Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 7-5-24

Showing solidarity: Federation

a 2,000-bed hospital in Tel HaShomer, near Tel Aviv — the 39-year-old IDF soldier simply approached them and asked if they would listen to his story.

An ambulance driver and father of five, Yosi braved a 14-hour-long firefight with terrorists on Oct. 7 in a northwestern swath of Israel’s Negev desert.

At Kibbutz Be’eri, just 2.5 miles from the Gaza border, Yosi estimated he rescued some 25 families — about 70 people. Hamas terrorists killed more than 130 men, women and children at the 75-year-old kibbutz, 10% of its residents.

Hamas terrorists shot Yosi several times, including in his legs. As he lay on the ground, bleeding and anticipating death, he said he prayed the Shema.

people and taking more than 250 hostages.

“We came to bear witness, we came to see our impact and we came to stand with Israel,” said Brian Eglash, the Federation’s senior vice president and chief development officer. “To be there and stand with Israel at this point in time was incredible.”

Sheba Medical Center, the leading hospital in the Middle East and an internationally recognized health care facility, was just one stop on the travelers’ itinerary. Pittsburghers visited the site of the Nova music festival, the Negev desert rave where Hamas terrorists committed brutal acts of sexual violence and murdered hundreds of people on Oct. 7.

Local Christian leaders discuss ‘reckoning with antisemitism’

By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer

The Rev. Liddy Barlow and community organizer Noah Schoen understand that wrestling with antisemitism as a Christian can be hard. The process involves confronting sacred texts and personal interactions in a way that might be uncomfortable. So, the pair were pleasantly surprised when more than 80 members of Pittsburgh’s Christian community, including nearly 50 clergy leaders, registered to attend the Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania’s program “Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians” on June 27. Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates, and Schoen, the community outreach associate at the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh, facilitated the night’s discussion, which included Bishop Kurt Kusserow of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod; Greta Stokes Tucker of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education; and the Rev. Leeann Younger of Cityview Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church.

Barlow opened the conversation by recognizing that reckoning with antisemitism as Christians might involve examining cherished texts “with a critical lens that can sometimes make us squirm.”

“It can be hard,” she said, “to discover ways that which is most precious to us has been used as a weapon against our neighbors. It can be hard to discover that this ancient form of hate has been mixed up in a tradition that we understand to be all about love.”

This discovery, she noted, can be all the more difficult in light of the war in Gaza.

A medic, though, found Yosi and, after a traumatic day that foreshadowed the months of war that followed, he entered Sheba, which houses Israel’s National Center for the Rehabilitation of Injured Soldiers.

There, doctors installed a metal rod in what remained of his left leg. Many surgeries still await.

Yosi was one of dozens of people affected by the terrorist attacks that the Pittsburgh

“There were hundreds upon hundreds of pictures there,” Eglash said. “You really see the enormity of it. You see these young faces and they were murdered because they were Jewish. These are future generations that were extinguished.”

The travelers also met with families affected by the Oct. 7 attacks, with soldiers, and with municipal officials in Karmiel and Misgav, communities in Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether program.

The program, held in the John Knox Room at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, began with each participant introducing themself and explaining how they first became aware of Jews and Judaism.

Speaking from a spartan stage adorned with a minimal cross, Younger said that she grew up in a Baptist, evangelical home.

Et odictiumqui andae amusam quistium si de net voloritat

The Branch opens Falk House

4

A rodeo princess among us

Nomi Milmaster is master of horsemanship

 From left: Margorie Manne and Jan Levinson volunteer with the Federation on its mission to Israel. Photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Headlines

Dave McCormick’s Rumble stake draws fire amid hate speech concerns

By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer

State Rep. Dan Frankel doesn’t shy away from calling out social media sites used as platforms for hate and antisemitism.

In 2022, Frankel criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and his connection to Gab, a social media network that claims to be a haven for free speech. It hosts neo-Nazi, alt-right, racist and antisemitic posts and conversations. Its founder Andrew Torba is the co-author of the book “Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion and Discipling Nations.” The man who murdered 11 Jews in the Tree of Life building in 2018 was a frequent user of the site.

In response to his criticism, Frankel, whose district includes Squirrel Hill, was targeted with antisemitic threats by platform users.

When Frankel heard about Rumble, he was surprised to find that it, too, is a home of antisemitic and white supremacist posts.

“It harbors Holocaust deniers, folks who have been thrown off of other platforms, white nationalistic stuff. It’s promoted vaccine misinformation,” Frankel said. “It’s pretty disturbing.”

And like Gab, Rumble has a connection to a Pennsylvania election. This time, it’s the Senate race between Democrat incumbent Bob Casey Jr. and Republican challenger David McCormick.

According to financial disclosures reported by American Journal News, McCormick holds between $1 million and $5 million of stock in Rumble Incorporated.

The investment doesn’t sit well with Frankel.

“We’re calling out Dave McCormick because he’s a significant investor in that platform,” Frankel said.

One doesn’t have to look far, Frankel said, to find a connection between sites like Gab and Rumble and violence against the Jewish community.

“You saw what happened with the guy who murdered 11 of our neighbors at the Tree of Life synagogue,” he said. “It’s always a concern that these platforms potentially create the environment for somebody like that to act on some of these hate-filled communications that are part and parcel with these extremist groups.”

Before murdering 11 Jewish Pittsburghers in the deadliest antisemitic act in U.S. history, the shooter wrote “Screw your optics, I’m going in” on Gab, where he had a long history of antisemitic and anti-immigrant posts.

Rumble platforms personalities like Nick Fuentes, an American far-right political commentator who has praised Adolf Hitler, was kicked off YouTube for violating its hate speech policy and is known for his white supremacist, misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic views.

McCormick spokesperson Elizabeth

Gregory takes umbrage with Frankel’s criticism of McCormick, saying his support of the Jewish community is indisputable.

“These accusations are akin to saying anyone who invests in Twitter or Facebook is responsible for the content of every post on the platform,” she said. “Dave has and will continue to forcefully condemn antisemitism.”

Frankel though, questions McCormick’s commitment to the Jewish community.

“He was at the Tree of Life ceremony this fall, he’s ostensibly a member of the Squirrel Hill community,” Frankel said, “although his main residence is in Connecticut. But if he wants to be consistent and supportive of our community and the Jewish community generally, as well as other vulnerable groups, why is he investing in a platform that is a safe harbor for these extremist groups that promote antisemitism, Holocaust denial and other conspiracy theories?”

That argument, however, doesn’t hold weight for members of the McCormick campaign, who highlight what they see as proof of McCormick’s commitment to the Jewish community when compared to the Democratic incumbent.

“McCormick’s strong voice against the antisemitic encampments terrorizing college campuses is a sharp contrast to Bob Casey, who has repeatedly failed to speak out,” Gregory said.

Squirrel Hill resident Lou Weiss, who is active in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, agrees with Gregory. He said there hasn’t been a stronger voice against antisemitism than McCormick’s.

“Dave has stood shoulder to shoulder with myself and other members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community at the Sunday Squirrel Hill vigils to demand for the return of the Israeli hostages and attended the five-year anniversary of the Tree of Life attack. I’m proud to call him a true friend,” Weiss said.

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Casey told the Chronicle that he believes McCormick should divest from Rumble and condemn the hate spewed on the platform.

“It’s reprehensible and really hard for me to understand why anyone would invest a single dollar in a website that platforms hate the way this particular website does,” Casey said.

Frankel’s criticism of the site hasn’t gone unnoticed by Rumble officials.

TribLive reported that Rumble’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, accusing Frankel of using defamatory and false rhetoric in criticism of the company.

Rumble’s lawyer said the Democratic Party could face “substantial liability” if doesn’t correct the statements.

Frankel doesn’t seem too concerned over the legal threats of Rumble, which claims it’s “on a mission to protect a free and open internet for people who believe in authentic expression.”

“I think it’s a pretty lame reason to sue somebody,” Frankel said, “particularly when you’re talking about free speech. We had the same issue with Gab, and I don’t recall that they threatened to sue.”

Casey praised Frankel and condemned the threats against him.

“He’s a distinguished member of the General Assembly, who also happens to be a member of the community where the Tree of Life happened. He’s been a leader in the fight against antisemitism,” Casey said. “If anything, he should be commended for his efforts to speak out against this website that platforms hate, including Holocaust denial and antisemitism.”

Rumble officials did not respond to requests for an interview from the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. PJC

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

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Headlines

PA Senate passes pro-Israel bill in response to campus encampments

By Jarrad Sa ren | Contributing Writer

Anew piece of legislation in Pennsylvania, Senate Bill 1260, would divest companies from state pension funds and colleges from state funds if they support a boycott, divestment and sanctions action against Israel.

Labeled the “Stand with Israel Bill,” the legislation passed the Senate by a 41-7 vote on June 27. It now moves to the House for potential passage during the fall session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Introduced by Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks), a convert to Judaism, and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York), the bill is a response to the encampments that broke out on college campuses this spring, according to the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition. Protesters at those encampments, which broke out at the University of Pittsburgh, Drexel University and other colleges in and out of state, called for divestment from businesses operating in Israel, ending academic work with Israeli universities and even disbanding Hillel and Chabad houses on their campuses.

The legislation would give companies and universities cover against such threats.

“We’re hoping it could be a defense mechanism to protect the schools from being forced into antisemitic divestments,” said Hank Butler of the PJC.

The demands of the protesters made it clear that calls for BDS were not made in good faith, according to Santarsiero. Lumped in with demands to remove Jewish spaces on campus and for

MANNA

offers kosher made-toorder, takeout food

By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer

Looking for kosher takeout options in Pittsburgh? Chef Judah Cowen has you covered.

Cowen, who owns Elegant Edge Catering, launched MANNA on July 1, offering takeout for on-demand pickup or delivery.

The idea, he said, came from his catering company’s customers who were seeking smaller orders for their families.

MANNA, he said, fulfills that desire.

“It’s a takeout restaurant, so if you want to spend $20, you can spend $20. If you want to spend $100, you can spend $100, based on the size of the family and what you order,” Cowen said. “There are no minimums.”

The new venture, which Cowen bills as an “earth-based heavenly taste” offers both kosher and halal dishes, including signature sandwiches, burgers and sushi, all prepared fresh.

Cowen said the restaurant is inspired by the original manna, delivered to the Jews wandering in the desert for 40 years. And while there weren’t meal options for that Jewish community, Pittsburghers can select from a menu that includes appetizers, desserts and main dishes.

“Manna,” Cowen said, “is all encompassing, it’s whatever you want it to be.”

To that end, MANNA offers dishes like a Southern fried chicken sandwich with spicy honey sauce and house pickles, a New York burger with pastrami, poke

bowls, wings and several different sushi rolls.

A second phase will include expanded options.

“We will look to add different cuisines and different items,” Cowen said.

Delivery is available through DoorDash, and Cowen plans to eventually include Grubhub and Uber Eats. To avoid delivery charges, pickup is available at 5915 Beacon St., where Elegant Edge is located.

MANNA is the newest edition to Cowen’s expanding kosher food eateries, which include Elegant Edge Catering; Tahini, Edge (both closed for the summer) and the Zebra Lounge, all at Carnegie Mellon University. Zebra Lounge, a coffee shop, expanded its summer offerings to include sushi, sandwiches, salads, pizza and bagels.

MANNA’s hours are Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. Shabbat takeout is available, but orders must be placed by Wednesday. It is closed on Shabbat.

Orders can be placed at eedgecatering.square. site/manna. PJC

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

universities to endorse the statement, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the BDS calls were antisemitic in nature. (“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a well-known call for eliminating the state of Israel.)

“It’s a political movement by Palestinian partisans that seeks to blame Israel for every problem in the conflict and that also engages in antisemitic rhetoric and tropes,” Santarsiero said. “It needs to be

understood in that light and confronted.”

Santarsiero, whose 10th district includes portions of central and lower Bucks County, said it was not a hard decision even as a Democrat.

“It’s a false statement to say that just because you’re pro-Israel and anti-BDS that you are somehow anti-Muslim.That is what these BDSers are trying to argue, and it is flat wrong,” he said.

Twenty-seven of 28 Republicans in the 50-member Senate voted for the bill. Fourteen of 22 Democrats voted in favor.

The senators who voted against it were Anthony Williams (Philadelphia), Art Haywood (Philadelphia), Nikil Saval (Philadelphia), Katie Muth (Montgomery), Timothy Kearney (Delaware) and Lindsey Williams (Allegheny). Republican Jarrett Coleman (Lehigh) also voted against it.

Democratic senators Carolyn Comitta (Chester) and Sharif Street (Philadelphia) were not in attendance.

In 2016, Pennsylvania passed legislation that prohibited the state from doing business with a company that boycotted Israel. It passed the House 187-7 and the Senate 47-1.

Please see Encampments, page 11

Executive Director: Marissa Fogel

Lynn Snyderman Gemini Pandya

Elaine Beck

Erika Gold

Eileen Lane

Pictured left to right: outgoing President Andrea Glickman, incoming President Leah Kamon

 MANNA, a new takeout kosher restaurant, offers signature sandwiches like the New York burger with pastrami.

Photo courtesy of Elegant Edge

— LOCAL —

 Pitt and CMU students participated in an encampment at Schenley Park protesting Israel's response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Photo by Jim Busis

Headlines

A childhood home reimagined: The Branch opens new culturally Jewish living community

By Abigail Hakas | Special to the Chronicle

It was something of a homecoming for brothers Josh and David Falk when they celebrated the grand opening of the Elliott and Esther Falk House, a community living arrangement, more commonly known as a group home, for those with intellectual disabilities.

