The Jewish Chronicle Oct. 27, 2011

Style A place for space Hong Kong artist makes spatial statement in Israeli exhibition

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE thejewishchronicle.net OCTOBER 27, 2011

TISHRI 29, 5772

Vol. 55, No. 24

Pittsburgh, PA

Ashes to ashes?

Rabbis wrestle with cremation amid its growing appeal to Jews

Chronicle adopts nonprofit status to support mission

BY DAVID CAOIN Chief Executive Officer

BY TOBY TABACHNICK Staff Writer

Not wanting to spend eternity in a casket, it was Pittsburgh native Norman Schwartz’s wish to be cremated and to have his ashes scattered when he died.

Which left his son, Howard, with some difficult arrangements to make.

“We ran into some issues,” said Schwartz, speaking from his home in Pinehurst, N.C., “but we were fortunate enough to get around them.”

While the first rabbi Schwartz contacted said he could not officiate at a memorial service for a person who was cremated, the son eventually was referred to Rabbi Ronald B.B. Symons, who agreed to preside over the service.

“We had a nice service,” Schwartz said, “and I was able to fulfill my dad’s desire. His ashes will be scattered over a golf course in Pinehurst; he loved to golf.”

Thirty years ago, cremation was virtually nonexistent among Jews. Now, statistics show that almost one third of North American Jews are choosing cremation, according to Sharon Brody, licensed funeral director and supervisor at Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel.

“I think the [cremation] rate is increasing,” Brody said. “We [Schugar’s] specialize in traditional Jewish burials, so we try to steer the family in that direction. But we do help families who come to us and want cremation.”

“The Jewish cremation rate in North America is at 30 percent,” according to Brody, citing statistics available to her Please see Cremation, page 16.

$1.50

U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist Alan J. Baribeau

A Navy chief petty officer aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook scatters the ashes of a former U.S. military member during a burial at sea ceremony.

At home, cremation has found a growing appeal among Jews while rabbis wrestle with the question, how to counsel their congregations about it.

Recognizing that The Jewish Chronicle is a community trust as well as a community newspaper, the governing board of the Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation (PJPEF), which publishes the Chronicle, filed for and was granted federal 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status earlier this year.

The benefits of this new status are many, but the underlying reason for the board’s decision to seek the change was to help the Chronicle in a time when many newspapers are facing difficult times.

Immediate Past PJPEF President Davida Fromm considered the action long overdue.

“This is something the board had talked about for many years,” said Fromm, a driving force behind the new status. “Given the recent economic- and industry-related realities, we decided to get serious about it. “[Former Chronicle CEO] Barbara Befferman, [board member] Tom Hollander, and I met with Gregg Kander of the legal firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, who offered to provide the guidance and support necessary to complete the application process,” Fromm added. “We are enormously grateful to all those who worked to make this happen, and we feel optimistic that the change in status will benefit the Chronicle by enabling us to apply for grants and accept tax deductible donations from our community of loyal readers.”

New foundation President Rich Kitay, a certified public accountant, took an understandably pragmatic view of the change.

“The 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status Please see 501(c) (3), page 15.

B U S I N E S S 1 4 /C L A S S I F I E D 1 7 /O B I T UA R I E S 1 8 /O P I N I O N 6 R E A L E S TA T E 1 6 /S I M C H A S 1 2 /S T Y L E 1 0 /T O R A H 1 7

Times To Remember

KINDLE SABBATH CANDLES: 6:04 p.m. DST. SABBATH ENDS: 7:03 p.m. DST.

2 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

Metro Leaving the house?

For area senior citizens, the question isn’t so simple

BY TOBY TABACHNICK Staff Writer

At age 86, Anna Ruben decided on her own to move to Riverview Towers after living for 40 years in Florida.

After being widowed for 15 years, she decided it was time to come back to her hometown of Pittsburgh, and downsize.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” Rubin said.

However, she noted, it’s not always a simple decision.

“I think the decision to make a move should come from the person himself [or herself],” said Ruben, who has a doctorate in higher education. “It’s when family members intervene and say you’re having a hard time taking care of your own place, and it would be good for you to move, that you can resent it and get angry.”

In the best of all possible worlds, a senior citizen would recognize when it is time to move out of the house in which he has lived for decades, and into a more manageable and protected space.

That doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a family member may need to encourage the move in order to safeguard the welfare of an elder loved one.

“It’s a change, and with seniors, change is difficult,” said Phyllis Cohen, director of programming at Riverview Towers, a retirement living community in Squirrel Hill.

It can be daunting for a senior citizen to even think of downsizing a lifetime of

Riverview Towers photo

A Hawaii party from last November at Riverview Towers. Sometimes, the decision for a senior citizen to give up the house and move into a retirement facility such as Riverview isn’t so easy.

possessions into a one-bedroom or studio apartment, Cohen added. She said many reasons influence the decision to move to a retirement facility.

“More often than not, it’s family members who help them make that decision [to move],” she said. “Sometimes it’s too hard to keep the house up; sometimes it’s a financial reason, and sometimes they’re lonely.”

There are signs for concerned rela-

tives or friends to look for when determining if it is in a loved one’s best interest to make a move, said Hanna Steiner, executive director of Riverview Towers.

“Does the house look as if handling housework is more difficult?” Steiner asked. “Is the yard more neglected?

Has your loved one taken a bath recently? Did he change clothes? Are the clothes stained? Did he lose weight?

Are there piles of mail? Are keys in their regular place?”

Other signs that a senior citizen may be ready to move to a retirement community include forgetting doctors’ appointments, and having difficulty negotiating public transportation or driving, according to Steiner.

Clarification The obituary for Hannah Ruth Flamberg in the Oct. 13 edition contained in-

“The conversation on the need to move to senior housing will be tough; do not kid yourself,” Steiner said. “But remember to talk about the positive side of change: an opportunity to start fresh, buy a new piece of furniture, make some new friends, eat in the company of others, fewer house chores. Talk about how it is important to you to know that they are in a safer place. Do not talk about what they lose, but rather what they can gain.”

What one can gain at some senior facilities is piece of mind, said Steiner, as personnel regularly check on residents, meals are provided, and social activities are offered.

Still, if a senior citizen is not ready to make the move, Ruben said pushing for it may cause more harm than good.

She believes the success of moving depends on whether the senior feels ready, and not on whether others feel it is time for him to move.

“When they [seniors] get pushed from others, it makes the move much more difficult,” she said. “People who push them have to keep validating the move, asking ‘Aren’t you glad you’re there?

Didn’t we do the right thing?’ It is important for elderly adults to do it on their own.”

Ruben believes that moving to a retirement facility — at the right time — can greatly enrich someone’s life.

“The most wonderful thing is you are with other people in similar circumstances,” she said. “I have met so many lovely human beings.”

(Toby Tabachnick can be reached at tobyt@thejewishchronicle.net.)

formation submitted in error to the Chronicle. Flamberg, 83, was born March 27, 1928. A memorial service was held at Temple Sinai, Sunday, Oct. 23.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011— 3

METRO Briefly The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh will present a program spotlighting righteous gentiles in the Arab world.

“Lessons from Kristallnacht: When Muslims Saved Jews,” will be held Wednesday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. at the JCC’s Levinson Hall in Squirrel Hill.

The program Robert Satloff will include Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and author of the book, “Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust in Arab Lands,” who will serve as keynote speaker for the evening. Also addressing the gathering will be Fritz Ottenheimer, a Pittsburgh area survivor whose talk is entitled, “Memories of Kristallnacht.”

The program is free to the public, but seating is limited; reservations are requested. Contact the Holocaust Center at (412) 421-1500 or at holocaustcenterpgh.org.

Edger and Sandy Snyder are underwriting the program.

The Johnstown Area Heritage Association and Beth Sholom Congregation are cooperating on the Jewish Community Heritage Project, a series of museum exhibits and other programming for 2012-2013.

National, traveling museum exhibits on Jewish themes as well as a temporary exhibit on the history of Johnstown’s Jewish community will be presented in the second floor gallery of the Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center. Additional programming, such as speakers and film presentations, is in the planning stages.

The project was announced at Beth Sholom Congregation on Rosh Hashana.

Jews have been in Johnstown since the 1850s. The earliest Jewish residents of the city were German, followed by many more from Russia, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe during the great wave of immigration from 1880 to 1920.

The temporary exhibit on 125 years of Johnstown’s Jewish history will be displayed at Beth Sholom after the project concludes in 2013.

The exhibit’s themes will include the early settlement of German and Eastern European Jews in the Johnstown area, how Jews developed an economic niche, establishment of a mature community, and discrimination and integration.

Anyone interested in the project, or who has photography or memorabilia to lend for the exhibit on Johnstown’s Jewish history, can call Beth Sholom at (814) 536-6440 or Barry Rudel at Please see Briefly, page 5.

