Jewish Pittsburghers react to 2024 general election
By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer
Alifelong Democrat, Rona Kaufman became disenchanted with some of her party’s policies — particularly regarding Israel and antisemitism — following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel.
In the last few months before the general election, one could say Kaufman became the face of the disillusioned Jewish voter. The Duquesne University law professor was interviewed by several local and national media outlets, including MSNBC, the New York Post, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and this paper, where she discussed feeling abandoned by her party and her eventual endorsement of Donald Trump for president.
On Nov. 5, Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president of the United States. Kaufman said she was “pleasantly surprised” by the results.
“I hope it will be good for the Jewish community,” she said. “I hope it will be good for America as well.”
It wasn’t just the top of the ticket that Kaufman hoped would turn red. While she was unsure that Trump would be elected, she felt more confident about the outcome of the Senate race between incumbent
Democrat Bob Casey and challenger David McCormick, a Republican.
“I thought David McCormick had a better shot than Trump,” Kaufman said. “I thought he would likely win the Senate seat and Trump maybe wouldn’t win Pennsylvania. I certainly didn’t expect such a huge win for Trump.”
The former president captured 312 electoral votes, winning not only Pennsylvania but the other six swing states considered essential this election cycle: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Kaufman said that despite her lifelong allegiance to the Democratic party, she felt no tension about her vote or the Republican party’s victories — not only in the presidential race, but in the Senate, and possibly the House, as well.
“I am not conflicted,” she said. “I wanted the Republicans to win this election because I think it is better for Jews and America, and I really feel strongly about that. I know most people aren’t voting about Israel and Gaza or antisemitism on campus.”
Most Americans, Kaufman opined, voted based on the economy and immigration concerns, but she views the Hamas/Israel war
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Sta Writer
School in a construction zone has its perks: Progress is easy to see. Since September, boys high school students at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh have attended classes at 411 Greenfield Ave. The former St. Rosalia site, which includes dormitories with room for nearly 70 individuals, is under construction. Having purchased the 70,000-square-foot site for $1,200,000 in 2021, Yeshiva is transitioning the space into the future home of both its boys high school and boys elementary school.
“We’ve spent close to $10 million on purchasing the property and doing the work,” Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Yeshiva’s CEO, said. Floors remain unfinished, walls are bare, but the beginnings of a dream are apparent.
Walking through the site last week, Janna Unik, Yeshiva’s director of development and communications, pointed to new plumbing, electrical and HVAC work.
“We’re using spaces right now as best as they fit,” she said.
Et odictiumqui andae amusam quistium si de net voloritat
Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss
Jeremy Kazzaz is the executive director of the Beacon Coalition.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Kazzaz Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh student Tuvia Shollar stands beside a 3-D printer.
Photo by Adam Reinherz
Headlines
Defendants arrested for antisemitic gra ti appear in federal court
By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer
Mohamad Hamad and Talya Lubit appeared in federal court on Nov. 6 for an evidentiary hearing connected to their arrest last month on federal hate crime charges.
Both Hamad, 23, of Coraopolis and Lubit, 24, of Pittsburgh were charged with damaging religious property and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Investigators allege the pair spray painted graffiti at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in July.
Text conversations recovered by investigators paint Hamad as a radicalized individual committed to the idea of violence and with an allegiance to the terrorist group Hamas.
“My ultimate goal in life is Shaheed,” he wrote. “Shaheed” is defined as a martyr in the Islamic faith.
Other messages from Hamad included: “My goals are very different from the average person”; “I don’t see myself living long”; “For me it’s really hard to think long term”; and “But my heart yearns for being with my brothers overseas.”
Email records include two online purchases for explosive material in June 2024 that were delivered to Hamad’s home address.
Attorneys for the government proposed that, as a condition of monitored release before the trial, Hamad not “possess, access, or otherwise use material that reflects extremist or terroristic views without the permission of the assigned probation officer.”
The government said that extremist or terroristic material includes websites, videos, magazines, articles, books, writings, photographs, pictures and graphics produced by or in support of any “Foreign Terrorist
Organization,” including Hamas.
The government further seeks to prevent Hamad from using any platform that offers encrypted communications, including but not limited to Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp and Gabb.
Hamad’s attorney, Yemi Olayia, objected to at least part of the proposed language. A ruling has not yet been issued.
Pittsburgh resident Jeremy Kazzaz attended the hearing and said he was surprised to learn that an unnamed number of unindicted co-conspirators have not been arrested and that they are in possession of nearly four pounds of explosives.
The news left Kazzaz shaken.
“I was surprised,” he said. “I naively thought there was another round of charges coming, that they already had these people in custody, but no, that’s not the case.”
Shawn Brokos, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s community security director, said it is likely that investigators need more information before arresting
the co-conspirators and are working to connect the dots.
That doesn’t mean there’s an immediate threat to the public, though.
“I can tell you from experience that if there was a definitive plot or a stash of weapons or explosives, then law enforcement would act immediately,” Brokos said. “In absence of that, I can’t say we shouldn’t be concerned — we should be on alert — but I don’t think we can say there is an immediate threat.”
Brokos said that if a threat is identified, it becomes “action imperative” and law enforcement will immediately intervene.
In the meantime, Brokos said she is certain that investigators are leaving no stone unturned. And while it may make some uncomfortable to hear details of the case, it is unusual for so many facts to have been announced so soon. In fact, she said that if the defendants had been indicted through a grand jury, many of the details would have remained behind closed doors.
“Because they are misdemeanor charges,
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there is no grand jury,” she explained. “So, the factual evidence had to be laid out in what’s called a criminal affidavit and it had to specify all the known information, which is unusual.”
Brokos said that law enforcement will monitor Hamad before his trial because “he cannot be trusted to operate freely. He is going to be monitored and have a bracelet on because there is compelling evidence that he was looking to do something in furtherance of his radical beliefs.”
That fact seemed to be lost on Hamad’s supporters. Kazzaz said there were more than two dozen in attendance. The court date was promoted on social media by several anti-Israel groups that have promoted anti-Zionist and antisemitic messages and events in the past.
