: how the ship’s captain Gustav Schröder heroically tried to save the Jewish passengers; how upon returning to Europe her father fortuitously requested that his young family be taken to England; and how the story of the SS St. Louis serves as a continuing lesson to “work and fight against any bigotry.”

“Each one of us in this wonderful country of the United States has the responsibility to speak up, and fight, and work against any prejudice, any bigotry and certainly antisemitism, because it doesn’t stop with hatred of Jews,” Weiner said. “It eventually permeates everyone’s life, and we are all affected by it.”

Reich, an expert in Holocaust and genocide studies, told the audience that Krakow, Geismar and Wiener “remind us not only of the Holocaust itself, but of the ways in which antisemitism elsewhere made it impossible for Jews trying to escape a tightening vise in Germany — they had no place to go because no country would take them, including, so devastatingly, our own. We too easily forget that history.”

History serves as a vital educational tool, said Ellen Resnek, CWB’s educational

p Clockwise, from top left: Eva Wiener, Sonja Geismar, Robert Krakow and Ellen Resnek

programs and outreach manager. With the recent rise in antisemitic activity, she continued, CWB’s role is to “educate our young people and try to counteract all hate across the globe.”

The story of turning refugees away at the border isn’t a tale that’s relegated to the

Members of Orthodox community assaulted in Squirrel Hill

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our members of the Orthodox Jewish community were assaulted over the last two weeks in Squirrel Hill.

On Sunday evening, June 6, three people were verbally assaulted by an assailant identified as a 6-foot tall, 220-pound Black male, carrying a large walking stick. The man shouted antisemitic slurs as the victims walked home from religious services.

The incident took place in the vicinity of Beechwood Boulevard and Denniston Avenue. An investigation is pending, according to Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

A week later, on Sunday evening, June 13, a male walking home from services at Shaare Torah Congregation was physically assaulted near Murray Avenue and Bartlett Street. The attacker was described only as a “well-built Black male,” according to Brokos. The victim sustained broken bones and was transported

past, said Tsipy Gur, CWB’s founder and executive director.

“This remains a serious issue,” she said. “We are dealing with refugees in this country. We are dealing with refugees escaping from Hamas into Greece. Refugees are still drowning on the boats trying to get away from Syria and Africa.

Screenshot by Adam Reinherz

How can we stand and do nothing?

“For me,” continued Gur, “this is a very big issue. When you think about it, we are all refugees.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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to the hospital. An investigation is pending.

It is unknown if the second incident was a hate crime or if the two assaults are related, Brokos said.

The Federation suggests that Squirrel Hill residents not walk unaccompanied in the neighborhood. The Federation also recommends talking to children and teens about safety, while stressing the need to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings.

Brokos reiterated the need to report all security concerns and incidents to her office and to the police.

“Even if it seems inconsequential at the time, it could be a small piece to a larger puzzle,” she said. “We’ll determine if it means nothing.”

Similar assaults also have occurred recently in Ohio, Rhode Island and California, according to media reports. PJC

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Life & Culture Picnic perfect Mediterranean orzo salad

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

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his orzo salad is my go-to summer picnic salad because it’s so full of flavor, yet very light. I love the mix of fresh herbs, crunchy vegetables and al dente orzo mixed with an easy-to-make homemade lemon vinaigrette dressing.

You can prepare this salad the same day you plan to serve it, but the flavors intensify if you make it beforehand and let it refrigerate overnight. The capers, olives and optional feta cheese give a tangy, salty punch to the dish and are a welcome change to a mayonnaise-based pasta salad.

Mediterranean orzo salad Preparation time: 20 minutes Serves 8-10 as a side dish For the vinaigrette: Juice of 1 lemon ¼ cup red wine vinegar ¼ cup olive oil ¼ cup avocado oil, or another light vegetable oil 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons honey 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a Ball jar with a lid and shake for 2 minutes or until emulsified.

I make all dressings this way because you only use one jar, and you can easily store any leftover dressing to use later. I mix the oils — olive and avocado — because some people find straight olive oil a bit heavy. If your preference is to use only olive oil, simply use more of it and omit the avocado oil. This recipe makes a little more vinaigrette than you might use for this salad.

It’s a solid dressing recipe to use year-round.

For the salad: 16-ounce box of orzo 2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise 1 large seedless cucumber, cubed, or about 2 cups ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise 2 tablespoons of small capers, rinsed and drained 1 cup chopped fresh parsley ½ cup torn basil leaves ½ cup chopped fresh dill 3 green onions, sliced, green parts only Optional: 1.5 cups of feta cheese, crumbled or cubed

Pour water into a medium saucepan and place on stove to boil.