4 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

METRO Kosher wine importers here

New business marries charity with sales to find success

BY LEE CHOTTINER Executive Editor

No one has to tell Adar Ben-Lapid and Michael Greathouse about tough times.

They are, after all, starting a new business in Pittsburgh — a kosher wine import concern called Premier Wine Imports — at a time when unemployment tops 9 percent, stock indexes are plummeting, banks are reluctant to lend and economists warn of a new recession.

They personally were laid off from their previous jobs, victims of the weak economy.

Still, the business partners have faith in their new venture, which they formally launched in June.

“We believed in ourselves and believed there was enough of a market out there that we could still succeed,” BenLapid said.

They also have a reason to believe — a novel business strategy.

The two-part strategy includes marketing boutique Israeli wines not well known in the United States, and, perhaps more important, partnering with Jewish charities or nonprofit organizations to support their missions while selling wine.

The idea behind the second point, also known as cause marketing, is to pair an individual wine Premier Wine Im-

Michael Greathouse (left) and Adar Ben-Lapid hope their strategy of selling boutique kosher wines and partnering with charities will lead to a successful business venture.

porters sells, or perhaps a whole winery, with an individual charity. The charity receives 10 percent of every sale of its paired wine or line of wines. “[We] find a bottle of wine that matches that organization,” Ben-Lapid said, “so it [helps] a Jewish organization.”

The two also plan to do their own product promotion.

Cause marketing is not a new idea. A cooperative venture between for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations

for mutual benefit, it has been employed by businesses in many industries, including the wine industry.

Ben-Lapid and Greathouse say they base their model on the Jewish custom of maaser (a tenth) — taking a tenth of one’s income for charity.

According to the Cause Marketing Forum in Rye, N.Y., which promotes successful company/cause alliances, corporate cause sponsorship will grow 5 percent in 2011 to $1.7 billion. In fact, cause sponsorship has grown every year, except 2009 when it declined by a negligible 0.3 percent, since 2002, according to the forum.

So far, Premier Wine Importers has made corporate/cause arrangements with four Jewish NPOs: • Sharsheret, a not-for-profit organization supporting young women and their families, of all Jewish backgrounds, facing breast cancer; • The Friendship Circle, a nonprofit organization that provides programs and support to the families of individuals with special needs; • The rebuilding of the kever (tomb) of Hillel, which has long been neglected; and • Bonei Olan (Children are Magical), a

project to help infertile couples to become parents.

Ben-Lapid and Greathouse pair wines with these charities based on many factors — the type of vintage, the color of the wine, or where the vineyards are located — something that connects the wine with the charity.

For instance, they matched a white wine from the Tulip winery in Kfar Tikva with Friendship Circle because Kfar Tikva (City of Hope) is a community developed around special needs individuals. And Agur Rosa, a rose wine from the Judean Hills, was paired with Sharsheret because the color of the wine is consistent with pink, the universal color of breast cancer survivors.

According to Greathouse, other kosher wine importers do use cause marketing, but usually as a promotion, not as part of their regular business practice.

“We wanted to be a consistent entity,” he said, “not just do it once in a while.”

Premiere Imports markets and sells wines whose vintners believe have received little if any promotion once they reach the stores.

“They said … that there is no marketing aspect, that their wines get stuck on the shelves so to speak without the marketing behind then,” Ben-Lapid said.

“We thought this is great opportunity to step in.”

None of the wines they market are mevushal, heated wine that remains kosher no matter who pours it, though Ben-Lapid said some may be added in the future.

The partners, who have a warehouse in Pittsburgh, don’t see themselves as competition for existing kosher wine merchants in Pittsburgh.

In fact, they note that the Vaad HaRabbonim, Pittsburgh’s kosher certifying body, has approved their venture on the conditions they do no directly pursue customers of other establishments and they only market wines that cannot be found elsewhere.

(Lee Chottiner can be reached at leec@thejewishchronicle.net.)

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011— 5

METRO Briefly Continued from page 3.

(412) 215-9157 for more information.

Items for exhibit can be dropped off at Beth Sholom during office hours.

The Abe and Janet Beerman Fund at the Community Foundation of the Alleghenies, the David A. Glosser Foundation, the William L. Glosser Family Fund, the Saul and Eva Glosser Memorial Fund and the United Johnstown Jewish Federation are funding the project.

Temple Shalom, Wheeling, W.Va., will screen the classic Al Jolson movie, “The Jazz Singer,” as part of its adult education program, Saturday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m., in the social hall.

Released in 1927, “The Jazz Singer,” which is considered the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue, tells the story of a son of a cantor whose desire to become a popular jazz singer on the American stage comes into conflict with his traditional music roots.

A discussion will follow the screening.

The Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee is sponsoring the next Christian-Jewish Dialogue Thursday, Nov. 3, from noon to 1:15 p.m., at the Church of the Redeemer, 5700 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. The topic will be “Who Can Be Saved.”

The Jewish text is Ezekiel 18:21-23 and Psalm 15. The Christian text is 1 Timothy 2:3-4.

The monthly conveners are Rabbi James Gibson, Rev. Cynthia BronsonSweigert, Father Dan Valentine and Rabbi Michael Werbow.

The program is free to the public. Contact the PAJC office at (412) 605-0816 or pajc@pajc.net for more information.

The Jewish Association on Aging has established Pakler Exemplary Employee Recognition (PEER), a program to reward employees across the JAA continuum of care.

Recipients will be those who have acted beyond what is expected of them in their positions, striving for the highest quality of service for the JAA’s patients and residents.

Any resident, patient, family member or staff member may nominate an employee who exhibits exemplary service.

The PEER committee will meet soon to discuss nominations for the first recipient. This program is funded through a perpetual gift established by a member of the JAA board of directors.

Congregation Dor Hadash has released its adult education events for November: • Ronald Brauner, professor emeritus at Siegel College of Judaic Studies, will speak on “Jews in a non-Jewish World,” Wednesdays, Nov. 9 and 16, at 7 p.m.; • Lisa Brush, professor of sociology, University of Pittsburgh, will speak on “Reconstructionism and Social Glue,”

Sunday, Nov. 20, at 1:30 p.m.; and • Bruce Ledewitz, professor, of Law Duquesne University School of Law, will speak on “University, Church, State and the Crisis in American Secularism,” Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m.

Contact admin@dorhadash.net or call (412) 422-5158 to register.

Jacob’s Ladder of Temple Emanuel of South Hills will present Dr. Mindy Hutchinson, a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, to speak, Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. She will address typical worries of children and adolescents as well as the anxiety disorders most likely to present early in life.

More than 15 million children in America have psychiatric disorders, and at least half of them will never receive help. Misunderstanding and stigma prevent parents from seeking help for many children who are suffering.

Refreshments will be served following the discussion.

Pittsburgh Allderdice High School will honor its third class of Alumni Hall of Fame inductees Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.

Alumni to be inducted are: Judith Bartnoff, deputy presiding judge of the Civil Division Superior Court of the District of Columbia, class of 1967; Sharon Epperson, award-winning journalist and author, class of 1986; William A. G. Fisher, principal of Allderdice from 1971 to 1991; Rob Marshall, award-winning director, class of 1978; Curtis Martin, former football running back, class of 1991; and the late Bob O’Connor, former mayor of Pittsburgh, class of 1962.

The event is free and open to the public.

Call (412) 422-4846 or e-mail Jeff Rosenthal, president of the Alumni Association at Jeff2827@aol.com for reservations.

Rodef Shalom Brotherhood will collaborate with the East Winds Symphonic Band Sunday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. at the synagogue, to benefit the Squirrel Hill Food Pantry.

The East Winds Symphonic Band is comprised of some 75 musicians of all ages, mainly from the east suburban communities. The band performs classical concert music as well as Dixieland, Broadway show melodies and marches.

The concert is free and open to the community, but guests are encouraged to bring a bag of groceries or make a donation.

Contact Norman Kanel at (412) 2416542 for more information.

AgeWell Pittsburgh will hold a health and wellness fair followed by a Panel Discussion on Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Kaufmann Building of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill.

The fair, geared towards older adults and held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will include more than 20 information tables including different professionals from the medical community.

There also will be screenings and information booths, flu shots and individual counseling on health plans — call 412661-1438 to schedule an appointment.

The Panel Discussion, “Are You Being Scammed? Recognize, Refuse, Report!” will be held following the Fair, from 1 to 2 p.m. The discussion will address how to protect oneself from financial scams and exploitation.

Call Maxine Horn at (412) 422-0400 for more information.

6 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

Opinion The Egyptian opportunity L

et’s be frank; last week’s prisoner swap, which set free Israeli army Sgt. Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 prison-hardened Palestinians will not create an opportunity for peace.

That, of course, is because the side that held Shalit — Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip — is opposed to peace with Israel, under any and all circumstances.

But this week’s deal with Egypt, which freed a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen in return for 25 Egyptian prisoners in Israeli jails, may be an entirely different story.