“Show up for two community members facing trumped up federal charges,” one post, shared on Instagram, read.
Brokos said the bottom line can’t be any clearer.
“Hamad is a Hamas supporter,” she said. “He plans or planned to be a Hamas operative. Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of the United States and any faith that does not agree with his views. So, the fact that we have members or individuals in our Greater Pittsburgh community who are going to sympathize with a terrorist, who want to participate in the destruction of our country and everything we stand for, defies logic,” she said.
She called the support of Hamad “flagrant moral confusion in society.”
“There should never be a time that anyone supports Hamas,” she said. “If people knew the atrocities that Hamas conducts, they wouldn’t support that cause.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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David Knoll points out the red inverted triangle as part of graffiti spray painted on the front of Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building in July.
Photo by David Rullo
Headlines
Pitt’s Faculty Assembly postpones vote to create antisemitism committee
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Attempts to create an ad hoc committee to investigate antisemitism at the University of Pittsburgh were tempo rarily thwarted during a Nov. 4 Faculty Assembly meeting.
Faculty Assembly President Robin Kear said the creation of the proposed committee was in response to an October discussion that focused on the “safety of the Jewish student community and the campus climate for Jewish faculty.”
The discussion followed two separate phys ical attacks against three Jewish University of Pittsburgh students.
In the month following the discussion, she said, the urgency around those attacks has not diminished; instead, people have brought addi tional antisemitic issues to the attention of the executive committee.
It is out of an “urgency of concern” for those issues, she said, that the proposed creation of the committee is rooted.
Faculty Assembly Vice President Kristin Kanthak said the idea that the university could solve antisemitism is a “moonshot,” but it was worth a try.
“This university is the place, where if it’s possible to move forward, this is the place it’s going to happen,” she said.
Kanthak said that the assembly has been inundated “with hair-curling stories of antisemitism from faculty, staff and students, and I don’t know what to do with them. They’re in my inbox and they are breaking my heart.”
The ad hoc committee would be tasked with: assessing the campus climate through engagement with various stakeholders, including students, student and community organizations, faculty, staff and administrative offices; conducting a review of antisemitic incidents and concerns on campus; analyzing procedures for reporting and responding to antisemitic acts; benchmarking practices for addressing antisemitism against other institutions; recommending enhancement to existing policies, educational programs and support systems; and, proposing new initiatives to promote understanding, tolerance, equality and inclusion to all regardless of religious belief or national origin.
The committee would not have the authority to impose a definition of antisemitism on the university community, nor would it be empowered to set limits on free expression on campus or limit free speech, including restrictions on teaching, scholarship or programming.
Following words of support by the proposed committee co-chairs, faculty members Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili and Eitan Shelef, conversation came to an unexpected halt when Bridget Keown, co-chair of the university’s Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee, introduced a motion to postpone discussion and the vote to form the committee until the group’s December meeting.
Keown said she, and other members of the EIDAC committee, were concerned that the resolution creating the committee did not define antisemitism, did not address the scope of the committee and did not spell
out what constitutes success.
Members of the university’s LGBTQIA and transgender communities have also faced attacks on campus, Keown said, noting a committee wasn’t formed to address those incidents and that she was concerned about the message conveyed by creating an antisemitism committee.
After Keown’s comments, a vote on the resolution to create the antisemitism committee was delayed until December so various committees could review the resolution.
That decision prompted Ilan Gordon, one of two students attacked in August by a man wielding a bottle and wearing a keffiyeh, to speak out from the audience.
“We’re just going to wait another month for another Jewish student to be assaulted before making a decision?” he asked. “That’s going to be the end of the semester. What are we doing? Why are you all stalling? There needs to be a change now. This is ridiculous.”
Following his remarks, Gordon left the room in frustration.
Gordon’s statement, Murtazashvili told the Chronicle, speaks to the dissatisfaction of students who complain to the school about antisemitic incidents but say they get no response.
As to Keown’s complaint that the resolution didn’t contain a working definition of antisemitism, Murtazashvili said the committee was explicitly instructed not to define it.
“We didn’t want to get stuck with definitions of antisemitism,” she said. “We wanted to understand what’s happening with our students.”
And, Murtazashvili said, it’s “unheard of” to ask a minority group to define the terms of hate used against it before their grievances can be addressed.
Two days after the issue was tabled, EIDAC held its November meeting.
For more information, contact Maria Carson at mcarson@jccpgh.org, 412-697-3233 — LOCAL —
In fact, Kear told the Chronicle, the University’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion already has a definition of antisemitism on its website. Antisemitism is defined as, “The fear or hatred of Jews, Judaism, and related symbols.”
Despite Murtazashvili’s concerns and the university’s definition of antisemitism, Susan Graff, co-chair of EIDAC sent a memo to members saying objectives of the meeting should include creating a suggested definition of antisemitism and to discuss the stated goals of the committee on antisemitism.
The EIDAC meeting, attended by committee members, students and members of the Jewish community — including Rabbis Danny Schiff and Seth Adelson, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Relations Council
Director Laura Cherner and StandWithUs Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Julie Paris — was at times emotionally charged as supporters and detractors spoke.
Murtazashvili said that tabling the resolution to create the committee at the Faculty Assembly meeting had led to a “kind of silencing and shaming of the committee” and undermined the work of EIDAC, which is supposed to promote inclusion. Prohibiting conversation, she said, is a violation of academic freedom and “seeks to intentionally hinder the work of a committee before it starts.”
Ruth Mostern, a history professor and member of Jewish Voice for Peace, said that Jewish Pitt students are not united on the issue of antisemitism and that there are profound
terrorist organization Hamas and the formation of the ad hoc committee.
Mostern said the creation of the committee was disturbing considering the arrests of Pitt students who have protested the war on campus, and that she worried about a committee focused solely on the harm experienced by Jewish students.
Murtazashvili noted that the proposed antisemitism committee would be an advisory committee with no ability to create policy or enact rules.
“This committee has no power to enforce or do anything,” she said. “It can only explore issues.”
