Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 7-2-21

July 2, 2021 | 22 Tamuz 5781

Candlelighting 8:36 p.m. | Havdalah 9:43 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 27 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A survivor’s legacy

Middle school honors life of Shulamit Bastacky

Squirrel Hill Jewish community Pittsburgh remains cautious after recent Jewish attacks educators undergo youth mental health training

By Dionna Dash | Special to the Chronicle

E

sustained broken bones and was transported to the hospital.

“In the whole Jewish community in Pittsburgh, there’s an underlying sense of concern and worry,” said the chair of Congregation Poale Zedeck’s security committee, Rocky Wice. “That’s a sad thing, but it’s a good thing. It makes people more vigilant and aware.”

Brokos said she didn’t have new information about either of the attacks; however, other community members have come forward and reported that they were victims of a similar verbal assault on Friday, June 4.

The assailant matched the description of the suspect in the June 6 incident, who was easy to identify, Brokos said, because of his physical appearance and the fact that he carried a walking stick.

Brokos said witnesses reported an additional similar incident, but she did not offer

ighteen local Jewish professionals who work with young adults are now trained to be “mental health first aiders,” thanks to a recent program offered by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in partnership with the Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative — a national nonprofit that aims to increase teen involvement in Jewish life.

The training was held in response to the alarming rise of mental health issues among teens and young adults, according to organizers. The Centers for Disease control has reported that suicide was the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24 in 2019; for many young people, the pandemic and its attendant isolation created additional strain.

Throughout June, Jewish educators and other professionals who work closely with young adults learned how to be “mental health first aiders.” The training, which included online preliminary work, two live Zoom classes and a concluding quiz, taught participants how to distinguish between typical adolescent development and signs and symptoms of mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, eating and substance-use disorders, and suicidal ideation. Participants received a certificate valid for three years upon completion of the training.

The program was originally created by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, but was reimagined in a Jewish framework for the cohort of Pittsburgh professionals, many of whom work in local Hebrew schools and Jewish day schools.

Please see Security, page 14

Please see Training, page 14

Page 3

LOCAL Making up for lost time

Party planners post-pandemic Page 6  A sign on Forward Avenue welcomes people to Squirrel Hill

LOCAL Getting to know:

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T Artist Oreen Cohen Page 9

$1.50

he Pittsburgh Jewish community remains vigilant and cautious after recent verbal and physical assaults in Squirrel Hill.

The attacks took place following evening services on successive Sundays.

On June 6, three members of the Orthodox community were verbally assaulted by an assailant identified as a 6-foot-tall Black male carrying a walking stick and shouting antisemitic obscenities directed at the victims. That incident took place in the vicinity of Beechwood Boulevard and Denniston Avenue, according to Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

A week later, on June 13, an Orthodox man was physically assaulted near Murray Avenue and Bartlett Street by a Black male while walking home from Shaare Torah Congregation, Brokos said. The victim

Photo by Jamie Lebovitz

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Loss of a matriarch

LOCAL

Summer vacations

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Commemorating Juneteenth

Headlines Diller teens anticipating a more ‘normal’ year ahead — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

C

OVID-19 altered the fabric of Diller Teen Fellows.

The 15-month international leadership program for Jewish teens typically includes a much-anticipated trip for some 20 Pittsburgh 10th-graders to Israel. Likewise, a group of Israeli teens from Karmiel and Misgav — Pittsburgh’s sister city and region, respectively, in the Jewish State — also typically visit the Steel City.

Due to the pandemic, there was none of that this year.

But, for Roan Hollander, a Pittsburgh CAPA senior who participated in Diller’s COVID-19 group — cohort #12 — there was no lack of Jewish-identity building or tikkun olam in the program, which engages 600 teens from more than 30 North American locations and one South African community.

“It was a strange experience to do something that was initially outside of my comfort zone,” said Hollander, 17, of Pittsburgh’s South Side, who’s in the literary arts program at CAPA. “But it was great to be a part of a community of students, of Jewish students, during COVID. It was really special to still be connected.”

For starters, before COVID’s numbers began to spike, there still were Shabbatonim — weekend trips, where the Diller fellows participated in workshops and explored Jewish themes and texts while sharing their perspectives on things like repairing the world or Israel.

During one Shabbaton at Emma Kaufmann Camp, something as rudimentary as a campfire on a cold November night meant the world to Hollander, who had never

p A past Pittsburgh Diller cohort at the Tel-Hai College in northern Israel

been to the locally renowned Morgantown, West Virginia, camp before that night.

“What really stood out was that I was able to talk to people who have similar feelings about their Jewish identity as I do,” Hollander said. “It was really meaningful to find out what being Jewish means to me — along with other people.”

That’s, ultimately, a big part of the goal, according to Maria Carson, who began June 1 as director of teen leadership for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, overseeing, among other things, the Diller program.

“It really is a transformational experience to teens,” Carson said. “It’s a lot — the

Photo courtesy of Lori Wynn

workshops, the Shabbatonim, the trip to Israel in the summer and the trip from the Israelis here … It enables them to become more involved in their community.”

The Diller program is entering its 13th year in Pittsburgh, according to Chris Herman, the teen division director for the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh. The program started in the San Francisco Bay area in 1997, bringing young Californians to their sister cities in the Upper Galilee, and began expanding to other cities about five years later.

Herman said this year’s cohort is “anticipating we’re getting back to more normal.”

“We fully anticipate the Israelis will be able to come here … and we’ll be able to go to

Israel,” he said.

Rolling applications are still available for this year’s program at jccpgh.org/ c h i l d re n - t e e n s - f a m i l y / t e e n s / d i l l e rteen-fellowship.

Carson did not hesitate when asked what part of the Diller program she is most excited to experience during her first year overseeing the program: Like Hollander, something about a night at EKC resonates with her.

“I never went to camp myself so I’m really interested in that,” she said. “I’m excited to see how these teens bond.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Middle school teacher continues legacy of local Holocaust survivor — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

S

hulamit Bastacky believed that every child should have a teddy bear.

As a child during the Holocaust, Bastacky was hidden from the Nazis by a nun in her native Poland. She spent the first several years of her life isolated and without much human touch. Neither did she have a favorite stuffed animal to bring her comfort.

Her childhood experiences moved Bastacky, who died Jan. 1, to launch Shulamit’s Teddy Bear Project, collecting toys for children in need.

Scott Vensel, an eighth-grade language arts teacher, recalled the first time he brought Bastacky, a frequent speaker at schools, to Dorseyville Middle School in the Fox Chapel Area School District.

“I remember wheeling Shulamit in,” Vensel told the Chronicle. “You could hear a pin drop. There’s like, 400 middle schoolers and they were all like, ‘This is an actual person?

This is the lady we were talking about?’ It sticks with them.”

Vensel has taught students about the Holocaust for the last 15 years. About a decade ago, he and several of the school’s

social studies teachers began looking for a way to make the lessons more engaging.

They created “Remembrance Assemblies,” working with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to bring survivors to the school.

Dorseyville participated in Shulamit’s Teddy Bear Project several years ago as a way to further engage students and make the history lessons more meaningful, Vensel said.

“A lot of times, when we go through this unit, the kids look at me and say, ‘Mr. Vensel, what are we supposed to do with this? What am I supposed to do with this knowledge?

I feel terrible learning about it and understand it, but don’t know how to take this with me,’” he said. “The Teddy Bear Project is a nice way for the kids to honor the legacy, especially this year.”

Because of COVID-19, the project was paused last year, but Vensel felt it was important to restart it to honor Bastacky’s memory, he said. Instead of collecting new teddy bears from the students, Vensel used part of a grant from the Light Education Initiative — which provides opportunities for students to take leadership roles in Holocaust and genocide education — to purchase 100 teddy bears to donate to children in need. Included with each bear is a handwritten note from a student telling the history of both of Bastacky’s life and her

 Scott Vensel’s daughter gave a teddy bear named Hope to Shulamit Bastacky the last time the Vensels were with the Holocaust survivor.

Photo provided by Scott Vensel

Teddy Bear Project.

The bears were donated to Family House, a nonprofit that hosts families who have come to Pittsburgh to seek medical treatment. Bastacky had visited Family House

and interacted with children staying there, said Jennifer March, Family House executive director. March said she is grateful Please see Survivor, page 15

Look what’s back at the JCC! n POOLS

n IN THE GYM

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

n WELL-BEING

• Aquatic Fitness classes are back

• Open Gym is back—no reservations required

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

n FACILITIES

• Full access to General Locker Rooms • Centerfit Platinum in Squirrel Hill: All lockers, showers and towel service available; sauna and whirlpool open

n FITNESS

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

Mask requirement lifted for fully vaccinated members.

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

• Indoor Group Exercise classes are back (No worries, we’re continuing our awesome outdoor Pop In and Virtual classes.)

JOIN US! PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

JCCPGH.org • membership@jccpgh.org

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JULY 2, 2021 3

Headlines Jewelry designer and philanthropist Ruth Frank has died at 99 — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

R

uth Frank, a globe-trotting, largerthan-life member of the Ohringer family who became renowned in Pittsburgh and beyond for her unusual jewelry creations, died peacefully of natural causes at her Longboat Key, Florida, home on June 13. She was 99.

Born in Pittsburgh to the late Abe and Helen Ohringer, Frank was married for more than 60 years to James A. Frank, who predeceased her in 2004. She was the spunky, energetic “yin” to James’s more stoic and reserved “yang,” and the two were the loves of each other’s lives, according to family members.

Frank “was a real Pittsburgher,” her granddaughter, Jonsara Ruth, told the Chronicle.

“She was born and raised in Pittsburgh and was very proud of Pittsburgh.”

A Squirrel Hill resident for much of her life, Frank also had roots in Braddock, where her parents operated the Orhinger Furniture Store, one of a handful of furniture shops the family owned locally. The eight-story shop, which once sat among a bustling Braddock Avenue business corridor, was vacant for several years before undergoing a recent $10 million renovation creating nearly 40 affordable artist residences, studios and one-bedroom units.

Frank and her husband enjoyed touring countries in the Middle and Far East, including China, Afghanistan and Iran.

Frank, who travelled internationally every year, would collect small artifacts and decorative items from her trips and use them to create interesting necklaces and earrings.

“They just had a wanderlust and a curiosity about culture and the world — and they kept bringing that back,” said Ruth, who, like Frank, is an artist and designer.

“She was my major inspiration in life — [she had] this idea that you could do anything in life if you imagined it.”

“My grandma was 50 when I was born, so for 20 years, I felt like I had two moms,” said Frank’s grandson Adam Lippard. “She was extraordinarily involved in my life… She had an indelible imprint on my life and soul.”

Shadyside gallery owner, Ellen Chisdes Neuber, sold many of Frank’s pieces at Studio/GalleriE CHIZ, which opened in 1995 and moved to its long-time home on Ellsworth Avenue a year later.

Having met Frank through a friend, Neuberg said she was blown away by Frank’s jewelry. Within a short time, Neuberg was at Frank’s Darlington Road home — an impressive work of modernism designed by Frank and architect Harry Lefkowitz — choosing work to sell on consignment.

“She had such a collection — I was just blown away,” Neuberg told the Chronicle. “[Her necklaces] were very impressive and I sold them like crazy. She had these jewels, stones. She’d mix in things. I’d never seen anything like it.”

Frank also sold her creations through Saks Fifth Avenue stores around the country, 4 JULY 2, 2021

 Ruth Frank at her 90th birthday party

Photos courtesy of Jonsara Ruth

 Ruth Frank

her family said. In the late 1970s, Frank was cited by Vogue magazine 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 “an unapologetic jock,” according to Jed Lippard, her grandson. A

competitive golfer and tennis player, she prided herself on staying active. Until 2020, Frank 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.

Frank also was a generous philanthropist.

“She spent countless hours each week studying the ratings of nonprofit

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

organizations and writing checks to the many that met her strict criteria,” Jed Lippard wrote in a family-circulated obituary.

Frank also combined art and philanthropy at the women’s division of the United Jewish Federation (now the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh) and at the Ladies Hospital Aid Society, according to Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives. She often chaired or assisted at art exhibitions or displays for those organizations, and served on the decorations committee for the LHAS’s Montefiore Ball.