Israeli-Egyptian relations have never been colder. If this deal can lead to a thawing of relations, Israel should pursue it — fast.

In a statement Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 25 Egyptian prisoners would be exchanged for Ilan Grapel, who was arrested in Cairo June 12 and has been held without charge since.

Egyptian officials suspected the 27year-old Grapel of spying for Israel during the height of the uprising that top-

pled former President Hosni Mubarak.

Israel always denied Grapel was a spy.

Of course, Egypt may know very well that Grapel is innocent of espionage allegations, but took him anyway as a bargaining chip. In fact, likely that’s what did happen.

But this week’s exchange, coupled with the role Egypt played in freeing Shalit, may present an opportunity to restore Israeli-Egyptian relations. If so, it’s an opportunity Netanyahu dares not let pass.

Israel hasn’t been this isolated in the Middle East since the Six-Day War. Not only are Islamist groups surging in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, where the Arab Spring has taken root, Turkey has dropped its diplomatic ties to the lowest possible level, recalling its ambassador and not accepting the credentials of Israel’s newly appointed emissary.

In Egypt, thousands in the streets, including the Islamic Brotherhood, which before long may control the balance of power in that country, are calling for an end to the Camp David Peace Treaty.

All of which creates major security problems for Israel. Its border with Sinai is porous, and a new wave of terrorist attacks in that region is not out of the question.

But maybe, just maybe, Egypt is looking for an honorable way back to normal relations with Israel, knowing that breaking ties with the Jewish state could mean the end of U.S. military assistance.

Egyptian leaders watch the news; they know all the leading candidates for president in 2012 are staunch supporters of Israel’s existence (and, yes, that means President Obama too, all rhetoric to the contrary).

So where the Hamas deal may have been about freeing hardened terrorists anxious to resume their attacks on Israel (as far as Hamas is concerned), the Egyptian exchange may give the current government there the diplomatic cover it needs to restore relations.

Or … not.

Either way, it behooves Israel to find out. Here’s hoping behind the scenes diplomatic efforts are under way right now.

Library had options other than tax hike Abby Wisse Schachter

When the librarian visits my daughter’s day care in Squirrel Hill she comes to read stories and sometimes put on a puppet show. After the visit she usually leaves behind a note for the parents describing what activities she did with the kids, what books she read and why.

This past week, attached to the reading list was a different sort of note from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. It was a plea to vote in favor of a property tax hike.

It is difficult to decide what is more offensive: the library’s new proposed tax or using my baby girl to do it. The library should be ashamed of using children to campaign. But when it comes down to it, the proposed tax increase is the worse offense. Here’s why: 1. A new tax should have been a last resort, it wasn’t.

The Carnegie Library hardly exhausted all other options before initiating the effort to force citizens to pay higher property taxes. According to its own 2010 Annual Report; its public/private task force on sustainable library funding came up with a total of six recommendations. The new tax was No. 5 on the list. What happened to numbers one through four?

“As a representative of the community, I am keenly aware that everyone wants to — and should — contribute to the successful future of this Library system,” says task force member Lynne Squilla. “This plan enables the entire community — from individuals to corporations, government and foundations — to participate in this shared goal.”

Newsflash, Ms. Squilla: Everyone currently does contribute to the library system, through taxes we are already paying to the city. Indeed, the task force itself listed securing increases from the Allegheny Regional Asset District as its No. 2 priority. What happened to that?

Task force priorities one, three and four were all about getting individuals, corporations and local and state entities to contribute more to the library. What happened to that? Has the library collected every last dollar it can from these individuals and groups since it issued the report less than a year ago?

What about selling T-shirts, hats and bags? What about a bake sale?

2. If approved, the tax can and will go up in the future.

One of the arguments in favor of the tax is its modesty. Come on, the library suggests in its campaign literature, it’s just $2.09 a month or $25 annually on $100,000 of assessed value.

Don’t imagine that it’ll remain at this level beyond the first year. Any time a government gets a new revenue stream, it never gets rid of it — just take a look at the liquor taxes we pay for the Johnstown flood! And it almost always goes up.

3. If the library is so important to Pittsburghers, then the city should prioritize it over other services.

According to “Our Library, Our Future,” the group campaigning for the tax hike, two separate polls this year showed that more than 90 percent of respondents felt the Carnegie Library was doing a good or excellent job.” No one is disputing the good work that the library does or its importance to our community and our democracy.

The point is that we elect people to represent our interests and run the city.

The way they do that is by allocating tax dollars to various community needs such as the police force, fire fighters, garbage collection, public transportation, snow removal, libraries and pensions (which are underfunded!). If the citizens wanted more money to go to the library, they would make that case to our elected leaders to prioritize the library. If these politicians aren’t prioritizing the library, then Pittsburghers should elect new representatives to carry out their wishes.

One more important point: Allegheny County properties haven’t been reassessed since 2002. If there were a reassessment, more revenue would go to Pittsburgh for important services such as the library. The library could have supported the effort to get that reassessment to happen. It didn’t. Perhaps the “citizens” who care so much about the future of the Carnegie Library don’t want a tax hike after all. So why should anyone else vote for one?

(Abby Wisse Schachter authors the New York Post’s politics blog Capital Punishment, and can be reached at Schachter at awschachter@aol.com.)

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 7

OPINION

Letters to the editor We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 400 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or e-mail letters to: via e-mail Letters to the Editor The Jewish Chronicle letters@thejewishchronicle.net via fax 5915 Beacon, 3rd Flr. (412) 521-0154 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Web site address thejewishchronicle.net

Officer lauds JewishAlbanian ties I was so happy to read the letter regarding the Albanians and how they relate to the Jews (Albanian-Jewish ties, Oct. 13).

I am presently deployed to Kosovo with the Army. I have been here in the past and have been here this time since August 2010. I adore the Albanian people.

When they hear that I am Jewish (a fact I proudly claim) they get so excited and teach me new facts. Last evening, I had a friend come to the base with his

colleagues to speak about the first migration of Jews to the Balkan Peninsula.

I, of course, was the only Jew there.

Everyone was very interested and asked lots of questions and no one left till it was over.

The Righteous Gentile art exhibit at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh this month was in Kosovo last year and I was invited, by the embassy, to attend. I met and have become good friends with many of the families of the righteous gentiles.

This has been a wonderful experience for me and I intend to return to the Balkans to sightsee and continue teaching oral care to the wonderful people of Kosovo.

Elaine Berkowitz Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo (The author, a Pittsburgh dentist in civilian life, is a lieutenant colonel and dental officer in the Army Reserve currently deployed to Kosovo.)

8 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

OPINION

The Shalit lesson — no enemy will demean us Justin Jacobs

KIBBUTZ KETURA, Israel — On the same night Gilad Shalit was released after more than five years in captivity, I found myself, rather unexpectedly, in the middle of a crowd of thousands of smiling, dancing bodies — an all-night desert rave in a canyon near the Dead Sea. It was an odd, but somehow appropriate mix of events: the salvation of one man, one man whose life kept the entire nation of Israel agonized and somber and hopeful for half a decade; and thousands of others dancing, a purely physical release of tension and stress and fear, the exorcising of negative emotion.

A cause and effect, if you will, as if the rave only happened because we, as Jews, as a nation, were able to breathe easily — that yes, finally, Gilad had come home.

I want to ponder what has just unfold-

ed, and certainly will continue to unfold, gaunt and scared; 477 Palestinian priswith the freedom of Gilad. oners were released, with the rest to folThere’s a popular opinion outside of low in two months.

Israel, and to a much smaller extent But I would argue with Reich. To simwithin Israel, that we have just walked plify the situation to head and heart neginto a death trap. New York Times con- lects several key factors. Will more Istributor Walter Reich thinks so. In his raelis die at the hands of Hamas’ newly column last week, he argues that based freed battalion of terrorists? Maybe. on numbers alone, we made a mistake. Probably. And that, undeniably, will be And sure, based on numbers, we did. Is- tragic. But will Israelis decry that the rael traded one live soldier for over decision was poor, even after a possible cap1,000 new shower tured Palesof attacks betinians, severgins? I must al of whom say no.

When Gilad came home, we held have already With Gi— within a freelad’s our breath. We cried into our single day of dom, Israelis hands. We couldn’t believe it was their release are reminded — committed that alongactually happening. themselves to their side taking more mandatory prisoners and service in the ending more military is Israeli lives. So, in essence, one life was the promise — ironclad — that the nareturned to us as a dauntingly uncertain tion will do absolutely everything in its number of lives may soon be taken away. power to bring them home. They will not As he writes, it was a head versus heart leave one soldier behind; they won’t game. Our hearts were desperate for Gi- even leave one body behind, or the relad’s life; our heads should have told us mains of what once was a body. And this this was not the deal to make. And as promise, something that seems utterly they so often do in politics and life and foreign to me as an American, means love, our hearts won. Netanyahu made everything in Israel. It’s this promise the deal. Gilad was returned, looking that Israel was literally founded upon:

we, as Jews, will never quit. We will never again let an enemy demean us. We will fight to the death for every single life. It’s pride; it’s power. It’s love of a country, love for each other.

