Menachem Mendel Lefin of Satanov writes, “All your acts should be preceded by deliberation.” It’s a lesson leaders of Rodef Shalom Congregation and Temple Sinai have internalized.
In December 2023, the two Reform congregations announced plans to begin exploring the idea of collaboration through an “18-month intentional and targeted process with the goal of strengthening our Reform Jewish community,” according to a joint letter sent to congregants from Rodef Shalom President Bill Battistone and Temple Sinai President Stephen Jurman.
Since that time, they have engaged merger consultant David Weinberg and begun examining the functions of the congregations in six broad categories: financial, community, education, legal, operations and ritual.
By Deborah Weisberg | Special to the Chronicle
WBattistone said that about 150 members of the two congregations have joined the six different committees in some capacity throughout the process.
The goal, according to an email sent in February to the congregations' members, is to “establish where we align, where we have difference, and what a unified congregation would look like in each area.”
Battistone said the deliberative process appears slow but is "purposeful” and “meaningful.”
Early on, he said, time was spent looking at congregations across the country that have unified.
“One of the things we realized when we talked to congregations who have gone through a unification — and maybe it didn’t work out as perfectly as they wanted it to — one of the common themes was that they
hen, in 1986, a rabbinical student was murdered on a Squirrel Hill street in a random act of antisemitism, The Jewish Chronicle’s executive editor Joel Roteman received phone tips about the identity of the shooter, which he passed on to authorities.
“Joel got the calls because he was seen by the community as the right person to go to,” recalled Iris Samson, the Chronicle’s assistant editor at the time. “People were frightened but Joel held steady.”
Samson worked with Roteman for all of the 18 years that he was at the helm of The Jewish Chronicle (now the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle), writing award-winning editorials, covering news locally and abroad, and mentoring young journalists.
Roteman died Jan. 27 at age 87, leaving behind Micki, his wife of 60 years, daughter Phyllis Roteman, of Los Angeles, and son Dan Roteman, of Hillsborough, New Jersey.
“Joel was the quintessential Pittsburgher but also the quintessential newsman who brought his professionalism every day to the Chronicle,” said Samson, who went on to work
see Roteman
Joel Roteman (left) and former Chronicle General Manager Albert Zecher accept an award on behalf of the paper.
File photo courtesy of Joel Roteman
Photo by NadineDoerle courtesy of Pixabay
Headlines
Walls be gone: Jewish day school educators use Shabbatons for meaningful instruction
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
Community Day School students headed to Cleveland for a weekend retreat. Boarding seventh and eighth graders on a bus for a school trip wasn’t unusual. Sending students to spend Shabbat in another city, though, was a first, Ronit Pasternak said.
Before becoming an administrator at the Jewish day school, Pasternak spent nearly 26 years teaching Hebrew at CDS. Excluding last weekend’s Shabbaton (an educational event occurring over Shabbat), she can’t recall a similar off-site experience.
Pasternak and colleagues planned the gathering. Upon reaching Cleveland, students headed to the Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School. Students deposited sleeping bags, met kids from Mandel and spent the weekend together.
Along with a basketball tournament and multiple meals, nearly 75 students enjoyed Shabbat together. The gathering was intended to foster a “sense of shared Jewish heritage and community,” Casey Weiss, CDS’ head of school, said. “As Jews, we live in community. There’s a reason we have a minyan (requisite 10-member quorum for prayer); there’s a reason that when we have a Shabbat meal we try to invite guests. Everything about our people is lived in community.”
Creating a sense of peoplehood is one reason for a Shabbaton. Reinforcing classroom material is another.
“From an experiential standpoint, nothing
matches teaching about Shabbat more than living it together,” Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh principal Rabbi Sam Weinberg said. “Between the environment created, it’s been integral to the educational package we deliver. I’m so happy to have given Casey the idea for this.”
Shabbatons are didactic tools. During the past year, Hillel Academy took students to Cleveland, Philadelphia and Rochester, New York. Traveling as a school, and
said. Whether it’s reciting blessings aloud, leading prayers or speaking publicly, Shabbatons provide leadership and character-building opportunities aiding students “wherever they go throughout their lives.”
Though data on Shabbat experiences is scant, researchers tout the educational
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According to the Journal of Human Resources, students who participate in culturally enriching field trips have “fewer behavioral infractions, attend school more frequently, score higher on end-of-grade exams and receive higher course grades.”
Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, principal of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, said
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p Students from Community Day School and Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School begin Shabbat in Cleveland.
Photo courtesy of Community Day School
Headlines
Sharaka delegation practices partnership in pursuit of replication
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
An organization founded on partnership will model that behavior in Pittsburgh.
Between Feb. 26-March 2, Sharaka, a group including Israelis and Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze from across the Middle East will visit private classrooms and public fora to demonstrate the possibility of peace and mutual understanding despite historic and religious disparities.
Carnegie Mellon University student Eli Half worked with members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, including representatives of StandWithUs, the Beacon Coalition and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, to arrange Sharaka’s visit.
A five-member delegation of the nongovern mental organization is traveling from Bahrain, Israel and Morocco. Between flights, lodging and food, schlepping a quintet of Middle Easterners to Pittsburgh is no small feat.
Half, who as a member of CMU’s Charpie Leadership Institute had access to a $5,000 budget, said he joined the effort to bring Sharaka here because he wanted “to make an impact on something,” he said.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, it’s been difficult on campus to hold meaningful and respectful conversations about the region, he continued. “I wanted to bring awareness to what’s been going on for the last year-and-a-half.”
Pittsburghers Julie Paris, Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs, and Rebecca Elhassid, a volunteer with Beacon Coalition, partnered with Half on Sharaka’s upcoming visit.
“They are amazing,” Paris said of Sharaka. “Among the organizations and individuals we work with, Sharaka brings a unique perspective.
between Israel, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Young leaders from those countries looked at relations between Egypt, Jordan and Israel and said, “On its warmest day, it’s a cold peace. How can we make real, meaningful, warm peace between our countries,” Sara Rips told the Chronicle.
Speaking by phone from Omaha, Nebraska, Rips, Sharaka’s U.S. affairs coordinator, said 80% of the group’s work occurs in the Middle East.
Traveling delegations largely meet and study together in the region, but Sharaka also supports
very often,” Rips said. Countless Americans feel invested in activities occurring thousands of miles from U.S. soil. Taking the time to listen to people who “actually live, work and return to the Middle East is very important to understanding the conflict,” she continued. “What our speakers really promote is the value of being able to come together, of moderacy.” Given today’s polarizing climate, there’s a value in having people say, “Look, there’s 10,000 things we might disagree on, but there’s a lot we do agree on. And when we need to, let’s come together. Let’s roll up our sleeves and let’s
2 at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. Another event is planned for Feb.
Half called Sharaka’s Feb. 27 visit to CMU a “neutral” way for students to “understand and Sharaka’s intention is not to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or even the events of Oct. 7, Rips said. “There are 1,000, 10,000, a million charities that handle it from a million different angles. We are focused on Israel’s relationship within the larger relationship of the Middle East and North Africa.”
Each of Sharaka’s speakers has their own views on the conflict and Oct. 7, Rips continued. “Some are strong one way, and some are strong another way. Our main focus is this larger relationship. And I think that in many ways that’s helpful for people, because we tend to only get this very myopic view of it’s just Israel and the immediate surrounding countries, but there’s a whole region that Israel engages with, and interacts with, that is often not spoken about.”
Adopting a wider outlook is about increasing opportunities for peace, she explained.
“For a long time in Israel’s history, there have been neighboring countries who have not recognized the state of Israel. So to have Israel’s neighbors in the region say, ‘We recognize Israel, we recognize the value of tourism, trade, business with each other,’ helps create regional stability. And stability helps create peace,” she said. “That’s really why our focus is on this larger picture: Growing support and normalization helps ensure that Israel’s security strengthens, and hopefully that can lead to other forms of peace in the region as well.”
Sharaka’s visit represents a “challenge” for people to not only abandon their comfort zones but engage with individuals living “an alternate vision,” Elhassid said.
“At a time when the world insists on seeing the Middle East through the lens of perpetual conflict, these leaders are forging something radical: friendship, mutual respect and a shared commitment to building a better future,” she added. The hope is Pittsburghers join the charge and contribute to a “future grounded not in ideology but in the lived reality of coexistence.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
p Sharaka speakers address attendees at South Peninsula Hebrew Day School.
Photo courtesy of Sharaka
p Members of a Sharaka delegation speak with the Moishe House community in San Francisco.
Photo courtesy of Sharaka
Headlines
Israeli theater master Roy Horovitz brings drama and humor to Pittsburgh
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
Roy Horovitz has most of his lines prepared. The incipit, however, remains a work in progress.
“I think my opening sentence is going to be something like, ‘We live here in some kind of confrontation with faith, in a land where being part of the chosen people often feels like having no choice at all,’” he said.
Secure Peace of Mind
Speaking by phone from his Tel Aviv apartment, the Israeli actor, director and professor wasn’t worried about finalizing his remarks or even the reception he might receive when he comes to Pittsburgh at the end of the month.
“I’m well prepared for everything,” he said. “I have good answers if worse comes to worst.”
This isn’t Horovitz’s first trip to western Pennsylvania. He came two years ago to perform “My First Sony,” a monodrama about Yotam, an 11-year-old child who feverishly begins documenting his life after receiving a tape recorder.
Though his upcoming stay will be several days longer than the 2023 stop, Horovitz’s itinerary is a whirlwind. This time, the chair of Bar Ilan University’s drama department is slated to visit local universities and schools, lead a master class for performing artists, deliver remarks to community members and perform two Israeli monodramas at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill.
“It’s gonna be a pretty, pretty tight schedule,” he said with a laugh.
Running from one place to the next — while meeting with individuals who study theater, perform theater or have no knowledge of theater — is nothing new for Horovitz.
“I’m pretty used to this diversity of audiences. And actually, I kind of like it,” he said. There’s a challenge to wearing various hats, but “everything leads to drama at the end of the day.”
What he means, he explained, is that art, for some, can offer an escape from life; not for Israelis, though.
“Israelis tend to follow the direction that Shakespeare described in Hamlet — ‘To hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature,’” he said.
drama allows a different way to reach schools, students and adults.”
Horovitz will tap several texts to achieve that purpose, including Israeli works “When the Omelet Touches the Salad” and “Jonathan.”
The former presents the tale of two anti-heroes; the latter involves an older woman who cares for an abandoned baby. Both stories are serious but allow space for laughter.
It’s a common recipe in Israeli drama, he said. “We inject humor even into the most heavy subject matters. And that’s that famous Jewish humor that got us through wars, pogroms — that throw anything at us and you will find a punchline kind of thing.”
Whether it’s the monodramas — both of which will be performed in English at Beth Shalom on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and followed by discussion — or working with students or speaking with community members, Horovitz is seeking cultural exchange and understanding.
“We have more things in common than things that set us apart,” he said.
He was reminded of that idea during a recent conversation with an American friend, who quoted George Carlin. The late comedian once remarked, “When you’re born into this world, you’re given a ticket to the freak show. If you’re born in America, you get a front row seat.”
Carlin’s comment is humorous, but it’s incorrect, Horovitz said: “I think we Israelis are sitting closer to the stage than you.”
That proximity of life and art is reflected by repeated themes and subject matters, he continued. “Most of the original writing here keeps coming back to the conflict, to the Holocaust, to the tensions between religious and non-religious people.”
This isn’t to say there’s an absence of fantasy.
“We import escapism,” he said. “We do ‘Mama Mia’ or ‘Evita.’ But the majority of the original writing, the original creation, done here is very close to what we experience.”
Tsipy Gur, founder and executive director of Classrooms Without Borders, is helping to bring Horovitz to Pittsburgh.
His visit, she said, will showcase the talent of Israeli theater while offering insight into its present foci.
