Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 6-3-22

June 3, 2022 | 4 Sivan 5782

Candlelighting 8:28 p.m. | Havdalah 9:36 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 22 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A new role for Rabbi Aaron Bisno

Jewish community grapples with another mass shooting

Rodef Shalom and senior rabbi looking to pave a path forward

Page 2

LOCAL

Tzohar Seminary expands offerings, creates Tzohar Arts

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

L

Jewish Pittsburgher honored

by Pro Football Hall of Fame

 Robb Elementary School in Ulvade, Texas

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Joe Gordon’s winning career

$1.50

Page 3

LOCAL Who was August Wilson’s Doc Goldblum?

Research confirms real-life identity

Page 8

T

he Jewish community is once again trying to make sense of an outburst of violence.

Nineteen children and two adults were killed on May 24 at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — the second-deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at his Squirrel Hill synagogue, said he has recited Psalm 21 each morning since the Pittsburgh shooting, the most violent antisemitic incident in United States history. Eleven worshipers at Congregation Dor Hadash, New Light Congregation and Tree of Life were killed amid Shabbat prayers that day. “‘I lift my eyes to the heavens; from where shall my help come? My help comes from God, Maker of the heavens and the earth.’ This morning, as I lifted my eyes, tears fell,” Myers wrote to the Chronicle following the murders in Uvalde. He added that “the pain of surviving the attack here in Pittsburgh once again feels fresh in my mind after yesterday’s horrific massacre at an elementary school.”

Myers said the community mourns with the families and friends of those murdered and offered prayers of comfort and healing for the children “who are now forever

changed by what they witnessed.”

“And tomorrow,” he said, “we must all return to and wrestle with God’s question for us: ‘why?’”

Reaction came swiftly from Jewish organizations following news of the shooting.

The Rabbinical Assembly, the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, issued a statement calling the murders “heartbreaking.”

“Children must be more precious to American than guns,” the statement began.

It concluded by urging lawmakers to take all measures possible to limit the availability of guns, and added, “As our tradition reminds us, ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor’ (Leviticus 19:16).”

The Union of Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center issued a similar statement, saying in part, “God forgive this country for loving guns more than children.”

It is past time for the Jewish community to mobilize to end American gun violence, Rabbi Menachem Creditor, founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence, told the Chronicle.

“We used to say, organizationally, this wasn’t our fight,” said Creditor, who is the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar-in-Residence at UJA-Federation of New York. “We learned this is our fight. It should have always been seen as our fight because loving

ike Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel, whose amps famously went to 11, Amy Guterson understands the value of moving beyond 10.

Guterson is the founder and artistic director of Tzohar Seminary, currently celebrating its 11th year.

The seminary is a post-high school program for girls that enables them to integrate their creative talents with the teachings of Chasidic Judaism.

Guterson grew up in an Orthodox home but stepped away from her observance while working as an actor in New York, she said. When she eventually returned to her Orthodox roots, she wanted to find a way to combine Torah study, Chasidism and the arts.

It was important for her, she said, to create a space where young women could embrace all parts of themselves — including their artistic side.

As it moves beyond its first decade, Tzohar Seminary is expanding. A new umbrella organization, Tzohar Arts, was created that includes Tzohar Seminary, Tzohar Women and Torah Arts programs.

Rabbi Dovid Hordiner, director of education for Tzohar Seminary, said the expansion is an outgrowth of a program started in 2015 called “Parsha Through the Arts.”

The seminary has piloted that program at Yeshiva Schools, he said. Students from Tzohar Seminary are trained in education and teaching and use that training to teach students at the day school lessons based on the weekly Torah portion using art.

“For example, if we’re trying to teach how God is present in our lives, even if we don’t see Him, that might be reflected through

Please see Shooting, page 14

Please see Tzohar, page 14

Photo by Don Holloway, courtesy of flickr.com

Headlines Rodef Shalom to create new position for Rabbi Aaron Bisno — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

T

he lay leadership of Rodef Shalom Congregation announced that it has made “significant progress” in ironing out the details of Rabbi Aaron Bisno’s future relationship with the congregation.

Bisno, senior rabbi of the congregation since 2004, was placed on administrative leave late last year. Although the specific reasons for that leave were not disclosed to Rodef Shalom’s membership, a Feb. 11 email to congregants from the board said that “personnel allegations” and “workplace culture concerns” had been brought forth relative to Bisno.

Many Rodef Shalom congregants were bewildered by the board’s actions and its lack of transparency. They still don’t know what Bisno is accused of doing.

After Bisno was placed on leave, the congregation engaged a firm outside Pittsburgh to “conduct an independent, thorough, and objective investigation,” the Feb. 11 email to the congregation from the board stated. That firm interviewed current and former employees, as well as Bisno.

While the board declined to share details of the investigation for “legal reasons,” it confirmed that the investigation “did not identify any illegal actions.”

In a May 27 email to members, the president of Rodef Shalom, Matthew Falcone, revealed what he described as “preliminary, but promising news,” while acknowledging the “deep divide within our congregation.”

After three days of mediation, Rodef Shalom and Bisno “are heading toward an arrangement under which Rabbi Bisno will remain a part of the Rodef Shalom family, focusing his energies on teaching and

 Rabbi Aaron Bisno

Photo provided by Rabbi Aaron Bisno

writing, and being available to members,” Falcone’s email said.

The board also will begin a search for an interim rabbi to work alongside Rabbi Sharyn Henry to “provide spiritual direction for the congregation,” according to Falcone’s email.

“We spent a lot of time in the mediation process, and I think we are in a really good place to move forward,” Falcone told the Chronicle.

Bisno’s new position will allow him to use his “strengths as a writer, teacher and pastor to best serve the congregation,” Falcone

added. “We are pleased to have found a role that allows Rabbi Bisno to remain part of the Rodef Shalom family.”

The board hopes to have the agreement with Bisno finalized by the beginning of July.

In a written statement to the congregation contained within Falcone’s May 27 email, Bisno wrote: “After nearly 18 years as your Senior Rabbi, I am incredibly proud of all we have shared. Over and above the true friendships I have created with many of you, I am most proud of the ways in which, over the last two decades, we embraced and embarked upon a vision of inclusion and collaboration appropriate for the 21st century. This strategy of being open to change allowed us to recruit and train the most diverse staff in our history, to build new and productive relationships within the Jewish community and, especially in these last two years, to establish new partnerships across Pittsburgh’s wider interfaith and non-profit communities.

“All of these successes will serve our Temple well as we move fully into the future,” Bisno continued. “And now, as I anticipate transitioning from my day-to-day responsibilities as Rodef Shalom’s Senior Rabbi to the next chapter of my professional life, I look forward to continuing to share in your lives and that of Rodef Shalom Congregation, more generally. May our beloved Temple be strengthened by our good actions towards one another always.”

Falcone acknowledged “it’s been a tremendously difficult time for Rodef Shalom.” He said he hopes its membership can put “the anger and divisiveness behind us so we can move forward as one congregation.”

“We have a lot of very good people,” he said. “These have been very trying times, and we are stronger together.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Steelers PR maven Joe Gordon honored by Pro Football Hall of Fame — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

legendary member of the Pittsburgh Steelers is being recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite never wearing cleats on Sundays.

Joe Gordon, the Steelers’ longtime public relations expert, is one of 20 recipients of the Hall of Fame’s inaugural “Awards of Excellence.”

Awardees will have their name inscribed inside a designated area of the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and are invited to attend a series of festivities during the 2022 Enshrinement Week this August, according to Steelers.com.

Gordon, 86, told the Chronicle he was “honored and overwhelmed” by the recognition and credited the Steelers organization with helping him achieve such success.

During Gordon’s 29-year tenure between 1969 and 1998, he worked with 10 Hall of Fame players, one Hall of Fame coach and two Hall of Fame owners. Operating alongside the illustrious group, which won four Super Bowls in six years, was a dream, he said: “I was there at the best of times, and I had the best people.”

Gordon dedicated himself to the Steelers

for nearly three decades, but his love of sports developed much earlier.

He was born in Oakland, grew up in Squirrel Hill and was bar mitzvahed at Tree of Life Congregation on June 13, 1949. He remembers that the ceremony was delayed.

“It was supposed to be in December of ‘48, but I broke my arm playing hockey,” Gordon said.

After reaching the bimah at Tree of Life, Gordon returned repeatedly. He remains an active member, he said, and attends services to mark the yahrzeits of his parents and brother.

He also remains a “sports junkie,” he said.

Gordon played basketball at Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill and played three years of varsity baseball and a year of freshman basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. After earning a degree in business administration, he spent six years in the Army before returning to Pittsburgh, eventually finding work with the Pittsburgh Rens, a member of the short-lived American Basketball League. Once the league folded, Gordon went into sales before joining the Pittsburgh Hornets, a minor league hockey team. Three years later, Gordon accepted a position with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Finally, in 1969 — the same year Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll was hired — Gordon joined the Steelers as its public relations expert, a one-man operation.

Mazel Tov!

 Joe Gordon

Photo by Philip Marcus

The Steelers dominance throughout the 1970s amplified Gordon’s prominence within the NFL and led to countless opportunities to partner with local and national journalists.

“I was very, very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time,” Gordon said.

Between 1970 and 1979, the Steelers made the playoffs eight times and won four Super Bowls.

That success generated a sometimes overwhelming increase in exposure and media demands, but Gordon said the Steelers’ ownership “had a lot of confidence in me.”

Steelers President Art Rooney II told Steelers.com: “Joe was a real people person who was able to manage the relationship between the media and the players and the others in the organization. He brought everybody together and made sure the right stories got told and sometimes made sure the wrong stories didn’t get told. He worked tirelessly.”

Gordon considered Rooney’s father, the late Dan Rooney, “like an older brother.”

He praised the organization for its professionalism and for allowing him to enjoy a fulfilling career.

Reaching the milestone is a credit to teamwork and the dedication so many people showed throughout the years, Gordon said.

“I told Joe Greene when he called me to congratulate me on getting the Award of Excellence that it would not have been possible without you guys, all the Hall of Famers and the coaches,” he said. “During that period, we had a great relationship, and I think that had a lot to do with the reputation that I have.” PJC

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

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Headlines Two Lebanon wars, Operation Defensive Shield: A native Pittsburgher’s duties as IDF doctor — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

W

hen Shepherd Singer left Squirrel Hill and landed in Israel several decades ago, he “fell in love at first sight,” the 59-year-old IDF vet told the Chronicle while in Pittsburgh visiting his mother, Susan Singer, last week.

Singer was a student at Taylor Allderdice when he learned of the Mollie Goodman Academic High School, based in Ashkelon and established by the Zionist Organization of America. The institution provided students with “the benefits of a high standard of secondary education, together with a knowledge of Judaism and exposure to the pioneering spirit of Israel, following a curriculum patterned after United States high schools,” JTA reported when the school opened in 1967.

Singer headed to Israel.

“I got off the plane, looked at the green fields and was like, ‘I am home,’” he recalled.

At the end of the year, Singer told his parents he wanted to return for 12th grade.

They obliged and, upon graduating, Singer told them he wanted to join the Israeli army.

“That’s when they said, ‘no,’” Singer said.

Not yet a legal adult, Singer returned to Pittsburgh and enrolled in Kenyon College.

After six weeks of classes, he left, worked as a carpenter for six months, saved enough money for a ticket, and on his 18th birthday (Oct. 11, 1981) returned to Israel, where he quickly obtained citizenship and a date to enlist in the IDF. “I was gleaming with happiness,” Singer said.

As a lone soldier in basic training, he was given a week to go back to Pittsburgh and visit family; however, his time in the States proved shorter.

In London, on June 3, 1982, Palestinian members of the Abu Nidal terrorist organization shot Shlomo Argov, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, in the head.

“Not since the slaying of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 has a hit team made war such a likely outcome,” The Guardian reported.

On June 6, the IDF invaded Lebanon.

Singer was still in Pittsburgh when he “heard on CBS News that my guys went in,” he recalled.

He quickly changed his ticket and flew back to Israel only to discover the roads into Lebanon were “jammed.” He found an officer at the airport, took a helicopter to Lebanon, commandeered a car and met up with fellow

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JUNE 3, 2022

 Retired Major Dr. Roee Singer

members of the Golani infantry brigade.

After the First Lebanon War, Singer returned to Israel, became an IDF officer and entered medical school. He trained in field surgery, hoping to become a doctor for the Golani brigade, but was told the IDF needed a physician with Israel’s 890th paratrooper battalion, so he complied.

Years passed, Singer married, he and his wife welcomed children, but life didn’t grow quieter. During Passover 2002, amid a month of repeated terrorist attacks, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 30 people at the Park Hotel in Netanya.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Knesset members the IDF and other security forces would embark on Operation Defensive Shield with a goal of “uprooting” terrorists.

Sharon’s orders to the IDF were clear: “target and paralyze anyone who takes up weapons and tries to oppose our troops, resists them or endanger them — and to avoid harming the civilian population.”

On April 3 — the seventh day of Passover — instead of sitting around the holiday table, Singer was seated in “an armored personnel carrier on the way to Nablus,” he said.

The wartime experience differed greatly from his introduction to battle.

“In Lebanon One, I was not fired upon,” Singer said. “This was my baptism under fire.”

Singer said Operation Defensive Shield was a “successful campaign” and praised the IDF for “going into the hornet’s nest and addressing the problem there.”

But four years later, Singer found himself amid another conflict. Following Hezbollah’s July 12, 2006, cross-border raid from Lebanon into Israel, he was contacted by his commander and told to report to Israel’s northern border.

“Our guys were already in Lebanon,” Singer said.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo courtesy of Roee Singer

After reaching a suburb of Bint Jbeil, where his fellow paratroopers had gathered, Singer spent the first day or two, he said, sitting on the floor of a mansion, eating sandwiches and reading Gemara. Then, suddenly, gunfire erupted.

“They knew we were here,” he said.

As the IDF soldiers took their positions, Singer remained seated.

“My job is to watch over them and let them do their work,” he said.

Singer quietly read Tractate Yoma of the Babylonian Talmud when he heard a missile hit the roof of his building. He donned his helmet, ascended the stairs and discovered three IDF soldiers in a pile, “one on top of the other,” he said. “The power of the missiles swung them around like a tornado on the roof.”

Off to the side, 20 feet from the injured group, Singer saw one dead soldier, and three wounded, who required attention. But he couldn’t administer treatment there.

“We were open to more missile fire,” he said.