In America, we were in the streets this summer when we killed our greatest foe. You would never see such elation over death in Israel. As militaristic Israel may be, we celebrate life here, not death. When Gilad came home, we held our breath. We cried into our hands. We couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

I’m sitting here on Kibbutz Ketura, surrounded by Israelis, Brits and Americans. Rob, an ex-soldier from England, put it this way, bluntly: “You get your f—-king boy back. And that’s it. No matter what it means. So our freed prisoners will go back to plotting against Israel.

And we’ll go back to foiling their plans.

But one thing means everything. That’s what Israel is all about. You get your f—-king boy back.”

After five years and four months, we got him.

(Justin Jacobs, a former associate editor for the Chronicle who currently lives in Israel, will from time to time send back columns on his observations of life there. He can be reached at his blog, justinhjacobs.com.)

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 9

OPINION Shalit, Israel and rabbinic debate Guest Columnist DAVID ELLENSON NEW YORK — Political sovereignty in the restored Jewish homeland often means making decisions with life-anddeath implications. That reality was just brought home with the agonizing decision to authorize the terribly imbalanced swap to gain the release of Gilad Shalit.

The criticisms and concerns lodged by many supporters of Israel within and beyond its borders against the Netanyahu government for exchanging more than 1,000 prisoners for a lone Israeli soldier are legitimate and understandable. Undoubtedly some of the released prisoners will attempt again to wreak murder and mayhem against inhabitants of the Jewish state.

At the same time, the overwhelming majority of Jews and people of good will throughout the world have rejoiced over a decision that will allow Shalit to return to the safety and love of his family and nation. Agreeing to the lopsided deal involved great pain for an Israeli government charged with balancing numerous and competing concerns in providing for the safety and security of its soldiers and citizens. The decision involved no easy or obvious choice.

However, as so many reflect upon the action taken by Israel, it is instructive to remember that Israel unfortunately has confronted the same heartbreaking and excruciating question before. In 1985, the Jewish state had to decide whether to return 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners for the release of three Israeli soldiers.

While the exchange never took place and the fate of the three Israeli POWs remains unknown, two prominent Israeli rabbis — Shlomo Goren and Haim David Halevi — addressed the issue directly at that time. Their words from that time have resonance and meaning today, as they provide important perspectives for reflecting upon the policy position adopted by the current Israeli government in agreeing to this exchange.

Goren served as chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Israel and was formerly chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, while Halevi was the chief Sephardic rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Goren, in an article written on May 31, 1985, stated that Jewish law absolutely forbade the Israeli government from redeeming “our captive soldiers in exchange for 1,150 terrorists,” and based his ruling on a talmudic passage in Gittin 45a that stated, “Captives should not be redeemed for more than their value.”

Goren emphasized his great distress at the personal plight of these captives — they were surely in “mortal danger.” However, he still insisted that the state should not redeem them, as

an exchange for the release of known terrorists bent on the destruction of Israel, and its Jewish population surely would imperil all Israeli citizens and only fuel Arab attempts to capture more Jews in the future. The price exacted from Israel through the release of these terrorists was simply too steep for the state to afford.

Halevi, responding to Goren soon after the article appeared, said he was sympathetic to the position advanced by his Ashkenazic colleague but disagreed with the conclusion. In Halevi’s view, the conditions obtained in a modern Jewish state were vastly different from those that confronted the Jewish community in pre-modern times when the Talmudic passage was written. The Jewish people were now sovereign in their land, and the “political-national” aims that motivated the terrorists “to wreak havoc among the Jewish people” would continue regardless of whether their prisoners were released in exchange for Israeli soldiers.

Indeed, these terrorists would persist in their efforts until a political solution to the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict was achieved.

The “impossible choice” before the government, as Halevi saw it, was whether to “strengthen the power of the terrorists through the release of their comrades or to strengthen the morale of IDF soldiers should there be future wars.” Faced with the two options, Halevi believed that priority had to be assigned the latter — the Israeli government should do all in its power to uphold the morale of the Israeli soldiers.

If a soldier and by extension his family and all residents of the Jewish state knew that the government would spare no effort or expense to liberate a captured soldier, and that such release possessed the highest governmental priority, then the resolve of the citizen-soldiers of the State of Israel to defend their nation would be fortified and absolute.

In a moral universe where alternatives were limited and where the military might of the State of Israel could protect its citizenry despite the preposterous numerical imbalance of the exchange, Halevi felt this choice was still the wisest one that the government could make in an imperfect world.

In responding in this way, Halevi enunciated a position that provides a rationale for understanding why the current Israeli government made the decision on the issue of prisoner exchange. As its critics contend, surely it is a policy fraught with danger for the state. At the same time, it appears to be a policy that continues to guide Israel legitimately as it continues to provide unlimited support to its citizen-soldiers as they all too often confront an enemy bent on the state’s destruction.

(Rabbi David Ellenson is the president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.)

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Style Su k i ’s place In Israel, mixed media artist explores how ‘a space becomes a place’ Chan’s work largely deals with the transience of space and the impermanence of structure. In “Tomorrow is our Permanent Address,” Chan constructed a city of drinking glasses. The light of the glass captures the viewer’s attention, but she said she knew during filming she had to destroy the city because we’re guests in this world and nothing is permanent. How does the destruction happen?

“I don’t normally tell,” she said evasively. “There [are] clues.” Chan plays around with scale and oscillation, creating a dreamlike aesthetic in the video.

The piece came out of Chan’s master’s degree, which she completed at the Chelsea School of Art in London in 2008.

She chose to use glass material out of her concern that cities around the world are building structures that disregard their location’s specific environmental needs. When cities today build skyscrapers out of steel and glass in the desert, for instance, Chan said that isn’t sustainable.

“I wanted to create something that would convey that precariousness and fragility,” she said.

In “A Place on Earth” (2008), Chan photographed Thames Town — a suburb of Shanghai that she said is built like an

BY RACHEL MARDER JointMedia News Service

Traveling to Israel for the second time made quite an impression on artist Suki Chan, a 34-year-old Hong Kong native who was raised in London and now lives there.

This time around, Chan — who combines film, video and photography to create mixed-media installations — visited for the launch of her exhibitions in Tel Aviv. She also started work on a new project about religion and architecture, or as she said, how different peoples relate to a place as their home, how these neighbors relate to each other, and the nuances of conflict over space.

“It’s quite an intense little trip,” Chan said of her 10 days here, speaking with JointMedia News Service at the Christ Hostel café in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. “This is a place of extremes. … It’s very complex. The more time I spend here the more complex it is.”

What’s particularly intriguing to Chan is that Israel is home to some of the most fiercely fought over real estate on the planet.

“I suppose I’m interested in space and the way a space becomes a place, and how we relate to that place,” she said.

Currently on display is Chan’s video installation “Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address,” in a group show titled “English Education,” which opened Sept. 8 at the Dan Gallery in Tel Aviv and runs until Oct. 28. Curator Ravit Harari also included works by Eyal Sasson, Guy Shoham and Peter Jacob Maltz in the exhibition. During the opening, Chan showed her short animation “Breathing Silence” (2004) outside the gallery on Gordon Street as part of a

one-night show called “Art Lovers.”

The continuously looping film — one cycle is 16 seconds long — explores Victorian architecture in England. The fleeting moments of the animation show small details like butterflies on the cracks of the mosaic, and traces of former inhabitants as their lives appear and disappear.

“It’s about the movements of the butterfly that are here and then they’re not,” Chan said.

Chan took her inspiration from ancient Chinese philosopher Chuang Tsi, who wrote: “Once, I, Chuang Tsi, dreamt I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Tsi. Suddenly I awoke, and there was I, visibly Tsi. I do not know whether it was Tsi dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tsi. Between Tsi and the butterfly there must be some distinction.

[But one may be the other.] This is called the transformation of things.”

English village. People assume from the pictures that it’s a place in Europe, and they are surprised to learn that it’s actually Shanghai, whose architectural style was imported from Europe. “It feels like a misfit,” Chan said.

The way cities are developing, Chan said, every city is starting to resemble every other one, as one style is grafted from area to area. Cities are losing their uniqueness, their native materials and design aesthetic as they strive to blend in with what is considered high architecture, she said.

“I think there’s this feeling that your own architecture is not good enough,” Chan said. “It’s a crazy feeling of ‘we

will do this because we can.’ ” Israel’s architecture styles, Chan said, reflect a mix of peoples. She said the Bauhaus buildings of Tel Aviv and the Islamic aesthetic in Jerusalem are “very exciting,” and “really show the melting pot of cultures as well as similarities between architecture.”