Ultimately, though, her own art leaves behind the largest imprint.

Jill Whittaker, a metalsmith or “bench worker” from Baldwin Borough, helped put together Frank’s creations for some 30 years after Frank had laid the individual pieces out on boards like museum pieces.

“She originally put them together and wore them herself [and] enough people liked what she had done and asked her to make a piece for them,” Whittaker said. “It sort of burgeoned from there. So many of these things were so beautiful.”

The thing that most touched Whittaker about her artistic comrade, though, was that Frank “was definitely a Jewish mom.”

Whittaker remembered working with necklaces at Frank’s house, ’40s music blaring in the background, while the designer played with Whittaker’s children.

“She loved playing with my kids, my babies,” Whittaker said. “She’d be dancing and singing with the baby in there — she was definitely the life of the party.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Pandemic questions remain, but Pittsburghers eager for summer travel once again — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

I

lana Kisilinsky and her husband, Yosef, had planned to visit Europe this summer.

The question was, where?

With COVID restrictions often changing throughout the continent, planning an itinerary was challenging, said Kisilinsky, 29. The Oakland couple booked tickets to London last month. But two weeks ago, Kisilinsky was informed that their flights, which would have departed from Toronto, had been canceled. At that point, they wondered, “What is available and what can we do?” she said.

The couple booked new flights for their July getaway. The plan, at least for now, Kisilinsky said, is to depart from Pittsburgh, stop in Newark and land in Paris. After they spend a few days in France, they’ll travel to Italy before returning to Paris and ultimately back to Pittsburgh.

Prior to their departure from Pittsburgh, they will get tested for COVID. Although they are both fully vaccinated and were told their vaccination cards should suffice in France and Italy, they think a recent negative COVID test could come in handy.

Photo by Tracy Brien

p Ilana Kisilinsky and her husband, Yosef Photo courtesy of Ilana Kisilinsky

The Kisilinksys are among an increasing number of people looking to travel this summer: According to AAA, more than 47 million Americans are expected to fly or drive during the July 4 holiday weekend. The

numbers would mark the second-highest Independence Day travel volume on record.

Squirrel Hill resident Ari Goldberg is

p Tracy Brien, center, and her family enjoy a summer RV trip.

Despite constantly checking COVID requirements throughout Europe, rules can change, Kisilinksy acknowledged. Still, she’s “trying not to let that anxiety overcome what the trip will be.”

Please see Travel, page 15

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JULY 2, 2021 5

Headlines Event planners ride the pandemic roller coaster — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

F

or event planner Margie Stang there was a time — a little more than a year ago — when it felt as though everything stopped. Venues had shuttered. Parties were canceled or postponed. Ceremonies, conferences and other get-togethers all went virtual. But, of late, business has picked up.

In fact, “Everything is coming back,” said Stang, owner of Margie Stang Events.

In the past two months, as the number of people vaccinated has risen and COVID-positive cases have declined, pandemic-related restrictions have eased.

And now that venues have transitioned from mandating all attendees wear masks to only requiring masks for non-vaccinated individuals, Stang said, larger crowds are being permitted indoors and it seems to her like they’re trying to make up for lost time.

“I felt like, before, if I was laying on the train tracks not a single train would go by,” she said. “Now it’s like I’m on the freight train.”

There has been a rapid return to pre-pandemic parties, according to event planner Shari Zatman, owner of Perfectly Planned by Shari, though many of those events are actually fulfilments of prior contracts. In some cases, the venues and vendors had already accepted payment prior to the pandemic, so the events occurring now aren’t necessarily generating new revenue, she said.

As the industry continues to recover from pandemic losses, Zatman said, many venues and vendors are operating with skeleton crews; and although clients won’t necessarily notice a shortage of staff, it can be challenging for event planners.

“I’m used to my go-to people that will always fulfil my needs,” she said, “but now some of them are saying, ‘We can’t do it,’ not because they don’t want to, but because they are too short-staffed.”

For example, Zatman said, prior to the pandemic, if a tent needed to be pitched for an outdoor event on a Sunday, a vendor might put it up on Friday. Now, companies are so busy and shorthanded it’s hard to predict how soon prior to an event a tent will be set up.

Most businesses experienced financial hardship during the pandemic, but the event-planning industry and its partners were hit particularly hard. Total economic losses due to the pandemic have yet to be tallied, but early numbers indicate a devastating effect. According to VisitPITTSBURGH’s annual report, by January 4, 2021, 383 business or sporting events had been canceled.

Likewise, compared to 2019, 2.4 million fewer hotel rooms — resulting in a loss of approximately $350 million dollars — were used in Allegheny County. And, by the end of 2020, approximately 34.1% of leisure and hospitality jobs in the Pittsburgh metro area had been cut.

The job losses have been difficult for Zatman, not only because many of those people were colleagues, she said, but

 Shari Zatman

Photo by Joey Kennedy courtesy of Shari Zatman

 Natalie Berger Photo courtesy of Natalie Berger

 Forest Wedding Hall decoration by partyhelpgroup CC PDM 1.0

 Margie Stang

because now she has fewer contacts left in the industry.

“We’ve had to navigate a change in turnover, and we’re now working with different people,” she said.

Event planner Natalie Berger, of Natalie’s, agreed that relationships are vital to their work.

“Our industry is a contact industry,” Berger said. “You’re eating with people, drinking with people, and when it all shut down, it was tough.”

Still, after three decades of event planning, she admitted it was somewhat relaxing to be at home once the pandemic hit, at least in the beginning; prior to March 2020, Berger

met with brides, parents or clients almost nightly, and she fielded constant phone calls.

But as the pandemic stretched on, she longed for busier days.

And then, about two months ago, it happened, almost like a switch flipped.

“Be careful what you wish for,” said Berger.

“It’s tough to keep up.”

Bat mitzvah celebrations that were canceled are transitioning to Sweet 16 parties, she said, and postponed events are now being re-booked. And “the small weddings are becoming big weddings again,” she said. “You don’t think people want to travel, but it’s amazing — people just want to get together with family and friends.”

After so many backyard weddings or Zoom b’nai mitzvah ceremonies, Berger is amazed at the number of people currently RSVPing yes to in-person, indoor events, she said, some with attendance lists of up to 250 people.

Zatman agreed with Berger’s assessment and offered some advice to those preparing for a simcha: Everyone is super excited for the opportunity to celebrate together — in person.

“If someone is expecting 300 people at a wedding,” she said, “they will get 300 people at a wedding.” PJC

Photo courtesy of Margie Stang

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

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 6 JULY 2, 2021

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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q MONDAYS, JULY 5, 12, 19 Chabad of the South Hills presents Kabbalah of the Aleph Bet, a ladies’ learning course. $18 suggested donation. RSVP to Batya@chabadsh.com. 10 a.m. chabadsh.com q MONDAYS, JULY 5, 12, 19, 26; AUG. 2 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q TUESDAY, JULY 6 Given the events of recent weeks, from the 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 BenHur — as he helps us navigate and understand what is happening with the cease-fire with Hamas and the change of leadership of the Israeli government. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/israel-update-2021 Enjoy air conditioning and a weeknight movie with Moishe House at the Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill. The exact movie and time to be announced based on what’s playing. This event will be capped at 15 people. Reserve your spot at forms.gle/ ibAAC2qrNG6VJq3aA.

q WEDNESDAY, 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-megamission-2022-general-information-session-7-11-2021

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-post-film-discussion q SUNDAY, JULY 11 Join Classrooms Without Borders for Remembering Elie Wiesel: The Man and His Writings, a special program commemorating the life and achievements of the internationally renowned author, professor, leader and activist for human rights throughout the world, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor. 9 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/ remembering-elie-wiesel q SUNDAYS, JULY 11, 18, 25; AUG. 1 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q MONDAY, JULY 12 Join Classrooms Without Borders for a virtual tour of Israel. Monthly tours with guide and scholar Rabbi Jonty Blackman via Zoom.

7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q MONDAY, JULY 12-FRIDAY, JULY 16 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. The sessions are conducted by local and internationally recognized artists and educators. $100. 9 a.m. hcofpgh.org/events q WEDNESDAY, JULY 14 Treat yourself to a relaxing paint night complete with wine and refreshments at Chabad of the South Hills’ Summer Ladies Night. No experience necessary. $15 ($20 after July 9). RSVP to batya@chabadsh. com. 7 p.m. chabadsh.com q THURSDAY, JULY 15 Volunteer and care for some neighborhood trees with Moishe House and Tree Pittsburgh. Dress to work outside in clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

Masks are not required for vaccinated volunteers while outdoors; for unvaccinated volunteers, masks

are required at all times. Bring enough water to stay hydrated as well as work gloves if you own them.

RSVP before July 13 at forms.gle/ibAAC2qrNG6VJq3aA. q MONDAY, JULY 19 Join Moishe House for volunteer nights at the Sheridan Avenue Orchard and Garden run by Repair the World. All food grown is donated to East End Cooperative Ministries. Volunteers will help with weeding, trash cleanup and planting and caring for plants. 5:30 p.m. facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh q WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 Join Moishe House at Rodef Shalom Congregation for a guided tour of their biblical botanical gardens. 5 p.m. facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh q THURSDAY, JULY 22 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, JULY 25 Hang out at Frick Park dog park with Moishe House. Dogs can frolic in the off-leash area and humans can snack and dog watch. 5 p.m. Register at forms.gle/ibAAC2qrNG6VJq3aA. 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 PJC

Wishing you a happy July Fourth!

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JULY 2, 2021 7

Headlines Pitt alumna helps arrange Shabbat dinners for young adults through OneTable — LOCAL —

By Sarah Abrams | Staff Writer

J

ulia Schantz met her best friend at Hillel JUC during her first Shabbat as a student at the University of Pittsburgh. She “truly believes,” she said, “that with every Friday night comes the opportunity to impact your life in countless ways.”

Now, as the new field manager of Pittsburgh’s OneTable chapter, she will be harnessing her love for Shabbat as a means to build community.

OneTable aims to foster engagement with Jewish rituals by providing tools — and money — to help young adults (“21-39ish,” according to its website) create meaningful and fun Shabbat dinners. The nonprofit, which launched nationally in 2014, currently has 17 hub cities. Pittsburgh was added to its roster in 2018.

Its increasingly popular website allows users to sign up as either a host or a guest for Shabbat dinners each weekend. When

 Julia Schantz

Photo courtesy of Julia Schantz

potential hosts apply, they include information regarding their Shabbat practices and explain what Shabbat means to them.

Schantz grew up in upstate New York and graduated from Pitt in 2019, then worked as

a social justice fellow for Repair the World Miami, supporting local nonprofits and planning educational service programs. She started working for Pittsburgh’s OneTable chapter three weeks ago.

The program grew during the pandemic as an increasing number of people were looking for a connection to Judaism during stay-at-home mandates.

“During COVID, OneTable added many different hosting options to their platform in order to adjust to the needs and safety of our community members,” including virtual options, outdoor options and options for people who were vaccinated, Schantz told the Chronicle.

“Due to the nature of the pandemic, many Shabbat dinners had to be private for the safety of our communities,” she continued, “but we are excited to see more open Shabbats happening now that we can safely gather in vaccinated groups or outside due to the warm weather.”

OneTable was “very thankful for Zoom’s ability to keep us connected during this time,” she added.

The OneTable website also offers users the ability to become more engaged in their local Jewish community based on their general age range, geographical area and the kind of experience they are seeking. For example, if a user is looking for Shabbat programming for their children, OneTable will recommend PJ Library, and other online resources.

“OneTable is really special because it invites people to connect with each other and to grow their own Shabbat practices,” said Schantz, who has been both a guest and a host for Shabbat dinners through OneTable. She is now excited to be on the other end of the process.

“I get to help others create that same positive Shabbat experience,” she said.

Pittsburgh’s OneTable chapter is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Life and Learning Division and the Jewish Community Foundation. More information can be found at onetable.org. PJC Sarah Abrams can be reached at sabrams@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Juneteenth event brings Pittsburghers together to beautify Westinghouse Park — LOCAL —

By Sarah Abrams | Staff Writer

J

ewish Pittsburghers joined in a communitywide effort on June 25 and 26 to clean and repair Westinghouse Park in commemoration of Juneteenth.

Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of Black slaves, was officially recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed a bill passed unanimously by the Senate and by a 415–14 vote in the House.

The clean-up event in Westinghouse Park — a 10-acre park in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Homewood and Point Breeze neighborhoods — was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Mayor’s Office, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and The Mission Continues, a national organization of veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and want to continue to serve the community. There are currently more than 83 platoons with subdivisions of soldiers in the United States, three of which are in Pittsburgh.

During the Juneteenth event, volunteers cleaned and repainted the park’s basketball court, installed new nets, built picnic tables that are ADA accessible, built planter benches, painted the park’s building and worked on park cleanup.

Members of the Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council sponsored the event as a way to engage in “community

p Hadassah Cowen and Sarah Hertzberg stain tables.

impact and addressing issues of inequity,” said Cindy Goodman-Leib, who co-chaired the project on behalf of the Federation.

“There is so much we can do,” she said.

“The real work is in rolling up our sleeves and doing. That is what this project is really aiming to do.”

The beautification project was also an effort to make Homewood residents feel welcome at the park, according to Derrick Clark, a platoon leader with The Mission

Photo by James Musial

Continues who grew up in Homewood.

While the history of Westinghouse Park is clouded by racial and neighborhood tensions, he said, the groups participating in the event were aiming to create a more welcoming space for recreation.

As a child, Clark came to Westinghouse Park to play pick-up basketball or play on the playground, he said. He had wanted to clean up the park for a long time when the Jewish Federation “reached out to [The Mission

Continues] to collaborate on the project.

They were very instrumental in getting the message about unity across.”

Dylan Groff, the Federation’s CRC associate, said the idea to plan a Juneteenth event first arose in December 2020.

“Especially in light of what happened to George Floyd in summer 2020, we really wanted to do something which celebrated freedom and gave people the opportunity to use shared communal spaces,” Groff said.

“This is really about bringing Point Breeze and Homewood together.”

Westinghouse Park was once the site of the Westinghouse Estate, the former home of the late George Westinghouse IV, who stood alongside Nikola Tesla in discovering electrical currents in the late 19th century.

Westinghouse created the first successful exhibition of electrical energy in the United States. His estate was demolished in 1919 and the land was donated for Westinghouse Park. The ruins of the estate itself are still concealed below the park’s surface.

State Rep. Ed Gainey, who recently won Pittsburgh’s Democratic mayoral primary, volunteered at the event and helped cut wood that would later be used to create picnic tables.

“This project is a great way to beautify the community and bring neighborhoods together,” Gainey told the Chronicle. “You find out that we have a lot in common... You realize that we’re just one neighborhood.” PJC Sarah Abrams can be reached at sabrams@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 8 JULY 2, 2021

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Headlines Getting to know: Oreen Cohen

 ‘A Sharper Lens’

Photo by Oreen Cohen via oreencohen.com

 ‘Between a Stone and a Shrine’ video performance still image, 2014

Photo courtesy of Oreen Cohen

— LOCAL — Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

B

ehind every work of art created by Oreen Cohen, a partner at Pittsburgh’s OOA Designs LLC, is the voice of her mother fused with the influence of Israel.

Long before Cohen graduated from the University at Buffalo and then Carnegie Mellon University — where her master’s work included an allegorical film involving the burial of a gilded casket filled with sunflower seeds in Braddock, Pennsylvania — her Sephardic Israeli-Moroccan mother would utter short Hebrew aphorisms.

Sometimes her mother would say, “moach v’lo koach,” which translates to “brains and not strength,” or “aph echad lo ya’aseh li kever shel zahav,” which means “no one will build me a casket of gold.”

Growing up in Rochester, New York, to bilingual parents, those maxims resonated with Cohen, and as she matured, she continued tapping them for meaning — like when classmates considered her to be brutish because she was a woman who worked with metal.

“I’d be scrapping and pulling things from dumps, and when I was in those situations dragging some heavy piece of metal out of a ravine, ‘moach v’lo koach’ brought me back to my body and my mind,” Cohen, 35, recalled. “I’d think more cautiously about how to approach something — not just even how to pull this thing out of the ravine, but to people and places and to finding an approach to things.”

The idea that “no one will build me a casket of gold” reinforces the notion that as an artist, “you work to leave your own legacy,” said Cohen. “You’re working for yourself and by doing so you are creating your imprint on the environment and people around you.”

 Oreen Cohen

Photo courtesy of Nathan J Shaulis/Porter Loves

 One of four sculptures created for Wightman Park by OOA Designs LLC

Photo courtesy of Oreen Cohen

In addition to her mother’s words, traveling to Israel each summer with her parents until the age of 14 helped forge the artist’s identity. She fondly remembers the details of those trips: How they often occurred before the school year officially ended; how she carried her American school work in tow; and how the days were spent at her aunt’s moshav, Merhavia, near Afula in northern Israel. There she watched her uncle, a mechanic, toil away with discarded pieces of metal and build his own tractors — a “huge influence on my artwork,” Cohen said.

More than a decade after the last summer trip, in 2014 Cohen honored her uncle’s expertise by taking steel, HVAC pipes, a Fresnel lens, satellite dishes, mirrors, tires, auto glass, resin, reflective tape, bearings

and a steel turntable, and crafting a sculpture titled, “A Sharper Lens.” The piece, which debuted at Governors Island in New York City and alluded to the site’s military history, represented a battle between an artillery cannon and an Iron Dome. Through the use of kinetic kaleidoscopes, “A Sharper Lens” allowed visitors to “engage in a battle of perceptions,” said Cohen.

It’s been seven years since Cohen displayed that piece, and during that time she has branched into other media, helped various nonprofits develop youth programming and partnered with Pittsburgh-based visual artist and educator Alison Zapata to create OOA Designs LLC, which specializes in creating site-specific public and private art commissions.

news JEWS CAN USE.

In 2018, OOA Designs’ big break arrived when the group was selected to redevelop Wightman Park in Squirrel Hill.

In creating four pieces for the project, Cohen and Zapata were inspired by the park’s environmental efforts — its introduction of various plants to aid pollination and facilitate water retention, and the placement of tanks underground to collect stormwater — as well as its history. Years earlier, Wightman Park was home to the Lorenz & Wightman Glass manufacturers. OOA Designs bridged two elements — steel and glass — said Cohen, as a nod to Pittsburgh’s past and to honor the 11 Jewish Pittsburghers murdered on Oct. 27, 2018, as there are 11 pieces of glass within the park’s main sculpture.

“As a Jewish artist I was very impacted by that event, and we wanted to commemorate it,” she said.

Since Wightman Park’s dedication eight months ago, Cohen has continued creating.

In addition to working on private commissions, OOA Designs was recently selected to participate in the City of Pittsburgh’s Art in Parks program — the permanent piece will be installed at Emerald View Park near Mt. Washington prior to Summer 2022.

On a personal level, Cohen welcomed the birth of a daughter, Daeora Esh, four months ago.

“Dae” is Korean for greatness, Cohen said, And the second part of her first name “ora,” Hebrew for light, “was the name of my aunt who died who was also an artist.” The middle name, “Esh,” means fire in Hebrew.

By melding Korean and Hebrew words, Daeora Esh’s name is infused with meaning, like all of Cohen’s creations. Said the artist, “Her name is ‘great light fire,’ and she is definitely the greatest light in my life.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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call 410.902.2308.

@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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JULY 2, 2021 9

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

73 congressional Democrats to Biden: Reverse more of Trump’s Israel policies

A letter from 73 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, including a number in leadership positions, urges President Joe Biden to make a number of moves to reverse what they call the Trump administration’s “abandonment of longstanding, bipartisan United States policy” on Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle (D-District 18), was among those who signed the letter.

Among other things, the letter sent calls for Biden to firmly consider Israeli settlements illegal and the West Bank occupied, two things the Trump administration stated that it would no longer do.

“Make clear that the United States considers settlements to be inconsistent with international law by reissuing relevant State Department and U.S. customs guidance to that effect,” the letter states. It also pushes for all “relevant official U.S. documents and communications” to “once again consistently refer to the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as occupied.”

The letter’s signatories include seven committee chairs, among them Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who leads the powerful Appropriations Committee and John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who heads the Budget Committee, as

well as the assistant Speaker of the House, Rep. Katherine Clarke of Massachusetts.

Seven Jewish Democrats signed the letter, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who initiated it. The others are Reps.

Alan Lowenthal of California, Andy Levin of Michigan, Sara Jacobs of California, Yarmuth, Steve Cohen, of Tennessee and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

Former President Donald Trump upended decades of U.S. policy in the region by recognizing the right of Israel to annex parts of the West Bank, in addition to agreeing to Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Biden officials have been reluctant to openly criticize Israel, wary of the tensions that beset the Obama administration when its officials publicly called out Israel over differences on policy. Biden has preferred to keep differences with Israel behind closed doors. During last month’s conflict, he robustly rejected calls from the party’s left to leverage assistance to Israel to pressure it to end the conflict.

But Biden favors some of the eight specific recommendations in the letter, including a resumption of sending aid to the Palestinians and reopening a separate consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinian relations.

Polish children knock over Jewish headstones to build a fortress

Several Polish children told police they toppled 63 Jewish grave headstones

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.

Chai

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

News for people who know we don’t mean spiced tea.

Every Friday in the

and all the time online @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

For home delivery,

because they wanted to build a fortress with them, JTA reported.

Five 12-year-olds worked on the project for several days at the disused graveyard in Wrocław in western Poland when police stopped them on June 23 after hearing hammering noises.

Some of the headstones were smashed, while others were partially damaged and knocked down.

Meantime, in eastern Poland, a Jewish headstone used decades earlier as construction material in Kraśnik was extracted from a sidewalk, then placed at the local Jewish cemetery. The headstone was discovered three years ago after the pavement over it cracked.

And in southern Poland, the city of Bielsko-Biała is planning a commemorative space that features Jewish headstones to recognize the destruction in the 1960s of a Jewish cemetery there.

Hungarian Jews protest ‘gay propaganda law’

Jewish groups in Hungary have condemned a new law in the country that forbids sharing content on homosexuality with minors.

Called the “gay propaganda law,” the legislation passed in parliament follows similar moves in Russia in 2013 that define written or visual materials pertaining to sex reassignment or homosexuality as propaganda

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

July 2, 2011 — National Trail founder Uri Dvir dies

Longtime tourism official Uri Dvir dies at age 80 in Tel Aviv, where he was born in 1931. He planned and initiated Shvil Yisrael (the Israel National Trail), a 620-mile, northsouth hiking path.

July 3, 1904 — Theodor Herzl dies

Theodor Herzl, the “father of modern Zionism,” dies of cardiac sclerosis at age 44 in Edlach, Austria, seven years after organizing the First Zionist Congress.

His body is reburied on Mount Herzl in 1949.

July 4, 1975 — Refrigerator bomb kills 14 in Jerusalem

Fourteen people are killed and 62 others are wounded when a bomb hidden inside a refrigerator explodes in Jerusalem’s Zion Square. The PLO’s Fatah faction claims responsibility.

call 410.902.2308.

10 JULY 2, 2021

that should not be allowed to reach children.

The measure, which President Janos Ader signed, triggered a diplomatic spat between Hungary and other member states of the European Union.

The Golem Theater, a Budapest-based institution that deals extensively with Jewish subjects and has many Jewish members, said on Facebook that it “stands against the propaganda law.”

Mazsihisz, the largest federation of Jewish communities in Hungary, also criticized the legislation without naming it in the group’s statement. Mazsihisz defines itself as a religious community.

“The Mazsihisz, as a Jewish group, firmly believes that all people are inherently pure and their emotions do not make them unclean,” the statement read. “No one should be labeled impure, be discriminated against and certainly not outlawed simply because of their orientation or identity. Such classifications destroy social cohesion and our sense of belonging.”

Hungary’s right-wing government under Viktor Orbán has clashed on several issues with Mazsihisz, which has warned that the government’s campaign criticizing Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros risks encouraging antisemitism, and that the government is facilitating Holocaust revisionism. Other local Jewish groups, including the EMIH Jewish federation, have disputed these allegations. PJC

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July 5, 1979 — Opera star Edis De Philippe dies

Israel National Opera Company founder and star Edis De Philippe dies at age 67. A New York native and renowned singer in prewar Europe, she made aliyah in 1945 and opened the company in 1947.