When the water reaches the boiling point, add the orzo and a pinch of salt.

Photo by Jessica Grann

— FOOD —

Stir, and let cook for 6-7 minutes. You will want the pasta to be al dente.

While this water is boiling and the orzo is cooking, prepare the vinaigrette and chop the vegetables.

As soon as the pasta is ready, strain it and rinse with cold water until you don’t see any steam coming from the colander.

Place the orzo into a serving bowl and stir in half of the vinaigrette.

Add all the vegetables, herbs, olives and capers.

Mix well, then add half the remaining vinaigrette.

If you’re going to add cheese, this is the time to do so. You can stir it in, or layer it across the top of the salad.

Pasta can soak up a lot of vinaigrette, so do a taste test before serving. If you think it needs a little more flavor, add the remaining dressing or a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Enjoy! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

Find a Retirement Lifestyle to Simplify and Enjoy Life

P

Eileen Jacobs in her Providence Point home.

rovidence Point is Pittsburgh’s premier retirement address and, as a Life Plan Community, it is designed for the way you live now with the added peace of mind you want for your future.

Just ask active Mt. Lebanon resident Eileen Jacobs. Eileen found that maintaining her home and yard was becoming a burden. She wanted to simplify her life and make more time for the things she enjoys. She talked with friends who live at Providence Point and attended a few events. When a 1,492 sq. ft.

Lancaster floor plan became available, Eileen knew it was meant to be. The hot housing market made selling her home easy. With a copy of the floor plan and paper cut-outs of furniture, she configured her new apartment to feature her favorite belongings.

As her move took shape, the pandemic was worsening, but that didn’t stop Eileen. Things she decided not to keep quickly sold on line, and soon she was ready to move. Eileen says that living at Providence Point has made it easier to remain social and continue doing things she loves, like volunteering for the Mt. Lebanon Library Book Cellar, walking with friends at the nearby JCC, and joining Providence Point’s Needlework Club.

According to Eileen, her apartment is warm and inviting and just the right size, plus it offers stunning views of the Chartiers Valley area and beyond.

Begin living the retirement you dreamed about.

Call Providence Point at 412.489.3550 or visit www.providencepoint.org 500 Providence Point Blvd.• Pittsburgh, PA 15243

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Life & Culture Books: Bibi as fiction — BOOK —

By Jesse Bernstein | Contributing Writer

The Creation of Netanyahu “The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family” Joshua Cohen New York Review Books

I

t appears, for now, to be over. Though the howling of a few MKs may have drowned out Naftali Bennett’s first speech as prime minister before the Knesset, the reign of Benjamin Netanyahu — Bibi, Melech Yisroel — has come to an end. No one ever spent as much time as the established Israeli state’s chief representative to the world as he did.

Though Netanyahu’s time as prime minister is finished (maybe), Bibism will outlast his term. His two-pronged approach to diplomacy, with its different tones and rhetorical touchstones for Israelis and Americans; his Manichean sense of absolute good and evil, whereby all enemies of the state are descendants of Amalek and all Jews fighting for Israel descendants of the Maccabees; his barely-concealed disdain for the Diaspora, and so on. Those qualities of Netanyahu’s are frequently reflected in the Israeli state’s attitude toward their

for a weekend as the latter interAmerican cousins, and aren’t views for a job at Corbin. going anywhere, any time soon.

Blum is of “Ukrainian/ How did the world’s most-faRussian” Jews, accommodating, mous Cheltenham High School meek and unable to stop apolgraduate become this man? ogizing; his wife, Edith, is of a How did his attitudes regarding haughty “Rhenish” Jewish clan, Zionism, the Galut and the who are mortified that their world-historical role of the Jews daughter has been taken beyond come to be? For a man on a the boundaries of Manhattan. nickname basis with most of the Their daughter, Judy — Judele, word, this is a curiously infrep “The to Blum’s parents — is a highquent topic of discussion.

Netanyahus,” Joshua Cohen’s new novel by Joshua Cohen achieving child of an America barely mentions the current stanCourtesy of New York that still believes in the possiReview Books bility of meritocracy, who is also dard-bearer of the Netanyahu surname. But it does try to answer the question willing to go to terrifying lengths to fix her of his creation, and ask a great many others long, bony nose.

I read that broad portrait of easily about Jewish life in America and Israel.

