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About 1000 people came to mourn those murdered on Oct.
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hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer
On a crisp fall evening beneath a sky streaked with clouds, a crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered on Darlington Road outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh to stand in solidarity with Israel and to remember the victims of Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state and the hostages still held in Gaza by the terrorist organization and its civilian accomplices.
The solemn event, attended by members of the Jewish community and its supporters — including Rep. Chris Deluzio, Mayor Ed Gainey, City Controller Rachel Heisler, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Conner, Allegheny County Council members Paul Klein and Sam DeMarco, and Pittsburgh City Council member Erika Strassburger — opened with remarks by Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Board Chair Jan Levinson. He read the names of 17 residents of Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether sister city, Karmiel, killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jewish community member Karen Gal-Or next took the stage and recounted the story of her second cousin Eli, who was an officer
in the special forces division of the IDF and was murdered by Hamas while he was defending civilians.
Gal-Or traveled with the Pittsburgh Federation to Israel earlier this year and recounted what she learned during her time there.
“Israel is a nation of superheroes,” she said. “They are our modern-day Maccabees.”
Perhaps the most moving moments of the vigil came when Israeli Michal Alon — who was volunteering on an IDF base with her family on Oct. 7 — stood before the crowd with her son and recounted her harrowing experience of being shot three times while she was caring for a soldier wounded by Hamas terrorists.
Her voice, at times heavy with emotion, spoke of the bravery of the IDF soldiers on the base, who were taken by surprise.
“They fought like lions and lionesses,” she said.
The names of the nearly 1,200 murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7 were displayed on a large screen accompanied by music played by a string quartet.
A video told of some of the horrors of the attack through the eyes of Israelis, then pivoted
Sukkot on campus arriving with joy, concern
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Sta Writer
The holiday of Sukkot is generally associated with joy, but given recent attacks on Jewish students in Oakland, the holiday is arriving with some concern.
Between Oct. 16-23, Jews will dine, congregate and occasionally sleep in outdoor booths. These temporary structures are typically erected in yards or driveways with confidence that the open-air experience can be enjoyed meaningfully and peacefully. In Oakland, those charged with student safety also realize that the upcoming holiday comes at a challenging moment.
During the past month, Jewish University of Pittsburgh students have been attacked twice. One of those attacks is being investigated by the FBI as a possible hate crime.
Dan Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC, said that regardless of the holiday or season, the “safety and security of students is always paramount.”
For weeks, Hillel JUC has prepared for Sukkot by following past protocol.
quistium si de net voloritat
Fodictiumqui
7, 2023,
a vigil
Photo by Julie Paris
Plenty of space for young Jewish leaders.
Photo courtesy of Chabad House on Campus
Jewish University of Pittsburgh student recounts
“I want every Jew to be proud,” he said, “and to wear their star. I have a sister who’s a sophomore in high school. I’m very concerned about her. I do not want her to hide her identity from anyone. I have a brother who is a freshman at the University of Maryland, where a federal court decided to let a large [anti-Israel] 10/7 demonstration occur. I don’t want him to hide from anyone. I want every Jew — whether it’s family, friends, college students, no matter who — I want them to wear their Judaica and not be afraid to hide in the face of diversity.”
Both the University of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University have been the site of anti-Israel protests that have included antisemitic chants and rhetoric. Last summer, the Cathedral of Learning was the site of an unauthorized encampment and several altercations with police that led to the arrest and prosecution of protesters.
Last month, a friend of Bowman’s was one of two students attacked on Pitt’s campus by a man wearing a keffiyeh.
“He proceeds to say ‘F--- the Jews,’ with a lot of hateful and antisemitic language,” Bowman said. “He said I looked Jewish and started saying offensive things about my identity and religion and Israel.”
Bowman said that rather than running away, he stood up for himself.
“I’m proud of my Judaism. I’m proud of my identity and religion,” he said.
The group proceeded to assault the Jewish student.
“It was a large group of individuals on the street,” Bowman said. “They began to punch me in the face and kick my body.”
While the physical assault was taking place, Bowan said the group continued to hurl antisemitic insults at him.
Street corner near where a Jewish student was physically assaulted by several men shouting antisemitic slurs on Sept. 27
The attack stopped when a shop owner came out and broke up the assault.
“I’m very thankful that an upstander was able to clear the commotion that was going on,” Bowman said. “He’s an old neighbor of mine, a shop owner I’ve known for several years. It took a lot of courage to do that.”
Bowman reported the incident to both the Pittsburgh police and the FBI. It is not yet known whether the suspects are Pitt students, and no arrests have been made.
Bowman said that he received calls from leaders of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community as
well as the university, offering their support. And while he appreciates the sentiment and still feels safe on campus, he thinks both the city and university administration need to do more.
“I call on the school and the city to do more to combat antisemitism on campus,” he said, “as well as the Student Government Board to condemn hate speech.”
Bowman said he decided to share his story because he feels that it’s important to speak out against antisemitism, especially because of what’s been happening on college campuses since Oct. 7.
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On Oct. 3, one day before Rosh Hashanah, a large banner was hung inside the Cathedral of Learning promoting an anti-Israel protest which began at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The banner was reportedly “guarded” by protesters so that it wouldn’t be removed.
According to Jared Stonesifer, senior director of external communications at Pitt, the banner was removed without issue as soon as the university was made aware of it.
“Those responsible were either referred to the Office of Student Conduct if they were a university affiliate or instructed that they are now prohibited from being on university property if they were not affiliated,” he said. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
documents and photographs sent to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle become the property of this publication, which is not responsible for the return or loss of such items.
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle does not endorse the goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement. Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
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Headlines
IDF reservist recounts a year of combat, lost friends and wanting the hostages home
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
At this point in the Israel-Hamas war, millions of people have seen videos of the conflict. Few have spoken to the people depicted in those videos.
On Oct. 1, Uri Zakai-Or, an Israel Defense Forces captain in reserves and tank platoon commander, visited Pittsburgh for a conversation before a small group at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Zakai-Or, 25, recounted the past year in which he fought on Israel’s southern and northern fronts, served during hostage rescues and evacuations, lost friends — and started school.
Through photographs, videos and anecdotes, Zakai-Or intimately detailed the last year to dispel myths and help listeners understand that “we are all people,” he said.
“ This is my private story,” the Tel Aviv resident began.
Born in Israel, Zakai-Or’s childhood included time in Europe and the U.S. After graduating from Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, he completed shnat sherut (a year of service) in Israel.
The gap year program is “all about giving,” he said. “And through giving, you
also get a lot.”
Along with working with at-risk youth, founding a running club and completing the Jerusalem Marathon with the adolescents, Zakai-Or lived alongside religious and secular Jews.
By being together, “you understand how to live together, which is a concept I really like and has gotten me to today,” he said.
Following shnat sherut, he enlisted in the Israeli Air Force. But after discovering his place wasn’t in the skies, Zakai-Or returned to the ground, climbed the ranks and became a platoon commander responsible for overseeing four tanks.
In August 2023, he completed his military service. Along with his girlfriend, he traveled to Guatemala and Belize.
On the evening of Oct. 6, he was getting ready for bed when he noticed a phone message — it was already Oct. 7 in Israel and the attacks had begun.
One report indicated that a tank had been overtaken.
“I thought it was fake news,” he said. “This is my Merkava Mark IV tank, one of the best tanks in the world.”
As a platoon commander, Zakai-Or said he knew “every inch, every screw, everything” involving the armored vehicle, and questioned how it could be “beaten by a bunch of guerrilla terrorists.”
But after hours of scouring sites and sources, “I understood it wasn’t fake; it was real.”
Then a deeper pain set in: Zakai-Or learned that the tank’s commanding officer was Omer Neutra, a Long Island resident, who Zakai-Or trained — Neutra, 22, is among 101 hostages still in Gaza.
Zakai-Or and his girlfriend, a fellow IDF reservist, wanted to immediately return to Israel.
“This is where I understood what great power the Jewish Diaspora has,” he said.
“I saw this post on Instagram that said that whoever needs a flight to Israel, come to JFK tomorrow at 8 p.m. and we’ll
On
this
Yom Kippur,
wishing everyone a day of peace, reflection and renewal
Photo by Adam Reinherz
Headlines
‘For the Child’ exhibit tells Kindertransport story for adults and children
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
An exhibit sure to prompt robust intergenerational dialogue, “For the Child – The Story of the Kindertransport,” began its Pittsburgh tour on Sept. 22 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. It will make its way to several educational centers and community institutions with lessons about the historic Kindertransport and present-day responsibilities.
Between 1938 and 1940, approximately 10,000 refugee children — mostly Jewish — were brought to Great Britain from Nazi Germany via the Kindertransport.
“For the Child” marks 85 years since the end of the Kindertransport by detailing participants’ “personal stories,” Ellen Resnek, educational programs and outreach manager at Classrooms Without Borders, said.
Artists Rosie Potter and Patricia Ayre developed the exhibition between 2000 and 2003 following the requests of several Kindertransport participants.
Potter and Ayre created 23 panels with each showing a photo of an original suitcase and the objects its young owner transported. Inside some suitcases are family photos. Inside other suitcases are a prayer book, doll or brush. Written above each panel is a fragment of text relating to a suitcase’s contents.
Milli Segal has curated and owned the exhibition for nearly 18 years.
Speaking with the Chronicle by phone from Vienna, Segal explained that the exhibition offers a window into “the Kinder.”
Their belongings were no different than what many children might pack today if they were leaving everything they knew, she said. These items are “the remembrance of home.”
On Sept. 22, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh joined CWB to cosponsor an opening reception for the exhibition.
Emily Loeb, the Holocaust Center’s director of programs and education, said the two organizations are looking forward to “getting the exhibition into schools.”
Seeing these panels is important because “people think about children differently,” Loeb said. “For a parent to have to think about sending their child elsewhere, to another country, is almost unfathomable. The Kindertransport story really resonates and connects with people in a deep way.”
Local institutions including Seneca Valley School District, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Rodef Shalom, Community Day School and the Holocaust Center, already have agreed to showcase the exhibition during its Pittsburgh stay, Resnek said.
Casey Weiss, Community Day’s head of school, said that CDS is partnering with CWB to bring the exhibition to the Jewish day school.
“This is an incredibly important initiative that we are absolutely elated to collaborate on,” Weiss said.
In recent years, studies have demonstrated a lack of Holocaust awareness among Gen Z and millennials in the U.S.
A Claims Conference report released in 2020 noted that 63% of respondents didn’t know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Additionally, although more than 40,000 camps and ghettos existed within Europe during the Holocaust, 48% of respondents couldn’t name even one. Within Pennsylvania, 40% of respondents did not know what Auschwitz was.
A Pew Research Report, also released in 2020, found that “teens display lower levels of knowledge about the Holocaust than their elders do.”
Tsipy Gur, founder and executive director of CWB, said there are multiple reasons why the exhibition is essential to see now.
“There are kids who are being forced to leave their homes, and their classrooms and their classmates in Ukraine, and Palestine and Israel
and it’s important we talk about misplaced kids,” she said.
Where these children end up and how they’re treated is vital to understand, but so, too, are the stories of those who help them, like, “Nicholas Winton and many people in England,” she added.
In 1939, Winton rescued 669 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, according to Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
“The exhibit tells heroic stories of simple people, which can ultimately inspire students,” Gur said.
Loeb agreed and called “For the Child” a “unique way for people to learn about the topic and different forms of rescue that happened in the Holocaust.” People, especially students, should know that “strangers acted generously and heroically to help others in a time of great danger and peril.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Jewish UK Member of Parliament visits Pittsburgh
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Alex Sobel spent a weekend in September doing what many across the U.S. are doing: campaigning for a presidential candidate.
Don’t let the fact that Sobel is a United Kingdom member of parliament for Leeds Central and Headingley distract you.
Given that the British politician is a member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, it should surprise no one that he was knocking on doors in Squirrel Hill and downtown in support of Democrat Kamala Harris.
Sobel, who has served as a member of parliament since 2017, said that most across the pond support Harris — even those who are more conservative.
“From a Jewish perspective, we need to remember whatever the Republicans say in terms of support for Israel, Democrat presidents have done more than anyone else,”
Sobel said. “The Iron Dome was instituted by Obama. Obama provided more defensive support to Israel than any other president. My personal point of view is that Obama was, apart from FDR, probably the best
U.S. president. In terms of the Jewish community, that’s definitely the case.”