July 6, 1973 — Conductor Otto Klemperer dies

Otto Klemperer, a German Jewish conductor and composer, dies at age 88 in Zurich.

Having visited pre-state Palestine, Klemperer first performed in Israel in 1970 and gained Israeli citizenship.

July 7, 1969 — U Thant: ‘open warfare’ along canal

U.N. Secretary-General U Thant says he is considering withdrawing the 96 U.N. observers from the Suez Canal zone because of “open warfare” there. U.N. soldiers were fired on 26 times in June.

July 8, 1989 — Judo champ Yarden Gerbi is born

Judoka Yarden Gerbi is born in Kfar Saba. She wins eight national championships and, in August 2013, the world judo championship. She wins a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. PJC

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Congratulations

From left to right: Tanya Koul Strausbaugh, Stephanie and Noah Libbon, Bari Morchower Guzikowski, Jessica Nock, Julie Potash and Matthew Schwarz.

PITTSBURGH MELTON 2021

YOUNG ADULT GRADUATES!

You did it! You have reached an important milestone in your Melton learning as a young adult!

One more text to be considered as you celebrate this wonderful achievement: Elisha ben Avuya said: One who studies Torah as a child, to what can he be compared?

To ink written upon new paper.

And one who studies as an adult, to what can he be compared?

To ink written upon paper that has previously been written upon and erased.

(Mishnah Avot 5:25) In this time-honored Mishnah, the challenges of learning Jewish texts as an adult are succinctly described with a clever metaphor. While a child learning does not have to overcome pre-conceived notions and prejudices, when learning later in life, we sometimes need to unlearn what we thought we knew in order to wrap our minds around new ideas and new perspectives. One of the pillars of Melton study is that it is pluralistic in its orientation, presenting opportunities for new thinking about Judaism and Jewish living. We hope that Melton has given you the opportunity to revisit some of your previously held assumptions. We know at times this endeavor has been intellectually and maybe even emotionally draining; nonetheless, we hope that Melton has expanded Jewish horizons and enhanced personal Jewish identity for you all.

One might also suggest that this Mishnah describes the benefits of studying as an adult. The image of the erased paper suggests that an adult brings

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character and context to their learning. We bring our life-experience to the classroom, which enriches and deepens our learning; it enables us to have discussions that young learners cannot access. Melton’s commitment to adult Jewish learning is based on the belief that learning as an adult can be transformative, and it is our hope that your own learning experience with us has been profound in many ways.

A special Mazel Tov to Eila Rose (Nechama Yetta) and Noah (Raphael)! Over the course of this 50-week series, the class welcomed these two honorary Melton graduates into the world.

A growing child is taught the entire Torah while in the womb, as it is stated: “And He taught me and said to me: Let your heart hold fast My words; keep My commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:4). And it also states: “As I was in the days of my youth, when the converse of God was upon my tent”(Job 29:4). The Gemara asks: “What is the purpose of the statement: ‘And it also states: “When the converse of God was upon my tent?’ Why is it necessary to cite this verse in addition to the previously quoted verse from Proverbs?” The Gemara explains: “And if you would say that the verse in Proverbs is insufficient, as it is a prophet who is saying that he was taught the entire Torah in his mother’s womb, but this does not apply to ordinary people, come and hear the verse in Job: ‘When the converse of God was upon my tent.’”

We are thankful to Rabbi Amy Greenbaum, Rabbi Ron Symons, Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman, and Rabbi Danny Schiff whose dedication has provided you with this invaluable gift. May this celebration just be one of many along a lifetime journey of Jewish learning.

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JULY 2, 2021 11

Opinion Reuven Rivlin: Honor and dignity in office — EDITORIAL —

A

s Israel’s 10th president, Reuven Rivlin operated with a steady and comforting hand. So it is with sadness that we prepare for him to step down on July 7, as his seven-year term comes to an end.

Avuncular and possessing a common touch, Rivlin put his limited presidential powers to good use in providing a compelling counterpoint to fellow Likud member Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Rivlin, 81, was the right person for the job, and brought honor to his service.

Rivlin entered the presidency with strong right wing views, including advocacy for Israel retaining permanent control of Judea and Samaria. But once in office, he became

the president of all Israelis.

“All Israelis” included Israel’s Arab minority, who Rivlin insisted should have the rights and advantages of Israeli Jews.

“All Israelis” also included Israel’s Haredi Orthodox minority. Neither group joined the Zionist enterprise. Yet, for Rivlin the objective was to call on all Israelis to join together “to imagine their society less as a melting pot with a dominant identity and more as an inclusive partnership among its tribes,” wrote Brian Reeves of the Brookings Institution.

Rivlin also opposed the passage in 2018 of the Nation-State law, which some critics claimed discriminated against Israeli-Arabs, removed Arabic as an official language of Israel and effectively declared Israel as a state exclusively for Jews.

Despite the increasingly polarized political

climate in Israel, Rivlin was careful to avoid conflict, and put country first. Thus, during the national trauma of four elections in two years, Israelis found comfort knowing that Rivlin remained a steady force who would keep the process moving and fair, and would exercise his limited but important authority with integrity.

Most recently, when Netanyahu failed to form a coalition and Rivlin turned to centrist leader Yair Lapid, Rivlin set into motion the formation of Israel’s current government, one as unlikely as Rivlin’s own presidency — where, in order to succeed, government leaders will have to suppress their individual ambitions and work together for the sake of their country.

We are optimistic that Rivlin’s successor, Isaac Herzog, will continue in his altruistic path. Having served most recently as

chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and before that as the leader of the country’s Labor party, Herzog brings strong political savvy and experience and a deep understanding of world Jewry to his new job. He also has “royal” Israeli pedigree, as the son of two-term President Chaim Herzog and the grandson of a revered chief rabbi of Israel.

Notwithstanding the deep family and political history on which Herzog might draw to inform his term in office, he need look no further than his predecessor for the model of an Israeli president who fulfilled his responsibilities with honor and dignity, and extended a warm embrace to the people of Israel and Jews around the world.

We will miss Reuven Rivlin, even as we embrace Isaac Herzog. Israel’s presidency has been and will remain in good hands. PJC

This Jewish charitable tradition is brought to you by…

Guest Columnist Andrew Silow-Carroll

W

e visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time in over a year, which meant I could visit an old friend. Just to the left of the grand staircase is a homely marble plaque, about the size of a placemat. It’s inscribed mostly in Greek, but there is a little Hebrew too, as well as pictograms of a menorah, a shofar and what appear

to be a lulav and an etrog, the Sukkot symbols.

The inscription, in Greek, reads, “Through the providence of God I, E…s, together with my wife and my children have renovated the forecourt of the sanctuary using the gifts of God.” The Hebrew reads, “…established the house of prayer. Peace.” The plaque is described as Roman and dated 400-600 CE. Anyone who has ever set foot inside a synagogue knows what’s going on here. The object is a 1,500-year-old version of those signs reading, “The Spielvogel Vestibule, in honor of the bat mitzvah of Rachel Spielvogel, from her parents.”

I find this incredibly moving. For as long

as Jews have been building synagogues, they’ve been fundraising; and for as long as Jews have been fundraising, they have thanked donors with what are known in the trade as “naming opportunities.” It’s touching to consider that Jews have been reciting the same prayers for centuries; it’s hilarious and wonderful to imagine a synagogue administrator in a toga asking E…s for a donation in exchange for immortality. (Ironically, a crack in the marble obscures E…s’s full name.)

I thought of the plaque again when I saw a tweet from My Shul Called Life. If you don’t know the account, you should: Written by two synagogue administrators calling themselves

@RogueShul, it is one of the most reliably funny satires of synagogue life on the web.

Last week they asked readers, “What’s the most outdated item in your shul?” The answers ranged from waggish (“The rabbi!”) to the obvious (the “old electronic equipment … in various storage rooms”) to the politically informed (“Brotherhoods” and “Sisterhoods” and “other unnecessarily gender-specific activities”).

No one mentioned the donor acknowledgements, which, in my shul, anyway, plaster the sanctuary walls, are embroidered on the Please see Silow-Carroll, page 13

With Jews under attack, here is chance to act Guest Columnist Bruce Ledewitz

T

he Oct. 27, 2018, shootings at three Pittsburgh congregations affected me deeply. I had been a member of Dor Hadash. I knew the victims. It could have been me.

Sure, people attended vigils, left messages and expressed solidarity. But it wasn’t enough.

Then, in fall 2019, I was jolted again by a series of incidents in the New York City area, culminating in a Chanukah machete attack in the home of a Chasidic rabbi that ultimately took the life of Rabbi Josef Neumann.

I could have been there. I was raised in that world.

As a child, I attended the New Haven Hebrew Day School, one of the seven Yeshivot established in America after WWII by Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to all as the Rebbe.

Family lore had it that the Rebbe intended to establish only six institutions. But my grandfather bankrolled the school’s early years and ensured that I and my numerous relations all enrolled.

It is hard now to remember the sweetness of

12 JULY 2, 2021

midcentury American Judaism. Orthodoxy had much looser rules than it does today.

Boys and girls attended school together in the early grades. Men and women danced at mixed community celebrations.

The State of Israel was totally unifying.

My teachers never anticipated unending enmity from Israel’s neighbors. I was reminded on more than one occasion that Muslims had historically protected Jews from Christian persecution.

There were some divisions. I got into a fist fight in the second grade over Kennedy versus Nixon. But mostly, we were all Jews.

The piety of that time was palpable, at least for me. The Hebrew letters of my Chumash beckoned, portals to a different world. I could not get enough, even walking a long distance on Saturday, after a very full week of school, to study more. I fell so in love with Torah that my mother worried I might become an Orthodox rabbi. At the end of my fourthgrade year, I made the mistake of asking her why we did not keep kosher. My mother moved me to public school very quickly.

Maybe it was just as well. Continuing their Jewish education did not lead most of my relatives to deeply religious lives. On the other hand, whenever in later life I saw an Orthodox Jewish man, I was instantly transported back to my childhood.

Thus, with that world under attack, I

decided to do something.

My response might strike some as quixotic. Though I had long since lost my faith in God and had left Judaism, I started carrying a kippah on the public buses I took to work and around town. It was not unusual for an identifiably Jewish person to get on the bus — mostly men but women too sometimes — and I was determined to show solidarity and share whatever danger there was by wearing a kippah in that person’s presence.

What this gesture might have meant to those intended to be supported I never found out. The pandemic temporarily ended my bus riding a couple of months later.

Today, the situation is much more fraught and dangerous. Just last week, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh issued a warning based on recent harassment and one violent assault against Jews in Squirrel Hill.

What might have once been quixotic is now pressing and real. These attacks began at a time when Israel was not even in the news.

They had nothing to do with support for the Palestinian cause. But with the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas, antisemitism has led to a kind of open season on Jews.

In Europe and America, violence, including physical attacks and arson, is a growing threat.

Even in Pittsburgh, Orthodox men and women must now think twice before venturing out in public in dress that

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identifies them as Jewish. We are entering a time like that in Germany in 2018, when the leader of the Jewish community cautioned Jews against “openly wearing a kippah in big German cities.” The secular German response then was “Germany-wears-akippah” demonstrations and marches.

Marches are not enough.

Now all men must wear a kippah, and women a head covering, whenever we are in places where Orthodox Jews might be targeted. This must be a constant vigilance.

I am no longer a member of the Jewish community. I live a secular life and write about the difficulty of building a civilization without God. So, I reached out to the non-Jewish world to wear a kippah in a column last week in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star: “We Are All Jews Now.” Many of us wonder how to confront hate.

There is only so much we can do personally when immigrants are mistreated or the police target persons of color.

Here is one chance to really stand with victims of hate and share the fate of the vulnerable. Here is a chance to act. PJC Bruce Ledewitz is a professor of law at Duquesne University School of Law and the author of the forthcoming book, “The Universe Is on Our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life,” to be published by Oxford Univ. Press in October.