Josh Falk, who has an intellectual disability, was living in the home for a few weeks by the time friends, family and community members filled the house on June 27 to tour it.

But the brothers were already intimately familiar with the landscape of the Squirrel Hill ranch house. They grew up there.

Their parents, Esther and Elliott Falk, moved to Pittsburgh in 1968 when David and Josh were 4 and 7, respectively. Elliott Falk was vital to the expansion of Robert Morris University as its vice president of financial affairs. Esther Falk, a Holocaust survivor, was a teacher.

The two were active members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. Elliott Falk, who often went by the nickname “Buddy,” served for terms as president of Poale Zedeck Congregation and Hillel Academy. It was important to the Falks that their son Josh be connected to the Jewish community.

Even as Josh Falk spent the week and weeknights at Clelian Heights — a Roman Catholic school for those with developmental disabilities that he attended from age 7 to 18 — Esther Falk brought him home every weekend for Shabbat.

When he left Clelian Heights, Josh Falk spent years in various community living arrangements, but his mother was always bothered by the fact that he was living in homes that weren’t culturally Jewish.

Alison Karabin, director of community and partnerships at The Branch, formerly Jewish Residential Services, met Esther Falk around nine years ago. Esther Falk’s health began to decline around 2016, eight years after her husband’s death, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Karabin facilitated meetings with Verland, a nonprofit that creates community living arrangements.

The Branch has worked with Verland to set up two other culturally Jewish community living arrangements in Pittsburgh: the Solomon and Sarah Goldberg House and the Solomon Family House. Verland staffs each home with a 24/7 crew that helps

with cooking, cleaning and transportation, among other things.

When Esther Falk’s health declined, David Falk had the epiphany that his childhood home would make an ideal group home for Josh Falk, who at the time was living in a group residence that was not culturally Jewish.

David Falk invited a crew from The Branch to look at the one-story house. It was desirable as a group home for Josh Falk, he said, for its accessibility and a host of other reasons, including that “it was back in the Jewish community, that they intended to make sure that the home was kosher, which was a big deal to my mother and me and that, you know, he would be in the midst of celebrating Jewish holidays in some fashion. They’re taking him to synagogue every Saturday; I mean, it’s just a whole new world.”

During a speech at the grand opening of the house, David Falk said that his brother shows “a yearning for Judaism.”

“He loves Hebrew music, saying Kiddush on Shabbos, celebrating Jewish holidays and attending shul,” David Falk said. “Both our parents are certainly smiling down today now that Josh has an opportunity to live in a kosher group home among the wonderful Pittsburgh Jewish community.”

David Falk said he appreciates that Josh

Falk is living in a home run by a Jewish organization like The Branch.

“Maybe I should have expected it, but they turned over the house for Passover, which I was blown away by,” he told the Chronicle. “They started taking him to synagogue before I even discussed it with them.”

David Falk, Josh’s legal guardian, sold the house in 2019 and donated a portion of the proceeds back to The Branch to help pay for the renovations with the understanding that Josh Falk would move in and that the house would be named after their parents.

Aside from staff, Josh Falk lives with another housemate, David Goodman, who uses a wheelchair. To make the house compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, hallways were widened and a ramp was installed.

While the house was redesigned to be ADA-compliant and refurnished, some parts of the house were purposefully kept the same.

The basement has jigsaw puzzles completed by David Falk that hang on the wall as well as a chalkboard. Esther Falk’s and Josh Falk’s handwriting remains on the board from a time when she gave him lessons.

Josh Falk has an affinity for Native American history and objects, as well as automobiles, so his room has no shortage

of either. Model cars, a dreamcatcher and a map of Native American tribes, to name just a few, decorate the shelves and purple walls of the room. Karabin asked for Josh Falk’s favorite color during the renovations, and it was painted that shade for him.

“It was really neat to see them back there. I think it was bittersweet because Mrs. Falk isn’t around anymore,” Karabin said. “I really wish she had seen him move back in because that’s something she really wanted.”

Karabin says that, for the most part, it’s a house like any other. Residents of community living arrangements are often actively involved in the community, including participating in activities at the Jewish Community Center and the Friendship Circle.

David Falk said his brother’s return to the Jewish community is not just meaningful to him, but also to their late parents.

“I couldn’t be happier. I feel like I’ve accomplished what I was put here for,” David Falk said, beginning to tear up. “I don’t mean to get emotional, but I feel like I’ve fulfilled my parents’ dreams for him and just getting him back into the Jewish community.”

Abigail Hakas is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh. — LOCAL —

p From left: David Falk and Josh Falk

Photo by Abigail Hakas

Headlines

Getting to know: Alan Olifson

By Kathleen Gianni | Special to the Chronicle

As a software developer by day and a comedian by night, Alan Olifson finds a balance between his suburban family lifestyle and his longtime commit ment to comedy.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Olifson moved to Pittsburgh in 2011, where he has settled into his home in O’Hara Township. He moved for work opportunities and to be closer to his wife’s family, and he quickly integrated into Pittsburgh’s comedy scene.

“One of the appealing things about Pittsburgh is that it’s a smaller city, so there’s just more room to kind of make your own way and make opportunities for yourself,” the Jewish comedian said. “When I moved here, I reached out to theaters and just kind of put myself out there and kept on doing what I had been doing in LA.”

Olifson initially made his mark as a comic in Pittsburgh by hosting The Moth’s monthly StorySLAM storytelling series at the now-closed Rex Theater on the South Side.

After the pandemic slowed his work in comedy, Olifson had to decide how to move forward with his career.

He found a strong community through the speakers and regular attendees at The Moth, he said, and, after it shut down, he was encouraged to establish a new program based on a similar concept. Olifson now produces a monthly show at City of Asylum called Story Club Pittsburgh.

Story Club Pittsburgh operates similarly to The Moth series: Each show has a theme, and people are invited to share their nonfiction stories relating to the topic.

While Story Club Pittsburgh is part of a larger national organization, Olifson said he appreciates that he gets the freedom to tailor the show to fit the Pittsburgh audience.

Olifson also hosts and produces Speakeasy at Arcade Comedy Theater. The show was inspired by WordPlay, another project Olifson began in LA and brought to Pittsburgh before the pandemic.

Tying his interest in music with his comedy

background,” Olifson said. “You might not walk out of a movie and think ‘Wow, that soundtrack really brought that movie to life.’ But if it wasn’t there or if it were different, you would notice.”

Curious to see how music could impact storytelling, he began producing WordPlay.

“People would submit their essays and then I would go through with my music, and I would basically break the stories down into beats and put songs to each,” Olifson said.

While Speakeasy operates on a similar concept, Olifson decided to add to it by including a brief interview portion with the artist after each show, drawing inspiration from a podcast he co-hosted during the pandemic

with local musician Nathan Zoob. Olifson said he takes a late-night-style interviewing strategy, asking the performers questions about their story and their lives.

Across Olifson’s comedy career, he said he has struggled to find the right angle to tell his

“A lot of feedback I got when I was doing comedy in my 20s was, ‘Yeah, you’re funny, but who are you?’” Olifson said. “I would string a lot of funny ideas together, but if you think about all the good comedians, they have a specific point of view. Any topic they talk about, they talk about it from that point of view.”

Through writing his book “Manchild: My Life Without Adult Supervision,” Olifson found that much of his work returns to the theme of

“I had, like, 30 essays sitting around, and if you write that much, you realize you touch on the same themes,” Olifson said. “Everyone has their thing that they keep coming back to, and mine was always about not wanting to be an adult and having a hard time growing up and accepting responsibility.”

While Olifson keeps busy with his day job and family, he finds time to return to comedy through the shows that he produces.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve fallen into a nice equilibrium,” Olifson said. “Pittsburgh allows me to do this more than LA. I have a good job, and I can live my suburban family life and still have plenty of time to produce my own shows, go to others to do stand-up shows, and put myself out there as often as I want to.” PJC

Kathleen Gianni can be reached at kgianni@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Reuven Fenton’s ‘Goyhood’ propels author to activism

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

The first novel Reuven Fenton wrote was about a superhero. Fenton, a veteran New York Post reporter, didn’t choose his protagonist because of an interest in preter natural powers; he just thought that sort of book would have commercial appeal. It never got published.

So he wrote a novel about a subject that did interest him, one that he would want to read. The result was “Goyhood,” a book with decid edly Jewish characters and themes.

It got picked up by publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster.

At a time when Jewish authors are blacklisted for their support or perceived support of Israel — including by way of a Google doc that recently went viral titled “is your favorite author a Zionist” — Fenton doesn’t take his good fortune for granted.

The publishing of “Goyhood” — which tells the story of an Orthodox Jewish man who discovers midlife that he isn’t Jewish — “actually feels in hindsight miraculous to me,” Fenton said, speaking from his home in New York City. He considers himself “one of the lucky ones,” he said.

He also finds himself now in the position of

accidental activist.

Bucking publishing trends that skew against white male authors and books about white male protagonists — “never mind Jewish” — Fenton said, has propelled him into an “advocacy position, which I was not at all planning to be in.”

Suddenly, Fenton said, he’s “talking about these things and doing interviews about essentially how right now, you know, being openly Jewish is really important —like not hiding your Judaism and being proudly Jewish and doing that any way you can. I’m seeing it all over the place, like people wearing Jewish stars around their necks, and all these different

ways that people are expressing their Judaism because they feel like there is an existential threat right now.”

“The real takeaway,” the author added, “is that I’m finding myself in a position where I actually represent something now. And it’s not just a simple matter of, ‘Oh, I wrote a novel on something I’m interested in.’ All of a sudden, my book means something bigger than just the story that it’s in it.”

“Goyhood” has been described as a cross between Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” and the film “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

The book tells the story of Mayer, a devout , married to the daughter of an esteemed Jewish scholar. His twin brother, David, is a secular ne’er do well entrepreneur. The brothers are estranged until their mother’s death and their discovery that they are not, in fact, Jewish. They then head out on a road trip peppered with unexpected companions and zany experiences.

While Fenton describes his religious observance as Modern Orthodox — with some Hasidic influence — he identifies with both the pious Mayer and the worldly David. He thinks many readers will as well.

The duality between the two brothers can represent “our two natures,” he said. “Our sort of spiritual, pure innocent side, and our kind of hedonistic, physical animal side.”

Hasidic teachings, Fenton said, reference

“the animal soul and the Godly soul, and how the trick is to find the balance of those things inside you. So this idea that the two brothers, who are polar opposites, essentially when they when they unite — it takes a while — but eventually they sort of unite as one kind of perfect human being.”

While Fenton sees himself as a combination of Mayer and David, he admits he is “slightly more Mayer as I get older, only because with maturity I think you become a little bit less into the physical maybe as you as you age.”

Fenton’s family was not religiously observant when he was young. That all changed, he said, through the influence of Chabad, which struck a chord with his mother. He has seven siblings, representing a range of Orthodox practices. Some of his brothers, he said, are “rabbis with a long beard.”

C habad also plays a pivotal role in “Goyhood.”

“ That was totally autobiographical, that aspect of it,” Fenton said, noting that the Hasidic movement can “transform people’s lives.”

Fenton will join the Chronicle Book Club’s July 14, 1 p.m. Zoom discussion of “Goyhood.” To register, email drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PJC

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Alan Olifson performs at Arcade Comedy Theater.

Photo by Handerson Gomes

p Reuven Fenton Photo by Robert Miller

Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.

 SUNDAYS, JULY 7–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, JULY 8–DEC. 30

Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

 WEDNESDAY, JULY 10

Animal lovers of all ages are welcome to join Rodef Shalom Congregation for Meet theAnimals: A Petting Zoo Experience in their Biblical Botanical Garden. Free. 10 a.m. rodefshalom.org.

Enjoy an hour of nourishment for the mind, body and soul as Chabad of Squirrel Hill explores words of wisdom for the month of Tammuz at its Ladies Lunch and Learn. Noon. $18. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/lunch.

Accessible to all fitness levels, chair yoga allows you to perform yoga poses while seated for balance. Chair yoga provides the same benefits as traditional yoga, such as improved strength, flexibility and mental well-being. Learn how to find the most common and beneficial yoga poses in a chair, while in a traumainformed setting that encourages mindfulness, body awareness and personal choice. Free. 1 p.m. No registration required. Room 316 of the Squirrel Hill JCC. 1027healingpartnership.org/event/accessible-chair-yoga.

 WEDNESDAYS, JULY 10, 24; AUG. 7, 28

Join JFCS and 10.27 Healing Partnership for an artbased mindfulness program. The group will explore ways making art can help regulate the nervous system, promote playfulness and imagination, and connect us more deeply to our bodies, emotions, thoughts and worldviews. Attendees will come together in community as we explore di erent art mediums, share our personal experiences and reflect on how art can influence us all. Free. 10 a.m. 10.27 Healing Partnership Suite, 3rd floor of the JCC in Squirrel Hill. Membership not required. Registration required. 1027healingpartnership.org/ art-in-community-3.



WEDNESDAYS, JULY 10–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.

 WEDNESDAYS, 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, JULY 10–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.

 TUESDAYS, JULY 16, 30; AUG. 13

Join Tree of Life congregants at the Schenley Park Oval as they meet 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 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/generationsspeaker-presentation-by-dr-melissa-marks/.

Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for a Women’s Farbrengen, an evening of Chassidic songs and stories on the topic of “Igniting Jewish Passion.” Enjoy hot drinks and desserts. 7 p.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. $10 suggested donation. chabadpgh.com/farbrengen.

 FRIDAYS, JULY 19; AUG. 23

Join Tree of Life Congregation as they celebrate the

welcoming of Shabbat. 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.