Sobel didn’t make the more than 3,600mile journey from Leeds to Pittsburgh solely to campaign for Harris. After spending time in New York as part of Climate Week, the MP came to the Steel City to visit Michal Friedman and her family.
The families have a shared history. Sobel’s and Friedman’s maternal grandparents fought together against the Nazis and emigrated together to Poland in 1954, where the two families lived in one apartment, before moving to Israel.
“My grandfather fought in the Soviet army,” Sobel said. “If you lived in Poland or Lithuania when the war broke out, your choice was staying and going to a concentration camp, or fighting the Nazis in the Soviet army.”
Sobel came to the U.K. as a university student.
He has recounted his family’s history, including those murdered by the Nazis, during his time in the parliament. Leeds, he said, has the fourth largest Jewish
community in the UK and the third largest in England.
“By U.S. standards it’s not very large,” he said. “We’re talking about between 10,000 to 12,000 people.”
Leeds is larger than Pittsburgh, with a population of about 800,000. The Jewish community, Sobel said, is made up primarily of liberal and Reform Jews, but there are also members of the community who are Orthodox and Lubavitch.
While the Jewish community in the United Kingdom has seen anti-immigrant riots, there hasn’t been the type of antisemitic activity Pittsburgh has experienced. Its university campuses, however, especially the Russell Group — comprised of 24 public research universities across the United Kingdom — have experienced some protests.
“We had an incident at a Hillel House, which is the Jewish social house, that had antisemitic graffiti painted on it. In terms of the U.K., our campus in Leeds was about the worst,” he said.
p Images from "For the Child" exhibition.
Photos courtesy of Milli Segal Please
Sobel
p Alex Sobel
Photo by David Rullo
Headlines
Generations are ‘Better Together’ at Dor Hadash
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Karen Morris was excited when she first learned of the Better Together grant.
The national program — open to Jewish day schools, congregational schools, Hebrew high schools, youth groups, Jewish Community Centers and college programs like Hillels and Chabad houses — pairs teens or tweens with senior citizens to forge new connections.
“The goal,” Morris said, “is to bridge teens or middle school kids from your congregation with the older generation.”
Morris, the education director for Congregation Dor Hadash’s religious school, said that Dor Hadash doesn’t like the labels “senior citizen” or “older people.” Instead, the congregation uses the term “older generation,” which broadly means “empty nesters” or those who have retired.
The Better Together grant requires qualifying programs to pair teens with at least five older generation members. Morris first thought about reaching out to the Jewish Association on Aging but, as she considered the program’s goals, decided to keep Better Together in-house.
“There’s a bit of a l’dor v’dor feel to it,” Morris said.
The program requires a minimum of five adults, but Morris said the school set a goal of 10 for the first year, which it met. Dor Hadash’s Congregational Administrator Nicole Jenkins is the program’s coordinator, and Maria Carson, the Pittsburgh JCC’s director of Jewish education and arts, is the Better Together teacher.
Morris said the grant money is “generous,” and covers salaries for those running the
program, as well as activities and even food.
Better Together is in its second year, or cohort, at Dor Hadash, and engages the school’s sixth, seventh and eighth graders.
The program takes place on Wednesdays, when the religious school meets. The curriculum is a combination of suggestions from the Better Together website and lessons and activities Carson creates.
“The goal is for the middle school kids to understand what it’s like to get older through a Jewish lens and with Jewish values,” Morris said. The activities are group-oriented, and the cohort meets a minimum of eight times during the year.
Activities have included baking hamantaschen, ice skating during Chanukah, a field trip to Carnegie Mellon University for the Violins of Hope exhibit and taking part in an education Shabbat. The group even went to see “Mean Girls.”
“That was fun,” Morris said, “because the older generation talked about going to school dances and meeting people. The kids found it
really interesting.”
A centerpiece of the program, she said, is an essay contest. The students got together with the older generation, Morris and Carson, to write their essays. Dor Hadash awarded gift cards for essays in first, second and third place, and Better Together awarded a grant to pay half the tuition to summer camp for the best essay.
Carson said two memorable programs were a Tu B’Shvat seder, where the group painted rocks representing what they wanted to achieve in the new year of trees, and an exploration of Shabbat as a "palace in time," as written about by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
While the program is national, Carson said, one of the nice things is that it is “congregation-focused.”
“How we do it is very Dor Hadash-focused,” she said. “It’s very much about middle schoolers at Dor Hadash meeting with the older generation of Dor Hadash and making them feel a buy-in and that we’re all part of the community together.”
Nancy Levine said she heard about the program through the congregation’s newsletter.
“It sounded like a really good idea,” she said. “I really like the idea of, you know, all the older adults and kids getting together.”
Levine said that before the Better Together program was brought to the congregation, there wasn’t a lot of interaction between the religious school students and the older generation, despite everyone recognizing one another.
Each of the activities the group has participated in was “unique and fun,” she said, including an origami project that no one could successfully navigate. And despite not completing the activity, Levine said there was a joy in the room.
“There was a lot of laughter, and it was fun,” she said. “We all felt stupid together.”
Hana Long is a ninth grader who won the Better2Write essay contest last year, winning a $100 gift card and a grant to attend Emma Kaufmann Camp.
She said the experience was particularly meaningful for her and something the congregation should continue.
“I enjoyed talking to the older people because I don’t have any grandparents,” she said. “Unfortunately, they passed away before I could meet them. So, it was nice talking with another generation, which I hadn’t really interacted with.”
Morris encourages other Jewish organizations to take part in Better Together.
“The kids like it. They look forward to it,” she said. “One member in her 70s…a very active member, said, ‘I didn’t really know these people…but now I know the kids.’ We really feel like we’ve accomplished something.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
ElevatEd takes root in Pittsburgh: Investing in the next generation of Jewish educators
By Justin Vellucci
All 10 of the Pittsburgh area’s early childhood Jewish education centers have joined forces with a national program to improve recruitment, retention and training of Jewish educators.
They call the program ElevatEd.
Started in 2023, ElevatEd first focused on Jewish schools in Boston, Denver-Boulder, Houston, Long Island and East Bay, California. Its second cohort includes seven additional communities, including Pittsburgh.
ElevatEd aims to recruit, train, mentor and support more than 400 new teachers in 14 American communities in its first three years, officials said.
The $12 million project is a collaboration among Jewish Community Centers Association of North America, Jewish Federations of North America and the Union for Reform Judaism.
“We’re excited to partner with seven new cities for ElevatEd’s second cohort, refining our strategies and curriculum
Photo courtesy of Pexels
based on feedback from the first cohort,” said Orna Siegel, ElevatEd executive director. “This expansion allows us to support the entire early childhood Jewish education
field more effectively.”
Gina Crough started coordinating the project on Sept. 5. The former early childhood educator — she taught for several years, including at a Goddard School in Columbus, Ohio — said ElevatEd’s mission is simple.
“It’s about empowering early childhood educators, who shape the foundation for lifelong learning and growth,” she told the Chronicle.
The two-year initiative, which expands on the locally grown Project 412, brings together those funding Jewish education efforts, as well as researchers, community leaders and — possibly most importantly — those on the ground and in the classroom.
“Ensuring that our community has qualified educators is essential for providing high-quality early childhood Jewish education,” said Carolyn Linder, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s associate director of Jewish life and learning. “Early childhood educators are integral to a flourishing Jewish life — they nurture children, famiies and their Jewish communities. Anything that we can do to help professionalize and shine a light on a
vastly underappreciated profession, I feel, is imperative.”
Linder and Crough said ElevatEd will focus locally on best practices, as well as training those already working in Jewish early childhood education.
“We have a very collaborative group of early childhood education directors — and that’s something we should celebrate and be proud of,” Linder said.
More than 40 participants already are enrolled in the program in the Pittsburgh area, Crough said.
As the 2024-25 academic year enters its second month, ElevatEd is offering an 18-month mentorship program for young teachers and their mid-career counterparts, officials said.
The 10 centers also will receive funds to help credential their staff, officials said. They also will offer staff a yearlong professional development program.
ElevatEd is fleshed out with an applicant tracking system, and partnerships with recruitment companies to attract teachers nationwide to Pennsylvania.
| Special to the Chronicle
p As part of the Better Together program, Dor Hadash religious school students spend time with the congregation’s older generation, participating in activities like baking Chanukah cookies.
Photo courtesy of Karen Morris
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.
MONDAYS, OCT. 14–DEC. 30
Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
Join Temple Sinai for an evening of mahjong every Monday (except holidays). Whether you are just starting out or have years of experience, you are sure to enjoy the camaraderie and good times as you make new friends or cherish moments with longtime pals. All are welcome. Winners will be awarded Giant Eagle gift cards. All players should have their own 2024 mahjong cards. Contact Susan Cohen at susan_k_cohen@yahoo.com if you have questions. $5. templesinaipgh.org.
q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16
Hear from Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey at the Squirrel Hill AARP’s October meeting. Refreshments will be served. For information, call Marcia Kramer at 412-656-5803. 1 p.m. Falk Library, Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave.
WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 16–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.
WEDNESDAYS, 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 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 will be thought-provoking, with tools to help build strong relationships and family unity. Free. 12:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCT. 20
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for a Family Sukkah Party. Shake the lulav, eat pizza and enjoy music and crafts. 5 p.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/ sukkahparty.
PittsburghJewishBookFestival
November10toNovember13,2024 plusbonusauthorsonNovember20
Presentedby: CongregationBethShalom PittsburghJewishChronicle CarolynSlayton&SethGlick
Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Brotherhood presents the East Winds Symphonic Band in a free concert featuring a celebration of music from stage and screen. Cash donations to the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry are welcome. 7 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/ eastwinds.
TUESDAY, OCT. 22
Join Chabad of the South Hills for Seniors in the Sukkah. Shake the lulav and etrog and enjoy a delicious lunch and presentation on how to navigate Medicare. $5 suggested donation. 1 p.m. 1701 McFarland Road.
Fact or fake? With the plethora of AI, special interests, social media, websites and newsletters, how do you discern what is true and what are lies? Join Temple Sinai for Disinformation & the Election: A Panel Discussion sponsored by Women of Temple Sinai to discuss how groups circulate incorrect information about voting and elections with the intent to mislead and confuse voters and then spread that disinformation. Bring your dinner; water, lemonade and a sweet treat provided. Free and open to the public; registration required. 6 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/programsevents.
SUNDAY, NOV. 3
Join Young Peoples Synagogue (Forbes & Denniston) for a Molly's Trolley tour of Jewish Pittsburgh, led by Eric Lidji, director of Rauh Jewish Archives. A light breakfast will be followed by the tour. $36 per person, capped at 30 guests. 9 a.m. breakfast; 10 a.m. tour. For information or reservations email Rebecca.spiegel1@ verizon.net.
SUNDAY, NOV. 10–THURSDAY, NOV. 14
Congregation Beth Shalom will be hosting its first ever Jewish Book Festival. The festival is presented by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, and Carolyn Slayton and Seth Glick. Support Jewish authors. More information to follow. 5915 Beacon Street.
WEDNESDAYS, NOV. 13–DEC. 18
Chabad of the South Hills presents “Nurturing Relationships,” a new six-week course with Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum. Learn Jewish wisdom for building deeper connections in all your relationships. 7:30 p.m. Bower Hill Road. chabadsh.com. PJC
Join the Chronicle Book Club!
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Nov. 3 discussion of “Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination — and Secret Diplomacy — to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East,” by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar.
“Target Tehran” was the Wall Street Journal’s Best Book of the Year (politics) and winner of the Jewish Book Council’s Natan Notable Book Prize.
“One of the most accurate and fascinating books so far” (Michael Bar-Zohar, coauthor of “Mossad”) about how Israel used sabotage, assassination, cyberwar — and diplomacy — to thwart Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and, in the process, begin to reshape the Middle East.
Your hosts
Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer
How it works
We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 1 p.m.
What to do
Buy: “Target Tehran.” It is available at some area Barnes and Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon. It is also available through the Carnegie Library system.
Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle
Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting. Bonus
Author Ilan Evyatar will be the keynote speaker at the Pittsburgh Jewish Book Festival, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom. For more information about the Book Festival, go to bethshalompgh.org/ pjbf-november2024/.
Happy reading! PJC
Toby Tabachnick
Every Friday in the and all the time online @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
F or home delivery, c all 412-687-1000, ext. 2
Health & Wellness
RSV vaccines: What older adults need to know
Even though cooler days may seem far off, now is the best time to plan ahead for a healthy winter. One common respiratory illness, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can be severe and even deadly for older people.