After the wounded were moved four stories down from the roof, Singer and his medics tried to stop the bleeding. Efforts were largely successful, Singer said, except one soldier required additional care.

Singer and the medics finally tied the soldier down to a stretcher and managed to get his bleeding under control.

“Now we had to carry these guys to the evacuation point, and that means going out the doors, and Hezbollah knows you’re there,” Singer said. “I heard an incredible outbreak of gunfire. It was our guys shooting in front.”

IDF soldiers created an “evacuation envelope” so Singer and his team could walk half Please see Singer, page 15

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Headlines Jewish women in business: Meet Sharon Ryave Brody — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

S

haron Ryave Brody is passionate about three things: family, the Pittsburgh Jewish community and educating the next generation of leaders.

Ryave Brody is the owner and president of Ralph Schugar Chapel in Pittsburgh’s East End. For nearly 50 years, the Jewish funeral home has shepherded families through some of their most personal experiences.

The family business has thrived, Ryave Brody said, because of the example set by her father, Arnold Ryave.

“I was only 18 when my father died,” she said. “I met so many people at his funeral and heard over and over, ‘Your father did so much for me; I would do anything for you because of how your dad helped me.’

I didn’t even know these people. One after another told me my father was a mensch.

That’s my motivation. I think about my dad and what he did for people, quietly and under the radar.”

Ryave Brody said her father joined her grandfather, Jacob Ryave, at Blank Brothers Funeral Home after serving in World War II. While they were working at the Craft Avenue business, Ralph Schugar, who operated the Ralph Schugar Chapel, died, and Arnold Ryave was offered the opportunity to buy the funeral home from Schugar’s widow.

“I remember my parents sat me and my brother down when I was a little girl and told us, ‘We have this opportunity. We’re going to do this and it’s going to be hard, and you might not have everything you want but we’re going to try and make it work,’” Ryave Brody recalled. “I remember the conversation because it felt bigger than I understood.”

Arnold Ryave did, in fact, make it work.

He died in 1985, the same day his son, David, who was studying at mortuary school, took his boards and received his license. He was just 21.

It was David Ryave who turned Schugar’s into a “family business,” Ryave Brody said.

After observing shiva for his father, David Ryave began running the funeral home.

“It was about a week into it,” Ryave Brody said. “He called my mother, Gail, and said, ‘I need you to come answer the phones.’ My mother came to work and never left. She died at 73, but even the day we found out

 Sharon Ryave Brody

Photo courtesy of Sharon Ryave Brody

she was sick, she was here at work.”

It wasn’t long before David called his sister, asking for her help as well.

“I was working in an office as a receptionist, and I got a call from my brother,” Ryave Brody recalled. “He said he needed me at the funeral home, so I quit my job and came here. That’s what a family business is — that’s what was asked of me and who doesn’t show up for their family?”

Ryave Brody, who studied at the Institute of Mortuary Science, serving as president of her class, became the first Jewish woman to become a licensed funeral home director in Pittsburgh. She took over the business when her brother died in 2015.

“I came into this business as the third generation of Ryave funeral directors,” she said. “My family’s history and service to our

community was already established.”

And while she said she always had a head for business, her relationships in the community were enhanced by working alongside her mother and brother.

It was through those informal interactions that she learned the most important lesson in her business: All that matters is that people can rely on and believe in those with whom they are entrusting their loved ones.

Ralph Schugar is the only Jewish family-owned funeral home in the city, Ryave Brody said, adding that her family’s values are never far from its business practices.

For example, if needed, Ralph Schugar provides a funeral and casket free of charge for qualified families, with the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association providing the grave.

“That being said, not everyone qualifies, and that’s where I pick up the slack,” she said.

“I was taught to never turn anyone away.

We’re here to help people. Death is one of our basic necessities. We don’t ask to be born, and we don’t ask to die, but it happens, and we have to take care of our dead. Everyone deserves a proper burial, and we happen to be experts in a proper Jewish burial.”

Ryave Brody said she’s passionate about helping young people get their start in business.

The fourth generation of the family has joined Ralph Schugar Chapel. Ryave Brody has two sons working there now and will be attending mortuary school in the fall.

She also believes in supporting women in the business. Of the dozen employees working at Ralph Schugar, only three are male, she said.

The funeral home provides practicum, or unpaid internships, for mortuary school students — which are required to obtain licenses to work in the field. The practicum pass along lessons to the next generation of morticians, Ryave Brody said. But, she added, the relationship goes both ways.

“I’ve gone from being one of the youngest people at Schugar’s to one of the oldest,” she said. “The next generation has a lot to teach me — technology and the way they see the world. I’m learning so much. We need their energy.”

Ryave Brody’s support for the Jewish community doesn’t end at the door to her business, she said.

“There are a few things I feel really passionate about,” she said. “One of them is supporting Jewish businesses. If we don’t support Jewish businesses, we run the risk of them disappearing. It’s important to support synagogues, too. If we’re not joining and supporting synagogues, they’re going to disappear.”

For Ryave Brody, Ralph Schugar Chapel has afforded a generational bridge for her family while providing an essential service to the Pittsburgh Jewish community.

“The biggest blessing is that I get to work with my family,” she said. “ I had all those years working with my mother and brother.

Now, I get to see my two sons every day, working and serving the Jewish community together. That’s been very special.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

JCC collecting new stuffed animals and books for children of Uvalde

T

he Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness, in collaboration with the 10.27 Healing Partnership, is collecting new stuffed animals and books for children in Uvalde, Texas.

On May 24, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 19 children and two teachers. He was shot after more than 40 minutes by a Border Patrol team.

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Donations to the “Build a Hug” drive will be boxed and sent to the Herby Ham Activity Center in Uvalde for distribution to children in the community traumatized by the shooting.

The Center for Loving Kindness and 10.27 Healing Partnership connected with the Herby Ham Activity Center, a community center three miles from the school, following the shooting, JCC officials said. The Herby Ham Activity Center’s Project Grace provides a safe

space for children experiencing trauma.

“Showing love and support for a community experiencing pain is at the core of our values,” said Rabbi Ron Symons, director of the JCC Center for Loving Kindness. “That is why it is important we stand with a fellow community center which will act as a place of healing for the people of Uvalde.”

Donations of new stuffed animals and books should be dropped off by Friday, June

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

3, at the JCC Squirrel Hill’s garage entrance, 5738 Forbes Ave., during operating hours.

Donations can also be delivered to the JCC South Hills, main entrance, 345 Kane Blvd. All stuffed animals donated must be brand-new and still have tags on; elementary school-level books donated must also be brand-new. PJC — Toby Tabachnick JUNE 3, 2022

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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, JUNE 3 The National Council of Jewish Women presents a free monthly working mom’s group as a place to get support personally and network professionally.

Facilitated by Dionna Rojas-Orta. Noon. ncjwpghevents.org/events/working-moms-supportgroup-drop-in-virtual-2022-06-03-12-00. q SATURDAY, JUNE 4 Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community in person for Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a night of Jewish learning.

Presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, featuring well-known local rabbis and thinkers. Vaccinations required (honor system, no check-in). No registration, free and open to the public. JCC Squirrel Hill, 5738 Forbes Ave. jewishpgh.org/tikkun-2022. q SUNDAY, JUNE 5 Celebrate Shavuot and hear the Ten Commandments for the 3,334th time at Chabad of the South Hill’s Ice Cream, Tacos and Ten Commandments. Make your own ice cream taco. 11:30 a.m. 1701 McFarland Road. Rickel@Chabadsh.com or tinyurl.com/ ICE-CREAM-TACO. q SUNDAYS, JUNE 5-JULY 10 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to

discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, JUNE 6-JULY 11 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 Classrooms Without Borders, presents Confronting the Complexity of Holocaust Scholarship: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Holocaust Studies. In this final session, Jonathan Friedman will be joined in conversation with Michael Bernbaum discussing the use of comedy as a literary form to depict Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich and the Holocaust. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders. org/confronting_the_complexity_of_holocaust_ scholarship. q WEDNESDAYS, JUNE 8 -JUNE 22 The new six-week Rohr Jewish Learning Institute course, The Values That Shape Judaism’s Civil Code, examines a number of key legal issues that disclose fundamental ethical considerations that serve as the engine of Jewish civil law. Class offered online or in person at Chabad of the South Hills. $95 individual/$170 couple. 7:30 p.m. chabadsh.com. q WEDNESDAYS, JUNE 8 -JULY 13 Bring the parshah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful. Study the weekly Torah

portion with Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman. 12:15 p.m. bethshalompgh.org/life-text.

Join Temple Sinai to study the weekly Torah portion in its hybrid class available on Zoom.

Open to everyone. Noon. templesinaipgh.org/ event/parashah/weekly-torah-portion-classvia-zoom11.html. q THURSDAY, JUNE 9 Classrooms Without Borders presents a post-film discussion of “The Fourth Window” with filmmaker Yair Qedar moderated by Avi Ben Hur. The film explores the life of Israeli writer Amos Oz. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/post-film-discussionfourth-window. q SUNDAY, JUNE 12 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Foundation for its spring/summer virtual learning experience with Rabbi Danny Schiff.

Sessions include “The Rabbinic Grill,” “Antisemitism: A Brief History of Why They Hate Us” and “How the Bible Changed Ethics Forever.” For class times and schedule and to register online, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org/learning.

Join Congregation Beth Shalom for its Sisterhood Torah Fund Brunch honoring Dr. Lidush Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt is a longtime member of Beth Shalom, a former member of the board of trustees, and has been an active member of Sisterhood and Na’amat. 10 a.m. 5915 Beacon Street. bethshalompgh.org.

Join Congregation Dor Hadash for a hybrid

screening of the documentary “A Kiss to This Land,” presented both on Zoom and in person. The film presents the oral history of seven Jewish individuals who immigrated to Mexico in the early 20th century.

1:30 p.m. Location TBA. eventbrite.com/e/filmscreening-a-kiss-to-this-land-tickets-344963694697.

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh welcomes Father John Neiman on what would have been Anne Frank’s 93rd birthday. Neiman first read Anne Frank’s diary when he was 10 years old. He will recount the story of his friendship with Frank’s father, Otto, and Miep Gies, as well as discuss the Holocaust. Q&A will follow. Presented both in person and online. 3 p.m. eventbrite.com/e/father-johnneiman-tickets-311834905597. q WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 The Squirrel Hill chapter of AARP will hold its last meeting before its summer break at Rodef Shalom Congregation, Falk Library. Barry Werber will install new officers; entertainment will be provided by Cathi Rhodes. Refreshments will be served. 1 p.m.

Call Marcia Kramer, 412-656-5803, with questions. q THURSDAY, JUNE 30 Join the Jewish Association on Aging (JAA) at its annual fundraiser, the Art of Aging, for an evening of food, art and community. Guests will enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres followed by a unique and energetic hour-long performance by speed-painting group, The 3 Painters. After the show, the paintings created on stage will be auctioned. Contact Ashley Crosby at acrosby@jaapgh.org or at 412-586-2690 for assistance. 6 p.m. Stage AE, 4000 North Shore Drive. artofagingpgh.planningpod.com. PJC

Rodef Shalom headed toward historic landmark designation — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

R

odef Shalom Congregation is steps away from being enshrined as an integral part of Pittsburgh’s history.

Legislation recognizing the Reform temple’s historic designation — potentially the first in the city dedicated to a Jewish place of worship — passed a standing committee of Pittsburgh City Council on May 25, and is up for a full council vote this week. After that, if it passes muster, it will be sent to Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey for signing.

“It’s had a lot of different steps along the way,” said Matthew Falcone, president of Rodef Shalom’s board of trustees, and an ardent supporter of the designation process.

“There were several commissions — the historic review commission and the planning commission — then city council, then the mayor’s office.”

“There’s always been this connection to how Rodef Shalom’s history ties into Pittsburgh’s collective history,” he added.

“The process has been amazing.”

Rodef Shalom officials, during the congregation’s 165th anniversary in November 2021, submitted a 70-page application to the City of Pittsburgh seeking the designation as a historic city landmark. The designation sought to affirm the temple’s importance in the growth and fabric of the Steel City and protect the site from ill-intended changes or redevelopment.

Rodef Shalom, which is considered the oldest and largest synagogue in western 6

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Pittsburgh. At that building’s dedication in 1862, it was the only synagogue in western Pennsylvania.

Rodef Shalom soon established itself as a leader among some American congregations in the transition from Orthodox to Reform Judaism. In 1863, a majority of Rodef Shalom’s congregation voted to realign its practices with Reform Judaism: Services were shortened, women were permitted to sit with men in the sanctuary, men p Rodef Shalom Congregation were not required to wear Photo courtesy of Rodef Shalom Congregation yarmulkes or prayer shawls and an organ was introPennsylvania, grew in jumps and starts duced to accompany traditional songs. over many years.

In 1885, the congregation’s spiritual leader, In 1847, 12 Jewish immigrants formed a Rabbi Lippman Mayer, hosted a national burial society to establish a Jewish cemetery convention of like-minded rabbis that led to on Troy Hill, according to the congregation’s the Pittsburgh Platform. “It held that Judaism historic designation paperwork. The next was a religion, not a nation; that the Bible was year, the group began meeting in a rented an ethical guide, not the infallible word of God; room for religious services as the Orthodox and that American Jews need not keep kosher,” Shaare Shamayim congregation. according to the application for historic landIn 1855, the membership of Shaare mark designation. The Pittsburgh Platform Shamayim split, and Rodef Shalom, or guided Reform Judaism until 1937, when the “the pursuer of peace,” arose. The German movement adopted a different platform. congregation’s first home was a rented hall Since the 1970s, Rodef Shalom’s building on St. Clair Street in the city of Allegheny has been listed on the National Register of in 1859. Shaare Shamayim merged back Historic Places. Researchers Jeff Slack and with Rodef Shalom in 1860 when the latter Angelique Bamberg, Cornell University congregation started a day school and bought alums who worked together on the historic property on Eighth Street in downtown designation application for several months,

said the national designation is almost entirely honorific.

Slack worked on researching Rodef Shalom’s architecture and design, looking for “character-defining features that allow us to see and understand the significance of the property,” he said. Bamberg focused more on the congregation’s social and cultural history.

Pittsburgh City Councilperson Erika Strassburger, whose district includes Rodef Shalom, spoke on the congregation’s behalf at a recent hearing.

“Rodef Shalom has played an integral role in Pittsburgh’s history, not only for congregants but for the city as a whole,” Strassburger told the Chronicle afterward. “Most would look at this gem of a building and assume it was already designated as historic; I’m happy to play a small role in making that a reality.”