 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.

 MONDAYS, AUG. 5, SEPT. 9

Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership for one or all sessions of this healing, consciousness-building forest bathing series. Enjoy gentle walks through Pittsburgh’s parks while nurturing your connection to the natural world through reflective practices. 9:30 a.m. Free. Registration required. Walled Garden in Mellon Park. 1027healingpartnership.org/ forest-bathing-4.



THURSDAY, AUG. 8

Women are invited to join Chabad of Squirrel Hill and bake butterfly challahs at Loaves of Love 7 p.m. $12. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/lol.

 THURSDAY, SEPT. 12

Please join StandWithUs for its inaugural Pittsburgh Community Reception honoring Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler and featuring keynote speaker Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus. 6 p.m. Early bird: $90; VIP: $250. Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. standwithus.com/ pittsburgh-event-2024. 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.

PJC

— Toby Tabachnick

 Reuven Fenton Photo by Robert Miller

Headlines

Emissaries return inspired from Chabad on Campus International convention in Israel

By Emily Golden | Special to the Chronicle

Sara Weinstein, the co-director of Pittsburgh’s Chabad on Campus, didn’t have time to visit cousins on her recent trip to Israel, but she made time to look up alumni — including spending Shabbat with a Pitt alum who made aliyah.

“That really is where our heart is,” Weinstein said.

Along with 150 other shluchot, or Chabad female emissaries, Weinstein attended the Chabad on Campus International convention several weeks ago.

Chabad on Campus usually holds its annual convention on the East Coast, but this year the organization thought it best to make the trip to the Jewish homeland so participants could experience wartime Israel firsthand and bring those experiences back to their campuses.

Campus protests have spread at colleges across the United States in recent months as Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip continue, with students erecting encampments from which they disrupt campus life while loudly condemning Israel. Some Jewish students say the protests made them feel unsafe, and Israel supporters say the rhetoric has, at times, veered into antisemitism.

“It’s very disturbing,” Chabad on Campus Chief Operating Officer Rabbi Avi Weinstein told The Times of Israel. “But what’s more disturbing than the encampments is the fact that certain administrations are giving them credibility by negotiating with them. In some ways, that’s scarier because it [normalizes] antisemitism and attacking Jews.”

Several of the emissaries at the convention said there has been an uptick in visible Jewish pride mainly coming from students who led completely secular lives before Oct, 7 or whose campuses had particularly influential anti-Israel protests, The Times of Israel reported.

Many Jewish students in Pittsburgh,

Weinstein said, have “really taken this opportunity to show up and be counted and to stand with Israel.”

Weinstein said that this trip was much different than conventions she attended in previous years.

“Usually we do a lot of computer programs and help each other with ideas and advice, and we also do a little bit of self-care, taking a moment out for ourselves,” she said. “This time we didn’t talk about programs — nobody cared about programs.”

Instead, the women visited the Nova music festival site and heard from a Chabad on Campus alum who escaped from an attempted kidnapping by terrorists on Oct. 7.

They heard the stories of a resident of Kibbutz Re’im, who rescued young people fleeing for their lives.

They visited a Chabad in Sderot with an outdoor menorah made from missiles that had been shot at its building from Gaza.

“You see the fence that all the terrorists climbed over, and then you see, you know, bombing in the background, and that’s what’s going on today,” Weinstein said.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of Hirsch Goldberg-Polin, who is still being held hostage in Gaza, spoke to the shluchot “mother to mother,” Weinstein said.

Another highlight was a swim marathon for women in the Kineret. The purpose of the event was to raise money for Sadna, an organization in northern Israel that serves youth with special needs. Swim teams were required to raise $600; the shulchot raised $5,000.

Weinstein said she was hesitant to participate in the marathon because of her

age but was inspired by the encouragement and sisterhood of the other shluchot.

“It was just pure goodwill and unity,” Weinstein said.

Following the conference, Weinstein and her husband, Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein, rented an apartment on King George Street and celebrated Yom Yerushalayim.

There was a big concert, dancing and singing right outside their window.

“It brought me to tears,” Weinstein said. “I didn’t want to leave.”

Despite their ongoing trauma since Oct. 7, Israelis were celebrating.

“That is the resilience of Israeli society today,” Weinstein said. PJC

Emily Golden can be reached at emilygolden03@gmail.com. The Times of Israel contributed to this report.

Jewish Federation board chair assaulted in brazen lunchtime attack

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Board Chair Jan Levinson is recovering after a lunchtime assault in downtown Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh police from the Downtown Public Safety Center were dispatched to the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Smithfield Street at approximately noon on June 26 where they found Levinson with injuries to his face, according to the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Blotter. Levinson, 73, told police that he was walking down Fourth Avenue when an

unknown man approached him. He attempted to flee the scene, but the man pursued him, striking him in the head.

Officers reviewed surveillance footage of the incident and were able to identify the attacker as Jameel Huff, 24. They arrested him a short time later and charged him with aggravated assault.

Levinson was transported by Pittsburgh EMS to an area hospital in stable condition. It was determined that he had a broken orbital bone as well as bleeding and swelling from the attack.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office, in a statement to the Chronicle, wished Levinson a speedy recovery.

“We’re proud of the quick response by the Pittsburgh Police in arresting the person responsible and EMS in providing care to the hospital,” the statement read.

“The safety of all residents is a top priority for us and that’s reflected in the establishment of the Downtown Public Safety Center as well as officers walking the beat downtown.”

The statement added that the mayor is committed to making downtown a place where everyone who works, plays or lives feels safe and welcome.

In a separate statement, Levinson said that the attack was not antisemitic in nature, and that he was attacked by “an

individual with known mental health issues.”

Levinson noted that the police and emergency services responded quickly and professionally to the attack.

He did, however, have a warning to public officials.

“As the city council is trying to encourage more people to live downtown, I urge them to make sure downtown stays safe so that we can better protect the people who live there,” Levinson wrote.

Huff is being held at the Allegheny County Jail. His preliminary hearing is set for July 10. PJC

— David Rullo

p Shluchot at the Chabad in Sderot Photo courtesy of Sara Weinstein p Sara and Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein at the Western Wall Photo courtesy of Sara Weinstein

Headlines

Next up, Cori Bush: After Jamaal Bowman defeat, pro-Israel donors pivot to Missouri

By Ron Kampeas

Less than two days after AIPAC spent $14 million in a successful bid to send Rep. Jamaal Bowman packing in New York, the pro-Israel powerhouse texted a message to its followers: Their next target is Missouri Rep. Cori Bush.

“On Tuesday night, the pro-Israel commu nity helped ensure anti-Israel Rep. Jamaal Bowman won’t be returning to Congress next year,” said the fundraising text the American Israel Public Affairs Committee sent Thursday afternoon. “With your support, we can also help defeat Rep. Cori Bush, another member of the anti-Israel Squad.”

Time was pressing, AIPAC said. “We have a short window to act.” Bush’s primary is Aug. 6.

Bush, whose district includes St. Louis, has much in common with Bowman: Each ousted a long-serving establishment Democrat in a 2020 primary, and both are members of the far-left Squad in Congress.

They are also both harsh critics of Israel, voting against emergency funding for Israel in its war against Hamas, and accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

“The U.N. special rapporteur just released a report showing strong evidence of genocide in Gaza,” Bush said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in March. “Meanwhile, the Biden Admin

A little light drives out much

“I need y’all to make it clear that they’re trying to buy this seat.”

AIPAC raises money “to help oust anybody who does not stand 100% with Israel in the way that means that Israel has to be supreme,” Bush said at her campaign opener, according to KSDK 5 News, an NBC affiliate.

Bush’s problem is that AIPAC’s campaign may be working, as per the DMFI poll.

“Bush is still seen favorably, but assessments of her and her performance are moving in a negative direction, while Bell’s image is improving, leaving him with an underlying image advantage,” said a memo from DMFI’s affiliated political consultancy, the Mellman Group. “With some six weeks to go and 11% still undecided, this race can go either way, but Bell has achieved a slight advantage.”

There are key differences between the Bowman and Bush races: Bell is known, but is not the household name that George Latimer, the Westchester County executive who beat Bowman, is in his own district.

signaled it’ll continue arming the Israeli government. Hollow words aren’t enough. We need action. Stop sending bombs.”

On Oct. 16, nine days after Hamas launched the war against Israel, massacring some 1,200 people inside the country and kidnapping more than 250, Bush — along with Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and a few other Congressional Democrats — introduced a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

For AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups, that has made her a prime target, and has benefited her rival, Wesley Bell, a St. Louis County prosecutor. Now, Bowman’s ouster has emboldened Israel advocates, and has them craving another victory. Bush’s supporters also acknowledge that t he races will resemble each other in significant ways.

“There’s no question, it’s a harder race, but it’s definitely a winnable race,” Mark Mellman, who heads the Democratic Majority for Israel, said regarding Bush. His group shared polling showing that Bell was losing by double digits in January, but is tied with Bush now.

“So he was 17 points behind before we spent any money, before anybody else spent significant money and this race is tied,” said Mellman, whose organization also runs a PAC.

The race in Bush’s Missouri district, which includes St. Louis, won’t be as expensive as the race in Bowman’s district, which includes much of Westchester County and a sliver of the Bronx. The ad market in the Missouri district is much less expensive — but the numbers are still eye-opening for a congressional primary.

Bell, as of the most recent filing, has raised $1.72 million while Bush has raised $1.57 million. The AIPAC-affiliated superPAC, the United Democracy Project has, according to Politico, pledged to spend an additional $2.5 million on ads. (Super PACs may raise and spend unlimited amounts, but may not coordinate directly with a campaign.)

Bush anticipated the AIPAC-led push when she launched her reelection campaign in January.

“It’s called AIPAC,” Bush said then.

Bowman also doubled down on emphatic anti-Israel rhetoric in a district with close to 150,000 Jews. Bush’s district does include many of St. Louis’ estimated 60,000 Jews, but they are not as influential as a voting share.

Bell, a leader in the movement of progressive prosecutors, also has issues Latimer did not, said Matan Arad-Neeman, a spokesman for IfNotNow, the non-Zionist Jewish movement that has vocally opposed AIPAC’s political involvement in Democratic politics.

“Cori Bush is quite popular among her constituents and she’s up against a candidate who was the campaign manager for an extremist anti-abortion Republican,” he said. Bell did manage a campaign for his Republican friend in 2006, and a number of Republican donors are backing Bell.

Arad-Neeman said it was “catastrophic” that Republicans should be able to influence a Democratic primary, including through donations to AIPAC’s affiliated PACs. He acknowledged that AIPAC was trying to repeat its successful formula in Bush’s district.

“It should be concerning to all of us that they’ll take the same playbook to St. Louis,” he said.

Bush also has vulnerabilities: She is under federal investigation for payments she made to private security, including to a security guard she eventually married. And she voted against President Joe Biden’s landmark 2021 infrastructure funding bill. Pro-Israel advocates leveraged Bowman’s no vote on that bill against him.

Like Bowman, Bush has singled out her Jewish backers at campaign events to push back against the claim she does not represent the community.

“You heard the progressive Jews of St. Louis up here, they understand my congresswoman is not antisemitic,” Bush said at the January event. But like Bowman, she has fraught relations with much of the local Jewish community, earning an anguished rebuke from a broad array of Jewish groups

p Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, joins university union representatives and other lawmakers at a press conference to advocate for the protection of free speech on campuses, at the U.S. Capitol on May 23. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

Headlines

Father Coughlin’s Detroit-area church will now teach visitors about his antisemitism

During his Depression-era run as one of the country’s most popular radio personalities, Father Charles Coughlin spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, praised fascists and suggested Jews deserved the horrors of Nazi persecution.

Now, nine decades later, his church is officially declaring him an antisemite — and educating visitors about his legacy of hate, JTA.org reported.

Following renewed interest in Coughlin and two years of discussions with local Jewish figures, the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, has changed the way it memorializes its founder, whose large national following helped pay for its construction.

Previously, official histories at the Catholic parish seat stated that Coughlin’s “political involvement and passionate rhetoric opened him up to accusations of antisemitism.” The new version, posted on both the church’s website and on an updated plaque on the Shrine grounds, is far more direct, stating clearly that Coughlin himself propagated antisemitism.

Detroit’s Jews have petitioned the Shrine for years to better acknowledge its painful history. For them, the change was significant.

“It’s a total victory,” said Levi Smith, vice president of a local foundation devoted to the historical legacy of Detroit Jewish architect Albert Kahn. He said he helped work with the church on the new language.

Jewish parents join lawsuit challenging Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments in schools

Three Jewish families are among a group of nine Louisiana families with children in public schools who have filed a suit in federal court challenging a new state law that requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in all publicschool classrooms, JTA.org reported.

The lawsuit — filed on the families’ behalf by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom from Religion Foundation — argues that the law enacted last month violates the First Amendment.

Specifically, the complaint says that the language of the law “Approves and Prescribes One Particular Version of the Ten Commandments, to Which Many People Do Not Subscribe,” violating the Constitution’s prohibitions on establishing an official religion and prohibiting free exercise of religion.

The lawsuit has longstanding precedent on its side: In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky state law mandating the Ten Commandments in all classrooms was unconstitutional. But Christian culture warriors, emboldened by the recent arrival of a solidly conservative majority on the court, see an opportunity.

Victims of Oct. 7 attack sue UNRWA for allegedly laundering money for Hamas

More than 100 victims of Hamas’ massacres in Israel on Oct. 7 are suing UNRWA, the main relief agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, saying it effectively laundered money for the terrorist group, the latest in a

Today in Israeli History

July 8, 1989 — Judo champ

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

July 5, 1950 — Law of Return is enacted

The Knesset passes the Law of Return, offering an open immigration door to all Jews. It formalizes a policy in place since the provisional government revoked British limits on Jewish immigration in May 1948.

