August 5, 2022 | 8 Av 5782
Candlelighting 8:12 p.m. | Havdalah 9:14 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. XX | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Republican gubernatorial candidate goes off Gab Mastriano says he’s not antisemitic
Gesher HaChaim rethinks the post-Wasserman burial landscape
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Feeding those in need: New food storage shed is a gamechanger for Project Shifra By David Rullo | Staff Writer
Leave ’em laughing
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Carl Reiner honored at National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York
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A ‘very, very Jewish play’
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Please see Burials, page 12
Please see Shifra, page 12
Rabbi Daniel Wasserman teaches students how to build a casket. By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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we don’t want the frills. We don’t need a beautiful casket made out of who-knowswhat and hammered with nails because we don’t put nails in our caskets. We want it plain and simple.” Vogel stressed there are funeral homes available locally for those who want a more elaborate service — and that he is pleased they exist. But many Orthodox community members don’t want a formal funeral service, he said. “I’m a Lubavitcher and the Rebbe’s [funeral] wasn’t in a shul. It was from his office straight to the cemetery. That’s the way we do it,” Vogel said. “In Lubavitch, we don’t even do a eulogy. The Rebbe, who could have had beautiful eulogies, didn’t. It’s straight from the taharah to the burial.” Vogel said that by conducting burials in this manner the service is completed for a fraction of the cost. Stephanie Small, president of Gesher HaChaim’s newly constituted board, said Wasserman took pains to select volunteers willing to help the burial society before
he Aleph Institute’s Project Shifra helps more than 80 families weekly with their food needs. Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, executive director of the Aleph Institute, communicates directly to families through a WhatsApp group when fresh food arrives. Until a few weeks ago, time was of the essence. The program’s ability to store food was limited and Vogel worried that some of it would go bad before those in need had the chance to pick it up. Shifra had only one stand-alone refrigerator/freezer located behind the Aleph Institute that Vogel used for perishables, including dairy products. Food that didn’t need to be refrigerated was left near the back door of the building on Beacon Street. That meant easy access for those who needed the food — but squirrels, birds and other “non-human” city residents would sometimes have the first pick of the products. Shifra is now able to ensure those getting the food are the families in need — either those in Vogel’s WhatsApp group or community members who learn of the deliveries through the Jewish Pittsburgh group on Facebook — thanks to a new 10-footby-16-foot “Shifra Shed” that contains an industrial freezer, a separate industrial refrigeration unit and shelves for bread and other non-perishable items. A new keypad lock keeps the food secure. “Squirrels do not know how to get in,” Vogel said. Vogel noted that during the pandemic, Shifra distributed more than $130,000 in food. Demand hasn’t slowed over the last year.
t isn’t easy replacing Rabbi Daniel Wasserman. Just ask the new board helping to steer Gesher HaChaim in Pittsburgh. For more than a decade, the burial society was a passion project of the rabbi who served as its president and did everything from picking up deceased community members to building caskets. No detail, it seemed, was too insignificant for Wasserman, who worked to ensure a dignified funeral for all in need. Now that Wasserman has left his post as rabbi at Shaare Torah Congregation and is moving to Israel, a committee will oversee the work of Gesher HaChaim, explained Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, the executive director of the Aleph Institute who worked with Wasserman as part of the Vaad Harabonim of Pittsburgh. Gesher HaChaim, Vogel said, began as an alternative to traditional funeral homes for the Orthodox community. “It provides that resource without the frills,” he said. “In the Orthodox community,
Photo by Adam Reinherz