“Roy is an expert in drama who is able to use the arts to talk about theater in Israel after Oct. 7,” Gur said. “His understanding of
Horovitz is a master of piercing earnestness with quips. Doing so is one way of featuring the depth of Israeli drama. He aspires to showcase that richness, but said he has a much larger hope.
“I want to open the news and hear that all the hostages are back home again and safe,” he said.
The Israeli theatrical community, he continued, has “a lot to offer. I think we represent normality and calls for dialogue.”
Art can prompt conversation and change, Horovitz said. And like life, there’s an intensity and seriousness to Israeli theater.
“These are stories from the heart,” he said.
Lest one is concerned his upcoming shows will be too grim or cheerless, Horovitz offered a sobering jest: “That’s what we have the news for.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Roy Horovitz is visiting Pittsburgh for a series of performances and conversations.
Photo courtesy of Roy Horovitz
Headlines
Two days after release, ex-captive
‘don’t have any more time’
By Jessica Steinberg, ToI Staff and Noam Lehmann | Times of Israel
Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square Monday night to mark 500 days since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel — calling for the return of hostages still held by terrorists in Gaza.
Gathering at the tail end of a 500-minute fast called to mark the somber occasion, relatives of hostages and others urged the government to step up efforts to get them out of Gaza, their warnings of wretched conditions bolstered by the accounts of those recently freed, including one man released just two days earlier.
“I was there. I was in Hamas’ tunnels. My body endured this captivity, and I’m telling you the hostages do not have any more time,” a tearful Iair Horn said in a pre-recorded video screened to a crowd of around 2,000 people.
Horn was freed on Saturday alongside Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov as part of a ceasefire and hostage release arrangement with the Hamas terror group in Gaza. All three were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages.
“We’re out of time. We must return them now,” said Horn, whose brother Eitan Horn was also kidnapped and remains in captivity. “Bring back my brother and all of the hostages.”
The ceasefire deal is due to see six more hostages freed over the next few weeks, as well as the bodies of eight other people who were kidnapped. But a second phase meant to secure the release of the remaining hostages remains in doubt, with the government sending mixed signals regarding the resumption of negotiations.
Aviva Seigel, a former hostage whose husband Keith was released earlier this month, said his captors took away his humanity over the long months he was held.
“Out of the 484 days he was in Gaza, he was alone for six months, lying on a mattress on a floor in a very small room, starved,” she said. “The only food that went into his mouth was moldy or burnt pita bread unfit for humans to eat.”
She described Keith being subjected to a random beating and having one of his captors point a gun at him and threaten to kill him for no reason.
“I asked Keith, ‘What did you do [when] he did that to you?’ Keith told me: ‘Nothing.’ The terrorists turned Keith into nothing,” she said. “Every human thing was taken from him, sometimes even going to the bathroom.”
‘Haven’t breathed for 500 days’
Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of U.S.Israeli captive soldier Edan Alexander, recited a blessing and sipped some water, as she called for the hostages’ release.
“I want to break the fast and break their
warns remaining hostages
fate,” she said.
Edan’s mother, Yael, spoke next.
“I am Yael Alexander, and I haven’t breathed for 500 days,” she said. Subsequent speakers opened their speeches the same way.
She urged the government to hammer out a deal that would bring all remaining hostages home at once, rather than the current deal’s phased releases — another common theme in the night’s speeches.
She ended with what would also emerge as a refrain: “To give up on them is to give up on us!”
In English, she thanked President Donald Trump and his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
“President Trump, in the last two weeks, you brought back two American citizens, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel,” she said. “Today, I ask you to bring my son Edan home to our family.”
Danielle Aloni, who was held captive in Gaza until she was freed as part of a brief ceasefire agreement in November 2023, and whose brother-in-law, David Cunio, and his younger brother, Ariel, remain in captivity, said her family received a sign of life from David from one of the recently freed hostages. The crowd broke out into applause.
Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Aloni said: “As of a few days ago, David is alive. And it’s your responsibility to bring him home. David has no more time to wait.”
Both Edan Alexander and David Cunio are slated for release in the deal’s second phase, which would see Hamas release young men still in captivity after the release in the current phase of 33 women, children, civilian men over 50 and those deemed “humanitarian cases.”
Netanyahu’s right-wing flank has threatened to topple the government should it proceed to the second phase, which would require Israel to withdraw from Gaza. The premier has not committed to the second phase.
Yeela David, whose brother Evyatar David is also only slated to be freed in the second phase, said it was “the last chance to save to save dozens of men left behind in the current phase of the deal.”
“The young men who were left behind did not undergo any special training to handle this situation. They’re just like anyone else,” she said. “If the deal falls apart and there is no second phase, it will be a stain on our history books.”
‘Fasting for 500 days’
The rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, along with other demonstrations and events
held throughout the country at 8 p.m., capped the 500-minute fast that started at 11:40 a.m., which the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called to draw attention to and contemplation of the captives’ plight.
Recently released hostage Ohad Ben Ami called on the public to take part in the nationwide demonstrations, announcing, “I intend to go outside and fight for them.”
“What strongly kept my hopes up down there was that I knew people were fighting for me,” said Ben Ami, who was released by Hamas this month, emaciated after 16 months of mistreatment. “You have no idea how much strength it would give to those left behind.”
In the morning, hostage families and activists on behalf of the captives blocked roads across the country, including the central Namir Road in Tel Aviv.
In Jerusalem, relatives of hostages and supporters gathered outside the Hostages and Missing Families Forum tent on Azza Street in Jerusalem, before marching to the Knesset.
Using words recited on Jewish fast days — “Please save us!” — Levi Ben Baruch, Edan Alexander’s uncle, wrapped in his prayer shawl and wearing tefillin, called for the return of all the hostages.
Please see Hostages, page 11
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p Hostages’ family members marching to the Knesset on Jerusalem’s Azza Street, Feb. 17, 2025. Photo by Jessica Steinberg/The Times of Israel
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.
SUNDAYS, FEB. 23–JULY 27
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Men’s Tefillin Club Services and tefillin are followed by a delicious breakfast and engaging discussions on current events. 8:30 a.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.
MONDAYS, FEB. 24–JULY 28
Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
Join Temple Sinai for an evening of mahjong every Monday (except holidays). Whether you are just starting out or have years of experience, you are sure to enjoy the camaraderie and good times as you make new friends or cherish moments with longtime pals. All are welcome. Winners will be awarded Giant Eagle gift cards. All players should have their own mahjong cards. Contact Susan Cohen at susan_k_cohen@yahoo.com if you have questions. $5. templesinaipgh.org.
WEDNESDAYS, FEB. 19–MARCH 12
Join Chabad of South Hills for Decoding the Talmud Get inside the story, substance and significance of the book that defines Judaism. 7:30 p.m. 1700 Bower Hill Road. To register, visit chabadsh.com.
WEDNESDAYS, FEB. 19–JULY 29
Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Daniel Fellman presents a weekly Parshat/Torah portion class on site and online. Call 412-421-9715 for more information and the Zoom link.
Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful with Rabbi Mark Goodman in this
weekly Parashah Discussion: Life & Text 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/life-text.
FRIDAY, FEB. 21
Join Rodef Shalom’s Cantor Toby Glaser for a 20s & 30s Kabbalat Shabbat. Get to know other young Jewish professionals and close out the week with apps, wine and great company. Registration required. 7 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org.
MONDAY, FEB. 24
Join Robin Judd for Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides After the Holocaust. Rudd will share her award-winning research on the women Holocaust survivors who married American, Canadian and British military personnel in the wake of World War II. This talk will be the second annual Renee Sachs Memorial lecture in Holocaust studies. 6 p.m. Free. Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave. calendar.pitt.edu/event/ between-two-worlds-jewish-brides-after-theholocaust.
Congregation Beth Shalom, in partnership with Classrooms Without Borders, presents Two Israeli Monodramas: “When the Omelet Touches the Salad” and “Jonathan,” a one-man performance by Professor Roy Horovitz. Free. 7:30 p.m. 5915 Beacon Street. bethshalompgh.org/twoisraeli-monodramas.
MONDAYS, FEB. 24-MAR. 11
Join Chabad of Squirrel for Torah and Tea, a fourpart class exploring the story of Purim. 7 p.m. $18. Email calteiin@chabadpgh.com for the address. chabadpgh.com/tea.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26
Join Chabad of the South Hills for February’s seniors’ lunch, discussing the power and impact of socialization while aging. 1 p.m. $5 suggested donation. Wheelchair accessible. 1701 McFarland Rd. chabadsh.com.
FRIDAY, FEB. 28
Join Chabad of the South Hills for a Community Shabbat Dinner. Enjoy a lively dinner with delicious food and great company. 5 p.m. $18; family max $45. Hampton Inn, Murtland Ave, Washington, PA. chabadsh.com/dinner.
Join Rodef Shalom Congregation and Thousand Bridges Opera Company following Shabbat services for the Look to the Light concert, a free recital inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes to celebrate Black History Month, featuring soprano Alicia Jayourba with Jaime Cohen at the piano. 7 p.m. Free. rodefshalom.org/light.
SATURDAY, MARCH 1
Big Night is the JCC’s largest annual fundraiser, celebrating community and supporting vital programs. This year’s Big Night Olympics promises games, music, global cuisine and more — all for a great cause. A party with a purpose. 7:30 p.m. JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Ave. bit.ly/bignight25.
SUNDAY, MARCH 2
Join B’nai Emunoh for its first Jewish community vendors and crafters fair. Handmade jewelry and pens, handcrafted leather items, crocheted alef beis letters, Hello Kitty items, Dead Sea products, beauty, health and wellness products and more. 11 a.m. B’nai Emunoh, 4325 Murray Ave.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5
Enjoy a Ladies’ Lunch and Learn with Chabad of Squirrel Hill, an hour of nourishment for the mind, body and soul as we explore words of the heart for the month of Adar. Noon. $18/person 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/lunch.
SATURDAY, MARCH 8
Congregation Beth Shalom’s Sisterhood Shabbat will honor Elaine Catz, Elisa Marlin and Carolyn Slayton. Casey Weiss, CDS head of school and former assistant principal at Hillel Academy, will be the featured speaker. 9:15 a.m. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/ sisterhoodshabbat5785.
SUNDAY, MARCH 9
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill at its Evening of Celebration, honoring Dr. Stanley Marks and marking the inauguration of its newly renovated building. 6 p.m. $150/person. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
Get ready for Purim with a Hamantash Bake at Chabad of Squirrel Hill. Fun for adults and children. 6 p.m. $12/person. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/hamantash.
FRIDAY, MARCH 14
Join Chabad of the South Hills for Purim in the Palace, an animated Megillah reading and royal Purim feast. Create your own magic potion and enchanted edible apples. 5 p.m. Adults $18; children $12; family max $54. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com/purim.
Celebrate Purim and join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Purim Feast. Enjoy a Megillah reading, music, crafts, entertainment and a Shabbat-style dinner. 5 p.m. $18/ adult, $10/child. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/ purimfest.
TUESDAY, MARCH 25
Sarah Abrevaya Stein presents Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century, sharing her award-winning research on the Levy family and their displacement from Salonica, Greece, to cities around the globe. Free. 5:30 p.m. calendar.pitt.edu/ event/family-papers-a-sephardic-journey-through-thetwentieth-century.
SUNDAY, MARCH 30
Families with young children are invited to spend Shabbat morning with Rodef Shalom at Shabbat with You. Drop in for a light breakfast, play date, singalong with Cantor Toby and a Shabbat activity with Family Center Director Ellie Feibus. 9 a.m. $5 per family. Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/ shabbatwithyou.
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for Jewish Gems, an afternoon of jewelry making and snippets of inspiration for women and girls. 1:30 p.m. $15/person. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/jewelry. PJC
Join the Chronicle Book Club!
