Tree of Life prepares for groundbreaking
By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer
Nearly six years after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, ground will be broken on a new building and memorial at the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
The ceremony on Sunday, June 23, will include second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, and Gov. Josh Shapiro. Musical performances will feature members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Northgate High School Choir and the sounding of the shofar by survivor Audrey Glickman.
Diane Rosenthal, sister of shooting victims Cecil and David Rosenthal, will speak, as will Tree of Life, Inc. CEO Carole Zawatsky; Michael Bernstein, chair of Tree of Life, Inc.; Alan Hausman, president of Tree of Life Congregation; event co-chairs Meryl Ainsman and Jeffrey Letwin; and Tree of Life, Inc.’s Academic Advisory Committee member Eric Ward.
and community leaders.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer will emcee the event. Attendance is by invitation only.
After sitting basically unchanged since the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, much of the former Tree of Life building, at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues, was razed earlier this year to prepare for the construction of a new structure designed by architect Daniel Libeskind.
Zawatsky said the groundbreaking will be an “incredible moment” and the first public expression of all the work that has gone on over the last several years “to rebuild, to create something, to show the world what resilience is. We get to burst forward and show this is how we remember and educate and celebrate.”
Bernstein said the project has been in development for a long time, The last few years, he said, were spent planning for a site to channel the sadness and grief while carrying the full weight of “resiliency and the very Jewish value of repairing a shattered world.”
“To get to a place where we’re ready to be a truly public institution is very exciting,” he said.
Local Jewish community targeted with another round of antisemitism
By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer
Rebecca Wells was surprised when a couple passing her home took issue with a sign in her yard.
The black-and-white placard read “We Are All Losing” in English, Hebrew and Arabic and was printed by the group Standing Together, a self-identified “grassroots Jewish-Arab movement fighting for peace, equality and social justice in Israel-Palestine.”
Wells thought it was unusual to argue with that message, especially given the group that created the sign.
And yet, in the early evening of June 7, during Bloomfield’s First Friday event, which celebrates the neighborhood’s art scene, Wells heard through an open window someone say, “ ‘We’re all losing.’ What the f--- does that mean?”
Wells tried to engage the people in conversation, but the passerby responded with what she called “typical ‘Israel’s committing genocide’ comments.”
“They said that I have blood on my hands and then they said to kill myself,” Wells said. That, though, was only the first disturbing incident of the night.
Later that evening, Wells noticed that her Israel flag, as well as her “We Stand with Israel” and “Black Lives Matter” signs, were gone. She called her husband, who was out of town, told him what happened and said she was sure she’d find them in someone’s trash.
Sure enough, a quick walk around the block confirmed her suspicion.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, survivor and rabbi of Tree of Life Congregation, will be joined by interfaith clergy from Pittsburgh and around the country for an interfaith blessing.
Three videos will be shown as part of the ceremony: “Our Resilience,” featuring reflections from survivors, victims’ family members and first responders; “Our Supporters,” offering reflections from public officials; and “Our Path Forward,” including reflections from project
Libeskind said the groundbreaking is “crucial and momentous. It’s a moment that highlights the reality of the building and that’s important for everybody.”
The groundbreaking and subsequent laying of the foundation for the building, Libeskind said, is a “transformation.”
“It’s the victory of life over dark events and
“They were placed right in a trash can. I said, ‘I don’t think so,’ grabbed them, took them back to my house and put them in the window.”
She called the police, who took a report and requested footage from the couple’s doorbell camera. The footage showed the criminals stealing the items, as well as spouting several profanity-laced comments while giving the house the middle finger.
see Antisemitism, page 10
New Tree of Life building rendering
Photo copyright Studio Libeskind
Headlines
Holocaust Center presents Generations Speakers Series, sharing stories of survivors and
their families
By Kathleen Gianni | Staff Writer
Clare Drobot’s grandparents, Wanda and Jan Drobot, originally from Poland, survived the Holocaust, but Drobot did not uncover her family’s Jewish heritage until she was 18.
“My grandparents raised my father and his sister as Catholic, and that was the background that I understood our family to have,” Drobot said. “But when my grand mother passed away, this much deeper, more expanded understanding of my heritage came out.”
Over the years, Drobot learned more about her family’s stories by researching the Holocaust and finding archives across the United States and Poland, she said. She continues to work with her father and other family members to learn more about her family history.
“There are pieces of their story I still don’t know the details of,” Drobot said. “I still don’t know the full extent of their experiences, and those are the things that can be lost between generations.”
Drobot planned to share her family’s story at Chatham Univesity on June 18 as part of the Pittsburgh Holocaust Center’s Generations Speaker Series. The lecture was free and open to the public.
The Generations Speaker Series shares the stories of Holocaust survivors and their families with students, businesses and community organizations. The speeches educate listeners on the horrors of the Holocaust and shed light on how people in the Pittsburgh community were directly affected.
Drobot first connected with the center while working with the organization on
invited to learn more about the center’s work, she found a sense of community through the Generations program, she said.
Drobot wants to continue sharing her family’s story to prevent it from “being erased, forgotten and lost to the past,” she said.
“It means a lot to bring their names back into existence,” Drobot continued. “I think, certainly, our history informs the present. It’s about the importance of understanding our families and the way in which history has shaped our lives and how complicated that legacy can be.”
Melissa Marks, a professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, will continue the Generations series on July 18 by speaking about her mother, grandparents and extended family members’ experience during the Holocaust.
to Belgium in 1939 and welcomed their daughter — Marks’ mother — in 1941.
Marks said her grandmother and mother survived the Holocaust due to their quick wits and sheer luck. After being taken from their home and sent to a sorting camp, Marks’ grandmother was able to outsmart a guard and trick him into letting them free.
After escaping from the camp, Marks’ mother lived with a Catholic family who selflessly took her in while her grandmother remained in hiding.
Meanwhile, her grandfather was sent to four different camps, including Auschwitz. He survived the camps, and her family reunited and moved to the United States after the war.
Please see Generations, page 11
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Headlines
Repair the World Pittsburgh ceases
operations
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
After 10 years and thousands of engagements, Repair the World ended its staff-led operations in Pittsburgh on June 14.
The move followed a new strategic plan from the national organization, former Pittsburgh Director Jules Mallis said.
Before its close, Pittsburgh was one of 13 communities nationwide with a local staff-led presence. Though members of the Pittsburgh contingent were saddened by the announcement, Mallis pointed to a decade’s worth of communal betterment and encouraged residents to continue those efforts.
Pittsburghers continue that work.
“For us, it’s about how do we make sure there’s continuity in the work — that the legacy does not just abruptly end but that those relationships we’ve built, and the deep partnerships we’ve built and been part of, really allow the work to continue,” Mallis said.
S ince launching in 2013, Pittsburgh Repair partnered with more than 35,000 volunteers to contribute 73,067 acts of service and learning. Collectively, more than 73,500 hours of service and learning w ere performed, the organization’s officials said.
A three-year strategic plan, announced last month, seeks to engage more than 100,000 individuals annually as well as “scale the Jewish service movement.”
D escribed as an “aspirational blueprint,” the plan stemmed from “14 years of learning and evaluation,” national Repair’s President and CEO Cindy Greenberg and Board Chair Robb Lippitt said in a prepared statement.
“It focuses our work on activating the Jewish community in service by expanding our field activation work and refining our programming in communities,” they continued. “It also affirms our aspiration to be a movement builder, not just a program provider.”
The national organization hopes to embed a “Powered by Repair” partnership model in more than three communities.
According to the plan, the model would enable a full-time staff member in a local Jewish organization to receive “coaching, resources, and support from Repair the World on Jewish service learning best practices [and] implement a robust calendar of Jewish service learning programs.”
For more than a decade, Pittsburgh Repair engaged residents in service learning projects.
Mallis pointed to the group’s decadelong partnership with the Sheridan Avenue Orchard and Garden.
Thanks to staffers and volunteers, “we created a physical learning classroom for people in the community to come together and learn about environmental and food justice through a Jewish service learning lens,” Mallis said. This work also led to “distributing fresh produce to the East End Cooperative Ministry Food Pantry.”
Annie Dunn, former program manager at Pittsburgh Repair, said it’s important that
“We have been such an asset to our partner organizations,” she said. “We don’t want them to feel the loss of our organization. We want these organizations to still feel supported by the people that have been supporting them for years.”
Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, credited Pittsburgh Repair with forging meaningful bonds across the area.
In recent years, as a lead-up to and immediately following Oct. 27, the Healing Partnership and Pittsburgh Repair partnered to support Jewish learning, service and community through the 10.27 Days of Service program.
Thanks to these efforts, volunteers have driven AgeWell members to the community commemoration, created art for the cer emony and for Achieva, beautified outdoor spaces, packed care kits for Global Links and learned storytelling advocacy with CeaseFire PA and Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence.
Although Repair Pittsburgh formally ceased operations, Feinstein said she plans to continue the model of building new relationships and partners across the community, while facilitating Jewish reflections, during this year’s Days of Service.
Thanks to Pittsburgh Repair, numerous volunteers have enriched local life. Dunn hopes that continues.
“There’s the ripple effect of when somebody gets engaged in service and that gives them a sense of purpose, it gives them a sense of meaning,” she said. “They feel more fulfilled, and they’re more likely to start a conversation with a neighbor or pass on that kindness.
Especially in a “challenging world,” there’s a tendency to isolate, but volunteering can offer not only aid but a personal spark, Dunn said.
“It is so important that we reach out to each other in any capacity,” Mallis said. “If you want to build that community garden outside your synagogue with your young students, or something else, you can still do that. There’s people in the community w ho can help you, and maybe it’s not us this time, but someone will want to help you do that. You never know what happens when you reach out or when you show up.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Headlines
Jewish soldier who died in World War II finally laid to rest
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
Eighty years after Pittsburgher Nathan B. Baskind died battling Nazis, the Army 1st lieutenant will receive a proper Jewish burial.
The ceremony, according to Baskind’s family, is a salve on a multi-generational wound.
In June 1944, Baskind was assigned to Company C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, as a platoon commander of four M-10 tank destroyers, according to military records.
During a scouting mission, he and another member of his company were ambushed by enemy forces. Although the other soldier escaped the firefight and returned to the U.S. force heavily wounded, several attempts to retrieve Baskind’s body from the ambush point failed, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Following the war’s conclusion, the American Graves Registration Command learned more about Baskind’s death. A burial report indicated he was captured and later died at a hospital for German air force personnel near Cherbourg on June 23, 1944. The report also stated that Baskind was interred at a nearby military cemetery.
Nearly four years later, one of Baskind’s identification tags was sent to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Another decade passed before the German War Grave Commission (Volksbund) contacted the U.S. Army with further information. While disinterring a mass grave of Germans, the Volksbund discovered one of Baskind’s ID tags and “remnants of an American-type shirt with a first lieutenant rank and tank destroyer insignia.”
Despite these identifiers, the Volksbund was unable to further distinguish any remains. Discoveries were divided into seven burial pouches and “re-interred” in the Marigny German War Cemetery, 40 miles south of Cherbourg, in Normandy, France, according to military records.
Subsequent attempts to identify Baskind’s remains, by both U.S. and German teams, were unsuccessful.
Former Squirrel Hill resident Samantha Baskind, 54, grew up hearing stories about her “Uncle Nate” and the family business.
“I knew his sister [Pearl],” she said by phone from her home in Shaker Heights, Ohio. “His brother, Sam, is my grandfather, who I am named after.”
Nathan, Sam and Pearl Baskind were born to Abe and Lena Shapiro Baskind. Abe Baskind, his brother Moe and their cousin Harry Blonder opened the Peerless Wallpaper and Paint Company, at 808 Fifth Avenue, around 1928. Twelve years later, after a fire “greatly damaged their Fifth Avenue building,” the owners separated. While Abe Baskind relocated Peerless to nearby Forbes Avenue, Moe Baskind “bought the Barnes Paint Company on Centre Avenue in East Liberty,” according to the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center.
Nathan, Sam and Pearl all joined their parents’
business. Before enlisting in the military,
Criterion on Sept. 24, 1943, lists Nathan Baskind among New Castle Jewish men in the U.S Armed Forces.
“Nate was supposed to take over the business with my Grandpa Sam,” Samantha Baskind said. “He had a life ahead of him.” ***
In May 2023, Samantha Baskind received an email from Shalom Lamm, CEO of Operation Benjamin.
“He needed a family member, a next of kin sort of, to give permission to do several things,” Samantha Baskind told the Chronicle.
Though she initially doubted the email’s veracity, the former Squirrel Hill resident received several internet links to stories about the organization and its work identifying Jewish American World War I and World War II soldiers mistakenly buried under Latin crosses.
Samantha Baskind decided to speak with Lamm, who told her he might have more information about Nathan Baskind’s burial.
Since then, it has been a whirlwind,” she said.
Operation Benjamin officials believed they could finally identify Nathan Baskind’s emains and sought approval and assistance from the German ambassador to Israel, the Volksbund and the Baskind family, to exhume the mass grave at Marigny.
“We had to get permission from the French, German and American government,” Samantha Baskind said.
After getting the go-ahead, Lamm traveled to Normandy in December.
“It was a bad time of year, and the ground was really hard,” Samantha Baskind said. “Shalom was messaging me the whole time that it wasn’t looking good, that the ground was too hard, the erosion was so bad and there’s so many bones thrown into this grave.”
Lamm and other investigators discovered a bag of remains collected during a previous identification attempt. The pouch was broken, however, according to the organization. Despite the predicament, investigators had a clue: Nathan Baskind was about 5 feet 4 inches tall.
A femur measuring for an individual that height was found among the remains. A “teeny bit” was removed and sent by diplomatic pouch to Virginia for testing, Samantha Baskind said.
“We got a match.”
She and Operation Benjamin shared the information with the Army, which needed to accept the DNA analysis.
“There was a lot of paperwork,” Samantha Baskind said. “I learned more about forensic anthropology than I ever thought I would know.”