“The Netanyahus” is mostly the story of a identifiable Jewish “types” as Cohen’s acknowlvisit by Bibi’s real father, Benzion Netanyahu, edgment of how seductive the Bibi view of the to the fictional Corbin College in the winter world can be. History and Jewishness both of 1960. The novel is narrated by Ruben become simpler to think about when there is, a Blum, a Jewish historian who is “not an “fixed and enduring ‘Jew,’” one who is resistant historian of the Jews,” the first distinction of and basically unchanged in function within many between Blum and Netanyahu, who is the larger Christian world, rather than many Jews created by their particular circumstances. very much an historian of the Jews.

Perhaps it’d be useful to think of “The That’s Benzion’s intellectual project, to explain Netanyahus” as an American Jew’s extended Jewish existence in this way, and that’s how investigation into the distinctions between Cohen is able to tell the story of Benjamin by Blums and Netanyahus. Blum, the lone telling the story of Benzion: the son carrying Jewish faculty member among colleagues out the project of the father, and expanding it. who cannot stop reminding him of this, is Over the course of the weekend of the tasked with hosting the obscure Netanyahu Netanyahus incursion into the Blum home

— let’s just be cheeky and call it their occupation — the clash between the two families is obviously more than a matter of manners, culture or economic status. In reading Netanyahu’s ruminations on Jewish history, especially regarding the Inquisition, Blum comes to see that the future Netanyahu wants is as fixated on the elimination of Blum-ism as it is on the in-gathering of the world’s Jews.

Blum’s half-admitted fear, Netanyahu’s self-assured prediction and one of Cohen’s questions is about whether the world’s Blums will just do it to themselves.

Cohen is a writer of morally serious fiction.

His work grapples with his own pieties and beliefs, and considers that they might be wrong. His language is more essayistic than it used to be; the Cohen of “A Heaven of Others” and “Witz” appears to be good and dead, replaced by the Cohen of “Moving Kings” and “Attention.” I miss that Cohen, but for a novel like this, it helps to just say what you mean.

Cohen recently gave an interview where he described his “deep and lasting enmity against Jews from Philadelphia” — spoken like a true New Jersey Jew, I might add. But at least for this Philadelphia Jew, the enmity is not reciprocated; I just don’t see another American Jewish novelist working at his level right now. PJC Jesse Bernstein writes for the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication.

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JUNE 25, 2021 17

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

Strong roots perpetuate spiritual connection

Julie and Ed Gelman of Squirrel Hill are delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter, Hannah, to Zach Nelson, son of Vicki and Jim Nelson of Mound, Minnesota. Hannah is the granddaughter of Marlene Gelman and the late Sonny Gelman, Perry Jubelirer and Betsy Sachs. Zach is the grandson of Helen and Dick Amar, Jim Nelson Sr. and the late Marilyn Nelson.

Hannah is a healthcare consultant at West Monroe Partners and Zach is a principal executive for Cerner Corporation. Hannah and Zach live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

They are getting married in Pittsburgh in May of 2022.

B’nai Mitzvah Simon and Ruby Meyers celebrated their b’nai mitzvah on Saturday, June 12, at The Conservative Synagogue in Westport, Connecticut. Simon and Ruby are the son and daughter of Heidi and Matthew Meyers, and the brother and sister of Paz and Lewis, all of Westport, Connecticut. Their grandparents are John Stayn of Lexington, Massachusetts, and the late Patricia Stayn, and Jack and Bernice Meyers of Pittsburgh.

Simon and Ruby are both rising eighthgraders at Pierrepont School in Westport, Connecticut, where they both participate in Mathcounts, debate club and theater.

Ruby enjoys studying ballet and contemporary dance. She also enjoys baking challah weekly with her grandmother and aunts and loves attending Camp Ramah in Palmer, Massachusetts. Simon enjoys playing basketball, soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. He has a passion for math, and has competed in many math competitions. For their mitzvah project, Simon and Ruby collected food and children’s pajamas to donate to The Open Door, a food pantry and shelter in Norwalk, Connecticut. PJC

THE BEST OF THE IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK.

Rabbi Shneur Horowitz Parshat Balak | Numbers 22:2 – 25:9

I

n this week’s Torah portion, the Jewish nation is finally about to enter the land of Israel after wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Balak, the king of Moav, was frightened by the Jewish people and worried they would attack his country. He therefore hired the gentile prophet Bilam to curse the Jewish nation so that he might defeat it.

Bilam was renowned for his curses — which always came true — but when he tried to curse the Jewish people, the words simply wouldn’t come.

With the infinite love God has for the Jewish nation, God forced Bilam to bestow outstanding blessings upon it instead.

One of those blessings was, “For from their beginning, I see them as mountain peaks, and I behold them as hills.”