TEmail: 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. Happy reading! PJC
— Toby Tabachnick
he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its March 2 discussion of “10/7: 100 Human Stories,” by Lee Yaron, an Israeli journalist. Yaron’s account of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and their aftermath was named the book of the year at the 74th National Jewish Book Awards, making her the youngest author to win the honor. The Jewish Book Council, which sponsors the awards, said that “10/7: 100 Human Stories” provides “a vital window into the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how internal political turmoil in Israel has affected it, offering the narratives not of politicians or the military but of the lives of everyday people who lived tenuously on the border with Gaza.”
Your hosts
Toby Tabachnick, Chronicle editor
David Rullo, Chronicle senior staff writer
How it works
We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, March 2, at 1 p.m.
What to do
Buy: “10/7: 100 Human Stories.” It is available at area Barnes and Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon. It is also available through the Carnegie Library system.
Headlines
UN official employs word salads in defending anti-Jewish, anti-Israel vitriol
By Mike Wagenheim | JNS
ANorwegian journalist appeared to surprise a controversial U.N. official, starting a television interview by asking if the anti-Israel bulldog is an antisemite.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, has been accused by the American, French and German governments of antisemitism, and is known for her relentless criticism of Israel and utilizing Jewish tropes in her rhetoric.
Journalist Yama Wolasmal of NRK, Norway’s national public broadcasting station, immediately posited the question of Albanese’s antisemitism to her in an interview last week, eliciting an audible sigh and eye roll, which Albanese typically employs when confronted with the allegation.
She never directly answers the question, instead chiding Wolasmal.
“As a human being, as a mother, as a lawyer, this is not the way I would like to start an interview with you,” Albanese said.
She claimed that her critics are reflexively pro-Israel, labeling them as “sycophants and the squads of minions and barking dogs,” adding that “everywhere there is a network that protects Israel.”
Albanese insisted that her conclusions “wouldn’t change if Israel was ruled by
Buddhists, Muslims, Christians,” calling allegations of Jewish bias “a deflection tactic to move the attention away from the violation that Israel commits.”
Wolasmal also took Albanese to task for her endorsement of a tweet comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“This is precisely what I was thinking today,” Albaense wrote in July 2024 in response to a post by another Israel-focused former U.N. official, who depicted adjoining pictures of Hitler and Netanyahu surrounded by supporters, with Netanyahu’s depiction coming from an address to Congress.
Albanese attempted to explain in the NRK interview that she was comparing the “cheering crowds” around Hitler and Netanyahu, rather than the leaders themselves, adding: “I did not compare a Nazi
leader to a genocidaire, the architect of the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Even with that, Albanese said a comparison between Hitler and Netanyahu would not be antisemitic.
“Antisemitism is discrimination against the Jewish people as Jews,” Albanese said. While acknowledging such a comparison “might be inopportune, it might lack diplomacy,” according to Albanese, “you can make up your own definition” of antisemitism.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which is the most commonly accepted definition across the globe, states that “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.
Called a particular question ‘a tricky one’
Confronted with the disproportionate number of U.N. resolutions criticizing Israel — compared with those cast against states widely recognized as human-rights abusers — Albanese said the global body “displays some bias” against Israel but framed it as a byproduct of the U.N.’s overall ineffectiveness in punishing Israel.
“The overproduction of resolutions is due to the fact that nothing changes on the ground,” Albanese countered. “This is a consequence and a dysfunction of the lack of effectiveness of the Security Council” when it comes to the Palestinian issue.
“Because the Security Council has often
been paralyzed by the U.S. veto, then you have these more democratic instances where there is no veto, like the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly,” Albanese said of the bodies from where regular anti-Israel, non-binding resolutions typically permeate. “There is never enforcement of international law when it comes to Israel.”
Albanese stammered through an answer to Wolasmal’s inquiry as to how Israel should attack Hamas, given the terror group’s methods of operating within civilian areas.
Calling the question “a tricky one,” Albanese insisted that she is “the first one to say that Hamas should be held accountable for the crimes committed” before adding “first and foremost against the Palestinians.”
Albanese’s reaction to the Hamas-led slaughter of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, though, was to condemn attacks on civilians (“whoever launches them”) and then to assert that the massacre “must be put in context” of “almost six decades of hostile military rule over an entire civilian population.”
Albanese was recently disinvited from appearing in front of the Dutch parliament as a result of her anti-Israel vitriol and has been accused by critics of supporting terror organizations and calling for an end to Israel. According to Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. State Department’s former special envoy on antisemitism, Albanese was labeled a “horrible person” by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, himself not viewed as friendly to Israel. PJC
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, briefs reporters at U.N. Headquarters, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo by Mark Garten/U.N. photo
Headlines
Montreal synagogue defaced with swastika on Shabbat
By Ben Sales | JTA
AMontreal synagogue was graffitied with a swastika on Shabbat, drawing condemnation from Canadian officials as well as a defiant response from the synagogue’s rabbi.
A congregant at Temple Emanu-El Beth Sholom, a Reform congregation in the city, noticed the 3-foot-wide symbol on the synagogue’s side on Saturday afternoon. At the time, according to the Canadian Jewish News, members had been rehearsing the synagogue’s Purim spiel, a whimsical pageant performed on the holiday of Purim next month.
The swastika was removed by Corey Fleischer, an activist whose nonprofit, Erasing Hate, scrubs off hate speech graffiti. Police are investigating and have yet to identify a suspect.
The following morning, the synagogue’s Rabbi Lisa Grushcow said in a social media video that she wasn’t surprised by the graffiti, citing heightened levels of antisemitism in Canada and worldwide.
“This is a place where we try and open doors and build bridges. We love it here,” she said. “Now here’s the thing: With how the world is right now, it was a matter more
of when, rather than if, something like this would happen.”
In the video, which has been viewed tens of thousands of times since it was posted on Sunday morning, Grushcow
Community Event
goes on to suggest ways non-Jews can counter antisemitism.
“But for some of us, what’s just as disturbing as these acts of antisemitism is the silence of our friends,” she said, adding
later, “The world’s a bit of a mess right now, but we can make a difference.”
The graffiti is the latest antisemitic incident in Montreal over the past yearplus. In December, another synagogue in the city was firebombed for the second time in just over a year; the first such attack took place in November 2023, shortly after antisemitism began to spike following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. That same month, shots were fired at an Orthodox girls’ school in Montreal. Antisemitic incidents have occurred at other Jewish institutions throughout Canada
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante condemned the incident, noting that she had recently visited the synagogue.
“Such attacks are unacceptable in our metropolis and I can assure Rabbi Lisa Grushcow that the [police department] is investigating,” she wrote. “We must all unite and denounce all forms of antisemitism.”
Mark Carney, a Liberal candidate running to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the incident was “another reminder that Jewish Canadians have been targeted by a rising wave of antisemitism, particularly since October 7th.”
He added, “It has to stop. As Canadian leaders, we need to say firmly and loudly that the Jewish community has the right to feel safe in Canada.” PJC
Shaping a New Middle East Together
Sunday, March 2, 2025
7:00-9:00 PM
JCC Squirrel Hill 5738 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Sharaka is bringing its mission of peace and authentic storytelling to Pittsburgh. Founded through the Abraham Accords, this nonprofit delegation of Muslims, Christians and Jews from Bahrain, Israel and Morocco discuss building peace and fostering a shared future.
REGISTER: jfedpgh.org/sharaka
Questions? Contact Laura Cherner at 412-992-5235 or lcherner@jfedpgh.org.
Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal, Canada, pictured here on Sept. 15, 2022. Photo by D. Benjamin Miller / Wikimedia Commons.
Shlomo Mantzur, oldest hostage in Gaza, was killed on Oct. 7, Israel announces
The oldest hostage in Gaza is not alive, Israeli authorities announced on Feb. 11, according to JTA.
Shlomo Mantzur was killed 16 months ago, during Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza, Israeli officials said they determined after assessing intelligence data gathered in recent months. He was 85 at the time and is survived by a wife, five children and 12 grandchildren.
Mantzur, who moved to Israel as a child after his family fled their native Iraq following the 1941 anti-Jewish pogrom known as the Farhud, was a longtime member of Kibbutz Kissufim. Eight other members of the kibbutz and six foreign nationals who worked there were killed during Hamas’ attack.
“This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz,” the kibbutz said in a statement. “Shlomo was much more than a community member to us — he was a father, a grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart of Kissufim.”
The announcement comes during a ceasefire in which 33 hostages, including Mantzur, are to be released. After the ceasefire began, Hamas said eight of the 33 hostages on the agreed-upon list were dead but did not specify which ones.
Google Calendar no longer shows Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month
Google Calendar has removed International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month from its default display in the United States, part of a broader removal of cultural and ethnic observances from the app, JTA reported.
The removal is being noticed now as companies across the United States roll back a range of diversity, equity and inclusion measures following the Trump administration’s directives against DEI.
But Google told tech news outlets in recent days that the changes to the calendar date back to mid-2024 and have to do with workload rather than government policy.
“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” the tech giant, which is valued at $2.3 trillion, told The Verge.
In addition to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, and Jewish American Heritage Month in May, the observances that no longer automatically appear include Pride Month and Black History Month. Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, some official commemorations of International Holocaust Remembrance Day have been
Today in Israeli History
Feb. 24, 1874 — Agricultural Zionist Moshe Smilansky is born
Feb. 21, 1852 — Pope protests Jewish emancipation
Pope Pius IX protests the partial emancipation of Jews under Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany. The pope writes of the need to keep Catholics “from having any contact with the infidels.”
Feb. 22, 1948 — Truck bombs explode on Ben Yehuda Street Arabs disguised as British troops and two British deserters detonate several truck bombs along Ben Yehuda Street’s shopping district in downtown Jerusalem, killing as many as 58 Jewish civilians.
Feb. 23, 1966 — Officers seize power in Syria
Young army officers take power in a coup against Syria’s Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party. Hafez al-Assad is named the defense minister, putting him in charge of the military in the June 1967 war against Israel.
canceled amid the crackdown on DEI.
The changes to Google Calendar came to public attention the same week that Google Maps changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the new name Trump proclaimed. On Feb. 11, the White House barred an Associated Press reporter from a briefing after demanding that the news organization alter its style guide to reflect the new name.
3 of the largest Jewish denominations are suing the Trump administration over ICE raids
Three major Jewish religious denominations are suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop immigration raids at houses of worship, according to JTA.
The suit, filed on Feb. 11 in federal court in Washington, D.C., was brought by dozens of religious groups including the governing bodies of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements. The other groups represent a range of Christian denominations. They are challenging the Trump administration’s reversal of an order that prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating in “sensitive locations” such as churches and synagogues.
The order means that undocumented immigrants fearing arrest can no longer seek sanctuary at houses of worship. The Feb. 11 lawsuit hopes to restore the “sensitive locations” policy.
“The new policy thus greenlights enforcement actions that could interrupt religious services in furtherance of the Administration’s
mass deportation plans,” reads a press release about the lawsuit, which was filed by Georgetown University’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. Through the order, the statement added, “The government is interfering with their religious activities and their ability to fulfill their religious mandate to welcome and serve immigrants.”
During Trump’s first term, a number of synagogues sheltered immigrants at risk of deportation, and a broad range of Jewish groups spoke out or took action against his immigration restrictions. Some of those coalitions are mobilizing now, as Trump places a broad immigration crackdown at the center of his agenda. The Feb. 11 lawsuit follows a letter signed by dozens of groups — including the leadership of the same three movements — opposing Trump’s planned mass deportations.
“Throughout Jewish history, we have known the hardship and persecution of living as immigrants,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who helms the Union for Reform Judaism, said in a statement. “We are inspired by those experiences across the generations, as well as the repeated biblical commandment to welcome the stranger, to ensure that our congregations remain places where immigrants — including those who may be undocumented — can enter to worship, seek pastoral counsel, learn, socialize, obtain needed services and support, or to act as caregivers for those who do.” PJC
— Compiled by Jarrad Saffren
Moshe Smilansky, an early Zionist leader whose influence ranges from the military to literature, is born in Ukraine. A delegate to the Seventh Zionist Congress, he advocates peaceful coexistence with the Arabs.