July 6, 1989 — Bus attack kills 16

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist seizes a bus from Tel Aviv as it passes a ravine outside Jerusalem and steers it over a cliff. Sixteen people, including one American and two Canadians, are killed, and 17 others are injured.

Yarden Gerbi is born

Yarden Gerbi is born in Kfar Saba. Gerbi wins eight national judo championships. In 2013 she becomes the first Israeli to win a world judo title, and in 2016 she wins an Olympic bronze.

p Yarden Gerbi is Israel’s first judo world champion and won an Olympic medal in the sport, Israel’s strongest internationally.

July 9, 1959 — Wadi Salib riots begin

Riots break out in the Haifa neighborhood of Wadi Salib after police shoot Yaakov Elkarif while trying to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly. The rioting is Israel’s first mass civil disturbance.

July 10, 1957 — Yiddish writer Sholem Asch dies

Yiddish novelist and playwright Sholem Asch dies at 76 in London. Born in Russiancontrolled Poland in 1880, he first visited Palestine in 1908 and wrote about the Jewish connection to the land.

spate of lawsuits launched in U.S. courts since the Israel-Hamas war started, JTA.org reported.

The lawsuit filed on June 24 in federal court in the Southern District of New York alleges that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency assisted Hamas, including by building the infrastructure it required to launch the war, subsidizing Hamas by paying its activists as employees and relaying Hamas propaganda through its schools.

“The terrorist who held me hostage for 53 days worked as a school teacher for UNRWA,” Ditza Heiman, one of the hostages, said in a statement. “The fact that Hamas controlled Gaza was not an excuse for UNRWA to hire and fund terrorists, but instead should have ensured UNRWA took extra precautions.”

UNRWA did not respond to requests for comment.

Texas school district agrees to remove ‘Anne Frank’s Diary,’ ‘Maus,’ ‘The Fixer’ and 670 other books

The superintendent of a school district in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas recently agreed within minutes to a conservative group’s demands to remove 676 books, including some seminal texts about the Holocaust and antisemitism, JTA.org reported.

Now, weeks later, Carol Perez has been removed from the district she led, just as the Republican governor of Texas appeared to endorse the book removals on social media.

Conservative activists, led by a local pastor and outspoken Israel advocate, pushed the district, Mission CISD, to excise books mostly about gender, sexuality and race. Their demands represented an extreme version of a nationwide culture war over books that has

played out in recent years.

In Mission, the long list of books on the chopping block includes a recent illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary; both volumes of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir “Maus”; “The Fixer,” Bernard Malamud’s novel about a historical instance of antisemitic blood libel; and “Kasher in the Rye,” a ribald memoir by Jewish comedian Moshe Kasher.

Stanford task force documents ‘widespread and pernicious’ antisemitism on campus Since Oct. 7

Antisemitism is prevalent at Stanford University and action on several fronts is needed to combat it, a committee charged with analyzing its presence on campus since Oct. 7 has concluded, JTA.org reported.

“Our Subcommittee has reached a simple but highly disturbing conclusion: there can be no doubt that antisemitism exists today on the Stanford campus in ways that are widespread and pernicious,” says the report, finalized last month and released publicly on June 20.

After conducting numerous listening sessions with Jews on campus as well as university officials, the committee is recommending that the school take steps to improve safety and mental health resources for Jewish students, while also shifting its approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI, to a more “pluralistic framework” that would more fully encompass Jewish identity.

Its 146-page report, titled “It’s In The Air: Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Bias at Stanford and How to Address It,” recounts more than 300 student, staff and faculty experiences since Oct. 7.

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

July 7, 1957 — Banker Eliezer Hoofien dies

Eliezer Siegfried Hoofien, a Dutch native who provided the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine and then the State of Israel with a half-century of financial expertise and leadership, dies at 76.

July 11, 1927 — Jericho earthquake kills 300-plus

A major earthquake kills 300 to 500 people and injures at least 700 others. It is known as the Jericho earthquake, although later research concludes that the epicenter is about 30 miles south by the Dead Sea. PJC

WORLD —

p A memorial near Jerusalem honors the 16 people killed in the Bus 405 terrorist attack.

Headlines

Mission:

Continued from page 1

They toured Sderot, the largest Israeli city in what often is dubbed “the Gaza envelope.”

About 30,000 people lived there before the attacks; only about half have returned.

They traveled to Israel’s north, where tensions continue to mount with the terrorist group Hezbollah along the country’s border with Lebanon.

“The difference of participating in this mission versus two other times I have been in Israel since Oct. 7 is the focus not only on the south but on the north,” said Jeff Finkelstein, the Federation’s president and CEO. “Everyone is preparing for a potential conflict with Hezbollah. We heard that clearly from our ‘family’ in Karmiel and Misgav.”

The Pittsburghers saw where area dona tions were making a difference, Eglash said. Nearly 1,500 Pittsburghers have contributed $8 million for Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks. Jewish federations nationwide have collected some $847 million. More than $450 million already is allocated.

They also visited Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, which Pittsburgh’s Federation has pledged nearly $1 million to rebuild.

really, really raw … but civil society has really stepped up. And that’s where our dollars kicked in,” Eglash said.

has visited Israel several times.

visited the Jewish state in the 1980s, when he lived there with an immigrant family for six months. He’s returned twice after that — once on a 400-person Federation trip in the waning moments of the pandemic.

Antisemitism:

you weren’t with Jesus, you weren’t in the right place.”

explained, Jews were often seen as the bad guys in the New Testament. As she got older, Jews were people who were loved but didn’t believe the right thing.

Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh’s office of cultural diversity and persons with disabilities — said she grew up Baptist in a small town outside of Philadelphia and had a cross-section of friends who were Black, white, Christian, Jewish, Protestant and Catholic.

she said, but, to her, Jews weren’t simply figures in the Old Testament — they were her friends. hood was spent in Malaysia and Singapore a ethnic Malay and ethnic Indian, and he was taught to identify Chinese temples, Buddhist temples and mosques.

Jews in Malaysia or Singapore,” he said.

“Our purpose this time,” he said, “was just to show solidarity with the Israelis, to let them know we’ve got their backs.”

Rosenfeld said he expected to encounter emotional moments in post-10/7 Israel. Even

Alon ran to a field shelter, possibly the same one where Israeli-American Hersh GoldbergPolin, 23, was hiding. Terrorists found them and threw grenades into the shelter. The young men inside threw them back. Eventually, one went off.

Witnesses said Alon survived and was taken hostage. He lost his cellphone — he last texted his family at 8:08 a.m., phone records show — and a survivor brought it to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva.

Idit Ohel refuses to give in to sadness.

“’I need to keep the frequency of my mood up because my son feels it,’” Idit Ohel told the Pittsburghers, Rosenfeld said. “These were just really amazing people, strong people.”

“(Idit Ohel) believes if you do good deeds for others, perhaps someone’s heart will open and someone in Gaza will help her son stay alive,” Eglash said.

“It was scary when I was thinking about going. But, being there, the resilience and hopefulness really shined through — despite the hurt,” Rosenfeld said. “Tel Aviv is thriving, Jerusalem is dynamic. When you walk the streets, you see all the posters of hostages — but you don’t know a war is going on.”

“We all knew about the places you couldn’t go,” said Marjorie Manne, a Squirrel Hill attorney

children are in elementary school. “These are 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds.”

“I honestly expected a lot more vitriol,” she said. “But there isn’t this hatred toward Palestinians. Everybody I spoke to was cognizant of the suffering on both sides.”

“Everyone just wants to live safely and raise their kids.”

Scott Seewald, who chairs the board of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, first traveled to Israel three decades ago, working for eight months at Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev.

June’s trip was his seventh visit to Israel.

“This is the Jewish homeland, this is our historical homeland and, since 1948, it’s been a place we Jews can go and feel very connected,” said Seewald, associate general counsel for Howmet Aerospace, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and today lives in Pittsburgh’s South Hills.

“Despite (the war), you could see in the people their strength, their resolve, their unity. I felt that stronger than ever on this recent trip.”

“What fire it really lit in me is to ensure we have other people going,” Manne added. “We need more people to understand the reality on the ground.”

“If people can go, they should go,” she added. “It’s also showing Israel and the Israeli people

of the Bible were where I met Jews and my understanding of them was reading the holy scriptures. It wasn’t until coming back to this country I began to even imagine and

profound: “Jesus was a Jew.”

She recalled an Easter service where a priest

Lies” and “Warning against the Jews.” Kusserow said he was uncomfortable with

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

p Mark Sindler volunteers with the Federation on its mission to Israel.

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Noah Schoen (right) and the Rev. Liddy Barlow facilitated the program “Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians” that included the Rev. Leeann Younger, Greta Stokes Tucker and Bishop Kurt Kusserow (left).

Photo by David Rullo

Headlines

Encampments:

Continued from page 3

Santarsiero hopes that similar bipartisan support comes together in 2024. He said he did not expect support for the bill to become a political problem for Democrats this fall.

“I don’t see this as a major departure from our current policy. If it were brought up for a vote, I think it would pass,” he said. “I believe that the majority of people in this state support Israel and would understand this is as a good public policy

Bush:

Continued from page 8

spanning the political and religious spectrums last November when she accused Israel of ethnic cleansing.

“While there are characterizations within this letter that are unfair and simply

for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Santarsiero said that pro-Israel advocates sent a message just by getting this bill through the Senate.

“We’re not going to take this lying down,” he said.

Butler said the legislative effort has already transcended political divides.

“This is a Republican from York (PhillipsHill) and a Democrat from Bucks (Santarsiero) coming together to do what is needed,” he added.

Pro-BDS groups, led by CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), have emailed

untrue, we recognize that our Jewish neighbors are justifiably feeling frightened amid the horrific global rise of antisemitism,” her office told the St. Louis Jewish Light in response. (Bush also had declined to grant an interview to the Jewish Light, although virtually its entire readership now resides in her district.)

Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, who until

Pennsylvania legislators asking them to oppose the bill, according to Butler. But, as Santarsiero put it, those groups often do not involve voters in the representatives’ districts.

“CAIR put out an email in opposition to the bill. It had appended to it a list of organizations that join in its message,” he said. “Many were organizations that no one has ever heard of.” PJC

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

December was the director of the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council, said there was a cost to not engaging with constituents.

“Any political official who doesn’t have a strong relationship with their constituency is somebody who is vulnerable in their position,” Picker Neiss said in an interview.

Still, said Picker Neiss, who now works for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, it remained worthwhile for Jewish communities to reach out to representatives like Bush.

“It’s always tempting to want to talk to the people who already agree with us in some way or who are already aligned with us on issues,” she said. “But we don’t get to dictate who is in what job.” PJC

New Columbia administrator texts show deans complaining about Jewish student ‘privilege,’ bashing Hillel leader as a ‘problem’

By Luke Tress | New York Jewish Week

Columbia University administrators said Jewish students occupied a “place of privilege,” called a Hillel official a “problem” and wrote “Amazing what $$$$ can do,” during a panel on Jewish campus life in May, newly released text messages showed.

Columbia had already suspended three of the four administrators involved after photos of some of the texts were first published last month. Now, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which is investigating antisemitism at Columbia and other campuses, has obtained and released the full text message exchanges.

While elements of the text messages have been previously reported, the full exchanges show the university officials downplaying students’ concerns about antisemitism, bashing the head of the school’s Hillel and suggesting that Jewish students received attention because of money.

The conversations were conducted while the administrators were attending a May 31 panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present, and Future.”

“Comes from such a place of privilege,” wrote Susan Chang-Kim, the university’s vice dean and chief administrative officer. “Hard to hear the woe is me, we need to huddle at the Kraft Center,” Columbia’s Jewish student center, where Hillel is housed.

“Yup. Blind to the idea that non-Israel supporting Jews have no space to come together,” responded Cristen Kromm, a dean of undergraduate student life.

“If only every identity community had these resources and support,” Kromm added several minutes later.

The new texts also shed light on a previously reported exchange between Kromm and Chang-Kim, which the House committee said was about an October op-ed by Hillel Rabbi

Kromm wrote near the end of the exchange, followed by two vomit emojis.

“I’m going to throw up,” Chang-Kim responded.

“Amazing what $$$$ can do,” Kromm said at one point, apparently when Brian Cohen, the executive director of Columbia’s Hillel, was speaking about students receiving attention in the media and in Washington, D.C.

At another point while Cohen was speaking, Chang-Kim wrote, “He is such a problem!”

“Painting our students as dangerous,” she added.

“He knows exactly what he’s doing and has to take full advantage of this moment. Huge fundraising potential,” said Matthew Patashnick, an associate vice dean for student and family support, in one of the messages reported last month.

At other points in the exchange, which lasted for close to two hours, Chang-Kim wrote “Smoke and mirrors,” and “Trying to be open minded to understand but the doors are closing.”

In another text shared with the New York Jewish Week last month, Chang-Kim texted Josef Sorett, the university’s dean, while Cohen was speaking. “He is our hero,” Chang-Kim said, in an apparently sarcastic message. Nine minutes later, Sorett wrote, “Lmao,” an acronym

for “laughing my ass off.” It was unclear whether his text was a delayed response to Chang-Kim or whether he was reacting to something else. He did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to Cohen, the panelists were former law school Dean David Schizer, who co-chairs the university’s antisemitism task force; Rebecca Massel, a student journalist for the Columbia Spectator, the campus newspaper; and Ian Rottenberg, the director of the school’s Center for Religious Life.