If signed by Gainey, the legislation could provide “another avenue” for Rodef Shalom to seek funding — grants and otherwise — for building upkeep and restoration, Falcone said.

“It shows it’s important to everyone, that it contributes to the public good,” he said.

If approved, the congregation would celebrate the designation in November — during the 166th anniversary of the temple and, also, the anniversary of the Pittsburgh Platform, Falcone said.

“We’re looking forward to having a celebration and a historic designation unveiling, too,” he said. “It would be lovely and something we’re looking forward to.” PJC

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Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Headlines June 5 concert aims to combat stigma around mental health

 Flavio Chamis, second from left, joins members of Infinity

 Members of Infinity Musical Group

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

O

rganizers of an upcoming concert hope to promote mental health awareness and raise funds for needed services.

The June 5 program at Carnegie Music Hall features international opera singer Marianne Cornetti and several other performers, including Flavio Chamis, as well as peers of UPMC Western Behavioral Health.

Cornetti — hailed as one of the world’s leading Verdi mezzo-sopranos — has long advocated for greater mental health awareness and said she hopes that assembling such a talented group will help educate the public.

“The best way to combat the stigma about mental health is putting it out there,” Cornetti said.

Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a

Photos courtesy of UPMC Creative Services

mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Conditions range in severity, but the pandemic was especially difficult, the National Alliance on Mental Illness reported: One in 20 U.S. adults experienced a serious mental illness; one in 15 experienced a substance use disorder and mental illness; and more than 12 million U.S. adults had serious thoughts of suicide.

Cornetti hopes the performance will inspire concert-goers to reconsider their approach to mental health.

“If our heart isn’t working correctly, we fix it. If our stomach is upset, we fix it. Why does that stigma remain with our mind?” she said.

Cornetti lectures at Carnegie Mellon University and has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. Her promotion of the concert follows work with UPMC on related mental health projects, including “Holidays from the Heart,” a fundraising campaign of

Making Minds Matter at UPMC Western Behavioral Health.

Chamis, a Brazilian Jewish composer, conductor, educator and producer, helped Cornetti organize the concert. He also has worked with UPMC Western Behavioral Health, most notably through the musical group Infinity. Consisting of two singers, a guitarist and bass player — each of whom was diagnosed with schizophrenia — the ensemble members are all musicians and patients at UPMC Western Behavioral Health.

“I have done a lot of things in my life, but this one is so rewarding,” Chamis said of his five-year involvement with the musical group.

Watching the group’s growth, while helping it with arrangements, advice and rehearsal supervision, has shown Chamis that “they are not passive listeners; they are active musicians,” he said. More importantly, Infinity is proof that “a mental health diagnosis is not a sentence of a noncreative life.”

Chamis pointed to composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, Louis-Hector Berlioz and Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff as “geniuses of humanity” who also had serious mental health concerns but created artistic treasures.

Cornetti agreed and said that many popular musicians are placed on a pedestal without society realizing the isolation and personal suffering they privately faced.

Organizers hope the concert will help the region develop work that’s already occurred nationally, Chamis said. For example, in 2017 the National Institutes of Health and the National Symphony Orchestra partnered on a project titled “Sound Health,” researching the relationship between music and wellness. The initiative now includes the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is helping the public better understand how the brain interacts with music, according to the NIH. Chamis said money raised from the concert will help local professionals perform similar work and provide necessary funding for regional services.

UPMC Western Behavioral Health is a network of nearly 60 community-based programs in western Pennsylvania that provide specialized mental health and addiction care services.

Cornetti said she’s worked with several individuals who’ve received care from UPMC Western Behavioral Health and said she hopes others will come to appreciate what she’s learned.

“We think that performers, entertainers or people out in the public eye don’t suffer from these things, but they do,” she said. “We are just like anybody else. We all need to be more educated about mental illness and absolutely break the stigma.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Federation to sponsor free active threat training at JCC

T

he Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s security team is partnering with a nationally known trainer to provide free active threat training for the community on Sunday, June 12, and Sunday, July 17.

The training will be led by David Wright, a retired police officer with more than 25 years of experience. Wright is a black belt

instructor in Krav Maga and a Krav Maga Force Division instructor, and a master instructor in police defensive tactics. For 20 years, he was the lead use of force instructor for the Pittsburgh Police, where he was responsible for developing, monitoring and teaching police self-defense. He has trained police and military personnel from across the world.

The training will be held at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill.

This four-part class is an advanced, expanded version of Community Active Threat Training and will address the following topics: the mind of an active shooter, predator versus prey, situational awareness and survival mindset; basic

self-defense, using techniques such as Krav Maga; weapons awareness and disarming techniques; and advanced defensive tactics, including team tactics and reality-based training.

To register, go to jewishpgh.org/ security/. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

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Headlines ‘Doc Goldblum’ from August Wilson’s plays was real-life Hill District physician — LOCAL —

The two mentions in “Seven Guitars” come during the same conversation when Louise tells Hedley to go across the street and see Doc Goldblum who only charges $2. “You can get some real medicine,” she says. Canewell later indicates that his own medicinal practice is on par with Albert Goldblum’s when he tells Louise that his plant-based medicine is real.

“Where do you think Doc Goldblum get his medicine from?” he asks.

By Michael Downing | Special to the Chronicle

“Dr. Goldblum don’t charge but two dollars.

You can get some real medicine.” ~Louise, “Seven Guitars”

M

ost Pittsburghers know August Wilson — and those Pittsburghers who have seen more than one Wilson play are likely familiar with the character of “Doc Goldblum,” who is mentioned seven times in four plays (“Jitney,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “Fences” and “Seven Guitars”).

But who was Doc Goldblum? Was he a constructed character, representative of the many voices and personas that echoed through the Hill and dwelled in Wilson’s memory? Or was he actually based on a real person?

Suffice it to say that when Doc Goldblum’s son, Orin, reached out to me in 2021, the answer was made resoundingly clear. The character of “Doc Goldblum” is definitely based on a real person, one Albert Goldblum, who was born on May 3, 1907, in Pittsburgh, lived until Sept. 26, 1968, and was buried in Beth Shalom Cemetery in Ross Township.

According to Orin Goldblum, Albert’s father, Philip Goldblum, was born in 1885 in Minsk, Russia, (today Belarus) and died in 1959, in Pittsburgh at 73. Albert’s mother, Anna Chinich (“Shivitz” as noted on Albert’s birth certificate), was also born in Russia (in 1887) and emigrated to the United States somewhere around the turn of the 20th century. Philip and Anna Goldblum lived most of their lives at 1710 Bedford Ave. in the Hill District.

“Philip was a tailor,” Orin Goldblum said, “but I’ve been told that he owned a uniform store in the Hill.” Their son, Albert “Doc” Goldblum, was born in the U.S. in 1907, so Orin Goldblum estimates that his grandparents came to the States sometime between 1885 and 1907.

“I suspect my grandfather [Philip] was young, probably in his teens. Could have been a bit older,” Orin Goldblum said, “but not much.” Albert Goldblum eventually married Aureen Litt (born in 1927), who was from New York City but moved to Pittsburgh with her parents, whose ancestors were also from western Russia. The couple had two children: Lee Jay and Orin, both born in Pittsburgh — Lee in 1954 and Orin a year later.

Albert Goldblum graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1930, did a one-year internship, and then became a general practitioner at 1710 Bedford Ave. where he practiced for about 20 years (1932-1952) before moving the family to Squirrel Hill and eventually returning to post-graduate training to complete a dermatology residency.

August Wilson was born in 1945 and grew up at 1727 Bedford, with his mother, Daisy Wilson and his siblings Freda Ellis, Linda Jean Denoya, Donna Conley, Frederick 8

JUNE 3, 2022

“Seven Guitars”

Direct contact

p From February 1961, Bedford Avenue, visiting grandmother. Clockwise from top left, Albert, Grandmother Anna, Lee Jay, and Orin Photo courtesy of Orin Goldblum

August Kittel, Barbara Jean Wilson, Edwin Kittel and Richard Kittel.

Albert Goldblum was the oldest of seven children.

“It was right after the Depression,” Orin Goldblum said. “He lived through that tough time and there wasn’t a lot of money. He went to medical school so that he could pay tuition for his younger brothers to go to med school.” In addition to Albert Goldblum, the siblings were: Bess, Jacob, Emma, Abraham, Raymond and Ruth. None are alive today.

After Albert Goldblum moved the family to Squirrel Hill in the early 1950s, he went back to school to specialize in dermatology and did a residency at the University of Michigan. After that, he came back to Pittsburgh, lived in Squirrel Hill, and practiced in Oakland until his death in 1968.

“Initially, Dad wanted to enter the field of dermatology,” Orin Goldblum said, “but because of family finances — him being the oldest of seven children and virtually their only support — he was forced to enter general practice. He managed to put his three younger brothers through medical school, internship and residency training and also supported his sister, Ruth, through pre-med school.”

Orin Goldblum also became a dermatologist. His son, Alex Goldblum, is named after his father. At the time of this writing, Orin Goldblum is semi-retired.

According to an article in The University Hospital Star, May 1963, “Dr. Albert Goldblum, who decided to specialize in dermatology after being a general practitioner for 29 years, will finish three years of residency in July at the age of 56.” At the time the article was written, the average age of a resident was 29, so that put “Doc” in a unique position. “It’s tough going back after being your own boss,” Albert Goldblum said. “I’ve found I’ve had to work like the devil to keep up.”

Dr. E. Richard Harrell, Jr., professor of dermatology at the University of Michigan Medical Center, said, “We never had a resident who works as hard and does as well as Goldblum. It’s living proof that a determined man can do excellent work in medicine

at any age.” Albert Goldblum’s advice to medical students: “Go right on from medical school into specialization — things change too fast when you wait.”

The plays

The real-life biographical descriptions of Albert Goldblum — generous, amicable and a fixture in the community — match the way he is treated by Wilson in the four plays in which he is mentioned. Albert Goldblum once said, “I couldn’t save a nickel for 10 years even though I had a busy practice,” which speaks to his selflessness and dedication to the people around him (“U. Hospital’s Oldest Student Fulfills Dream”).

“Jitney”

In “Jitney,” the single mention of “Doc Goldblum” serves to simply connect him to other people on the Hill. Youngblood reports that Cigar Annie is standing on Robert Street “cussing out everybody.” This includes the mayor, Doc Goldblum, Mr. Eli, her landlord, the light man, the gas man, the telephone man and “anybody else she can think of.”

“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”

The three references to Albert Goldblum in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” depict him as a dependable employer in the neighborhood.

The first reference occurs when Bertha says that Martha is staying in an apartment “sewing and cleaning” for Doc Goldblum.

The second reference is when Mattie says, “I got to go on up to Doc Goldblum’s and finish this ironing.” The third reference is Mattie emphasizing again that she’s got to go because Doc Goldblum’s “gonna be waiting.”

“Fences”

Albert Goldblum is mentioned once in “Fences” and is depicted as a reputable physician who offers his services at a reasonable price. The dramatic situation involves a character named Magee who, according to Troy, attempts to pull his own tooth with a pair of “rusty pliers.” When Bono suggests that “colored folks” back then did not have access to dentists, Troy says that you either “get clean pliers” or “walk over to Doc Goldblum’s.”

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“I believe my father knew August, but am not sure,” Orin Goldblum said. “I have been told that my father and his family knew the Wilson-Kittel family, but that is secondhand knowledge. He also may have treated one or more of the Wilson-Kittel family members.

I wish I would have had the chance to talk to August before he died to ask him what the relationship was between him and my father, but I never got the chance.”

August Wilson and his family left the Hill District for Hazelwood when August was about 13.

Orin Goldblum says he is uncertain whether August himself visited Albert Goldblum in person or whether “Doc Goldblum” was known to other members of the Kittel family and was then drawn upon

by August in his writings. Larry Glasco, associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, tells a story related to Edwin Kittel, August Wilson’s younger brother, who supposedly visited Doc Goldblum after being roughed up by neighborhood bullies.

Edwin Kittel allegedly went to see Albert Goldblum and then went to the hospital.

Orin Goldblum initially reached out to me with the hope of providing detailed information related to the legacy of both August Wilson and Albert Goldblum.

“I searched the internet and found a number of places where my father’s name is mentioned alongside August’s,” he said.

“There are a few articles, such as a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece that mentions my father as a local doctor, but not much more than that.”

It is difficult to draw a direct connection between August Wilson and Albert Goldblum — if indeed one existed — due to medical privacy.

When I asked Orin Goldblum what kind of man his father was, he said, “I loved my father.

He was a great guy. A very nice person. Never yelled at us. My brother and I were only 14 months apart. We both highly admired my father and were really devastated when he died. It’s a void that we will never fill.”

“My mother was able to raise both of us,” he continued. “We were both good students and wanted to become doctors. We had purpose in our lives. To this day, I miss him.

“I think my father would be humbled and honored that August memorialized him in this way. That was the kind of person he was.” PJC Michael Downing is a professor of English at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and the editorial adviser for the August Wilson Journal.

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Headlines Righting historical wrongs: Operation Benjamin honors Jewish soldiers buried under crosses — NATIONAL —

By Sasha Rogelberg | Contributing Writer

A

lbert Belmont was one of about 450 Jewish soldiers buried under a cross in World Wars I and II. His story aligns with many of his Jewish American compatriots who fought overseas, particularly in WWII: When he enlisted, he wrote a “P” by his name instead of an “H,” denoting he was Protestant, not Hebrew.

His eschewed Jewish identity wasn’t from lack of pride; it was a precautionary measure.

If he were to be captured by Nazis, his status as a Christian man would spare him being sent to the Berga concentration camp, where many American GIs were prisoners of war.

But for his family, particularly his daughter Barbara Belmont, the Christian cross above Albert Belmont’s name no longer served a purpose — and when she took her daughters to her father’s Normandy grave at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in 1992, she wanted to show them that their grandfather was a proud Jew. This April, Belmont, an Alexandria, Virginia, resident, fulfilled that hope, as she watched the cemetery maintenance staff pull the old gravestone at its base and replace it with a granite Star of David, a uniformed U.S. military officer performing a slow salute as she recited the Mourner’s Kaddish.

Belmont didn’t orchestrate the operation by herself — in January, she was contacted by Shalom Lamm, the CEO and co-founder of Operation Benjamin, a nonprofit organization devoted to providing Jewish gravestones for soldiers buried under a cross.