Feb. 25, 1928 — Tel Aviv holds first soccer derby
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv hold the first match in the city’s oldest soccer rivalry, a 3-0 home victory for Maccabi. Maccabi wins the rematch on Hapoel’s home field a week later, 2-1.
Feb. 26, 1901 — Labor’s Aharon Zisling is born
Aharon Zisling, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a leader in Jewish labor politics from the 1920s through 1955, is born in Minsk. He becomes Israel’s first agriculture minister in 1948.
Kluger,
Feb. 27, 1974 — Kissinger delivers list of Syria’s Israeli POWs Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrives in Israel from Damascus with a list of 65 Israeli POWs held by Syria since the Yom Kippur War, meeting a condition for Israel to negotiate military disengagement. PJC
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
p Pope Pius IX was beatified in 2000 despite Jewish protests over his overt antisemitism.
p Aharon Zisling (left) meets with newly arrived immigrants in Haifa in July 1946.
By Zoltan
National Photo Collection of Israel
Headlines
Unification:
Continued from page 1
didn’t do the work we’re trying to do now ahead of time,” he said.
The hope is to answer questions that might present points of contention if a merger is approved without much forethought. An example, Battistone said, is what would happen to the two religious schools.
“We are really setting out to try and answer some of those questions,” he said, “so that if we do decide to unify, some of the bigger questions have already been discussed and deliberated.”
That does not necessarily mean having an answer to every question, he noted.
Jurman said the work has been important but harder than expected.
“When Bill and I started this process, I expected it to be difficult. As it turns out, I really didn’t have a clue,” he said. “There are so many moving parts, so many details, that are deeply personal to our various congregations. Trying to get to a point where we are unified — it’s not impossible but it takes a lot of hard work.”
The hope, Battistone said, is to have a recommendation to the congregations’ boards by late spring.
“It’s a time-consuming process but it’s definitely intentional,” he said. “We’re being diligent in what we’re talking about. We’re getting all the information we need and then we can make an educated recommendation to our boards and our congregations.”
Roteman:
Continued from page 1
for WQED as a documentary filmmaker. “The community was fortunate to have him.”
So, too, was staff, she said. “We were a motley assortment, and Joel was the leader of the pack. He was great about letting people do what they were good at doing, and not just the older, established writers. A lot of young people came and went over the years and Joel gave them plum assignments, too.”
Barbara Befferman, retired Chronicle CEO, remembers Roteman as “good-natured and very bright — a genuinely nice man.”
“I was divorced and the mother of two young children when I was hired as advertising coordinator,” she said. “Joel struck me as kind and compassionate. I might not have gone to work there if he hadn’t been so welcoming.”
Roteman grew up in the East End and attended B’nai Israel Congregation. While at Peabody High School, he was librarian of the Pittsburgh Symphony Youth Orchestra. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea, and graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in journalism in 1964, according to the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. His career began with the Mt. Lebanon News and the Aliquippa News in both editorial and advertising capacities, and he was editor of the Carnegie-Signal Item before joining The Jewish Chronicle as a staff writer in 1966. He rose through the ranks to become news editor, then assistant editor, and, in 1984, executive editor, winning at least four American Jewish Press Association Rockower Awards, and the Joseph Polakoff Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.
Notwithstanding the unification talks, Rodef Shalom is addressing issues affecting its spiritual needs during the interim.
In 2024, Rabbi Sharyn Henry announced her plans to retire in June of this year. In January, Cantor Toby Glaser said that he would leave the congregation this summer for a position in his homeland of Australia.
“They’re not going to make a recommendation, per se,” Battistone said. “They’re not going to say, ‘You should use this building,’ but they are going to point out the problems and opportunities in each site — the problems that might exist if we try to do significant rehabilitation, or zoning issues, cost issues, things like that.”
"The choice that's on the table is, do you want to unify and figure this out together, or do we want to stay on our own and figure it out."
–BILL BATTISTONE
Battistone said that Rodef Shalom is in the process of hiring an interim rabbi.
“If there’s a unification, that rabbi’s role and responsibilities may look different,” he said. “If we unify, we’d like to move to one senior clergy model. So, if that’s the case, the interim rabbi may serve in a different capacity.”
Of course, the 500-pound matzo ball of any unification decision is what will happen to the buildings the two congregations currently occupy.
To help make that decision, members of the Pittsburgh-based architecture firm Rothschild Doyno Collaborative were brought on as consultants. They have toured both buildings and are in the process of helping the congregations understand the conditions, opportunities and challenges of each structure.
“During all the years that Joel was executive editor, the paper was important to a lot of people and a lot of households,” Samson said. “We covered every denomination of Jew.”
He was in charge when fire tore through Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill in 1996, causing massive damage. Community members ran into the building to save the Torah, recalled Samson, noting that, although the fire was a front-page story Roteman might have wanted to cover himself, he let one of his reporters take it.
“He let each of our three full-time writers do front page articles,” said Samson. “And he really did give young writers wonderful opportunities to develop. He made you rise to the occasion and want to do your best for him.”
Roteman could be “silly,” too, using humor to ease the pressure of constant deadlines, Samson said. “He had these expressions we called ‘Joelisms,’ like, ‘I’m busier than a threelegged cockroach.’”
His quick wit and unflappable nature served him well when a former intern armed with a gun took Roteman hostage, threatening to kill him unless he printed his story, verbatim, about the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union.
Appraisals are also being made to determine the fair market value of each property.
And while no decision has been made concerning where a unified congregation might reside — Rodef Shalom’s building, Tempe Sinai’s building, or a new property — Jurman said one determination was already made.
“We would not keep both buildings,” he said. “Since a great deal of the emphasis here is the financial issues of each congregation, one of the major opportunities in unification is that we can get rid of a huge part of our separate overheads.”
Both Battistone and Jurman are clear that, even if the congregations vote to merge, an immediate consolidation into one building on July 1 is unlikely, and that the timeline will probably be within a
Roteman reportedly said, “If you blow my head off, the story is going to be, ‘Chronicle editor gets his head blown off.’ They won’t even look at your story. Besides, I wouldn’t even promise the president that I would print his story word-for-word.”
Eventually, the boy’s family came and took him home.
Besides hammering out an editorial every week, Roteman wrote several stories, sometimes under the pen name Leo J. Nametor — his name spelled backwards — so his byline didn’t dominate the paper.
“He didn’t want people to think the Chronicle was small,” his son, Dan Roteman, said.
To that point, Roteman picked up a column by Wolf Blitzer, then a correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, long before he became a major CNN personality, Samson said. He called the column “Washington’s Wolf on the Prowl.”
Roteman himself brought a worldview to the Chronicle, traveling often to Israel and other parts of the globe to interview people and cover events, including Spain, in 1992, when King Juan Carlos apologized to Jews 500 years after the edict of expulsion.
“My father saw things that most of us will never see,” Dan Roteman said, “and not just on trips to Israel.”
Meeting fascinating people, from Moshe Dayan’s widow to comedian Phyllis Diller to Nobel Prize winners, was what Roteman loved most, according to his daughter, Phyllis Roteman. “That, and telling their stories.”
She recalled that when she was a child, her father let her tag along on an interview with Randy Grossman, a Pittsburgh Steelers tight end and one of few Jews to play
six-month to two-year window.
That means that the tenants currently located in Rodef Shalom — such as Tree of Life Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash — would see no immediate change.
“None of our lease agreements are being tossed out because of a unification,” Battistone said. “We have every intention of honoring any agreement we have with any sort of tenant for the duration of whatever the agreement, and depending on how the unification vote goes and what ultimate decision is made, we’ll revisit those agreements.”
At the end of the day, Battistone said a decision won’t be simply binary.
“It’s not going to be yes or no,” he said. “The choice that’s on the table is, do you want to unify and figure this out together, or do we want to stay on our own and figure it out. Either of those options are going to involve some tough decisions. Either of those options will involve change.”
Still, he said, one thing is clear: “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Jurman concurs.
“We can’t go on separately the way we are,” he said. “We are both going to wind up making a lot of changes that we won’t like. If we can come together and make something sustainable that will be in the best interest of both congregations — doing nothing is not an option.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
professional football. “I waited outside the locker room,” she said. “But I got to meet Randy. It was very cool.”
Another time, her father presented her with a photo of himself arm wrestling Lee Majors, TV’s popular “Six Million Dollar Man.” Roteman was driven by innate curiosity, and he enjoyed the prestige of being editor, Phyllis Roteman said. “He liked that people would read what he wrote and then contact him. He liked knowing he was doing something for the community, that people were impacted.”
Samson agreed.
“He had an immense love for Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, Israel and the Jewish people,” she said. “When he ran the paper with (then general manager) Al Zecher he did so with love.”
As an old school newsman, Roteman worked during a time when newspapers were put together by cut and paste, and when he left the Chronicle, in 2001, computers were driving production.
In retirement, he freelanced a little for Mt. Lebanon Magazine, but eventually turned his attention to simpler pleasures, Phyllis Roteman said, noting her father was a bridge grand master, a bowler and a poker player.
“He enjoyed life. He played tennis a lot and was devoted to my mom. They’d play Boggle every night.”
In his final years at Asbury Place, with Micki, Roteman would regale staff and other residents with colorful memories of his journalism career, Phyllis said.
“He was Mr. Social. Everybody knew him and everybody knew he was a storyteller.” PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
p Joel Roteman Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives
Headlines
Shabbatons:
Continued from page 2
Shabbatons buttress the Jewish day school’s mission.
“In general, when you’re in a school setting it feels like you’re studying something in school — because it’s school. The minute you remove students from that setting, it’s more relaxed,” he said.
On retreats, ideas are freely conveyed by teachers and guest speakers. Students engage in robust conversation and glean lessons in real time, he continued.
It’s exciting for participants to see a new school or site, but the value of Shabbatons is not only in traveling to a new community. Shabbatons also allow hosts to see spaces with fresh eyes.
Next week, Yeshiva Schools will host an “in-town” retreat for fathers and sons. Participants will study together, pray together, eat together and play basketball together. The experience, Rosenblum said,
Hostages:
Continued from page 5
“We will fast 500 minutes for the captives,” he said.
“They’ve already been fasting for 500 days,” he said, asking the nation to fast with the families, to pray as one soul, as one heart.
“We want to know when they are all coming home,” added Ben Baruch.
Maccabit Meyer, aunt of hostages Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, said that day 500 wasn’t different than any of the others since her nephews were abducted to Gaza.
“I want Ziv and Gali to be held in the hug of their mother Talia,” she said, calling on the nation to come out and join their cry.
Holding a handmade sign featuring the images of hostages whose families have recently received signs of life from released captives, Shai Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat who was murdered in captivity at the end of August, noted that the hostages’ families saw the end of a hostage release and ceasefire agreement in November 2023.
“If war [re]starts, it is a death sentence for many of the hostages,” Dickmann said at the start of the march to the Knesset.
“More than 80 years ago, my grandmother was in the Holocaust and waited for nations to help her, but she suffered and survived and came here to help create a nation of ideals so that it wouldn’t happen again,” he continued.
“We can’t wait for other nations to decide our fate; we must save them now that we have a state so that it won’t happen again.”
Uri Goren, cousin of Tal Haimi, who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and whose body was taken to Gaza and is still held there, said that as details emerge of what released hostages have undergone in captivity, it is essential to bring all the hostages home.
Like Yael Alexander’s mother, Goren switched to English to express gratitude to
Trump and Witkoff. He said that Trump had demonstrated leadership by pushing for the hostage deal and Witkoff has clearly stated that the administration is committed to releasing the captives and showing it understands.
“The deceased hostages must come back for [a] final resting place,” said Goren, adding that the only way to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people was to bring back every last hostage in order to rebuild areas of Gaza and bring healing to all people.
‘Longest Oct. 7 of my life’
In the southern city of Carmei Gat, where residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz are living while their community is rebuilt after the Hamas massacre, the mother of David Cunio and Ariel Cunio said she has “been waiting 500 days” for her sons’ return.