“As we grow older, our immune systems do not work as well and we are more likely to have chronic conditions, which means we are at increased risk of getting very sick from common viruses as we age,” said Alison Barkoff, who leads the Administration for Community Living within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Getting vaccinated is the best protection against fall respiratory viruses like RSV. It can help keep symptoms mild and help keep people out of the hospital.”
Here’s what older Americans need to know about RSV and vaccines this fall, according to the “Risk Less. Do More” Public Education Campaign.
such as heart or lung disease, diabetes, obesity or a weakened immune system. The vaccine cuts the risk of hospitalization from RSV by at least half.
People living in nursing homes, assisted living or other long-term care facilities are at even higher risk. There are many people living together in these facilities who have medical conditions that make them more likely to get very sick. While vaccines may not always stop infection, they can prevent severe illness. So, vaccination is very important for residents of long-term care facilities.
RSV vaccines are available. Three RSV vaccines have been approved for older adults by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You only need a single dose that you can get at any time of the year, but getting the vaccine in the early fall offers the best protection for the late fall and winter, when RSV usually peaks. Getting the vaccine early gives your immune system enough time to build up protection.
“Getting vaccinated is the best protection against fall respiratory viruses like RSV. It can help keep symptoms mild and help keep people out of the hospital.”
–ALISON BARKOFF
RSV vaccines are the best protection. The RSV vaccines have gone through extensive testing. Last year, more than 20 million older adults were vaccinated safely. Mild side effects, such as pain, redness or swelling at the injection site sometimes happen, but they usually go away on their own in a few days. Serious allergic reactions from RSV vaccines are rare.
Prevention is the best option. Respiratory virus vaccines, including RSV vaccines, can help protect older adults from serious illness.
Talk to your doctor and visit cdc.gov/RSV to learn more. PJC
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Health & Wellness
Tiferet Project: Julie Newman’s journey to enrich Jewish lives through meditation
By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
Every online session of the Tiferet Project is the same. And every session is different. Julie Newman starts the hour-long virtual sessions — held Sunday and Tuesday each week — with an “arrival sit.”
Much of the session revolves around Jewish meditation, a practice of settling the mind and exploring introversion and emotional insight. Nearly one in every three Jews in the U.S. meditates at least once a week, according to the Pew Research Center.
“We just check in to see what we’re coming in with,” said Newman, a cantor, Jewish educator and McCandless resident who formed the nonprofit group Tiferet in 2017. “It’s ‘Is this the first time I’m sitting down today?’ … It’s a great practice to just pause and notice that.”
What follows is 15 or 20 minutes of Jewish teaching. Each session, Newman said, she’ll dive into a Jewish text and analyze it through a lens of mindfulness — say, reading Psalm 85, Verse 11, and talking about the intersection of truth and loving kindness.
years ago. “Then, there’s the ability to experience it, to feel it on a spiritual level. And that’s what Julie does.”
I never belonged to a synagogue,” she said.
Newman was first called to the Torah at 40 years old, at a Temple Ohav Shalom service d by Rabbi Sharyn Henry. She went on to study at Hebrew College in Boston, receiving her cantorial ordination and a master’s degree in Jewish education in 2017.
“I was never going to cantorial school for a regular, full-time job,” she said. “I knew I didn’t want that.”
So, she carved out her own path.
She studied with influential Jewish composers and songwriters, and took part in an 18-month cohort with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
Then, she started teaching and leading services at several Pittsburgh synagogues: Rodef Shalom Congregation and Temple Ohav Shalom, Dor Hadash and Temple David.
She also began pursuing different forms of Jewish education. In her words, she became “passionate about bringing Jewish wisdom and contemplative practices to creating lives rich with meaning and joy.”
originated with Buddhism.
The Tiferet Project was the next natural step.
“I started Tiferet because I wanted to bring in contemplative practice —Jewish mindfulness, meditation and Jewish-inspired yoga,” she said.
Tiferet is one of the spheres of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. Newman said Tiferet is the balance between loving kindness and having wise limits.
Newman continues to expand her reach. She taught meditation for the first time this year at Chautauqua Institution, a New York-based nonprofit “dedicated to the exploration of the best in human values and the enrichment of life through a program that explores the important religious, social and political issues of our times,” according to its website.
But she also remains rooted in Pittsburgh.
After the core of the session — a roughly 45-minute “guided sit” — Newman takes questions and the group talks about Jewish practice.
Jane Liebschutz, a physician who lives in Squirrel Hill, started attending Newman’s sessions after participating in a Jewish meditation retreat in 2020.
The thing she finds unique about Tiferet’s sessions is how each one supplements, in a
“The thing about Julie is she’s really wellschooled and has a deep knowledge of Jewish practice,” Liebschutz added. “She’s knowledgeable in a mindful way — she’s practical and very generous. She makes you feel really comfortable.”
Newman’s had a lot of practice — though that’s not the route the first part of her life might have predicted. She grew up in a very secular family of Jewish immigrants from Russia — she called her mother “a refugee from an Orthodox family.”
“We definitely identified as Jewish but
“I came from nothing,” said Newman, when asked about her exposure to Jewish teachings in her early years. “And, then, it was — ‘Oh! I really like this! And I want more.’”
At Rodef Shalom, Newman led monthly chanting services with Sara Stock Mayo, a vocal presence — pun intended — in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years. Mayo is active on the board of Tiferet.
Newman said she started attending retreats around Shalosh Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. She also dived into — and became inspired by — Vipassana, or insight meditation, a practice that
She’ll lead meditation during an Oct. 19 retreat titled “Attentive Heart, Spiritual Harvest” at Tree Pittsburgh, a nonprofit on Lawrenceville’s 62nd Street. There are multiple ways to pay to take part, she said.
In November, Newman also plans to lead yoga services at Congregation Beth Shalom.
“It’s about mindfulness — when we can be present, we have better outcomes in our lives,” said Tom Michael, a Tiferet board member who lives in Shadyside. “Meditation helps me to be happier.”
“And Julie?” he added. “She’s the real deal.” PJC
Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
By Family Features
Four-and-a-half years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are once again enjoying time with friends and family and doing their favorite things. However, the virus that causes COVID-19 keeps changing, so it’s still important to stay up to date on your vaccinations. Respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, are common during the fall and winter months. That’s why now is a good time to take care of yourself and your loved ones by getting the facts on the updated COVID-19 vaccines.
“As the virus changes, we are learning more
and more about how to protect people from COVID-19,” said Namandjé N. Bumpus, Ph.D., principal deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Getting the latest COVID-19 vaccine means your protection is as up to date as possible.”
Here is information about this season’s COVID-19 vaccines from the “Risk Less. Do More.” public education campaign:
Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from COVID-19. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 lowers your chances of getting very sick or being hospitalized. Some people who get the vaccines still get sick, but vaccination can make symptoms milder. This is important if you are over age 65 or have certain health conditions. Both
can put you at a higher risk for serious or longlasting health problems, such as Long COVID or even death from COVID-19. If you do get COVID-19, ask your doctor about treatment options to reduce your risk of severe illness.
COVID-19 vaccines are regularly updated to keep up with the changing virus. The COVID-19 vaccines are updated based on the latest variants of the virus. The updated vaccines offer the best protection against the changing virus that causes COVID-19. Getting the latest vaccine boosts your immunity and lowers your risk of severe sickness.
Side effects for COVID-19 vaccines are usually mild and go away on their own in a few days. The most common side effects
are soreness or redness at the injection site, headache or body aches, or fever. Severe side effects like anaphylaxis are rare, with about five adverse events per 1 million doses given.
Staying informed and getting this season’s COVID-19 vaccine – and encouraging loved ones to do the same – is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and others this fall and winter. Knowing the facts about COVID-19 vaccinations can give you peace of mind and support a safer, healthier future for all. For more information, visit cdc.gov/ RiskLessDoMore or talk to your doctor. If you think you have COVID-19, testing can help. All U.S. households are now eligible to receive four free COVID-19 test kits. Order them today at COVIDTests.gov. PJC
p Cantor Julie Newman Photo courtesy of Cantor Julie Newman
Headlines
Shofars blown along Ukrainian frontlines as part of Rosh Hashanah initiative for soldiers
For the first time since Ukraine was plunged into war in 2022, soldiers on the front lines could hear the blast of the shofar marking the Jewish new year, JTA reported.
The largest Jewish communal body in the country distributed shofars to Jewish soldiers stationed in dozens of military positions along the 620 miles of the Ukrainian frontline. Each received training in how to blow the ritual instrument.
“The soldiers’ response was overwhelming,” said Rabbi Yaakov Sinyakov, who led the initiative of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, in a statement. “It reinforced their connection to their faith and heritage, even in the midst of conflict.”
The initiative is one of several notable Rosh Hashanah observances across Ukraine. Nonprofit and religious groups are supporting Jewish Ukrainians, who are needier on average than they used to be because of the war, in being able to celebrate. Meanwhile, thousands of Jewish pilgrims from outside of Ukraine have flooded into the country, against safety warnings, for an annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage that pays tribute to the influential Hasidic Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the city of Uman.
Teacher at Baltimore Jewish school sentenced to 23 years in prison for sex crimes
A teacher at a Jewish school in Baltimore has been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for sex crimes, JTA reported.
William “Zev” Steen, 46, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, a felony, in the U.S. District Court of Maryland. He was sentenced on Sept. 30.
Steen, who taught students at Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore, an all-girls high school, admitted to filming himself abusing a young girl and sharing child pornography online. The abuse took place for five years, including two instances in 2008 when Steen filmed it, prosecutors said.
Steen was also the director of Baltimore’s Technology Awareness Group, a firm that installs filtration software on observant Jews’ phones, which would have given him access to hundreds of community members’ personal devices. The case also included allegations of trafficking in child pornography online, although there are no known connections between the crimes and either organization.
The school fired Steen, and the software firm, known as TAG Baltimore, said he was no longer employed with it after he was arrested in 2022.
The defense’s plea for a light sentence said Steen had admitted to some of the misdeeds in 2013, consulted with a family rabbi and had seen a therapist for a year. The memorandum contains more than 10 letters from
Today in Israeli History
Oct. 14, 1994 — Rabin, Peres win Nobel Prize
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
Oct. 11, 1938 — Arab congress rejects Peel Partition
Arab leaders adopt the Resolutions of the Inter-Parliamentary Congress, rejecting the Peel Commission’s partition plan, demanding an end to Jewish immigration but offering to let Jews already in Palestine remain.
p The Peel Commission’s partition plan in 1937 called for a Jewish state closely aligned with the geography of Jewish settlements, which had not yet established a significant presence in the Negev.
Oct. 12, 1999 — Christian extremists are denied entry to Israel
Israel refuses to let 26 Irish and Romanian tourists enter through Haifa for being members of an extreme Christian cult. The approach of the year 2000 raises fears in Israel about doomsday cults.
Oct. 13, 1969 — Allon proposes home rule for West Bank
Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon reveals his plan for home rule for the 650,000 Arabs living in the West Bank. They would have autonomy in municipal affairs, education, religious policy, commerce and police.
community members defending Steen, but is heavily redacted and does not contain names.
Man who shot 2 Jews outside LA synagogues sentenced to 35 years in prison
A man who attempted to murder two Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles on consecutive days last year has been sentenced to 35 years in prison, JTA reported.
Jaime Tran, 30, a former California resident and dental student, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of “using, carrying and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence,” a statement from the Justice Department said.
According to law enforcement, In February 2023, Tran drove to PicoRobertson, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in L.A., in search of Jewish victims, and shot a man who was leaving a synagogue and wearing a kippah. The next morning, Tran shot another man wearing a kippah and leaving a different synagogue nearby.
Both victims were injured in the attacks and survived. Tran was arrested two days later.
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new book compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Jim Crow South
Ta-Nehisi Coates, the public intellectual whose writing has sparked national conversations about reparations and race in the United States, has written a book
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces that Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres are sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Yasser Arafat for achieving the Oslo Accords in 1993.
p Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, 1994.
CC BY-SA
Oct. 15, 1894 — Second prime minister Moshe Sharett is born
Moshe Sharett, a signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the country’s first foreign minister and Israel’s second prime minister, is born in Ukraine. He becomes the Jewish Agency’s political director in 1933.
Oct. 16, 1986 — Terrorists capture flyer Ron Arad
Ron Arad, 28, an F-4 Phantom II navigator, is captured by Amal terrorists after bailing out over Lebanon. He is never seen in Israel again. He is believed to have been killed in 1988 or 1992.