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Opinion The hardest blow? To speak the truth Guest Columnist Aidan Segal

I

t’s not uncharacteristic of student newspapers to employ reporters who distort what Israel does or columnists who demonize what Israel is. That academic-associated entities once celebrated as beacons of free speech have begun to declare Zionism an unpublishable idea for Jewish students to write and too dehumanizing an idea for non-Jewish students to read, however, is a disturbing trend many young Jews have become embroiled in and one that should concern us all.

At the University of Pittsburgh, I am one such student. For me, Zionism represents what historian Daniel Gordis calls “one of the great dramas in the history of humankind.” Beyond romanticism, I consider Zionism to be the negation of antisemitism, and something every Diaspora Jew should be advocating for. But not everyone agrees.

Though I have always considered myself a Zionist, facing antisemitism as the only Jew in high school, and later belonging to Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation — the site of the deadliest attack on Jews in American history

Silow-Carroll: Continued from page 12

Torahs, printed on bookplates, attached to seat backs and arranged as leaves in the lobby’s Tree of Life. This surprised me, because complaining about naming opportunities seemed to come on strong among Jews raised in the anti-materialist ’60s and ’70s. I can still remember the baby boomer in the tie-dyed kippah who told me that the only name that should be inscribed on a synagogue’s walls is God’s.

Then he probably quoted Maimonides, who said the highest form of charity is giving anonymously. Or maybe Rabbi Eleazar: “A man who gives charity in secret is greater than Moshe Rabbeinu.”

Of course, I could have quoted another bit of Torah right back: “im ein kemach, ein Torah; im ein Torah, ein kemach.” “Without bread

— only reaffirmed my convictions. After a yearlong stint of column writing for The Pitt News, it became clear that the paper claiming to “promote discourse on campus and inform the Pitt student body” had no intention of publishing my thoughts on issues affecting the university’s pro-Israel Jewish students.

In my first semester with The Pitt News in 2019, I wrote two Jewish-related articles with little difficulty. The following semester, the culture of the opinions desk changed.

Whether it was the polarizing intensity of the upcoming presidential election or the retraction of an article referring to a “race war” that sparked campus outrage, The Pitt News did not publish a single article of mine regarding antisemitism or anti-Zionism. Despite both the editor-in-chief and opinion editor being Jewish, their apparent enmity to the very word “Zionism” prompted my resignation.

Let me explain. In September 2020, I was given the go-ahead to write an article denouncing Holocaust comparisons in political discourse. For the most part, my arguments received little pushback for the examples I provided — all except one. My insistence that comparing Zionism to Nazism was not only an ahistorical equivalency given the history of the Palestinian-Third Reich partnership, but also a deliberate antisemitic

charge for obvious reasons, generating a monthlong back-and-forth with my editors for rejecting my article without reasonable explanation. After several meetings airing my grievances, the opinion editor admitted to refusing to publish my work simply because it dealt with Zionism. A few weeks later, I quit.

But really, my experiences at The Pitt News were rather mundane in comparison to what’s going on at other schools. Take McGill University, for example. According to The McGill Daily’s constitution, the newspaper must publish any letter it receives, but after two law students penned a letter condemning an anti-Israel editorial, the editorial board determined that Zionism’s falsely “colonial,” “racist” and “violent” subject matter would give a “platform to ideas which dehumanize a group of people.” With administrators threatening to pull funding, the Daily reluctantly published the initially rejected letter making the case for the existence of a Jewish state — what the editorial board would describe as “unconscionable in its dehumanization of the Palestinian people.”

Then there was Syracuse University student Justine Murray. Ultimately, The Daily Orange published her article, though she was met with the wrath of an outraged and extremist student body for defending a Zionist professor in op-eds for her student newspaper.

Receiving vile antisemitic messages and even death threats, Murray’s experiences demonstrate the stranglehold some students have on what is and what is not an acceptable opinion.

Why does this happen? In recent years, progressive Jews have yearned for acceptance in political spaces that force them to choose between their Jewish identity and their political identity with many choosing the latter.

At best, these progressive groups despise and are embarrassed by the State of Israel, and at worst the Jewish people as a whole — all in the name of social justice. Unfortunately, some of these Jews who embrace these movements end up being your editors.

In the broader sense, there’s an expectation on college campuses to kowtow to the woke order. It’s simply not possible for some writers to publish ideas that don’t fit the progressive mold.

Or maybe it’s not all that complex. As Golda Meir once observed, “The world hates a Jew who hits back” — and the hardest blow of all to deliver on a college campus today is to simply speak the truth. PJC

there is no Torah; without Torah, there is no bread.” (Ethics of the Fathers 3:21) I take that to mean that everything costs money, even the privilege of attending a synagogue. The same goes for synagogue dues and High Holiday tickets. Maybe you consider them gauche, but somebody has to pay for the heat, the lights, the bricks and the mortar (or, in the case of the Romans, just the bricks and the mortar).

Giving the donors credit — and a stab at posterity — seems a fair trade-off.

There is actually a Jewish literature about whether or not to publicly thank donors, summarized in a 2008 responsum by Rabbi David Golinkin. Golinkin summarizes the opposition to naming opportunities, including the example of Rabbi Hershel Matt of Troy, New York (1922-1987), who banned synagogue plaques to prevent “the cheapening of a precious mitzvah by holding out the incentive of attaining glory, credit or publicity.”

In response, Golinkin notes that 500 such inscriptions have been discovered in ancient synagogues in Israel and the Diaspora.

His conclusion: The “normative Jewish practice for some 2,200 years has been to record gifts and to inscribe the names of donors because this serves as a memorial to the donor and encourages others to give tzedakah.”

One danger of naming, not mentioned by Golinkin, is that the donor may suffer a blow to his or her reputation, and you find yourself one Yom Kippur seeking forgiveness in the Bernie Madoff Chapel. (To get meta for a moment, the label on the donation plaque at The Met says it is a loan from the collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, philanthropists whose names adorn a raft of Jewish and other institutions, which got dicey after Michael Steinhardt was accused by women of making inappropriate sexual remarks.) But there’s a fix for that, as the Sacklers are learning.

I for one like how synagogue plaques and whatnot preserve the history and continuity of the community, starting with the old names (Hyman! Peshe! Lucius Domitius Abbas!). The name on our sanctuary reminds me of the sweet couple who sat in the second row all those years. Or I’ll see a prayer book donated in honor of some kid’s bat mitzvah, realize I was actually in the pew that day, and then remember that she just had a baby.

The plaque in The Met is a little like the parable of the tailor, whose coat wears away so he makes a vest, which wears away so he makes a scarf, until all he has left is a button.

All we have from that ancient synagogue is a plaque. And a deep familial connection with E…s, whoever he was. PJC

— LETTERS — Denomination is irrelevant when Jews are attacked

Over the years I have been highly impressed with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, which has done a wonderful job serving our diverse and unified Pittsburgh Jewish community.

This past week I came across your article, “Members of Orthodox community assaulted in Squirrel Hill,” (June 25), and I was alarmed.

First of all, the article was on the bottom of page 15. Why? When Jews are attacked in our own Squirrel Hill community — when there are broken bones and a hospitalization — shouldn’t this be front page material? It seems to me that the Chronicle has a responsibility here to make sure an antisemitic act of this type is well publicized.

Secondly, why is the term “Orthodox” highlighted in the title of the article? Jews were attacked, period. The denomination is irrelevant.

There are those who think that the Jewish people are assaulted when they are readily identified as Jews (“Orthodox”). However, history has taught us just the opposite. Attempts

by Jews to assimilate into their surrounding culture have repeatedly ended in disaster.

Jews were assaulted. Highlighting “Orthodox” diminishes the reality of a world that is seeing increased attacks on all Jews. When all is said and done, denominations don’t define us. A Jew is a Jew. It is best to be strong in our convictions, in our Jewish identity, standing tall and proud, PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Aidan Segal is a student at the University of Pittsburgh, and a former campus fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. This piece first appeared on JNS.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor in chief of The Jewish Week, an affiliated publication, where this piece was first published.

knowing and living who we are, being a light unto the nations. Others will respect us and we will respect ourselves. And our children will absorb a positive energy as Jews.

May the Chronicle continue to do its tremendous work, inspiring and serving our amazing Pittsburgh Jewish community, which indeed has been a shining light to the world.

John Yaakov Guterson Squirrel Hill Editor’s note: A more detailed account of the recent antisemitic attacks in Squirrel Hill appears on pg. 1 of this week’s paper and was posted online on June 25.

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

Letters to the editor via email:

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letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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JULY 2, 2021 13

Headlines Continued from page 1

details as she had not yet spoken to the victim as of press time.

Jonathan Young, president of Shaare Torah Congregation, said the congregation was emailing its members “to remind people to remain vigilant, for children not to walk alone, for people not to walk alone if they can avoid it.”

The reports of the attacks haven’t impacted the congregation’s services, he said, adding that because sundown is late this time of year, it is still daylight when Friday night Shabbat services conclude.

Young said the uptick in antisemitic violence around the globe is troubling.

“We’ve been more vigilant, security-wise, even before the [Oct. 17, 2018, massacre at] Tree of Life, but certainly since,” he said.

“Yes, we’re concerned, but we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Wice said that Poale Zedeck also has cautioned its members to maintain awareness of their surroundings because of the heightened risk.

“We remind our congregation periodically

Training: Continued from page 1

“It’s an international program, but we’ve added a Jewish lens to make it more relevant to the community we’re teaching,” explained Margie Bogdanow, wellness coordinator for the Funder Collaborative. “We’ve adapted it to be for youth groups and day schools rather than tennis coaches or scout troop leaders.”

The goal of the course is to remove the stigma of mental health issues and train adults to connect young people to the help they need. A mental health first aider’s job, said Bogdanow, is not to act as a therapist, but rather to be a bridge between a teen in crisis and a mental health professional.

“It’s parallel to what it means to take a CPR course,” she said. “You respond in the moment and you perform chest compressions, but you don’t do heart surgery.”

The course was taught by Rebecca Wanatick, the manager of Community Inclusion & Program Services at the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest New Jersey, and Lisa Ehrlich-Menard, the coordinator of Outreach and Community Education at Jewish Child & Family Services Chicago.

Through the trainings, participants learned a five-step action plan for responding to crises; developed approaches to confront teens in realistic crisis scenarios; and crafted self-care plans to ground themselves after administering mental health first aid services.

The training was “was facilitated beautifully, varying different modalities of learning so it wasn’t just a basic information transfer,” said participant Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife, the founder and co-leader of Kesher Pittsburgh, a local independent post-denominational community. “Everything 14 JULY 2, 2021

“ We emphasize to everybody, ‘see

something, say something.’ Don’t judge — just pass the word along to the Federation, and in the case of a real emergency, call 911.

”

Don’t hesitate if you have to call 911.

— ROCKY WICE, CHAIR OF CONGREGATION POALE ZEDECK’S SECURITY COMMITTEE of our internal safety measures of locking down, being aware,” he said.

He also recommends the community take advantage of opportunities for training webinars and Zoom classes offered by the Federation.

Reiterating the advice of Brokos, Wice urged community members to report suspicious activity.

“We emphasize to everybody, ‘see something, say something,’” he said. “Don’t judge — just pass the word along to the Federation, and in the case of a real emergency, call 911.

Don’t hesitate if you have to call 911.”

Of the two incidents reported by the Chronicle last week — the verbal assault on June 6 and the physical assault on June 13 — only the June 13 incident was reported

was contextualized, and I was able to see where these situations might present themselves in real life.”

One exercise that Fife found particularly poignant was when participants were asked to practice asking out loud if a young person was planning on taking their own life.

“As I said that out loud, I could feel the gravity in the room,” Fife said. “It’s a hard question to ask, but if that question would make the difference, of course I would ask it, and I’m glad I got to practice it now.”

For Mattie Nassida, the newly-appointed wellness director at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, the training covered much of what she already knew as a licensed psychologist. But despite being familiar with the course material, Nassida said, she still found the sessions helpful.

“It’s hard for me to know what the boundaries are for teachers and non-mental health staff, and how they can engage with a student appropriately to help them with social and emotional development,” she said. “It was really good for me to see what they were recommending about how much to engage and what steps educators can take that don’t require some type of degree in mental health.”