“This is the longest Oct. 7 of my life,” said Sylvia Cunio, who survived the Oct. 7 atrocities.
David was taken hostage with his wife, Sharon Aloni-Cunio and their twin
Both Rosenblum and Weinberg said their schools have welcomed students from schools outside of Pittsburgh for Shabbatons in years past.
The experiences, Weinberg said, allow students to appreciate a “larger Jewish community.”
Rosenblum said Shabbatons, both in-town and off-site, “further our mission, which is to educate students to be independent learners, and to be committed to Torah, and to mitzvahs and to God.”
Weiss hopes to build on CDS’ experience in Cleveland by reiterating to students the “importance of community.” Along with exploring future collaborations with Mandel, Weiss said she’s eager to identify new opportunities between CDS, Hillel Academy and Yeshiva Schools.
Shabbatons can be springboards for everyone, she continued: “I can’t wait to see what we can cook up.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
3-year-old daughters, as well as Sharon’s sister Danielle and the latter’s young daughter. The women and children were all released in the November 2023 hostage deal.
Sylvia Cunio’s youngest son, Ariel, was also taken hostage from Nir Oz on Oct. 7, along with his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud. Yehoud was recently released after being held hostage in isolation in Gaza for 15 months.
“I want my sons now, now! Don’t abandon us; continue with the second stage of the talks, bring them home,” she said.
At Kibbutz Be’eri, survivors gathered at the site of the devastated community to mark 500 days since Oct. 7, with a rally calling for the return of the 70 remaining captives held in Gaza.
One of the speakers was Nira Sharabi, whose husband Yossi Sharabi was killed in captivity in Gaza and whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi was recently released from captivity and discovered that his wife and two daughters were killed in their Be’eri home that day.
Sharabi said that after all the living hostages are returned, they will have to turn to the next impossibly difficult task of bringing back the bodies of all those killed and taken to Gaza — or who have died in captivity — and burying them in Israel. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of at least 36 people.
“Our beloved Yossi, until he’s buried here, we can’t say our farewell to him and can’t continue forward,” she said.
Other Be’eri residents spoke, including former hostage Raya Rotem, who said she knows what it’s like to be a hostage in Gaza, even though she was “only” there for 54 days.
“What happens to a person who is kept there for 500 days? If there hadn’t been additional releases in the previous [November 2023] deal, I wouldn’t have left the house where I was kept and where I separated from Itay Svirsky, who was supposed to mark his 40th birthday,” said Rotem, referring to a hostage who killed in captivity whose body was later recovered by Israeli troops. PJC
retreat, to better understand and experience
Photo courtesy of Community Day School
p Maccabit Meyer, aunt of hostages Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, at an event marking 500 days since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught, on Azza Street in Jerusalem, Feb. 17, 2025.
Photo by Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel
Wanted for being Jewish Opinion
Guest Columnist
David Rullo
“Complicity In Genocide.” I would love to tell you I was shocked by the charge on the wanted poster with my face on it, but I wasn’t. It’s not the first time a radicalized, anti-Zionist, anti-Israel or antisemitic group has targeted me online.
In fact, the same group — or maybe it’s just one individual — targeted me, as well as the Chronicle, in September, wishing us death by choking “on a massively fat hog,” while encouraging me to go “f--- yourself right the way off.”
I was surprised, though, to see my wanted poster among those of 14 other Pittsburgh community members, most of them with a higher profile than mine. My poster was somewhere in the middle of a three-row group that includes members of Pittsburgh’s City Council, the city’s mayor, the Chronicle’s editor and the University of Pittsburgh’s chancellor. Below our grouping is an image of Elon Musk with a gun pointed at his head and the words, “The only good Nazi is a dead one.”
Above our row are posters of President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Each has a gun’s bullseye on their face and the phrase “War Criminal.”
The website is filled with antisemitic images, including a woman with a Jewish star for a head, asking a suited male on his knees if it’s OK to still bomb children. Another image features a picture of Israel and the caption, “One state solution: Palestine. The two-state solution upholds ‘Israel’s’ apartheid. Two states affirms ‘Israel’s’ genocide while rewarding a 70+year reign of terror.”
Calls for violence tied to antisemitic tropes fill the site.
What did I do to earn the recognition of this cowardly individual who hides behind a group with a made-up name? I certainly didn’t perform “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or
Iwas drawn to the video, too.
Seeing celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld and Mike Bloomberg channel my rage and give a middle finger to Kanye West after his most recent antisemitic spree, which included selling a swastika shirt the video riffed on, gave me hope and made me feel less alone at a scary time. I was also heartened to see some Jewish celebrities who have not previously spoken out against antisemitism doing so for the first time. But it wasn’t real. The video was made by an Israeli high-tech entrepreneur using AI — which means that it revealed far more about its viewers than anyone who appeared in it. And what it revealed is that our willingness
religious group,” which is how the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines genocide. I have never been part of an army, navy or militia. Heck, I’ve never even gone hunting.
No matter, the coward who created the wanted posters — and encouraged visitors to their website to download, distribute, edit and reproduce the images as stickers or flyers — decided I am complicit with genocide because I report the news.
Also, it’s because I’m Jewish, work for a Jewish paper and write about the anti-Israel and antisemitic actions of the “artist’s” friends and compatriots, as well as Israel’s defensive war against the terrorist organization Hamas — a group that openly calls for the genocide of Jews.
To a person, every face included on a wanted poster has supported the Jewish community. Some have advanced legislation that would prevent BDS groups from forcing the city to stop doing business with Israel or companies that do business with Israel; others have supported the arrests of anti-Israel protesters who committed acts of vandalism and violence on Pitt’s campus. One simply leads a Jewish congregation.
The person who created the wanted posters wrote that “Black lives matter,” “Palestinian lives matter” and “trans people and lgbtq+ folks deserve dignity.” They also posit that “America is past the point of saving,” “fascists should face fists and bullets,” “all cops are targets” and “those who facilitate genocide should never live in peace.”
Their call for violence is ironic, in light of their purported condemnation of that very same brand of violence.
They view the world through the lens of the oppressor and the oppressed. Don’t let the pogroms, the Holocaust or Oct. 7 confuse you; Zionists, i.e., Jews and their allies, are the oppressors. As a result, we deserve to be hunted. After all, what good is a wanted poster if there isn’t an implied fugitive from the law or a posse to hunt them down?
This far-left coward wants you to believe they are the champions of the oppressed, but they traffic in the same violent rhetoric as far-right white supremacist groups.
Sadly, this coward who has called for violence isn’t alone. The far left, it appears, has been
as Jews to suspend disbelief offers evidence of our enduring hope — and a stark warning sign about a new danger that we face today.
Ever since Oct. 7, 2023, and even before, the Jews have understood what the prophet Balaam said in the book of Numbers: “This is a people that dwells alone.” Jews have felt a deep sense of isolation and despair. Their hearts have been broken, and so they wear those hearts on their sleeves.
No wonder Jews are loving and sharing the video. We want to believe that we stand up for ourselves. We want to believe that famous people care about us.
But, in fact, many in the entertainment industry have been silent since Oct. 7. The video, therefore, is not real, but it is a prayer: If only these famous people would use their massive social capital, and speak out.
We are free to love it and share it, waving aside the fact that it is a fiction, but we do so at our own peril. The video is dangerous. It could
radicalized and, in some cases, militarized in ways that would seem unthinkable to members of the Students for a Democratic Society. I no longer recognize a political ideology of which I once was a part.
In junior high, I joined Amnesty International and wrote letters to governments detaining prisoners of conscience and railed against the death penalty. I protested the first Iraq War. In college, a picture of the Chicago 5 hung next to one of a lone dissenter standing in front of a phalanx of tanks in Tiananmen Square I clipped from Time magazine. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Black community protesting the death of several community members who were killed in altercations with the police.
As an artist and writer, most of my friends were “lefties” who believed many of the same things I did. We supported each other and I believed they would stand by me and the Jewish community if we were ever attacked. It was a naive belief.
On the night of Oct. 6 I went to bed viewed as a left-leaning writer. I awoke Oct. 7 seen as a right-wing conservative no longer welcomed by many of the people I knew. My crime? I wrote for a Jewish paper telling the stories of our community. I also detailed the antisemitism, anti-Zionism, anti-Israel and anti-American protests and rallies happening on college campuses, in meeting halls and on street corners. I refused to cower as groups of radicalized youth, hiding beneath masks, called for the destruction of Israel and the forced removal of Jews from Israel —after all, what else is “From the river to the sea” but a call for ethnic cleansing?
I was no longer an ally. I was no longer part of
a marginalized community, perhaps the oldest marginalized community in the world. I was now an oppressor. Worse, I traded in the ideas of the oppressor, and I didn’t shrink into the shadows from these masked crusaders, who, despite their bravado, want their universities to provide therapists and clemency for classes not completed while they protested.
When they attempted to intimidate me online, much the same way members of rightwing hate groups have, I refused to back down. I recorded the actions of these anti-Zionists and antisemites and used their own words to draw a picture of exactly who they are.
They now brand me a fascist who “should face fists and bullets” because I believe Israel has a right to exist and innocent Jews shouldn’t be raped and murdered.
Despite their calls for violence, I continue to report the news. My strength lies in the power of my words. I believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Before Oct. 7, I believed the most dangerous threat Jews faced came from far-right white supremacist groups, and as Pittsburghers, we tragically know the very real threats they pose. Since Oct. 7, though, I have come to realize that the Jewish community is targeted equally by far-left antifa organizations who claim Jews are the oppressors. They label us white and privileged. Consequently, we don’t merit a homeland and, until we accept their point of view, we deserve to be kidnapped, raped and murdered.
Anti-Zionism can and has crossed the line into antisemitism. While it is not inherently antisemitic to criticize the Israeli government, it is antisemitic to deny Jews the right to self-determination and to invalidate Jews’ historical connection to Israel. And, as the American Jewish Committee explains, “When Jews are verbally or physically harassed or Jewish institutions and houses of worship are vandalized in response to actions of the State of Israel, it is antisemitism.”
Since Oct. 7 I have learned what unites the far-left progressive community. It’s called antisemitism. PJC
David Rullo, senior staff writer for the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishcommunity.org.
easily play into the hands of antisemites, who will accuse Jews of falsifying public proclamations of support.
Moreover, if AI could create a video that supports the Jews, it could just as easily create videos that defame the Jews, that offer fake video evidence of Israeli actions in the West Bank, as well as Jewish perfidy in other places. We would find ourselves embroiled in AI-induced blood libels.
Consider what havoc this could wreak with Holocaust memory; I shudder to think of how antisemites and Holocaust deniers could manipulate the image of Anne Frank. Or, how they could manipulate images and videos of rabbis. This is the ethical category of genevat daat, deception — literally, “stealing the mind.”
The collective mind won’t know what hit it.
And this is the deeper challenge: AI is making it increasingly impossible to know what is real. Chat GPT is making it increasingly impossible to know who (or what) wrote anything.
This is a universal challenge, and it is an existential issue of the first order.
So, yes, of course. “Enough is enough” — of the war against the Jews.
But, also, “enough is enough” — of the war against truth. AI is a principal weapon in that war, and we will all be its casualties. When reality itself becomes infinitely malleable; when we can no longer trust our senses; when anyone can invent any narrative of the past, present and presumably future, and produce computer-generated “evidence” of that false narrative – we will have lost civilization itself.
At that point, antisemitism will be among the least of our problems. PJC
Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin is the co-founder/ co-director of Wisdom Without Walls: an online salon for Jewish ideas and the author of “Tikkun HaAm/Repairing Our People: Israel and the Crisis of Liberal Judaism.” This article first appeared on JTA.
Guest Columnist
Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin
Chronicle poll results: Gaza after the war
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Who should control Gaza after the war?” Of the 287 people who responded, 28% said moderate Arab countries; 25% said Israel; 16% said the Palestinian Authority; 7% said the United States; 0.3% said Hamas; 9% said someone else; and 15% said they didn’t know.