Chan said her reaction to the Western Wall was unlike her reaction to other sacred spaces that she has seen around the world. Regarding mosques and churches, Chan said she has felt small and overwhelmed by an all-encompassing awe. But, “When I look at the Western Wall I see al-Aksa, the Dome of the Rock … the layering of one religion after another.”

Chan arrived in Israel smack in the middle of an architectural revolution of sorts: the tent city protests. She observed the tents lining main boulevards in Tel Aviv, where the movement demanding social justice was born. “The whole thing is like an art installation,” she said, “like a living sculpture” expressing a different way for people to relate to each other. It wasn’t all about consumption, Western capitalism and shopping, she said.

The tents, brightly colored and grungy, are good to see in public life, Chan said, describing them as “seeing something that isn’t pristine in public space” for a change. Chan suggested that when the tents are all packed up — fragile as they are — an element of them remains to serve as a space for alternative voices. In this case that’s a reversal

of Chan’s message, as the temporary can become the permanent.

Chan’s worked was displayed in a group exhibition last year titled “The Shape of Things,” at the Ferrate Gallery in Tel Aviv. She has exhibited at solo and group exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Ireland, Spain, Canada and the United States.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 11

BOOKS

‘Odessa’ describes city of bright culture, dark hatred Book Review

BY NEAL GENDLER For the Chronicle

Chances are pretty good that most of us, or someone we know, can trace a family member back to Odessa.

Famed Odessa, once Russia’s great enlightened and notorious port on the Black Sea — and still a city with a distinctive ambience — gained much of its pre-communist flavor from its Jews, who were 36 percent of its population during World War I, behind only Russians at 39 percent.

Jews feature throughout delightful “Odessa,” Georgetown University professor Charles King’s easy-reading, engaging history of a city of contrasts that by turns was brightly cosmopolitan and darkly anti-Semitic.

Catherine the Great founded Odessa in 1794 on land relinquished by Turkey. She appointed as those lands’ developer her sometime lover, Grigory Potemkin — he of the

Book Review “Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams,”

by Charles King, W.W. Norton, 352 pages.

hasty projects inaccurately known as “villages” installed to impress Catherine and her entourage as they boated down the Dneiper to view her new territories in 1787.

The city was designed in a tidy grid with governance and planning by western Europeans: Jose de Ribas, born in Italy, “son of the Spanish consul and his aristocratic Irish wife;” and the Duke of Richelieu, who fled the French Revolution and was named city administrator by Czar Alexander I in 1803.

They created a city of unusual beauty, with tree-lined avenues, parks, an imposing opera house and a grand staircase from the harbor made famous in Sergei Eisenstein’s famed but mostly fictional movie, “Battleship Potemkin.”

Closer to Vienna and Athens than to Moscow, swarming with sailors and traders who brought cultures, ideas and epidemics, Odessa accommodated a mixed multitude —Russians, Jews, Greeks, Italians and others — residing in varying amounts of tolerance and contempt. By the early 1800s, Italians and their language were dominant; street signs were in Italian and Russian.

The city dominated early 19th century grain trading. But it also bore what King calls “a conflict between a self-image of openness and grandeur and one of insulari-

ty and terror.” Grand opera, artists and intellectuals thrived in an environment famed also for criminality. Acclaimed writers included Alexander Pushkin, Isaac Babel, and “shockingly articulate” Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky, part of the city’s intelligentsia.

“When things worked, Odessa nurtured intellectuals and artists whose talents lit up the world,” King says in one of the strongest, best-written introductions I’ve read. “When they didn’t, the city’s name became a byword for fanaticism, antiSemitism and deadly nationalism.”

Odessa was a magnet for eastern European Jews, King says, and by the 1860s, a quarter of the population was Jewish. Some made fortunes in grain, some lived in a slum, many were middlemen and small businessmen.

Although there was no ghetto until World War II, underlying European anti-Semitism oozed up in occasional pogroms. Then came the social devastation of World War I, the Bolshevik revolution in which both

sides victimized Jews, the communist years in which religious practice was restricted, and Stalin’s Great Terror, turning much of the nation into a society of informants and denouncers.

Railroads to carry grain, the Crimean War, the Suez Canal, World War I and communism diminished Odessa’s commercial importance. World War II effectively eliminated its Jews. Odessa, in a strip of territory called Transnistria, was ruled by Romania with full Nazi zeal.

King estimates that up to 233,000 Jews — residents and refugees — were in Odessa before the Romanians arrived.

Many joined the huge flight eastward; in autumn 1941, the mayor estimated 50,000 Jews remained. In November 1944, after several months back in Soviet control, officials counted 48.

Postwar, Jews did move in, but waves of emigration have created something of an Odessan diaspora, including the Brighton Beach section of New York that’s been labeled “Little Odessa.”

King’s superb writing stands on its head the stereotype of wearisome academic works, and his substantial bibliography reinforces his credentials for expertise.

Readers also benefit from photos, regional and city maps, and a good index. “Odessa” is a lively, accessible history book that publishers would do well to emulate, both for sales and for reader enjoyment.

(Neal Gendler is a Minneapolis writer and editor.)

12 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

Simchas B’nai Mitzva Andrew Kaplan, son of Lori and Gary Kaplan, will become a bar mitzva Saturday, Oct. 29, at Congregation Beth Shalom. Grandparents are Evelyn and Bernard Sobol and Charlene and the late Sidney Kaplan.

Heather Anna Rosengart, daughter of Matthew Rosengart and Janet Lee, became a bat mitzva Saturday, Oct. 22, at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Grandparents are Carl Lester and Elaine Rosengart and Won Ro and Kyung Ja Lee.

Maya Reut Milch, daughter of Barbara Milch and Etty Reut, will become a bat mitzva Saturday, Oct. 29, at 10:30 a.m. at Temple Sinai. Grandparents are Audrey and Jerome (Hershey) Milch, and great-grandmother is Rose Solnit are of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Margalit and Moshe Kompano of Israel.

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 13

Community A

Sukkah competition Pictured below are four University of Pittsburgh students who competed in the Steel City Sukkah Competition. Pictured are Quentin Brown, Ezra Rahmey, Kelsey Henke and Alex Reichwald. The sukkah on the left was part of the competition.

C L O S E R L O O K

Rodef Shalom’s Jewish Family Concerns Series will kick off Sunday, Oct. 30, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Join local Jewish author Beth Kissileff and Rodef Shalom rabbis and educators to discuss Amy Chua’s thought-provoking book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”

Chua, a Chinese woman living in America and married to a Jewish man, describes the way in which she raised her children and highlights the stark differences in Eastern and Western thought on childhood development.

In this session, “Through the Lens of Kavod (honor): A Jewish Response to the Tiger Mom,” participants will explore Jewish parenting values found in our traditional sacred texts. The discussion will be of particular interest to parents, educators and anyone concerned about the well-being of Jewish children.

All are welcome; there is no charge.

The Jewish Family Concerns series continues with “Through the Lens of Shmirat HaGuf (taking care of the body): What You NEED Know about Jewish Genetic Diseases,” Sunday, Dec. 11; “A Jewish Response to Bullying,” Sunday, Jan. 22; and “How to Talk about Life’s BIG Questions,” April 15.

Contact Rabbi Amy Hertz at (412) 621-6566 Ext. 130 for more information.

Hadassah Greater Pittsburgh Chapter will pay tribute to its national founder, Henrietta Szold, when its members dress in period hats and gloves for its fall meeting and centennial kickoff, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1:30 p.m., in the atrium at Rodef Shalom Congregation.

Ken Rice, evening anchor for KDKA-TV; and Zandra Goldberg, president of Hadassah-Greater Pittsburgh, will be the speakers for the afternoon, which will include updates on activities at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

As an essayist, translator and editor, Szold played a foundational role in creating a meaningful American Jewish culture, according to the American Jewish Archives. Still, as a woman, she was constrained by the limited opportunities that the Jewish world of the late Henrietta Szold 19th and early 20th centuries could offer her.

The creation of Hadassah in 1912 as a Zionist women’s organization dedicated to practical work in Palestine transformed Szold’s life and the lives of hundreds of thousands of women who joined its work.

An afternoon tea and homemade breads will be served.

There is a charge. Contact Hadassah at (412) 422-8919 for more information.

14 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

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METRO/BUSINESS & 501 (c) (3): Continued from page 1. offers the Pittsburgh area Jewish community a powerful way to support The Jewish Chronicle’s various platforms over and above the payment of annual subscriptions,” Kitay said. “The grants from various private foundations along with corporate and individual taxdeductible donations will help to ensure that the Chronicle will continue to be an informative and strong voice of the Jewish community.”

Still, reality is reality. The perfect storm of the Internet effect, the advent of mobile media, and the economic downturn has resulted in new challenges for newspapers. Of course, challenges were predicted for radio with the coming of commercial television, for television with the coming of subscriber cable, for cable with the coming of the Internet, and for the Internet with the coming of mobile media. Obviously, all of these media are alive and well; only their priorities have changed with audiences.