Murtazashvili told the Chronicle that while the administration of the school is concerned about antisemitism, there seems to be a disconnect among some faculty.
“I’m beginning to lose hope,” she said. “To be honest, this lack of empathy was very surprising to see. It really feels like this reinforces feelings of exclusion and abandonment by the university while there is a fire burning beneath our feet.”
The faculty assembly will vote on the creation of the committee at its December meeting.
S everal other universities have created antisemitism committees or task forces, including the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@
Philip Chosky Perfoming Arts Program Presents: Richard E. Rauh Senior High Musical
Enjoy performances by our community's most talented high school students as they act, sing and dance through Broadway's greatest hits.
SHOW DATES TICKETS
•$15
•$10/students, children between 2-18 and seniors 55+
•Children under 2 are free!
Katz Performing Arts Center 5738 Darlington Road • Squirrel Hill
Seating is general admission ( rst come, rst serve). Accessible seating is available. The show runs about an hour and a half with an intermission.
p The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh Photo by Notyourbroom via Wikimedia Commons
Congregation on Nov. 10. explained that the title comes from the until May 1945.
Theresienstadt was designed by the Nazis, but the day-to-day administration was left to the Jews imprisoned there. The system created hierarchies of class; some prisoners, like the elderly who could not work, were at the bottom.
distinguish themselves with the hope that it would prove themselves to be “decent Jews,” Hájková said.
Hájková shared an image of well-dressed, thin Jewish prisoners seated. Because of the cameras of the time, she said, images often added a little bit of weight to people in photos.
Then, she pointed to the fact that those in the image were “the wealth of the ghetto,” asking the audience to imagine them 10 pounds thinner.
In the introduction to the event, Carole Zawatsky, Tree of Life’s CEO, spoke about the threat of antisemitism. In Zawatsky’s hometown of Washington, D.C., a vandal smashed the windows of a kosher restaurant the night before the Holocaust Center’s Kristallnacht program. Earlier in the week, Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam were violently attacked in an incident that European authorities condemned as antisemitic.
Emily Loeb, the Holocaust Center’s director of programs and education, shared the story of her grandparents’ survival of the Holocaust and their decision to leave Europe.
But from within the struggles of the ghetto blossomed a rich cultural practice of musical performances. Spontaneous singing in the men’s quarters became formalized men’s choirs after Prague conductor Rafael Schächter arrived in early December 1941.
In February 1942, prisoner Otto Zucker asked to form a recreation department to organize cultural activities. These activities — theater, lectures and musical events — provided a way for prisoners to spend their spare time.
The Holocaust Center event featured its own musical performance by four students from the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra: Hailey Flood, Henry Keplar, Charlotte Nielsen and Maya Kashlan. The latter three went on a European trip that included a visit to Theresienstadt, which inspired the event.
“Throughout the 1930s, my grandparents witnessed a surge in antisemitism so insidious that they felt they needed to leave their country, community, friends, family members, everything they knew and loved, in order to have the opportunity to work, have kids and live as Jews,” Loeb said.
Hájková pointed to Loeb’s remarks when speaking of the effort to be “decent Jews” in Theresienstadt.
“We can really die ourselves trying not to provoke the antisemitism,” Hájková said. “Antisemitism is not the problem of the Jews. It’s the problem of the antisemites.” PJC
Abigail Hakas is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
Joshua Andy and Anna Hájková at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual commemorative Kristallnacht event
Photo by Abigail Hakas
Headlines
Rabbi Henoch and Sarah Rosenfeld build community for young professionals
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Sta Writer
Rabbi Henoch and Sarah Rosenfeld noticed a gap. They decided to fill it.
Across the community there was a phase, “post-college, pre-family life, where people were just falling through the cracks and not really getting connected,” Henoch Rosenfeld said.
As students, young adults could meet and celebrate their Judaism on campus; once that period ended, however, there was a hole, Sarah Rosenfeld said.
“What we sought to do was to fill that void,” Henoch Rosenfeld told the Chronicle.
Nearly six years ago, the Rosenfelds created Chabad Young Professionals. Based in Squirrel Hill, the organization offers Shabbat morning services, classes and social events.
Its mission stems from a teaching of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: “Find every single Jew where they are and help them grow on their pace, to embrace Judaism on their level, step by step, mitzvah by mitzvah,” Henoch Rosenfeld said.
Doing so requires both communal and individual attention.
The Rosenfelds pointed to curated Friday night meals as an example.
Meetups aren’t just arbitrary get-togethers, Sarah Rosenfeld said. Sometimes the goal is introducing certain couples; other times it’s about getting “a bunch of single guys, single girls around the table together.” No surprise, she continued, “We obviously want Jews to meet Jews, get married and have Jewish babies.”
Uniting Jews fosters a Jewish future, Henoch Rosenfeld said. Chabad Young Professionals is a place for people to come and “naturally build community together, do Jewish life together. Because when they do Jewish life together, organically, Jewish life is going to grow.”
The Rosenfelds have a dream of seeing thousands of young Jewish professionals partner up and grow old raising Jewish
families. Still, the co-founders of Chabad Young Professionals are reluctant to call
Years ago, matchmaking was more organic, Henoch Rosenfeld said. “Jews hung around other Jewish people at community events, community functions. They met other Jewish people and they were able to connect with each other. When you have 25or 26-year-olds that aren’t hanging around other Jewish functions, and they’re not meeting other Jewish people, how are they going to marry other Jewish people?”
The difficulty of finding a Jewish spouse has been long lamented. The Talmud states that matching people together is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea.
As nice as it is creating new Jewish households, the purpose of Chabad Young Professionals is different, Sarah Rosenfeld said. “The success is not if they marry Jewish, or if their kids go to Jewish Day School, or if they donate X amount to this Jewish fund. The success is wrapped in each individual encounter.”
“Every single time we meet someone and give them an opportunity to do another Jewish thing, that’s a win for us,” Henoch Rosenfeld said. “What happens tomorrow with that individual person? We hope they have more opportunities to engage and be part of the Jewish community.”