Comments were submitted by 66 people. A few follow.
Hamas must be neutralized. The Palestinian Authority should control Gaza to help move toward a two-state solution and peace, with an international peacekeeping force in place.
It doesn’t matter who is in charge. Until the culture of hatred changes, the risk of a new terror attack will always be high.
The Palestinian people should control Gaza. Anyone but Hamas.
A democratically-elected Palestinian government.
A joint Israeli-Arab bipartisanship, if such a thing can ever come into being.
Israel is the only country that can guarantee security.
The
control in the short term and provide military forces from neutral nations. A transitional government can be created.
No peace until Palestinians accept legitimacy of Israel
I greatly admire Jews who advocate for the Palestinians to be granted a safe home environment (“My Jewish family was forced out of our homeland. We must not let Gazans suffer the same fate,” Feb. 14). They are exhibiting Judaism’s most precious beliefs, namely humane treatment of all God’s people.
The vast majority of Israelis also want to see the Palestinian conflict settled. They want to live in peace, too. So committed to peace is Israel, that on six occasions it offered the Palestinians land for peace proposals, some including virtually all of the West Bank. Each proposal was rejected, none with serious counteroffers, one not even acknowledged. The reason is that the Palestinians claim all of Israel as occupied land, and all Israelis occupiers that their most militant believe they have the right to resist, i.e. kill.
As long as the Palestinians reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state, and back up their resistance with violence, there will be nothing Israel can do, no concession it can make — other than committing national suicide — that will result in the peaceful conditions essential for a successful functional state solution and a peaceful Gaza.
Yes, the Jews have a lot of power, but they lack the power to influence the Palestinians to reform their culture.
An example of new administration’s ‘cruelty’
Larry Shapiro Calgary, Alberta Canada
One illustration among many as to the cruelty and foolhardiness of the Trump/Musk/ Vance administration is illustrated in the Chronicle’s Feb. 14 story, “JFCS pledges to keep working for Pittsburgh’s refugee and immigrant community.”
This outstanding organization provides a vast array of services to immigrants in order to successfully resettle them in the Pittsburgh area.
Just days into the second Trump term, the agency received a “stop work” order, meaning that no additional grants or loans would be provided to help these new residents. Thankfully, JFCS is not going to let this bring about the abandonment of the beneficiaries.
The director of JFCS Refugee and Immigration Services stated that its leaders were “shocked” by this rash directive. I am not. This is an administration that immediately began to inflict executive orders that are in clear violation of the law and the Constitution, and which interfere with the long-established tenet that Congress has the power of the purse, something which cannot be abrogated by a president.
This anti-immigrant action goes hand in hand with the revocation of promises of resettlement made to others, including myriad individuals who helped us in our occupation of Afghanistan. This group is now subject to reprisals as they remain in Afghanistan hiding from the Taliban.
If Donald Trump serves a full four years in office, it will seem like an eternity, and J. D. Vance, an educated, polished and equally dangerous version of the president, would offer no relief. The process is well underway to render our country unrecognizable and a pariah of the world.
Oren Spiegler Peters Township
Hamas and the PA have a common goal: to destroy Israel as a Jewish state. It’s time for Arabs to take care of the Palestinians, who they’ve mistreated and used as pawns against Israel since 1948.
A confederation of Israeli and Palestinian people, focused on peace.
Gaza should be governed by an entity established for it by a nonpolitical organization.
Eventually, they need local governance and to be unified with the West Bank. A two-state solution is the only route to a sustainable peace in the region.
Gaza should revert back to Israel. When Jews lived in Gaza, it was flourishing. It’s time for it to be under the umbrella of Eretz Israel once again.
There usually are no good solutions in foreign affairs, only some that are worse than others. The No. 1 priority is that Hamas must not remain in control. Who can make that happen? Alas, not the PA, which has neither the will nor the ability to take on Hamas. So it will have to be a non-Palestinian power.
There will never be a two-state solution. Oct. 7, Hamas, and the reaction of Gazans and the Palestinian Authority make it crystal clear that the Palestinians have no interest in peace. Rebuilding Gaza should be conditioned on the complete destruction/ exile of Hamas and relocation of the Gazans during reconstruction. Then, in five or 10 years, we’ll see.
I actually wish that Egypt would just take it over and annex it, with safeguards from Israel.
Let Trump turn it into a beautiful Mediterranean resort metropolis. Everyone will profit and the Palestinians can have better homes in other Arab nations.
Palestinian people in Gaza should have the ability to shape their own future and elect leaders for themselves. It should be their decision. PJC
— Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question: From how many different media sources do you get news on a typical day? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
Trump administration is not supporting Jews
I hope that those who support and voted for the current administration have seen or read Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech in Germany last week (“JD Vance tells German leaders to abandon their ‘firewall’ against the far right,” online, Feb. 16). His support of the far right and AfD, in particular, is chilling. This is a political party that questions the Holocaust and Germans see as being born of Nazism. And, keep in mind, he made this speech shortly after visiting Dachau.
The administration may be helping Israel so Trump can build a Riviera in Gaza, but it certainly isn’t supporting Jews.
When is the American Jewish establishment going to realize this?
In
defense of Vance and free speech
Eleanor Siegal Belle Acres
In Ben Sales’ article about the Munich Security Conference, he chides our vice president for telling the Europeans that they are abandoning their democratic values, in particular, free speech (“JD Vance tells German leaders to abandon their ‘firewall’ against the far right,” online, Feb. 16). Sales singled out a German party that he believes is antisemitic.
In Europe, where the bureaucracy in Brussels runs everyone’s lives, the people are pushing back. The fact that many Europeans are fed up with migrants from the Third World, who refuse to assimilate, attack native Europeans and have blatant disregard for their host countries does not give license to ban free speech. Disagreement with particular views does not give anyone the right to take away someone’s ability to voice those views. The European elites and globalists are afraid of the people, just like their counterparts in America. In the recent past many Americans have been dealt the same fate.
Vice President Vance’s remarks were well placed. For far too long we Americans have been defending Europe through NATO, sending aid to Ukraine and the former Soviet bloc, and watching Europeans slide into serfdom. Vance is right to tell our European allies where it is at. Remember, we fought with many American lives and rebuilt the continent after World War II.
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Andrew Neft Upper St. Clair
United Nations should
Life & Culture
Prime Stage Theatre partners with Holocaust Center for upcoming performance
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Wayne Brinda believes Prime Stage Theatre Company presents work that matters.
“That’s one of our goals,” he said. “It’s not just to do a series of plays that nobody really cares about, but to try and find things that are impactful and make a difference and raise awareness of certain things.”
For the last several seasons, the 28-year-old theater company has done just that, partnering with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to present a Holocaustthemed play as part of its annual “enGAGE anti-genocide education program,” created to engage the community in education, understanding and actions against the atrocities of genocide.
Brinda is the co-founder and producing artistic director of the company. It’s motivated, he said, not only by the desire to entertain and create an uplifting theater experience, but also to facilitate thought and conversation.
“We’re doing things that are meaningful,” Brinda said. “We’re doing things that, by experiencing this, we’re going to make you
appreciate life a little more. I think that’s the key, to learn something and have an experience where you come out of it and go ‘Wow, I think I’m a better person for
knowing this information.’”
This year, Prime Stage Theatre is teaming with the Holocaust Center and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum to present “I Never Saw Another Butterly and The Terezin Promise,” to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Terezin concentration camp liberation.
the camp and its prisoners existed, Brinda said, but for Dicker-Brandeis’ desire to preserve the works.
“She asked one of her students, Raya, to promise to make sure that the drawings and poetry and the work of the kids would be saved so that people would know exactly what happened in this camp and realize just what the truth was,” he said.
The play, Brinda said, is a story of hope, courage and perseverance.
Keeping with the aim of educating, as well as entertaining, opening night will include a talk by Patty Partington, whose father, Guy Prestia, was a sergeant in the U.S. Army 157th Infantry Regiment 45th Infantry Division and one of the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945.
“She’s going to be speaking opening night, talking about the experiences of her father and what that meant,” he said.
The goal, Brinda said, is to make both history and the truth of the Holocaust come alive.
The experience includes age-appropriate casting — the majority of the actors are high school and college students. Eva Friedlander is a sophomore at Shady Side Academy who plays a lead in the production. She said she was excited to play Helga Weissova, a living Holocaust survivor.
The play, written by Celeste Raspanti and directed by Brinda, takes place in the Terezin concentration camp and is about Austrian artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who teaches Jewish children to create poems and drawings in secret art classes. The title is taken from a surviving poem by Pavel Friedmann, who lived in the camp before being murdered at Auschwitz.
Artwork and poems created by the Jewish children were collected in the book “I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944,” published in 1994. The play uses poetry taken from the book.
“It’s a true story,” Brinda said. “It’s about the power of what a teacher can do to help students find hope and inspiration.”
The camp, he said, was closer to a ghetto than a traditional death camp and was used by the Nazis for propaganda purposes. And yet, the death toll is striking — of the more than 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 141 are known to have survived.
The art and poetry produced by these children would have been lost to history, as the Nazis worked to destroy all proof that
“This play brings the survivors and their stories to life and shows them as multifaceted people,” she said. “It’s super important to hear these stories particularly because not many Holocaust survivors are left. Through this play, you can see their legacies live on.”
Another way Prime Stage is endeavoring to create an experience is through what it is calling a “wall of memory.”
“People can actually post their thoughts,” Brinda said. “After you see the play and have the experience, what are your thoughts, how has this affected you? What have you seen that really makes a difference? What can you do?”
Emily Loeb, director of programs and education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, said that the center is proud to support the production.
“It is always meaningful to see the history of the Holocaust being shared with diverse audiences through different storytelling mediums,” she said.
“I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise” will be performed at the New Hazlett Theater Feb. 28-March 9. Tickets can be purchased on Prime Stage’s website, primestage.com. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
p Actors from “I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise” rehearse the Holocaust-themed play, which will be staged beginning Feb. 28 at the New Hazlett Theater. Photo courtesy of Prime Stage Theatre
Life & Culture
Flanken with peas
Ingredients
Serves 4 as a main course, or 10 as a side dish
By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle
Simple ingredients come together to make a flavorful dinner of braised flanken and peas scented with allspice. This is pure comfort food, an affordable way to add meat to the table and is easy to prepare. The flanken is integral for the flavor but it’s the peas that shine in the end.
I’ve been getting some lessons about flanken and short ribs. Different butchers and different cities interchange these names, which can get confusing. I used the cheapest version labeled “flanken” at the store, which has as much bone as meat. That’s not a bad thing because the flavor comes from the bones and when this is served the meat is not the star of the show. Braising is a great way to get cheaper cuts of meat to shine. Short ribs cost about twice as much as flanken but will give you better quality meat, and more of it, so I’ll leave that choice up to you and your budget.
I make a version of this using frozen fava beans instead of peas. Both versions are best served over a bed of rice and can be made kosher for Passover if you eat kitniyot.
I appreciate this recipe because once you do the initial preparations, you can just set your timer and forget about it.
¼ cup olive oil, divided 2-3 pounds flanken
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or black pepper
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon cumin (optional)
2-3 cups water
2 pounds frozen peas (or frozen fava beans)
Before you start preparing this dish, know that you can either simmer it on the stove or braise it in the oven. I typically simmer this in a Dutch oven on the stove so that my oven is free for other things. If you prefer to use your oven, set the temperature to 325 F. It’s started on the stovetop either way.
Chop and prepare the onion and garlic, and measure the salt and spices. Allspice is the main flavored spice in this recipe. I love cumin, but you can omit it; like cilantro, a lot of people have an aversion to it.