The Clevelander still needed help from the German and U.S. governments.
“I wanted Nate to be buried in the American cemetery in Normandy,” she said. “I wanted him buried under a Jewish star. And I wanted him to have a ceremony with a rabbi.”
The requests were met.
Baskind selected a coffin and chose a date — June 23, 80 years after her great-uncle died in battle.
***
Although Samantha Baskind and family member Stewart Sadowsky will travel to Normandy for the burial, another ceremony already occurred, Samantha Baskind said.
Weeks ago, the German government officially transferred Nathan Baskind’s remains to the American government.
“It was very moving,” Samantha Baskind said.
She expects the June 23 burial to be similar.
“They’ll bring the coffin out, he’ll be lowered down and finally Nate will have some peace,” she said.
The ceremony will include full military honors. A rabbi will officiate. Samantha Baskind plans to speak. A rosette will be placed next to her great-uncle’s name on the Walls of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery; the marker signifies that Nathan Baskind has “been accounted for.”
The upcoming event presents both unusual and familiar aspects.
“Given the delicate nature and historical significance of this effort, leading rabbis in Israel and the U.S. were consulted about its propriety and gave their approval within certain Jewish law parameters,” according to Operation Benjamin.
Rectifying such an “ignoble burial” is necessary, Samantha Baskind said. “Uncle Nate was thrown into a mass grave, with the enemy, with the people that were trying to annihilate the Jews, the people that were trying to annihilate the Baskind family. Uncle Nate went and fought for his country and he died for his country, and he should be buried with full military honors as a Jew for his service.”
“There’s this aspersion that Jews didn’t fight for their country,” she continued. “Uncle Nate fought for his country. He probably could have gotten out of going into the service, but he did go and serve.”
Samantha Baskind’s upcoming visit to Normandy, she said, is a personal and purposefully Jewish act.
“My great-grandparents never had closure,” she said. “And yes, these are just bones and Nate is dead, but it just seems that as a man, as a Jew, as a soldier, you should be buried appropriately. As Jews, it’s considered one of the greatest honors to bury our dead because they can’t thank us. It’s one of the biggest mitzvahs. It’s a sacred task, and it’s being fulfilled.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Photo courtesy of Samantha Baskind p Army 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind's remains are transferred.
Photo courtesy of Samantha Baskind
Headlines
BBYO’s impact continues a century after its founding
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
How do you measure the impact of a Jewish organization?
Is it longevity? Maybe it’s by how many generations of a family have been members?
It might be by social connections — have people met and married through the organization, have they had children, formed friendships lasting through the decades and across continents? Perhaps it’s the number of people working in the Jewish communal space? Or might it be the leadership skills developed and used throughout one’s career?
Celebrating its centennial year, BBYO has proven itself a success with whatever metric one chooses to measure its influence in Jewish life.
A legacy of community
Temple Sinai Rabbi Daniel Fellman grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where BBYO was formed. The midwestern city had an active Jewish youth group scene, he said, including the Reform movement’s NFTY, the Conservative movement’s USY, the Orthodox Movement’s NCSY and a BBYO chapter comprised of two Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) groups — the young men’s high school fraternity — and two B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG) groups — the young women’s high school sorority.
Fellman’s BBYO pedigree runs deep. His brother, father and uncles were all members, as was his grandfather, who was part of the second class of AZA.
“There was this long history there,” he said. “We knew that we were in the cradle of it all but for us, it was a way to hang out with our Jewish friends and to build Jewish community.”
Finding Jewish community, Fellman said, wasn’t necessarily difficult then in Omaha — about 6,000 Jews lived there — but it was more challenging than it would have been in a place like Squirrel Hill.
Fellman said that the Jewish community played an outsized role in public life, noting that there was one Reform, one Conservative, one Orthodox and one Reconstructionist synagogue and that there had been Jewish mayors. The baseball stadium, Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, was even named after a member of the community.
BBYO, he said, was able to bring together these various cross-sections.
“What BBYO could do was bring us all together so Reform, Conservative, Orthodox kids were all in the club together,” Fellman said. “We weren’t all the same level of observance; some of us would go out on a Friday night together, some of us wouldn’t.”
The youth group, he said, hosted vegetarian events, so there was no concern about kashrut, and they didn’t occur on Friday nights, Saturdays or holidays.
“But it was a way to bring the community together,” Fellman said.
Haliel Selig is regional director of BBYO’s Keystone Mountain Region, which includes
seven chapters in the Pittsburgh area, parts of West Virginia and smaller towns including Johnstown, New Castle and Altoona.
As a teen, Selig was excited about joining the youth group because her friend Meryle Abrams (now Miri Schreiber) was a member. At the time, the organization allowed teens to join before they entered high school if they lived in a small Jewish community, a definition Selig fit, growing up in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
“I was in seventh, going into eighth grade and went to a new member weekend. I was hooked,” Selig remembered. “Growing up I was the only Jewish kid in my school. Our synagogue was pretty tight. We had a bunch of kids, but they were spread out around Greensburg and Ligonier and Latrobe.”
Selig said that she and Abrams used to call BBYO their “lifeline to being Jewish.” They attended chapter meetings in Greensburg and regional events in Altoona, Johnstown and New Castle, as well as an annual regional convention in Pittsburgh.
Selig quickly formed bonds with other teens who were in the group, enjoying activities like skiing on non-BBYO weekends.
Despite the distance, the friends found ways to stay connected pre-internet and social media.
“That was back in the day when you had to pay for long-distance phone calls. My phone bill was very large. My poor mother,” she said.
The teens’ parents, Selig said, bore the costs because they saw that BBYO helped the teens strengthen their Jewish identity and grow as leaders.
Creating future leaders
Wendy Singer first heard about BBYO from her friends as well as her mother, who had served as a president of her chapter.
“I remember reading articles from the newspaper she clipped out of different events and conventions,” Singer said. “She had several friends that she’s still friends with who were part of the experience with her.”
BBYO, she said, offered her the first opportunity to be a leader. She served as president of the Squirrel Hill chapter and created meaningful experiences with other, like-minded, teens.
The BBYO pull followed, even after Singer graduated high school and went on to Indiana University.
“I met a good friend named Sharna,” she said. “Sharna was in her BBYO chapter in
South Bend. I remember in the weeks we were forming our friendship she opened up and said she was in BBYO, and we just became instant friends because we had that piece and had similar experiences.”
Jewish summer camp was another passion in Singer’s life. She served as a camp director for 18 years, working at the JCC in Chicago and an Orthodox girl’s overnight camp.
“I think of BBYO as my first start in the Jewish community,” she said.
Singer is the executive director of No Shame On U, an organization dedicated to eliminating the stigma associated with mental health conditions so people who need help will seek it.
Unlike many organizations, BBYO is teen-led, providing a “toolbox of skills” that sets up the leaders for success as they move from high school to higher education, careers and community leadership, according to BBYO officials.
Terry Babcock-Lumish is an example of the type of leader that BBYO can foster. She is the executive secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, which awards a graduate fellowship for the pursuit of a career in public service.
Babcock-Lumish grew up in Pittsburgh’s South Hills and joined BBYO in ninth grade. The youth group, she said, opened up a new community of Jewish friends.
“BBYO was the first time I became friends with and started to better understand peers and the concept of tikkun olam,” she said, “something that became particularly meaningful for what I do with my life and my job.”
The organization gave her the first taste of being trusted in a leadership role, she said. She served as the membership vice president, first for her local chapter and then the region. She also attended BBYO’s international leadership training conference and assisted with International Kallah, which engages teens from around the globe.
Like Babcock-Lumish, John Friedman attended the International Kallah program.
The Pittsburgh native got involved in BBYO through a friend at Taylor Allderdice High School and credits it with “creating my Jewish identity.”
Because BBYO is open to teens of all movements, he said, participants learned about each denomination of Judaism.
Friedman said the programs were intense, including the four-week Kallaah program at the David Perlman Camp in northeastern
Pennsylvania. He went on to work at the camp for nine summers.
“I grew into the Jew I am because of that experience,” he said.
Friedman, who worked with the JCC for 31 years as a set designer for its musicals, grew in leadership roles, transitioning from a chapter leader to serving as an assistant director to the nascent Keystone Mountain Region, which was formed when the Allegheny and Greater Pittsburgh regions merged.
BBYO, he said, allows teens — especially teens in smaller communities — to feel connected to the larger Jewish world.
“BBYO taught me that we’re all the same people,” Friedman said. “We have to support each other, especially now. I probably wouldn’t have felt that way if I wasn’t exposed to all the different forms of Judaism like I was at BBYO.”
Jewish communal life
Many former BBYO leaders are still involved in Jewish communal life.
Jenny Jones grew up in Cleveland but attended a high school that wasn’t very Jewish. Her parents were active in their congregation and wanted their children to be involved in Jewish life. BBYO was that bridge.
“I have two kids who are 10 and 13 and they know about BBYO because I talk about it all the time,” she said. “It was a huge part of my life.”
Jones was her chapter’s president during her junior year of high school.
“I remember it so clearly,” she said. “I even remember what I was wearing when I was elected. I felt so excited to be able to lead this group of teens.”
She’s taken that experience and forged a career in Jewish communal life. Jones is the development director for the Jewish Fertility Foundation. She previously worked at both the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Community Day School. She credits BBYO for helping her become a leader.
“I learned so much in terms of leadership skills and what it means to be Jewish,” Jones said. “I’m raising a Jewish family. It was the groundwork for me.”
Meredith Brown grew up in Monroeville and joined BBYO in eighth grade.
The experience, she said, was something she never took for granted and, as she got older, she sought out ways to stay involved with the Jewish community.
Brown served as BBYO’s regional president and, after graduating from Ohio University, became a director for BBYO in northern Virginia.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the opportunity to run for chapter board and regional board and going to the summer programs,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be a BBYO director when I graduated from college. I didn’t even look for other jobs.”
She said that it was because of her experiences as a teen with BBYO that she wanted to work in Jewish communal life.
p Haliel Selig made lifelong friends in BBYO (from left: Anat Galor, Ben Mayer, Haliel Selig and Lisa Tannenbaum). Photo provided by Haliel Selig
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.
FRIDAY, JUNE 21
Join Temple Sinai at 5 p.m. for a Tot Shabbat with snacks and activities that include sensory, big-body and creative play, followed at 5:30 by a short, interactive musical service, plus dinner and more time to play. Contact Danie Oberman, community engagement director, with questions at danie@ TempleSinaiPGH.org.
FRIDAYS, JUNE 21; JULY 19; AUG. 23
Join Tree of Life Congregation as they celebrate the welcoming of Shabbat three Fridays this summer. Meet before Shabbat begins to greet one another in the beautiful Rodef Shalom Botanical Gardens for Shabbat on the Rocks. Free. 6 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave.
SUNDAY, JUNE 23
Join Chabad of the South Hills for an inaugural South Hills Jewish Men’s Club event. Enjoy a BBQ social, schmooze and booze at Chabad’s new location on Bower Hill Road. 8 p.m. $25. 1700 Bower Hill Road. chabadsh.com/mensclub.
SUNDAYS, JUNE 23–DEC. 29
Join a lay-led online parshah study group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
MONDAYS, JUNE 24–DEC. 30
Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26
Tree of Life Congregation will look back to yesterday while planting the seeds for tomorrow at their 160th Birthday Celebration. Join them in Rodef Shalom’s Aaron Court for an evening of passed hors d’oeuvres, dessert and conversation as they reflect on Tree of Life Congregation’s beginnings and look toward the future. Deadline to RSVP is June 19. $25. 6 p.m. treeoflifepgh.org/event/160thanniversary.
WEDNESDAYS, JUNE 26; JULY 10, 24; AUG. 7, 28; SEPT. 4, 18
Chabad of Monroeville invites you to spend an hour playing mahjong and other games. Play, shmooze, learn a word of the Torah, say a prayer for Israel and, of course, nosh on some yummy treats. Free. 7 p.m. RSVP is required: SusanEBurgess@gmail. com, or text or call 412-295-1838. 2715 Mosside Blvd. jewishmonroeville.com/mahjong.
WEDNESDAYS, JUNE 26–DEC. 18
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.
SUNDAY, JUNE 30
Losing a loved one is hard. Join Rodef Shalom Congregation to hear from experts who will help find ways to understand and manage grief while continuing to live a full life. Free and open to the public. Advance registration is required. 9:30 a.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/livingwithloss.
A memorial celebrating Cyril Wecht will be held on Zoom and at Temple Sinai, 5500 Forbes Ave., from 1-4 p.m. Relatives, friends and colleagues will share their recollections, with a short film and a musical interlude, followed by light refreshments. Open to all. Contact Ben Wecht at benwecht@aol.com or via Facebook Messenger for the Zoom link.
TUESDAYS, JULY 2, 16, 30; AUG. 13
Join Tree of Life congregants at the Schenley Park Oval as they meet together to enjoy the outdoors, pet dogs and converse with one another. Free. Every other Tuesday, June through August. 6:30 p.m. treeoflifepgh.org.
WEDNESDAYS, JULY 3-SEPT. 4
Join Rodef Shalom Congregation for Biblical Garden Open Door Tours: docent-led tours of the congregation’s Biblical Botanical Garden the first Wednesday of the month. Free. Noon. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/garden.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10
Animal lovers of all ages are welcome to join Rodef Shalom Congregation for Meet the Animals: A Petting Zoo Experience in their Biblical Botanical Garden. Free. 10 a.m. rodefshalom.org.
WEDNESDAYS, JULY 17: AUG. 21; SEPT. 18; OCT. 16; NOV. 20; DEC. 18
Join AgeWell for the Intergenerational Family Dynamics Discussion Group at JCC South Hills the third Wednesday of each month. Led by intergenerational specialist/presenter and educator Audree Schall. The group is geared toward anyone who has children, grandchildren, a spouse, siblings or parents. Whether you have family harmony or strife, these discussions are going to be thought-provoking, with tools to help build strong relationships and family unity. Free. 12:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, JULY 18
Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for its Generations Speaker presentation with Melissa Marks, who will share stories about her mother, grandmother and grandfather. Free. 6 p.m. Chatham University’s Mellon Board Room, Chapel Hill Road, 15232. hcofpgh.org/event/generations-speakerpresentation-by-dr-melissa-marks/.