The Rosenfelds point to their efforts as proof of success. Since founding Chabad Young Professionals, the organization has engaged with 1,000 young adults.
“Each mitzvah [people] do together, each mitzvah they do with us or with a friend, each added contribution to the Jewish community that they get involved in, that is a success for us,” Henoch Rosenfeld said.
Little by little, Chabad Young Professionals will continue to follow a path promoted by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Henoch Rosenfeld explained.
“In Hasidic philosophy, the Rebbe really ingrained in us an idea,” he said. “Every individual mitzvah has infinite divine power, and it lasts forever.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld and Sarah Rosenfeld lead Chabad Young Professionals.
Photo by Adam Reinherz
Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.
SUNDAYS, NOV. 17–DEC. 18
Grades K-3, join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for Jewish Children’s Discovery Center and learn about some interesting sites and cities in Israel through creative art and baking activities. Children aged 0-2 enjoy a friendly meetup for moms and tots with Jewishthemed music, activities and sensory play. 10:30 a.m. $75/semester for grades K-3; $50 for ages 0-4; 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/art.
SUNDAYS, NOV. 17–JULY, 20
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Men’s Tefillin Club Services and tefillin are followed by a delicious breakfast and engaging discussions on current events. 8:30 a.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.
MONDAY, NOV. 18-–TUESDAY, NOV. 19
Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community for two commemorative Torah studies honoring the yahrzeit of the 11 people killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. In-person sessions take place Nov. 18 at the Squirrel Hill JCC at 6:30 p.m. Virtual courses take place Nov. 19. For more information, including instructors, visit 1027healingpartnership.org/event.
MONDAYS, NOV. 18–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.
TUESDAY, NOV. 19
Israel at War: Analyzing the Israeli Policies and their Implications will delve into the complexities behind the current Israeli government’s steadfastness in negotiating a peace deal, despite widespread protests both within Israel and internationally. It will explore the political, social and ideological factors contributing to this stance, examining how shifts in leadership, public sentiment and security concerns play a role. 6 p.m. Congregation Beth Shalom, Helfant Chapel, 5915 Beacon Street. tinyurl.com/2xv7dk75.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20
Join award-winning chefs Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook as they discuss their newest book
UNBROKEN, AWARD-WINNING HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE AT THE THREE RIVERS FILM FESTIVAL
"Zahav Home" as part of the Jewish Book Festival. Congregation Beth Shalom, 7:30 p.m. $20/person; $5/student. Register at BethShalomPgh.org.
Join the Squirrel Hill AARP for its November meeting as it welcomes Christen Trenbulak, who represents all Medicare health insurance carriers. She will discuss changes in the 2025 health plans. 1 p.m. Rodef Shalom Congregation, Falk Library, 4905 Fifth Ave.
WEDNESDAYS, NOV. 20–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.
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.
Join AgeWell for the Intergenerational Family Dynamics Discussion Group at JCC South Hills.
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Dec. 22 discussion of “Long Island Compromise,” by Taffy BrodesserAkner. From the Jewish Book Council, Evie Saphire-Bernstein:
Led by intergenerational specialist Audree Schall. 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.
THURSDAY, NOV. 21–SUNDAY, NOV. 24
In Unruly Bodies in Israeli Pop Culture: Comparing Netta Barzilai, Dana Internation, Shayna Weiss will give a series of presentations on Israeli culture. Weiss is the associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel. 9:30 a.m. University of Pittsburgh, Barco Law School.
SATURDAY, NOV. 23
Tree of Life’s November Torah Studio is honored to host the Rev. Liddy Barlow. Rabbi Je rey Myers will join the Rev. Barlow for an interfaith Shabbat service and Torah discussion on Nov. 23 at 9:45 a.m. in Levy Hall at Rodef Shalom. 9:45 a.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. treeoflifepgh.org.
SATURDAY, DEC. 7
Families with young children are invited to spend Shabbat morning with Rodef Shalom at its Shabbat with You. Drop in for a light breakfast, play date, sing-along with Cantor Toby and a Shabbat activity with Family Center Director Ellie Feibus. 9 a.m. $5 per family. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/ shabbatwithyou. PJC
What to do
Buy: “Long Island Compromise.” 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@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting. Happy reading! PJC
— Toby Tabachnick
“Five years after her wildly successful debut, ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble,’ Taffy Brodesser-Akner returns with an engrossing new novel, ‘Long Island Compromise.’ The book opens in 1980, when, thanks to the success of their polystyrene molds factory, the Fletchers lead a privileged life on Long Island. But after the head of the household, Carl, is kidnapped and held hostage for five days, no one in his family or community is the same. Carl’s three adult children — Nathan, Beamer, and Jenny — all deal with PTSD in different ways, and Carl’s mother and wife attempt to shield him from any further difficulties. While their intentions are good, the outcomes of their actions are unexpected and everlasting. ‘Long Island Compromise’ is about how one person’s actions can impact their family, and how their legacy — well deserved or not — will shape future generations."
Your hosts
Toby Tabachnick, Chronicle editor
David Rullo, Chronicle senior staff writer
How it works
We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 1 p.m.
Headlines
Israeli culture showcased in upcoming talks by Brandeis scholar Shayna Weiss
By Deborah Weisberg | Special to the Chronicle
Israel’s vibrant popular culture will be highlighted in a series of talks by Brandeis University scholar Shayna Weiss Nov. 21-24.
As senior associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israeli Studies, Weiss will speak at the University of Pittsburgh about religion and gender in Israeli pop music on Nov. 21 at 9:30 a.m. She will speak at Congregation Beth Shalom about Israel’s participation in Eurovision on Nov. 22 at 7:45 p.m., and will discuss recent trends in Israeli religious music at Congregation Poale Zedeck on Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. On Nov. 24, a presentation at Temple Emanuel of South Hills will take a look at Orthodox Jews on Israeli television at 9:30 a.m.
Her visit is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program and Panim Collective, a newly-formed coalition whose mission is to unite diverse elements of the local Jewish community through learning opportunities.