The Jewish framework of the training also gave Nassida some insight into her new role.

“The second part of the training, where we were able to talk a little more about the specific application to the Jewish community I really appreciated,” Nassida said. “I’m not a

member of the Jewish community, so that’s been a learning curve for me and I found that aspect of the training very helpful.”

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to police at the time it occurred, according to Maurice Matthews II, Pittsburgh Police assistant public information officer.

Matthews said police are looking into both the June 6 and 13 attacks, and reiterated the importance of reporting events as they occur.

“People should always report what’s going on,” he said. “One of these wasn’t reported — we only learned of it by word of mouth.”

He said that because of the recent assaults, police were “being more vigilant and giving the area an extra look through.”

There has been a surge in anti-Jewish hate nationwide since the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to a May 20 statement by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

“We are tracking acts of harassment, vandalism and violence as well as a torrent of online abuse,” he said.

Similar assaults have occurred during the last several weeks around the country, including in California, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island, according to media reports. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

One of the main takeaways from the course was its emphasis on acting as a link between young people in crisis and the mental health professionals who could offer them support and treatment, said Fife.

“Single-handedly, few of us can do anything,” she said, “but we each have a role to play in helping a teen in crisis.” PJC Dionna Dash is living in Pittsburgh.

a

writer

Prostock-Studio/iStockphoto.com

Security:

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Headlines Survivor: Continued from page 3

for the donations provided by Vensel and his students.

“The people who stay at Family House are people who are traveling from out of town due to a medical situation that requires them to leave their home, come to an unfamiliar city, and Family House’s mission is to provide comfort away from home,” March said. “There’s nothing better to add to somebody’s comfort than a teddy bear.”

There aren’t many Holocaust initiatives that put students in the driver’s seat, said Nick Haberman, the founder and director of the Light Education Initiative, who noted that Shulamit’s Teddy Bear Project is easily

Travel: Continued from page 5

hoping to avoid the holiday crowds, so he and his wife, Rachel, are flying to Florida a few days earlier with friends. The three-day trip will be the first time the vaccinated couple will travel by plane since the pandemic began.

Goldberg isn’t worried about going away “from a COVID standpoint,” he said, but he is concerned with the behavior of fellow flyers, as media reports have noted a “heightened anxiety among people while traveling.”

Goldberg has been reviewing CDC recommendations, and plans on following

replicable by other schools and a nice way to continue Bastacky’s legacy.

The Light Education Initiative, funded by the Grable Foundation through the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, is currently working with 15 schools and is interested in expanding its reach, Haberman added.

While Vensel isn’t Jewish, he has come to embrace the Jewish concept of bashert, or destiny.

The middle school teacher had originally planned to be a pharmacist, but as part of a history course, he went to Germany and Poland for a month to study the Holocaust.

“I came back to the United States and that was it for me,” Vensel said. “I switched from wanting to be a pharmacist to wanting to be a teacher.”

Vensel again felt the hand of fate when he was hired to teach language arts at Dorseyville Middle School and was told the class included a unit about the Holocaust.

He was excited to do more than simply teach about Anne Frank’s “Diary of A Young Girl” or Elie Wiesel’s “Night.”

“To personalize that history by bringing in someone who experienced it firsthand is invaluable,” he said.

Unbeknownst to Vensel at the time he started working on the Teddy Bear Project was his own family’s history with Family House. His mother had stayed at the facility when she and Vensel’s father traveled from the family’s hometown of Bedford, Pennsylvania, so his father could seek cancer treatment in Pittsburgh.

There is more to this story that may be

them throughout the trip.

“There’s a certain level of fear and anxiety that remains, but you still have to live your life,” he said. “Otherwise, what is all this for?”

Zelienople resident Tracy Brien has been thinking a lot about travel recently. Brien and her family just returned from a 12-day road trip to Maine, the excursion was inspired by a similar 2020 adventure. Last year, just after quarantine restrictions had ended, the family of five headed west in a Class C 32-foot motorhome. Over the course of two weeks, the Briens visited 17 states and seven national parks.

This year, while cruising in the same RV, the Briens didn’t scratch off as many states, but they did see Acadia National Park in Maine.

“Acadia was amazing,” said Brien, 39. “To be up on Cadillac Mountain was incredible.”

Instead of taking the RV to the top, the family rented a smaller vehicle in Maine and drove up Summit Road. After reaching the peak, they watched the sun set.

“It was literally like being on top of the world,” said Brien.

Brien’s children are 6, 9 and 11. Although she and her husband are vaccinated, the kids are not yet eligible, so they stayed masked around others and the family tried to distance as well as they could.

It will still be some time until children under the age of 12 are eligible for vaccinations — as of June 23, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh was enrolling children ages 6

bashert: Bastacky decided to launch the Teddy Bear Project after speaking to another Dorseyville Middle School class, taught by Mimi Botkin, whom she happened to meet at a seminar. Several days after her talk, Botkin came to Bastacky’s house with a bag of teddy bears inspired by her talk.

Lauren Apter Bairnsfather, executive director of Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Center, accompanied Vensel and Haberman when they dropped off the teddy bears at Family House.

“We need these stories of hope,” Bairnsfather said. “We’re continuing to remember Shulamit and her mission by continuing to bring compassion and comfort to people who need it.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

months to 12 years in a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine trial — but Brien said there are safe and fiscally friendly ways to travel with kids if people want to get away this summer.

“Even if you can’t rent a motorhome, you can camp,” she said. “If you have a car, and you’re a road tripper, you can stay at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America), you can pitch a tent.”

Traveling offers a chance to see the vast beauty of America, explained Brien.

“To give our kids these experiences, and to see these parks through their eyes is just priceless to us,” she said. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Dor Hadash urges attorney general to abandon death penalty for Oct. 27 shooter

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ongregation Dor Hadash — one of the three congregations attacked in the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018 — sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Justice Department to forgo seeking the death penalty for the shooter, who is accused of murdering 11 Jews during Shabbat services. He is charged with 63 criminal counts, including federal hate crime offenses.

The June 17 letter, signed by Dor Hadash’s president Bruce Herschlag on behalf of the congregation’s board, said that it is making its request based on “both religious/ethical precepts and on concerns regarding the impact of

prolonged legal proceedings on our members.”

“We are rapidly approaching the third anniversary of the October 27 attack,” the letter states. “We are desirous of seeing justice meted out in a manner that is both consistent with our religious values and that spares us from the painful ordeal of prolonged legal maneuvering leading to a lengthy trial and years of unpredictable appeals.”

The letter cites reports that the shooter is “willing to waive his right to trial and enter a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence resulting in his imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. Given that eleven individuals

were slain, the imposition of multiple life sentences would ensure that the perpetrator is never released. This is the outcome we desire.”

Citing Judaic texts, the letter notes that “even though capital crimes are enumerated in the Torah, our sages and rabbis developed a legal system that made it almost impossible for a death verdict to be rendered. Justice must be tempered by mercy.”

Of the 11 people murdered during the Oct. 27 massacre, one was a member of Dor Hadash: Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, who, according to the letter, “was firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty.

A negotiated plea resulting in life in prison would honor Jerry’s memory.”

Moreover, the letter states, “a lengthy trial and years of appeals” would force members of Dor Hadash to “relive the events of October 27 in excruciating detail, whether through having to provide testimony in court or through the inevitable and inescapable daily news coverage,” and could also “impede the healing process for some of our members.”

A trial date has not been set. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

Judge rules 10/27 shooter can’t compel evidence from government

U

.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose ruled on June 21 against the man accused of murdering 11 Jews in the Tree of Life building in 2018, denying his motion to compel the government to produce evidence of monitoring his online activities prior to the attack.

The alleged shooter’s motion, filed in March, asked the court to require federal prosecutors to produce any evidence of government monitoring, arguing that it might be used as a mitigating factor in the PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

penalty portion of the case The prosecution is seeking the death penalty. The alleged shooter shouted antisemitic slurs during his attack on members of the three congregations housed in the building at the time: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha. He also engaged in antisemitic rhetoric on Gab, a far-right social network, according to prosecution filings.

The judge rejected the defense’s argument that government awareness of one’s potential

for violence could be considered a “mitigating” factor when determining a sentence.

“Such evidence would not tend to prove or disprove a fact or circumstance which a fact-finder could reasonably deem to have mitigating value,” Ambrose wrote in her nine-page opinion. “It does not point to any aspect of the defendant’s character or record or circumstances of the offense that would diminish the defendant’s moral culpability.

Any knowledge that the government, in whatever capacity, may have had regarding

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the defendant’s activities on Gab.com prior to the crimes at issue, is irrelevant.

“The Government was not involved in the offenses charged and any alleged notice it may have had of the Defendant’s online activities does not otherwise lessen or explain the Defendant’s conduct,” Ambrose added.

The case has not yet been set for trial, but pretrial motions must be filed by July 19, according to court documents. PJC — Toby Tabachnick JULY 2, 2021 15

Life & Culture Elvis Presley was Jewish? A grave marker locked away for 4 decades confirms it.

— CULTURE —

By Dan Fellner | JTA

M

EMPHIS, Tenn. – The large crate sat unopened in a 20,000-squarefoot warehouse here for more than four decades, concealing a little-known fact about one of America’s cultural icons.

Inside was the headstone of Elvis Presley’s mother, Gladys, which had been stored in the Graceland archives along with 1.5 million other items since 1977. And on the upper left side of the long-unseen marker — designed

by Elvis himself — is a Star of David.

Yes, the King of Rock and Roll had Jewish roots.

The headstone, which was taken from storage only in 2018, is now on display at the sprawling complex in Memphis where Elvis lived from 1957 until his untimely death 20 years later at the age of 42. It sits in Graceland’s Meditation Garden, just outside the mansion and a few feet from Elvis’ own grave.

Stories of Elvis’ Jewish heritage have long been in circulation, but when it comes to a legend like Presley — whose death is not even considered settled fact in some quarters — it’s not always easy to separate fact from fiction. With the headstone now on public display and an accompanying sign proclaiming “Gladys’ Jewish heritage,” any lingering doubts can finally be erased.

“There was a lot of mystery surrounding it,” said Angie Marchese, Graceland’s vice president of archives and exhibits, and the one who came up with the idea of unveiling Gladys’ headstone on the 60th anniversary of her death, partly to dispel doubts about Elvis’ Jewish lineage. “The star is on it, so it answered a lot of questions that were out there.”

Marchese says Elvis’ maternal greatgreat-grandmother was a Jewish woman named Nancy Burdine. Little is known about Burdine, but it’s believed her family immigrated to America from what is now Lithuania around the time of the American Revolution. According to Ancestry.com, Burdine was born in Mississippi in 1826 and died in 1887.

Burdine’s great-granddaughter was Gladys Love Smith, who married Vernon Presley in 1933. Two years later, Gladys gave birth to Elvis in Tupelo, Mississippi. The family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13.

The Presleys once lived in an apartment directly below the family of Rabbi Alfred Fruchter, the first principal of the Memphis Hebrew Academy. The rabbi’s son, Harold, who now lives in Maryland, said that Elvis actually served as the Fruchters’ “Shabbos goy,” a non-Jew who performs household tasks for observant Jews that are normally forbidden on the Jewish Sabbath. Fruchter said his parents “never had even an inkling” that Elvis had Jewish roots.

“If they had, they would never have considered asking him to be a Shabbos goy,” Fruchter said.

Elvis was especially close to his mother, 16 JULY 2, 2021

p Gladys Presley’s grave marker, now on display at Graceland. It was designed by her famous son to honor the family’s Jewish heritage.

Photo by Dan Fellner

What prompted Elvis to include the Star of David on his mother’s headstone?

Marchese isn’t exactly sure, or even when Elvis learned of his mother’s Jewish heritage. But she says “the Jewish faith gave him comfort when he was seeking answers” to help him deal with her passing.

Following an attempt to steal Elvis’ body from a Memphis cemetery, Vernon Presley had the remains of his son and wife moved to Graceland for security reasons. Gladys’ grave marker with the Star of David went into storage.

And there it remained until Marchese suggested it be put on public display.