As noted, the change to 501 (c) (3) status (along with the implementation of a multimedia platform comprised of the Chronicle, thejewishchronicle.net and J Magazine) has added the potential for another revenue stream: charitable contributions to the Chronicle. While many publishers are trying (with little success) to implement “pay walls” to fill

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revenue holes created by the erosion effect of the flow of free information on the Internet, donations do more than pay for content; they support the institution.

With the coming of the Chronicle’s 50th anniversary, the board and staff are looking forward to supporting the Jewish community of Greater Pittsburgh, western Pennsylvania and adjacent states for another 50 years. One way they plan to do this is through heightened emphasis on community news, events and members.

International news is plentiful, easily accessible and relatively inexpensive thanks to wire services such as Associated Press and Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA); however, with the minute-by-minute reporting capabilities of the Internet and mobile media, weekly coverage of international (even national and state) events is dated at best.

Unfortunately, local coverage requires additional local reporting, and that requires additional expense.

“Jewish Pittsburgh is a varied and eclectic community,” said Executive Editor Lee Chottiner. “To cover all the news of this community — good and bad, happy and sad — requires, as one of my colleagues once said, ‘pens on the ground’ — and lots of them.”

Necessity being the mother of invention, the board and staff of The Jewish Chronicle look forward to turning these challenges into opportunities to not only continue serving the community, but doing so in continually newer and better ways.

For more information, or to help, send inquiries or donations to The Jewish Chronicle, (David Caoin be reached at WANTED Subscription ad5IN_WANTED Subscription ad5IN 5/23/11 8:09 PM Pagecan 1 5915 Beacon St., 3rd floor, Pittsburgh, PA davidc@thejewishchronicle.net.)

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METRO Cremation: Continued from page 1. from trade papers. “The national cremation rate is 36 percent, so we are not too far behind.”

In Pittsburgh, however, Brody believes the cremation rate among Jews is only in the 10 to 15 percent range.

“The figures are not that high here,” she said. “The figures are much higher on the West Coast and in South Florida.

In Denver, the rate is between 40 and 45

percent.”

Jews have traditionally chosen burial over cremation in line with their longstanding belief in ultimate resurrection, according to Rabbi Scott Aaron, community scholar at the Agency for Jewish Learning.

“Judaism’s historic belief in the resurrection of the dead is predicated on the idea that G-d will raise us from the grave by reassembling our remains there into living flesh,” Aaron said in an e-mail. “Cremation is seen as an unnatural process that negates the opportunity for resurrection since the body was in-

tentionally destroyed rather than naturally decomposed. Traditionally, such an act of intentional destruction of something G-d created in his image was understood as disrespectful to G-d, and forfeited the merit of resurrection.”

Only intentional destruction of the body would disqualify someone from resurrection, he added, so someone who died in a tragedy, such as the Holocaust or in the World Trade Center on 9/11, would still be eligible.

The Orthodox and Conservative movements still adhere to the prohibition against cremation, although the Reform

movement allows it, and the Conservative movement allows rabbis to participate in memorial services of the cremated under certain conditions.

“We have not seen a huge increase in requests for cremation,” said Rabbi Yaier Lehrer, spiritual leader of Adat Shalom near Fox Chapel, which follows the standards and practices of the Conservative movement. “But when presented with such a request, I do counsel against it. It’s hard because very often, the family makes the request because the deceased themselves had that Please see Cremation, page 19.

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— THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 17

TORAH Where did the raven go?

Portion of the Week PARSHAT NOACH RABBI JAMES A. GIBSON, TEMPLE SINAI Genesis 6:9-11:32

The story of Noah and the flood is often presented as a children’s tale, something so fabulous and unbelievable we expect kids to be awed and adults to strain to suspend their disbelief.

The story is, of course, challenging and terrifying when studied in its full setting. The adult reader is filled with questions from the outset, many of which are asked by our commentators: Was Noah really a righteous man in his time? Many interpreters don’t think so. He was righteous only because the world was mired in immorality.

Was Noah really a hero? In our tradition he is compared unfavorably to both Avraham and Moses.

Why didn’t Noah speak up on behalf of others, as Avraham spoke up for the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Our Sages take him to task.

These questions and our responses to them could fill untold chapters and books — and they have!

Yet it is a minor conundrum at the end of the flood story that takes us out of the world of fable once and for all. As the waters recede, we are told that Noah released a raven, then a dove from the Ark. Most of us know that the dove could not find a place for its foot to rest and came back to Noah. He released it a week later and the dove brought back a plucked off olive branch in its beak. After seven more days, Noah let the dove go and it did not return.

But before ever releasing the dove, the text tells us that, “He released a raven, which took off, flying thither and back until the water dried up from the earth.” (Gen. 8.7) Where did the raven go? I ask this question every year to my 10th-grade

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class and their answers are certainly creative: The raven died.The raven had more strength than the dove and flew until the waters dried up.The raven found its way back to the ark and hid from Noah.

The answer evident from the text, however, is far more chilling. Unlike the dove, which is vegetarian and eats only leaves, the raven is a carnivore.

The ravens on the grounds of the Tower of London eat the Queen’s beef. The raven in our Torah narrative needs no such dainty. The seas are not pristine and clear. Rather they are filled with the dead of all creatures who drowned in the flood, including human beings.

The raven does not have to search for either food or a resting place. The waters are filled with both.

This image forever destroys the notion of this story as a children’s fable.

The Torah is trying to tell us what the consequences of our own moral depravity can lead to. It is teaching us that, in a world of no rules, carnivores fly about unrestrained from doing almost anything.

I am indebted to my beloved teacher, Dr. Rabbi Chanan Brichto of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati for this insight. He constantly reminded his students that rather than set aside difficult texts, we must confront them. He demanded that we suspend our judgment and skepticism in order to find the real essence of any Torah narrative.

We live in a world of carnivores still.

It is our task to restrain them and to limit their threat to our hopes for a decent, ethical society. That is why Torah is so important to us, as a guide to making a better world.

We must remember the popular teaching that the only thing evil needs to succeed is for good men and women to do nothing. This teaching is so much more compelling than a fable.

(This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.)

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18 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011

OBITUARIES CAPLAN: On Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, Carol B. Caplan; beloved wife of Robert Caplan; beloved mother of Alan (Karen) Caplan, Eric (Marci) Caplan and Marla Caplan (Victor Thomas); daughter of the late Isadore and Genevie Bliwas; sister of the late Stuart Bliwas; loving “Grammy” of Sage and Siera Caplan and Ian and Carly Caplan. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel; interment Betty Rosenberg/Parkway Jewish Center Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Parkway Jewish Center, 300 Princeton Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com FELDSHUE: On Friday Oct. 21, 2011, Beatrice Feldshue of Rockville, Md., formerly of Naples, Fla., and Monroeville; beloved wife of the late Gene Feldshue; mother of Elyse (Allan) Weiner and Alan (Ann) Feldshue; sister of Mildred Markowitz; grandmother of Seth (Julianne) Weiner, Josh (Amanda) Weiner, Gabriel Weiner and Louis Feld-

shue; great-grandmother of Ben, Bria and Jared Weiner. Services were held at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville; interment Naples, Fla. Contributions made be made to The Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org, Temple Beth Ami www.bethami.org, or JSSA Hospice www.jssa.org. Arrangements by Edward Sagel Funeral Direction, 1091 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. www.sagelfuneraldirection.com FRANKEL: On Friday Oct. 14, 2011, in Lauderhill, Fla., Sheila Frankel; wife of the late Arnold Frankel; mother of Randy Frankel (Terri Greenberg), Gary (Cynthia) Frankel of Davie, Fla; beloved Nana of Andrew (Stephanie) Frankel of Timonium, Md., Suzanne (Peter) Gavin of Ridgefield, Conn., David Frankel, Erin Greenberg of Los Angeles and Ross Greenberg of New York City; beloved grandma of Joe, Michael and Prudence Frankel; Nana-Nana of Blake Gavin. Services and interment were held at Star of David Memorial Park Cemetery. Contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society, 320 Bilmar Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205.

HONIG: On Sept. 9, 2011, Jean Honig, 89; beloved wife of the late Jacob Honig; beloved mother of Jiya (Steve) Kowarsky, Fredrick Honig, Angel Honig and the late Robert Honig and Edward Honig; grandmother of Eric Abrams (Andrea Anapolsky) and Dr. Andrew Abrams; sister of the late Alfred Silberman, Joseph Silberman and Phyllis Silberman Faller; sister-in-law of Hannah and Marvin Kamin. Jean was an avid photographer and was active in numerous Jewish organizations including Temple Sinai Sisterhood, B’nai B’rith Women and ORT as the house photographer. Her photographs often appeared in The Jewish Chronicle. As a resident of the Riverview Towers, her cheerful smile and generous spirit were renowned. She passed away peacefully in Maui, where she lived for the last 8 months of her life, surrounded by her children. Contributions may be made to the Spirit of Aloha Temple, 800 Haumana Road, Haiku, Hawaii, 96708, to be used for the publication and distribution of a book that Jean wrote, in the months before her death, entitled “Gems from a Magic Jeanie.”