On a three-day trip from April 24-28, Belmont, along with the families of six other dead soldiers, traveled with Operation Benjamin to France, Luxembourg and Belgium, where grave by grave, they honored their loved ones with Jewish gravestones and burial rituals.

For Belmont, the trip allowed her to do something she thought she’d never be able to do: connect with her father, of whom she had no memories.

“It far exceeded my expectations,” she said.

“I wanted to feel, standing near my father’s grave and participating in this transition, I wanted to feel that I had touched my father, that I had done something for him. That was really a driving force.”

According to Lamm, that is the crux of Operation Benjamin’s work: “We not only have the soldier, who we’re honoring by getting his story right by identifying him for who he was in life, but we’re doing something with the families as well ... You get the sense that you’re making it right; you’re doing something fundamentally right.”

“It was just a curiosity”

Operation Benjamin is relatively young, founded in 2016 by Lamm, Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter and Steve Lamar, largely by coincidence.

“It was an accident,” Lamm said. “It was just a curiosity.”

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p Albert Belmont’s corrected Star of David gravestone

Schacter, a Jewish historian, was leading a tour of medieval France near Normandy in 2014, when he, on a whim, visited the Normandy American Cemetery. In the sea of crosses, Schacter saw few Jewish stars.

Three months later, when Lamm, a longtime friend of Schacter’s, approached him at a party, Schacter shared his findings but didn’t think much of it. Lamm, a military historian, however, became fixated.

“I ran home that night — it was a Saturday night — and I just was obsessed with this idea,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I was obsessed with this idea that something was wrong.”

Lamm counted 149 Jewish stars at the cemetery but calculated a discrepancy: “There are about 9,500 U.S. GIs buried in Normandy, and Jews are about 2.7% of the casualties.”

Instead of 149 Jews buried at the military cemetery, there should have been, statistically, closer to 250.

Lamm and his colleagues experimented.

They picked a random, Jewish-sounding name of a soldier buried under a cross — Pvt. Benjamin Garadetsky — and did extensive research, only to find out the soldier was “fully Jewish.”

“His family was from Zhytomyr [Ukraine], and they settled in the Bronx in the early 1900s,” Lamm said. “And his parents were buried about 10 minutes from my house in Long Island. It was the craziest coincidence.”

Garadetsky became the first soldier to have his grave marker changed by Operation Benjamin. So far, the organization has changed 16 headstones, with three more pending, over five trips.

The process of finding Jewish soldiers is complicated. Operation Benjamin, in collaboration with the American Battle Monuments Commission and a team of genealogists, spends months looking for documents that confirm an individual as Jewish: bar mitzvah or wedding photos, U.S. Census documents, connections to a rabbi or

p Barbara Belmont at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in France, where she visited her father’s grave in April

Photos courtesy of Barbara Belmont

papers in Yiddish. Many times, a soldier would have been too young to get married.

Instead, Operation Benjamin would search for materials from a relative.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to prove that somebody was born a Jew, lived as a Jew and they fought as a Jew,” Lamar said.

Before ABMC can complete the paperwork for a gravestone marker change, however, a family member must give consent. Finding a relative — sometimes a distant one if the soldier had no wife or children — takes time.

Lamm has to almost instantaneously convince the person on the other end of a phone call or email — who may not even know about their deceased relative — that he isn’t a solicitor or spammer.

“We’ve had to figure out how to gain people’s trust on the first email, and we worked very hard on that,” Lamm said.

When Lamm reached out to Belmont, she was happy to pick up the phone and talk.

“I have no memories of my father”

Barbara Belmont was only 3 when her father died.

The Belmont family was in the photography business in Kansas City, and Albert Belmont was a young Jewish philanthropist.

He enlisted at age 32, and despite coming from a wealthy family, Albert Belmont insisted on receiving no preferential treatment.

“He wanted to be just one of the soldiers,” Barbara Belmont said.

Albert Belmont arrived in France on Nov. 1, 1944, as part of a division of reinforcements to Gen. George Smith Patton.

He spent the month traversing the country to its northeastern region by Metz, where the German forces had doubled down on forces and artillery. He was killed on Nov. 30, just two weeks before the Battle of the Bulge.

The Belmont family received a telegram on Dec. 11 informing them of Albert Belmont’s death. Belmont had just turned 3,

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and her sister was 7.

“I have no memories of my father. It was a very difficult time,” Belmont said.

Belmont, whose mother remarried, was adopted by her stepfather. Though she knew her stepfather was not her biological father, Belmont only started to gain a connection with her father a decade after his death.

When Belmont was 13, her sister pulled her into her bedroom and shut the door, taking out a picture frame and revealing a picture of their father hidden behind another photograph.

“That was the first time I’d ever seen him or had any idea what he looked like,” she said.

In 1992, when Belmont took her daughters to her father’s grave for the first time, something felt like it was missing.

“We visited his grave ... I don’t know what I expected,” Belmont said. “I felt I had done something, but it wasn’t nearly enough.”

In the 30 years since Belmont visited her father’s grave, she has gotten in touch with various cousins and learned more about Albert Belmont. As Belmont spent time over her life putting together the pieces of her father’s life and her relationship with him, the connection was still not seamless.

Life changes prevented her from prioritizing ways to honor her father.

“Life happens,” Belmont said. “But he was never out of my mind.”

“They never had a Kaddish said”

Just like in 1992, Belmont brought daughters Erin McCahill and Jennifer Soloway with her on the trip to her father’s grave in April.

The family was accompanied by 15 other family members, as well as a whole host of ambassadors, veterans and military officers there to pay their respects to the soldiers.

On an overcast day with the sun only occasionally peeking through the clouds, Belmont and her daughters said the Mourner’s Kaddish for each of the graves Please see Benjamin, page 15

JUNE 3, 2022

9

Headlines passport until Jan. 1.

“We are on the threshold of seeing an easing of the situation in the field in the coming days,” Moskowitz said. “The big measures we have undertaken and their realization and impact on the public are a matter of days.”

— WORLD — El Al to move US HQ to Miami

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. announced in its first quarter financial statement that it will move its United States headquarters from New York to Miami, Globes reported.

The company will move to a building owned by controlling shareholder Kenny Rozenberg. El Al said the change would have minimal influence on the airline.

El Al said the move will save the company $500,000 annually.

The El Al headquarters has been in New York for decades, and the company’s North American operations have emphasized the city.

Supreme Court declines to hear attempts to stop synagogue protesters

The Supreme Court declined to hear two different requests to take up a suit against a group of protesters who have gathered weekly outside an Ann Arbor, Michigan, synagogue for nearly two decades holding anti-Israel and antisemitic signs, JTA reported.

The court issued orders in March and May denying petitions brought by two different congregants who argued that the protests targeted Jews at their place of worship, violating their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.

The plaintiffs belong to two different congregations that meet in the same building: Conservative Beth Israel Congregation and the Jewish Renewal-affiliated Pardes Hannah Congregation. Neither congregation was involved.

The two congregants, one of whom is a Holocaust survivor, first brought a joint lawsuit against the protesters, the city and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor in

Israel works on reducing passport backlog

Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority Director Tomer Moskowitz said new measures are being introduced to alleviate a backlog of 700,000 Israelis seeking new passports, Globes reported.

Moskowitz said three measures were introduced, including a new office in Bnei Brak where temporary passports are available. In addition, staffing and hours were increased at the factory that produces the passports, and Israelis holding dual citizenships may travel abroad on a foreign

2019. Lower courts dismissed it on First Amendment grounds, and a judge ordered the plaintiffs to pay the protesters’ legal fees.

Following a dispute between a plaintiff and an attorney, the suit was broken up, and two separate petitions were filed.

semi-permanent basis.

In 2010, King Mohammed VI of Morocco started a renovation program for Jewish heritage sites, and in 2020, Morocco and Israel rekindled diplomatic relations as part of the Abraham Accords.

Moroccan authorities restore ancient Jewish cemetery

Leo Frank lynching items auctioned in Jerusalem

Authorities in Morocco completed a renovation of the historic Jewish cemetery in the city of Meknes, part of a broader overhaul of Jewish heritage sites that coincides with the country’s reestablishment of diplomatic ties with Israel, JTA reported.

The restoration was finished in May ahead of a visit by several dozen Jews, many of them from Israel, on May 19. The 10-acre graveyard contains thousands of bodies and is centuries old. Many of the graves are built atop older ones.

Jews from Israel and beyond have visited Meknes, where only a handful of Jews live permanently, for decades.

The pilgrimages reflect the deep roots that Jews grew in this city in northern Morocco, where thousands of refugees settled after fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries.

But the community’s life in Meknes, and in Morocco generally, were far from harmonious and today, only about 2,500 Jews live in Morocco on a permanent or

The Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem conducted an online auction starting on May 24 that featured items related to the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager convicted two years earlier of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan, The Jerusalem Post reported.

After Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison, he was kidnapped and hanged from a tree. He was posthumously pardoned by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles in 1986.

The items auctioned included a postcard with a photograph showing Frank’s hanged body; a piano roll for a player piano that contains the melody of a ballad written about the murder; a booklet the Rhodes’ Colossus factory of Atlanta issued in support of Frank; and legal correspondence dating from the 1980s regarding the struggle led by the Anti-Defamation League to exonerate Frank. PJC — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

This week in Israeli history

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

June 3, 1974 — Rabin first becomes Prime Minister

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Ya’akov Hazan, a socialist member of Israel’s first seven Knessets, is born in Russia. He urges a pro-Soviet policy and calls the Soviet Union the Jewish people’s second homeland but shifts in the early 1950s.

June 5, 1967 — Six-Day War begins

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June 4, 1899 — Politician Ya’akov Hazan is born

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Israel launches a preemptive strike on the Egyptian air force at 8:15 a.m., destroying 204 aircraft within an hour. Ground troops roll into the Sinai, and the Six-Day War quickly pulls in Jordan and Syria.

June 6, 1956 — Merger forms Tel Aviv University

The Tel Aviv School of Law and Economics merges with the Municipal Institute of Natural Sciences and Humanities to form Tel Aviv University, which soon adds the Academic Institute of Jewish Studies.

June 7, 1930 — Magen David Adom is founded

Magen David Adom (Red Shield or Star of David), Israel’s Red Cross affiliate since 1950, is born as the emergency medical service for the Jewish community of Palestine after the Arab riots of 1929.

June 8, 1971 — First El Al 747 takes off

The first El Al flight using a Boeing 747 jumbo jet departs Lod for London and New York. The flight carries 400 passengers. The plane, nicknamed “The Flying Elephant,” had arrived June 2 from London.

June 9, 1967 — Troops move into Syrian Golan

After an aerial assault, Israeli troops launch a high-casualty ground offensive into the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights on the Six-Day War’s fifth day and gain control of the mountains before a cease-fire. PJC

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JUNE 3, 2022

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Opinion My son’s big fat gay Jewish wedding in Israel Guest Columnist Stacie Rojas Stufflebeam

T

he title was meant to catch your attention, not to make a joke about something so serious. Honestly, I never intended to write publicly about my son’s wedding to his love, his partner in life.

But because of a certain rabbi (who I will not dignify by naming) I’ve decided that I will add my voice to those who support my child and all those like him seeking to build a Jewish family in a Jewish state or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

Last month, on a gorgeous hilltop in Jerusalem mountains, surrounded by more than 200 friends and family, some who came from around the world, my son and his husband were married in a bespoke service written by a close friend, one who is really a family member as she and her husband were my son’s adopted family when he served as

a lone combat soldier in the IDF. Yes, my son and his husband both served as lone soldiers, defenders of the Jewish homeland, the holy land. (I certainly don’t see anyone complaining that they were protected by my son.) Under the chuppah friends and family gave them blessing for a long and happy marriage, not a happy gay marriage, but a happy and long-lasting union of two people who love each other.

As my husband and I joyously walked our son to the chuppah I became teary, unexpectedly overcome with the realization that my sweet son was getting what he had always wanted, a partner to share his life with. But it wasn’t the only reason my tears flowed; when he first came out to us, my greatest worry was that he would never be able to have what his heart truly desired — to be an observant Jew with a partner he could be married to and children he could bring up in an observant community. I feared that he would have to give up his Jewish observance in order to have the family he wanted. I’ve told him many times in the last few years how lucky he was to have come of age at a

time when he could marry and have children. And how wonderful it is that he has found a warm and welcoming community to be a part of. This couldn’t have been more apparent as I watched them, with their friends, their community, daven mincha before the ceremony.

Since we announced his engagement, I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the people, friends, and acquaintances, who wished us a mazel tov, people I didn’t think would be “on board” with such a union.

And I can’t tell you how many people came over to me during the reception to tell me how meaningful the ceremony was and how they cried with joy. This beautiful ceremony was followed by a fantastic party where they were celebrated with much ruach, dancing and schtick. A joyous complement to a very special ceremony.

As for those who would publicly denounce and disdain the building of a Jewish family, I’ve long since decided and I don’t care what other people think. Unfortunately, I know that my son has been hurt by some he thought to be friends who have decided to

express their disapproval. I don’t wish any of these people ill, but I do wish them away.

Away from my son and his husband, and away from anyone else they might hurt.

Over the last few years, I’ve watched as their partnership has strengthened and their love for each other has grown and matured.

How dare anyone tell them that their love is not real or “normal.” They are very much looking forward to adding children to their family and I know that one day they will be amazing parents — my son will be the soft one, the one the kids go to when they want an immediate yes, my son-in-law will pretend to be the tougher parent, but in the end will be a softy, too. We can’t wait.

May my children, and everyone’s children be blessed to build a , a faithful home among Israel. PJC

‫בַּיִת נֶאמָן בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל‬

Stacie Rojas Stufflebeam is a the mother of five sons, four of them are veteran lone soldiers in the IDF. She is executive director of the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Foundation. and lives with her husband in Pittsburgh. This first appeared on Times of Israel.

When it comes to gun control, why can’t the U.S. be more like Israel?

Guest Columnist Rob Eshman

T

he mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, makes me want to scream.

If you are a parent, or if you were ever a child, it’s impossible to read about the deliberate slaughter of 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School by an 18-year-old gunman and not want to just shut down and cry.

That’s the natural response. After Sandy Hook. After Parkland. After Columbine.

After Santa Fe. Santa Fe? You don’t remember the high school

shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, in 2018? Ten students were killed. Their parents still live with the agony of loss, but there have been 119 school shootings in the United States since then, and 212 mass shootings since January. There is no time for the rest of us to cry, much less remember.