TUESDAY, JULY 23
Young children and their grownups are invited to join Rodef Shalom Librarian Sam Siskind for a story in their Biblical Botanical Garden followed by a crafty activity. 1 p.m. rodefshalom.org.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24
Rendezvous in Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden for a live performance with Craig Davis Jazz. Join them for drinks and hors d’ouvres as they bring the swinging sounds of the Jazz Age back to life. Free. 6:30 p.m. rodefshalom.org. PJC
Author Reuven Fenton to join Chronicle Book Club for discussion of ‘Goyhood’
Jewish man who discovers in middle age that he’s not, in fact, Jewish, and embarks on a remarkable road trip to come to grips with his fate; it’s Chaim Potok’s ‘The Chosen’ meets ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles.’”
Your hosts
Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle
David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer
How it works
We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, July 14, at 1 p.m.
“Goyhood.” It is available at area Barnes & Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon. There is also limited availability through the Carnegie
: Contact us at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting.
— Toby Tabachnick
PJC
Reuven Fenton Photo by Robert Miller
Headlines
Ashkenazic Jewish genealogy program offered at LaRoche next month
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Sta Writer
Asummer institute is enabling participants to preserve their past while meeting like-minded folks. Between July 14-19 at LaRoche University, the GRIP Genealogy Institute is providing a comprehensive introduction to Ashkenazic Jewish genealogy.
Led by Emily Garber, the weeklong course will advance students’ research skills by focusing on methodology, genealogical records and geographic regions, organizers said.
“What we’re doing essentially is establishing, in this course, a context,” Garber said.
As opposed to covering the basics of how to explore cemetery or census vital records, registrants will analyze the singular treatment of Ashkenazi Jews in historical documents, she continued. “What is it that you need to understand — that might be a little different than what you might ordinarily think — when you look at this stuff?”
In terms of methodology, Jewish genealogy is no different than general genealogy, Garber said.
“What is important, and why we need
If you don’t understand the context of past Jewish life it’s really hard to understand what you’re looking at.”
Days span from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with sessions dedicated to topics including changing boundaries in Europe, identifying
communities or origin of the Old Country, research in the Russian Empire, and
The course is designed to increase
“With a weeklong course, you can explore various topics,” Kristi L. Sexton, GRIP co-manager said. “You can have discussions, you can have the students go do research and come back and talk about their findings.”
Emily H. Garber, Lara Diamond and Janette Silverman
Photos courtesy of GRIP
Headlines
Holocaust survivor, dedicated tailor Harry Drucker dies at 100
By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
The life of Harry Drucker — which started in a tiny Polish village in 1923 and ended more than 100 years later in the center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh — unfolded in two distinct chapters: the life before the Shoah and the life after.
A few years ago, Drucker spoke with students in a class his granddaughter, Sara Berliner, taught at Community Day School.
“When it was his time to tell his story, he broke down crying,” said Berliner, a CDS alumna, who said what she knew of Drucker’s life story inspired her to teach social studies. “I heard a lot about before the war. And I heard a lot about after the war but not so much about the war.”
Drucker, a Holocaust survivor and lifelong tailor who operated a Murray Avenue business for nearly 25 years, died May 27. His family said he proudly identified as being “100-and-a-half” years old.
Drucker was 16 when the Third Reich forced his family to flee their home in Iwonicz, Poland, a village today about 60 miles west of the Ukrainian border. Months later, Nazis crowded people onto trucks, whipping them. It was the last time Drucker saw his mother, father and three sisters.
peers celebrating Grandparents and Special Friends Day at the school without family.
“Sometimes, for my kids’ friends, my parents would act as a surrogate grandparent, spending the day with them,” Reznick said.
Drucker came to Pittsburgh after the war because a paternal uncle lived here. During Reznick’s childhood, she recalled regular picnics with extended family at White Swan Park, a small amusement park that operated from 1955 to 1989 near the border of Moon and Findlay townships.
The family attended Congregation Poale Zedeck for several years and later became members at Congregation Beth Shalom.
After Harry and Esther Drucker downsized and moved into the Beacon Place apartment building, he started to speak a little bit about the war. He recorded one video testimony about 20 years ago. Another, which a National World War II Museum staffer came from New Orleans to shoot, was recorded 10 days before Drucker died.
Esther Drucker died about four years ago, during the pandemic. She was 92.
Separated later from his brother, who also perished in the Holocaust, Drucker began sewing uniforms for high-ranking Nazi officers and later escaped into the Carpathian Mountains. Upon being ambushed there by Germans, the group survived for 10 days off melting snow and berries.
He returned to Poland, then fled again — this time to the American sector of Germany. His hitchhiking fee was a bottle of whiskey. He remained in Germany for four years, living off the black market until he got papers to immigrate to Pittsburgh, where he had extended family.
“I always wondered ‘How do you not go insane thinking about what was happening to your family?’” said Jeff Drucker, Harry’s son, who lives in the suburbs outside New York City. “He once said, ‘You never forget what happened. And you never forget your family. But you don’t dwell on it.’”
A Chronicle reporter writing last year about Drucker’s 100th birthday asked him if it was difficult to tell and re-tell stories from the war.
“During the day, when you’re busy, you’re OK,” he said, beginning to choke up. “But at night, when you can’t sleep, it’s always there.”
After moving to Pittsburgh following World War II, Drucker started doing tailoring work at the Kaufmann’s store downtown.
He met the woman who became his wife, Esther, in May of 1955. They married in October of the same year. His first child, Jean Reznick, was born two years later.
What Drucker’s children remember most vividly is his passion for his customers and his work at the tailoring shop, H. Drucker, which opened in 1963 on Murray Avenue, across the street from Pinsker’s Judaica.
grandparents. They were here all the time,” said Berliner, whose daughter, Lily, started attending CDS in 2023. “The biggest message from my grandfather, which he’d always say, was, ‘You don’t judge a person by the society they come from.’”
“We lived in the darkest days in human history, and I made it. You survive. You work and build, get married and be with family. I was lucky to do everything, and life goes on.”
– HARRY DRUCKER
Drucker worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week at his shop. His specialty was custom suits; his customers included everyone from doctors, lawyers and judges to several Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.
Drucker often took work calls at home; Reznick remembered answering the phone and talking with customers. Fred Rogers stood out; she loved that he sounded just like he did on TV.
“My dad took work home with him,” added Reznick, a retired accountant. “He was definitely a workaholic, but it wasn’t so much a work ethic as a necessity to get stuff done. He was very popular with his customers, but he was very modest about what he did.”
Drucker closed the shop in 1987 after suffering a heart attack. Berliner, his granddaughter, was born the same year.
“I was very lucky — I grew up with my
“He would say, ‘You need to meet each person. Each person is a person.’”
Drucker’s family became deeply involved with CDS. His daughter, Reznick, served on several of the school’s boards and committees. Lily Berliner, Drucker’s great-granddaughter, is a second-generation CDS student.
“Harry was one of our community’s precious and dwindling community of Holocaust survivors,” said Avi Baran Munro, the retiring head of school at CDS. “Harry first tried to open up about his experiences many years ago with CDS students but found it too difficult to do. After that experience, he began to share. It was always difficult but his efforts were so meaningful and left an enduring impact on all those that heard him over the years.”
Reznick remembers that her father didn’t like seeing any of his grandchildren’s
“My mom was always talking, and I’m sure he missed that,” Jeff Drucker said. “He really missed her. As time went on, it got better, but it’s been really tough.”
In recent years, Drucker bonded with his great-granddaughter, now 4, family members said.
Jeff Drucker loved his father’s pre-war stories, which he said, “were so different from what most people hear from their parents and grandparents.” One story he recalled was how Drucker, whose father was a butcher, would carry a slaughtered calf on his back and walk into a nearby town to sell it.
In a sense, he later was “still that same kid from a small village,” Jeff Drucker said. “Even before he opened that tailor shop, though, everyone just loved him — everyone just loved being around him, talking with him.”
Ralph Schugar Chapel held services on May 29 for Drucker. He was buried at Beth Shalom Cemetery.
Jeff Drucker recalled some of his father’s philosophies — including “don’t judge a person by their society” — but hasn’t formed concrete opinions yet on what, precisely, defined his father.
“I haven’t dwelled on it much myself,” he said. “The last four weeks, it’s been tough to think about it.”
Harry Drucker reflected on just that when talking to the Chronicle last summer.
“We lived in the darkest days in human history, and I made it,” he said. “You survive. You work and build, get married and be with family. I was lucky to do everything, and life goes on.”
“I am 100 almost,” he added. “I never believed I’d make it the next hour. But I’m here.” PJC
Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
p Harry Drucker and his great-grandchildren
Photo courtesy of the Drucker family
Headlines
Study: 42% of Jews have felt unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public since Oct. 7
Since Oct. 7, more than 40% of American Jews have felt unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public and more than a quarter have chosen not to mention their Jewish identity when they meet someone new, according to a new survey, JTA.org reported.
The survey, commissioned by the American Jewish Committee and published on June 10, reports many of the same findings as previous surveys of American Jews since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war eight months ago: More than 80% of Jews feel antisemitism is a problem in the United States and say it has grown. More than 80% also feel it’s important for the United States to support Israel. More than 60% plan to vote for President Joe Biden.
The survey also demonstrates American Jewish discomfort in social settings since Oct. 7. Many American Jews avoid talking or posting about the war. Some say they have ended friendships.
And in a finding that AJC highlighted, 7% say that they have considered leaving the country due to antisemitism. Among those who say they had more education about Israel, AJC reported, that number is higher. In a separate question, 6% of respondents said they had had thoughts of leaving because of antisemitism over the five years before Oct. 7.
IDF uses 15th-century weapon against Hezbollah
IDF reserve soldiers were recorded using
a trebuchet, a type of catapult once used as a medieval siege weapon, to ignite bushes and dry vegetation near IDF posts on the northern border, JNS.org reported.
This tactic, which went viral on June 13 after the soldiers apparently shared it on social media, is aimed at preventing Hezbollah fighters from using the dense foliage as cover in the area.
The thickets close to the border fence make it difficult for soldiers to locate Hezbollah cells hiding in the region. At the start of the conflict, reserve soldiers attempted to use Molotov cocktails to set the bushes on fire, thereby exposing the area so that the cells would have no place to hide. Lebanese sources have also reported the use of phosphorus bombs, which cause fires, and incendiary drones.
To address the issue without relying on valuable artillery, the reserve soldiers assembled a trebuchet, a device that hurls stones and burning objects over several hundred meters. This ancient weapon was used in Europe until the 15th century.
U of Minnesota backtracks on Holocaust center hire who accused Israel of genocide
The University of Minnesota has “paused” the search for a new director of its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies after initially tapping an Israeli who accused Israel of genocide less than a week after Oct. 7, JTA.org reported.
Jewish groups had opposed the planned hiring of Raz Segal after learning of it, and two members of the center’s advisory board — one of whom is Jewish — resigned over the appointment.
Today in Israeli History
June 24, 2007 — Israel holds 1st pro baseball game
Segal, who is the director of a master’s program in Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, wrote a controversial piece in the progressive magazine Jewish Currents on Oct. 13 in which, citing his background “as a scholar of genocide,” he said Israel’s military campaign in Gaza was “a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes.”
The university initially defended Segal’s hire for its Twin Cities campus, saying in a statement that he “was enthusiastically recommended by the search committee for this important position.”
But amid mounting pressure — including the board resignations as well as opposition from the local Jewish Community Relations Council — the school reversed course on June 10.
Ohio court bars Hebrew Union College from selling rare books amid financial woes
Ohio’s attorney general obtained a court order prohibiting the financially strapped Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion from selling off books from its Cincinnati library, which holds a significant collection of rare and precious items from throughout Jewish history, JTA.org reported.
Attorney General Dave Yost’s request for a temporary restraining order came in response to recent reporting in Cincy Jewfolk, a local outlet that published an in-depth article in April on the struggles of the educational institution, a seminary and university affiliated with Judaism’s Reform movement.
Cincy Jewfolk uncovered plans to sell rare
books and reported that an administrator overseeing the library may have resigned after being pressured to carry out the plans. The outlet also revealed that representatives of the auction house Sotheby’s had been hired to examine the library’s holdings.
The sale of library items would potentially undermine the intent of donors to the library in violation of Ohio law, Yost said in a press release.
LA Jewish day school censors two student newspaper articles on Israel-Hamas war
Student journalists from Los Angeles’ Shalhevet High School spent June 7 bouncing among restaurants and neighborhood stores, but they weren’t out reporting, JTA.org reported.
Instead, they were removing stacks of their school newspaper and leaving a new, shorter edition behind after the co-ed, Modern Orthodox day school’s rabbi demanded that they retract an article about anti-Israel sentiment.
A decision to report on a pro-Palestinian protest that included local teens fell squarely within the paper’s mandate, its student leaders and faculty adviser concluded. Yet after they quoted speakers accusing Israel of colonialism and genocide, Shalhevet’s principal Rabbi David Block ordered that the entire paper be taken out of circulation in what adviser Joelle Keene said was a striking change of pace.
The newspaper published a story about the latest incident, quoting Block as saying that he believed the coverage could reflect negatively on Shalhevet. PJC
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
June 21, 1990 — Diplomat Eliahu Eilat dies
Eliahu Eilat, who played a key part in winning President Harry Truman’s U.S. recognition of Israel in May 1948 and served as Israel’s first ambassador to the United States, dies in Jerusalem at 86.
June 22, 1939 — Nobel laureate Ada Yonath is born
Biochemist Ada Yonath is born in Jerusalem. She shares the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering the threedimensional structure of two subunits of ribosomes, which make proteins in cells.