MILLER: On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, Larry Miller, 80; son of the late Harry and Lillian Miller; preceded in death by his siblings, Charles, Dorothy and Esthermae; survived by three nieces and one nephew. Services and interment private. Arrangements

by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com ROSEN: On Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011, Richard I. Rosen; loving son of Gloria and the late Norwin Rosen; loving brother of Barbara J. Rosen (Ilkka Ikavalko) and the late Judy Rosen; nephew of Charlotte Shiner; cousin of Adrienne and Dennis Drapkin, Dr. Jan Miller Schwartz, Margie and Mott Morris, Abby and Dr. Chuck Hyman, Myrna and Joe Strapp and their children. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel; interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com

SCHREIBER: On Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, Kurt C. Schreiber; beloved husband of Lillian B. Schreiber; loving father of Emanuel M. (Elisheva Reynolds) Schreiber, Celia Anne (Itzik Lebovich) Schreiber of Raleigh, N.C., and Samuel H. (Julie) Schreiber of Irvine, Calif.; loving grandfather of Abraham, Sarah, Shira, Liat and Yuval. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel; interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Young Peoples Synagogue, 6404 Forbes Ave., P.O. Box 8141, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com SHAPIRO: On Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, Hope L. Shapiro; beloved wife of Jason H. Shapiro; beloved mother of Frank (Rosa) Shapiro, Gerrie Shapiro and Robbie (Donni) Elconin; grandmother of Micah, Travis and Jessie Elconin and Benjamin and Ruth Shapiro; great-grandmother of Amaya . Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel; interment Torath Chaim Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Hyman and Sarah Shapiro School for Girls, 6401 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, 2100 Wightman St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Jewish Family & Children’s Service, 5743 Bartlett St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com

Unveilings BARENT: A monument in loving memory of Rae Melnick Barent will be unveiled Sunday, Nov. 6, at 12:30 p.m. at New Light Cemetery, 750 Soose Road.

Family and friends are welcome.

BINSTOCK: A monument in loving memory of Dorothy Binstock will be unveiled Sunday Nov. 6, at 10:30 a.m. at B’nai Israel Cemetery on Blackadore Road. Rabbi Daniel Wasserman will officiate. Family and friends are invited.

MAZER: A monument in loving memory of Edward Mazer of Pittsburgh will be unveiled Sunday, Nov. 6, at 11 a.m. at The Homewood Cemetery, 1601 South Dallas Ave., Pittsburgh, the Star of David Section. Family and friends are invited.

Please refer to www.thejewishchronicle.net for regularly updated obituary information.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011 — 19

METRO

Weinberg Terrace A beautiful place to call Home...

Cremation: Continued from page 16. request. How do you say to someone you love and care about, ‘You made this request, but we’re not going to do it?’ �

While Pittsburgh has seen only a modest increase in Jewish cremations in recent years, the number will surely climb as more Jews write into their wills their wishes to be cremated when the time comes.

Rabbi Alex Greenbaum of the Conservative Beth El Congregation of the South Hills has only presided over two memorial services in 20 years for Jews who were cremated. Despite the fact that both the Orthodox and Conservative movements prohibit cremation, he foresees an increase in the practice. “I know it will be increasing because people are coming to me and talking about it and putting it in their wills,� he said.

While economics used to be the primary motive for cremation — which is much less costly than a traditional burial — the reasons why people choose cremation have “changed drastically� in recent years. Now, the desire to be cremated, according to Greembaum, is motivated by such things as fear of the dark, or fear of being in a box. “I once had a person tell me he wanted to be cremated because he had a fear of flying,� Greenbaum said, “and he knew he would have to be flown to another location after he died to be buried.�

Whenever someone approaches him to discuss cremation, Greenbaum says he always begins his reply by saying, “it is against Jewish law.� “They always know that [it is prohibited],� he said, “but the question is then ‘what if?’ My answer is even if a person chooses to break Jewish law, we still have the responsibility of the mitzva of taking care of the dead. We will still do the ritual washing of the body. And many Jewish cemeteries, including Beth El’s, will allow the burial of cremains.�

The burning of millions of Jews in the Holocaust likely shook the foundation of Jews’ belief that the body and soul were one and the same for purposes of resurrection. “I truly believe the Holocaust changed everything for us,� Greenbaum said. “We really don’t believe that the millions who were cremated against their will were cut off from the world to come. “The Holocaust changed our theology,� he added, “but cremation is still against Jewish law. But people choosing cremation is a reality today. The way we deal with that reality is the question.�

If a family chooses to have a loved one cremated, sitting shiva for the deceased and saying kaddish would still be appropriate, according to Lehrer. “No matter how the body has been disposed of, they [the survivors] are still mourners,� he said. “I wouldn’t tell them they couldn’t say kaddish. You don’t want to compound their pain.�

While the Reform movement does not prohibit cremation, a 1990 responsum (rabbinic opinion) discourages the practice because of the tragic overtones following the Holocaust.

Although he has not seen a marked in-

crease in cremation in recent years, Rabbi Aaron Bisno of Rodef Shalom Congregation says the practice is “not uncommon, not unusual and not unfamiliar.� “Burial is obviously the default,� Bisno said. “But every Jewish funeral home I’ve ever worked with makes cremation available.�

While cremation is a viable choice in the Reform movement — and is left to the discretion of individual families — there are reasons why some may prefer burial.

While not steering a family in any particular direction, Bisno does explain to families seeking counsel why, post-Holocaust, cremation can be an off-putting notion. Cremation also can deprive loved ones of a place to visit the deceased if the cremains are not buried, he said.

Rabbi Mark Mahler, spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel of South Hills, a Reform congregation, discourages cremation “based on Jewish tradition,� he said, and the overwhelming majority of his congregation still chooses traditional burial. “When the Temple Emanuel cemetery was created circa 1982, allowance was made for the interment of cremains,�

Mahler wrote in an e-mail. “Over the years since, perhaps five people’s cremains have been interred there. I have noticed no trend toward more cremation. If anything, perhaps there is less, at least from the narrow perspective of the Temple Emanuel cemetery.�

The issue of cremation came to a head in Israel not too long ago.

Israel’s first crematorium, Aley Shalechet, opened in 2005 in Hibbat Zion. Six months later, the Chief Rabbinate ruled that a person who wishes to be cremated after his death could not have a Jewish burial of his ashes, and that traditional mourning rituals, including a shiva and kaddish, would not be allowed.

In 2007, Judge Moshe Sobol, sitting in the Jerusalem district court, ruled that an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor could be cremated in accordance with the wishes of his family, thus confirming that cremation in Israel is, in fact, legal, even if not condoned by the Chief Rabbinate.

Sobol’s decision incensed many Israelis, believing that cremation not only is prohibited by the Torah, but is also a reminder of the ovens used by Nazis to murder Jews during World War II. In 2007, arsonists set fire to the crematorium at Hibbat Zion, which sustained severe damage. It was rebuilt in October of that year, and has been functioning ever since.

Still, a 2002 survey by Geocartographia in Israel found that only about 10 percent of Israeli Jews would choose cremation.

Clearly, most Jews still choose burial for their loved ones, perhaps leaning on the familiar traditions of death for reasons of comfort, if nothing else. “If you’ve seen this tradition over your life, you’re going to identify with that tradition,� said Lehrer. “It may be the best way to help you deal with your grief. Tradition is a learned response, and in the tradition of death and dying, I would say that Judaism has it right.�

(Toby Tabachnick can be reached at tobyt@thejewishchronicle.net.)