The understandable response is to make it stop. To fix it. To draw a line in the sand.

But that is where it gets confusing. The grief and the outrage is pure. The solution is messy.

In the aftermath of a mass shooting many people will call for stricter gun control.

Research is on their side, to a point: Studies show that more gun control will result in fewer gun deaths. After a mass shooting that killed 35 people in 1996, Australia imposed strict gun ownership measures and outright bans on semi-automatic and automatic weapons. Seven years after that

law went into effect, its firearm homicide rate dropped by about 42% and its firearm suicide rate fell by 57%.

But — and this is as dispiriting a “but” as you could imagine — there is little evidence to suggest that more gun control would prevent the next Sandy Hook or Uvalde.

Here’s why: According to the Centers for Disease Control, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2020 — 123 each day. Of those, 53% (24,292) died from suicide, 43% (19,384) from murder and 3% from accidents, police shootings or undetermined causes. About 512 people died in mass shootings that year, 10 in school shootings.

Yes, it was a pandemic year, but the proportions of mass shootings to overall firearm deaths holds true in other years. In 2016, mass shootings accounted for less than 2% of the year’s 39,000 gun deaths. Tougher

gun laws may prevent school shootings, but the evidence for that is not clear.

What is clear is that gun laws that reduce suicide and homicides, the two greatest sources of gun deaths, will save lives. Uvalde, coming just 10 days after the racist attack that killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, should serve as wake-up call to sensible gun legislation that can save thousands of lives, starting now.

One clear proof of this is Israel. Israel, like the United States, is a developed country where Uzi-toting soldiers are ubiquitous and private gun ownership is legal, though nowhere near as prevalent as it is here. But Israel had two deaths per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to 12 per 100,000 people in the U.S.

was peas, which are objectively gross. And so I did what I thought was rational: I put but one bag of green beans in my cart.

“You know those are on sale,” the employee who was restocking a nearby shelf told me.

“You should buy two.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want two.”

“But you’ll save money!” he said, shaking his head at me pityingly, assuming that it was the size of my brain, rather than the size of my freezer, that was guiding this decision.

There is a popular clothing chain nearby that is always advertising some kind of sale.

Buy-1-Get-1-at-50%-Off is a common one, but they often run more complicated deals, such as: Spend 500 NIS, Get the next 100 free.

Let’s say I look through the store and find only 400 NIS worth of merchandise that I want

to purchase. It can’t be more economical to spend an additional 100 NIS on things I don’t want in order to get yet another 100 NIS worth of things I do not need. But the woman at the cash register is certain that I’m being a friar, that I am simply too small-minded to appreciate the concept of spending more to get more.

And while I am confident regarding my decisions in the frozen food aisle and sometimes even the clothing store, due to my ongoing status as a non-native Hebrew speaker, I am aware that I am not adept at reading the fine print. This can make it difficult to know if I am being offered a deal or being played for a fool. Am I a friar for opening that credit card that promises

Please see Eshman, page 13

On friars and flowers Guest Columnist Kally Rubin Kislowicz

I

sraelis are not an easily frightened bunch.

Our geographical location makes it unreasonable for us to be overly fearful every time we are threatened by our neighbors; we weathered COVID with a relatively brave face; and, while the Great Chocolate Recall of 2022 has us mildly concerned, we know that, short of a hummus recall, we will likely be just fine.

Real Israelis are pretty tough. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests that they have but one true fear: being a “friar.”

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JUNE 3, 2022

A friar is akin to a sucker: someone who gets taken advantage of, someone who doesn’t get the best possible deal. And from preschool through Parliament, from the Kinneret to the Red Sea, there is no greater insult than being called a friar. No one can bear the thought that somebody somewhere is paying less or getting more.

I respect this. I don’t want to be taken for a fool.

But sometimes being a friar is in the eyes of the beholder.

At the grocery store, a big sign advertised a sale on frozen vegetables. One package of frozen green beans was 30 NIS, but they were selling 2-for-50 NIS. I have a small freezer.

I only needed one package of green beans.

The only other frozen vegetable available

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Please see Kislowicz, page 20

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Chronicle poll results: Primary election

L

ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Did you vote in the Pennsylvania primary election?” Of the 288 people who responded, 91% said yes and 9% said no. Comments were submitted by 75 people. A few follow.

Did you vote in the Pennsylvania primary election?

9% No.

Eshman: Continued from page 12

In Israel, anyone who qualifies can get a gun — but those qualifications make all the difference. You must meet a list of criteria to ask for a license.

You need a note from your doctor assuring you are in sound physical and mental health.

You can’t have a criminal record. You must take a written and practical gun safety test. You are permitted only one gun and 50 bullets at any given time. About 40% of requests for gun ownership are rejected.

“Israel’s social reality — the large number of firearms on the country’s streets — may

Yes.

The far right must not be allowed to take over Pennsylvania and the nation. Not now.

Not ever. If good people stay on the sidelines, it may happen. Silence to the far right is complicity with them.

We are all stakeholders in our society.

We have the responsibility and the privilege of voting, and we need to make our voices heard.

I am furious at AIPAC PAC interfering in U.S. elections. I am a proud Democrat and a proud Jew, but this doesn’t mean I support everything done by Israel, or that I think a pro-Israel organization should try to interfere on U.S. domestic issues.

look like an American conservative’s utopia,” Haviv Rettig Gur wrote in the Times of Israel, “but it got there via a domineering statist regulatory regime that American gun control activists can only fantasize about.”

I am guilty, I admit, of fantasizing that American conservatives who throw their support behind Israel would want to emulate its more sensible domestic policies, starting with gun control.

Of course, Israel has no Second Amendment, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to guarantee the individual right to bear arms. But every right comes with responsibilities, and regulating gun ownership is a proven way to keep guns out of the

— LETTERS — Summer Lee will be better influence on Israel

I’m concerned by the extreme right-wing voices that are overwhelming the Chronicle’s editorial board with alarmist headlines like “Pittsburgh Jewish community reacts to District 12 primary results” (May 27).

Steve Irwin should have repudiated AIPAC’s lurid accusations against Summer Lee, but he has endorsed her victory.

The right’s invention of “The Squad” as an antisemitic cabal, like their invention of “Antifa,” is a crude attempt to isolate progressive voices.

Summer Lee will be a better and more helpful influence on Israel than those who ignore the land grabs, the murder of journalists and the disproportionate violence in an attempt to ally themselves with the most extreme elements represented by AIPAC. Eric Marchbein Pittsburgh

Whose interest should be prioritized in elections?

Voters in national elections are often faced with choosing among candidates whose policies favor the best interest of the United States, the best interest of the local community or the best interest of the voter. Jewish voters may also consider whether a candidate is supportive of the security of our brothers and sisters in Israel.

Rabbi Amy Bardack (“Voting as a Jew is not only about Israel,” May 27) is to be commended for looking to the Torah for guidance on this challenging issue. In support of her position that Jewish tradition is clear that when resources are limited, we are to prioritize the needs of those in closest proximity to us over those far away, she cites the Talmud in Bava Metzia where Rav Yosef says: “If the choice is between the poor of your city and the poor of another PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Voting should be a requirement for every citizen.

If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain or criticize.

91%

I voted against a candidate that had negative perceptions about Israel.

I haven’t missed an election since I became eligible, although I more and more think of it as an empty gesture.

No matter how small a race seems, every election is important. We owe it to ourselves to be informed and to make our voices heard by voting. Every time.

J Street Jews elected another Squad member.

There should be a choice for those not affiliated with a political party. If you’re not registered as a Democrat or Republican, you are not allowed to vote in the primary.

I am deeply disappointed that Steve Irwin lost. I believe he would have been a tremendous asset to our area and to the U.S. Congress in general.

I do not belong to the major parties as they are both corrupt. They do not serve the interest of their constituents, only themselves.

Have not missed a primary or general election since 1978.

I voted by mail because I am a senior citizen and would have a hard time doing it in person.

hands of people who would harm themselves, or others.

States with stronger gun control laws, like California and New York, have fewer gun deaths per capita.

There are 393 million guns in this country.

It is unlikely that there will ever be a law that would absolutely prevent one deranged individual from getting hold of a gun. There is no gun control measure that would stop this most nightmarish kind of senseless violence.

The left/right gun debates that inevitably rage in the aftermath of school shootings usually focus on assault weapon bans or mental health issues. They avoid what a wealth of studies shows to be true: sensible,

Voting is our civil responsibility, especially if we want to enact change when it comes to important issues.

Pennsylvania needs a voter information pamphlet to explain each candidate’s position. I’ve seen this done in other states, and it is extremely helpful. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question:

Have you had COVID-19? Go to pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org to respond.

Israeli-style gun control measures, starting with universal background checks and mandatory firearm testing and training, can save thousands of lives.

Let me repeat one fact above all: In 2020, there were 123 firearm-related deaths each day. Even the least Draconian, most common-sense gun control measures would reduce these numbers. Otherwise our country’s death toll from firearms will continue to be the equivalent of five Uvaldes a day.

Maybe we all need to cry less, and scream louder. PJC Rob Eshman is senior contributing editor of the Forward, where this first appeared.

town, the poor of your own town have prior rights.”

Perhaps your readers will come to a different conclusion when Rav Yosef ’s teaching is quoted in the full context of his earlier statement: “If the choice is between the poor of your family and the poor of your city, the poor of your family have prior rights. If the choice is between the poor of your city and the poor of another town, the poor of your own town have prior rights.” Bava Metzia 71a.

Joel Pfeffer Squirrel Hill

Term ‘occupied Palestinian territories’ is overly simplistic

I am surely not alone in being upset about the Chronicle’s recent opinion piece by Rabbi Amy Bardack which described parts of the land of Israel as “occupied Palestinian territories.” (“Voting as a Jew is not only about Israel,” May 27.)

Most of the Jewish community is hopefully aware that the territory in question was captured from Jordan after Israel was attacked by the Jordanian army as part of the Six Day war of 1967. A review of the basic history of this territory will show clearly that the state of Israel — under Begin, Peres, Rabin, Barak, Sharon and Netanyahu — has attempted to return these lands to the Palestinians numerous times, with each attempt ultimately being refused.

Viewing these areas as “occupied Palestinian territories” is overly simplistic and erroneous.

We should never forget that now, more than ever, the Jewish people continue to need a haven and a homeland in Eretz Yisrael. And please bear in mind that when Palestinian spokesmen refer to “occupied territory,” they are referring to the entire pre- and post-1967 state of Israel: Tel Aviv, Haifa and all of Jerusalem.

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Marc Pomerantz Squirrel Hil JUNE 3, 2022

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Headlines Shooting: Continued from page 1

your neighbor as yourself means caring about their welfare the way that you care about your own.”

Prayer vigils and hiring more guards aren’t enough; rather, it’s incumbent upon the Jewish community to confront every social ill that afflicts society, Creditor said.

“We act on behalf of anyone oppressed because we remember what it is to be oppressed,” Creditor said. “In that spirit, communities that have been ravaged as part of the gun violence epidemic are the witnesses we need to amplify because they have bodily faced what we existentially fear.”

Despite the surge in gun violence, the rabbi said there is no coherent, united Jewish organizational response. In fact, he doesn’t think the political will exists to stop gun violence.

“I have little hope in this generation of leaders and elected officials,” Creditor said.

“My children have grown up in an era of lockdown drills. My children have grown up seeing bulletproof backpacks for sale on Amazon. My children’s generation will not

Tzohar: Continued from page 1

negative space in visual art,” he explained.

The idea is to make the pilot program available to schools across the world, Hordiner said.

“Torah Arts,” Hordiner said, will help schools integrate art into the wider Jewish curriculum.

The new program, he said, will help day schools reach creative students who might not respond well to traditional lessons but are interested in the six main art forms: visual arts, theater, film, dance, music and creative writing.

Tzohar Women was formed from feedback from older relatives of the young women studying at Tzohar Seminary. Mothers, grandmothers, sisters and friends asked for the opportunity to learn.

Tzohar Women’s first initiative was a six-week course. In-person classes were disrupted by COVID-19, but the course was completed online. Now that pandemic restrictions have subsided, Tzohar Women

tolerate the insanity that we have considered acceptable. So, I have hope, but we are still in the 40 years in the desert.”

Rabbi Ron Symons, senior director of Jewish life at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and founding director of the JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness, said grappling with the recent mass shootings has been hard for everyone, but it is uniquely difficult for those who still feel the pain of Oct. 27.

“What we need to figure out is, how am I going to find hope at a time when, week after week, we feel like that hope is being dismantled because of violence,” Symons said.

When people are hurting, he continued, it’s important to find a way to help.

“That means being an upstander, not standing by and being a bystander,” he said.

When Symons heard of the Texas school shooting, he reached out to the Herby Ham Activity Center, a community center located just three miles from the Robb Elementary School. He learned about its Project Grace, which provides a safe space for children experiencing trauma. Symons, in partnership with the 10.27 Healing Partnership, launched the “Build a Hug” campaign

to provide new stuffed animals and new elementary school-level books to the center.

“These are tools that are hopefully going to help them find comfort,” he said. “Maybe one of them will be one of those 10-year or 20-year stuffed animals that people keep throughout their life with hopes that in some way it’s going to help them get through what they’re going through now, so they can hopefully face tomorrow.”

It’s important for people who are traumatized when hearing news of gun violence to refrain from retreating into themselves, Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, said.

“Don’t close the door and try to escape,” she said. “Finding ways to be in the world comfortably when you feel so bad is important.”

She suggested seeking support, whether through a worship community, an exercise class, a support group or other avenues.

If needed, the 10.27 Healing Partnership offers Canopy Conversations Monday and Thursday for people to stop by and talk.

Feinstein encouraged people to offer help to the communities attacked, noting that Pittsburgh learned after the massacre at the

will be restarted by offering classes, retreats and other programs that involve Chassidus, the arts, personal growth and healing, and community building to women of all ages.

Those interested in learning more about the expansion can do so at the organization’s new website, tzohararts.com. Tzohar Seminary is also showcasing its decade of arts and Torah on its YouTube channel, featuring more than 80 offerings from former students and artists, videos about the organization and more.

Former student Sima Goldstein studied at the seminary when she was 18. She said that she was initially resistant to the program.

“As an artist, I wasn’t interested in being with other artists,” she said.

After learning more about the seminary, Goldstein applied and said the school has been a continuous part of her life ever since.