June 23, 2011 — Israel promotes 1st female major general
Orna Barbivai is promoted to major general, the first woman to hold the second-highest rank in the IDF.
The 30-year military veteran and mother of three heads the Personnel Directorate.
The Israel Baseball League launches with a 9-1 win by the Modi’in Miracle over the Petach Tikvah Pioneers in front of more than 3,000 fans. The six-team professional league folds after one season.
June 25, 2006 — Hamas abducts Gilad Shalit
Hamas militants entering Israel through a tunnel from Gaza disable a tank on patrol, kill two soldiers and capture a third, Gilad Shalit. Shalit isn’t released until Oct. 18, 2011, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar.
by Hamas on Oct. 18, 2011.
By Moshe Milner,
June 26, 1944 — GOP platform supports Jewish state
The Republican National Convention follows the lead of its presidential nominee, Thomas Dewey, and for the first time in its platform supports the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The Democrats take a similar step in July.
June 27, 1967 — Israel annexes East Jerusalem
After capturing East Jerusalem from Jordan during the war in early June, Israel annexes that area and some surrounding West Bank land — a total of 27 square miles — into an expanded, unified Jerusalem municipality. PJC
— WORLD —
p Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai, who oversees personnel, attends a meeting of the IDF General Staff in 2012.
p Noam Shalit welcomes home his missing son, Gilad, after his release
Headlines
Tree of Life:
Continued from page 1
tragedies,” he said. “I think creating a building and creating a space really is that sort of affirmation of things that we all believe.”
Dan Rothschild, founder and CEO of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, the local architecture firm working with Libeskind, recalled visiting the site after the building was demolished and removed.
“I was there the morning they brought in fresh dirt to fill some of the holes,” he said. “I remember standing there thinking, ‘This is the first sight of renewal in that new material is being brought onto the site.’”
Rothschild took a photo, calling the moment a “significant step.”
“New energy was being brought to the site,” he said. “For me, that was a milestone because up to that point, there’s only been in the last five years the tragic events and the deterioration of the unoccupied building, and then the demolition, which is a lot of negative energy.”
The road to a groundbreaking, Rothschild explained, is akin to creating a meal that starts with a recipe.
“You start to add the ingredients and they start to simmer and then, all of a sudden, they begin to meld together and before you know it, something new is created from these different factors,” he said.
Antisemitism:
Continued from page 1
This isn’t the first time that Wells and her husband have been targeted since Oct. 7.
Literature, flyers, notes and pictures of mangled bodies were placed on the couple’s car windshield twice before the most recent incident.
“It was obviously a neighbor,” Wells said, “because they know our car. They know we live in this house.”
And while another antisemitic attack on another member of the Jewish community might not be surprising, the targeting of Wells illustrates an expansion of the brazen assaults the Jewish community is being forced to endure. Wells lives miles from the center of Jewish life in Squirrel Hill and nothing in her outward appearance points to her being Jewish. The 41-year-old tattooed Bloomfield resident’s house is bedecked in Halloween décor and, from a quick observation, she appears to be an alternative-leaning artist.
“I think what we’re seeing at a micro-level in this city is, Israel is synonymous with Zionism, which is synonymous with Jew hatred, and there is legitimately no conversation to be had, which is exactly where we don’t want to be,” she said.
That hatred has begun to affect Wells, who said she now double-checks the environment each time she walks into a bar or restaurant, paying attention to what people are wearing and saying.
“I don’t go out as much as I used to around here,” she said. “I can pass. If I walk around, you would not think a thing. I wear a tiny Magen David, but I know that I am unwelcome.”
Shawn Brokos, the director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, called the incident “very concerning and indicative of a pattern of behavior. It’s becoming more challenging and making the community more anxious.”
Brokos said people must take a stand against
The new Tree of Life building will include a 10/27 memorial, the Tree of Life Center for Jewish Life and Culture, the 10/27 Museum and Education Center, the Tree of Life Institute for Countering Hate and Antisemitism, and a home for the Tree of Life Congregation.
Casey said that the Tree of Life site will be much more than a place of remembrance. Recalling the organization’s call to action — Remember. Rebuild. Renew. — the senator said “purposeful rebuilding” is taking place.
“Not just in a physical sense, but trying to help put people’s lives back together and move forward,” he said. “The third word they use is ‘renew,’ and that’s about the future of teaching young people, especially one generation after another, about hate and antisemitism and what it means to prevent it from happening again.”
Last month, Casey announced $1 million
this type of antisemitic behavior.
“There should never be a time when a homeowner has to endure — not just trespass, not just theft — but derogatory and threatening comments lodged at them just because they are Jewish or support Israel,” she said. “This really raises the bar in my opinion.”
Both Wells and Brokos voiced frustration that the young adults who committed the attack seem to believe they are touting peace while breaking the law.
Brokos said that those committing these antisemitic attacks in an ever-widening geographic area are emboldened because of the recent encampments on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus and at Schenley Plaza.
“There’s this notion that it’s OK to be overtly antisemitic because they’re standing up for Gaza or Palestinians,” she said. “The narrative has gone so far afield, and it’s really this younger generation that has no appreciation for the history of Israel, the history of Jews and the layout of the Middle East.”
Brokos noted that the Jewish community is losing ground because of the inaction of some public officials.
“We’ve seen a lack of leadership from community leaders who do not speak out against this type of behavior and that has emboldened certain individuals in our Pittsburgh community to do these horrific acts directed at the
in federal funding for Tree of Life to develop educational programming at the K-12 level.
Tree of Life’s first programming has already been created.
A traveling exhibit, sponsored by Casey and Fetterman, was recently displayed at the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. It featured mementos that were left at the synagogue by mourners after the attack, as well as a siddur that was shot by the gunman.
Immediately following the groundbreaking, Zawatsky will travel to the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, where she will speak, and a new website is also being readied for the organization.
The CEO said she believes the way to puncture the darkness of hate is through the light of education.
“I think about the Talmudic notion that it’s not ours to finish the task, but neither can we desist from it,” she said, noting that there is a team of people dedicated to the organization’s mission.
“We’re a team,” she said. “The lay leaders work in partnership, the consultants are partners. The staff we’ve built over time with Jackie [Reese, chief of staff] and Robin [Cohen, chief financial and operations officer], we all work together. It’s very clear that what we’re doing is meaning-making work. What we’re doing is holy work.”
ewish community,” Brokos said. “I really believe until someone stands up and says, ‘This is not OK. This is not how we treat fellow Pittsburgh citizens,’ that it is going to continue.”
Bloomfield wasn’t the only neighborhood targeted by antisemitism last week.
As the Jewish community celebrated Shavuot, antisemites took to the corner of Bigelow Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Oakland, near the site of last month’s encampment at the Cathedral of Learning. They chalked messages in support of the internationally recognized terrorist group Hamas.
The chalk messages thanked Hamas, which broke a cease-fire on Oct. 7 when 3,000 terrorists entered Israel from Gaza to murder Jewish men, women and children, commit rape and kidnap more than 240 people; more than 120 hostages remain missing.
“I love Hamas,” “Long live Intifada!,” “Hamas are freedom fighters,” “Don’t believe the white lies” and “Zionist lies only work if you have a severely low IQ,” were just some of the messages written on the sidewalk.
University of Pittsburgh student Joshua Summers passed the agitators at approximately 7:30 p.m. on June 11 on his way to the gym as they were writing their messages.
“I said, ‘I know people that died, this isn’t helping anything’, and they started yelling,” Summers said.
That work extends even to the logistics of the groundbreaking.
Typically at a groundbreaking, people stick a shovel into the ground and turn over dirt. That didn’t feel great to the planning team given the fact that 11 members of the Jewish community —Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger — were murdered.
“It is not the right way to create a new house,” Zawatsky said.
So, taking a page from Jewish tradition, those participating in the physical groundbreaking will smash small glass houses, recalling that even amid joy we remember the sadness of the past.
The glass will be gathered and placed in mezuzot that will be fixed in the doorways of the building.
For Bernstein, the groundbreaking is the first step in the important work the organization will do moving forward.
“To have the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack be the site of the center that’s going to really deeply investigate, interrogate and educate about American antisemitism couldn’t feel more present and relevant than it does today,” he said. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
He said the group was small — about five
Summers was taken aback by the messages thanking Hamas.
“Even if you’re a Palestinian in Gaza, they’re an authoritarian, theocratic regime and are responsible for this war,” he said. “I feel like saying ‘thank you’ is implying thank you for Oct. 7. They’re saying thanks for that. They’re thanking them for the violence.”
And while the messages were disturbing, Summers said the university handled the situation correctly; by the next day, the messages had been removed.
Jared Stonesifer, the university’s senior director of external communications, said the writing was done by a group not connected to Pitt.
“The chalk was removed in accordance with the university’s grounds cleaning schedules and protocols,” he said.
Anyone witnessing antisemitic activity should contact police and report it to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh at jewishpgh.org/form/incident-report.
Requests to interview Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey were not returned by his communications director, Maria Montaño. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Chalk drawings on the sidewalk near the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning on June 11
Photos by Joshua Summers
p New dirt is brought to the Tree of Life site following the razing of the building in preparation for construction of a new building. Photo by Dan Rothschild
Headlines
Generations:
Continued from page 2
Marks said sharing the story of her family and other Holocaust survivors can show how “ordinary individuals can do extraordinary things during difficult times.”
“One of the main reasons we study history in general is so we can learn from what other people did well,” Marks said. “I look at the people who saved my mother and my grandmother. They did an extraordinary thing. They stood up at the risk of not only their own
BBYO:
Continued from page 5
“They shaped me into the person I am today, and I really wanted to give back to the Jewish community, whether it was working with kids or as part of the community,” she said.
Personal bonds
Andrew Exler and his wife, Kari, recently announced the birth of their daughter, Nora Faye. The pair were married in 2022.
They met at a conference while working as BBYO staff members in 2017. The fact that Kari was from Cleveland and Andrew lived in Pittsburgh meant that they were practically neighbors in BBYO geography.
“We had a ton of mutual friends,” Andrew said.
It was one of those mutual friends who introduced them.
Kari remembers Andrew being at many of the same sessions she attended.
“I kept thinking, ‘Oh, he’s in the same breakout session. He’s interested in how to work with teenage girls or deal with teenage bullying.’ Andrew’s version of that story is that he went to any session or room I was in,” she said.
For Andrew, the pairing was a fait accompli
“After meeting her, I texted a friend of mine from Cleveland, who I knew Kari knew because I looked her up on Facebook and asked about her. After I spoke with Kari,
Ashkenazi:
Continued from page 7
That isn’t to say webinars aren’t valuable, she continued.
Between June 23-28, GRIP is offering 11 virtual courses.
The in-person week is a “good opportunity to get beyond what a webinar can provide,” Sexton said. “It also gives you a network of people.”
“As someone who has attended several different institutes as a student, a lot of times genealogists get to a point in their knowledge and their expertise that going to conferences or listening to a one-hour webinar is just not enough, and you want this in-depth experience with other like-minded genealogists who are just as serious and fun-loving as you are,” Garber said.
Oftentimes, after meeting at the institute, students collaborate on mutual inquiries, Sexton said.
Regardless of whether someone has been
lives, but saving my mother — who was a complete stranger — put their own daughter at risk.”
She cautioned, however, that the lessons of the Holocaust cannot be taught through a single story.
“I think that there is danger in a single story,” Marks said. “Every story is different and understanding why people did what they did and how we can emulate the good and repel the bad in our own lives and our own actions is so important.”
Emily Loeb, the Holocaust Center’s director of programming and education, began her
I texted my roommate and said I met my future wife,” he said. “Everything fell into place from there.”
International
connections
Israel transplant Miri Schreiber’s father was a member of BBYO, as was her brother.
She said she was so excited to be a part of the organization that they allowed her to join while in seventh grade, a year before most teens were allowed to be members at the time.
BBYO, she said, helped build her Jewish identity, teaching the core values of being a Jew.
“It made me who I am as a Jew,” she said, adding that the organization instilled in her the goal to work for the Jewish community. She now works with Yad Ezra V’Shulamit in Israel.
The reach of BBYO can be seen in Schreiber’s story. Twenty years after her time with the organization and making aliyah, she now lives 15 minutes from a friend she met through the organization.
“It’s like there is no time gap from our time at BBYO,” she said.
A woman for all seasons
If anyone represents the complete synthesis of BBYO it is Estee Portnoy.
The BBYO alum is a senior executive at Jump Management, which is the family and business office of NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Portnoy grew up in New Castle, which
work with the center as a Generations speaker in 2018.
“Our speakers bureau continues to grow, and over the years it’s grown as people have become aware of this teaching opportunity that the Holocaust Center provides,” Loeb said. “This year, our Generations speakers presented to over 7,500 people.”
The Holocaust Center looks to expand further by adding speakers who can share different aspects of the Holocaust, Loeb said.
“I think it’s really important to connect
had a small Jewish community. Some of the friends she made at Hebrew school became less involved with Judaism shortly after celebrating bar or bat mitzvahs, she said.
“So, BBYO was really important,” she said. “I don’t think I would be as proud of my Jewish identity if I didn’t have BBYO and that base to support me.”
That base is captured in pictures Portnoy keeps in a scrapbook in her office. It portrays moments with friends, including her husband, who she met while the two were members of BBYO.
That’s not her only BBYO relationship that has endured over the years. Portnoy is hosting a reunion with several friends at her home in Colorado this summer.
“We’re still super-tight friends, and having a little reunion trip is amazing,” she said.
history to real people,” Loeb said. “I’ve had so many situations where I’ll be talking in a class or to a group of students, and someone will say, ‘I’ve studied the Holocaust before, but I’ve never met someone whose family was actually affected by it.’ I think it personalizes history in a really profound way and allows people to translate what they’re learning in a book or seeing on a screen to a real person.” PJC
Kathleen Gianni can be reached at kgianni@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Portnoy developed leadership skills through BBYO that have continued to serve her.