Place a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat to warm for a few minutes before adding 2 tablespoons of oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the onion and stir every few minutes. After 10 minutes, raise the heat to medium to help the onions cook a bit
faster. If they start to brown, either reduce the heat or add a little more olive oil to the pot. Cook the onions for an additional 10 minutes and remove the onions from the pot. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil to the pot and brown the flanken for 5 minutes on each side.
Use tongs to pile the flanken to one side of the pot.
Add the garlic to the empty side of the pot and stir for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Stir the onions into the garlic, then add the allspice, cumin and pepper to the onions. Stir well. Using tongs, arrange the flanken across the bottom of the pot in a single layer, spreading the onion mixture around the meat. Sprinkle it with salt, then add the water — 2 cups is typically enough. The flanken should not be completely covered with water; the
tops of each piece should be showing over the top of the liquid.
Bring the pot to a boil before covering with a tight-fitting lid.
Reduce the stovetop to simmer or put the pot into the preheated oven.
Cook for 2 hours. If you use the stovetop, you should see a consistent, gentle simmer in the liquid.
After 2 hours, remove the lid and add the frozen peas or fava beans over the top of the meat. Frozen vegetables have a nice amount of liquid in them, but you can add another cup of water to the pot if you think the mixture looks dry.
Replace the lid and cook for an additional 1½-2 hours.
The meat should be fork-tender and falling off the bones. When the meat is cooked, use the tongs to remove it to a separate plate to cool.
I typically use my fingers to remove the bones and tear the meat into bite-sized pieces before putting the meat back into the pot. Stir well and taste the peas; add salt or pepper to your taste.
Serve over rice.
This recipe often tastes even better the following day, so you can make it in advance. Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
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There is a common lament — at least in communities where it’s common — when a b. mitzvah’s Torah reading falls on an “uncool” parsha. Relatives might say, “Oy, poor kid, they have to read about owning slaves!” Some parents even choose a different Shabbat for a more glamorous Torah portion. But I want to challenge us to move away from this reaction to the less Hallmark-movie sections of our sacred text.
The Torah is complicated. It contains romance, war, transitions of power, and difficult moments for leaders and those they serve. Yet how we react, respond and interpret these texts is entirely in our hands. It is up to us — the rabbis, cantors, educators and parents — to shape how we teach these so-called “uncool” passages to our children.
So how do we take the long list of complex laws in Parshat Mishpatim and make them relevant for young learners? The answer is the same as with any challenging topic: Approach the conversation with them, not at them. Show up with vulnerability. Be OK with saying, “I don’t know.” Acknowledge the difficulty of the text and use it as an opportunity to instill Jewish values that shape your home and community. Create a space where questioning and wrestling with Torah is not only allowed but encouraged.
When guiding parents on how to approach their child’s Torah reading, I encourage them to sit with their b. mitzvah child and explore the parsha together. Make the setting comfortable — everyone well-fed, rested and in an environment conducive to learning. Meeting physical needs allows for deeper engagement, even with difficult conversations.
Parshat Mishpatim presents 27 laws spanning civil, criminal, moral and ritual concerns, concluding with a covenant and divine promise. We can either see this as 27 dry legal rulings — or, as Rabbi Shai Held taught in his recent visit to Pittsburgh, we can engage with p’sak halacha (legal
ruling) as a starting point for deeper reflection and conversation, specifically during difficult times.
Take the first law: An Israelite slave must be freed in the seventh year (Exodus 21:2–6). This passage can be uncomfortable, as it shatters the illusion that Jews have always treated each other with absolute love and respect. Some may argue that this law mitigates mistreatment, placing boundaries on servitude. But the real power of this mitzvah lies in the questions it raises: Why is this in the Torah? What does it mean to be part of a history where our ancestors owned slaves?
This conversation naturally extends beyond ancient Israel. It allows us to discuss during Black History Month, Jewish involvement in slavery in America — both those who owned slaves and those who fought for abolition. Importantly, the mitzvah does not command ownership of a slave; rather, it legislates humane treatment within a world where slavery existed. This nuance can spark meaningful discussions on ethical workplaces, fair treatment and boundaries — core Jewish values embedded in this week’s text.
Shifting our perspective on these laws — from a lament about an “unfortunate” Torah portion to an opportunity for learning and enriching Jewish values in our homes — models for our children a deep love for Torah and for the child. It shows them that even the most difficult mitzvot contain language that shapes our moral landscape. It teaches them that we, as their guides, care deeply about their curiosity and growth. And ultimately, it prepares them to become the thoughtful, compassionate leaders our world so desperately needs.
Fortunate is the child whose b. mitzvah falls out on this week’s Torah reading and blessed are their parents and educators who have helped them grapple with the texts.
Shabbat shalom. PJC
Rabbi Hindy Finman is senior director of Jewish Life and director of the Center for Loving Kindness at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.
Cynthia L. Goodman, born Aug. 22, 1949, in Franklin, Pennsylvania, died peacefully with her family at her side on Feb. 12, 2025, in Pittsburgh. Raised and educated in Franklin and Washington, Pennsylvania, she built a life dedicated to education, service to others and creating lasting connections with everyone she met. She was the beloved wife of Mark Goodman, with whom she shared nearly 49 years of marriage. She was the loving mother of Rebecca Maine (Jacob), Emily Goodman (Taylor Bright) and Adam Goodman (who preceded her in death by four weeks), and the loving grandmother of Penelope and Eleanor Bright. She was preceded in death by her parents, Richard and Gail Hanna, her sister Patricia Wentworth, and her brother William Hanna. She received her bachelor’s in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and was the first in her family to graduate from college. She obtained post-graduate master’s degrees in social work and public health and a Juris Doctor, all from the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary vocation was as a medical social worker at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. In more recent years, she chaired the medical advisory committee for the Pittsburgh Cure Sarcoma Foundation for many years. In this role, she helped to oversee the distribution of over $1 million to support sarcoma research. Cindy’s love for life and others shone through in everything she did. She was an avid traveler who, together with Mark, explored the world through numerous cruises and adventures, visiting China, Russia, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and Sweden, among other places. Her passion for collecting decorative owls and boxes was matched only by her joy in shopping — not just for herself, but for the pleasure of finding the perfect gifts for others. For many years, she was famous among family and friends for her annual winter tradition of making and sharing her special fudge, a gesture that epitomized her generous spirit. A talented musician in her youth, she played both clarinet and oboe, and throughout her life maintained her beautiful singing voice and love of 1960s folk music. Known for her endless phone conversations that showcased her genuine interest in others’ lives, and her charming tendency to run fashionably late, Cindy brought warmth and humor to every situation. Despite facing physical limitations in her later years, she remained determined to be present for her family’s important moments, never letting challenges diminish her commitment to those she loved. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel Inc. Interment Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Contributions in her memory can be made to Pittsburgh Cure Sarcoma, PO Box 194, Gibsonia, PA 15044, or online at: pittsburghcuresarcoma.org (click Donate), the Temple Sinai Live Broadcast Fund (templesinaipgh.org/donation), or a charity of your choice. schugar.com
HELFER: Florence “Flossie” Helfer, age 104, on Feb. 13, 2025. Flossie’s home for the last eight years was at Weinberg Terrace, where the administrative staff and aid staff cared for her like family. Flossie was an exceptional human being. She was intelligent, truthful, talented, fearless, and most of all, loving. She graduated from Penn State University in 1942, at a time when only 3% of women had earned a bachelor’s degree in higher education. She volunteered in the 60s and 70s at KDKA’s “Call for Action,” an organization devoted to the advocacy of the common man. On her 60th birthday she had three unanswered goals: learn how to paint (she became an accomplished painter with her paintings spread out all around Pittsburgh in family and friends’ homes); learn how to swim (accomplished that goal as well); and learn how to ride a bike (always regretting that she fell short of this goal). Her other hobbies included knitting, duplicate bridge, being a member of the garden club, and she was an exceptional baker and an avid golfer. On her 90th birthday she bought a new car and was adamant to secure a 10-year warranty, which she outlived. But most of all she was a loving wife to Paul for 70 years, mom to Ricky (Barb), Bob (Denise), grandma to Michael (Tracy), Josh ( Kristie) Jared and Jesse (Becca), great-grandma to Richie (Nichole), Jessica (Warrick), Korey, Madison, Taylor and Jacob, greatgreat-grandma to Liliana and Lincoln, nieces Merna and Marcy, and extended family and friends. Funeral private, a celebration of life on a future date. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory, Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com PJC
Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information. THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —
Sunday February 23: Leonard Chasick, Israel Fineman, Harry Frank, Rachel Goodman, Lena Gordon, Louis Kantor, Esther Lehman, Freda Levine, Sarah Lurie, Herman Ryave, Rose Schwartz, Anna E Shapiro, Tillie Shillit, Samuel Toker, Jack Wagner, Jeffrey S Weiss, Sylvia Wittlin
Monday February 24: Isaac Apple, Fannie Binstock, Morton Blumenfeld, Alfred Devon, Josephine Handmaker Feldman, Reva Hankin, Albert F Klein, Joseph G Lazear, Moishe Ofshinski, Serrae Roberts, Ben Simon, Louise S Sobel, Ida J Wilner, John Wirtzman, Annette Wolk
Tuesday February 25: Anna Friedman, Louis Friedman, O Hicks Friedman, Fanny Gitelman, Jack Morris Glantz, Anne R Hendel, Milton B Krupp, Joseph Lewinter, Celia Lipsitz, William Mintz, Ruth Brill Moldovan, Celia Rofey, David M Rosenberg, Samuel Earl Schugar, Rose Sherry, Bennie Silverman, Henry Singer, Tillie Tex
Wednesday February 26: Abraham B Amper, Philip Anolik, Sophie Auerbach, Gertrude Brody, Samuel Burke, Leah Canter, Esther Covel, Anne M Darling, Harry Friedman, Mendel Helfand, Morris Herr, Samuel Horelick, Samuel Kamin, Julius Skigen, Mary Davis Solomon, Esther Spiro, David Zytnick
Thursday February 27: Meyer Borofsky, David Brown, Morris Goldberg, Gertrude Grossman, Edward Haims, Leeba Hausman, Lillian Hoffman, Abram Katkisky, Helen Klein, Sam Lavine, Jacob Levine, Max Malkin, Morris Malt, Minnie Rosenberg, Rachel Sheffler Shuklansky, Abe Weiner, Louis Weiss, Gussie Wolf
Friday February 28: Bessie Taback Americus, Louis Cohen, Isadore Dektor, Rachel Eisenberg, Dora Feldman, Sarah R Fineman, Ida Goldberg, Adolph Graff, Jacob Horewitz, Joseph R Kaufman, Isadore Libson, Milton Emanuel Linder, Morris T Mason, Ben Neiman, Anna Goldie Pearlman, Gertrude Tepper, Martha Trachtenberg, Anna H Wolfe, Ann Yecies
Saturday March 1: Milton Abes, Max H Barnett, Harry Cohen, Joseph Cohen, Sarah Finkelstein, Leonard M Friedman, Norman B Goldfield, Sadye Goldstein, Minna Hohenstein, David Kaplan, Dr Edward Kaplan, Sarah Kaufman, Rose G Klein, Charlotte Reiter, Isaac Rosenberg, Bertha B Rosenfeld, Joseph Rosenthal, Freda Rosenthall, Blanche Schultz, Celia Soloman, Samual Spokane, Ruth Steiger, Isaac Zuckerman
PJC Board Chair Evan H. Stein
In memory of the legacy of longtime Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle staff member Phil Durler
Headlines
Jewish Florida man charged with shooting Israelis he mistook for Palestinians
— NATIONAL —
By JNS Staff
A27-year-old Jewish plumber is accused of firing 17 times from a semiautomatic handgun at two vacationing Israeli tourists, whom he mistook for Palestinians, in Miami Beach at about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Mordechai Brafman told Miami Beach Police Department officers “spontaneously” in
custody that “while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both,” per the incident report, which the police department shared with JNS. “The victims and the defendant do not know each other.”
Contrary to what Brafman told the police, both victims survived, with one shot in the left shoulder and the other’s left forearm grazed, per the report.