Goldstein is studying art and psychology in college. She came to Tzohar Seminary with a background in painting but said the school taught her about other disciplines.

“I learned some guitar,” she said. “I learned how to make a film. I got exposed to all types of art. I also learned improv there.”

Goldstein said that the mixture of art and Torah helped reinforce lessons she had learned in high school: Everyone is created in God’s image and God creates the world with his process of creativity.

“It helped me get a glimpse into the understanding of what God’s process is,” she said.

Goldstein, whose work can be found at simartistry.com, said she’s excited for Tzohar Seminary’s expansion.

“It’s really cool because when you meet people who have gone to Tzohar before you, or after you, there’s such a sisterhood, even though I don’t know them,” she said.

“If there’s an opportunity to expand that and give more people the opportunity to engage with the light of Torah, that’s obviously incredible.”

The Tzohar class of 2022 will present a live collaborative performance of writing, art, film, music and theater on June 9 at the Eddy Theater at Chatham University. Tickets can be purchased by calling 412-521-1197. PJC

 Parsha Through the Arts students were tasked with drawing self-portraits while looking in a mirror. The lesson illustrated that each person is special and unique in G-d’s eyes. The drawing forced the students to focus on their insides, recognizing that G-d considers each of us special because he gave us a soul.

Photo provided by Tzohar Arts

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JUNE 3, 2022

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Tree of Life building that every act of help and support matters.

“From the very quiet to the very public, there were so many ways that helped us get through some of the darkest times,” she said.

Symons said that when we hear about shootings that affect other communities it’s important to think about “‘neighbor’ as a moral concept.”

“It’s about ‘neighbor’ as a verb,” he said.

“It’s about living together. It’s about our shared humanity. I don’t care if someone goes to church on Sunday morning, mosque on Friday or synagogue on Saturday.”

In the end, he said, what affects one community affects all communities because we come from a common starting point.

“There’s one God for all of humanity, and that one God only needed one couple,” he said. “It’s not about a Black Adam and Eve and an Asian Adam and Eve and a Puerto Rican Adam and Eve or a Mexican Adam and Eve or Jewish or Muslim Adam and Eve. It’s none of those. It’s Adam and Eve,” he said. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

 These works of Notan art exemplify the use of negative space that expresses the idea of resting on Shabbos as a time to pause, reflect and appreciate our greater purpose and meaning in life.

Photo by Rivky Davidson

 Animated drawing created by Tzohar Seminary student Ellie Bauer

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Image provided by Tzohar Arts

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Headlines

Chronicle recognized for outstanding journalism, earns three Golden Quill awards

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle was recognized for outstanding journalism by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania at the Golden Quill Awards ceremony on March 24. Staff writer David Rullo and freelance writer Justin Vellucci both were awarded first place awards for their writing.

Rullo won a Golden Quill for Excellence in Written Journalism in the Lifestyle category for “Healing Ink provides free tattoos to those affected by Tree of Life Shooting.”

Vellucci won for Excellence in Written Journalism in the Traditional Feature category for “’Our little mitzvah’: Local mom donates vast quantities of breast milk,” and in the History/Culture category for “Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Torahs encompass rich history.”

The Chronicle was a finalist for nine additional awards.

Rullo was a finalist is the following categories: News Feature: “A ‘respectful acknowledgement’: Oct. 27 survivors on rebuilding Tree of Life”; Medical/Health:

“Pittsburgh Jewish leaders are handed frontline role in mental health” (along with Chris Hedlin of PublicSource); History/Culture: “Its building’s for sale, but Beth Israel Synagogue takes it ‘Shabbos by Shabbos’”; Arts/Entertainment: “Award-winning poet addresses Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting in new book”; and “Holocaust Center marks Genocide Awareness Month with ‘Miracle in Rwanda’.”

Staff writer Adam Reinherz was a finalist for: Arts/Entertainment: “Chaiflicks: The Chanukah gift for when you don’t want

to give pajamas”; Education: “College is a pressure cooker, the pandemic may make it burst”; and Sports: “Youth sports return with newfound appreciation.”

Editor Toby Tabachnick was a finalist for Business/Technology/Consumer: “Experts talk about implications of social media crackdown.”

The awards were held at the Rivers Casino. PJC

Singer:

Singer’s work wasn’t finished. He and his team walked through the night to reach a safe space. After arriving around 5 a.m. they endured another day of gunfire and missile attacks, he said.

“When they were shooting, I would read Tehillim, and when they weren’t shooting I would read Gemara,” Singer continued. “It’s hard to concentrate on Gemara when they’re shooting at you, as you can imagine.”

Around 3 p.m. a missile landed in a nearby room. Singer ventured over to discover two soldiers in shell shock. One soldier was able to go back and fight. The other soldier, Singer said, needed to be carried off on a stretcher.

Two hours later, Singer was called and told that an IDF soldier in the next building had sustained a chest wound. Reaching him was problematic, though.

“Stepping out in the middle of daylight is insanity,” Singer said. “I’m thinking I have limited resources and can’t do open heart surgery in the middle of a battlefield.”

Singer and his medics convened.

“I was 44 at the time,” Singer said. “The oldest of my guys was 27. The soldiers are 18 — they could be my children — they knew their friend is bleeding in the next building, so I said, ‘OK, we are going to go save this guy.’”

Singer and the medics were led by a team of six IDF soldiers. After reaching the building, Singer ran up the steps. Gunfire continued raining through the windows, but he eventually reached the wounded soldier.

“He didn’t look good,” Singer said. “He had a bullet in his shoulder and lost at

least one lung.”

Singer noticed the bullet entered near the soldier’s subclavian artery and that the exit wound was “half the size of a grapefruit.”

The medics applied packing, but the soldier was still losing blood.

“I told my medic to give me the packing and I started stuffing his back with gauze pads to put pressure to stop the bleeding,” Singer said.

The soldier stabilized. His pulse leveled off, but his breathing began to fail. Singer realized the soldier needed a chest tube, but missiles were entering the building.

Singer inserted a chest tube. The soldier’s breathing improved, but Singer worried the soldier would lose consciousness so he inserted a breathing tube. Just as the procedure was nearing its end, Singer placed a piece of gauze above the breathing tube to prevent dust from entering. At that moment, Singer said, a missile hit the compound, and the ceiling collapsed. He noticed a piece of concrete had fallen on the gauze filter.

Had the gauze not been placed above the breathing tube, Singer said, there would have been concrete in the soldier’s lungs.

Singer knew the soldier needed to be evacuated, but it was “midday, in the center of the village, and enemies were everywhere,” he said. “They were shooting at us from 15 feet away.”

The IDF dispatched a helicopter to disable the enemies, but the efforts were unsuccessful. Enemy gunfire and missiles continued, Singer said, and he covered the soldier to protect him from shrapnel.

Finally, a rescue vehicle arrived — but it was parked five feet from a Hezbollah window, Singer said. Despite the danger, IDF soldiers got on top of the armored carrier and managed to load the wounded into the vehicle. The soldier was transported to a hospital and treated.

Every year on the date of the attack, that soldier still calls “to thank me for saving his life,” Singer said.

Sixteen years have passed since the end of the Second Lebanon War, and Singer said his life isn’t the same: Those experiences “brought me to a higher level of faith, of belief in God, of wanting to do good.”

He received a medal of honor for his actions, retired from the army as a major and serves as deputy director, Division of Epidemiology, for Israel’s Ministry of Health.

As one of the country’s highest ranking public health officials, Singer — he goes by “Roee,” which is Hebrew for “shepherd” — has helped Israel navigate polio, Ebola, measles, West Nile virus and COVID. “Public health is the closest thing to being under fire in medicine,” Singer said. “All these outbreaks are coming at you hard and fast. It feels like we’re being bombarded all the time.”

But as Singer nears his 60th birthday, he said he’s finally reached a place of appreciation: “I can’t get shot at all the time. But to be bombarded, maybe I’m in the right place after all.” PJC

started to erupt inside of her about this grandfather she didn’t know,” Belmont said.

The trip changed the dynamic of Belmont’s family, she said.

“I’ve never seen us so tight. I mean, I couldn’t turn around and I didn’t have one of them on one side or the other,” she said.

“But I could not have done anything more wonderful for our family than this.”

the time all the gravestones are replaced.

“Our goal is to go out of business,” he said.

“Our goal is to shut the lights and quietly fade into the darkness.”

Lamm said Operation Benjamin is not an education center or Jewish genealogy specialist. The organization serves a specific purpose, which Lamm’s co-founder Lamar believes has a more profound impact on the participating families.

“We’re not just righting historical wrongs,” Lamar said. “We are refreshing the memories of the soldiers.”

This was the case for Dr. Ira La Voe, a Philadelphia-based physician, who, through Operation Benjamin, found out that his

Continued from page 4

a kilometer up a hill and deliver the wounded for transport to the hospital.

As gunfire continued, Singer thought back to his initial “baptism under fire.”

“For the first time, I realized this was the real deal,” he said. “Hezbollah was a good army.”

The IDF members reached the evacuation vehicles and delivered the wounded. Singer and his team left Lebanon to regroup, only to discover their work wasn’t finished.

After reentering Lebanon, he received a call that a soldier was injured 100 meters down the road. Singer and his medics “zig-zagged” through alleyways avoiding enemy gunfire.

After reaching the building’s location, Singer noticed two IDF soldiers on the floor.

“One guy had a bullet in his neck, the other guy had a bullet in his thigh,” Singer said.

While the former was actually “all right,” the latter required immediate care, so Singer administered morphine and spoke with nearby soldiers. An evacuation team was needed, Singer said, but bringing one in during the middle of the day was “suicide,” so he and the wounded remained seated in the building until it was safe to exit.

“That day was crazy,” Singer said. “It was like living in a shooting range from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. … They would throw a grenade in, shoot at us, but miraculously no one was hurt on that day except my two guys,” Singer said.

Finally, after nightfall, Singer and his team evacuated the wounded. But again,

Benjamin: Continued from page 9

they had passed, for soldiers who had never had a Kaddish said for them, Belmont said.

Colonels and lieutenant colonels did slow salutes as the gravestones were changed, an act of respect often done during retirements, and a rarity for officers with seniority to do for privates and soldiers of lower rank.

As Belmont’s family approached Albert Belmont’s grave, where they and dozens of guests paid their respects, Barbara Belmont noticed something she hadn’t seen her daughter do in years: cry.

“She was so amazed of the emotions that PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

“Our goal is to go out of business”

Operation Benjamin recognizes its work is finite, Lamm insists. Though at the rate they’re going at (about 25 graves a year), Lamm will be more than 400 years old by

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

— Toby Tabachnick

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

grandmother’s youngest brother died in Manila, Philippines, during WWII. La Voe would have likely never met his great-uncle, but the experience made him think about his family connections: his childhood home, memories with his grandparents, aunts and uncles of generations past that he hadn’t stopped to think about for a while.

“We just came full circle ... doing the right thing for a generation that was forgotten for many of us because we just didn’t have a connection,” he said. PJC Sasha Rogelberg writes for the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication where this first appeared.

JUNE 3, 2022

15

Life & Culture Pan-seared tilapia with tomato-caper sauce

— FOOD —

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

I

love to cook with fresh herbs and in-season produce to get the most flavorful outcome. This recipe is full of Mediterranean flavors which come mostly from fresh tomatoes, salty capers and olives. Fresh lemon juice, parsley and sea salt round out this dish that is sure to brighten up your day.

I chose to make this recipe with tilapia, which is an affordable white fish that is easy for most shoppers to find. The sauce will taste great on any white fish and, for special dinners, I suggest substituting branzino fillets.

This recipe creates a healthy dish to serve as a fish course or as a main course that can be made dairy or pareve. Total prep and cooking time is just 15 minutes, which is something that we all appreciate.

This recipe serves 4 and can easily be doubled for a larger crowd.

Ingredients: 4 tilapia fillets 4 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil, divided 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved ½ cup pitted kalamata or niçoise olives, halved 2 tablespoons small capers

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JUNE 3, 2022

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley 2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Kosher or sea salt to taste Freshly ground black pepper or a pinch of Aleppo pepper

Rinse and pat dry your fish fillets, then lightly sprinkle with salt on both sides.

Prepare and measure the rest of the ingredients: Chop the olives and tomatoes in half; chop the parsley; and juice a large lemon. I chose to use multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes for added color, but plain red cherry tomatoes are lovely as well.

Place a sauté pan over medium heat to warm for a few minutes before adding 3 tablespoons of butter or olive oil. It’s best to use a pan large enough to fit all 4 fillets at once. If you have a smaller pan that only fits 2 fillets, you may need to add another tablespoon of butter or olive oil before pan-frying the second batch. (If you are using butter, make sure it is unsalted. Salted butter browns too quickly and can ruin the sauce.)

Gently place the fillets into the pan and cook for exactly 3 minutes. During those 3 minutes, gently press down each part of the fillet with the back of a spatula — this will help to create a crust on the fish without needing to add any kind of flour or breading.

At the 3-minute mark, flip the fish and cook for another 30-45 seconds.

Remove the fish to a platter with a spatula.

Using the same pan and oil with the heat still set to medium, stir in the tomatoes,

capers and olives.

Cook for about 90 seconds, stirring regularly, until the tomatoes soften, but not so much that they lose their skins.

Add an extra tablespoon of butter or oil, the chopped parsley and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir gently for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat and ladle the sauce directly over the fish. Since the olives and capers are salty, taste-test before adding any more salt. You may want to add another pinch, a little more lemon juice

and some freshly ground pepper.

You can serve this dish immediately.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

p Pan-seared tilapia with tomato-caper sauce

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Photos by Jessica Grann

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Life & Culture

Frustrating ‘Beauty Queen’ still hooks you in — STREAMING —

By Jarrad Saffren | Contributing Writer

N

etflix’s “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” which debuted on May 21, can be seen as a lot of things: a portrayal of Spanish Sephardic Jews, of Jerusalem before it was Jewish again or of the evil eye and its implications, among other possibilities.

But really, it’s a whole lot more Jewish than all of that. For “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” at its core, is about a character

straight of a Philip Roth novel: a man, Gabriel Ermosa, played by Michael Aloni, who cannot seem to overcome his domineering mother, Mercada Ermosa, played

by Irit Kaplan.

And over the first two episodes, his inability to do so takes on the entertainment quality of a car wreck or a meltdown on reality television: You just can’t look away.

Throughout these early episodes of the series, which is based on a novel by Sarit Yishai Levy, you root for this handsome and capable dude to take control of his own life.