Oct. 17, 1880 — Ze’ev Jabotinsky is born
Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky, the father of Revisionist Zionism, is born in Ukraine. Pogroms in 1903 inspire his activism for Jewish self-defense and Zionism. He develops the intellectual foundation for what becomes Likud. PJC
indicting Israel for its mistreatment of Palestinians, JTA reported.
“The Message,” which came out Oct. 1, is Coates’ first nonfiction book in nearly a decade. It is a collection of three essays, the longest of which is about a 10-day trip Coates took to Israel and the West Bank last year, before the outbreak of the IsraelHamas war on Oct 7.
Passages of the book that have been reprinted in reviews and articles — as well as Coates’ own reflections on the essay — have sparked praise and criticism of the analysis offered by Coates, who identifies as a “relative latecomer” to studying the conflict.
In the essay, titled “The Gigantic Dream,” and in interviews before the book’s publication, Coates draws on his own identity as a Black American and likens Israel’s control over West Bank Palestinians to the Jim Crow South. He also questions the justification for Israel’s founding after the Holocaust and criticizes “the elevation of factual complexity over self-evident morality” in the way the conflict is covered.
“I don’t think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel,” he writes in the essay, according to a recent cover story in New York Magazine. “The pushing of Palestinians out of their homes had the specific imprimatur of the United States of America. Which means that it had my imprimatur.” PJC
Compiled by Jarrad Saffren
By Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office,
Headlines
Vigil:
Continued from page 1
to the resilience of the Jewish community.
“Every single Jew, no matter where you are in the world, is in this together, and we need you wherever you are,” one of the Israelis featured in the video said.
Jeff Finkelstein, the Federation’s president and CEO, told the crowd that while the evening was heavy, the hope expressed in the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” will not be lost.
“As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart, with eyes turned toward the east, looking toward Zion, then our hope, the 2,000-year-old hope, will not be lost: to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem,” he said.
Congregation Beth Shalom Rabbi Seth Adelson, Beth El Congregation of the South Hills Rabbi Amy Greenbaum, Federation’s Gefsky Community Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff, Shaare Torah Rabbi Yitzi Genack, and Temple Emanuel of South Hills Rabbi Aaron Meyer and Cantor Kalix Jacobson led various prayers, blessings and songs throughout the event.
Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon, two University of Pittsburgh students attacked by a man wearing a keffiyeh earlier this year, offered the English translation of the Prayer for the State of Israel, which was read in Hebrew by two Shinshinot, Israeli teens in Pittsburgh for the year. “Hatikvah” and the “Star-Spangled Banner” closed the vigil.
Before the vigil began, public officials offered messages to mark one year since the Oct. 7 attack.
State Rep. Dan Frankel, whose district includes Squirrel Hill, recalled the attacks while saying he prayed for the return of all the hostages and peace.
Deluzio posted on X ( formerly Twitter): “Today, we remember the lives taken in this horrific attack and keep the families of victims and hostages in our hearts.”
Heisler recalled waking to the news of Hamas’ terror attack. “The 365 days that have followed have left our Jewish community in anguish as we have witnessed the rapid and dramatic rise in anti-semitism,” she wrote on Facebook.
Pittsburgh City Council member Barb Warwick took to X to deride leaders, “From
Continued from page 1
“We are doing what we always do and working in partnership with university police, who are always so supportive and caring of our Jewish student community,” Marcus said. Along with assistance from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University police departments, Hillel JUC is relying on Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s director of community security, Shawn Brokos, for expertise and guidance.
“This year, planning for the Jewish holidays is certainly different than in years past,” Brokos said. “We are coordinating with all of our orga nizations, working with local police and the mayor’s office. We know that the campus environment has been challenging for students and we want to make sure Jewish students feel as safe and secure as possible.”
Israel to Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States…. We are less safe today than we were a year ago.”
Warwick’s post concluded by calling for a cease-fire.
The most controversial statement was a message issued jointly by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, County Executive Sara Innamorato and Rep. Summer Lee.
After saying that they grieve with every person who has lost a family member, friend or loved one, the elected officials said: “Our hearts ache for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed, for the Israelis still held hostage, for the millions of displaced Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis who have seen their communities destroyed…”
Seemingly placing the blame on Israel, the message continued: “Our grief is compounded by the fact that it didn’t have to be this way. Over the past year, we’ve seen how continued escalation, a lack of diplomacy, and a drive for power by right-wing leaders have pushed the region to the brink of regional war.”
The post then charges: “We can’t afford to spend more money on bombs when healthcare remains out of reach for so many and our infra-
Meyer released a letter saying that he was “emotionally devastated” to read the Lee/ Gainey/Innamorato statement.
“The pain of this tragedy,” he wrote, “is deep, and for the Jewish community, it has only deepened by your politically-charged and morally-equivocating statement.”
He criticized Lee, Gainey and Innamorato’s use of the words “massacre,” “displacement” and “suffering,” which, Meyer said, further “marginalizes the Jewish community, which is grieving the “rape, torture and murder of 1,2000 Israelis and foreign nationals,” as well as “the ongoing captivity, rape, torture and starvation of 101 hostages”… “the internal displacement of tens of thousands”…“the ongoing bombardment of our family, friends and co-religionists in Israel,” and “the startling rise in antisemitism experienced by Jews around the world.”
Frankel, on X, said that using the opportunity of the anniversary to “lash out against Israel and Israel alone is a baffling choice.”
Sen. Bob Casey said on X that he “couldn’t disagree more” with the Lee/Gainey/ Innamorato statement, calling Hamas a “terrorist organization.”
“Hamas remains a threat to the people of
instead chose to engage in dangerous and false moral equivocation.”
The Federation added that it “should be simple to acknowledge the antisemitic attack on Oct. 7 without victim blaming.”
Following the vigil, Rabbis Daniel Fellman of Temple Sinai and Genack of Shaare Torah spoke to the press about the Lee/Gainey/ Innamorato statement.
“For them to politicize this and turn this into a political event is detrimental to everybody,” Fellman said. “It harms everybody and all it does is make them look petty in their actions. Our city, our county and our congressional district deserve better leadership.”
Genack echoed Fellman’s comments, calling the statement “tone deaf.”
“I found it offensive, inappropriate and tone deaf that these leaders chose the day that Jews are marking the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust, when Jews are mourning, we’re reeling, we’re still hurting, to choose this as the day to form a false equivalency,” he said.
On Monday evening, Gainey sent another statement to the Chronicle, saying he was committed to the “safety and wellbeing of everyone who calls Pittsburgh home.”
He said he grieved for the victims, families and the Israeli people.
“Oct. 7, 2023, also marked the beginning of a war that has claimed thousands of innocent Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese lives,” Gainey wrote.
The mayor added that the conflict has fed a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia, and that he stands with the victims of hate.
“I fervently believe that we need one another to be safe,” Gainey wrote. “That is why yesterday I joined with Congresswoman Lee and County Executive Innamorato in amplifying the calls for peace being made by Palestinians, Israelis, and millions of people of good conscience across the world. I will continue to prioritize safety, equality, and justice for everyone, and to advocate for an end to violence and hatred of every ind. Let us forge a path forward grounded in love and empathy for everyone.”
open to the community.”
In addition to instructing celebrants twice to “rejoice” on Sukkot, the Torah implores followers to have nothing but joy on the holiday. Brokos said she’s aware of mixed feelings
By design, sukkahs are temporary edifices lacking the comforts and stability of permanent structures. Even so, Brokos wants students to “feel safe and to participate in Jewish life.”
Sara Weinstein, co-director of Chabad House on Campus also wants students to experience a meaningful and secure holiday and said several
hosting a holiday dinner on the first night of Sukkot to “promote unity on campus,” she said.
Apart from the evening affair, which is transpiring in a “giant sukkah” located on the Cathedral of Learning Lawn, Weinstein said, there will be meals “every day throughout the holiday in our large sukkah,” located on
Neither Lee nor Innamorato responded to the Chronicle’s calls and emails. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Chabad’s Oakland property.
On Oct. 18, Chabad at Pitt will host Hillel JUC for a Shabbat dinner.
Marcus pointed to group meals and Jewish study as means of accessing the holiday’s significance.
Our Jewish learning fellowship will meet in the sukkah. Our Jewish education classes will be in the sukkah. There will be snacks, activities and plenty of opportunities to hang out,” he said.
Safety concerns should never be ignored, but neither should the spirit of Sukkot nor the benefit of coalescing young Jewish leaders, he said.
“Celebrating and being together as a student community in the sukkah is the focus of our intentions,” he said. “Although we are keenly aware of the challenges this year, we are working with university police, leadership and Shawn Brokos. We cannot lose focus on the joy and celebration of Sukkot, of being in community and celebrating our Judaism.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Sukkot:
p Building a sukkah on the Cathedral of Learning Lawn Photo courtesy of Chabad House on Campus
p Michal Alon recounted the horrors of Oct. 7 to those in attendance at a vigil held in Squirrel Hill
Photo by David Rullo
Headlines
IDF:
handle it,” he said.
Continued from page 3
Zakai-Or reached out, traveled to New York, “and literally, people were waiting for me there.”
He shared his name and rank.
“They told me, ‘You’re going on,’” he said. But before boarding the AC-130, Zakai-Or was handed a suitcase filled with “batteries and food and clothes and whatever. Like I couldn’t fit all the donations.”
War-life balance
After returning to Israel, Zakai spent several nights sleeping at home before joining his unit, which was already stationed up north.
For months, the Israeli and his team followed a similar pattern. After finishing fighting around 7 p.m., the soldiers blocked out their residences’ windows and began studying.
Several of the unit’s members are engineering students, Zakai-Or said.
A photograph of the scene — which included several military-clad individuals cramped around a table with laptops — elicited laughter, as did Zakai-Or’s comment that the environment was sort of like a WeWork.
War, both in the north and south — where Zakai-Or was among the group that secured the June rescue of Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv — was challenging, he said. More difficult was “coming back home.”
“A lot of you, probably more than me, have led projects and been in charge of people,”
Sobel:
Continued from page 4
Unlike what’s happened in and around the University of Pittsburgh, Sobel said, “What we haven’t had was any physical assaults.”
While the U.K. and the U.S. share a special relationship, he said, the U.K. doesn’t share the same bond with Israel as America does.
“I don’t think it’s the same, I’m afraid to say,” he said. “But I think the U.K./U.S. relationship has been very strong.”
The United Kingdom, Sobel said, understands the sacrifice America made during both world wars.
“Without the U.S.,” he said, “European Jewry would have all died and the United Kingdom would have fallen under the boot of Hitler”
Educators:
Continued from page 5
“Our new curriculum … offers personalized learning tracks tailored to educators’ backgrounds and the developmental stages of their students, focusing on infants and toddlers,” said Sasha Kopp, senior director of ElevatEd education and engagement.
Crough said the goal is even more basic than that: building a stronger base for children at the time when their brains are at a heightened point of development.
“I love connecting with these educators
he told attendees. “When you’re leading something, you think only of succeeding. Succeeding as a platoon commander means your people come back home, you succeed with your objective, and you destroy your enemies. And that’s all I thought about for 124 days — mostly what I thought about.”
Coming home presented a “new reality,” he continued. “Every time I left home from reserve service in the first 124 days, I just blocked out my friends that died, and the hostages, and everything, because I needed a breath of fresh air.”
It was only after completing prolonged military service, returning to civilian life and beginning engineering school that he finally “understood that Omer was actually a hostage.”
That realization, coupled with the weight of other losses, largely prompted Zakai-Or to share his tale.
“When you look at it, and you look at my story, and you understand the amount of people I’ve lost, and my friends who are hostages, you understand that I am also going through — and the Israelis are going through — a humanitarian crisis,” he said. “The hostage deal has been made into a political matter, and it’s a humanitarian matter.”
Before coming to Pittsburgh, Zakai-Or spoke at Boston University and George Washington University. He’s received no compensation for his talks other than money for flights, he said.
“I want people to understand that meeting an IDF soldier does not mean anything about my political opinions or my thirst to do anything else other than just to protect my country,” he said. “I’m a person, and I would
like my people home, and I would like to live my life in peace. But when I’m not allowed to live my life in peace, then I must act and must take responsibility.”
Zakai-Or wants people to appreciate that “Zionism and liberalism have many shared values,” and that those economic and social beliefs held by Israel’s “liberal majority” align closely with “American values today.”