“We thought it would be a great way of honoring her Jewish heritage as p Elvis Presley on ‘The Milton Berle Show,’ June 4, 1956. well as honoring her,” said

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images via JTA Marchese, who has worked at Graceland for 32 years who died of heart failure in 1958 at the age of and is one of the world’s preeminent experts 46. Initially Elvis had her buried in a public on the Presley family. “We think it’s what cemetery in Memphis. Her headstone was Elvis would have wanted.” marked with a cross.

There is evidence that Elvis’s Jewish But Marchese says that six years later, Elvis lineage meant more to him than just a replaced the headstone with one designed to symbol on a headstone. He gave generously his specifications. The new marker featured over the years to a variety of Jewish orgaa Star of David on one side and a cross on nizations, including the Memphis Jewish the other along with the words “Sunshine Of Community Center, a donation honored Our Home” engraved between. with a plaque that hangs in Graceland today.

Elvis’ personal library included several books on Judaism and Jewish history. An entire book on the topic, “The Jewish World of Elvis Presley,” was published last year.

During the final years of his life, Elvis was frequently photographed wearing necklaces with the Star of David and the Hebrew word “chai,” which means life. The chai necklace is kept in a cabinet at Graceland next to the keys to the singer’s famed 1955 pink Cadillac.

Never one to be accused of subtlety, Elvis had the necklace designed with 17 diamonds.

He purchased the jewelry in 1976, one year before he died.

“He would often make a joke, ‘I don’t want to get left out of heaven on a technicality,’” Marchese said. “So he would wear a Star of David, a chai and he would also wear a cross.

He wanted to keep all his bases covered.”

Gladys’ heritage notwithstanding, Presley was raised in the Assembly of God Church, but he explored other religions as he got older and began to struggle with physical and mental issues.

“He was always searching for answers as to why he was chosen to be who he was,” Marchese said. “I think he found some of those answers through different religions.”

There have been suggestions that Elvis’ handlers didn’t want his Jewish heritage known to the public, fearing it might prompt some of his Southern fans to abandon him. But Marchese says there is no evidence of that.

“It was not something he was shying away from,” she said. “He would be photographed in these [necklaces] and he would make donations to Jewish community centers throughout his entire life.” PJC

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Celebrations

Torah

Birth

The sum of us, not just some of us

Hallie and Yehoshua Weinstein of Richmond, Virginia, announce the birth of their daughter Adele Sarah, born on June 23. Adele Sarah was named for her two great-grandmothers, Adele Reddeck and Sarah Caplan. Big brothers Gavi and Mendy are very excited to have a baby sister, and grandparents Andrea and Joseph Chester of Pittsburgh and Ellen and Ron Weinstein of New York are grateful to welcome this new little girl. PJC

Chronicle wins 2 national Jewish press awards for outstanding work

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle was recognized for its excellence in journalism by the American Jewish Press Association at a June 24 online ceremony, winning two Rockower Awards in the weekly and biweekly newspaper division.

The awards were for work published in 2020. Both award-winning stories were written by staff writer Adam Reinherz.

The Chronicle was awarded second place in the category Excellence in News Obituaries for “Paul Caplan, patientminded physician, dies at 107.” The judge commented: “A beautiful, balanced portrayal

of both the man and his accomplishments.

Mr. Caplan’s personal philosophy of learning through — and connecting to — others is expertly reflected in this well-written piece.”

In the category of Excellence in Arts and News Features, the Chronicle received honorable mention for “Comic book artist inspired by stories of real-life superheroes.”

The AJPA received a record number of 1010 submissions to the Rockower competition this year, the 40th anniversary of the awards. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

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18 JULY 2, 2021

Rabbi Ron Symons Parshat Pinchas Numbers 25:10 – 30:1

P

erhaps you remember Census 2020 — the arguments about citizenship questions and deadlines, enumerators and computer forms, congressional districts and federal funding. It seems like a lifetime ago because of COVID and yet the results will guide us for the next 10 years, until we get to Census 2030 as mandated by the Constitution.

In this week’s Torah portion, Pinchas, we again turn our attention to a census of ancient Israel. This is the fifth of 10 censuses the People of Israel will take in the ancient world: On 10 occasions were Israel counted: • Once when they went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:27) • A second time when they came out (Exodus 12:37) • A third time after the incident of the Golden Calf (Exodus 30:12) • Twice in the Book of Numbers: - Once in connection with the formation of the camps (Numbers 1) - and once in connection with the division of the land (Numbers 26) • Twice in the days of Saul (1 Samuel 11:8, 15:4) • The eighth time in the days of David (2 Samuel 24:9) • The ninth time in the days of Ezra (Ezra 2:64; Nehemiah 7:66) • The 10th time will be in the future era of the Messiah, when, [as Jeremiah said:] “The sheep shall pass again under the hands of one who counts them [said the Eternal].” (Jeremiah 33:13) — Numbers Rabbah 2:11 We know that there are practical reasons for all this counting. Knowing how many people live in our community both today and in the ancient world affords us the data we need to feed and care for the most vulnerable, to assure the rights and responsibilities of community and to prepare for a future of abundance for the sum of us rather than just for some of us. According to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z’l, there is an additional reason why counting must happen from a spiritual perspective: “A Divine census is utterly different [than a human census]. It has nothing to do with strength-in-numbers. It has to do, instead, with conveying to every member of the nation that he or she counts; that every person, family, household is held precious

by God; that distinctions between great and small, ruler and ruled, leader and led, are irrelevant; that we are each God’s image and the object of His love. A Divine census is, as Rashi says, a gesture of endearment. That is why it cannot be described by the usual verbs of counting — limnot, lifkod, lispor, lachshov. Only the phrase naso/se’u et rosh, ‘lift the head,’ does justice to this kind of enumeration, in which those entrusted with

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the task are commanded to ‘lift the head’ of those they count, making every individual stand tall in the knowledge that they are loved, cherished, held special by God, and not merely a number, a cipher, among the thousands and millions.”

— “What Counts,” outorah.org/p/800/ This is why we are proud of the Census 2020 work we did through the Center for Loving Kindness of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. We spent two years strategizing with more than 200 municipal, for-profit and not-for-profit partners, to ensure that the count would be complete — especially including our immigrant, elderly, college students, people of color neighbors who are most likely to be undercounted. By all measures, we succeeded even with the challenges of COVID. While we succeeded in our human census, the work of the Divine census must continue long after Census 2020 and long before Census 2030. We, not God, must continue the work with the same intentionality we applied to Census 2020.

In her most recent book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,” Heather McGhee proves how the impact of racism costs all of us, not just those who are the object of racism. While she proposes the “solidarity dividend,” I suggested to her that we can nuance the phrase to be the “solidarity redemption.” You see, when the Hebrew slaves left Egypt some 3,000 years ago, we did not leave by ourselves. Without checking off a box on a form to see what race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity, country of origin they were, a mixed multitude of people were a part of our “we.” All of us, the sum of us, made it through the plagues, got to the water’s edge, were confronted by Pharoah, marched through the mud, helped each other as we fell and rose together, and finally the sum of us, all of us, danced on the other shore of the sea as we continued our journeys through all the challenges of living together in community.

Our Center for Loving Kindness vision for Pittsburgh is that each and every one of us will be able to assess our local economic, housing, educational, employment, social, cultural, religious and health circumstances and wholeheartedly declare: “I belong to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh belongs to me. We belong to each other.” We will state it because it will be true as a result of our shared efforts to help “…every individual stand tall in the knowledge that they are loved, cherished, held special by God, and not merely a number, a cipher, among the thousands and millions.”

It will be true because even though humans count humans, we will lift up every head so that we see our neighbors as “neighbors qua moral concept” and not just numbers. It is all about the sum of us, not just some of us. PJC Rabbi Ron Symons is the senior director of Jewish life at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, where he is the founding director of the Center for Loving Kindness. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries BLUMMER: Morry W. Blummer, on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Beloved husband of the late Sondra R. (Stutz) Blummer; loving father of Marcy (Larry) Grollman and the late William “Bill” Aaron Blummer; grandfather of Joshua (Veronica) Grollman, Jordan Grollman and Mitchel, Wesley, Kyle and Laine Blummer; great-grandfather of Jonah and Ezra Grollman. Morry was a proud graduate of Allderdice High School. While at Allderdice, he was a three-sport star including captain of the football team, but baseball was his favorite sport. He was signed by the Pirates to a minor league contract by the legendary Branch Rickey. After an injury cut short his playing career, he proudly served in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Greenland during the Korean War. After the war, he was a successful salesman, eventually working up to a national sales manager position. He loved ping pong, punching the speedbag and the Pirates and Steelers. Most of all, he dearly loved Sondra and his family, especially his six grandchildren and two great-grandsons. Graveside services and interment were held at Shaare Torah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Temple Sinai, 5505 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, 1900 Cochran Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15220. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com DANOVITZ: Sanford “Cookie” Danovitz, age 98, peacefully on Friday, June 18, 2021. Beloved husband of the late Edise Glass Danovitz. Loving father of Lee (Sandie) Danovitz of Pittsburgh and David Danovitz of Ft. Lauderdale. Beloved grandfather of Tracy Peterson, Michele (Justin) Fritz, Suzie Carter and Jeffrey Orr. Greatgrandfather of Logan, Luke, Zachary, Maddie, Lily and Connor. Also survived by nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Cookie was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School.

After high school, he attended Duquesne University before enlisting in the U.S. Army during WWII. After leaving the service, he married the love of his life, Edise Glass, and

they were married for 60 years. He was co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penn Oil Company and Northside Cooperage until he retired. He was active in the Tree of Life Synagogue and served as president of the Men’s Club and president of the Tri State Federation of Men’s Clubs. He was a volunteer at the Veterans and Presbyterian Hospitals for many years. He was an active golfer, bowler, and bounce ball player. He loved good food, drinks and playing gin rummy with Edie. Contributions may be made to Family Hospice of UPMC, 310 Fisk Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201. Graveside services and interment were private at Homewood Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com EGERMAN: Ilene (Ikie) Zalmon Egerman passed away peacefully on September 17, 2018, just one week shy of her 80th birthday, and after 60 years of marriage. She was the daughter of Rose and Sol Zalmon of Squirrel Hill. As a teenager, she worked at her father’s store, Sol’s Pharmacy, on the corner of Murray Avenue and Phillips Avenue, a landmark for many years. She graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School, and the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in education, as well as with a master’s degree in education during her teaching career in Birmingham, Alabama. The crowning point of her professional life was serving as the first principal of Grantswood Elementary School in Irondale, Alabama. Her school was recognized as a “Blue Ribbon” school, and she was invited to meet personally with President Clinton as part of this achievement. At retirement, she was offered to have the school named in her honor, but graciously declined, asking only that the school’s library Media Center be named after her. Ilene leaves her husband, Karl, her two sons, Robert (Carol) and Michael (Amy), two grandchildren, Mark (Eytal) and Melanie, and her great-granddaughter, Aria Isla. She is missed by all who had the good fortune to know and love this wonderful lady.