Jews I knew. Most of the Jews I knew were Ashkenazi. There weren’t many Mizrahi Jews in Jacksonville.”
Weiss is Panim’s first guest scholar, chosen because her topics have broad appeal and her presentations are engaging, said Amitai Bin-Nun, who founded Panim with Chana Fuhrman Greenspan. Other Panim members include Rabbi Danny Schiff, the Gefsky Community Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh; Rachel Kranson, director of Jewish studies at Pitt; and Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
“Israeli pop culture is a way to connect to Israel and learn more about Israel in a little lighter way at a time when the focus is on difficult, challenging topics,” Bin-Nun said. “It’s a welcome opportunity to look at what’s going on from a cultural perspective.”
Weiss’ talks are open to the public, with free admission.
“I’m really excited to be coming to Pittsburgh,” said Weiss, 39, of Somerville, Massachusetts. “I love that the university and the broader Jewish community are working together to bring scholars from the ivory tower to interact with the general public.”
Although discussions about Israel often center on people in power and peacemaking efforts, “we can also learn a lot from its music and pop culture,” Weiss said. “A three-minute music video can open the door to a conversation about bigger issues.”
Weiss first developed an interest in Israeli culture as a Brandeis undergrad double-majoring in Near Eastern and Judaic studies and international and global studies.
Although she was preparing for a life in academia focused on the Talmud and ancient Jewish text, her junior year abroad at Hebrew University of Jerusalem prompted her to change course.
“I became really fascinated with Israel’s contemporary realities and its people,” said Weiss, who grew up in a Conservative Jewish family in Jacksonville, Florida. “Jews in Israel were different than the American
She polished her Hebrew language skills by watching Israeli television and reading magazines, which led to her immersion in all aspects of pop culture, from social media to music videos.
One of Israel’s most revered traditions is its participation in Eurovision, an annual music extravaganza that some call the Olympics of pop, in which the best singers from about 40 countries compete.
“It’s campy, fun and popular with the queer community,” said Weiss, noting that Israel has won Eurovision four times.
Israel has hosted Eurovision three times, most recently in 2019.
Its participation this year was questionable when its initial entry, “October Rain” — perceived as a reference to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel — was deemed too political for the Eurovision platform.
Eurovision was founded after World War II to promote peace by building cultural bonds among nations, Weiss said. “It’s supposed to be apolitical but politics often find a way in. There are huge debates about Russia and Ukraine taking part.”
It was only after Israel agreed to tone down the lyrics of “October Rain” and give it a new title, “Hurricane,” that the song was accepted, Weiss said. It placed fifth overall.
Israeli music represents a spectrum of genres ranging from Mizrachi rock to hip hop.
Religious influences in pop music have become a strong trend.
“We tend to think of religious and secular as two separate worlds. But it’s more slippery than that,” said Weiss, adding that a number of Israeli singer-songwriters, including Narkis, a Yemini-Persian Orthodox Jew, blur the lines between spiritual and secular.
In her hit, “I Go with You,” about longing and missing someone, Narkis could be talking about God or a boyfriend, Weiss said. “Is this religious or secular?”
Despite kol isha, which, in some circles,
forbids women from singing in front of men, a growing number of female Orthodox artists, like Narkis, are performing for mixed audiences, Weiss said.
“What’s going on there? What does that tell us about trends in Israeli music and what the boundaries are in what counts as Jewish
music? Who decides what the rules are?”
Israeli Orthodox Jews also are becoming a major presence in mainstream television, with the airing of hit shows like “Shtisel,” a Netflix drama about a fictional, tight-knit Haredi family living in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Others include “Fire Dance,” about a charismatic Haredi rabbi, available on ChaiFlicks, a streaming platform dedicated to Jewish content.
“I’ve watched every show about Orthodox Jews and counted 20,” Weiss said. “There is growing interest in religion and Orthodoxy in Israel, and a large percentage of the population is Haredi. It’s interesting to think about why these shows are popular and why this group that has shunned pop culture is now interested in the creative arts and in exploring things they hadn’t before.”
Whether it is perhaps because the shows’ producers are ex-Orthodox or Haredi on the modern side, “more and more Haredi Jews are becoming involved in the creative arts and in portraying their community in an interesting and popular way,” Weiss said.
For more information, email panimcollective@gmail.com. PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
— LOCAL —
p Shayna Weiss
Photo courtesy of Shayna Weiss
Headlines
Learning opportunities in memory of those killed during Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
On Oct. 27, 2018, an antisemite burst into the Tree of Life building in Squirrel Hill and murdered 11 innocent people from three congregations: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. The date on the Hebrew calendar was 18 Cheshvan, 5779.
Each year since then, Pittsburghers mark Oct. 27 by volunteering in memory of those killed and by gathering together for a commemoration ceremony.
On 18 Cheshvan — which doesn’t necessarily coincide with Oct. 27 — community members study Torah to mark the yahrzeit of Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.
This year, on 18 Cheshvan (Monday evening, Nov. 18 – Tuesday evening, Nov. 19) the 10.27 Healing Partnership is hosting several learning opportunities.
An in-person Torah study will be held at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel
Tree of Life will receive $4 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for renovation and construction work on its building at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues in Squirrel Hill.
The new building will be used for worship, celebrations and educational programming, and will include a memorial to the victims of the Oct. 27, 2018, Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and an interactive Holocaust and modern antisemitism exhibit.
The funding stems from Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and is part of an $11.25 million distribution that will support major construction and renovation projects in the 23rd legislative district.
“These dollars show our commonwealth’s commitment to the historic Tree of Life project,” said state Rep. Dan Frankel. “I am proud to help ensure that the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in America will stand as a monument to tolerance, education and resilience.”
LLC, will speak on Parshat Vayera; and Jill Joshowitz, the Oct. 27 project coordinator at the Heinz History Center, will offer a session on “Hanoten Teshua,” the traditional Jewish prayer for the welfare of the government.
Virtual learning opportunities will continue on Nov. 19 when community members can learn with Jewish scholars beyond Pittsburgh.