An audience member sitting behind one of the deans took photos of the administrators’ texts and first shared them last month with the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet that has reported aggressively about the incident and its fallout.

The university suspended Chang-Kim, Kromm and Patashnick last month after the texts came to light.

The university said on Tuesday that Sorett would remain in his position as the dean of the college, but would be recused from all matters relating to the investigation into the texts. Sorett was cooperating with the investigation, and had told his team that the other three administrators had been placed on leave pending the probe, a Columbia official told the New York Jewish Week.

“We are committed to combatting antisemitism and taking sustained, concrete action to ensure Columbia is a campus where Jewish

students and everyone in our community feels safe, valued, and able to thrive,” the official said. “The Dean reiterated his commitment to learning from this situation and other incidents over the last year to build a community of respect and healthy dialogue.”

The House committee that released the transcript of the texts has gained global attention in recent months for holding explosive hearings on campus antisemitism with the leaders of several elite universities. It has vowed to keep pressing the issue.

“Jewish students deserve better than to have harassment and threats against them dismissed as ‘privilege,’ and Jewish faculty members deserve better than to be mocked by their colleagues,” said the committee chairwoman, Virginia Foxx, in a Tuesday statement. “ These text messages once again confirm the need for serious accountability across Columbia’s campus.”

The suspensions come as Columbia continues to grapple with months of antisemitism allegations on campus following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The school gained worldwide attention in April when pro-Palestinian students set up an encampment that sparked a nationwide movement and, critics said, created a hostile and threatening environment for Jewish students. More than 100 students were arrested at the encampment and subsequently during activists’ takeover of a campus building. Soon afterward, the school canceled its main commencement ceremony.

The campus is quieter now that classes have ended, but the school’s antisemitism task force, set up in the weeks after Oct. 7, is due to release a report about incidents in which Jewish students were targeted.

Student protesters, meanwhile, have vowed to keep demonstrating even as classes have let out. Student groups around the city last month, including at Columbia, declared a “Summer of Resistance,” urging followers to take “non-stop action” in the coming months. PJC

p Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus

— NATIONAL —

p Pro-Palestinian activists outside Columbia University, Feb. 2, 2024

Photo by Luke Tress

The brutal syllogism of this war is a deathtrap for Israel

Guest Columnist

Michael Oren

Hezbollah won’t accept a cease-fire unless Hamas does. Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire. Hence, Israel will go to war against Hezbollah.

The basis of Aristotelian logic, and arguably of all Western philosophical thought, is the syllogism. It states, simply, that if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C. And what was foundational for Aristotle in antiquity is for Israelis today nothing short of nightmarish.

We are trapped in a deadly syllogism in which the refusal of one terrorist organization to end its war with Israel means a second terrorist organization will also refuse, pitching Israel into a regional — and potentially existential — conflict.

How did we become so lethally enmeshed? What factors contributed to our syllogistic entrapment? And how, if at all, can Israel escape?

The origins of this syllogism lay in the belief of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that, in spite of Gaza’s devastation and the deaths of many thousands of its citizens, time is on his side. The conclusion is far from irrational.

Despite its historic performance under conditions never before faced by a modern army, the IDF has yet to meet its primary goal of destroying Hamas. Abandoning frontal attacks for rearguard guerrilla tactics, the terrorists are embedding themselves deeper into the civilian population while exacting an almost daily toll from the IDF. Much of the world continues to rally around the Palestinian cause and to isolate and criminalize Israel. On many of America’s most preeminent campuses, Hamas is hailed as heroic. Most encouraging for Hamas, though, is the steady fraying of Israel’s initial internal unity as anti-government demonstrators once again take to the streets and block the highways. Our soldiers run low on morale and ammunition.

More emboldening still for Hamas have been the policies of the United States. From an initial position of standing four-square beside Israel in seeking the eradication of Hamas, American decision-makers later determined that Israel’s goals were unrealistic and that, in pursuing them, the IDF

was wantonly killing Palestinians. The White House went so far as to delay the supply of munitions vital for Israel’s defense. These measures fueled the global demands for a permanent cease-fire and a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — precisely what Sinwar sought.

Israel, too, contributed to Sinwar’s self-confidence. In addition to buckling to American pressure to refrain from launching a major incursion into Hamas’ last major redoubt in Rafah, the Netanyahu government agreed to the U.S. administration’s plan for a phased end to the Gaza war. The first stage calls for a six-week cease-fire and a partial IDF withdrawal in return for the release of the female, aged, and infirm hostages, but the second stage provides for the repatriation of all the hostages — living as well as dead — in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal

launched countless drones against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Dozens have been killed and wounded, some 10,000 football fields worth of crops and orchards reduced to ash, and close to 100,000 Israelis rendered homeless. In doing so, Hezbollah has realized Israel’s worst-case scenario of a war of attrition that each day creeps southward, with rockets falling on southern Galilee and the Israeli cities of Safed, Tiberias and even Nazareth. If one of those projectiles hits an army base or a school, the Israeli government, already under intensifying pressure to act, will order a massive counterstrike. Israel, Lebanon, Iran and its Iraqi and Houthi proxies, and potentially even the United States, will all be at war.

And Sinwar would not be happier. Hezbollah’s headman, Hassan Nasrallah, has said that his forces will not accept a cease-fire

The syllogism that fatally entraps Israel is almost complete. Missing only is the key to Hamas’ final triumph: War between Israel and Hezbollah.

and an unlimited cease-fire. Though greatly degraded, Hamas would survive. Sinwar will surely emerge from his tunnel hoisting a V sign, declare a Jihadist victory, and begin preparing for the next Oct. 7.

The deal could not have been sweeter for Sinwar, yet once again he rejected it. He’s convinced that phase two of the plan — total IDF pullback and permanent ceasefire — can become phase one. And why not? Already, the Biden administration is tweaking the wording and terms of the plan to better assuage Hamas. Hold fast, Sinwar reasonably concludes, prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the people of Gaza, keep using them as human shields, and the terms will get sweeter still.

American criticism and international pressure on Israel, the worsening plight of Palestinian civilians, deepening divisions within the Jewish state — all contribute to Sinwar’s optimism. The syllogism that fatally entraps Israel is almost complete. Missing only is the key to Hamas’ final triumph: War between Israel and Hezbollah.

Shortly after Oct. 7, in a show of solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah began shelling Israel’s north. Since then, the Iranian-backed terrorists have fired thousands of rockets and

unless Hamas does. But Sinwar, of course, won’t. He knows that even if it prevails in a showdown with Hezbollah, Israel will be devastated by tens of thousands of missiles, its army exhausted and logistically depleted, and further isolated in the world. The U.S. will make more far-reaching concessions to Hamas, perhaps even including it in Gaza’s postwar government — anything to achieve the cease-fire essential for averting Armageddon.

Here, then, is the syllogism: Nasrallah says no cease-fire without Sinwar, Sinwar says no cease-fire, period, and Israel goes to war with Hezbollah. So a mind game for Aristotle becomes a deathtrap for Israel.

How can we break free of it? Diplomacy, certainly, would be preferable. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to see what leverage the U.S. could bring to bear on Hezbollah to get it to retreat from the Israeli border in accordance with the 2006 U.N. resolution that Nasrallah violated the day it was enacted. No alternative course seems viable other than the military.

As such, the Biden administration must stop holding Israel back — and the Israeli government must cease letting itself be reined in — from destroying what remains of Hamas’ military capabilities in Gaza and

How do you write a meaningful eulogy?

Opinion Guest Columnist

Rabbi Daniel Cohen

We have all been to funerals. It is one of the last sacred spaces in our world when we are not disturbed. Phones are off and we give our full attention. Without question, the most

meaningful aspect of the service are the eulogies. The rabbi, family and close friends reflect on the life of the person who has died. Think back for a moment to funerals you have attended. Which eulogies do you remember? Which ones have you found meaningful?

We believe in Judaism that the body is a vessel and the soul never dies. The spirit of the person is fully present at the funeral, hovering over the casket, while in transition to the next world. We believe in

rescuing the hostages. At worst, this will increase the pressure on Sinwar. At best, it will kill him. A vastly degraded and leaderless Hamas will be far more disposed to accept a cease-fire.

At the same time, the U.S. must put teeth into “Don’t.” That was the single word that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken flung at Hezbollah and Iran last October. Back then, the meaning was clear: Don’t either of you dare to take advantage of the fighting in Gaza by opening a second front in the north. The warning was reinforced by the dispatch of two aircraft carrier groups, each one capable of inflicting massive damage on Israel’s enemies.

Since then, though, the “Don’t” appears less aimed at Iran and Hezbollah and increasingly directed at Israel. “Even though you’re getting pummeled every day,” the White House seems to say, “Don’t think about mounting a counterattack. Sit there, rather, and take it until your Iron Dome interceptors run out.” Purportedly, the delays in munitions shipments to the IDF not only reflect U.S. opposition to Israel’s current tactics in Gaza but also to its future operations in Lebanon.

The U.S. Navy may nevertheless assist Israel passively, taking down Hezbollah’s rockets much as it did those fired by Iran at Israel last April. Still, no team ever won a game solely by playing defense. Iran and Hezbollah will not be deterred unless “Don’t” means they will both pay a prohibitive price, exacted by the United States, for attacking Israel.

Without concluding the principal battle against Hamas, without securing a ceasefire in Gaza either by pressuring Sinwar or eliminating him, and without effectively deterring Iran and Hezbollah, Israel will remain trapped in the brutal syllogism. Brave and concerted action will be required to break that equation and replace it with a radically different one: cease-fire in Gaza equals cease-fire in Lebanon, equals an end to the fighting on both the northern and southern fronts. Israel, the United States, and the world will have averted an incalculably devastating war. PJC

Michael Oren, formerly Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Knesset member and deputy minister for diplomacy, is the founder of the Israel Advocacy Group and the Substack, Clarity. This first appeared on The Times of Israel

an afterlife. The soul is only fully at peace once the body returns to the earth. When the casket is covered with earth, the soul rises and the period of shiva, of mourning, officially begins.

During the funeral, the deceased hears the words spoken about them. It is a moment in time for the people to express gratitude to their loved one, for the values they instilled with them, the kindnesses bestowed about them and the declaration that the loved one will never be forgotten.

How do you craft a meaningful eulogy?

For most people, thank God, the practical import of this question is rare. Yet when the occasion arises it can be most daunting.

As a rabbi who has officiated at hundreds of funerals, and witnessed thousands of people delivering eulogies, I know that family and friends ultimately find the words to capture the spirit of a loved one who died. Often when sitting with families

Chronicle poll results: Elected officials’ willingness to address antisemitism

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Do you think our local elected officials are willing to effectively address antisemitism here?”

Of the 260 people who responded, 77% said no, 16% said yes, and 7% had no opinion. Comments were submitted by 83 people. A few follow.

The leadership is now unapologetically ultra-progressive — as opposed to the traditionally liberal leaders that I supported and trusted.

Antisemitism isn’t something that can be legislated away or punished into submission by the mayor or city council. Hate of other people because of their race, religion or identity is due to ignorance and intolerance. The remedy is education, exposure and dialogue. We need to be the city of bridges, not walls. That starts with a willingness for the Jewish community to be open to conversation with other groups.

I am so disappointed in Mayor Gainey’s inability to unequivocally condemn the antisemitic tenor of the “pro-Palestine”

Continued from page 12

in preparation prior to a funeral, I strongly encourage a child or grandchild to speak in tribute to a parent or grandparent. I will always speak as the rabbi, but having a family member share words is invaluable.

The Talmud states that words that come from our hearts enter someone else’s heart. This is a guiding truth when speaking at a funeral. Whether a public speaker or not, time and again, I have seen that people find the strength to share emotions and reflections from the depths of their souls. Even in a few words, they can offer a stirring tribute to someone who is loved.

What is the goal of a eulogy?

If you surf the internet, you will see many articles written about how to write a eulogy. From speaking slowly, expressing gratitude, being brief and sharing a personal memory or touching poem. From personal experience, the secret sauce of a memorable eulogy are reflected in the words of the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell: To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

protests and vandalism that have become increasingly prevalent in our community. Unfortunately, he and his administration seem crippled by both-sidesism, and a misguided desire to let these law-breaking vandals get off scot-free, without facing consequences. Talk about privilege.

share also serve as a source of strength for the person as they make the journey from this world to the next. A soul is like a candle and one candle lights many flames.

What light did your parents, grandparent ignite within you? What moment will you never forget? What memory pulsates within you?

Some, like Fetterman, are. Some, like Summer Lee, aren’t.

Although I voted for most of the current officials, I think their support of the Jewish community, especially in regard to antisemitism, is lackluster at best. They’ve pretty much left support of the Jewish community to itself.

Allegheny County and City of Pittsburgh, for the most part, no. While no elected officials will come right out and say something blatantly antisemitic, they either ignore the issue, try to impose their definition of antisemitism, or make statements that can be perceived as anti-Jewish.

The young progressive Democrats are as bad as MAGA Republicans, causing divisions in the community.

Let’s go with a hard “no” for Lee, Innamorato and Hallam — but a resounding “yes” for Salisbury, Gainey and Frankel.

Fetterman, Frankel, Salisbury, Heisler. These are the only Democrats in local politics that have the interest of Jewish community safety

funeral. When I asked the children to share a few words about their mother, one of the sons said: “My mother always listened to me. When I came home from school, my mom dropped everything she was doing to listen to my day and give her full and undivided attention.” In those brief words, he captured his mother’s unconditional love.