She was first the transportation chairperson, then the editor of her chapter’s newsletter, before being elected vice president and eventually president of the Allegheny region. She was also involved in the organization’s summer programs and traveled to Israel with BBYO.
As an adult, Portnoy has served on BBYO’s international board of directors and chaired its endowment fund. She calls it “her favorite Jewish organization.”
Portnoy’s three children all joined BBYO, as is common among the organization’s members.
“Their BBYO friends are still their best friends,” she said.
She credits BBYO with setting her up “to give back to the Jewish community.”
Like so many others who have been a member of BBYO over the last 100 years, Portnoy says the organization was a major influence in her life.
“I wasn’t as proud of being Jewish. I probably tried to assimilate a little more and to not be that kid that stuck out in New Castle before I joined BBYO. It gave me confidence and friends who cared about me,” she said. “I don’t know if I would be as involved in the Jewish community without it.” PJC
bitten by the genealogy bug, preserving the past is vital, Garber said.
“Certainly from a Jewish perspective, there’s a lot to be said about doing genealogy,” she continued. “For us, it’s not a matter of trying to attach ourselves to some royalty in England or anything like that. It is a matter of remembering people who otherwise have no one to remember them.”
“When you talk about family histo ries, and you talk about the stories of the people that came before you — and what they survived and what they lived through — and you share the funny stories and the good, bad and ugly, your children will grow up with a better sense of belonging, comfort
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
and strength,” she said.
Researchers note that studying family history correlates to one’s psychological well-being.
Citing a related 2008 study, The Journal of Genealogy and Family History reported that students who enrolled in a university-level family history course experienced improvements in self-esteem of 8% and reductions in anxiety of 20%.
Tracing one’s roots can be daunting, Garber acknowledged, but she encourages people to “Jump in and really envelop your life with it.”
If the prospect of well-being isn’t enough, organizers hope a discount will further entice registrants. Chronicle readers are eligible for a $50 discount on Garber’s class, Sexton said.
Interested parties must register and contact Sexton at ksexton@ngsgenealogy.org by July 5. PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
p Graves in the old Jewish cemetery in Breslau
Photo by David Lisbona via Flickr at https://rb.gy/ks3z1d
p Estee Portnoy with BBG founder Anita Perlman Photo provided by Estee Portnoy
Anti-Israel hostility is making deeply needed Pride events less safe for Jews like us
Guest Columnist
Nate Looney and Ethan Felson
Neither of us will forget the first time we marched in a Pride parade. We stood proudly on the shoulders of LGBTQ+ Jewish giants such as the groundbreaking politician Harvey Milk and marriage equality pathbreaker Edie Windsor, who both helped build the LGBTQ rights movement. We showed up as our full authentic selves.
But today, we’re not certain a young LGBTQ+ Jew would be able to do the same given the hostility and violence that has been directed toward Jews since the war in Gaza. Would one of us — or a future Harvey Milk or Edie Windsor — be heckled and targeted for marching with a Jewish pride flag? Would a young Jew seeking to connect to their LGBTQ+ identity for the first time have their Pride taken away?
In the wake of the terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the war that followed, many of the marches this year will be infused with anti-Israel slogans. The DC Dyke March has taken up the banner “Dykes Against Genocide” as its overarching theme. Floats and banners planned for other parades read, “No pride in genocide.”
Polling data show that the vast majority of U.S. Jews think Israel is an important part of their identity and support its existence as a Jewish state. Most of us roundly reject the use of an inflammatory rhetorical slur — that Israel is committing genocide — that has been disproven time and again.
The Jewish community is already being
overwhelmed by a tide of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Between the terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the end of 2023, ADL counted more than 5,000 antisemitic incidents. That is more than occurred throughout the entire previous year.
More than half of these (2,718) included references to Israel, Zionism or Palestine. In other words, Jews here were targeted and harmed for actions taken by leaders in another country. That’s not OK. It’s no wonder that LGBTQ+ Jews feel anxious coming to Pride this year.
reinforcing a sense of solidarity with other members of the LGBTQ+ community. With anti-LGBTQ+ legislative initiatives at an all-time high, including 552 pieces of anti-transgender legislation introduced in 2024, this is not a year for anyone to skip Pride. We need inclusive queer communal spaces now more than ever.
Parade organizers need to understand that slogans such as “from the river to the sea,” which some may use as a rallying cry, are heard as threatening and harassing to many in the Jewish community because
Pride parades are public celebrations of queer identity that are intended to express feelings of joy and liberation, all while reinforcing a sense of solidarity with other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Jews have historically been and remain an integral part of the queer community. In the Pew survey of Jewish Americans in 2020, about 9% of U.S. Jewish adults reveal they identify as LGBTQ+, a larger percentage than the roughly 6% of all American adults who identified as LGBTQ+ in a 2020 Gallup poll.
In a sobering reminder of the continuing vulnerability of those identified with the LGBTQ+ community, the State Department, FBI and Department of Homeland Security have all issued warnings of a heightened threat of terrorist attacks and other violence at this month’s Pride events. But this year, LGBTQ+ Jews like us are bracing for disruption, harassment and even the potential for violence, not just from outside actors, but also from some of the parade organizers and our fellow marchers.
Pride parades are public celebrations of queer identity that are intended to express feelings of joy and liberation, all while
they imply an ethnic cleansing of Jews living in Israel.
It is also important that parade officials be familiar with such Jewish symbols as a Star of David on a Pride flag, and to refuse, even under pressure, to use litmus tests to exclude any Jews, including pro-Israel Jews, from participating. And they need to have plans in place to deal with attempts to shut down parades, which would in effect take Pride away from all participants and invite showdowns with law enforcement that endanger everyone.
Those who were involved in the 2018 Women’s March, which was roiled by antisemitism, have seen this movie before. This situation is likely to be much worse, given what we have seen on college campuses, in city council meetings, and in many other spheres where Jews have been accused of genocide and Hamas terrorism has been excused and even glorified.
We encourage all the synagogues and
other Jewish organizations that are planning to send folks to march, table or otherwise take part in a Pride event to reach out to A Wider Bridge or your Jewish Federation for advice on best practices on how to deal with antisemitic chants, threats and other harassment at a Pride event. Your local Secure Community Initiative can help as well. After all, most of the Pride parades are sanctioned by local governmental authorities; they receive permits only as a condition of conducting their activities in a way that does not threaten public order and safety. We suggest that Pride attendees concerned about safety consider avoiding unsanctioned events. Given that Pride parades began after the 1969 Stonewall uprising in the wake of persecution by police against queer and trans folk, calling the police to intervene at an unsanctioned march could be seen as threatening to other members of the Queer community.
When Nate first walked through the gates to enter West Hollywood Pride in 1999, it was the first time he felt fully able to be queer, Black and Jewish. When Ethan went to his first Pride at the age of 17, he felt he didn’t need to hide any part of his identity. These experiences set us on the course to lifetimes of both LGBTQ+ and Jewish activism. We will continue to work closely with elected officials, Pride event organizers, and public safety agencies to ensure that Pride celebrations are welcoming for all and call on all members of the LGBTQ+ community and Jewish community to join us. PJC
Nate Looney has served as the director of community safety and belonging at Jewish Federations of North America for the past two years. He is a Jew of Color, Army veteran, diversity strategist and social entrepreneur with over two decades of community-building experience in diverse communities.
Ethan Felson is executive director of A Wider Bridge, a national organization that provides LGBTQ people the opportunity to engage with Israel in ways that matter to them. This piece first appeared on JTA.
As antisemitism rises, a campaign heats up to discredit the term
Guest Columnist
David Suissa
“The callousness, dehumanization and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism — plain and simple,” the Democratic congresswoman tweeted. “Antisemitism has no place in our city nor any broader movement that centers human dignity and liberation.”
Those words came from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a notorious critic of Israel and leading light in progressive circles. What was most noteworthy, though, was the response from her fellow progressives.
They accused her of selling out, of providing a fig leaf to the Jewish establishment. Some accused her of “getting a visit from your AIPAC babysitter.”
What’s going on?
“The blinding rage directed at AOC for daring to utter the word ‘antisemitism’ in relation to the pogromist mobs outside the Nova exhibit is something to behold,” tweeted Izabella Tabarovsky. These responses from progressive-Islamist friends, she added, “tell us something important about this moment.”
One thing it tells us is that just as antisemitism is reaching alarming levels, an even more alarming movement is afoot to discredit the term.
“Over the last few years there’s been a campaign going on to disarm, distort and discredit the very term antisemitism,”
Tabarovsky writes. “One time-tested technique here is to create so much confusion & controversy around the term that people would feel too hesitant to condemn antisemitism or speak of it all.”
She lists a series of examples, as in 2021, when Bernie Sanders’ national surrogate, Amer Zahr, called on activists to stop condemning antisemitism: “Don’t condemn sh**, we have a cross-sectional, intersectional movement that is winning … Stop it. Stop it. Stay focused. Say free, free, Palestine and nothing else.”
Another instance was when Students for Justice in Palestine mobs forced Rutgers to withdraw a statement condemning antisemitism. Rutgers complied, promising to be more “sensitive & balanced” in the future.
She also cites the case of April Powers, a Black Jewish DEI professional who had
to resign from her job after she put out a statement condemning antisemitism.
Back in 2021, Tabarovsky writes, “this all seemed shocking. Today it’s become completely normalized. Constant claims that antizionism is not antisemitism are playing a massive role in creating confusion and intimidation around the issue.”
That’s why any clear evidence that antisemitism is real, like the hatefest at the Nova exhibit that AOC condemned, must be attacked at once. The very notion of antisemitism must be delegitimized as a Zionist conspiracy, another nefarious Jewish attempt to shut down critics and control events.
Why has the term become such a growing threat to progressives?
For starters, it disrupts the oppressor/
Please see Suissa, page 13
Chronicle poll results: Is Hamas/Israel war more unifying or divisive?
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Do you think the war between Hamas and Israel has been more of a unifying force or more of a dividing force for Diaspora Jews?” Of the 258 people who responded, 46% said more dividing; 44% said more unifying; and 10% said they weren’t sure. Comments were submitted by 58 people. A few follow.
Overall, it’s been a unifying force, especially last fall. But now, Netanyahu’s handling of the war and the situation in Gaza are causing divisions.
Many Jews feel alone and isolated and are seeking commiseration with fellow Jews.
Do you think the war between Hamas and Israel has been more of a unifying force or more of a dividing force for Diaspora Jews?
How could it be anything but dividing? Israel is the only country in the world that has to defend itself for defending itself. And, with all the press showing all the protesters against Israel, it does nothing but hurt worldwide Jewry.
Continued from page 12
oppressed narrative that is their ideological lifeblood. Jews are stereotyped as white, Western and powerful, the ultimate exemplars of oppressive white privilege. They must never be allowed to be victims.
We saw this at work dramatically right after Oct. 7, when progressives came down hard on Israel and the Jews even though 1,200 Israelis got massacred by Hamas. The mutilation, the beheadings, the rapes, the burning alive of bodies were so staggering, it presented a nightmare scenario for progressives used to bashing the Jewish state as a genocidal, imperialist and colonialist bad actor.
Suddenly, these powerful Jews looked like victims, victims of the most savage Jew haters imaginable.
This new victim status for Jews was unacceptable, even if it was so blatantly justified — especially since it was so justified. It had to be nipped in the bud.
The progressive campaign to delegitimize the term antisemitism, then, is just another way of telling Jews to stay in their oppressor lane. Bashing a warring Israel is now the easiest way for the left to bash Jews.
But there’s something even bigger at play: The war against Israel is also a war against everything progressives hate about the West.
It has caused a divide in my own family It depends on the context. From my perspective as a community leader, I have seen greater unity. On college campuses, it has likely been more divisive, although it’s really difficult to tell because the media report only the division.
This is a tough call. If we move beyond opinion to facts and belief, as well as taking the long view, it has unified us. A lot of times that unity has been, unfortunately, in response to growing antisemitism associated with the war. It has been unifying none the less.
Unifying for the Jews who know that Israel is the only place we can feel at home.
The divide is between older and younger Jews. Many young Jews are misguided into believing the anti-Israel protests are not antisemitism in another form.
in Charlottesville, Virginia,” Christine Rosen wrote in Commentary in a piece titled, “Why the Media Ignore Anti-Semitism.”
“Where are the big-think pieces and deeply reported stories about the organizations and funders behind the anti-Jewish groups staging protests outside synagogues and other Jewish institutions?”
The leftist media, which consistently downplay antisemitism from the left, have become the great enablers.
That’s why the term antisemitism must be discredited. Bad guys can never be victims.
The leftist media, which consistently downplay antisemitism from the left, have become the great enablers.
“The New York Times has published countless stories about the rhetoric of participants in the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ rally
Who presents the greater threat to democracy?
In response to Mitchell Nyer’s June 14 letter “Good for the Jews?”: In case any readers haven’t noticed, antisemitism is at a level not seen since the 1930s. President Biden appears to be more concerned about not offending Hamas-sympathizing voters in Michigan than doing anything about antisemitism in the U.S. Antisemitism in the U.S. today is largely driven by the confluence of the progressive doctrines of DEI, critical race theory, intersectionality and ethnic studies. Those doctrines divide the world into oppressors and the oppressed, and under those doctrines Jews are considered to be oppressors because they are white. (Even Black, Hispanic and Asian Jews are considered to be white.)
Rather than do something about these doctrines, the Biden administration is promoting them and wants everyone in the U.S. military to be indoctrinated in them.
As Rich Lowry writes in National Review Online, “every day is a Charlottesville now, but hardly anyone notices … The antisemitic rhetoric and menacing nature of that event — in a different, left-wing form — are being replicated all over the country in openly hateful pro-Hamas protests.”