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IN MEMORY OF

DR. & MRS. ALLAN LEVINE . . . . . . .HANNAH RAE LEVINE ELAINE MCNEILL . . . . . . . . . .SYLVIA R. MELNICK NESSA MINES . . . . . . . . . .MARCIA G. FARBSTEIN NATHANIEL SAMUEL PIRCHESKY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MICHAEL PIRCHESKY SHIRLEY C. RAPPORT . . .ABRAHAM H. RAPPORT BARRY REZNICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DAVID MILLER BARRY REZNICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GRACE MILLER GERTRUDE ROBERTS . . . . . .GEOFFRY ROBERTS GERTRUDE ROBERTS . . . . . . . . . . . .LOUIS ZWEIG ABE SAMBOL AND FAMILY . . . . . .SAM SAMBOL ELINOR SILVERMAN . . . . . . .EMANUEL L. DEROY HAROLD SMOLAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SAM SMOLAR MAX SMOLAR . . . . . . . . . . . .BENJAMIN SMOLAR VIOLET SOFFER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JULIUS GUSKY PATRICIA STEINBERG . . . . . . . . . .DR. MARSHALL STEINBERG HOWARD & RHEA TROFFKIN . . .SALLY BRENNER NANETTE TUCKER . . . . . . . . . . .LEAH FIRESTONE FLORENCE ZWEIG WALK . . . . . . . . .LOUIS ZWEIG ALISON WRIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MAX A. ANTIS RUTH YAHR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SIGMUND YAHR RUTH YAHR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MIRIAM YAHR RUTH YAHR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I. LEROY YAHR

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30: GABRIEL ABRAMOVITZ, MORRIS BECK, ABRAM CLOVSKY, DAVID COHEN, EVELYN HEPPS CUSHNER, FANNY DAVIDSON, EMANUEL L. DEROY, SARAH SAMUELS FINKELHOR, BESSIE FREEDLANDER, BERTHA HANDELMAN, LILLIAN ROTHSCHILD HENDLER, ADOLPH KLEIN, LOUIS KLEIN, SAMUEL KOPELMAN, BERTHA KRUMAN, RHEA K. LANDAU, JOSEPH LAZAR, JACOB LESHER, ANNA BELLA LEVY, TILLIE ORNSTEIN LEWIS, ROSE MARIANS, FANNY MARKS, JOSEPH MAYER, RUTH SCHOENBRUN MORRIS, SYLVIA OLITZKY, FRANCES SHRUT PERELL, MORRIS PICOVSKY, ANNIE MOLLIE RABINOVITZ, MORDECAI J. RICE, RUDA BELLA ROSE, MILTON L. ROSENBAUM, DAVID ROSENTHAL, MOLLIE FINEGOLD RUTTENBERG, ISRAEL SAMUEL, ESTHER SAMUELS, JACOB SCHNITZER, ANNA B. SELZNICK, ABE SHULMAN, SAMUEL SPARKS, BARNEY SWERDLIN, MILTON FRIEDMAN TANZER, TIBIE VERK, ABRAHAM WECHSLER, SIGMUND YAHR, MORRIS A. BRAND ZINS. MONDAY, OCTOBER 31: CUDDY H. ABRAMS, YETTA ANGEL, BENJAMIN BONDY, BELLA LEBOVITZ BRAND, HERMAN BROWN, SARAH SCHNITZER ELLING, ABE GOLDBLUM, MOLLIE GOLDENBERG, SORLY CUKERBAUM GORDON, JAY HELFANT, MIRIAM SHIFRA HELLER, BENJAMIN HERSKOVITZ, JACOB KAUFMANN, REV. JOSEPH LEVIN, ISAAC LEVINE, SAMUEL LEVINSON, JENNIE LIPSITZ, BESS SACHS LISS, ANNE B. LITMAN, SAUL MALLINGER, SAUL MALLINGER, JOSEPH C. MARCUS, HELEN MARKOVITZ, S. MILLER, BESSIE RACHAEL NOULLET, GENE ABRAHAM PIPER, BELLE ROSENSON, MEYER ROSENTHAL, MARIE ROTHMAN, FRANCES RUBEN, EMANUEL RUBIN, SAMUEL RUBINSTEIN, ADOLPH RUTNER, EDITH A. SCHAFFER, MOLLIE SCHLANSKY, SAMUEL SHIRE, MORRIS SHULGOLD, BEN SPOKANE, SAMUEL J. SUGERMAN, MEYER VESHANCEY, JACOB WEINSTEIN, WILMER W. WOLK. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1: PHILLIP AMERICUS, WILLIAM ARNOWITZ, CLAIRE ANN BLOCK, FANNY C. CAPLAN, KATY COHEN COHEN, ROSE COHEN, NELLIE COHN, ETHEL EPSTEIN, IDA SADOWSKY FRANKEL, JACK GOLDMAN, FEIGE GOTTLIEB, JEAN GUSKY, RAE HADBURG, NACHAME LEVINE HORVITZ, WILLIAM I. ISAACSON, IDA A. KLODELL, AMELIA BERG LAZARUS, SIGMUND LENCHNER, JOSEPH LEVIN, WILLIAM B. LEWIS, ISABEL LUBIN, MOLLIE MARKS, SAMUEL L. MORIN, ELIZABETH NEWMAN, GERTRUDE PALKOVITZ, MORRIS PATTAK, SOPHIA ROMAN, MILTON L. SACHNOFF, FREDA SAMUELS, MORRIS N. SHAEFFER, ANNA SIEGEL, FRANK SILVERBERG, SIDNEY L. SILVERMAN, SOLOMON SLOMBERG, GUS TRAU, YETTA WEISS, RAY ZEIDMAN. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2: JANICE GAY BAROVSKY, ANNA (SOLOMON) BERGER, VIVIAN CUFF BOYD, ANNE TAUBER DYM, FANNIE KLEIN, LEWIS LEUIN, D. H. LEVINE, ESTHER MANDELL, MYER MILLER, MORRIS C. ROSCOW, LIBBY ROSE, ELIZABETH ROTHSTEIN, MOLLY SCHUTTE, WILLIAM SCHWARTZ, ANNA SCLARSKY, ROSE SEGAL, TILLIE SELTZER, FRANK SHAKESPEARE, GILBERT SHEPSE, ANNE R. STEINBERG, FREDA ULZHEIMER, ABE WEKSELMAN, CHARLES WIESENTHAL. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2: JULES JOSEPH ANATOLE, HYMAN BALES, ALBERT BLUMENTHAL, RACHEL COHEN, WILLIAM FRIED, JENNIE B. GLASS, CARYL MARCIA GOLDBERG, IDA HERSHMAN, MINNIE HOFFMAN, MOLLIE IWLER, LOUIS KADDELL, ANNA C. M. KOBACKER, ANNA MAE KOHLER, DORA KWALL, ADA ALDERMAN LEVINE, LOUIS LEVY, BESSIE LINCOFF, BENJAMIN MARKS, JEROME MEYER, SYLVIA STEINBERGER MOSKOVITZ, ARTHUR B. MOSS, MINNIE QUINT, LOUIS RABINOVITZ, FRUME RAFFEL, MORRIS REIDBORD, SAMUEL W. ROSE, MORRIS SCHOLNICK, MORRIS SCHWARTZ, JOSEPH SEMO, JACOB SHERWOOD, SADIE SIDLER, KASSEL SIEGEL, ETHEL SARAH SIMONS, SARAH STALINSKY, JOSEPH H. STERN, WOLFE TEX, LENA VIXMAN, ROXINE M. WEINTHAL. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4: MILTON COHEN, SARAH GOLDENSON COHEN, FANNIE TITLEBAUM FRANK, ELIZABETH S. KALOVSKY, ROBERT KLEINER, SOPHIA LEVENSON, HERMAN A. LEWIS, MANO LICHTENSTEIN, AMALIA LOWENTHAL, FRANK MAYER MARCOSKY, BASHIE MARETZKY, DR. GENEVA MARKUS, DAVID MELNICK, MARY OPTER, SHIA BAER PARISER, CARMAN SUE ROSENBERG, ELAINE R. RUBIN, S. LEO RUSLANDER, ABE SCHWARTZ, BENJAMIN SCHWARTZ, SAM SCHWARTZ, KATE SEGELMAN, BEN SIGAL, SARAH SILVERMAN, ETHEL SIROCCA, NATHAN SLOTOLOW, MORRIS SPECTOR, ROSE SCHWARTZ STEIN, RACHEL STERNFIELD, FAE VELARDI, SAMUEL WALTERS, MALVINA WEISS, HARRY WISHNEV, MORRIS WOLFE, MAURICE R. ZACKS. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5: JENNIE CAHEN BENNETT, EVA OSGOOD BREAKSTONE, HARRY ROBBINS BRODY, SOL FEINBERG, ISADORE FELDMAN, MILTON GOTTLIEB, WILLIAM H. KLEIN, ISADORE KROUSE, SARAH REBECCA LANSON, JULIUS LEVIN, IRVING LONDON, DAVID LUBOW, LAURA MAHLER, MAX MORITZ MAHLER, PETER MARCUS, LOUIS MARETZKY, SYLVIA R. MELNICK, MINNIE TOIG PEARLMAN, MILTON J. PLESSET, MANYA PROTETCH, ANNA GOLDSTEIN RADEN, ROSE GOTTLIEB RIEFER, IDA ROSENSTEIN, LOUIS ROSNER, PARI LIBBIE RUBINOFF, HARRY SIGAL, SAMUEL SILVERBLATT, SOPHIE SIMON, HARRY SPARKS, MOSES ABRAHAM TALENFELD, ROSA L. TEPLITZ, SARAH TOBIAS, REGINA BROWN WAND, NATHAN WANDER, SARAH WEINBAUM, TODD ALAN WHITMAN, MOLLIE WINTNER, HERMAN WOLFF.

Call DeeAnna Cavinee at 412-521-1975 or e-mail donations@jaapgh.org for more information or to make a contribution to the Jewish Association on Aging.

20 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 2011