What light did your parents, grandparent ignite within you? What moment will you never forget? What memory pulsates within you?

For what kindness are you eternally grateful? What guiding values serve as a north star for you and your family?

in mind. As for the rest, it’s a sliding scale from Mayor Gainey, who condemns antisemitism but won’t call out the individuals perpetrating it by name or the acts themselves, to Summer Lee, who also condemns antisemitism but then fuels it with her actions and statements, to Bethany Hallam, who celebrated the Oct. 7 attack. It’s a sad and scary state of affairs regarding representation for the Jewish community these days.

They are fine to show up for photo ops or claim to be against antisemitism from the right, but have a blind spot (and worse) with respect to antisemitism from the left, e.g, from so-called “pro-Palestinian” bigots.

Yes, I believe local officials are “willing” to address antisemitism, but I am skeptical that they have the ability to do so or that they can get to the population that needs it the most. PJC

Compiled by Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question: Do you think Joe Biden and Donald Trump should debate again before the election? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC

be eternal. The opportunity to reflect on someone’s life is a gift. We will never forget the words we shared, the deceased will hear them and it has the potential to truly inspire everyone present to bring the soul of the deceased into this world.

I challenge you. Think now of one or two people in your life whose love and presence you cherish. Think of a person whom you may be called up to eulogize. Reach out to them today. Wish them a long life. And, most importantly, say thank you for all they have done for you. Share the memories, give them joy and let them know how and why they mean so much to you.

These words of tribute, the eulogy, are not only cathartic for the family but amplify the soul of the person who died. How will they be remembered? How can they carry their spirit forward into our lives? The words we

A eulogy, even a brief one, even just one memory, can have the power to change someone’s life and elevate the soul of the person who has passed away. When we embody a value of a person in our lives even after that individual has physically left this world, they live on in us and through us.

Imagine if each of us truly listened to those we loved on a more consistent basis. Too often we hear with half an ear, we get distracted by a phone, a text, an email or are thinking about something else. It is all too rare to give someone your undivided attention. This comment possessed the power to fuel his mother’s spirit in everyone who heard it.

Daniel Cohen is the senior rabbi of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Connecticut. He speaks nationally on leading a life of legacy and is the author of “What Will They Say About You When You Are Gone? Creating a Life of Legacy.” This story originally appeared in the Forward. To get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox, go to forward.com/newsletter-signup. Cohen:

I will never forget a comment at a recent

God willing, we will find the words to deliver a eulogy from the heart that truly honors those we love and inspires others to embody their values. Even more importantly, let’s take the time now to cherish those we love and eternalize our relationships for now and forever. PJC

A eulogy is not a final goodbye, but it is a moment in time that has the potential to

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We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.

Life & Culture

Mango black bean and avocado salad

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

Adear friend brought over a black bean salad a few months ago. I grabbed the recipe immediately and worked with it until it was just right for me.

I love this salad because it does double duty as a dip. It flies off the table when I serve it with tortilla chips, but it’s also excellent paired with just about any meat or fish.

If you don’t care for cilantro, substitute Thai basil. Sometimes, I use both herbs because they work well together and with the spices in the salad.

This is a simple salad to make ahead of time so it works really well for Shabbat. If you choose to make it more than a couple of hours before serving, mix everything except the avocado and add that just before you place it on the table.

This is a flexible salad; you can add more of any ingredient if you have it on hand. It’s also excellent with a cup of sliced cherry tomatoes.

There’s no oil in this recipe, and the salad lasts several days in the refrigerator.

and drained

1 mango, peeled and diced 1 large avocado, peeled and diced

1 cup bell pepper, diced — choose red, orange or yellow ½ cup chopped red onion ½ cup chopped cilantro

Juice from fresh limes, about 3 tablespoons ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon cumin ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

⅛ teaspoon garlic powder ⅛ teaspoon onion powder

Wash and prepare all the vegetables and place them in a bowl.

Mix in the lime juice, salt and spices. Mix well, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Taste test the salad after two hours, and add more lime juice or salt as needed.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

Photo by Jessica Grann

Life & Culture

Home-smoked wild salmon

By Rob Eshman | Forward

This is hot-smoked salmon, not lox, which is cold-smoked at a much lower temperature. Hot-smoking, which is much easier for the home cook, results in a bright orange slab that can be used in a salad or pasta, eaten on its own, added to cream cheese for a smoky spread, or sliced on top of a bagel. I own a Traeger, which allows me to smoke this fish at a low temperature. If you don’t have a home smoker, you can easily fashion one using a wok or heavy pan. This recipe uses a side of salmon, but you can reduce it to make a single filet.

Ingredients

(8 servings)

Brine

1 whole side wild salmon, 3-4 pounds

Directions Curing

Using a sharp knife, cut three slashes in the skin side of the salmon to allow the salt mixture to penetrate.

Combine water, salt, sugar and paprika in a Ziploc or glass bowl. Add salmon. Cover with plastic wrap if using a bowl and refrigerate 8-12 hours.

Remove the salmon from the brine. Rinse quickly. Place on a wire rack, skin side down, and let dry at room temperature for 2 hours, or place in the refrigerator for 6 hours.

Smoking

Set smoker to 165 F. Mix rub ingredients

Meet Nomi Milmaster, 11-year-old rodeo sensation

By Kathleen Gianni

Speeding around barrels and weaving through poles, 11-year-old Nomi Milmaster became a champion horse back rider and racer with the Western Pennsylvania Youth Rodeo.

Nomi has been horseback riding nearly her whole life, according to her mother, Joy Braunstein.

“As soon as she could sit up, she was on a horse,” Braunstein said. “She was probably riding independently by the time she was 3 or 4.”

Nomi’s rodeo career kicked off with barrel racing, a speed event in which the horse and rider run a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels.

“When she was little, we started going to watch shows, and she actually decided she wanted to ride on her own,” Braunstein said. “She figured out that she would really like to try barrel racing.”

Since then, the Jewish preteen has excelled at the event and also became experienced in pole bending, another timed event in which the horse and rider weave around six poles set in a line.

Decked in head-to-toe rodeo attire, including a Western-style hat and pointed cowboy boots, Nomi has earned a plethora of saddles, buckles and prize money for her successes.

Nomi trains up to seven days a week, traveling from Squirrel Hill to the family farm in Apollo, Pennsylvania, to practice with her two racing horses, Sadie and Dakota. She completes a series of drills to strengthen her skills, as well as the skills of the horse.

Through her training, she has become a

pole bending, and she has even tried her hand in other events, like goat tying, where a competitor rides to a goat, dismounts and ties the goat’s legs together as quickly as they can.

While Nomi’s training helps build the skills for competing in events, Braunstein said that success in rodeo is dependent upon more than the athlete. The horse’s capabilities, in areas like speed and balance, also play a significant role in the outcome of a competition.

takes to rodeo, largely because they know the sport and also because the ground at rodeo isn’t necessarily always the best,” Braunstein said. “Those horses are chosen because they’ve proven that they will hold up and stand up on any ground and take care of themselves, whereas other horses might slip, slide and fall down.”

Braunstein acknowledged that life as a rodeo competitor can be intense, requiring serious athleticism and concentration.

“I think it’s truly just like any other youth

Nomi recently finished her term as rodeo princess, passing along her sash and crown as the 2024 season ended. In the role, presented by the Western Pennsylvania Youth Rodeo, Nomi represented the organization at events, helped raise money for the end-of-season “cowboy prom” and led her age group at the rodeo’s grand entry ceremony. PJC

Kathleen Gianni can be reached at kgianni@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Nomi Milmaster

Photo by Craig Wolf/Howling Photography

p Salmon

Photo by Christina Voinova via Pexels

Life & Culture

Kinky Friedman, singer and novelist who fronted The Texas Jewboys, dies at 79

By Andrew Silow-Carroll | JTA

Kinky Friedman, the cigar-chomping, mustachioed Texan country singer and mystery novelist whose body of work often seemed like the un-kosher marriage of the Borscht Belt and the Bible Belt, died on June 27 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 79.

As frontman for the flamboyant 1970s country group Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, he was notorious for satirical songs such as “They Don’t Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” a raucous sendup of racism, and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed,” which poked fun at feminism.

campaign slogan was  “Why the hell not?” He considered himself tough on immigration, pro-choice, anti-capital punishment and a proponent of alternative fuels.

In time, his campaign gathered force as a serious quest to shake up Texas politics, break down traditional party machines and reach out to a dramatically disaffected electorate.

“In the last election for governor, only 29% of eligible voters went to the polls,” Friedman, known as “the Kinkster,” told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that year. “Seventy-one percent didn’t vote — they didn’t like the choice between paper and plastic.”

Friedman helped found.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he majored in psychology. Friedman proudly recalled that during their time as members of the Jewish Tau Delta Phi fraternity he and a friend, Nathan “Chinga” Chavin, tried to admit African-American students, an effort that was ultimately thwarted.

He could also turn serious, with songs dealing with social issues such as abortion and commercialism. His 1973 song “Ride ’em Jewboy” is a haunting elegy on the Holocaust, recorded by Willie Nelson and sung in concert by Bob Dylan. The lyrics transform cowboy cliches into a rumination on Hitler’s victims:

Now the smoke from camps a-rising

See the helpless creatures on their way Hey, old pal, ain’t it surprising

How far you can go before you stay?

The Jewboys broke up in the mid-1970s and

Friedman spent much of the next decade in a haze of drugs. In the mid-1980s he cleaned up and began writing a series of successful, raunchy, comic mystery novels whose main character is himself. He wrote more than 20 books, all on a manual typewriter.

One reviewer, the actress and author Fannie Flagg, described his writing as “Raymond Chandler on drugs, if Chandler had possessed a tremendous sense of humor.”

In 2006, he ran for governor of Texas, looking to unseat incumbent Republican Rick Perry in a bid that went from joking to serious. His campaign material included a 13-inch talking action figure and bumper stickers that read, “My governor is a Jewish cowboy.” His official

In the end, Friedman placed fourth in the six-person race, receiving 12.6% of the vote.

Born Richard Samet Friedman in Chicago in 1944, he moved with his parents to Texas as a baby and earned his nickname in college from his curly hair. His parents were educators who ran a summer camp for mainly Jewish children at Echo Hill Ranch, the 400-acre spread where Friedman would come to live in a small but rambling lodge.

“We had services every Friday night, and Kinky would play the guitar,” Ellen St. Clair, who spent four summers at Echo Hill, told JTA in 2006.

The property is also home to the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, a home and adoption center for abused and abandoned dogs that

DEKA strong

After graduating in 1966,  he served in the Peace Corps in Borneo. After returning from the Peace Corps, he formed Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, at a time when hybrid “country rock” bands — including The Band, the Eagles and Buffalo Springfield — were rising up the charts. The Jewboys drew a cult following — and occasional protests, as when the National Organization for Women awarded Friedman its “Male Chauvinist Pig Award” in 1973.

In early 1976, he joined Dylan on the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Friedman claimed to have been the first “full-blooded” Jew to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Friedman would cite Mark Twain and the humorist Will Rogers as his heroes, and the inevitable comparisons were not far off.

“These days,” he once said, “there are many people around the world who listen to the songs that made me infamous and read the books that made me respectable.” PJC

p Kinky Friedman styled himself after popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. Photo courtesy of JTA files

Life & Culture

Hadar’s new plan has it minting rabbis, opening synagogues and sending teens to Israel. Is it a denomination now?

By Jackie Hajdenberg | JTA

When the group that would become the Hadar Institute launched in 2006 with a study hall in a rented space on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, it aimed to combine two things that, outside of a few rabbinical schools, were rarely found in the same place: immersive Torah study and a Jewish outlook that treats people equally regardless of gender.

Over time, Hadar’s brand of “traditional egalitarian” study and observance gained adherents and its programs reached a broader class of Jewish laypeople, professionals and educators. In the years since, the group has expanded to multiple cities, held a national gathering that drew 600 attendees and, last year, even minted its first cohort of rabbis.

Now, Hadar has announced plans to ordain more clergy, launch congregations, set up shop on college campuses and even start a gap-year program in Israel. By 2028, the organization’s new strategic plan says, it will be spending $18 million a year — up from $10 million now — to offer its trademark mix of programs around the world.

Hadar’s growth comes as non-Orthodox American Jewish denominations are in decline and independent Jewish communities that don’t identify with a particular stream are growing. Rabbinical schools are shrinking, gap-year programs shuttering and synagogue affiliation declining.

The new strategic plan throws into the open a question that those watching Hadar’s ascendance have begun to ask: Is Hadar the flagship of a new denomination, taking a place alongside — or even, in some ways, supplanting — the Reform and especially Conservative movements? And can it avoid the pitfalls that have bedeviled older institutions?

Hadar’s founders reject the premise as limiting and antiquated. Somewhat like the Hasidic movement Chabad, which runs outreach centers and programs the world over, they want to have something to offer all Jews, not just a subset.

“I think on some level, the term ‘denomination’ is 20th-century language and it doesn’t reflect how we think about what we’re doing,” Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Hadar’s president and rosh yeshiva, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“The language of ‘denomination’ connotes trying to carve out a slice of its community, like one of the 12 tribes, as it were,” Tucker said. In contrast, he said, Hadar aims to present “a strong religious vision that has all the entire Jewish community as its audience.”

The core of the institute’s vision is, as it has been since Hadar’s inauguration, a belief that rigorous Jewish learning has for too long been primarily the domain of spaces where there is little access for rank-and-file Jews who are also committed to gender egalitarianism and LGBTQ+ inclusion.