Our Rabbis find a deep meaning behind this blessing, interpreting the mountain peaks and hills as representing our patriarchs and matriarchs, thus underscoring our strong roots through our forebears.

This concept is connected to something Bilam’s ancestor, Lavan, said many years

earlier. Lavan, who was also our forefather — Yaakov’s father-in-law — said to Yaakov: “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the animals are my animals, and all that you see is mine.”

On a deeper level, Lavan was telling Yaakov that when you serve God while learning Torah and doing mitzvos, you are connected to God; however, when you engage in regular mundane things, you belong to me, and you have no connection to God. In other words, Lavan was trying to split a Jew’s life into two: There is the spiritual part of a person that exists when they are in the synagogue and connected to God, but when they are involved in everyday life, they are just like anyone else.

Lavan’s descendant Bilam was forced to admit there is no dichotomy within a Jew. We are completely connected and rooted to God through our patriarchs and matriarchs, even while going about our everyday life.

God entrusted us with the task of making this world a place fitting for God, and we are therefore connected to God in everything we do. PJC

Rabbi Shneur Horowitz is the director of Chabad Lubavitch of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Poetry Contest

O

ur readers are invited to submit poems to the Chronicle’s summer poetry contest. Winning entries will be published in our July 30 issue. The theme is “peace.”

Submissions will be accepted in two categories: teens and adults. Two winners in the adult category, and one winner in the teen category, will each receive a $54 gift card to Pinsker’s Books and Judaica, supplied by an anonymous donor. All submissions must be received no later than July 12.

Guidelines:

Poems must be submitted to newsdesk@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Please type “Poetry Contest” in the subject line.

The poem must be in a Microsoft Word file. No pdfs or handwritten entries will be accepted.

• One submission per author • Must include the author’s name, address, phone number and email address • Must designate whether entry is intended for teen or adult category • Poem should reflect the theme of peace • Unpublished poems only PJC

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Obituaries FRANK: Ruth Ohringer Frank.

P i o n e e r.

Globetrotter. Designer.

Athlete. Trendsetter.

Epicure. Philanthropist.

Songster. Provocateur.

Innovator. Matriarch.

These are but a few of the many roles performed by the indefatigable Ruth Miriam Ohringer Frank, who died peacefully of natural causes at her home in Longboat Key, Florida, on June 13, five months shy of her 100th birthday. Born in Pittsburgh to the late Abe and Helen (Stern) Ohringer, Ruth was married for 61 years to the love of her life, James A. Frank, who predeceased her in 2004. She often reminisced of their first encounter at Cornell University, where the rebellious young “co-ed” caught the attention of the dismayed fraternity president by yodeling offensive lyrics to the college anthem. Two years later, they were married. This fiery spirit persisted throughout Ruth’s long, full and rich life.

She was a true Renaissance woman, equally adept in her home studio as she was in the swimming pool, the kitchen, or the garden.

Fueled by competition, she won first prize in diving as a young girl and first prize in flower arranging as a young adult. At 33, she partnered with the noted architect, Harry Lefkowitz, to design her family’s primary residence on Darlington Road. Combining 1950s modernism with Japanese and Asian motifs, the one-of-a-kind home was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette upon completion in 1954. Ruth’s global wanderlust took root in the early 1950s with travels abroad and fortified with a visit to Afghanistan and Iran in the early 1970s. For more than 20 years, Ruth and Jimmy, her devoted husband, made an annual pilgrimage to near and far Asia — she with a discerning eye for beautiful art and architectural objects and he with keen business acumen. In addition to exhibiting regularly at Saks Fifth Avenue stores around the country, in the late 1970s, Ruth was celebrated by Vogue as the first American jewelry designer to mix “ethnic” objects from faraway countries into unique individual necklaces, a trend that continues today. Her global design influences ranged from intricately hand-carved silver beads to elaborate Hindu temples. Ruth was also an unapologetic “jock.” A competitive golfer and tennis player, she took no prisoners on the links or on the court, priding herself on staying active and deriving fuel from a steady and “healthy” diet, later in life consuming vast quantities of dark chocolate, nuts and her evening glass of red wine, always on the rocks. Until 2020, Ruth swam for hours daily and worked out with a personal trainer three times a week, landing her as a featured “remarkable resident in her nineties” in a 2016 Longboat Observer cover story. Like her husband, Ruth was philanthropic to the core. She spent countless hours each week studying the ratings of nonprofit organizations and writing checks to the many that met her strict criteria. She learned the value of hard work as a child from her parents, who owned and operated Ohringer Home Furniture, a successful enterprise in Braddock, Pennsylvania, and she never took for granted the many privileges and blessings bestowed upon her. With an infectious giggle and a dogged will, Ruth was most vigorous PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