If white supremacists were showing up
There is no question that Oct. 7 unified Diaspora Jewry and remained a unifying force throughout the country. The fissures began as Israel, rightfully so, defended itself as a country and in its search for the hostages. Netanyahu is a lightning bolt for Jews who are more vocal in their divisiveness. At the same time, the horrific rise in antisemitism, anti-Zionism and what is happening on college campuses and in city government, recaptures many dissenters.
I do think that, as the war drags on, it’s becoming — possibly — more divisive. And as the divisions within Israel again reach the loud forefront, our divisions, too, increase. PJC
— Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question: Have you been to Israel since Oct. 7? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
all over the country and agitating against Jews and vandalizing property, he asks, “Can you imagine the headlines and nightly news reports?”
We’re left with this bizarre landscape where, on one side, Jewish activist groups are exposing the spooky rise of antisemitism from the left, while on the other side, progressive groups are undermining the very idea of antisemitism, encouraging people to disregard the whole thing as a Jewish-Zionist con.
Meanwhile, Jewish progressives must be disillusioned to see how so much of the Jew hatred these days is coming from inside their own house. Will they walk on eggshells so as not to alienate their progressive comrades, or will they have the courage to tell it like it is, even if it hurts their team?
When even AOC rings the alarm, you know we’ve entered new territory. PJC
David Suissa is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tribe Media Corp and Jewish Journal, where this first appeared. This article was republished by JNS.
Whoever is making the decisions in the Biden administration apparently wants the U.S. military to be as antisemitic as Harvard or Columbia. Anyone who wants to block this progressive indoctrination from the military or the public schools should consider voting Republican — not just for president, but also for Congress and the state legislature.
Anyone who thinks that Trump presents a greater threat to democracy than Biden doesn’t understand the Russia hoax, which was an attempt by Justice Department employees to overturn an election; Biden’s misuse of the Justice Department for political purposes; and the Bragg indictment, which violates both the Fifth Amendment and the New York constitution.
Jim Silverman Pittsburgh
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Suissa:
Life & Culture
Retro recipe: Potato knishes
By Ruth Sirkis | JTA
This column first ran in the Chronicle’s June 13, 1969, issue.
This recipe is published at request of a reader from Philadelphia. We give here the basic method of preparing knishes with potato filling. You can adapt it to you own liking, filling it with meat, liver, etc.
Dough Topping Filling
Yields about 30 knishes
2½ cups flour
1 cup margarine
1 cup water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons water
2 ounces sesame seed
2 cups mashed potatoes (you can use instant mashed potatoes)
1 small onion chopped and fried (or use dehydrated flakes)
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper
Prepare the dough one day in advance because it needs refrigeration. Bring to a boil the one cup of water.
Add margarine, stir until it melts.
Add the vinegar.
Stir the flour into a bowl with salt. Add the warm, diluted margarine and stir well with a wooden spoon to blend all ingredients.
Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Before you start preparing the knishes, heat the oven to 300 F.
Prepare the filling. Combine the mashed potatoes with onions, margarine, salt and pepper. Blend well and let cool
Divide the dough into two balls. For easier rolling, sprinkle with flour and roll out to a thin leaf. Cut out into 3- or 4-inch circles. On each, put a teaspoon of filling.
Moisten the edges and seal by folding the dough rounds over themselves, and pinching tightly the moistened edges.
Repeat until you finish all the dough. Dilute an egg yolk into two teaspoons water. Brush the top of the knishes with it.
Sprinkle sesame seeds over the wet surface.
Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until the top of the knishes is golden brown. PJC
Life & Culture
‘Su
s’ creator Shaina Taub cites Jewish text in Tony Awards acceptance speech
By Philissa Cramer | JTA
To celebrate her second Tony of the night on Sunday, “Suffs” creator Shaina Taub turned to Jewish tradition.
Taub won awards for best book of a musical and best original score written for theater for the Broadway show about the women who fought to be able to vote in the United States. In her acceptance speech for the second award, she thanked her mentors and gave a shoutout to “all the theater kids out there.”
Then she quoted a Jewish text that she said had a prominent place in her show’s literature.
“The epigraph on my script is a quote from the Talmud: You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it,” said Taub, who also plays suffragist Alice Paul in the show. She added, “This is a hard year in our country, and I just hope that we can remember that when
Taub elaborated on her connection to the quotation in an interview with Hey Alma in 2021, at a time when the public launch of “Suffs” was on hold because of the pandemic.
“It’s part of the thesis of the show,” she said at the time. “So much of the language of activism is about this finality of finishing a struggle — never again, enough is enough, if not now, then when. But the fights and the struggles for equality and justice are never finished, and no generation really completes that work. It doesn’t mean you don’t still have to work and fight and organize as if you could finish it. It’s holding that contradiction in your head as an activist, and as any person working towards a better future.”
“Cabaret” and “Prayer for the French Republic,” two shows that include Jewish characters and stories, were shut out after being nominated for multiple awards.
Alex Edelman, the Jewish comedian, won a Special Tony in recognition of his one-man show about antisemitism and identity, “Just For Us,” that completed a Broadway run last year and is now streaming on HBO.
“This is a hard year in our country, and I just hope that we can remember that when we organize and we come together we are capable of making real change and progress for this country for equality and justice.”
– SHAINA TAUB
we organize and we come together we are capable of making real change and progress for this country for equality and justice. And so I hope we can all do that together.”
The famous quotation, from Rabbi Tarfon, is found in the canonical text of Jewish ethics, Pirkei Avot. It is part of the Mishna, the code of oral law that is at the core of the Talmud. The saying has animated legions of Jewish activists, from acolytes of the late liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the acting attorney general at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, who have sought to battle against steep odds to make change.
Taub, who was raised in a Jewish family in Vermont where she said she had little access to Jewish community, first shared the text on Instagram on Oct. 27, 2018, after a white supremacist murdered 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue. There, she posted a meme that shows several lines from Jewish texts, including an exhortation to “do justly” that appears in the Bible.
“The only thing bigger than my rage toward these white supremacist cowards is my love for the Jewish community and all its allies,” she wrote at the time. “These words from the Talmud ground me in these times, so I offer them to you.”
When Edelman’s award was announced in May, Jason Laks, interim president of The Broadway League, said his show — about Edelman’s encounter with a group of white supremacists — was “as moving as it was hilarious and spoke to the power of communication, identity and empathy at a time when it is needed more than ever.”
In a video released on Sunday, Edelman related the themes of the show to the conflict in “Israel and Palestine.”
“Beyond being about neo-Nazis and antisemitism and Christmas,” he said, the show “grapples with a question, which is like, ‘what is our place in the world?’ And it feels like when I go see shows they’re all asking that question…. The idea of ‘Just For Us’ at its core it is about empathy. It’s about people sitting in a room, who disagree with each other in ways that are fundamental and profound, and trying to understand something about ourselves and those others.”
“Given what’s happening in the world right now, particularly in Israel and Palestine,” Edelman continued, and given that “every day, it feels like the differences between us and those that we disagree with are more and more fundamental, it is all the more necessary to find ways to do that.”
Shaina Taub accepts the Best Original Score award for “Suffs” onstage during The 77th Annual Tony Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on June 16 in New York City.
Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Life & Culture
Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry take a father-daughter trip to Auschwitz in tragicomedy ‘Treasure’
By Toby Axelrod |JTA
BERLIN — On the day they filmed at Auschwitz, Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry weren’t allowed to say anything to each other except their scripted lines.
Fry had come down with COVID, and Julia Von Heinz, their director in “Treasure,” had only barely eked out permission from the memorial to film outside the Nazi concen tration camp’s gates. Changing the dates, she was told, was impossible.
So the show went on, but with strict rules about conversation aimed at preventing Fry from infecting Dunham and further derailing production.
It was, Dunham said, excruciatingly difficult. The co-stars usually talked “from the minute we got in the hair and makeup chair in the morning until the minute that we got to our cars at night,” she recalled during an appearance at the Berlin film festival where “Treasure” premiered in February.
“I kept having to remind myself, because I wanted to connect with him on what we were seeing,” she added. “But Julia so wisely understood that his character was isolated in that feeling. And my character didn’t understand that feeling.”
The illness-induced separation between the on-screen odd couple — Dunham, the American actor, writer and producer known for giving voice to the angst of millennials, and Fry, a charming yet staid Brit nearly twice her age — mimicked the emotional gap between their characters, a father and daughter who take a roots trip to Poland in 1990, just after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Based on the 2000 novel “Too Many Men” by Australian writer Lilly Brett, the film tells the story of New York journalist Ruth Rothwax (Dunham) and her Holocaust survivor father, Edek (Fry) as they visit the city of his birth — Łódź — and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which he survived. Their trip, which follows the death of Edek’s wife and Ruth’s mother, is both a passage into a world of memories and a test of each other’s boundaries.
The story of “Treasure” will be familiar to many Ashkenazi Jews who have either made such journeys, delved into genealogical research, or seen the 2005 movie “Everything is Illuminated” — based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s surreal, eponymous 2002 road-trip novel about the search for Jewish roots in Ukraine.
But unlike that story, which also unwinds along bumpy, post-Soviet roads, “Treasure” does not dip into magical realism, despite pulling some major tricks — including getting a British actor to speak a Polish-accented American English (“It was a challenge, but it was an enchanting one,” Fry said), using decrepit locations in contemporary Germany to convey the grim architecture of 1990s Poland, and employing special effects to film some Auschwitz scenes (because filming inside the camp boundaries is not allowed).
Rather, von Heinz conveys realistic fatherdaughter tensions, painting a believable portrait of the survivor who has learned to go with the flow, and the neurotic “second-generation” daughter who eats as if she were just liberated herself, who is obsessed with antisemitism, and sees the past in the present everywhere she tosses and turns.
And von Heinz does it with humor – something she hardly dared try at first.
Ruth has her own (albeit safe) flirtation, and Edek finally breaks out of his happy-golucky safe space, taking his daughter to find a “treasure” hidden on property his family once owned.
The film was completed in early 2024, according to von Heinz, who said that after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people in what was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the team decided
“What I love about this film is, yes, it’s about the absolute horrors of the Holocaust and things that we can never, ever forget. And it’s also about the kind of mundane and universal love inside of families.”
– LENA DUNHAM
Normally, “Germans wouldn’t dare to mix humor into that. We just wouldn’t dare it. Rightly so,” said von Heinz, who has one Jewish grandfather. Speaking at a press conference after the Berlin premiere, she said she fell in love with Brett’s novel and when casting the movie “just felt I needed two actors who made me laugh.”
Her film is a study in contradictions: The elderly survivor Rothwax is full of vim and vigor, while his anxious daughter avoids intimacy. Edek has an affair at their hotel and asks buttoned-up Ruth when she last had sex; Edek proudly tells others that she is a famous journalist while she rolls her eyes; he enjoys the local foods while she avoids them, instead snacking compulsively when no one is watching. Slowly, osmosis occurs:
they needed to get it done in time for the Berlin festival.
“We feel it’s the very moment for this film,” she said after the premiere there. In part, it is an answer to “people who say “We cannot hear it any longer. Does there really have to be another film about this subject?’”
The answer is that “there can never be enough stories to be told about this. And I think we are giving it a new perspective.”
For both Dunham and Fry, the story had personal resonance. Each of them has a Jewish mother and grew up with family stories of the Holocaust.
The film is “not just about a massive, massive, massive act of violence, but the generational, intergenerational consequences
of that,” Dunham said at the Berlin press nference. “And I think that it’s important to acknowledge that it’s very, very much about the history of antisemitism and the history of the Jewish experience.
“But it’s also a story about how a legacy of violence affects anybody. There are so many groups who carry trauma in this way,” said Dunham, who learned details about her family members’ Holocaust survival on a recent episode of PBS’ “Finding Your Roots.” “And hopefully an examination of trauma like this, looking backwards, can help us think about the legacy that we create moving forward.”
Fry’s visit to Auschwitz was his first.
“Knowing that I had family who had perished in that place was a very extraordinary feeling,” he said. “The generation of survivors that I knew wanted me to grow up in a free society, free of antisemitism, free of that legacy. They thought the ictory over the Holocaust, the victory over hatred, would be to be almost unaware
They didn’t want the children to be burdened with the knowledge of what happened,” said Fry, who also probed his family’s story in his 2012 film “Wagner and Me.”
“But, of course, as time has passed, the message is slightly different: It’s that it’s too important to keep it alive and to remember,” added Fry, who spoke out against antisemitism in his annual Christmas video in December. “Because while history may not repeat itself, as somebody once put it, it rhymes. And there are similar feelings now, as we know, rising up.”
Dunham told JTA she prepared for her role by talking with author Lilly Brett. “It’s no secret that this is an autobiographical novel,” the actress said. “She very generously spent time with me on Zoom and shared aspects of her life that weren’t in the book. I just wanted to know things like, what was it like to grow up in your house? How did you relate to your mother? What made you crazy about your parents?”
She said the result was a movie that might be more relatable than had it only dwelled on trauma and conflict.
“What I love about this film is, yes, it’s about the absolute horrors of the Holocaust and things that we can never, ever forget,” Dunham said. “And it’s also about the kind of mundane and universal love inside of families.”
“The idea that you have a neurotic, modern American girl as the daughter who is fussing about her diet is such an important window into the difference between their experience and what they think of life, what they get out of life,” Fry told JTA. “It’s just a privilege to be inside a world that is so acutely realized, in which humor and sorrow are so closely next to each other, they leak into each other all the time.”
Dunham — producer and star of the hit HBO comedy series “Girls” — said she “was surprised that Julia thought of me for the movie” because it was a departure from her typical roles. She added, “Even if I now just go from that to playing total goofballs, it’s something I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
— FILM —
p Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry visit Auschwitz in “Treasure,” a 2024 tragicomedy set in the 1990s.
Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street
Life & Culture
Why Israel was the first country to get its own version of ‘Who is Taylor Swift?’ bestselling kids book
By Shira Li Bartov | JTA
Taylor Swift’s detachment from contentious global conflicts is a hallmark of her superstardom. For some fans in Israel, it’s also a selling point.