In the coming years, the group plans to launch its own versions of institutions that have long comprised the infrastructure of American Jewish religious communities: a regular national convention, a handful of on-campus chapters, at

least two new synagogues, and a second rabbinical student cohort. It also plans to expand its offerings in Israel, where relatively few nonOrthodox Jews participate in traditional Jewish study or practice in an egalitarian atmosphere.

Another major focus of the strategic plan is the ordination of rabbis and the placing of rabbis in the yet-to-be-determined shul communities and campus chapters.

not Jewish youth on the map.”

Lauren Strauss, a historian who heads the department of Jewish studies at American University, wrote in an email that Hadar’s new plan reinforced her view that American Judaism is increasingly stepping away from the denominational categories that defined the mid-20th century.

“It’s not so much a question of whether

“Zionism and sovereignty have enabled the flourishing of the Jewish people and Hebrew culture. In deep relationship with the Diaspora, Torah emerging from Israel impacts Jewish life everywhere.”

– FROM THE HADAR INSTITUTE’S STRATEGIC PLAN

“There’s a need for leadership if we want there to be the leaders to fill all of these flagships,” said Rabbi Avi Killip, Hadar’s executive vice president. “The whole landscape actually needs more people who are more empowered and have more skills and more knowledge, and we want to be a part of making that happen.”

At a time when discourse over Israel has dominated and divided communal conversations, the strategic plan makes a point of saying that the country, and Zionism, have a central place in Jewish life.

“Zionism and sovereignty have enabled the flourishing of the Jewish people and Hebrew culture,” the strategic plan says. “In deep relationship with the Diaspora, Torah emerging from Israel impacts Jewish life everywhere.”

In one especially notable development, Hadar says it will launch an Israel gap year for high school graduates. Like a growing program operated by the Shalom Hartman Institute, its goal is to appeal to American Jewish families who do not feel constrained by denominational boundaries. The programs’ rise contrasts with the suspension of the gap-year program run by the Conservative movement, which also recently announced a restructuring of its youth conventions, doing away with its regional structure.

“The ecosystem feels like it is due for and experiencing a shakeup,” Tucker said. “The youth groups that were established and taken for granted 30 years ago are not necessarily looking exactly the same — and that’s not because there’s

Hadar resembles a mainstream denomination, but rather that we seem to be witnessing the decentralization of American Jewish religious life and the growth of a smorgasbord of different options,” Strauss said.

Under the denominational approach, Jews would traditionally pick a stream of Jewish practice and affiliate with the schools, synagogues and camps in that stream, which are generally under the umbrella of one or two large organizations. In the smorgasbord view, a Jew might hop among communities with different approaches, dropping in and out as their own preferences and needs shift. The evolution, which reflects a general societal shift toward individualization, has the benefit of flexibility for participants but the downsides, its critics say, of an attenuated sense of belonging and a lack of clarity about how to support needed institutions.

“Some see this as a negative development, as evidenced by the dwindling of rabbinical programs in the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements,” Strauss said. “But some (exemplified by Hadar’s language in their strategic plan) see this as evidence of new growth.”

That’s certainly the case for Hadar and its fans, who over time have grown as the organization’s reach expanded. Last year, according to Hadar’s data, 34,000 people in 50 states and countries around the world encountered Hadar’s programming and products.

Sydney Levine, a psychology and research

scientist specializing in how people and artificial intelligence make moral decisions, attended Hadar for summer courses in 2009 and 2010 as well as the Hadar Executive Seminar, a learning conference in 2017.

“I went to Hadar to try to find an answer to the question of how to live,” Levine shared in a 2017 Hadar alumni testimonial. “I think meaning might be constructed, but if so, it seems like a good idea to construct it through a conversation with a community grounded in a textual tradition obsessed with law. Hadar gave me the language to join that conversation and access that tradition.”

Levine called her experience with Hadar “transformative.”

But even some who believe in Hadar’s vision say they have worried that it had too much of an upstart approach.

“I have been a person who was slow to embrace Hadar because I — from going back to 10 years ago, they came in hot and heavy and came off as kind of an elitist, provocateur kind of thing,” said Rabbi Eric Leiderman, the president and cofounder of MasortiX, a consultancy for the Masorti Jewish movement, affiliated with Conservative Judaism. “But I really have warmed up to them and really appreciate their sincerity in that they’re not trying to be a disruptor but really putting their money where their mouth is and really doing their duty to do their mission.”

Leiderman, who is also the administrator of the satirical Facebook group Surely this Will Save Conservative Judaism, has been a vocal critic of establishment denominational Judaism in the United States. But he said that Hadar and Conservative Judaism — which also prizes egalitarianism and a commitment to halacha, or Jewish law — share core values.

“I don’t think they’re setting themselves up to be a new denomination or a new movement,” Leiderman said. “I think as people who embrace a Jewishly observant, religiously observant halachic practice that are also fully egalitarian and feminist and modern and progressive, I don’t think that’s anything new in terms of the denominations. I think that’s exactly what Conservative Judaism is all about.”

Hadar’s strategic plan aims to put skepticism about its rapid growth trajectory to rest. It outlines what it says is a sustainable approach to growth, committing to increasing individual donations by 75% over the next four years and doubling the amount of money the organization brings in by charging for products and services. Still, the bulk of the projected 2028 budget, about $10 million of the $18 million total, will come from foundations that currently also supply more than half of the organization’s operating budget.

Ultimately, Hadar’s leaders say, the Chabad comparison may be apt. The Hasidic group engages a diverse array of Jews, from those who live in traditionally Orthodox communities to those who are connecting with their Jewish identity for the first time, and has seen its reach — and fundraising — grow sharply in recent years. In that sense, Hadar hopes to follow suit.

“In certain ways, Chabad was ahead of the game,” Tucker said. “They understood that you didn’t need and shouldn’t be a denomination in order to go out and affect a lot of Jews.” PJC

p Yael Jaffe, a member of Hadar’s first cohort of rabbinic ordinees, learns in the New York beit midrash, or study hall, of the Jewish learning and programming center.

Photo courtesy of Hadar

Approaching God

In the last month I’ve celebrated three b’nei mitzvah, all of whom showed considerable anxiety in stepping up on the podium and opening the ark. This is no big surprise. I still feel a rush of adrenaline climbing the dais, even though I do it every week. It’s bound to be scarier for newbies. That’s why I tell the kids, “Lightning hardly ever strikes on our bimah.”

But these latest youngsters were extra nervous. And this week’s Torah portion validates their fears. Korach and his associates rebel against God and the earth swallows them up (Numbers 16:23-34). Other renegades are burned alive (Numbers 16:35) or die of the plague (Numbers 17:8-15). Not a pleasant story, but the lesson is plain. You want to tread cautiously around the Eternal!

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seeking to be closer to God, may lose their lives in the process; or non-Jews may lose their lives in a battle provoked by extremists. The current war has more casualties than even our gory Torah portion. The Almighty must be as disgusted now as in the time of Korach. How can we plausibly call on God today?

There’s a lot of nonsense spoken about the situation in Gaza. Activists don’t seem to grasp that the Zionists came to the country not as conquerors, but as refugees. Protesters don’t seem to understand that the Palestinians have rejected every peace plan and compromise proposal since the conflict began. On the other hand, we can’t fix the past, we can only fix the future. And fixing it will require a revolution of empathy on both sides.

A minor character in the Torah portion offers the way forward. A man called On is identified as one of the incipient troublemakers (Numbers 16:1), but he drops out of the narrative and is never mentioned again. Modern scholars say this short name is likely

Let’s hope Israeli and Palestinian leaders, like my b’nei mitzvah students, find the courage to seek God with compassion as their roadmap.

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Our tradition offers a double message about visiting the Creator. The Tabernacle, Temple, or synagogue is our meeting point with the Almighty, a place of intimacy (Exodus 25:8). But this week’s haftarah (for Rosh Chodesh) reminds us of God’s remoteness: “The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool: Where could you build a house for Me?” (Isaiah 66:1). When we feel like dropping in on the Eternal, caution is indicated.

a scribal error: But if On is a real person, his defection from the mutiny sets a fine example. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 109b-110a) speculates that his wife talks him out of it. Mrs. On sees that discretion is the better part of valor; that dodging confrontation can be the most honorable choice, and the safest.

The Talmud (Chagigah 14b) makes the warning even clearer. Four sages barge into paradise, with disastrous results: Ben Azzai loses his life, Ben Zoma loses his mind, Elisha ben Avuyah loses his faith, and only Rabbi Akiva comes out unharmed. They peek in God’s window, as it were, and suffer the consequences.

I think many people have given up on reconciliation, on any possibility of a stable outcome in the Mideast. Avdah tikvatenu, cry the pessimists in Ezekiel (37:11), “Our hope is lost.” But of course the Zionist slogan is Lo avdah tikvatenu, “Our hope is not lost.” The problem is complicated: but with patience, we will find the solution. “Turn it and turn it” (Pirkei Avot 5:22): With enough scrutiny, the answer will pop out.

Let’s hope Israeli and Palestinian leaders, like my b’nei mitzvah students, find the courage to seek God with compassion as their road map. More people swallowed by the earth, burned to death or felled by plague, will not strengthen anyone’s claim on the promised land. Our God is the God of justice (tzedek) and its offshoot charity (tz’dakah). We will approach God confidently when we uphold those principles. PJC

There’s a right and a wrong way to contact God. Hebrew fluency doesn’t hurt: That’s why I drill the children for months in chanting their text. But the bigger piece is empathy: God welcomes those who care for the needy (Isaiah 58:1-7), who prioritize equity, mercy and humility (Micah 6:8). Each of the recent b’nei mitzvah sermonized in one way or another about our responsibility to the poor, the sick and the outcast. That’s your best ticket onto the pulpit.

We are all troubled by the current bloodletting in the Mideast and the resulting revilement of Israel. Jews returning to Zion,

Rabbi Joe Hample is the spiritual leader of the Tree of Life Congregation in Morgantown, West Virginia. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.

Rabbi Joe Hample

Obituaries

BERGER: Margaret “Peggy” Berger, 91, of Shadyside in Pittsburgh, passed away peacefully on June 20, 2024, after a short illness. Peggy was born on Dec. 26, 1932, the youngest of 10 children, to Frank and Cecelia (Trunak) Hornick, of Cheswick, Pennsylvania. She is survived by her devoted partner of 20 years, Leroy Johnston, of Hookstown, Pennsylvania, a son Jonathan Berger, of Pittsburgh, a daughter Jennifer Berger Cohen, of Marlton, New Jersey, and a grandson, Alexander Cohen, of Philadelphia, and many beloved nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. She is also survived by two “step-daughters,” Linda Wilson and Joyce Miller, and their families, who loved her and welcomed her into the fold without reservation. Peggy brought immeasurable joy and light into everyone’s lives with her kind heart, radiant smile and boundless curiosity. She was a lifelong learner, being the first of her family to graduate from college with a Bachelor of Science in education, and then ultimately earning her master’s degree of urban and regional planning. She worked in such diverse capacities as fourth grade teacher at Shady Side Academy Junior School, a Realtor with Howard Hanna Real Estate, an acquisition aide for Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, and finally retired from perhaps her favorite occupation, as an adult probation officer for Allegheny County. She was a “people person” and she effortlessly made everyone feel like the only person in the room. Peggy was a progressive, independent woman, and from all accounts... a firecracker! She continued her passion for learning even after retirement by signing up for classes in whatever caught her attention — conversational Italian, yoga, Pilates, fundamentals of football, harmonica, piano, mahjong, knitting and tennis, to name a few. She was an avid reader, enjoying many genres, especially history, politics, autobiographies, and was always well-versed in current fashion trends and styles. Her knitted hats and scarves were much coveted holiday gifts each year. Peggy will be greatly missed by everyone whose lives she touched. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Hemophilia Center of Western Pennsylvania. Friends were received at John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. 4900 Centre Ave. at Devonshire Street on Monday June 24, 2024, from 11 a.m. until a funeral service in the funeral home at 1 p.m. Interment in Deer Creek Cemetery will

ROTHMAN: Maxine Kravitz Rothman passed away peacefully on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Pittsburgh, at the age of 90. Maxine was the daughter of the late David Kravitz and Rose (Latterman) Kravitz, sister to the late Irv Kravitz and Herbert Kravitz, wife of the late H. David Rothman; beloved mother of Denice Rothman Hinden and Larry Hinden, Ira Joel Rothman and Michelle Rothman, Lee Marc Rothman and Rhonda Rothman; grandmother to Max Rothman, Alec Rothman, Chloe Rothman and Lisanne Comeau, Troy Rothman, Madeline Rothman, Jacob Rothman, Amber Boswell (Hinden), Anna Hinden, and Logan and Thea Moon; aunt to Alan Kravitz, and David Kravitz; and great-grandmother to Juno Comeau. Born on Feb. 6, 1934, she lived in Pittsburgh all her life and graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School. After raising her family, she had a more than 20-year career with PNC Bank. She was also a giving volunteer through the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) and B’nai B’rith Women (BBW), where she served as the Pittsburgh Council president. Maxine was a relationship-builder, opening her home and amassing an extensive network of friends with whom she regularly kept in touch and socialized. Maxine loved her family, her city and her friends. Her expansive memory, gift for storytelling and passion for community service were all lived with a positive attitude and unwavering sense of possibility. She was never shy about sharing her strong opinions. At her 90th birthday celebration, she declared her love for her life and her lack of regrets. Her resilience and optimism, even in the face of challenges, will continue to inspire us, and we will miss her dearly. Donations to the Pittsburgh Symphony at bit.ly/3xqIwa1 in her name are appreciated. Register here to join us on Zoom on July 14 at 7 p.m. EDT to share your favorite story about Maxine: bit.ly/4cAljkm Arrangements were entrusted to Smith Funeral Home & Crematory, Blawnox. thomasmsmithfh.com PJC