Hill on Nov. 18 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Speakers include Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish Archives, who will talk about the origins and significance of the minyan — the quorum of 10 required for Jewish prayer. Cantor Kalix Jacobson of Temple
Emanuel of South Hills will lead a study and song experience about Jewish music in times of despair. Social worker Rhonda Rosen will offer insights into Jewish contemplation practices; Amitai Ben-Nun, a senior research scientist at Motional
Frankel helped secure the funds along with state Sen. Jay Costa.
“As our community has found ways to heal and grow in the aftermath of the Tree of Life shooting, it has been a humble
honor to share in the work to support our Jewish friends and neighbors,” Costa said.
“The funding Representative Frankel and I secured will continue to enforce our commitment to safe, vibrant spaces for the
From 11 a.m. to noon, Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, president of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life and founding president of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, will lead a Torah study session; and from noon to 1 p.m. community members can learn from Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, a senior fellow of the Schusterman Fellowship who works extensively on interfaith engagement, and Cantor Joanna Dulkin, president of the Cantor’s Assembly.
For more information and to register, go to 1027healingpartnership.org. PJC
— Toby Tabachnick
Jewish community as they gather to educate, volunteer and worship.”
As part of the RACP distribution, Temple Sinai will receive $1 million to be used for maintenance and to make repairs to the synagogue building at 5505 Forbes Ave.
Other RACP funding will support work that Frankel said will lay the groundwork for new, mixed-used affordable housing and commercial space, and will fully transform the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh’s playground.
The Children’s Institute will receive $250,000. Walnut Capital McKee LP will receive $6 million for the first phase of the Oakland Crossings mixed-use affordable housing and commercial space project.
Ground was broken to begin the Tree of Life renovation project in June.
The RACP funds are administered by the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget and focus on the design, acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects. PJC
— Toby Tabachnick
Headlines
Man carrying weapons and protest manifesto against Gaza war tried to enter U.S. Capitol on Election Day
A Michigan man carrying a flare gun, a torch lighter, two bottles of fuel and a manifesto angry with the government’s response to the Israel-Hamas war was arrested at the United States Capitol Visitor Center on Election Day, police said, according to JTA.
The man, 28-year-old Austin M. Olson of the Detroit suburb of Westland, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, unlawful activities and disorderly conduct. In a release, U.S. Capitol Police noted he “also smelled like he doused part of his clothing with fuel.”
Olson carried a manifesto and a letter for Congress, police said, adding, “The letter was focused on the man’s opinions on the war in the Middle East.” Officials told The New York Times that the letter “appeared to claim that he was protesting the war in Gaza and the United States’ relationship with Israel.”
The evidence suggested that Olson might have been planning to self-immolate, a form of protest that at least three other people have carried out in the U.S. in connection with the war in Gaza.
In February a U.S. airman died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., while shouting “Free Palestine.” The man, Aaron Bushnell, had posted a video online declaring he “will
no longer be complicit in genocide” and became a folk hero among some pro-Palestinian activists.
Bushnell’s death came nearly three months after a still-unknown protester engaged in a similar act at the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, where she suffered critical injuries. And a man was severely injured after lighting himself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Boston in September.
In the latest incident, the Times reported that a man who appeared to be Olson had an extensive record of political videos posted to YouTube and the far-right website Rumble, the last one of which he expressed his desire to be a martyr: “If my persecution and death means the truth lives, I’ll pick up my cross.”
Adam Schiff wins race for U.S. Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein
California voters did what was widely expected and elected Rep. Adam Schiff, a Jewish Democrat, in the Senate race to replace the late Dianne Feinstein, another Jewish Democrat, who died while in office last year after serving in the role for more than 30 years, JTA reported.
Schiff, who currently represents parts of greater Los Angeles in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated Steve Garvey, a former star baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had hoped to beat the odds and become the first Republican to be elected to a statewide office in California in 18 years.
Schiff’s victory elevates a lawmaker who largely fits the typical mold of a Jewish
Today in Israeli History
Nov. 18, 1958 — Jerusalem reservoir opens
Democrat with his pro-Israel politics and an endorsement from the political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Considered a hawk on national security issues, he made his name the same way Feinstein did — serving on a congressional intelligence committee.
The person appointed to serve out Feinstein’s term, Sen. Laphonza Butler, did not run.
Schiff became one of the most prominent politicians in the country by confronting Donald Trump during the former president’s impeachments, over which Schiff helped preside, and by formally investigating the attempted overthrow of the 2020 election by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump in turn has treated Schiff as a major nemesis, including by coining for him a nickname which strikes many as antisemitic: “Shifty Schiff.” Trump used the moniker as recently as last week while vilifying him at a rally in Pittsburgh for his own presidential campaign.
“Adam Shifty Schiff is one of the truly unattractive people,” Trump said. “I call him, ‘watermelon head.’ He’s got the largest head and the smallest neck. He’s not a stupid person but he’s an evil kind of person. He’s likely going to be a senator, unfortunately. This scum is going to be a senator.”
Previously, Trump has called Schiff an “enemy from within” and threatened to jail him once in power. He has made similar threats against other members of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riots.
Josh Stein defeats Mark Robinson to become North Carolina’s first Jewish governor
Josh Stein, North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general, is projected to become the state’s first Jewish governor after defeating Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate who once called himself a “Black NAZI,” JTA reported.
The race was closely watched both because of Robinson’s inflammatory comments denigrating Jews, LGBTQ people and others, and because North Carolina is one of seven swing states that could determine the campaign for president.
Stein, 58, is a centrist Democrat who is the son of a prominent civil rights lawyer. He previously worked as a high school teacher and state senator, as well as in the state Justice Department.
“Tonight the people of North Carolina resoundingly embraced a vision that’s optimistic, forward-looking and welcoming, a vision that’s about creating opportunity for every North Carolinian,” Stein said in his victory speech. “We chose hope over hate, competence over chaos, decency over division.”
The governor-elect is active in Temple Beth Or in Raleigh, a Reform synagogue, and has invoked his Judaism publicly. He once coached a kids’ JCC soccer team.