in the company of her vast and adoring circle of family and friends. Her entertaining skills were legendary, ranging from annual Super Bowl and New Year’s parties to elaborate family Thanksgiving celebrations, always replete with her signature cuisine and decor. She was, without question, the life of the party, belting out her favorite songs until the lights went out. Ruth O. Frank is survived by two daughters, Susan Lippard (Thomas), of Point Breeze, and Linda Ruth, of Ithaca, New York, (David Ruth, ex); two sons, James W. Frank (Catherine de Wet), of Umbria, Italy, and William O. Frank (Tess Williamson), of Seattle; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

The family would also like to extend special appreciation to Maria “Bell” Belchior and the team of extraordinary caregivers who so faithfully accompanied Ruth in her final chapter. Graveside services and interment were private. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh; Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Island; or the donor’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MORGAN: Estelle Mavis Morgan, née Estelle Malt, passed away peacefully in Pittsburgh on June 19, 2021, at the age of 91. She was a Pittsburghbased abstract painter working mainly in large-scale watercolor. Having come to the United States from western Canada, her work was inspired by the light and minimal forms of her native prairie environment.

Morgan’s work has been exhibited at museums such as the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, and the National Museum for Women in Washington, D.C., as well as in solo and group shows in Scotland, Nairobi, Toronto, Hawaii, New York and Pittsburgh. Her work is included in private, public and corporate collections in the U.S., Canada and Israel.

Estelle was born on May 7, 1930, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. She studied piano at the Regina Conservatory. Subsequently, she graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, with a B.A. in psychology, and worked for renowned Pittsburgh neurosurgeon Dr. Y.D. Koskoff, specializing in EEG technology.

Estelle married the late Dr. H.C. (Chuck) Morgan, noted Pittsburgh optometrist, in 1952. She is survived by daughters Lisa and Kim Morgan, son-in-law Joseph Rickards, grandchildren Adam and Daphne Rickards, great-grandchild Dominic, brother Shlomo Maital and his wife Sharona, and brotherand sister-in-law Alan and Sheila Morgan.

A longtime resident of Squirrel Hill, she spent her later years at Riverview Towers.

Estelle lit up the world with her vitality throughout her long and happy life, and she will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. Donations in her memory can be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation and Family Hospice of UPMC. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home and Crematory, Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com.

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

Howard Zeiden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth F. Zeiden

Jeffrey L. Kwall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theda Rose Greenberg

Dorothy Chajson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert (Bob) Platt

Marvin Levine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morris Levine

Pauline Dobkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Sussman

Jack & Bernice Meyers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Meyers

Tibey Falk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne P. Meyers Elinor & Ivan Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mildred “Mitzie” Gold Ruth K. Goldman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mildred Golanty Krauss Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dorothy Goldston Jerry Gordon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana Gordon

Linda Rattner Nunn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Faye Bloom Rattner Mr. & Mrs. Joel Platt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Platt William Reifman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sarah Reifman The Love and Rutman Families . . . . . .Lena Garfinkel Cohen

Meyer Grinberg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tiby Grinberg

Sheila Slewett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold Leighton Winkler

Meyer Grinberg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meyer I. Grinberg

Richard S. Stuart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rebecca Supowitz

Joan G. Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genevieve H. Israel

Brenda Winsberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harry Winsberg