Michal Paz-Klapp, the Young Adult editor at Israel’s prominent Modan Publishing House, snatched the opportunity to publish a Hebrew-language edition of “Who Is Taylor Swift?,” by Kirsten Anderson. The U.S. children’s book came out in April as part of Penguin Workshop’s bestselling “Who Was?” and “Who Is?” series, a range of illustrated biographies chronicling public figures from Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Confucius.
The Hebrew version of “Who Is Taylor Swift?” hit Israeli bookstores last week, making it the book’s first international edition.
While Swift’s popularity knows no borders, one non-musical choice has recently added to her appeal in Israel, said Paz-Klapp — her abstention from speaking about the Israel-Hamas war.
Her Israeli listeners are well-aware of their growing isolation on the world stage as public opinion turns against Israel’s eightmonth war. Simply saying nothing about it has won Swift points with Israeli fans, many of whom view her music as an escape from the trauma of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that launched the war and the surging global censure of Israel.
“Part of the love that Taylor is receiving is that she’s — I don’t know if she supports Israel, actively — but she is not against Israel, and this is really important for the Israeli crowd, I think,” Paz-Klapp told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Thousands flooded X with the hashtag #SwiftiesForPalestine in May, demanding she take a stand after Israel struck the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Some fans have attended her worldwide Eras Tour with Palestinian flags and signs reading “Speak Now,” a reference to her 2010 hit album.
Swift was also among hundreds of celebrities targeted by a social media campaign called “Blockout 2024,” aimed at blocking artists and influencers who have not made public statements in support of Gaza. Selena Gomez, Drake, Justin Bieber, Zendaya and the Kardashian family were other household names on the “digital guillotine” lists.
Although Swift tiptoed around any political issues for years — making news when she went so far as to call herself a feminist after nearly a decade of fame — she has more recently harnessed her platform in the sphere of U.S. politics. Since coming out as a Democrat and endorsing President Joe Biden in 2020, she has condemned the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe V. Wade as well as anti-LGBTQ legislation. Last year, a message on her Instagram story encouraging her followers to vote prompted a surge of more than 35,000 registrations on Vote.org.
But while abortion rights and matters concerning the LGBTQ community may divide the U.S. electorate, they are less contentious within Swift’s fan base, which skews toward Democratic, millennial and Gen Z white women. The Israel-Hamas war is a more divisive issue among young liberal-leaning voters.
Swift’s avoidance of the subject has allowed Israelis to assign their own meanings to her music. “Bigger Than the Whole
Sky,” a song from Swift’s 2022 “Midnights” album about saying goodbye to someone, has become an anthem for friends of Roni Eshel, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier and fan of Swift who was killed by Hamas on Oct. 7. Eshel’s friends petitioned Swift to intervene on her behalf last fall, before Eshel’s death was confirmed.
“When Swifties go to shows, they make bracelets and give them to other fans from all over the world,” said Paz-Klapp. “So in Israel, they prepared Roni Eshel bracelets and they have given them to other fans.”
Swift has not performed in Israel — its small size and geographic isolation mean relatively few top acts make it a stop on their tours. But Israeli fans have been flying to Europe for her shows there, with a Facebook group just for ticket resales and travel coordination drawing nearly 4,000 participants.
Shira Ben-Choreen Schneck is a bookkeeper at The Deborah Harris Agency, the Jerusalem-based literary agency that secured the deal to publish “Who Is Taylor Swift?” at Modan Publishing House. She played Swift’s music for the agency’s foreign rights director, Efrat Lev, and shared her own family’s affinity for the artist. Her three daughters — aged 14, 12 and 9 — are all fans.
Schneck lives in Armon Hanatziv, also known as East Talpiot, a Jerusalem
neighborhood located on land Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed. Israel views the entire city as part of its sovereign territory, though Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital.
According to Schneck, her family enjoyed a sense of camaraderie with their Arab neighbors before Oct. 7. Then tensions rose in the neighborhood. Her children have had rocks thrown at them and a car following them on the street.
Schneck’s 12-year-old daughter was particularly affected — and found refuge in Swift’s 20-year discography.
“She basically wouldn’t really leave the house, up until February,” Schneck told JTA. “She insisted on being picked up, she wouldn’t take buses, she just was so shaken by everything that happened. She ended up doing art therapy for it. But for all my kids, it was just kind of great to have a place to escape, and I feel [Swift’s] music definitely contributed to that.”
Schneck’s children already have both the English and Hebrew editions of “Who Is Taylor Swift?” at home. Her 12-year-old approved the book in a message to JTA, although her knowledge of the pop star outpaced its material.
“The Taylor Swift book was very interesting,” she said. “It had a lot of facts about her. As a Swiftie, I knew most of them.” PJC
The Hebrew language “Who is Taylor Swift” book was released on June 5. John Shearer/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Mazel Tov!
Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!
Torah Celebrations
SPECIAL OCCASIONS DESERVE SPECIAL ATTENTION
Kari and Andrew Exler joyfully announce Nora Faye , born on May 9, 2024, in Pittsburgh. Nora Faye is named in loving memory of her late great-grandfather, Norman Wedner, and her late great-grandmother, Eileen (Fidelman) Semel. Proud grandparents are Robin and Mark Exler, and Jessica and Alan Semel of Cleveland, Ohio. Great-grandparents are Irene and Harry Exler of Boca Raton, Florida, and Nancy and Larry Bell of Cleveland,
Those who stand and wait
with our patience, courage and acceptance.
What is a special occasion…a birth, a b’nai mitzvah, an engagement, a wedding, an anniversary?
But so is a birthday, a graduation, an athletic victory, an academic achievement…anything that deserves
Mazel Tov!
When I was in college, I was an English literature major. I readily admit that I do not recall most of the literature I was taught back then. After all, many days/weeks/months/years/decades have passed since that time in my life.
But one line recently came back to me when I was perusing this week’s Torah portion of Behaalotcha. It was: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
“They also serve” means that we can also serve G-d’s plan for the world that He created by heeding His message and by finding our unique role and function.
In the opening verse of the Torah portion of Behaalotcha, Aaron asked a similar question: Why wasn’t I, or the tribe of Levi, included in the ceremony for the inauguration of the Mishkan (sanctuary)? Aaron felt he had no role in this important celebration. G-d answered : “Do not feel neglected. Your role, and the role of your children and your ancestors, is an even greater one.”
Aaron’s question is one we have all asked.
SPECIAL OCCASIONS DESERVE
What is a special occasion…a birth, a b’nai mitzvah, an engagement, a wedding, an anniversary? Absolutely!
ATTENTION
But so is a birthday, a graduation, an athletic victory, an academic achievement…anything that deserves special recognition.
What does Hashem ask of me? What role can I play to further Hashem’s unfolding plan?
This line comes from a sonnet by John Milton, a 17th-century British poet. In his older age, Milton lost his sight. As you may imagine, this made him very anxious and frustrated. A religious man, he struggled to cope with this situation and — as many would — asked “Why me, G-d? How can it possibly fit into the Divine plan for me to become blind?”
The answer he arrived at was this: G-d has His plan, and we are not privy to it. Nevertheless, our role is to seek to further it, any way we can — sometimes with our actions and accomplishments, other times
What does Hashem ask of me? What role can I play to further Hashem’s unfolding plan? We know that with faith, prayer and Torah study, we can discover opportunities to play a role in building a community of holiness, fairness and kindness. Like Aaron, we will, in time, see how we can serve G-d, even when we “only stand and wait.”
Shabbat shalom. PJC
Rabbi Eli Seidman is the former director of pastoral care at the Jewish Association on Aging. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.
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Rabbi Eli Seidman Parshat Behaalotcha Numbers 8:1 – 12:16
Obituaries
BLUESTONE: Charles D. “Buddy” Bluestone, M.D.: Age 92, passed away peacefully on June 15, 2024. He is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Patricia; son James (Maria); two grandchildren, Dr. Dane Bluestone Holland (Joe) and Elyse Bluestone; niece, Margie Reiff; and nephew, Alfred Lewy. He is preceded in death by son, Mark; sister, Evelyn Lewy; brother, Robert; and parents, Isadore and Bessie (Goldfarb) Bluestone. Born April 4, 1932, in Pittsburgh, Dr. Bluestone graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1954 and from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1958. In 1959, he and Patsy moved to Chicago for his otolaryngology residence at the University of Illinois. In the years thereafter, he served for two years in the U.S. Air Force, returning to Pittsburgh to enter private practice as an ear, nose and throat specialist and as a clinical professor of otolaryngology at Pitt’s School of Medicine and chief of the otolaryngology service at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He left Pittsburgh and private practice in 1972 to become the first full-time director of the Department of Otolaryngology in what was then known as Boston City Hospital. While there, he was a faculty member at Boston, Harvard and Tufts universities. Returning to Pittsburgh in 1975, Dr. Bluestone became the founding director of the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, a position he held for 40 years. In 1980, he founded the National Institutes of Health-funded Pittsburgh Otitis Media Research Center, where researchers investigated medical and surgical treatments and clinical studies for otitis media (middle-ear disease). Dr. Bluestone’s research over the years has led to better treatment methods for middle-ear disease, and he devoted a major share of his professional career to understanding the disease and its effect on the health care of patients. He trained countless ear, nose and throat specialists who continue to practice throughout the country and worldwide, and he has authored hundreds of articles on his subspecialty. He became the School of Medicine’s first Eberly Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology in 1996 and was named a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. When he stepped down from his position as department director, he retained a clinical schedule as well as teaching and research activities until his full retirement in 2013. The love of his life was his wife, Patricia Unger Bluestone, with whom he shared a love of travel and art. He loved a good joke and a fine bottle of wine. The family would like to thank Carol and his excellent team of caregivers, who have cared for him and Patsy for the past several years. Services and interment were private. A public memorial service will be announced in the future. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Dr. Charles Bluestone’s name to UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation, 4401 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15224 or at givetochildrens.org/ . Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
CLARK: Diane E. Clark, age 66, of Pittsburgh, passed away suddenly in her home early the morning of Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Diane was a force. Born March 29, 1958, in Greenville, Pennsylvania, she knew quickly she wanted more than she was told she should. After graduating from Thiel College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and business administration, she went on to Duquesne University School of Law in 1980. ane didn’t love law school, but she loved her new home in Pittsburgh and the friends she made along the way. After graduating in 1983, she practiced as an attorney in the city for 40 years til she retired in 2023. Diane was a fierce, compassionate, and whip-smart advocate for her clients as they faced some of the worst moments of their lives through her practice in personal injury and family law. Her skill and drive inspired her daughter, Elena, to follow in her footsteps. Diane was an avid gardener and friend to the wildlife who, despite her best efforts, ate the fruits of her labor. She has read every Sue Grafton novel and seen every season of the “Great British Baking Show.” She enjoyed knitting and baking, but adamantly did not enjoy cooking. When her children were young, she was an incredibly involved parent in the Fox Chapel Area High School Choir Department, and took particular pride in a costume she sewed a dozen knick-knacks into for the school’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” Diane loved
the peonies in her garden, her treasured pets over the years, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and Mary Tyler Moore. Most of all, though, she loved her children, Elena Meth and Nathaniel Meth, and husband, Jeffrey Meth, who survive her. Diane taught her kids to always fight for what you believe in, to be the first and last at any event, that you’re never too busy to lend a helping hand, that you’re never above getting dirt under your nails, and that there’s very little in life that can’t be helped by a quick dance party and some coffee-flavored ice cream. Diane is preceded by her parents, Hugh Clark and Rosellen Moller, her brother, Glenn Clark, and his wife, Annette, and her sister, Kathy Padrta. The family is extremely grateful for all the kindness and well wishes sent so far. In lieu of flowers, due to the sudden and unexpected nature of Diane’s passing, any donations to the memorial fund to help defray the cost of final expenses are deeply appreciated. Any excess will be donated to the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh’s Injured Wildlife Fund (humaneanimalrescue.org). Details for a memorial service will be posted to Diane’s memorial website (everloved.com/life-of/diane-ellen-clark/). Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
ENGEL: Marilyn Rose Engel. Beautiful, soulful Marilyn Rose Engel, born April 17, 1944, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family. Marilyn was completely adored and loved by her husband, Thomas Engel, married 59 years, and their three children, Gregory Engel (Ina), Lori Lickstein (Andrew Dansicker) and Leslie Engel (Danyel). Marilyn and Tom’s love was like no other, full of mutual adoration and magical travel. They raised a beautiful Jewish family which grew to eight grandchildren and three step-grandchildren (Hannah Schor-Engel, Dana Engel, Gabriel Engel, Jordan Lickstein, Jamie Lickstein, Brody Lickstein, Henry Dansicker, Audrey Dansicker, Stanley Dansicker, Leslie Engel Jr. and Gabby Quinones, and great-granddaughter Ohana), as well as her beloved grand-dog, Parker. Many of you may not know, but anyone who entered Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh when she was working as an award-winning receptionist and telephone operator would be greeted with an empathetic smile and kind words. She had a huge heart for every patient, and she held each of them in her heart as she went through her life. She was always there for her patients, children, grandchildren, husband and anyone else who needed a hug and her superpower of love. She taught her family to appreciate the simple joys in life, like her famous apple pie. She humbly led our family and lit up when talking about her children and grandchildren. Marilyn was an extraordinary woman and the world was a significantly better place because of her. Her strong connection to Judaism provided her with deep strength, her deep faith in love allowed her to overcome any challenges, and her commitment to her family was her top priority. She was beautiful inside and out, smart, sharp, feisty, loving, generous, caring, tenacious, and above all, she loved her children and grandchildren — there was a reason why her husband was hopelessly devoted to her. Our families will continue her work by focusing on what matters most in this world: kindness and empathy. “Her ways are pleasant ways, And all her paths, peaceful, She is a tree of life to those who grasp her, And whoever holds onto her is happy.” (Proverbs) Services and interment were private. Please consider making a contribution to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (givetochildrens.org) in her memory. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
HOLZER: Sylvan “Sy” Holzer. It is with profound sadness that we announce that Sylvan Holzer, of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, passed away in his sleep on June 16, 2024, at the age of 75. He was surrounded by his loving children and grandchildren in the days leading up to his passing. Sy was a man of immense selflessness, sarcasm and wisdom, cherishing every moment spent with his family and close friends who came from all walks of life. His passion for giving to others and his unwavering spirit will forever be remembered. He is survived by his wife, Cathy, of 54 years, his brother, Dennis (and his wife Adrienne), his two
Please see Obituaries, page 20
D
Obituaries
Obituaries:
Continued from page 19
children — Brian (his wife Lucy), Jodie (her husband Jarrod) — and five grandchildren who will continue to honor his legacy by living their lives to the fullest. Sylvan (“Sy”) was born on Jan. 19, 1949, to Max and Charlotte Holzer in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania. After Sy graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1966, he received degrees from Duquesne University, the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University and the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business–Management Program for Executives before starting as a management trainee at PNC Bank in 1972. Sy went on to dedicate the next 45 years of his career to PNC bank and the city of Pittsburgh in ways that so few have done. Over his 45-year career, he held executive positions in corporate and retail banking with a scope of responsibility, including financial services relationships with all large government entities, higher education institutions, health care organizations and labor unions throughout Pennsylvania. Sy most recently served as PNC Bank’s regional president in Pittsburgh from 1997 until his retirement in 2017. Sy simply referred to himself as a “Pittsburgher,” dedicating countless hours to the community and nonprofit and charitable causes. He was chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, as well as a member of the board of directors of the UPMC Cancer Centers. He was appointed by Pennsylvania’s governor to serve on the board of trustees of the University of Pittsburgh. He served on the board of visitors for the Katz Graduate School of Business, and Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He also served as a member of the executive committee on the board of the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Additionally, he served on the boards of directors of the Bethany Board of Trustees, the Pittsburgh Opera, Fred Rogers Foundation and the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, and was chairman of the Pittsburgh Strategic Investment Fund. He was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judiciary Advisory
SOROKA
TATYANA, deceased, of MONROEVILLE, PA.