Throughout his talk, Zakai-Or stressed that he’s just one of thousands who have had deeply personal experiences during the past year.
Processing the pain
Speaking for himself, when asked about the hostages, Zakai-Or said, “I don’t know what the motives are…I don’t have facts behind why the hostage deals did or didn’t happen. But what’s most important to remember is that we have governments.” The American government is “in charge of seven hostages that haven’t been returned,” while the Israeli government is responsible for not only those seven, but for the entire group of 101 hostages held in Gaza.
He said that those beliefs led him to a new space: After completing military service, he joined a demonstration in Israel to bring the hostages home.
Zakai-Or shared an image from the gathering. In it, he’s holding a photo of Neutra.
The demonstration may have been one of the hardest points of war, he said.
“Of course Hamas is to blame, and they are ruthless terrorist killers, but I am an Israeli citizen, and my prime minister is only one person, and that’s why I felt comfortable to finish my reserve service and go out
“We’re at the point in the world now with Israel, with Ukraine, with China and the threat to Taiwan, [where] we need an international approach and only Kamala Harris brings that."
–ALEX SOBEL
The two countries both have interests in the Middle East, he noted, and both are members of NATO, which he views as “vital” because “it defends Europe and Western democracy against terrorism and terrorist organizations.”
The organization, Sobel said, is helping
in the fight against Iran, the Houthis and in the Ukraine, without requiring either the U.S. or the U.K. to have boots on the ground. As to the latter conflict, he said it’s important to remember that Ukraine has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.
“I love connecting with these educators because I’m so passionate, having been an educator myself.”
–GINA CROUGH
because as a former educator myself, I understand the depth of passion and dedication they bring to their work," Crough said.
ElevatEd is funded by The Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies and the Samuels Family Foundation, among
and rally and ask for the hostages to return — not because I’m interested in elections, not because I’m interested in some political matter,” he said. “I’m interested in my friends coming home. They sacrificed their freedom, so we can be here. I encourage us all to make sure nobody forgets that they are there, including our enemies, and including the people who are hypocritical, including the U.N. and the Red Cross, and of course our leaders.”
The war in Lebanon is generating new attention, but the hostages’ plight must be remembered, he continued.
“We as a public have the responsibility to make sure that they don’t get off our radar or off our interest,” he said. “Once, and if, a deal comes again, then we should put all our efforts to make sure that our voice is heard, that the deal should be sealed.”
South Hills resident Charlene Tissenbaum praised Zakai-Or’s ability to introduce Pittsburghers to “the reality of what’s going on in Israel and how complicated it is, both on an emotional level and on a military level.”
North Hills resident Jason Kikel also commended Zakai-Or for gifting listeners’ greater insight.
“It’s one thing to see just photos, or tweets, or Reddit comments or snippets, but it’s another to hear somebody go through a timeline of ‘this was my service,’” he said. “I think that more people on whatever side of the issue, wherever that is politically, need to hear this. It’s just really eye-opening, and it’s exhausting at the same time.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
“The president is Jewish. If you’re in certain parts of the community, [Ukraine] is the center of your Jewish life,” he said. “We need to ensure that we do our part by supporting NATO. Being part of NATO supports the Jewish community in Ukraine and, more broadly, Europe.”
It’s with that outlook that Sobel decided to campaign for Harris while in Pittsburgh.
“We’re at the point in the world now with Israel, with Ukraine, with China and the threat to Taiwan, [where] we need an international approach and only Kamala Harris brings that,” he said. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
others both locally and nationally. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is serving as the local implementation partner and is funding the program in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Participants include Adat Shalom Preschool,
Beth Shalom Early Learning Center, Community Day School Early Childhood Program, Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Development Center–South Hills, Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Development Center–Squirrel Hill, Rodef Shalom Family Center and Preschool, Temple Emanuel Early Childhood Development Center, Temple Ohav Shalom Center for Early Learning, The Early Learning Center at Yeshiva and The Isadore Joshowitz Early Childhood Center at Hillel Academy. PJC
Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
On Oct. 7, we saw who stood with us
Tragically, Jewish Pittsburgh is all too familiar with marking the anniversaries of antisemitic calamities. On Oct. 27 each year since 2018, we remember and mourn the 11 souls from three congregations who were murdered in the Tree of Life building. We know the power of our Jewish community as we gather together to grieve. And we also know the comfort felt when those outside our community offer their compassion and support.
Oct. 7 marked one year since Hamas violated a cease-fire, invaded Israel, brutally tortured and murdered 1200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others. It was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and has unleashed a surge of antisemitism
around the world as Israel fights for its very existence.
We are heartened that so many of Pennsylvania’s elected officials issued statements of unequivocal support for Israel and the broader Jewish community on Oct. 7.
Sen. Bob Casey: “I will continue to stand with Israel and steadfastly support its right to defend itself, including its efforts to dismantle Hamas and Hezbollah and to combat Iran’s aggression in the region. I will continue to fight back against the exponential rise in antisemitism we have seen in America since that awful day.”
Sen. John Fetterman: “I will continue to be a voice for our ally, for the release of all remaining hostages, and for peace to return.”
Rep. Chris Deluzio: “It has been one year since Israel was shockingly and brutally attacked by Hamas. Today, we remember
the lives taken in this horrific attack and keep the families of victims and hostages in our hearts.”
Other strong statements of support came from several local officials, including City Controller Rachael Heisler and state Rep. Dan Frankel.
And yet, on the day of our community’s deep and profound grief, Mayor Ed Gainey and County Executive Sara Innamorato joined with one of the most vehement anti-Israel voices in Congress — Rep. Summer Lee — to issue a statement blaming Israel for its defense against terrorism.
Nowhere in their joint statement do they mention Hamas, or Hamas’ vow to repeat the carnage over and over again. Nowhere do they mention the surge of antisemitism in Pittsburgh and globally. Their final paragraph suggests a call for an arms embargo
American Jews have spent the three generations since the Holocaust repeating a ritual every morning: waking up, reading the news, and — whatever the issue — asking, “Is it good for the Jews?”
“...gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness.” Under the scrutiny of America’s unforgiving political theater, Kamala Harris embodies that demeanor. Donald Trump, with his cruelty and his unfaithfulness, represents the very opposite of these values.
The prophet Amos proclaims, “Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the
Then the next question: “Where’s my passport?”
For a time that kind of caution seemed unnecessary. In 2012, author Robert Putnam’s research noted that Jews were the most highly regarded religious group in our country. Antisemitic crimes ebbed to a low — 300% lower than today.
Much has happened since then: Nazis marching in Charlottesville, the shooting at the Tree of Life building and the surge in violence against innocent American Jews as Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza.
Faced with a choice for president, asking, “Who’s best for us?” is insufficient. More importantly, in this election, we must ask ourselves which Jewish values to stand for from our tradition. We must ask, “How might Jewish sources judge the candidates?”
In Exodus 34.6, Gd is described as
The upcoming presidential contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is a foreign policy election. Of course, Pennsylvanians have important domestic concerns to consider, but the president of the
Perhaps the former president’s style isn’t exactly kind or caring — but what about his avowed embrace of Israel? More bluster. The Biden-Harris administration has given more financial and material aid to Israel than any other since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Just last month, Harris spearheaded a $20 billion aid request for Israel, specifically for jet fighters and air-to-air missiles.
We should not sell our birthright of Torah values for the hope of more aid to Israel. We must not sell our birthright of kindness for fear of being targeted.
gates.” Inciting violence against immigrants in Ohio — with preposterous accusations of eating pets — brazenly flouts that teaching.
The prophet Micah teaches, “It has been told you, O Man, what God requires of you — only to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Trump, a convicted felon, flouts justice to get an advantage. He considers mercy, especially toward his opponents, as weakness. And “walking humbly” does not evoke golden escalators.
We know that Israel is fighting a multifront war against Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iraqi factions, the Houthis of Yemen and ultimately, Iran. We know that Israel cannot fight this war alone. Steadfast support of the United States is essential for Israel to confront these existential threats.
Kamala Harris promises to continue to support Israel in these tough times, even as she shows empathy for innocent Palestinians who have died as human shields for Hamas.
against the Jewish state.
As so many of us were reckoning with intense feelings of sadness, and fear, their timing could not have been worse.
We applaud the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Julie Paris of StandWithUs, Rep. Dan Frankel, Rabbi Aaron Meyer of Temple Emanuel of South Hills, and others who have powerfully and publicly condemned the Lee/Gainey/ Innamorato statement.
The Federation, in criticizing the “dangerous and false moral equivocation” of Lee, Gainey and Innamorato, concludes: “On one thing we can agree: we are looking for elected officials who find the courage to lead with empathy. We need leaders who can find empathy for Jewish and Israeli victims of terror.”
We couldn’t agree more. PJC
On the other hand, Trump’s promises regarding Israel will be fulfilled if, and only if, they suit his political purposes.
Donald Trump has threatened to blame American Jews if he loses this election. Trump places a target on our backs in the same way as other minorities he vilifies into boogeymen, from Haitians in Ohio to Mexicans in Arizona.
Both candidates promise to protect Israel, but only Kamala Harris does so without threats of blame or retribution. Both candidates claim to be aligned with our values, yet only Kamala Harris does so without fearmongering or favoritism. We should not sell our birthright of Torah values for the hope of more aid to Israel. We must not sell our birthright of kindness for fear of being targeted. We will not sell our birthright of decency in order to elect a deeply flawed man, an unserious man, a man whose life of excess makes a mockery of our cherished values.
Only Kamala Harris will be a president to uphold the precious Jewish values that everyone, everywhere, in our country should cherish. PJC
Rabbi James A. Gibson is a senior rabbinic fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a rabbinic fellow of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. He is the emeritus rabbi at Temple Sinai.
United States is first and foremost the person charged with making sure the country is safe. Voters can review each candidate’s foreign policy record to judge what they might do over the coming four years. And we can and should look at the foreign policy experts and advisers surrounding Trump and Harris for further evidence of the direction of their prospective presidencies.
Why is foreign policy so important this year? Here’s the assessment by the bipartisan Commission on the National Defense Strategy from its July report: “The threats the
United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war. … The nation ... is not prepared today.”
If the United States is unprepared, what does this mean when it comes to our allies already fighting the terrorists, adversaries and enemies? Think of Israel, especially. The Jewish state is the fighting front line, while locally, especially on our college campuses — at the University of Pittsburgh, at Carnegie Mellon, at Penn, at Temple, among others
— the war against Israel and the rest of the West has manifested in physical attacks on students, encampments, harassment, intimidation, trespassing and destruction of university property.
Given the threats facing the United States, both externally and internally, voters would be wise to reasonably assess the two candidates’ views and the foreign policy advisers who will accompany them to the White House.
Opinion
Chronicle poll results: Vance/Walz debate
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Who won the Vance/ Walz debate?” Of the 252 people who responded, 50% said Gov. Walz; 41% said Sen. Vance; and 9% said they had no opinion. Comments were submitted by 72 people. A few follow.
The American people won, in the sense that they got to see, hear and learn a little about both candidates for VP, their views, opinions and attitudes.
Vance is smooth and a good debater. Walz had more facts and brought up pertinent information.
Repeating lies and insisting on halftruths does not make a platform for our future. Vance failed to reveal any vision for bringing us together to move forward from our challenges.
Walz seemed nervous and had no facts or plans except joy and the vague “opportunity economy,” which sounds like redistribution of wealth.
Schachter:
Although he lied and distorted, this Harris/Walz supporter must acknowledge that Sen. Vance was victorious. Gov. Walz was tense and on edge, unable to display the Midwestern charm for which he is known. I commend both men for civility and for finding common ground on multiple issues. The debate is much ado about very little. It will have virtually no impact on the race.
Continued from page 12
Vice President Kamala Harris has had one of the best seats in the house for the past three years. She praises some of the positions taken by the administration in which she serves — the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attempted realignment with Iran.
First and foremost among Harris’ advisers is Phil Gordon, a likely pick for national security adviser or secretary of state. Gordon’s position on Iran goes back to his time working at the State Department during the Obama administration, where he was part of the negotiating team of the Iran nuclear deal. Back then, he was a cheerleader for a more collaborative U.S.-Iran relationship. In 2014, for example, Gordon told the National Iranian American Council that “a nuclear agreement [with Iran] could begin a multi-generational process that could lead to a new relationship between our countries.”