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday June 27: Leonard Bernstein, Minnie Bonder, Meyer Charapp, Rose Levy Ginsburg, Genevieve Harriet Israel, Ethel Kwall, Bessie Breman Osgood, Myer W. Singer, Anna Sarah Stern, Samuel Trachtenberg Monday June 28: Dr. Fredrick Amshel, Pearl I. Berdyck, Hinde Leah Davidson, J. Philip Esman, Adolph Hepps, Samuel Hilsenrath, Zetta Levy, Dora Marcus, Lawrence I. Miller, Fanny Novak, Irving Rosenberg, Bessie Finkelstein Simon, Sidney Stern, Irene Taylor, Herbert Walker Tuesday June 29: Leon Becker, Eli Bonder, Rose Esther Bonn, Albert Davis, Harry (Hershel) Fisher, Alice Foreman, Oscar Grumet, Samuel Halle, Samuel Hoffman, Leonard Joel Kirsch, Anna Kirshenbaum, John Kramer, Dora Levin, Dora Lipkind, Max S. Malt, Benjamin Riesberg, Sandra Platt Rosen, Lottie Stein Rosenthal, Nettie Rothstein, Mildred Stern, Burton Hill Talenfeld, Dorothy Zelda Wein Wednesday June 30: Fanny Finesod, Maurice A. Glasser, Beatrice Miller Kadas, Ellis A. Kopelman, Maurice H. Levine, Charlotte Levy Klevan, Lazar Litmans, Regina Ruth Keizler Mandell, Leah Rachel Miller, Ralph Moritz, Mollie Plotkin, Dolores Sheffler, Frank E. Simon, Eva Coon Solomon, Florence Stein, Sigmund Stern Thursday July 1: Sophie Weiss Arnold, Herman Berzosky, Stanley Bernard Blatt, Rose Bloom, Ida Cartiff, Lena Garfinkel Cohen, Rebecca Darling, Louis L. Friedman, M.D., Dorothy Goldston, Anna C. Martin, John Mermelstein, Ida D. Roth, Ethel Sachnoff, Zelda Shapiro, Morris Silverman, Elizabeth Pirchesky Sklov, Benjamin S. Smith, Martin W. Snow, Goldie Solomon, Bella Spolan, Rose Coffee Stein Friday July 2: Alfonso Augustine Abbatiello, Morris H. Barr, Florence Hoffman Caplan, Morris Goldstein, Bessie Harris, Dr. Julius A. Katzive, Neff Kruman, Fannie Lubarsky, Joseph Marcus, Leonard Wolinsky Saturday July 3: Sam Burckin, Benjamin Cooper, Robert Davidson, Elizabeth Felser, Abe Finer, Diane Cooper Goldstone, Mary Goodman, Kenneth Israel, Beatrice Kohn, Lewis Leventon, Harry Lipner, Max Marcus, Joseph Mormanstein, Robert (Bob) Platt, Dr. Jacob Daniel Schwartz, Ruth F. Zeiden, Ben Zimet

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JUNE 25, 2021 19

Headlines Phoenix mom becomes first Orthodox competitor on ‘American Ninja Warrior’ — NATIONAL —

By Nicole Raz | Contrbuting Writer

L

iba Yoffe grew up watching “American Ninja Warrior” on TV, but she never thought she’d be on the show — and, certainly not as the show’s apparently first Orthodox Jewish woman.

As a viewer, she enjoyed seeing the jaw-dropping feats of strength. She marveled at how competitors would conquer obstacles like the “shrinking steps,” in which an athlete must run across five steps that lower upon impact, or the “spinning log,” which resembles a moving balance beam.

“Also, every Ninja has a story, which I realized even more when I was on the show,” said Yoffe, 35, who lives in Phoenix. “Everybody who is there — you’re there because you’re an athlete — but you also have a story; so you’re with a group of really amazing people.”

Yoffe’s own story is one of perseverance.

Exercise was always Yoffe’s outlet. As a teenager, she would ride her bike five miles to school and back; she would roller blade, play basketball, swim, climb on whatever she could find — “anything active, I was there.”

But she never had exposure to fitness competitions. “I always felt like I was missing

out,” she said. “I felt like, ‘If only I could go to public school, because then I would be able to compete and be on a team.’”

As a young woman, she suppressed her interest in sports and fitness because she felt some shame in wanting to be labeled as “a strong girl” as opposed to “a pretty girl.”

“The more religious world doesn’t understand how valuable it (strength) is to a girl’s self-confidence,” she said.

When Yoffe started power lifting, she realized just how strong she actually was and loved the way she felt. “I stopped caring about any of the other stuff.”

She described herself as “super competitive,” and two years ago began pursuing opportunities to enroll in national powerlifting competitions. But ultimately, she did not pursue that goal, because she was not allowed to compete while wearing a skirt, which she felt compromised her values.

A Jewish athlete who knew about Yoffe and her unique story reached out to her and encouraged her to look into the sport of Ninja as another avenue of competition, which would likely be more amenable to her religious needs.

“I was like, ‘I’m up for the challenge,’” she said. “I walked into a Ninja gym and it was such a different type of sport, because there are no rules — just don’t fall.”

Her husband built a Ninja course in the

backyard, and her four kids — a 12-yearold-daughter and three sons, ages 10, 7 and 4 — are just as excited as she is.

Yoffe didn’t hide her religious identity.

“I love my religion, I love my culture, but there’s something missing. It needs to be normalized to do sports, to be into athletics,” Yoffe said in her audition video. “I want to show the leaders of our communities that girls and women should be able to do sports while maintaining their faith.”