“Our Jewish faith obliges us to do our part to make the world a better place, better than we found it,” he tweeted to mark Rosh Hashanah in 2022. “This principle guides me as your attorney general.” PJC
—Compiled by Jarrad Saffren
Nov. 15, 1942 — Conductor Daniel Barenboim is born
Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, who moves to Israel in the 1950s, is born in Buenos Aires. In 1999 he co-founds the WestEastern Divan Orchestra, which combines Israelis and Palestinians each summer.
Nov. 16, 1924 — IDF Chief Haim Bar-Lev is born
Haim Bar-Lev is born in Austria. He leads the conquest of Sinai in 1956. He rises to IDF chief of staff in 1968 and oversees the construction of the Suez defenses known as the Bar-Lev Line.
Nov. 17, 2012 — Fashion queen Leah Gottlieb dies Leah Gottlieb, known as the queen of Israeli fashion, dies at 94 in Tel Aviv. A native of Hungary and Holocaust survivor, she was the co-founder and chief designer of swimsuit manufacturer Gottex.
A reservoir for Jerusalem opens at Bayit Vegan, completing a project that aims to promote economic development and to prevent a repeat of the water shortage of the War of Independence.
Nov. 19, 1957 — Singer Ofra Haza is born
Ofra Haza is born in Tel Aviv. She is named Israel’s Singer of the Year annually from 1980 to 1983, finishes second at the 1983 Eurovision and voices Moses’ mother in “The Prince of Egypt.”
Ofra
performs at Israel’s 50th birthday celebration April 30, 1998.
Nov. 20, 1977 — Sadat addresses Knesset
“I come to you today on solid ground, to shape a new life, to establish peace,” Egyptian President Anwar Sadat tells the Knesset a day after arriving in Israel for the historic visit that leads to a peace treaty.
Nov. 21, 1880 — Zionist Martyr Joseph Trumpeldor is born Joseph Trumpeldor is born in Russia. He loses an arm in the Russo-Japanese War. He helps organize the Zion Mule Corps in World War I. In 1919, he is killed defending a Jewish settlement from Arab attack.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
PJC
— ISRAEL —
p
Haza
By Amos Ben Gershom, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
p Leah Gottlieb works with swimsuit model Tami Ben Ami at Gottex in 1980.
By Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA
Headlines
‘Where are all the Jews at?’ A year after mass rally for Israel, turnout at its followup is sparse
— NATIONAL —
By Ron Kampeas | JTA
WASHINGTON — When they promoted last Sunday’s pro-Israel rally in Washington D.C., the organizers knew they wouldn’t be able to match the turnout of last November’s March for Israel, which brought hundreds of thousands to Washington just over a month after Oct. 7. So the marketing and press emails promised a smaller but still substantial number: One predicted “nearly 40,000.” Another said 30,000.
But as the rally began in the afternoon, it became clear that the bar had still been set far too high. In the end, perhaps 2,000 people showed up.
“Where are all the Jews out there, anyway?” the emcee, actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish, said in the middle of the event, as rain drizzled on empty seats on a chilly day. “Where are all the Jews at?”
Multiple factors could have contributed to the low turnout at the event titled “Stand Together,” which was billed by the two main organizers — the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations — as a chance to “stand with Israel” and “strengthen our Jewish unity.”
Attendees and speakers suggested exhaustion after a polarizing U.S. presidential election in which most Jews voted for the loser; burnout after 400 days of advocating for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza; lack of enthusiasm for Israel’s right-wing government; security jitters after Israeli soccer fans were attacked in Amsterdam; lackluster event promotion; and inclement weather.
As it was, an event that pledged to “further the solidarity created by the historic 2023 March for Israel,” and that boasted of more than 200 partnering organizations, fell far short of last year’s numerical show of force. That rally saw waves upon waves of people filling the National Mall. Sunday’s rally saw rows upon rows of empty seats in Nationals Park — capacity 41,546 — where the event was held.
Prepared remarks took on a bitter irony as they echoed through the vast emptiness of the stadium.
“The energy in the air is palpable!” said Michael Herzog, the outgoing Israeli ambassador.
Israeli Maj. Gen. Dan Goldfuss recalled the rally a year ago that brought together an estimated 290,000 people.
“Your involvement energizes and nurtures us, the soldiers, officers and people, you are here to give us practical support,” he said. “For example, your huge demonstration and outcry against the evil a year ago.”
Representatives of JFNA and the Conference of Presidents would not comment on the turnout. Niv Elis, a JFNA spokesman, said “many thousands watched by livestream on our YouTube and [Facebook] and with the many partners who posted.” JFNA declined to say how much the stadium cost to rent.
The rally took place a day before JFNA’s General Assembly, also in Washington. In its
emails to participants, who include officials and lay leaders of local and national Jewish federations and other groups, JFNA appealed for turnout at the rally.
“All General Assembly participants are automatically registered for the Stand Together unity event on November 10,” said one appeal to the 2,000 people who, according to the group, were registered for the General Assembly. “If you do not plan to attend, please let us know.”
JFNA threw in a free meal voucher for the day; a couple of concession stands were certified kosher and offered hot dogs and chicken schnitzel sandwiches.
The sparse attendance didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the lineup of speakers, who included relatives of three of the hostages as well as Reps. Virginia Foxx, a Republican, and Ritchie Torres, a Democrat — both of whom have gained reputations as outspoken supporters of Israel. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst and John Ondrasik, the musician who performs as Five for Fighting, also appeared.
“People often ask me, ‘You know Ritchie, you’re not Jewish, you’re Black, you’re a Latino. Why do you speak out so forcefully and frequently against antisemitism?’” Torres said. “And I simply reply: ‘The question is not, why have I chosen to speak out? The question is, why have others chosen to be silent amid the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust?’”
Ernst echoed the same message. “As a longtime friend and a staunch supporter of Israel, I am proud to be here and stand united with our Jewish brothers and sisters and the nation of Israel,” she said.