No. 00803 of 2024. YEVGENIY A. SOROKA, Extr., 509 WALNUT STREET SPRINGDALE, PA 15144
Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following:
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Anonymous Ethel Silver
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Martin, Andrea & Helene Sattler
Karen K Shapiro
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Casper Alman
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Faye Bloom Rattner
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Hyman Shapiro
David Howard Weis
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Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information. THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —
Sunday June 23: Jennie Bleier, Jacob Garber, Mayme Gerson, Morris B Green, Lillian Handmacher, Leah Kramer, Helen Langer, Robert Langer, Samuel A Lichter, Abe Mazer, Abraham Rothenstein, Morris A Schwartz, Betty Silberblatt
Monday June 24: Israel A Brahm, Howard Finkel, Tillie L Gallagher, Dr Harold Saul Kaiser, Leroy A Klater, Jack Masloff, Fannie Miller, David Reubin, Anshel Rosen, Sylvia Rosenblum, Minnie Schilit, Benjamin B Sklar, Sidney Whitman
Tuesday June 25: Sylvia Barmen, Barney B Dobkin, Stanley Flansbaum, Belle Goldman, Saul Goldstein, Fanny Kurfeerst, Jacob Landay, Max H Leib, Esther Littman, Joseph Morantz, Max R Morgan, Geraldine Sadowsky, Jennie Santman, Margery L Selkovits, Helen P Suttin, Bertha Weisberger
Wednesday June 26: Casper Alman, Dr Fredrick Amshel, Leah Bloom, Louis Bowytz, Mary Segal Eger, Sadye Klee Gardner, Oscar Green, Sarah Haltman, Rae Kreger Hepps, Rose Kramer, Jack Kenneth Kruman, Shirley F Levenson, Joseph Pickholtz, Hyman Shapiro, Mollie Silverblatt
Thursday June 27: Edith S Adler, Sarah Bass, Benjamin Block, Dr Mortimer Cohen, Usher Z Cohen, William Congress, Suzanne Dolgin, Hyman Elovitz, Louis Fienberg, Ida Leah Hurwick, Cheri Glick Jak, Dorothy Levine, Jessie Levine, Fannie Lipsich, Dr Theodore Lundy, Dorothy Glickman Mandelblatt, Erwin Lawrence Rubenstein
Friday June 28: Hyman Berkowitz, David J Cohen, Lawrence Stephen Fisher, Ada Gilles Frank, Herbert S Goodman, Rae Horovitz, Milton Klein, Rebecca Leff, Sarah Mollie Lewis, Louis Meyers, Harold Middleman, Abraham N Miller, Rose Morgan, Molly Moskovitz, Rae Rader, Harry Recht, Ben Sussman, David Howard Weis
Saturday June 29: Rachel Americus, Isadore Becker, Clara Bluestone, Florence Fredericks, Esther Lang Glick, Julius Goldberg, Rose Goldstein, Fannie Goltz, Goldie Graff, Rose Azen Horewitz, David Rosenfield, Libby Silberblatt, Rae Solomon, Phillip Weiss, Morris Zinman
Council by the chief justice. He received numerous local honors for his community leadership over the years including a doctor of humanities degree from Bethany College and induction into the Taylor Allderdice Hall of Fame in 2013. Services were held at the Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel. Interment Mount Lebanon Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sy Holzer Endowed Immunotherapy Research Fund at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. Please mail to: Development Office, UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Suite 1B, 5150 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232. schugar.com
KOHN: Shirley Mason Weinberg Kohn, age 95, of White Oak, died peacefully on June 12, 2024. Shirley was born in McKeesport on July 22, 1928, to Rose and Joseph Weinberg and was named after silent movie star Shirley Mason. Shirley married Herbert M. Kohn in 1947 and raised their two children, Cheri and Mitchell, in McKeesport. She was a lifelong member of Temple B’nai Israel. After her husband died in 1973, she became a manager for the R.N. Koch jewelry company, working her way up to manage stores across the entire Eastern Seaboard. She traveled weekly and sported glamorous looks that went well with her hobby of disco dancing at the Holiday Inn in Monroeville with her longtime dance partner, Jones Costello. After her retirement, Shirley dedicated the next 30 years to volunteering at The Intersection in McKeesport, which was founded in 1972 by the Sisters of Mercy. She helped countless clients navigate paperwork and connect with services. She became close friends with both the nuns and the clients, many of whom looked forward to her smiling face as the greeter and receptionist. Shirley was Ma to Cheri (Joel) Schwartz and Mitchell (Melinda) Kohn, Gramma to Matt (Beth) Schwartz and Hollee (John) Temple, and GG to great-granddaughters Rebecca and Anna Schwartz and great-grandsons Gideon and Hank Temple. Her great-grandchildren were a huge source of joy in her last two decades, and she attended countless games and performances to support them. She also became somewhat of a celebrity in Gideon and Hank’s college community as a result of her keen and frequent commentary on the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music Facebook page. Graveside services were held on Sunday, June 16, 2024, officiated by Rabbi Howie Stein at Temple Cemetery. Arrangements were handled by Strifflers of White Oak Cremation and Mortuary Services, 1100 Lincoln Way, White Oak, PA 15131 (Sue Striffler Galaski, supervisor, 412-678-6177). Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to Temple Emanuel of South Hills, 1250 Bower Hill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. PJC
“Do not be wise in words –be wise in deeds.”
Lee & Lisa Oleinick
Real Estate
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Life & Culture
Journalist Howard Fineman, Pittsburgh native, dies at 75
By JNS
Following the death of American journalist and commentator Howard Fineman on June 11, President Joe Biden released a statement honoring the career of the longtime writer.
“Great journalists hold a mirror up to the nation to reveal the good, the bad, and the truth of who we are as Americans,” Biden stated two days later, on June 13. “For four decades, Howard Fineman was one of the great journalists of our time.”
Fineman, 75, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Noting the overlap of his and Fineman’s careers, Biden said: “I respected his reporting and insights whether I agreed or disagreed with him.”
Biden said Fineman “understood the fundamental role of journalism in our democracy is to illuminate, educate and shed light. With his focus on the facts and ability to tell a great story, it’s no surprise why Howard was a trusted and respected voice for millions of Americans, and a true friend and mentor to countless colleagues.”
Born on Nov. 17, 1948, Fineman grew up in a Jewish family in Squirrel Hill.
“Great
– PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
He became a bar mitzvah at the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 worshippers were murdered in a mass shooting by a white
supremacist gunman during Shabbatmorning services on Oct. 27, 2018. Fineman wrote a column for The New York Times
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about the attack and growing worldwide antisemitism.
He got his start in journalism writing a teen column for Pittsburgh’s Jewish Chronicle.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville School of Law.
Fineman spent three decades at Newsweek, starting in 1980, serving as chief political correspondent, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief, and penned a popular “Living Politics” column. He was an analyst at MSNBC, and in 2010, joined the Huffington Post as senior politics editor.
Author of “The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country,” Fineman lectured at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communications. He appeared on political news commentary shows that ran the gamut.
Fineman’s MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews, who featured the journalist regularly on his eponymous program, said “he was always reporting, and right up until the minute he would come on my show, he’d be off camera, with his notebook out, reporting.” PJC
Toby Tabachnick contributed to this report.
YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT WILLS, ESTATES AND ELDER LAW, CONTINUED
This is one in a series of articles about Elder Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq.
Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney with office in Squirrel Hill. Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com.
Does a Will have to be witnessed and Notarized? No, but you should want it to be. Witnesses and notarization help. When witnessed and notarized, your Will is more likely to be accepted as valid and effective. Generally, a Will just has to be a written statement (video-only Wills are not legally binding in Pennsylvania) made by an adult with the required mental capacity, with the intent that the document serve as their Will, and signed at the end. Does a Revocable Living Trust save money later?
Usually yes. A Revocable Trust instead of a Will is most likely to make things easier for whoever will wind up your affairs by saving resources – time and energy and money. It cuts out single biggest avoidable chunk of legal paperwork that otherwise has to be done, specifically, probate estate filings. The amount of money it will save is uncertain –but since it should definitely take less time, energy and paper, therefore the process usually takes less money, too. There’s no magic number for how much wealth you should have to create a trust, but the he bigger the estate, the bigger the savings.
To protect assets and get Medicaid for nursing home costs, don’t you have to act more than five years ahead of time?
No. There are very effective steps we can take for someone headed to nursing home care to save your money, even at the very last minute, or even after you’re already there! With that kind of last minute emergency planning, if one spouse of a married couple is going in and the other is staying
at home in the community, with the most common planning tools I can often help them protect virtually everything they have, except for the costs of implementing the plan. For a single, unmarried person, I can usually expect to help them protect about half of what they have left at that time. There are other steps that can be taken more than five years in advance, such as gifting or an Irrevocable Asset Protection Trust. With all of these planning strategies, it’s always a question of what is the best fit for you specifically, under all the circumstances. Why do I need a trust for young children in my Will when our children are adults?
In case your adult child dies before you, leaving young beneficiaries such as grandchildren to inherit that share of your estate in their place. An alternative is to just leave your estate to those children who survive you, but that leaves the descendants of a deceased child – who already lost a parent at a young age – at a further economic disadvantage, by missing out on the inheritance from their grandparents, too. And whenever young people are going to inherit, you always want to use a trust for them, for the best results. Otherwise, the inheritance goes into a “guardianship for a minor child,” which is not a very good arrangement. What estate or inheritance taxes apply to what I will leave behind?
Generally, up to three Federal/Pennsylvania taxes: (1) Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax applies to most estates, usually on everything except life insurance proceeds, at tax rates that vary depending on who is inheriting from you. The closer you are related, the lower the tax rate. (2) Federal Deferred Income Tax applies to all inherited IRAs or retirement accounts, on all the money in the account, which is taxable income on which no one has ever paid tax yet. Tax is at the highest marginal rate of the recipient. (3)
Federal Estate Tax affects only the very richest, this year, only if you leave behind more than $13 million plus. Subject to Congressional action, that threshold amount is coming down in 2026.
My elderly relative is at home, impaired and at risk but refuses all help. How can I reach them?
Tough problem. Difficult situation, and no easy answers. Let a professional try. Trained, experienced, empathetic senior care experts who work with such folks regularly may at least have a better chance to break through their isolation, to communicate, and form a bond of trust.
What is “step up in basis” and why does it matter?
For inherited assets that have appreciated in value, the “basis” is the starting point for calculating the gain – beginning with what you paid for the asset. Step-up in basis resets and increases that starting point amount for calculating capital gain, reducing or eliminating the capital gain and the tax. In comparison, when someone gives a
lifetime gift, the donor’s lower basis/acquisition cost carries over to the recipient, often resulting in more gain and tax.
What’s the difference between an Executor and an Administrator?
An Executor is named in a Will to be appointed and in charge of administering a decedent’s estate, but an Administrator most often was not named in a Will, perhaps because of an omission, or because none of the named Executors or their backups are available. Both are appointed by local authorities after applying. It’s almost exactly the same job, with almost the same powers and responsibilities.
Can I refuse an inheritance?
Yes, you can “Disclaim” something, the opposite of claiming it, if you haven’t exercised control or accepted benefits from the inherited property.
At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you and your family.
American journalist and television commentator Howard Fineman on the campaign trail in 2012 at the CPAC convention on Feb. 9, 2012.
Photo by Je Bedford/Flickr via Wikimedia Common
Community
Bring them home
Community members implored elected officials to help bring an estimated 120 hostages home during a June 16 gathering at the corner of Darlington Road and Murray Avenue. The captives have been held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists since Oct. 7.
When I met you in the summer
p Heart to heart
p From left: Dr. Einat Rabinovich, Dr. Andrew Reibach, Dr. Allan Tissenbaum, Dr. Natan Cramer, Dr. Mark Doyal and Dr. Yram Groff
p
Photo courtesy of Alice Sahel-Azagury
p You’ve got a friend in me. Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