In 2018, he admitted that the U.S. negotiating position toward Iran had been minimalist. Gordon told NPR how any effort to “constrain Iranian regional behavior, have the deal last forever — of course that would have been terrific. But it just wasn’t possible.”
Gordon’s 2020 book is entitled, “Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East,” in which he argues that regime change has never been and never will be the answer when it comes to our adversaries in the Middle East.
As part of the Biden-Harris administration Gordon has been a critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while downplaying the threat posed by an enriched (by
Vance spoke more smoothly and confidently, but lied or stretched the truth frequently. Walz was himself — a smart, honorable and kind man who occasionally stumbled over his words.
I thought that Walz was nervous at first, but came on stronger later. Vance is clearly a very polished debater, certainly much better than Trump. It was surprising how civil they were to each other.
Josh Shapiro would have handled JD Vance much better than Tim Walz did.
Walz on substance; Vance on slickness... and lies.
It was a tie.
Waltz is a self-described knucklehead, and I think he’s right
Vance’s style was better and less combative than usual, but the lies were endless. Walz won because he confronted Vance about this a few times and told the truth!
If the United States is unprepared, what does this mean when it comes to our allies already fighting the terrorists, adversaries and enemies?
the Biden administration) and therefore emboldened Iranian regime.
Neither President Biden, nor Harris, nor Gordon suggest that Israel could or should win its war against Iran and its terror armies — the Houthis, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah. Harris supports Israel’s right to defend itself but has simultaneously proclaimed the need to restrain Israel’s response to attack; she has neglected to hold Hamas or Hezbollah to account for terrorizing Palestinians, Lebanese, as well as Israelis; and like our very own “Squad” member, Rep. Summer Lee, Harris has indulged in the possibility of an arms embargo against Israel.
Trump had different policies when he was president, has a different view of the current war, and has different foreign policy advisers. On Iran, he worked to restrain rather than enrich Iran; he withdrew from the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal; and he takes credit for ordering the successful assassination In January 2020 of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. Trump has said Israel should end the war, and fast.
Current foreign policy advisers to Trump include his Secretary of State Mike
Vance was more polished. Walz was more honest and more likable. Vance complaining about being fact-checked was absurd. His unwillingness to say that Trump lost the 2020 election was on-brand for the Trump-Vance ticket and a sign of things ahead. Vance’s statement that Trump peacefully transferred power on Inauguration Day ignores the Jan. 6 insurrection. Walz won the night by pointing out that Vance was only standing there that night because former Vice President Pence chose the Constitution over Trump.
If something would ever happen to Donald Trump, I would feel comfortable with Sen. Vance succeeding him.
I was pleased the debate was cordial on both sides. That is what I would hope for from our opposing politicians. I hope and pray this can extend to all the other candidates and into the future. PJC
— Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question: Have you felt supported by our local politicians since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
that “every peace-loving nation” should stand with Israel 100%, the Iranian regime must be defeated. “This is how you avoid a war in the Middle East,” he declared.
Pompeo, who on Oct. 2 told an audience in London that “we should all be worried about getting dragged into another war in the Middle East — that’s why Iran has to be crushed.” Pompeo added that since the problem lies in Tehran, and
Who supports Israel?
This is a foreign policy election. The United States isn’t prepared for the threats we face, and our closest ally in the Middle East — Israel —is fighting a war against our collective adversary and its terror proxies. For all these reasons — if you want the U.S. to be strong and safe, and if you want Israel to win — the clear choice is Donald Trump for president. PJC
Abby W. Schachter is a writer living in Regent Square.
— LETTERS —
We’re free to vote for any presidential candidate we want to, and certainly free to talk about a candidate’s flaws, but arguing that Trump is not a friend of the Jews, or only supports Israel for political reasons, borders on self-delusion (Letters to the Editor, Oct. 4). It’s one of the early signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Kamala Harris is also a supporter of Israel but unfortunately she and her vice presidential candidate are also big supporters of the Palestinians, playing both sides of the table. Harris said the term “Islamic terrorism” should never be used and has supported withholding weapons from Israel that it desperately needs to defend itself. She has consistently tried to stop Israel from defeating Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. She supported removing sanctions from Iran, who then used the revenue to support Iran’s proxies in their war against Israel. This is Kamala Harris’ flaw and her legacy.
Sheldon Shapiro Squirrel Hill
We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Send letters to: letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org or Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.
Life & Culture
Delicata squash and feta pasta
By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle
Ilove to pair pantry staples and in-season produce to make use of what’s fresh and abundant, and my savory pasta recipe is so satisfying. I admit that it doesn’t look like much — but trust me, the flavors and textures of the simple ingredients are heaven in a bite. Toasted pine nuts with tangy feta cheese, sautéed delicata and zucchini squash, onions, garlic and oregano meld together to make a gourmet-tasting weeknight dinner.
You can choose your pasta shape — just use something small like penne or rotini.
I like this as a main dish because it is chock-full of vegetables and very filling, but you can also serve it as a side dish.
The base of the recipe is vegan, so you can choose either vegan or dairy feta cheese. This recipe also happens to be Mediterranean Diet compliant.
Ingredients
Serves 2-3 as a main course, or 4-6 as a side dish
1 pound small pasta shapes, cooked per instructions on package 4-8 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced 1 delicata squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 cups zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper or red pepper flakes
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano 3-4 tablespoons hot cooking water from the pasta pot
1 ½-2 cups crumbled feta cheese ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. It takes about the same amount of time to boil the water and cook that as it does to chop and sauté the vegetables, so put the pot of water on to boil and then move on to dice the onion.
Add the squash to the onions with an additional 2 tablespoons of oil, stir well and keep stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
Chop the zucchini as the delicata squash is cooking and add it to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until the delicata squash is forktender, about 10-15 minutes.
Make a well in the center of the pot and add the minced garlic to the open space with another tablespoon of olive oil. Stir well for 30 seconds before stirring the garlic into the vegetables.
Stir in the oregano, salt and pepper and allow to cook for another minute, then add 3-4 tablespoons of hot water from the pasta pot to the vegetables.
Scrape the bottom and the sides of the pan to get all of the flavorful bits mixed into the squash.
Turn the heat down and simmer the squash for a few more minutes.
Lightly toast the pine nuts in a pan over low heat. Don’t leave them alone; stand by and continually stir them. When they are toasted, pour them into another dish because they will keep cooking and burn if left in the pan.
If the pasta is finished before the squash, drain it and put a lid on the pot until the vegetables are ready.
The olive oil is what makes the sauce for this pasta. If you think it needs a little bit more, then feel free to add it to the pasta. Mix half of the vegetable mixture into the pasta.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
When the onion is prepared, place a wide sauté pan over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Allow the oil to warm for 1-2 minutes before adding the onions, stirring them until they are well coated in the olive oil. Sauté for 10-12 minutes, or until the onions start to turn translucent.
As the onions are cooking, peel the squash using a vegetable peeler before slicing it lengthwise down the middle. The skin on delicata squash is almost always soft, so don’t worry about the skin that the peeler won’t reach.
Scrape the seeds from the squash using a spoon, and chop the squash into pieces that are about 1 inch wide.
Put the pasta into an ovenproof dish. Add the remaining half of the squash over top of the pasta
Add the cheese and broil on high for 4-5 minutes to get the feta to melt and brown a bit. This step really brings out the flavor in the cheese. (I have not yet broiled vegan feta and I’d love to hear if you’ve had a good experience doing so.)
Remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle the pine nuts over the top and serve immediately.
Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
Delicata squash and feta pasta
Photo by Jessica Grann
We’re going for the gold at the JCC’s 19th Annual Big Night celebration on Saturday, March 1, 2025.
Big Night Olympics 2025 will be a game-changer. And there’s a reason why we chose our Olympian theme.
Coming next August, our JCC will be hosting the 2025 JCC Maccabi Campus Games® in partnership with the JCC Association and the University of Pittsburgh. The 2025 Games will be the first time that participants stay and play on a college campus. The Olympic-style sports competition will bring more than 2,000 participants to Pittsburgh.
Big Night creates the strong foundation that enables the JCC to redefine what’s possible for us to do as a community agency.
The vital funds raised through Big Night help ensure that we can seize opportunities like the Maccabi Campus Games as well as continue to offer the community essential programs, services and scholarships.
We look forward to your support. Your involvement makes a BIG difference.
BIG NIGHT CHAIRS
Terrina and Dan LaVallee
Lisa and Jonathan Marcus
Natalie and Brian Valen
Fara Marcus, Chief Development and Marketing Officer
Life & Culture
Local Jewish mom turns Netflix star
By Deborah Weisberg | Special to the Chronicle
Deb Levy never dreamed that at 54 she would become a reality TV star. Yet, this married mom of three from Upper St. Clair was chosen to compete in season 7 of “The Circle,” a Netflix popularity contest in which influencers vie among themselves for a $100,000 prize.
They are individually sequestered in an Atlanta apartment building and use a social media app called The Circle to communicate with — and rank — one another, striving to become head of the pack at the end of the 13-week series, which wrapped Oct. 2.
They can appear as their authentic selves or assume fake identities. Although viewers can see who they are, contestants don’t meet faceto-face until the finale.
Closed circuit cameras roll 12 to 15 hours a day.
Levy, who works in higher ed technology, had no idea what she was getting into when a Gen Z friend, Maddy Rudoy, convinced her to try for a spot on the show, she said.
“I’d never even seen ‘The Circle’ when Maddy told me about it so I looked at a couple of previews, and then Maddy and I FaceTimed while I filled out an application. I said all kinds of ridiculous stuff like ‘I’m Deb and I’m awesome and I should be on your show!’”
Five months later Levy got a casting call.
“I’d actually forgotten about it and when
The producers persisted, and two months later she was en route to Atlanta for an adventure that would keep her out of touch with husband Phil and sons Jason, 23, and Andrew, 21, for three weeks.
It happened to come at a harrowing time, since the show was set to begin taping just days after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, putting Levy in a quandary about whether to continue.
She had planned to catfish on “The Circle” as a 26-year-old, and to come across as the “super proud Jew” that she is in her everyday life, Levy said.
“But I felt it was wrong to go on the show and do something so silly and frivolous at such an awful time.”
She sought advice from her brother, an Orthodox rabbi living in New York, and Rabbi Aaron Meyer at Temple Emmanuel of South Hills, where she worships. “They both urged me to go on the show and be the
proudest Jew I could be.”
In her debut, the first words Levy uttered Oy, gott, Oy gevolt,” as she struggled to seat herself on a stool. Her wardrobe during the series included menorah earrings, a Star of David necklace and a “Jewlicious” T-shirt.
Viewer comments on her Instagram account have been mostly positive, said Levy, who received supportive words from an Israeli woman in a bomb shelter Oct. 1. “There’s been some Jew hate. I got horrible things said to me, like ‘How dare Netflix put a Zionist Jew on one of their shows.’ I was called a genocidal baby killer. With those I just hit delete. Most non-Jewish viewers have been wonderful.”
“Circle” contestants spend all of their days alone in their apartments with no contact with family or friends, although they can summon help in an emergency, Levy said, noting that the show’s producers are in constant touch with families to ensure that all is well back home.
Groceries are delivered every two days.
“The Circle” originated in England in 2020, during the pandemic, to explore how people in isolation interact and form relationships solely through social media.
“We’re given games that help us learn things about each other,” Levy said. “We have one-on-one chats, and message one another. Alliances are formed and then they change. There’s a lot of scheming.”
“Everyone was in a constant state of trying to win the others to their side.”
Levy said she never felt self-conscious about being recorded, even during the show’s
considerable downtime.
“I cooked. I read seven books and learned Hebrew. I did arts and crafts. I entertained myself and did fine,” she said.
“You also do a lot of thinking when you are by yourself all day. I really missed my husband — not being able to talk to him and bounce things off of each other.”
She had a pillow of her husband made to keep her company, and in one clip seats “Phillow” at the dinner table with a plate.
Although much of the show is in a lighthearted vein, there are poignant moments, too. In the first episode Levy tearfully reveals that her eldest son Jonathan passed away at 22.
“My son is here with me. He’s a part of me,” she said.
Spoiler alert: Levy made it to the top five but did not capture the ultimate prize. That went to Staten Island twin brothers Nicky and Jojo Scarlotta, who won by masquerading as Gianna, Jojo’s girlfriend.
Levy, a Staten Island native, had built an alliance with Gianna and said they saved her from being eliminated early on.
“So if I couldn’t win, I wanted it to be them,” she said.