As I leaned forward on the edge of my couch, I found myself shouting in my mind.

Take control of your father’s shop!

Go marry the Ashkenazi girl you really love!

Leave this constricting little village environment, and all of its small-minded biases and pressures, for the land of the free in America!

Just go, man! Go! But Gabriel Ermosa does not go. He stays; he listens to mother; he remains a good boy.

And you hate him for it.

Yet you also empathize.

Does a man not have a responsibility to his mother, family and community? Would it not have made him even less of a man if he

had just upped and left?

You even sympathize, too.

Mercada has the audacity to blame her son for the death of her husband/his father, who died the morning after he learned that Gabriel was cavorting with his Ashkenazi lover. Then she pushes him to marry the family’s lowly shop cleaner, who is Sephardic like them, because she claims that Gabriel’s father told her to do that in a dream.

The son considers leaving for the United States, but is told by another member of the community that, if his father wished for him Please see Beauty, page 20

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17

Celebrations

Torah

Bar Mitzvah

Lessons gleaned from questions Jacob Maxwell Amster, son of Megan and Joshua Amster, will become a bar mitzvah at Adat Shalom during Shabbat morning services on Saturday, June 4, 2022. His grandparents are Alan and Anne Amster, Paul Revak and Lois and Gary Kijowski.

Jacob is a student at Dorseyville Middle School. He plays basketball and lacrosse. For his mitzvah project, Jacob is the team captain for the “Neighborhood Chronies.” He fundraises and leads his team at the Take Steps Walk, which benefits the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. PJC

Join the Chronicle Book Club!

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its June 12 discussion of “The History of Love,” by Nicole Krauss.

From the publisher: “Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive.

But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…

Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together

toward a climax of ‘extraordinary depth and beauty’ (Newsday).”

Your Hosts

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

How It Works

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, June 12, at noon. As you read the book, share your favorite passages on a Google Doc you will receive when you register.

What To Do

Buy: “The History of Love.” It is available at area Barnes & Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon.

Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting.

Rabbi Howard Stein Parshat Bamidbar Numbers 1:1 - 4:20

T

he book of Bamidbar (Numbers) documents the travels of the Israelites during their years of wandering in the desert. The opening parshah, in turn, elaborates on the preparations for this journey, moving from the established camp at Sinai to relatively frequent relocations. There are three primary areas that the text lists in terms of preparations. The first is taking a census of the Israelite men of fighting age. The second is enumerating the responsibilities of the families from the tribe of Levi in terms of managing the transport of the mishkan (tabernacle) and its accoutrements. The final topic is the arrangement of the tribes around the mishkan when they are encamped.

Certainly there are lessons we can learn about how to undertake any venture of this enormous scale. It is important to know who is participating and to assign roles in a coordinated fashion. Everyone needs to be on the same page, so to speak, so that the operation proceeds smoothly without chaos. For Moses to manage the travels of this multitude, he needs to give assignments so that he doesn’t get overwhelmed by the details of each task.

From a modern lens, I find the questions raised by the text of the Torah more instructive (and more relevant) than the answers. In the Torah, only the Israelite men are counted.

We can estimate the numbers of women and children, but are less able to do so regarding the “mixed multitude” who accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt. In recent years, there has been much discussion, if not controversy, regarding the United States census and its implications (such as allocation of

congressional districts). Who do we count?

What information do we gather about each person? Who makes the rules regarding the process of conducting the census?

Similarly, we can ask questions about who can fill which roles, and how hierarchy affects how the work is done. In the Torah, there is a strict hierarchy of priests, Levites, and Israelites, with defined roles and privileges. A hundred years ago, our ideas about gender roles (and indeed about gender) were very different than they are today. What jobs were appropriate or not appropriate for men and women? What were the roles of men and women in the household? How do we think about these questions today, and how will we continue to advance in our thinking in the future?

The question of hierarchy is of particular interest to any community. Who is in charge, and how independent or inclusive is that leadership? While many if not most congregations have assigned roles (rabbi, board members, officers, etc.), there is an imperative to make sure that the needs of the members of the community are being met. The risk of a traditional hierarchy is that those who are disaffected may search elsewhere for community rather than engaging with the leadership.

So the final question I will pose is this: How can we break down the hierarchies to which we have become accustomed, to give up some of the privilege we have grown to enjoy, in order to build communities that more fully engage their members in creating a shared vision that is meaningful to all?

Shabbat shalom. PJC Rabbi Howie Stein is the rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel in White Oak. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries FROHLICH: Marilyn Frohlich, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Beloved wife of the late Stanley Frohlich.

Loving mother of Rick Frohlich, Mindy Frohlich (late Joe Schneier) and David Frohlich. Sister of Donald (Miriam) Krieger and the late Burt Ritter. Grandma of Sara Schneier.

Treasured in-law to Ezra and Cathy. Second mom to Rochelle Lilien. Also survived by special nieces and nephews, Susie, Barry, Jeff, Lee, Willa, Hadassah and Cali. She will be missed by everyone who knew her.

Graveside services and interment were held at Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, 1 N. Linden Street, Duquesne, PA 15110. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com LANDAY: Thelma E. Gold Landay passed away May 24, 2022, in San Diego at the age of 93. Thelma spent all but the last year of her life in Pittsburgh where she was born to Solomon and Lena Weinstein of Squirrel Hill. Thelma graduated from Allderdice High School. She married Harold A. Gold in 1949, had two sons, and resided for almost all the rest of her life in Wilkins Township. After Harold died in 1970, she went to work at the Holiday House as an event planner, helping hundreds of people plan weddings, bar mitzvahs and parties. She met the stars who performed there and made lifelong friends. In 1974, she married Arnold Landay, with whom she had another two decades-long marriage until his death in 1997. Thelma worked as a salesperson at women’s clothing stores, notably Gantos at the Monroeville Mall.

She finally retired in her 70s but never lost her fashion sense or her taste in clothes. She volunteered for many years at Family House in Shadyside. Thelma was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, Boris (Beasy) and by her two husbands. She is survived by her sons, Cliff (Julie) and Eric (Marcy) Gold, two stepchildren, Sharon (Bob) Simms and Barry (Rachel) Landay, and five grandchildren, Jeffrey, Hadley, Gigi, Ian and Mardi, and a great-grandson, Rowan. Graveside services and interment were held at Betty Rosenberg Cemetery. Donations may be sent to the Harold A. Gold Eitz Chaim Fund at Parkway Jewish Center, 300 Princeton Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MOIDEL: Ron Moidel passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, May 22, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he resided. Beloved father of Heath Ian Moidel (fiancé Sydney Roberts). Son of the late Bernard and Ruth Moidel. Brother of Brian Moidel (Debra Moidel). Also survived by nephews Brandon and Justin Moidel (Honor Randall) and great-nephew Leonardo Moidel. Ron, formerly of Pittsburgh, loved family and friends, and all things Pittsburgh, especially Pittsburgh sports. He will be remembered as a great story teller, fun-loving and had a PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

big personality. Graveside services and interment were held at B’Nai Israel Cemetery in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. Contributions may be made to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, crohnscolitisfoundation.org.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PERLOFF: Dr. Evelyn Perloff. Judaism has emphasized education from the time of the Hebrew Bible. Dr. Evelyn Perloff lived this orientation, as a trailblazing female academic during a time when American women faced enormous gender prejudice. Dr. Perloff of Shadyside died on May 26, 2022, at the age of 101.

Dr. Perloff obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ohio State University in 1951, was on the psychology faculty at Purdue University during the 1960s, and was a faculty member at Pitt’s School of Nursing from the 1970s to early 1990s. In 1985, she founded the Health and Psychosocial Instruments database, an internationally-recognized resource that has more than 225,000 records about behavioral and psychosocial measurement tools supplied to hundreds of libraries across the world. Even after she retired as an emerita professor at Pitt, she kept working and was a connoisseur of books on topics from biographies to birds. Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Perloff. She is survived by her three children, Richard (Julie Krevans), Linda (Fred Bryant), and Judy (Nancy Smith); six grandchildren, Hilary (Sonny Sharp), Erica, Michael, Catherine, Anna, and Kate; and one great-granddaughter, Eden. Services and interment were private. In lieu of flowers, send donations to American Macular Degeneration Foundation, P.O. Box 515, Northampton, MA 01061-0515. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com ZEMAN: Myra (Lanson) Zeman, on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. In their 50th year of marriage, beloved wife of Allan H. Zeman.

Cherished mother of Jessica Zeman and Melissa (Greg) Wachsman. Sister of the late Sybil (late Mervin) Berkman.

Grammy of Lily and Joshua Wachsman, Allie and Emily Ross. Aunt of Ellen and John. Myra was a pharmacist for 35 years.

She was a tutor for the Literacy Council. She volunteered at the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. She was active in Hadassah and the cause for Soviet Jewry. She loved to travel and was appreciative of the fine arts. She had an outgoing personality that brought out the best in people. Despite her diagnosis of MS, she never lost her zest for life and inspired people to never give up.

Graveside services and interment were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Young Peoples Synagogue, 6404 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Multiple Sclerosis Society, nationalmssociety.org/Donate or Animal Friends, 562 Camp Horne Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. schugar.com PJC

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Phyllis Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Alan Cohen

Dr. Susan Snider and Family. . . . . . . . . . Edwin Snyder

Sylvia & Norman Elias . . . . . . . . . Robert N. Moldovan Sylvia Elias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Moldovan

Freda Spiegel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Perr Greenberg

Tibey Falk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Meyers

Harold C. Weiss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phillip Weiss

Lynne Gottesman and Debra Ritt . . Norman Wesoky

Ruth Yahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Yahr

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday June 5: William Barron, Dr. Samuel R. Cohen, Helen Danovitz Berenfield, John Jacob Elling, David Glasser, Sam Gold, Rebecca Kaufman, Rebecca Kaufman, Jeannette Klein, Sylvia Rita Lipkind Podolsky, Edna F. Sachs, Bella Schlosser, William Schlosser, Samuel Serbin, Erma A. Weinthal Monday June 6: I. Rosa Lee Minzenberg Berry, Alfred Bornstein, Louis Cohen, Leah Hansell Freedman, Howell J. Friedlander, David Gould, Rashel Katkisky, Hannah Miller, Hannah Miller, Robert Moldovan, Dora Schultz, Nathan Shapiro, Daniel Shussett, Paul Stein, Dora Sussman, William F. Weiss Tuesday June 7: Ida Friedman, Dora Samuel Goldfarb, Mollie T. Golomb, Phyllis Elaine Gutmacher, Anna B. Hausman, Michael O. Kohn, Sarah Koppleman, I. Hyman Lerner, Charlotte Perelstine, Sarah Y. Rudick, Irving Shapiro, Alex Silverman, Jacob Slome, David Soltz, Helen Tenenouser Wednesday June 8: Morris Borof, Sonia Drucker, Dora Felman, Jean K. Gefsky, Sarah K. Gellman, Sylvia Gerson, Alvin Abe Golomb, Albert William Hertz, Albert Horn, Freda Horn, Leah Korobkin, Rochelle L. Lubarsky, Tillie Marshall, Helen Ohringer, Fannie Schachter, Nathan Silver, Rhoda Freedel Sternlight, Frances Tenor, Esther Martin Wallie Thursday June 9: Goldie Ackerman, Mollie Goldberg, Charlotte Haffner, Sadie Katz, Sam Kaufman, Ida R. Kovacs, Irwin J. Kravitz, Tobias G. Lang, Clara M. Leon, Evelyn Letwin, Naomi Levinson, Sam Match, Frank R. Phillips, Louis A. Safier, David Sanes, Natalie Iris Santos, Rose Supoznick Schwartz, Jennie Raffel Silverman, Hyman Weiner, Edythe L. Wolfe Friday June 10: Aaron Cohen, Rose Blockstein Fisher, Freda Kalik, Gertrude Klein, Abraham Krouse, Dr. David Lipschutz, Louis Ruttenberg, Louis Sable, Theodora Helen Samuels, Morris Shapiro, David Sheffler, Margaret Katherine Stark, Rose H. Weisburgh, Norman Wesoky, William H. Yecies Saturday June 11: Edward Balter, Edith Rodney Berman, Lillian Cazen, Jacob Dickman, Ethel Sofer Frankel, Fannie Gordon, Morris Oberfield, Charles Zola Pollock, Leonard Robinson, Nathan Roth, Herman Shapiro, Isadore Thomashefsky

DuBois-Sons of Israel’s Hillside Cemetery History Located in the heart of DuBois, the Sons of Israel’s Hillside Cemetery dates back to a 1919 purchase from the DuBois Land Company.

Jews had been in the region since the mid-1890’s. The earliest graves are recorded in 1922 including WWI veteran David Smargonsky. A lovely private setting adjacent to St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Sons of Israel has 110 graves, and like many Jewish cemeteries in small towns, plenty of ground that will go unused. The DuBois synagogue, a wonderfully spirited congregation, is the only one left in an area of Pennsylvania where coal was king, and it serves a large geographic area.

The Clearfield County coal fields were only outdone by the neighboring ones in Jefferson County, all booming at the time of the establishment of the cemetery.

Synagogues were in Clearfield, Punxsutawney and DuBois, with Jewish families in Ridgway, Brookville, Reynoldsville, and all points in between.

The Shakespeare Family, longstanding in scrap metals, established a fund to care for the grounds, and it is the final resting place for nine family members.

Additional burials of note include Marv Bloom, career journalist, regional sports maven, and general manager of the DuBois Courier; Louis Steinberg, noted local photographer who cataloged local buildings; and Ed Levine, valued religious leader to Sons of Israel for over forty years.

The Sons of Israel Cemetery began an association with the JCBA in 2022.

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

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JCBA’sexpanded vision is made possible by a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Foundation

JUNE 3, 2022

19

Opinion Kislowicz:

Pie Problem If I eat one more piece of pie, I’ll die!

If I can’t have one more piece of pie, I’ll die!

So since it’s all decided I must die, I might as well have one more piece of pie.

MMMM – OOOH – MY! Chomp – Gulp – ‘Bye.

diligently chasing the back bumper of the lead car, until I realized that it was far safer and more enjoyable to just back off and let people cut in. They will likely reach their destination minutes ahead of me, but I’ll get there in my own time, with my car and my sanity intact. If that makes me a friar, then please pass the pie.

I’ve come to wonder if being a friar is my destiny. My name, Kally, is derived from calanit, an Israeli wildflower. The calanit is a brightly colored anemone that blossoms in late winter, well before most other flowers.