Her daughter was diagnosed with alopecia when she was 2, causing her to lose all of her hair.

“I knew at that point that if I personally didn’t become extremely self-confident from within myself, there was no way that I would be able to raise a confident daughter,” she said in the video.

Yoffe faced a unique challenge right away, as filming occurred during Passover. It took place in Tacoma, Washington, and the whole family went with her.

“It was definitely not easy,” she said. “Any of the food they gave us, we couldn’t have.”

But the show went out of its way to offer her flexibility in her travel schedule during Passover, she said.

A spokesman for “American Ninja Warrior” did not respond to a request for comment on the show’s decision to extend flexibility to Yoffe.

Participating in the show was Yoffe’s first national competition and also her first time being on TV. Yoffe said her kids all want to be Ninjas now. “They’re really into it and excited about it.” PJC Nicole Raz writes for the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, an affiliated publication.

Obituaries: Continued from page 19

WOLFSON: Judy Sue Wolfson, age 64, of Squirrel Hill, formerly of Morningside, on June 12, 2021. She is survived by her life partner, Robert O. Shepherd, her cat, Puffy and numerous friends. She loved her career in social work and enjoyed staying social in her daily life. She was a beautiful loving person who loved animals, nature and was a loyal friend. Judy was a member of Temple Sinai. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. A graveside service was held at the Homewood Cemetery (Star of David section). Professional services by D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com PJC

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

Beautiful multi-level with 4 bedrooms, 2 1 /2 baths, office/den, gameroom, mature gardens in front and back of house.

Two-level deck overlooking garden and Frick Park.

Call Maxine at 412-427-1048 or email at maxinesolomon@tprsold.com

5501 Baum Blvd.

Pittsburgh PA 15232 Shadyside Office | 412-361-4000

Business & Professional Directory BUYING

BUYING:

Grandma & Pap’s VERY Old Clothing, Costume Jewelry, Hats, Purses, Shoes, Fur Coats/Stoles, Wedding Gowns, Quilts/Textiles.

Quantity preferred, will pick up.

Toll Free 888-736-7242 20 JUNE 25, 2021

CNA AVAILABLE CNA seeking evening, personal care position.

I have over 25 years of experience and excellent references.

Don’t delay, call Dorothy today: 412-537-0567!

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

HOME REMODELING

HOUSEKEEPER AVAILABLE

HOME REMODELING/ REPAIR Pandemic & Senior Discounts • Painting • Drywall • Carpentry • Flooring • Etc. Leave a message for Lonnie at:

412-583-5336 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

LAWN SERVICE Call me now! Call me later!

• Shrub & Tree Trimming • Mulching • New Plantings • Retaining Walls • Concrete Work • Better • Faster • Cheaper

412-951-3437

Areas Serviced: Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Point Breeze, Shady Side, All of North Hills

GET THE news.

THEN GET THE FULL STORY ❀ In the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle For home delivery, call 410.902.2308

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Real Estate FOR SALE

FOR SALE

I STAND WITH ISRAEL!

F O R S A LE

“This realtor is A+ Golden! She went above and beyond to help me. She is so very knowledgeable, so very professional, always upbeat and trust worthy.

I will recommend her to all my friends and family members. Outstanding realtor and human!”

“Jordana was awesome. She came through with all our requests for a house, and helped us navigate buying during the lock down with ease.”

“Jordana was amazing at every step of the way!

Meeting needs that I didn’t even know that I had!”

“Jordana is calling everyone under the sun to make sure you close on time!

What she does is MAGIC. Pure MAGIC!”

The real estate market is very strong! If you are wondering what your house would sell for, please give me a call!

Jordana Zober Cutitta, Realtor, Associate Broker, MBA 412-657-3555 | Jordanazc@kw.com

LAWRENCEVILLE • $599,000 • MCCLEARY SCHOOL CONDO • OPEN SUNDAY 1-3 • 5267 HOLMES ST. Spectacular 3 bedroom 2 bath condo. McCleary School Condo. Great for a family.

Mile high ceilings, 9.5 ft. island, sleek counter tops stainless appliances.

2 car covered parking. Bldg. amenities include roof top deck, exercise room, dog washing station.

ROSSLYN FARMS • $650,000 • 24 WINTHROP • OPEN SUNDAY 1-4 New Listing! A jewel designed by Architect Derek Martin. Owner has renovated most of home. 2 baths and upscale kitchen have heated floors and are truly unique.

All of the main living spaces have glass walls facing a magnificent courtyard.

Call for directions.