Levy called “The Circle” “an amazing experience” and flew to Los Angeles for a post-season party Oct. 5.
But she doesn’t see a future in show biz.
“I’m a 55-year-old mom,” she said. “Once was enough.” PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
Life & Culture
‘White Bird’ stars Helen Mirren as a Holocaust survivor who teaches her grandson about kindness
By Shira Li Bartov | JTA
In “White Bird,” a long-anticipated film about a Jewish girl who is rescued by her classmate in Nazi-occupied France, the Holocaust is fertile ground for teaching children how to be good.
The movie is a spinoff of “Wonder” (2017), a modern-day story about a middle schooler seeking to fit in despite his facial differences. “White Bird” opens with that boy’s bully, Julian (Bryce Gheisar), but the real hero is his grandmother Sara (played in the present day by Helen Mirren and as a child by Ariella Glaser) — who, recognizing that her grandson needs moral guidance, shares her Holocaust survival story that makes up the bulk of the film.
Directed by Marc Forster, the GermanSwiss filmmaker behind “A Man Called Otto,” “Finding Neverland” and “Cristopher Robin,” “White Bird” opened in theaters last week. It was previously slated for release in 2022 and late 2023 but was delayed because of changes at its production and distribution companies and the SAG strike last year.
Distributor Lionsgate may have found the film difficult to market, according to Deadline, as it turned to the faith-based Kingdom Story Company to help find an audience — even though “White Bird” does not resemble the label’s other faith-based films, which include “Jesus Revolution.”
Both “White Bird” and “Wonder” are based on a best-selling series by R.J. Palacio, a children’s book author with a strong interest in the Holocaust. Palacio’s husband is Jewish, and her mother-in-law lost much of her family in the Holocaust. Palacio says it was her husband’s uncle Bernard, a New York City school principal for many years, who told her about a dearth of children’s books on the subject — especially before eighth or ninth grade, when “The Diary of Anne Frank” would be assigned.
Though Palacio is not Jewish herself, she felt a duty to fill what she saw as a gap in reading about the Holocaust for younger children. Bernard encouraged her to write “White Bird,” a graphic novel targeted at readers between 8 and 12.
“Reminding people about the Holocaust and learning from lessons of the past should not be
something that’s left to Jewish people alone,” Palacio told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Having a Jewish husband also just kicked that into high gear for me — and having two sons who share this heritage as well.”
She was inspired by Martin Gilbert’s “The Righteous,” a book dedicated to non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during World War II. The influence is clear in Palacio’s story: When German troops occupy Sara’s French village, another student named Julien (Orlando Schwerdt) — bullied at school because he has lost the use of one leg to polio — helps her hide in his family’s barn, aided by his selfless parents, for over a year.
Julien’s altruism contrasts with the opportunistic cruelty of Vincent, a classmate who was attractive to Sara before the Nazis marched into their village and he rushed to help them. “White Bird” delves into the greatest charm and the greatest danger of children — their malleability.
“This is an emotional but also a very inspiring time in a person’s life,” said Palacio. “When they’re 10 to 13, they are kind of exploring who they are, who they want to be, trying on their different personalities. They’re making little moral choices all the time.”
The moral poles represented by Julien and Vincent are as digestible for Sara’s grandson as
they are for viewers of “White Bird.” The lessons contained in their story — primarily the importance of empathy, tolerance and integrity — are made simpler by the medium of Holocaust fiction. In the vast turmoil of World War II, many rescuers acted out of altruism, neighborliness and love. Others were motivated by money and abandoned Jews when the money ran out. There were selfish people who made one choice to save a life, and generous people who made one choice to look away. But in a fiction about children with clearly outlined principles, it is easier to find the moral takeaway.
“White Bird” joins a new wave of efforts to make learning about the Holocaust more accessible for relatively young children, including an exhibit about Danes who saved Jews from the Nazis at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York that says it is for children 8 and up. Advocates of this approach to Holocaust material argue that children have too long been hammered over the head with shocking atrocities, and younger children especially are more receptive to stories about fairness and hope — which they can more readily parallel to experiences in their own lives.
“White Bird” punishes Vincent with a Grimm fairytale-style demise, involving wolves who pounce in the forest while he chases after
It’s the most dramatic incident of storybook imagery that traces the children’s fantasies in “White Bird,” which also includes imagined trips to Paris and New York from the confines of Sara’s hiding place. Forster, who translated the fantastical episodes from Palacio’s book into film, said the story’s emotional authenticity allowed him to play with magical realism.
“When you tell a story with magical realism, at the beginning the key is to really find the foundation in realism,” Forster told JTA. “You feel that the story is real, the characters are grounded, the world is grounded — once you have established that connection, the characters can take you into their imagination.”
Although Vincent does not get redemption, Julian does. The recent bully, named for Sara’s rescuer, is a changed person after learning about how his grandmother was hunted down solely for her identity and saved by another outcast. He apologizes to a classmate he treated rudely at the start of the film and even joins his school’s social justice group.
“I really thought it was important that kids who saw themselves in Julian — who might be bullies themselves — understand that their paths are not predetermined, and one bad mistake doesn’t define you,” said Palacio. “Everyone has a chance to start again.” PJC
Sara.
— FILM —
p Helen Mirren as Grandmère and Bryce Gheisar as Julian in “White Bird: A Wonder Story”
Photo by Larry Horricks
Celebrations Engagement
Dr. Stephen and Erica Miller of Fox Chapel are proud to announce the engagement of their son Harley S. Miller of Brooklyn and East Hampton, New York, to Brooke Lemor Korine, daughter of Gil and Debbie Korine of Dix Hills, New York. Harley is the grandson of Norman and Alice Jaffe of Squirrel Hill, and the late Buddy and Mildred Miller of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Brooke is the granddaughter of Matilda and the late Areigh Korine, and the late Lea and Howard Steiner of Long Island. Harley is a graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is the CEO and managing partner of Left Lane Capital in Brooklyn. Brooke is a graduate of New York University. She is an actress and model and a member of the Screen Actors Guild for film. A fall 2025 wedding is being planned. PJC
Torah
o have the honor of a d’var Torah for Yom Kippur before the whole community in these pages is an honor that truly requires grand themes and eloquent thoughts and sophisticated
Nope. I’m going to keep it simple.
Charles Dudley Warner (d. 1900) is credited with the saying, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it” — a classic humorist line blaming people for not stepping up to do something about a thing they cannot fix.
to gripe when they should just pick up the phone and talk it out instead? Don’t you do that. We have a trillion-dollar telephone infrastructure and yet we’ve all forgotten how to pick up the phone and talk to someone.
Don’t appreciate gossip? Then make sure you don’t gossip.
Don’t like drama? Then make sure you don’t add to the drama.
Yom Kippur is an inverse Nike commercial. “Just don’t do it.” You have agency. You have control over your life. You can decide if you will be part of the larger problem or, at least in your own little sphere, a part of the solution.
If you go to synagogue this Yom Kippur, you will read over the Al Chet Shechatanu
You have control over your life. You can decide if you will be part of the larger problem or, at least in your own little sphere, a part of the solution.
I would like to offer that today we are in a moment where people complain about all sorts of things that they can indeed fix, or at least mend, but don’t do it because they would rather blame others. It’s easier to blame others, and possibly more fun.
But fun or not, on this Yom Kippur, let’s talk about things you and I can fix. And I’m going to say “you” because I want to dig in to things that you and I, individuals, can address. We don’t need to wait for others.
People complain about social media and the trolls and the people who just love to throw snarky meanspirited comments. What can we do? Well, you can make sure you are never one of those people. Do you toss out shade, feeling pretty good about your cutting remarks? If you do, then don’t complain; but if you don’t like people doing it, then you shouldn’t do it. And while we’re at it, turn off the comments. There is no law that says you have to open yourself up to mean people.
Don’t like long emails that people write
list of sins. They are listed in the plural so as not to embarrass anyone, but you should read them in the singular and be honest about which ones apply to you (and me). Some of those sins that apply to you (and me) are going to take some work to remove. But some of those sins are just not that hard to get rid of if you (and I) make a commitment to ourselves and stop bemoaning how there are all these problems and nobody does anything about them. You are the somebody. You can change how you behave. You can be counter-cultural and say, “I know everybody does it, but I won’t.”
And we can remember that society is not the weather. We can choose to complain about it or we can choose to do something about it. It all starts with you (and me). PJC
Rabbi Larry Freedman is the director of the Joint Jewish Education Program. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.
Rabbi Larry Freedman Parshat Yom Kippur Leviticus 16:1-34
KLEINMAN: Rita Kleinman, on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Beloved wife of the late Elliott Kleinman. Beloved mother of Ronald (Charlene) Kubitz, Nancy (Rodney) Matheson and Robert (Ryan) Kubitz. Loving grandmother of Dan Kubitz, Ilana Matheson and Zach and Zoe Kubitz. Also survived by two great-grandchildren, Kamryn and Kendall, as well as several cousins. The family would like to acknowledge the care provided by the staff on 5 West of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, D.C. Graveside services and interment were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Donations may be made to an animal rescue organization of your choosing. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel Inc. schugar.com PJC
Simma & Lawrence Robbins .Sam Nadler
Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler Morris Saxen
Martin, Andrea & Helene Sattler .Michael Sattler
Edris C Weis .Peter Shaffer
Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org
Sunday October 13: Charles Bahm, Herman Goldman, Ben A Herman, Bernard Hoddeson, Jacob Jacobs, Ise Kramer, Frieda Miller, Benjamin Mossoff, Florence Rubin, Arnold Sommer
Monday October 14: Max Danovitz, Max Dobkin, Hyman J Dobkin, Ruth P Kamin, Sarah Kamin, Herman Lang, Mollie Levine, Rose Levine, Max C Levy, Ruth O Martin, Ida Osgood, Irving Leonard Podolsky, Estelle L Schaeffer, Samuel Siegal, Alfred Supowitz, Rebecca Cody Zeff
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Tuesday October 15: Mollie Brand Amsel, Ruth Haltman Caplan, Gerald C Davidson, Thekla Zimmern Gordon, Esther Mandell, Samuel Maryn, Michael Sattler, Morris Saxen, Jeanette Schutzman, Harry T Weiner
Wednesday October 16: Joseph Bowytz, Freda K Unikel Bregman, Leah Breman, Dora Brody, Sadie Colton, Bess R Escott, Laura Fletcher, Helen Goldfeder, Leana M Herman, Earl Latterman, Harold Martin Lewis, Ben Markowitz, Celia Miller, Mollie Osgood, Dr Gerald L Ostfield, Elizabeth L Ostfield, M .D ., Eleanor W Pettler, Israel Raphael, Clarence Rosenberg, Bessie Ruth Roth, Albert Solomon, Henry Ziskind
is eld of graves, established in 1913 in Shaler Township when Old Chesed Shel Emeth ran out of space, demonstrates our sacred mission to bury the indigent. In addition, four separate burials of damaged prayer books and other sacred texts, a service provided to the community by the JCBA, were held in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2021.
is eld of graves, established in 1913 in Shaler Township when Old Chesed Shel Emeth ran out of space, demonstrates our sacred mission to bury the indigent. In addition, four separate burials of damaged prayer books and other sacred texts, a
Thursday October 17: Beatrice Ash, Jacob Bennett, Max M Bergad, Morris R Cohn, Max Dine, Harry Dorsey, Jacob Florman, Bess Hansell, Millie Kanowitz, Morris Kempler, Selma Krouse, Pvt Isadore Levy, Ernest Mannheimer, Katie Levine Marcus, Anna Mazer, Bella Olinsky, Esther Simon, Max Staman, Anna Stein, Nathaniel Steinberg, Barbara Ruth Weisenberg, Louis Wesoky, Louis Aaron White, Milton Wirtzman
Friday October 18: Esther Aronovitz, Allan H Barnett, Jack Bergad, Cecilia Weis Bluestone, Frances Sylvia Brown, Ann Colker, Annette Klee, Charles Kovacs, Bernard S Labbie, Fannie Lieberman Lawrence, Sadie Moldovan, Joseph Moskovitz, Samuel H Richman, Louis M Sachs, Aaron Joel Schwartz
Saturday October 19: Sylvia Auslander, Leo Berkowitz, Mary Burke, Gilbert B Cramer, Iris Cummings, Murray Feiler, Rose Fisher, Elinor Sarah Goldman, Jack Hirsch, Joseph Louis Hochman, Rose Isaacson, Sophia Korsunsky, Sam Nadler, Joan M Pettler, David Nathaniel Racusin, Walter Jacob Robins, Myer Shapiro, Alexander Sharove, Ben Shrager
Why It’s Acceptable and Encouraged in Judaism to Pre-Plan for Funeral and Burial
New Chesed Shel Eme th Cemetery
to the community by the JCBA, were held in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2021.