Sheila

Edith F Schneider

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Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information. THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —

Sunday July 7: Sally Berger, Bessie S Bernstein, Cecelia M Fink, Jacob Galanty, Simon Gastfriend, Sarah Leah Greenberg, Sadye I Horwitz, Sylvia Herman Kahan, Betty Stern Kaplan, Abe L Kessler, Harold B Levy, Dr Ben Moresky, Henry Norell, Max Rubin, William Bernard Segal, Morry Wise

Monday July 8: Anna Alpern, William Brown, Ruth Tolchin Ehrenreich, Morris Finesod, Natalie Geminder, Emma E Gottlieb, Betty Stern Kaplan, Hyman Sanford Liebling, M .D ., Faye Bloom Rattner, Lois Recht, Sarah Hoffman Reifman, Sidney Schatz, Irving Schiffman, Esther Solomon

Tuesday July 9: Paul Braun, Samuel H Caplan, Ethel Cowen, Theda Rose Greenberg, Nathan Kaiserman, Anna Krantz, Irving Levine, Arnold Pearl, Fay Doltis Shaer, Charles B Spokane, Sam Weiner, Maurice Meyer Weisberger

Wednesday July 10: Nathan Ackerman, Rose Shulman Axelrod, Israel Mayer Blumenthal, Emanuel Kauf, Lillian Lookman, Max Markowitz, Edythe Markowitz Merksamer, Anne P Meyers, Matilda Neuman, Mary Pechersky, Mamie Ripp, Nathan Rosenberg, Dorothy Shakespeare, Pearl Tufshinsky, Ben Wanetick, Margaret Weinberger

Thursday July 11: Louis J Abrams, Jacob H Becker, Dr Hyman Bernstein, Harry Bluestone, Sylvia Caplan, Max Hirsch, Louis Kenner, Louis J Klein, Abraham Mallinger, Sadie Lebowitz Mittleman, Sol Louis Pearlman, Jennie Roth,Leo Saul Schwartz, Seymour Segal, Ida Mae Bloom Swartz

Friday July 12: Oscar Bennett, Linnie R Caplan, Lucille Cohen Katz, Barney Drosnes, Esther Gross, Julius H Harris, Brian H Ibe, Louis Katz, Charles Paris, Estelle Schwartz, Bessie Cohen Silverberg, Joseph Swartz, Florence M Teitelbaum

Saturday July 13: Clara Blatt, Jerome Cohen, Gerson Finkelstein, William R Finn, Charles Fischer, Charles Greenberg, Minnie Hyman, Estelle Kruman, Fannie S Lattanzio, Jacob M Levine, Mildred Mallinger, Tillie Rider, Harry Ruben, Rosella Herzberg Wanetick

— NATIONAL —

By JNS

The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted on Monday at its biennial meeting, which is ongoing in Salt Lake City, Utah, to divest from Israel bonds and to denounce Christian Zionism, Religion News Service reported.

The denomination, which had 8,704 churches and 1.14 million members as of May 2023, voted to “reject Christian Zionism in all its forms” and to issue a report about the “dangers of Christian Zionism” and how “mainline Christians and those of other faiths are complicit, though unaware of connections with Christian Zionism.”

“Presbyterian Church (USA) has long singled out Israel for animus, fixation, double standards and demonization. Now PCUSA has voted to divest from Israel bonds and to slam ‘Christian Zionism,’” B’nai B’rith International stated.

“The denomination tragically fails to speak for all its members, for fairness and for truth,” B’nai B’rith added.

A previous version of the resolution referred not to the “dangers” of Christian Zionism but to “heretical views of Christian Zionism.” A prior version of the resolution also referred to the Ten Commandments as

176 Jewish gravestones vandalized at 2 Cincinnati cemeteries Presbyterian Church rejects Christian Zionism, divests from Israel Bonds

— NATIONAL —

By Andrew Lapin | JTA

Vandals in Cincinnati damaged or knocked over 176 gravestones at two historic Jewish cemeteries over the course of the past week.

A joint statement from the local Jewish federation, Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati called it an “act of antisemitic vandalism.” Most of the gravestones were pushed facedown, which Jewish groups said made it difficult to identify and notify the families, as local law enforcement has advised them to leave the scene untouched while they investigate.

boycotting Israel Bonds, addressed the church’s investment in the “sovereign debt,” of “three nation-states that are currently engaged in prolonged occupations: Israel, Morocco and Turkey.”

“Israel has occupied Palestinian territory since 1967; Morocco has occupied Western

occupation of Palestinian territory is especially urgent today, as it is directly connected to the devastating war in Gaza and ongoing violence in the West Bank.”

“On Oct. 7, 2023, amidst the 56th year of Israel’s occupation, Palestinian militants killed 1,139 Israelis and took 241 people

hostage. In response, the Israeli military has invaded and bombed Gaza and, in a lesser but still lethal manner, the West Bank,” the

It added that the Israel Defense Forces has “killed more than 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 15,000 children” since Oct. 7, and “Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed at least 548 people, including 135 children, in the West Bank during

“Israel has detained at least 9,170 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza since October 7,” it added. “Israel has severely limited Gazans’ access to food, leading the U.N. Commissioner of Human Rights and other human rights organizations to suggest that Israel is, or may be, using ‘starvation as

RNS reported that both resolutions were part of legislation that passed unanimously. The denomination “has been sharply critical of Israel and its policies over Palestinians for decades,” it reported. “Two years ago it voted to declare Israel an apartheid state, angering the U.S. Jewish establishment.”

“There is a growing consensus in the church that we shouldn’t be profiting from Israel’s human rights abuses and, frankly, genocide against Palestinians,” said Bob Ross, a Point Park University professor and a member of the steering committee of the advocacy group Israel/Palestine Mission Network, RNS reported. PJC

“We are deeply saddened and outraged to report that 176 gravestones were vandalized at the Tifereth Israel Cemetery and the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Cemetery,” the groups said in their joint

statement Monday. Both cemeteries are part of a larger complex on Cincinnati’s historic west side.

The incident was the latest in a long line of antisemitic acts targeting Jewish cemeteries.

Some of the targeted gravestones dated to the 1800s, and many were cracked by the vandalism. Local and federal law enforcement are involved in the investigation.

Antisemitism has been a growing concern for Jews nationwide since the start of the current Israel-Hamas war, with synagogues, Holocaust museums and Jewish day schools all becoming targets for hateful acts. But Jewish cemeteries have been a consistent target of antisemitic vandalism dating well before that.

The groups implored those interested in helping to donate to the Jewish cemetery group’s monument repair fund. PJC

Presbyterian church Photo by klawson/Pixabay.

p One hundred and seventy-six gravestones were knocked over in two Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati on July 1. Photo courtesy of Cincy Jewfolk

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Life & Culture

Jake Paltrow’s

‘June

Zero’

depicts Adolf

Eichmann’s

trial through the eyes of Israelis adjacent to it

By Stephen Silver | JTA

The story of the 1961 trial and 1962 execution of Nazi Adolf Eichmann has been told extensively, from Hannah Arendt’s contemporaneous book “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil” to the 2018 film “Operation Finale” and a long list of documentaries. Just last year, a new one that included never-before-heard confessions from Eichmann himself started streaming.

“June Zero,” the new film directed by Jake Paltrow, takes an ambitious and unconventional approach by focusing on a series of events outside of the trial itself.

Presented almost entirely in Hebrew, “June Zero” also tells the story of a relatively early era in Israel’s history when Jews from many parts of the world converged there — captured through the perspectives of characters who represent that diversity and varying points of view.

“The film itself is being told from the point of view of a contested history” as experienced by different characters, Paltrow said in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “And so when we think of testimony as it relates to the Holocaust in terms of the trial itself, or the Shoah Foundation interviews, it becomes a very interesting way of accessing the story.”

Eichmann, one of the main planners of the mass deportation and murder of Europe’s Jews by the Nazis, was captured in Argentina by Israeli intelligence agents in 1960 and brought to Israel to stand trial (an operation depicted in “Operation Finale”). “June Zero” tells the story through three characters: a 13-year-old Jewish Libyan immigrant to Israel, the Jewish Moroccan prison guard who guarded Eichmann’s cell, and a Holocaust survivor who went on to participate in gathering evidence in the case against Eichmann.

Eichmann appears as a character, although the audience never sees his face.

Paltrow is the son of the late director Bruce Paltrow and the veteran actress Blythe Danner and the brother of Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow. His previous directorial credits include 2007’s comedy “The Good

Night,” 2014’s sci-fi film “The Young Ones” and the 2015 documentary “De Palma,” which he co-directed with the noted Jewish filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

One of the multiple perspectives he provides is that of David, the 13-year-old boy, who goes to work in a factory that manufactures bakery ovens. At one point he overhears plans by his boss to build an oven specifically for the cremation of Eichmann’s body. (Eichmann would be the first and only person to receive the death penalty in Israel — and cremation traditionally is forbidden in Judaism.)

“I had come across the detail of the one-time-use crematorium,” Paltrow said.

“There was that detail, and there was something that most people, even in Israel, didn’t know, which was that no Ashkenazi guards were allowed to guard Eichmann during the trial.” Most of Hitler’s victims were Ashkenazi Jews.

“I felt that it was inherently dramatic and a way to engage in a story like this that might feel a little fresh,” Paltrow said of the oven.

Paltrow, who co-wrote the film with the Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval, said he has a “pretty extensive” Hebrew vocabulary but is not entirely conversant in the language that

President Ken

Gormley

and Duquesne University congratulate Rodef Shalom Congregation’s 2024 Pursuer of Peace Award honorees Laura Ellsworth and Mark Nordenberg.

dominates the movie. “June Zero” was shot mostly in Israel but also in Ukraine, before the wars in both countries.

“We committed to making the movie this way … out of a sense of it just being the best way to do it in an intuitive sense,” he said. “We wanted to make it in the place where this happened, and we wanted to make it with actors [who lived there]. It seemed like the thing I would have to adapt was me.”

The “June Zero” title is a reference to how Israelis referred to the date of Eichmann’s execution so that it would not be commemorated in future years. Nevertheless, the trial, which was televised and featured extensive first-hand testimony by survivors, was a watershed event in Israel. Until then, the young country had been reluctant to discuss the Holocaust or confront its impact.

The trial “collapsed the dam of shame for Holocaust survivors in Israel,” said Paltrow.

When asked what lesson the film’s story might offer at this moment in history, with a war in Israel following what people around the world have noted was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, Paltrow pointed to the era when “June Zero” was set.

“That sort of pre-’67 moment … was a very

beautiful time before things were going to get much more challenging,” he said, referring to the Six-Day War and the near-debacle of the 1973 Yom Kippur war. However, just four years after the Yom Kippur War, Israel and Egypt were making peace and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was addressing the Knesset.

“Trying to reinvest in those perspectives that can try to bring some sort of peaceful future are essential,” he said. “And I hope that’s something that people won’t let go of.”

e film sports the logos of the Israel Film Council and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, but Paltrow said both government bodies had little to do with the film creatively.

“I guess it’s part of the mandate that these logos go on the film, sort of at the end, but no, I had no interaction with them at all,”

altrow, who grew up in Los Angeles, said that while he didn’t grow up in an especially religious family, they celebrated the holidays, and he decided that Judaism was “something that I wanted to explore” when he was around 10 or 11.

“So I prepared for a bar mitzvah and had it. And the link has remained. And I think in some ways when you’re a child, you don’t fully understand necessarily what the link is,” he said of his relationship to Judaism.

“I have found as I’ve gotten older, it has grown and in many ways has strengthened,” added Paltrow, whose father came from a long line of rabbis. “What I found more than anything was a link to my father and his father and this idea that we’re connected through time together. It’s sort of an aspiration to be like these people that you admire, that you feel are people that sort of strive toward a certain, by their standard, sense of enlightenment.”

Before its theatrical release this week, via Cohen Media Group, “June Zero” had a lengthy run on the Jewish film festival circuit.

“It’s been very nice to show the movie” to Jewish audiences “where you have people engaging with the movie with no or very few walkouts,” Paltrow said. “And I think people found it emotional and even funny. That’s everything that I think we intended to achieve, so it’s very gratifying.”

“June Zero” opened in New York on June 28, in Los Angeles on July 5, and will open in other cities subsequently. PJC

p A group of schoolchildren read a news magazine in “June Zero,” a new film dramatizing the Eichmann trial’s reception in Israel. Courtesy Cohen Media Group

of Life

Community members gathered on the corner of Darlington Road and Murray Avenue to demand the release of 120 hostages held in Gaza. The June 30 event marked 268 days since the hostages

celebrated 160 years since its inception. The June 26 party was held at

Tree

Congregation

p

The heat is on Jewish Healthcare Foundation, AIDS Free Pittsburgh and True T PGH hosted the sixth annual Too Hot for July. The May 30 event welcomed 2,000 people to celebrate and promote HIV

p Back from left: JHF interns J. Ashenayi and Ja’Myah Scott. Front from left: JHF staff members Emma Seagle and Elizabeth Klusman Photo courtesy of Jewish Healthcare Foundation

p Cantor Laura Berman, front left, leads the conversation. Photo courtesy of Rick Sternberg

Summer in the city Preschoolers enjoyed Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Biblical Botanical Garden while attending

p Water under the bridge

Photo courtesy of Rodef Shalom Congregation

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Photos courtesy of Alice Sahel-Azagury