FOX CHAPEL MEWS • $650,000 Stunning, move in ready condo with every updated amenity, just hang up your clothes! 3 BR, 3 BA, double patio, storage galore, and steps from the elevator. The Mews offers indoor pool, exercise room, outdoor tennis, and beautiful guest suites.

Convenient location to all city areas, and walking distance for coffee or shopping.

Shown by appointment with Etta Golomb. 412-725-6524 OAKLAND-THE WINCHESTER • $269,000 Reduced! Lovely open 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with hardwood floors. 2 car valet parking, Building amenities include pool, guest suite, exercise area.

SHADYSIDE • $1,100,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVE. CONDO Special! 3 bedroom 3.5 bath condo with 3-car side-by-side garage. This unit has many living spaces including an expansive living dining room, a raised library above a family room, another den for the use of the bedrooms and a great eat in kitchen. This building includes a guest suite, exercise room, fabulous storage rooms, and a 24/7 attendant in the entry.

FOR SALE

SQUIRREL HILL • $399,000 • MELVIN STREET This just-listed 2 story home features 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and central air. The first floor has a living room, dining room, remodeled kitchen and a large, versatile room with cathedral ceiling that can be used as a wonderful family room, office, den, master bedroom suite, or in-law suite. It has a captive bath and access to a private outdoor patio. The second floor has 3 bedrooms, laundry, and a full bath with a step-in shower. Minutes to Murray Ave shops, restaurants, Yeshiva.

Devin Canofari 412-552-9115 JILL and MARK PORTLAND RE/MAX REALTY BROKERS 412.521.1000 EXT. 200 412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK

SHOWCASE YOUR PROPERTIES EVERY WEEK IN THE PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

THE BEST OF THE h IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK.

FOR RENT 5125 Fifth Ave.

2 & 3 Bedrooms Corner of Fifth and Wilkins Spacious 1500-2250 square feet

”Finest in Shadyside”

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Contact Phil Durler to schedule your advertising

412-661-4456

pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

www.kaminrealty.kamin.com

724-713-8874 advertising@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JUNE 25, 2021 21

Look what’s back at the JCC! , 8 2 e n u J , y a d n o M g n i n n i g e s B e c i v r e s r u o g n i d n a p x e e r ’ e w . u o y r o f s m a r g o r and p POOLS

IN THE GYM

• Aquatic Fitness classes are back

• Open Gym is back!

• New and more current schedules for Open and Reserved Lap Swim times

No reservations required

FACILITIES

WELL-BEING

• Centerfit Platinum in Squirrel Hill: All lockers, showers and towel service available; Sauna and whirlpool open

• Massage is back. For appointments, contact Evan Aiello: eaiello@jccpgh.org

• Full access to General Locker Rooms

FITNESS

• Indoor Group Exercise classes are back

(No worries, we’re continuing our awesome outdoor Pop In and Virtual Live and On Demand classes.)

• The lounges are set up—come relax in our comfy common areas

Mask requirement lifted for fully vaccinated members.

Masks required for ages 2-11 and anyone who is not fully vaccinated.

Join us!

JCCPGH.org • membership@jccpgh.org Squirrel Hill | South Hills 22 JUNE 25, 2021

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community Step outside the box

Graduation Day

Friends and community members gathered at the Highline, South Side, for The Friendship Circle’s annual Friends All Around event on June 6. The hybrid event enabled participants to enjoy the theme of “Stepping Outside the Box” with outdoor and virtual attendance options.

Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh celebrated students and families during multiple graduation ceremonies.

p Friendship Circle Executive Director Rabbi Mordy Rudolph; Director Rivkee Rudolph; and event co-chairs Elyse Eicher, Karen Oosterhous and Carol Tabas enjoy the view outside the box.

p Eighth grade boys mark the end of the school year.

p The Ringold-Unangst family pose for a picture with Moxie Photo Booth.

p Eighth grade girls are all smiles.

p From left: Members Rachel Herskowitz, Eva Rosen, Sydney Smith and Talia Rosen

p Senior girls pose for a photo during graduation festivities.

p Friendship Circle’s 2021 graduates Photos courtesy of Leighann Calamera via The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos courtesy of Masha Shollar via Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh

JUNE 25, 2021 23

KOSHER MEATS

• All-natural, corn-fed beef — steaks, roasts, ground beef and more • Variety of deli meats and franks • All-natural poultry — whole chickens, breasts, wings and more Available at select Giant Eagle stores.

Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

Alle Kosher 80% Lean Fresh Ground Beef

6

99 lb.

Price effective Thursday, June 24 through Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Available at 24 JUNE 25, 2021

and

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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