In Judaism, preparing for life’s major transitions—including death—is deeply rooted in tradition and faith. Pre-planning your funeral and burial is not only practical but also aligns with Jewish values of respect, dignity, and care for both the living and the deceased.
1. Ful lling the Mitzvah of Kavod HaMet (Honoring the Dead)
One of the central commandments in Judaism is Kavod HaMet—the obligation to honor the dead. is mitzvah is ful lled by ensuring a proper and respectful burial. By pre-planning, you are ensuring that your funeral and burial will adhere to Jewish customs, sparing your loved ones from the burden of making these arrangements under emotional distress. Planning ahead is an act of kindness, showing care for both the departed and those le behind.
3. Adhering to Jewish Burial Customs
Jewish burial traditions, including prompt burial and simple, unadorned caskets, re ect the value of humility and equality in death. Pre-planning ensures these customs are followed, preventing misunderstandings or complications. It helps ensure that the body is treated with the utmost respect, in accordance with Jewish law, while safeguarding your wishes.
4. Embracing Life’s Journey
6. Making Personal, oughtful Choices
is eld of graves, established in 1913 in Shaler Township when Old Chesed Shel Emeth ran out of space, demonstrates our sacred mission to bury the indigent. In addition, four separate burials of damaged prayer books and other sacred texts, a service provided to the community by the JCBA, were held in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2021.
By pre-planning, you have the opportunity to personalize your funeral in ways that re ect your beliefs, values, and preferences. Whether it’s selecting a speci c cemetery, making arrangements for a tahara (ritual puri cation), a chapel or graveside service, you are able to make informed, meaningful decisions that align with your spiritual path and values.
If you would like more information on free burial in Chesed Shel Emeth for those who are indigent, please contact us at the information provided below.
If you would like more information on free burial in Chesed Shel Emeth for those who are indigent, please contact us at the information provided below.
2. Relieving the Burden on Family Death can be an overwhelming experience for families. In Judaism, the grieving process, or avelut, is a sacred time for mourning. Pre-planning allows family members to focus on mourning and healing rather than being consumed with logistics. By removing the guesswork of funeral arrangements, you provide a gi of peace to your loved ones during a time of emotional vulnerability.
Judaism teaches that death is a natural part of life, and planning for it is seen as an extension of living a conscious and responsible life. Just as we prepare for important life events such as weddings or bar mitzvahs, pre-planning for funerals and burials is a re ection of taking life seriously, acknowledging that death is an inevitable step in the journey. Far from being morbid, it demonstrates a thoughtful approach to the full cycle of life.
5. Financial Responsibility
New Chesed Shel Eme th Cemetery is eld of graves, established in 1913 in Shaler Township when Old Chesed Shel Emeth ran out of space, demonstrates our sacred mission to bury the indigent. In addition, four separate burials of damaged prayer books and other sacred texts, a service provided to the community by the JCBA, were held in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2021.
Conclusion
Pre-planning for a funeral and burial is an accepted, encouraged, and meaningful practice in Judaism. It not only honors Jewish values and traditions but also provides a sense of peace and security for you and your loved ones. In embracing this responsibility, you are helping ensure that the sacred rites of passage in death are handled with the same care and thoughtfulness as in life.
If you would like more information on free burial in Chesed Shel Emeth for those who are indigent, please contact us at the information provided below.
If you would like more information on free burial in Chesed Shel Emeth for those who are indigent, please contact us at the information provided below.
Another Jewish value is Tzedakah—acts of justice and responsibility, including nancial care for oneself and others. Pre-planning for your funeral and burial allows you to lock in today’s costs, avoiding nancial strain on your family later. It’s a way of practicing tikkun olam (repairing the world) by ensuring that those who survive you aren’t burdened with unexpected expenses.
For more information about JCBA cemeteries, to volunteer, to read our complete histories and/or to make a contribution, please visit our website at www.JCBApgh.org, email us at o ice@jcbapgh.org, or call the JCBA o ice at 412-553-6469
at
To ask questions and/or begin the process of pre-planning the funeral and burial of a loved one or for yourself, please contact the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh at 412-553-6469. We are here to guide you. JCBA’s expanded vision is made possible by a generous grant from the
Life & Culture
80 years ago on Oct. 7, Jewish Sonderkommando workers staged a failed revolt at Auschwitz
By Matt Lebovic | The Times of Israel
AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, Poland
— As Jews around the world commem orated the Hamas-perpetrated massacre of Oct. 7, that somber day also marked 80 years since the so-called Sonderkommando Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After months of preparation, prisoners working in the crematorium Sonderkommando (forced labor group) — who were forced to dispose of the bodies of their compatriots killed in the gas chambers — took up arms against the SS. The uprising, which broke out on Oct. 7, 1944, achieved almost none of its goals and resulted in the execution of hundreds of Sonderkommando prisoners.
In an interview inside the former Union ammunition factory next to Auschwitz, histo rian Igor Bartosik said the heavily vandalized building was where female prisoners acquired explosives and other materials for the revolt.
“I think it could be the women who were here, the prisoners, that had the idea for the revolt,” said Bartosik.
As a leading expert on the Sonderkommando prisoners, Bartosik has published several books on the subject for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. In prior decades, when former Sonderkommando prisoners were still alive, Bartosik regularly visited camp ruins with them.
war years. Now covered in graffiti and obscured from the street by trees, the building is a few hundred yards from the Auschwitz museum.
Inside the former Nazi factory, female prisoners had access to dynamite and other supplies needed by the Sonderkommando revolt planners. Over the course of several months, a group of women smuggled supplies into Birkenau. The contraband was delivered to Sonderkommando prisoners living onsite at the gas chambers.
“Here is where the women got what the Sonderkommando men needed to blow up the
Bartosik is emphatic about breaking down the myths tied to Sonderkommando prisoners. One such myth is that the men conducted their gruesome tasks as if they were automated robots, said Bartosik.
“They did not work like robots. With strong emotions they wrote about the women with beautiful bodies and about the children. They were not robots. I will always protect the memory of these people until the last day of my life,” said Bartosik.
During the height of murder operations
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war, one text is a list of deportation trains that notes how many people from each “transport” were murdered and in which of the four main killing facilities.
“These people are complete heroes. They came back to the barracks and wrote their diaries. They knew people would want to know after the war about why they were in the Sonderkommando,” said Bartosik.
One million Jews were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, in addition to 100,000 non-Jews largely from Poland, Soviet lands, or of Roma descent.
‘500 prisoners were shot dead’
In Birkenau, Bartosik filed through ruins of the former barracks where Sonderkommando prisoners were initially housed. Early in the morning with visitors yet to make their way to the back of the camp, deer were seen among the forest of brick chimneys and eroding concrete foundations.
In the early phases of the Holocaust at Birkenau, two “provisional” gas chambers operated. The Sonderkommando prisoners did not yet live onsite, but in a barracks complex situated among other inmates.
When the Germans completed the construction of four permanent gas chambers with built-in crematoriums, Sonderkommando inmates were moved to those facilities. In general, the men lived in attic spaces with windows through which the prisoners in each of the killing facilities communicated with each other.
The revolt was intended to destroy one or more of the killing facilities and enable a mass escape of prisoners. Problematically, the plan was implemented too early when an inmate spontaneously attacked an SS guard.
“From this moment on, events took on a dynamic of their own,” wrote Bartosik.
Dozens of prisoners were able to flee the camp but they were quickly tracked down and shot by mobile SS patrols. The fate of four
escapees remains unknown, although a report sent by the SS alerted local forces to their escape.
“I don’t remember the exact date, it was a Saturday when we attacked the SS guards,” said Shlomo Dragon, a former Sonderkommando prisoner.
“Twelve of the SS men were wounded. SS forces immediately approached the premises of our crematorium, a couple of companies surrounded the entire area, around 500 prisoners were shot dead, and the rest, those who hid hemselves, managed to survive,” said Dragon.
The Germans executed nearly all of the remaining Sonderkommando prisoners to retaliate for the revolt, in which four SS men were killed. Three of the women who smuggled supplies into Birkenau for the revolt were identified by the SS and executed on Jan. 6, 1945.
‘The proof of this tragedy’
Another erroneous assumption made about Sonderkommando prisoners is that the kommando — which numbered several hundred men — was regularly killed off, as a group, by the SS.
According to Bartosik, such a killing of Sonderkommando prisoners took place only once, in December 1942. Several prisoners who survived the war were among the men chosen to replace that executed workforce, said Bartosik. These men would have known if additional mass killings of the Sonderkommando took place in 1943 or 1944, prior to the revolt.
In his decades of research, Bartosik befriended several of the former Sonderkommando prisoners, including the late Henryk Mandelbaum. These relationships helped Bartosik understand aspects of the Sonderkommando experience that are not typically discussed.
For example, German SS men assigned to the Sonderkommando were vulnerable to bribes. In their gruesome work, the inmates sorted through clothes and personal items brought into the undressing rooms. Supplemented by valuables removed from the corpses, Sonderkommando inmates made it lucrative for the SS to delay eliminating them.
“They definitely played off their greed,” said Bartosik.
Another fateful but largely forgotten act of resistance took place a few weeks before the Sonderkommando Revolt. Similar to the buried diaries, the act was intended to document the Holocaust at Birkenau with indisputable evidence.
Smuggling a camera into one of the gas chambers, a Sonderkommando prisoner captured photos of murder operations in the birch grove at the back of the camp. His hastily framed snapshots included women being herded into a gas chamber and Sonderkommando inmates burning corpses in the open air. The film was smuggled out of the camp in a toothpaste tube and developed in Britain.
About the failed revolt, Bartosik said the episode demonstrates the heroism of Sonderkommando prisoners and their commitment to making sure the truth of Auschwitz-Birkenau was disseminated.
“People understood the situation. They wanted to protect for the future the proof of this tragedy,” said Bartosik. PJC
p Historian Igor Bartosik at the site of former Sonderkommando barracks at Birkenau, August 2024
Photo by Matt Lebovic/The Times of Israel
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“We Remember em”
At the rising of the sun and at it's going down, We Remember em.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of Winter, We Remember em.
At the opening of buds in the rebirth of Spring, We Remember em.
At the blueness of skies and in the warmth of Summer, We Remember em.
At the rustling of leaves and the beauty of Autumn, We Remember em.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends, We Remember em.
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us, as We Remember em.
When we are weary and in need of strength, We Remember em. When we are lost and sick at heart, We Remember em.
When we have joys we yearn to share, We Remember em.
When we have decisions that are di cult to make, We Remember em.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs, We Remember em.
As long as we live, they too shall live, for they are a part of us, as We Remember em.
Lee & Lisa Oleinick
day to remember
Academy
Commemoration in Harrisburg
The Pennsylvania Jewish Legislative Caucus joined an Oct. 7 observance event. The commemorative program was held on Oct. 1 and featured Liz Hirsh Naftali, the great-aunt of Abigail Mor Edan, a 3-year-old who was held hostage in Gaza for 51 days following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Kfar Aza, where her parents were murdered by Hamas terrorists.
to
Pittsburgh commemorated a year since the Oct. 7 attack. Students and staff gathered for age-appropriate readings, reflections and prayers.
JHF goes
Washington Jewish Healthcare Foundation joined national leaders at the White House for World Patient
p Moderator Dr. Bich-Thuy Sim; Ciarán Staunton of End Sepsis; Rani Snyder of The John A. Hartford Foundation; and Karen Feinstein of JHF Photo courtesy of Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Photo courtesy of Community Day School
p Speaking truth to power
Photo courtesy of Sean Harrington
A
Hillel
of
p Rabbi Evyatar Ifergan leads a discussion with high school students.
p After hearing about IDF soldiers’ sacrifices, students painted rocks with the words of different middot (characteristics) that came to mind. Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh
-Kids Activities: Bracelet making, bobbing for apples, Mike the Balloon Guy and more! -Indoor Pool Party - 1 pm -Food & Drinks for purchase
Questions? Contact Emma Litwak · elitwak@jccpgh.org Register HERE: DEKA Strong Fitness Competition at 8 am PLUS