It comes on the scene boldly, blooming in fields, cliffsides, and between cracks in rocks, knowing full well that the weather will likely be harsh and unwelcoming for the next while. The other flowers must think the calanit is a friar for working so hard to grow and survive, rather than just waiting for the

warmer, kinder months of spring. They don’t understand that she’s really just an optimist, hoping for the best, trusting her environment to help her out, and trying to spread a bit of joy during the February darkness.

Also she’s hungry for pie. And so I hereby reclaim the title of friar, wearing it as a badge of honor in the face of the name-callers and the head-shakers. I am a friar. I drive as I please and make whatever decisions I fancy regarding frozen vegetables. Join me, fellow friars, it is liberating and redemptive out here on this ledge. And for those of you who know how to read the fine print, I invite you to join me as well. I could really use your help out here. PJC

children, Gabriel is shown running around and praying toward the sky for a “male heir.” But as the series makes clear with flash forwards to the character’s middle-aged life, his prayers are never answered.

In those flash-forward scenes, the son seems doomed to repeat his fate from generp Netflix’s “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” Screenshot ation to generation.

When Rosa is not satisfied with Gabriel’s punishment of their daughter mother, the arbitrary responsibilities of his Luna, played by Swell Ariel Or, for staying world and ultimately his cursed fate. God out late, Rosa forces Gabriel to inflict a put him in a situation and gave him a chance stricter punishment.

The husband listens, to decide, as God does in the Jewish faith. Yet taking his daughter into her bedroom to be Gabriel chose to let others decide for him.

The show makes a point of lingering on whipped by a belt. Yet once in there, he allows the tragic elements of the character’s cursed his daughter to take control, pretending to existence. During the births of his first two whip her by hitting the bed as she cries out

in contrived agony.

It is, of course, not a problem that Gabriel listens to his women. It is a problem that, in the case of his mother and wife, he listens to people who want to override his agency.

The most frustrating part of the Gabe experience is that he seems capable of so much more. As a young man, he’s handsome enough to attract two different women. As a middle-aged man, he’s successful enough to buy his daughters a hot new record player.

But at every crossroads moment of his life, he gets out of his car and switches seats with the passenger.

The cycle is frustrating enough to make you want to watch the last eight episodes. PJC

Continued from page 12

discounts on hundreds of products? Or am I a friar for not opening that credit card?

And if I dare ask the person offering the credit card if he thinks I am a friar, my mispronunciation of that double resh sound in the word “friar” will be a dead give away that I am indeed ripe for being scammed.

Let’s review: Sometimes people think I am a friar because I do not like peas. And sometimes people think I am a friar because I legit don’t understand the terms that are being offered. But regardless of the circumstances, a friar is what they see.

This reminds me of the seminal work written by the great American poet, Shel Silverstein:

Beauty: Continued from page 17

to marry this woman, he would have sons that would grow strong. What would you do in that situation? Would you defy all the people in your community who are telling you to listen to your dead father?

Gabriel is a victim, in a sense, though not one without agency.

It is he who decides to listen to his mother’s kooky and manipulative logic. It is he who chooses the comfort of his own world over the frontier spirit of America. It is he who tries to make a deal with the devil, by marrying the shop cleaner Rosa, played by Hila Saada, a woman he does not love, in exchange for strong sons.

It is Gabriel who fails to transcend his

The tortured narrator understands that he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. And so he heroically weighs his options, and chooses to go out on his own terms with his head held high. The beauty and tragedy of his decision resonates deeply within me. So since it’s all decided I must be a friar, perhaps I should simply embrace it.

When I first started driving in Israeli traffic, I was told to stay very close to the car ahead of me so that no one would cut me off. I white-knuckled it on many roads,

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Kally Rubin Kislowicz made aliyah from Cleveland, Ohio to Efrat in 2016. This first appeared on Times of Israel.

Jarrad Saffren writes for the Jewish Exponent, and affiliated publication where this first appeared.

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Life & Culture This private, on-demand ‘hot rabbi’ may soon be the star of her own reality TV show — CULTURE —

By Julia Gergely | JTA (New York Jewish Week)

R

abbi Rebecca Keren Eisenstadt lives in a one-bedroom apartment on Second Avenue on the Upper East Side, but she feels just as at home in the penthouses just a few blocks away on Park Avenue.

Most afternoons, Eisenstadt and her shih-poo, Scout, can be found shuttling between the Upper East Side homes of her 40 tween students — or “Jewdents,” as she calls them — as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvahs. On the weekends, you might spot her on social media, where she goes by @myhotrabbi and frequently posts selfies from her client’s lavish parties. And soon, she hopes, you’ll find her on TV, thanks to Reese Witherspoon’s media company, which is making a documentary series about her life as a single rabbi looking for love.

One place Eisenstadt can’t usually be found is at a synagogue. And that’s by design.

Eisenstadt — known as “Rabbi Becky” to most — is building a brand for herself based on the fact that many Jews feel disconnected from, or left behind by, the traditional centerpiece of American Judaism.

Instead of a pulpit, Eisenstadt is a private rabbi-for-hire for dozens of New York City families, mostly on the affluent Upper East Side. Her clients are the types of people who are used to having things done their way, on their own time — and that’s true even when it comes to Jewish learning and life cycle events.

“Especially with successful New Yorkers, they feel like they own the city,” Eisenstadt said. “They don’t want to feel like they’re a number on a waitlist.”

If synagogues are mass transit, Eisenstadt is Uber: Her services are bespoke, personalized and on-demand. She customizes her clients’ prayer books, tailors their bar or bat mitzvah services and plans families’ trips to Israel. She’s overseen spiritual ceremonies at the Western Wall in Jerusalem — and also an over-the-top party at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where rapper Pitbull performed.

“Becky is basically a legend,” said Erica Copulsky, who hired Eisenstadt to help both her children prepare for Jewish comingof-age ceremonies. They first met in 2018, when the Copulskys hired Eisenstadt to supplement the instruction their son got at Temple Emanu-El before his bar mitzvah.

Temple Emanu-El “is probably one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world. It’s gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, beautiful music, beautiful everything. But it’s a huge room.

It’s overwhelming. No matter how many friends you have, there’s no warmth — that’s just not what it is,” Copulsky said. Though everything at her son’s bar mitzvah went smoothly, Copulsky still felt like Eisenstadt, the external tutor, was the only person who really guided and got to know her son during the process.

When it came time for her daughter to become a bat mitzvah last year, the family no longer belonged to a synagogue — like 22

JUNE 3, 2022

so many other New Yorkers, they had relocated to Florida during the pandemic. So Copulsky turned to Eisenstadt, who tutored her daughter via Zoom and flew down to lead the ceremony.

“Everyone said to me, ‘Can’t you find someone locally?’” Copulsky said. “But Becky was our synagogue. Becky was the reason why my daughter wanted a bat mitzvah and she was her connection to New York, her connection to her community and her connection to Judaism.”

It’s a role that Eisenstadt embraces.

“Synagogues, in some cases, have become stale,” Eisenstadt said about the demand for her services. “Just because you get some glass windows and do a modern renovation, if you’re not totally renovating and keeping up and have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on with your constituents, then you’re going to lose touch.”

She’s tutored bar mitzvah students for more than half her life, starting as a teenager in Maryland and continuing through her college years at New York University and as side gigs as she worked in theater, education and at SoulCycle. Now 36 and recently ordained as a rabbi by Mesifta Adas Wolkowsik, a nondenominational seminary for working Jewish professionals, Eisenstadt says she understands what many New York City families want as their children prepare to mark a major Jewish milestone.

She’s had more than 700 clients to date.

And though she notes that the demand for her services gives her the ability to charge rates “comparable to a young lawyer,” Eisenstadt says her tutoring is far more than a business transaction.

“It’s my superpower to become my client’s friends — or big sisters, or little sisters,” she said. “I’m not just there for an hour.

It’s not just a transaction. It’s not just the High Holidays. It’s not even just Shabbat.

I integrate myself into people’s lives and try to show how Judaism is integrated into their lives.”

Eisenstadt’s own relationship with Judaism has added some complication in her life. She said she has found it nearly impossible to find people to date who are as religiously observant — Eisenstadt keeps kosher and identifies as “hipsterdox,” a loose Modern Orthodox — and dedicated to Judaism as she is, while also being comfortable with her career as a nondenominational rabbi.

That struggle will be a focus of the series being made about her life. The production company has filmed a pilot and is trying to find a network to host the show, which will chronicle Eisenstadt looking for love and “succeeding as a young, single woman in a man’s world,” as she puts it. As she guides tweens and their families on spiritual journeys, she also goes on dates, gets her hair blown out and glams up for her clients’ events.

But beyond the glitz and glamor, Eisenstadt’s work reflects a serious trend in American Judaism: the shifting of a center of gravity from communal institutions to individual experiences. Even before the pandemic, the majority of American Jews

of Jewish educational experience for families who wanted to have a community-based education but not necessarily in a synagogue setting,” Forman-Jacobi said.

“Many of Manhattan’s Jewish families are not looking for synagogue membership, but still want to mark the occasion.”

Eisenstadt wants to be clear that she loves synagogue life. “I love every shul I ever walked into.

I feel like it’s a home,” she said.

She belongs to the Carlebach Shul, an Orthodox congregation on the Upper West Side.

But she said the role she has crafted is needed, especially for children who may not fit into the traditional Hebrew school model for one reason or another.

“The institutional Hebrew school learning model is really only geared toward average learning and average attendance, and that doesn’t really fit for somebody who has some form of difference,” she said. About p Rabbi Becky Eisenstadt Image by Alex Korolkovas; multimedia design by Mollie Suss half of her clients are children of divorced parents who may not seldom or never set foot inside synagogues, be able to consistently show up to the same according to the 2020 Pew study — but more location each week. Many of her students than half of those people said they expressed have a learning disability, she added, which their Judaism in other ways, including Hebrew schools are not always set up through life cycle events. to accommodate.

The pandemic, which normalized at-home “I do look at myself as an entrepreneur,” bar and bat mitzvahs and closed synagogue Eisenstadt said. “I don’t look at myself as a doors, seems only to have hastened the shift. threat. I look at myself as an option towards The most widely-viewed recent depiction providing a service that only helps enrich of a bar or bat mitzvah in pop culture, on Jewish experiences and perhaps does somethe “Sex and the City” reboot “And Just Like thing that the regular synagogue model has That,” showed a ceremony that took place not quite figured out, ceased to do, or that I entirely outside the confines of a synagogue. possibly do better.” (“Horrific,” Eisenstadt said of the episode, As rewarding as she finds her work, which she thought watered down the poten- without an administrator, cantor or any tial powerful Jewishness of the ceremony. other colleague to fall back on, the free“Everything about it made me cringe.”) lance life can be exhausting and lonely. And Some are skeptical of the trend, arguing without a congregation of her own, it can that Jews who go it alone are missing also be difficult to recreate for her students out on a crucial dimension of what it the community feeling one finds in synameans to be Jewish. gogues on holidays, during celebrations and “Becoming b’nai mitzvah is an extraordi- in times of sorrow. nary moment of personal achievement for Eisenstadt tries to combat that by inviting each child and family. It is also an extraor- her students’ friends and siblings to join in dinary moment of celebration for the larger their lessons.

Jewish community in which the Jewish One recent evening, Eisenstadt invited community wants to share,” said Emanu- three of her students to join her at a fundEl’s senior rabbi, Joshua Davidson. “If the raiser event for the American Friends of celebration is to become more than one the Israeli Navy. The students were thrilled moment in time, but rather the beginning of to hang with their rabbi at a Thursdaya strengthening connection to Jewish life, the night soiree at an event space in Midtown synagogue is a meaningful place to mark it.” Manhattan. Eisenstadt’s “Jewdents” may have Others are leaning into the shift. At the been the youngest attendees by decades, but Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Rabbi with their Prada bags they fit in perfectly.

Lori Forman-Jacobi developed the “Jewish “Maybe it means I’m an enabler of that Journeys off the Bimah” program, now in sense of entitlement, but it’s the world I’m its 10th year. In the two-year program — working in,” Eisenstadt said of her high-end which costs $10,000 — groups of five to clientele. “I’m the one who’s bringing people seven students learn their Torah portion to the Jewish experience … teaching people in English together, prepare a dvar Torah how to pray, and facilitating prayer, of (a sermon) and create a project based on learning the texts, relating it to modern day what they learned. and ushering people through holidays and “We wanted to create an alternative kind life cycle moments.” PJC

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Community Chaplains Conference

By the Waters of Babylon On May 18 and 31, the Holocaust Center, in partnership with Point Park University and Chatham University, presented “By the Waters of Babylon,” a 360-degree documentary about the Clarion Quartet, at the Buhl Planetarium at Carnegie Science Center.

p From left: Andrew Halasz, Jennifer Orchard, Bronwyn Banerdt, Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, Tatjana Mead Chamis, Marta Krechkovsky. Orchard, Banerdt, Chamis and Krechkovsky are the Clarion Quartet; Halasz and Shaeffer are the filmmakers.

Photos by Melanie Wieland, courtesy of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh

p Aleph Institute rabbis, board and staff gather at Aleph Institute during the annual Chaplains Conference on May 15.

Photo courtesy of Aleph Institute

Robinson Red Carpet The Robinson International Short Film Competition was held on May 25 at the Carnegie Museum of Art theater. The event honors the memory of Sanford N. Robinson, Sr., a noted member of the Pittsburgh Jewish community and a passionate supporter of the arts.

p From left: Arbel Kovesh, star of the gold prize-co-winning film, “Meadow”; Klil Kovesh, writer/director of “Meadow”; Judy Robinson; Heather Robinson; and Uriya Hertz, writer/director of the gold prize-co-winning film “Devek,” on the red carpet at Film Pittsburgh’s 11th annual Robinson International Short Film Competition.

Photo courtesy of Film Pittsburgh

Art creates welcoming city

Throughout May, Michelle Gainey’s Pittsburgh Paints project celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Gainey’s initiative aligns

p From left: Michelle Gainey, Yafa Schnadower, Eduardo Schnadower and Mayor Ed Gainey

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What a trip

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh eighth-graders visit Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

with the work of her husband, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, in making Pittsburgh a more welcoming city for all by promoting art from diverse artists.

p From left: Michelle Gainey, Douglas Levine, Lauren Braun and Mayor Ed Gainey

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Photos by Emmai Alaquiva

JUNE 3, 2022

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