The defendant, who was captured on surveillance cameras, shot the victims “unprovoked,” striking both victims, per the police
“Confuse them with your silence and amaze them with your actions.”
report. Brafman was arrested on two counts of attempted second degree murder.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom. I got hit in the shoulder. One of the bullets missed my father’s head,” Ari Rabi told CBS News through his cousin, who translated his comments into English. (The victim’s name is spelled “Rabey” in other stories.)
“Some guy thought we were Palestinians and he just started shooting,” Rabi told CBS. “Seventeen bullets, only one hit.”
“The last thing I want to say is thank God for life,” Rabi added to CBS. “A life shouldn’t just be taken away from anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are, what religion you are or where you’re from. People should just live in peace.”
Dustin Tischler, an attorney for the defendant, told the Miami Herald that Brafman “was experiencing a severe mental health emergency” when he began shooting.
“It is believed that his ability to make sound judgments was significantly compromised. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials and acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations,” Tischler told the paper. “We are also committed to working with healthcare professionals to ensure Mr. Brafman receives the appropriate and necessary treatment. Finally, we are deeply relieved that the victims are safe.”
“All forms of violence must be unequivocally condemned, and perpetrators of hate crimes should be held accountable,” stated
Lee & Lisa Oleinick
Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, consul general of Israel in Miami. (JNS sought comment from the consulate.)
“I extend my gratitude to law enforcement officers for their dedication to safeguarding our communities,” the Israeli diplomat added.
“I am confident they will conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the truth behind this terrible incident and ensure justice is served.”
The Anti-Defamation League Florida office stated that it is “horrified to learn about this incident, in which an individual allegedly opened fire on two people in Miami Beach because he thought they were Palestinian.”
“Violence targeting people because of their perceived identity is never acceptable,” the ADL said. It urged the Miami Beach Police Department to investigate whether the incident was a hate crime. PJC
Jacqueline van Maarsen, Anne Frank’s best friend, dies at 96
— WORLD —
By Ben Sales | JTA
On June 15, 1942, days after receiving a diary for her 13th birthday, Anne Frank wrote that a classmate she had only recently met “is now my best friend.”
She and that friend, Jacqueline van Maarsen, promised to write each other goodbye letters if they were forced apart — which came to pass just weeks later. Frank went into hiding in Amsterdam in July, and wrote van Maarsen her farewell letter in the diary in September, wishing that “until we see each other again, we will always remain ‘best’ friends.”
That meeting never took place, as Frank was murdered by the Nazis in 1945. But beginning in 1986, van Maarsen began lecturing on the Holocaust and hate, and writing about her friendship with Frank.
On Friday, the Anne Frank House announced that van Maarsen had died on Feb. 13, at age 96.
“Jacqueline was a classmate of Anne Frank at the Jewish Lyceum and shared her memories of their friendship throughout her life,” the institution, which is the official custodian of Frank’s legacy, said in a statement that included details about the friendship. “In her books and during school visits, Jacqueline spoke not only about her friendship with Anne but also about the dangers of anti-Semitism and racism, and where they can lead.”
Van Maarsen was the daughter of a Jewish father and a mother who was raised Christian
and converted to Judaism. Her mother managed to get her and her sister declared non-Jewish in 1942, which enabled them to survive the war and Holocaust. Most of van Maarsen’s father’s family was killed by the Nazis.
After the war, she got married, had three children and worked as an acclaimed bookbinder. Later in life, she wrote multiple books about Frank, including 2008’s “My Name is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank.”
Van Maarsen stayed in touch with Frank’s father, Otto, and with the Anne Frank House. In 2020, she laid the first stone of a Holocaust monument in Amsterdam. Last year, she donated a book of poetry from her youth to the institution. It included a poem written by her friend Anne PJC
p The Holocaust Memorial of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation in 2009
Photo by Menachem Wecker
p Jacqueline van Maarsen smiles as she examines the first memorial brick in the Names Monument of Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Sept. 23.
Photo courtesy of Holocaust Names Monument Netherlands
Real Estate
Smith-Rosenthal Team
Jason A. Smith & Caryn Rosenthal Jason: 412-969-2930 | Caryn: 412-389-1695 Jasonasmith@howardhanna.com Carynrosenthal@howardhanna.com
Life & Culture
Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ features
a
Jewish-run ‘cancer clinic.’ What is it?
— STREAMING—
By Andrew Lapin | JTA
This story contains spoilers for “Apple Cider Vinegar.”
Early in the new Netflix miniseries “Apple Cider Vinegar,” the central character of Millie Blake is diagnosed with a rare cancer and told she must amputate her arm. Desperate for another solution, Millie seizes on an “alternative” treatment at a center called the Hirsch Institute, in Mexico. The center is run by the daughter of a German Jewish refugee from the Nazis. Decades after her father’s death, she tells her patients that the medical establishment has tried to suppress her father’s revolutionary therapies.
There, Millie (played by Alycia DebnamCarey) embarks on a tightly controlled diet of regular juicing and five daily coffee enemas. It initially appears to work, and Millie builds a media empire on her belief that she has cured her cancer without the use of chemotherapy.
The show is based on the true story of two less-than-honest wellness influencers, and the Hirsch Institute is based on a real place and course of treatment founded by a German Jew. In real life, Max Gerson became a hero to the anti-establishment medicine community,
even as his methods have been widely discredited and flagged as dangerous by researchers, who continue to warn cancer patients against him to this day.
Born in Germany in 1881, Gerson received his medical education in Europe, graduating from the University of Freiburg. His interest in seeking diet-based therapies for difficult illnesses surfaced early, as Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports from 1929 describe him as being the “discoverer of a new cure for tuberculosis through rigid diet.” Though Gerson “was
derided and mocked at during the experimental period of his cure,” JTA wrote at the time, he “has now gained world-wide recognition.”
Gerson fled Germany for Vienna in 1933 as the Nazis came to power and soon banned all people of “Jewish or related blood” from working for the state — including in the field of cancer research, which Hitler, a hypochondriac, had made a policy priority. Eventually Gerson and his family made their way to the United States.
There, Gerson pursued the newly blossoming field of cancer research with vigor, taking his “rigid diet” protocol even further with unusual treatment methods. He operated a cancer clinic in upstate New York, testified on his methods before the Senate and authored multiple books documenting his methods prior to his death in 1958.
Those methods were unorthodox, to say the least — even for the time. Rejecting the promises of chemotherapy technologies then in their infancy, Gerson instead focused on metabolic therapy, believing that cancer stemmed from a patient’s diet and lifestyle choices and could be excised with a focus on natural foods, juices and expunging toxins from the body.
Gerson came to believe that the medical establishment, which was taking a hardline approach toward rooting out “quacks,” was conspiring to suppress his research. Ironically, the most visible anti-quackery figure during this period was Dr. Morris Fishbein, the Jewish editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, whose zealous lifelong campaign to debunk and discredit pseudoscience led critics to deem him the “medical Mussolini.”
Decades of studies since Gerson’s death have found no evidence that metabolic therapy alone can serve as an effective cancer treatment, and the case studies he chronicled in his book were unconvincing to many researchers.
But that didn’t stop Gerson’s descendants from continuing and promoting his methods, most prominently at the Gerson Institute.
Founded in 1978 by Max’s daughter Charlotte, the institute is headquartered in San Diego as a nonprofit but its physical “treatment” center is across the border in Tijuana, where medical regulations are less stringent. It has for decades promoted its “hyper-nutrition and detoxification” regimen to cancer patients around the world.
In the late 2000s it won over a major convert in Jessica Ainscough, whose story heavily inspired the character of Millie in “Apple Cider Vinegar.”
An Australian woman diagnosed with the incredibly rare cancer of epithelioid sarcoma at age 22, Ainscough rejected her oncologist’s advice to amputate the affected arm and instead opted for Gerson therapy. After appearing to find initial success, Ainscough began evangelizing for Gerson and branded herself as “The Wellness Warrior,” becoming a popular influencer.
When Ainscough’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she, too, waved off chemotherapy in favor of the Gerson method, a saga also chronicled with slight variations in the Netflix show. In the series, an elderly woman named Alma Hirsch (played by Robyn Nevin) personally supervises both treatments while deriding chemotherapy as “poison.” She’s modeled after Charlotte Gerson, who in real life continued to claim Gerson therapy could beat cancer and oversaw operations at her family’s institute until her death in 2019 at age 96.
Ainscough’s claim to have beaten cancer with Gerson’s methods was all a mirage — and in due time it collapsed. First, in 2013, her mother died of her breast cancer. Ainscough’s own health then worsened, which at first she tried to hide by wearing long sleeves in public to obscure the effects of the sarcoma (which is also depicted in the show). By the time she could no longer hide the disease’s progression, it was too late for serious medical intervention.
Ainscough died in 2015; Belle Gibson, a parallel wellness influencer who faked cancer and is the show’s central figure, played by Kaitlyn Dever, attended her funeral, as she does in the series.
The Gerson Institute remains active to this day, but now contains disclaimers announcing it “has its limitations, and we can make no guarantees about its effectiveness for every individual; recovery is on a case-by-case basis.”
Particularly in the aftermath of Ainscough’s death, medical professionals have called for the Gerson Institute to be held accountable.
“As outraged as we might have been over Ainscough’s promotion of the Gerson protocol in life, as we mourn, we should also remember that Jess Ainscough was also a victim of the very pseudoscience that she promoted,” Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, wrote on his blog Science-Based Medicine after Ainscough’s death. “Now that she is gone, what I want to know is this: Who are the quacks who enabled her and egged her on? Who are the quacks who conned her into believing that Gerson therapy would save her life?”
Meanwhile, the “wellness” industry — which often includes hostility toward established medical practices — has been shown in some cases to intersect with fascist and antisemitic attitudes while also enjoying cultural reach as never before. Last week Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose anti-vaccine campaigning has led him to make Holocaust comparisons and deem COVID-19 as being “ethnically targeted” to avoid Ashkenazi Jews, was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s new secretary of health and human services. PJC
p (L-R) Dr. Max Gerson in 1929; a Works Progress Administration poster warning against “cancer quacks” in 1936-38
Photo by ullstein bild Dtl./public domain
Community
Beth Shalom for the win Congregation Beth Shalom Men’s Club hosted its annual sports luncheon. With more than 200 individuals representing 10 special needs organizations, and 200 professional and student athletes, the Feb. 16 event delivered a win for local sports enthusiasts.
Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh 11th grader Sima Reinherz and 10th grader Coby Shaw were named to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Athletic Association All Western Conference teams. Reinherz helped lead Hillel Academy’s Girls Varsity Team to its first playoff berth in school history. Shaw, a member of the Boys Varsity Team, scored 29 points in a regular season game vs SWPAA champion
Chabad House on Campus hosted Tu B’Shvat seders at Robert Morris University and the University of Pittsburgh. Tu B’Shvat, which is celebrated on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, is
p University of Pittsburgh students enjoy the holiday’s sweetness.
p Professional athletes, including football players from Pittsburgh Passion, attend the Feb. 16 event.
p The Duke, Duquesne University’s mascot, and AMO, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC’s mascot, enjoy a friendly tussle.
p
CAMP STARTS WITH
JCC DAY CAMPS ARE HIRING! Ages 15+
Working at a JCC Day Camp offers the incredible opportunity to inspire young minds, build lasting friendships, and create unforgettable memories in an energetic, fun-filled environment.
Perks
→ Competitive compensation
→ Free JCC membership during time of employment
→ 5 guest passes: Bring friends & family to swim, work out and more
→ Lunch and snacks provided every day
→ Camp shirts provided to wear every day
→ Dunkin Donuts on Wednesdays
→ Shabbat bagel breakfast on Fridays
→ End-of-summer social
J&R Day Camp
Monroeville
Staff Week June 16-20
Camp June 23-August 15, Contact David May-Stein, dmay-stein@jccpgh.org