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

Faye Bleiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sophia Mallinger Faye Bleiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Krantz Sherry Cartiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sidney Posner Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max Goldston The Love and Rutman Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Cohen Herbert Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Shapiro

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday July 4: Irene Chizeck, Sarah Conn, Mary Galanty, Sara Itzkovitz, Regina Linder, Bennie Morgan, Harry J. Rosen, Henry Rudick, Anna Sambol, Ann Averbach Sarkin, Albert Sloan, Cantor Louis Strauss Monday July 5: Arthur Abelson, Sara Rider Brenner, Martin Fried, Rose Zelmanovitz Gottlieb, Myra Ruth Edelstein Harris, Harry M. Jacobson, Phyllis Kaiser, Morris Mermelstein, Rose Monheim, Harold L. Neuwirth, Esq., Frieda F. Riemer, Norman S. Rom, Louis Tucker Tuesday July 6: Ben Block, Hyman Chizeck, Minnie Cohen, Harry Kallus, Paul A. Kleinerman Wednesday July 7: Ella Amper, Marian S. Beck, Samuel H. Bigler, Tillie Dentel, Harry Louis Diamond, Sidney Elinow, Celia M. Elovitz, Meyer Feldman, Theresa Fried, Fannie Gross, Jacob M. Hepner, Helene Rose Hyman, Harry Latterman, Samuel Lederman, Benjamin Love, L. J. Marks, Tillie Michaelson, Philip Recht, Samuel Sanford Rosen, Celia Schlesinger, Louis Shapira, Nathan Sniderman, Herbert Speiser, Rose Stern, Frank Sussman Thursday July 8: Yetta Burke, Anna Goldberg Cody, David M. Fineman, Sigmund Fleisher, Sylvia Goldstein, Edith Lena Kaplan, Joseph Konigsberg, Harold Levy, Rose Liberman, Sylvia Weiner Markovitz, Theodore Marks, Samuel Recht, Sam Rosen, Sarah Rosenthal, Abraham Saffran, Mollie Slutsky, Isadore Sobel, Freda Tauberg, Bertha Harris Wolf Friday July 9: Dr. Nathan Ashinsky, Sarah L. Blumenthal, Samuel J. Cramer, Rae R. Granowitz, Leon Robert Greenberg, Tiby M. Grinberg, Louis Kitman, Milton Myer, Fannie Dvinsky Pollock, Jacob Stein, Alexander Udman, Joseph H. Wells, Rebecca Siegel Wilner, Mildred Marlin Wolovitz Saturday July 10: Leonard Barmak, Yolana Berger, Saul Cazen, Ben W. Closky, Celia Cohen, Rose Freed

JEWISH CEMETERY BURIAL ASSOCIATION O F G R E AT E R P I T T S B U R G H RESTORATION ✡ PRESERVATION ✡ CONTINUITY

A Notable Personality • Harry “Doc” Ratner-Pittsburgh

Harry “Doc” Ratner (1899-1965) was a beloved social worker and a key figure in the migration of the Jewish community from the Hill District to Squirrel Hill. He was associated with the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House and its successor agencies from 1916 to 1954. He started as a volunteer, became a social worker assigned to neighborhood boys and eventually became the business manager for the center. But mostly he was known as a constant friendly presence around the center, chatting with anyone about anything. Along with Joseph “Ziggy” Kahn, Doc was one of the founders of the Squirrel Hill Boys Club, which later became the Squirrel Hill IKC. Ratner’s family was well known in Squirrel Hill, both through Ratner’s Hardware on Murray Avenue and through the success of his daughter Iris Rainer Dart, author of eight best-selling novels, including Beaches, and Some Kind of Miracle, much of which takes place in Squirrel Hill.

Ratner’s Hardware was well known for its wide selection of hardware. The building that housed the store bore its motto, “If Ratner’s doesn’t have it, nobody does.” Ratner’s son, Elliot, who was the proprietor of Ratner’s Hardware for 42 years, is also buried at Beth Abraham Cemetery, as are Harry and his wife Rose. In 1978, the Ratner Family commissioned sculptor Daniel Kafri to design a large menorah outside the Jewish Community Center in his memory.

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

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

FEINBERG: Steven Feinberg, age 71, of Charleston, S outh Carolina, passed away suddenly on June 26, 2021. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh. He worked and lived in Pittsburgh, Chicago and Charleston. Steve was the husband, partner, soulmate and love of Nancy. Together for 40 years, they met in Pittsburgh, established a manufacturer’s representative business that took them traveling to the Far East with additional added adventures around the world. Steve and Nancy’s “Plan B” was to retire to their beloved Charleston, South Carolina. Here they have made a beautiful home and a circle of wonderful caring friends. He was the oldest son of Harry and Norma Feinberg, both deceased, and lifelong Pittsburghers. In addition to Nancy, he is survived by his sister, Terry Feinberg Steinberg (Kenny) and brother, Dr. Lee Feinberg (Janice), and uncles and aunts including Drs. Jack and Helaine Greenberg of Philadelphia, Leonard Feinberg of Massachusetts and Rhoda Feinberg of Arizona. Steve was immediately embraced by Nancy’s family, especially by her sister Marie Bohn and her husband Finn Bohn as well as Nancy’s brothers, Paul, Jim

and Bob and Marie’s daughters and many grandchildren. Steve moved into the role of family patriarch and is beloved and was “of counsel” to all of his siblings, nephews and nieces. Jonathan, Talia, and Maxwell Steinberg, Miriam and Ben Tillar, Jessica, Michael and Molly Feinberg will forever remember Uncle Steve, along with Aunt Nancy, as their trusted advisor, travel buddy, fellow merrymaker, “substitute” parent and friend. Steve was known worldwide by his business colleagues as a trusted salesman, a kind and thoughtful friend and a joyful, fun-loving companion. He leaves a multitude of close and caring friends from childhood through retirement. They all speak of his love of life, his playful and sunny demeanor and his ability to celebrate every day and occasion with zest, laughter and great humor. He will be forever remembered in all of these hearts as we strive to live a little bit more each day like he did. His funeral service was held at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in the J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Downtown Chapel and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/m_Wygn5g7MU.​Shiva and visitation were held at his home in Charleston. In lieu of flowers, those who wish to, can make a donation in Steve’s honor to B’Chavana (bchavana.org), Steve and Nancy’s synagogue in Chicago, or to the Green Heart Project, a community garden in Charleston that Steve and Nancy support, 759 King St. Suite A, Charleston, SC 29403.

May his memory be a blessing. A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting

our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.

MARGOLIS: Barbara Ruth Tex Margolis, 90, of Silver Spring, Mar y land, pass ed away on June 17, 2021.

Barbara, daughter of Joseph and Esther Tex, was born in Pittsburgh, graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and received a BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Barbara lived for 60 years in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where, in addition to raising her family, she worked for the Women’s Resource Center, the Uniontown School District and Fallingwater. For the past eight years, Barbara resided at Riderwood Village, a senior community in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her favorite activities included spending fun time with her grandchildren and spoiling them with her famous ice cream pie and nut rolls. She was an avid reader and had an underappreciated sense of humor.

She loved her dogs over the years, especially her beloved Lucy. Barbara had a special talent for growing plants and was known for her African violets and homegrown pickled tomatoes. A stylish lady, Barbara often wore outfits accessorized with a unique piece of African jewelry. She had a zest for life and adventure and traveled extensively including eight trips to Africa, two trips to Israel and several trips to Europe. She had a love for the theater, not only as an attendee but also as

a performer in summer stock productions, including “The Sound of Music” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” Volunteer work was important to Barbara, and she served in various organizations including the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Uniontown Hospital, and more recently, the Riderwood Welcoming and Scholarship Committees. Predeceased by her beloved husband Herbert of 67 years and sister Myrna Gust, Barbara is survived by her children James, Gary, Sara (Michel Pacqué) and Tom (Robin). She is also survived by grandchildren Derek (Lisa) Pacqué, Kyle and Malaika Pacqué, Rebecca (A. J.) Rossi, Joshua and Jennifer Margolis, and many devoted nieces and nephews. Donations in her memory can be made to the Riderwood Employees Scholarship Fund (elm.convio. net/RiderwoodSCH) or the charity of your choice. A private memorial service was held on June 20, 2021.

ROSENBLOOM: Sara Rosenbloom, on Saturday, June 26, 2021. Beloved wife of the late Dr. Lester Rosenbloom. Beloved mother of Marc Rosenbloom and Dr. Joel Rosenbloom. Sister of the late Roslyn Abramson, Miriam Becker and Lester Breakstone. Grandmother of Max, Tess, Zeke and Cole Rosenbloom. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 320 Bilmar Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205. schugar.com PJC

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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

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SHADYSIDE • $1,100,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVE. CONDO

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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.

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

5501 Baum Blvd.

Pittsburgh PA 15232 Shadyside Office | 412-361-4000

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 2, 2021 21

Community Summer fun begins

Helping out at Westinghouse Park

Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh campers enjoyed a fantastic first week.

Volunteers participated in a renovation project at Westinghouse Park on June 25. The event was organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, The Mission Continues and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

p There’s no masking how much fun Emma Kaufmann campers are having.

p Pennsylvania state Rep. Ed Gainey, right, cuts wood for park benches and ADAaccessible picnic tables.

p Even when it rains at James and Rachel Levinson Day Camp creativity abounds.

p Cindy Goodman-Leib joins in the effort.

p Fire and friendship combine at South Hills Day Camp

Photos courtesy of Emma Curtis via Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

22 JULY 2, 2021

p Volunteers paint a building during the June 25 event.

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Photos by James Musial

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Community Flower power

Machers and Shakers After 2020 student trips to Israel were cancelled due to the pandemic, the Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh has awarded to scholarships for structured summer 2021 study trips to Israel. David Eydelman, Leora Goldberg and Talia Itskowitz, as well as 2020 awardee Rachel Lessure, will each receive a $1,000 ZOA Scholarship. Applicants were evaluated based on their activities, both Jewish and secular, their volunteerism and on their essay entitled, “What the State of Israel and Zionism means to me.” Founded in 1962, the Israel Scholarship Program is ZOA: Pittsburgh’s oldest running activity. It was established on the belief that a trip to Israel would leave an indelible mark on Jewish teenagers and that the program complements what the students learn in the synagogue and at home. The scholarships are made possible with funding from endowments established by Avraham and Patti Anouchi; Harold and Marla Scheinman; the late Thelma Esman; the late Bernard and Esther Klionsky; and the Novick family, in loving memory of the late Ivan and Natalie Novick.

p From left: Sarah Greenwald, Stefanie Greene, Tori Weiner, Ronna Pratt, Eden Sittsamer and Alex Kimmel learned about flower arranging for centerpieces. The June 23 event, presented by the Young Adult Division (YAD) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, was YAD’s first in-person gathering in more than a year. Though outdoors, in Highland Park, participants maintained the recommended distance.

Photo courtesy of Toni Murray via Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

t David Eydelman is visiting Israel with the NCSY SUMMER program. He said in his essay, “With the help of ZOA, I can finally see Israel firsthand and be a part of this community I have been watching from the sidelines.

This could be a life-changing opportunity to strengthen that connection even further and learn even more about Israel.” David’s parents are Yakov and Svetlana Eydelman.

Looking through the window t Students from the Falk School graduating class of 2021 presented Rodef Shalom Congregation with the “Falk Window at Fifth.” The gift will be installed in the transom window above the door that was the students’ main entrance during their time at Rodef Shalom. The Shadysidebased congregation provided classroom space to Falk during the pandemic so that students and teachers could maintain appropriate distance for in-person instruction.

t Leora Goldberg is visiting Israel with the NCSY SUMMER program. In her essay she said, “I was born in Israel and left when I was one. Israel has a deep personal meaning to me, and I have longed to return. When Israel faces unfair scrutiny, I feel it is vital for me to go there so I can maintain the true and accurate image of Israel. I know how crucial it is for Israel to remain the home of the Jews.” Leora’s parents are Rachel Margolies and Ari Goldberg.

Photo by Matthew Falcone

School’s out for summer Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh celebrated the school year’s end by welcoming students, staff and families for an afternoon of outdoor fun on June 17.

t Talia Itskowitz is visiting Israel with the NCSY GIVE girls program. Talia wrote that when the Nazis came to her grandmother’s hometown in Hungary, “she was hidden in the back of a wagon and narrowly escaped certain death. Zionism is one of the most fundamental parts of my family’s history. I am here today because of my grandmother’s resilience and her faith in the land of Israel.” Talia is the daughter of Rina and Marc Itskowitz.

t Rachel Lessure’s 2020 trip was canceled, and she is thrilled to be able to visit Israel this year with the Camp Livingston Gesher Program. Rachel wrote that “Zionism is the restoration of our homeland and rebuilding our Jewish home. Protecting and rediscovering our ancient history and the revival of the Hebrew language have been a part of rebuilding Zion.

I want to experience and participate in the groundbreaking efforts of Zionism.” Rachel is the daughter of Melissa and Harold Lessure.

Photos courtesy of Stuart Pavilack via ZOA: Pittsburgh

p Aria Kohanbash has fun in the petting zoo.

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Photo by Rabbi Sam Weinberg

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 2, 2021 23

KOSHER MEATS

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

Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

Empire Kosher Chicken or Turkey Franks

2

16 oz. pkg.

79 ea.

save with your

Price effective Thursday, July 1 through Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Available at 24 JULY 2, 2021

and

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