Ondrasik, who last December released a song titled “OK” about the Oct. 7 attack and the rise in antisemitism, performed from the stage and posted a selfie with Torres before Sunday’s event. In an interview, he attributed the event’s attendance figures to the election.
“I think people are exhausted and tired,” he said. “We also came off of a very emotional election, I think people are exhausted from that.”
The election was a recurring theme, and occasional undercurrent, at the event.
who appeared with Lani Anpro, a Native American Jewish activist, urged unity after the fractious campaign.
“No matter how much someone in your family might have disappointed you, we have to come together as a family, as a mishpocha,” she said.
In a prerecorded video, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York noted his historic status as the most senior Jewish elected official in U.S. history — perhaps for the last time. Democrats lost the Senate in Tuesday’s election.
After the attacks in Amsterdam, Schumer said, “rallies like this are needed more than ever.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is already being discussed as a contender in the 2028 presidential race, nodded to solidarity with Israel and concerns about rising campus antisemitism as anti-Israel protests proliferate.
“We stand with the people of Israel. We share their pain,” she said. “We are committed to their safety, and we will never forget the horrors of Oct. 7. We stand against the scourge of antisemitism, and we will fight back against this ancient force wherever it rears its ugly head. We must make sure all people feel safe on campus, at work and in their communities, and we stand for a more inclusive, tolerant future where people from all walks of life can thrive.”
After that, she pivoted to describing the strides she had made in repairing roads and in expanding pre-K education in her state.
Family members of hostages pleaded with both outgoing President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to work together to bring their loved ones home. Hamas is holding more than 100 Israelis captive.
“President-elect Trump and President Biden, I urge you to seize this moment, with [former Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar eliminated, to pressure the mediators to secure a deal that will bring our people home,” said Daniel Lifshitz, whose grandfather, Oded Lifshitz, 84, is still in captivity.
The rally took place one day after rallies across Israel marked 400 days since Oct. 7, many of which were critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A coalition of Jewish progressive groups cited that protest movement in a statement last week explaining why they were skipping Sunday’s event after attending last year’s rally. The groups — including J Street, T’ruah, the New Israel Fund and Americans for Peace Now — called for the event to more explicitly align with the Israeli demonstrators.
“Standing with Israel can and should include solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have protested in the streets over the past many months, calling for their government to end the war, to prioritize the redemption of captives, and to choose democracy over a messianic settler agenda,” the statement said.
A number of progressive groups, including the National Council of Jewish Women and the Union for Reform Judaism, were in attendance.
The rally also came about a month after Jews had gathered across the globe to mark the first anniversary of Oct. 7. An official of one of the partner organizations said that was one of several reasons that the timing of Sunday’s event was off.
“There were some 400 Oct. 7 memorials, there was Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the push on this event came late,” said the official, who spoke anonymously in order to speak frankly.
Sunday’s rally was also meant to mark one year’s passage since the last mass pro-Israel rally in the capital. Stacy Zeitz, 57, a special education administrator who arrived by bus from Brooklyn and who was wearing a blue “I Stand with Israel” sweatshirt, said she hoped “that we will be unified by all the voices we hear today.” Regarding unity, she said, “I think it’s been 401 long days, and it wanes. I fear that it wanes.”
She added, “Give us that feeling, really, that maybe some of us are losing. We need that feeling.”
p A sparse crowd listens to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speak at a pro-Israel rally at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 2024.
Photo by Ron Kampeas
Headlines
Election:
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and antisemitism as critical issues for both the Jewish community and American democracy.
“This should be sending a message to the Democratic party that Americans are not interested in a far-left agenda and that a moderate Democratic party would have been more successful,” she said.
As comfortable as Kaufman is with the election results, Sue Berman Kress is equally unsettled.
Kress, who serves on the board of Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, is “disappointed and sad,” she said, “but I’m also scared of the unknown of how his administration is going to proceed. If they do what they say they’re going to do, it’s very frightening.”
Kress is concerned about mass deportations, placing Christian nationalism at the center of the education system and the erosion of LGBTQIA rights.
“That’s what they promised the country,” she said.
Kress doesn’t believe Trump’s economic policies will be good for the United States, and thinks that promised tariffs have the possibility of harming the economy.
And she’s concerned that the MAGA arm of the Republican party will alter the political landscape.
“With too much control, they will change the rules of the game so that the fight isn’t the same fight we’ve been working on,” she said. “Democracy works with certain rules of the game, certain players in the game, and the players seem to be changing and the rules seem to be changing.”
Opposed to Trump’s first term in office, Kress said the robust machinery that railed against his policies no longer exists.
“The guardrails that were there — because of changes to the Supreme Court, among other things — they don’t exist,” she said. “I don’t believe Republicans and Democrats play by the same rules. I don’t think Mitch McConnell plays by the same rules as a Democrat Senate majority leader would play.”
Continued from page 1
Temporary walls separate students from major construction. Current learning centers are a mix of finished and untouched areas. Two classrooms with antiquated doors and windows housed teenage learners. Nearby, a teacher and pupil reviewed physics while seated at a desk cordoned off from a cluttered hallway by a room divider.
“I haven’t been to many schools, but this kind of feels regular,” Levi Sandhaus, grade 10, said.
“Some stuff is finished. Some isn’t,” added Tuvia Shollar, grade 10.
It will take another three or four months of “actual construction” before the elementary school is complete — a cost requiring less than $1 million, Rosenblum said. Larger expenses involve finishing a two-story gym, with room for a full-size basketball court, building a driveway and redoing the courtyard’s entrance. “Everything together will be another $4 million.”
Rabbi Eliezer Shusterman, principal of
Trump, she surmised, made inroads in what were traditional Democratic voting blocs this election cycle because “he has used the politics of fear effectively,” she said. “I think that he has created reverberations of fear and fear is a real motivator.”
Kress doesn’t have the same concerns for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that she does for the country, she said, because Gov. Josh Shapiro has veto power.
“I don’t worry that our state will create an abortion ban or create limits on women’s healthcare that place women in danger,” she said.
Despite Trump’s victory, Marissa Fogel, executive director of the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh, said that NCJW’s philosophy doesn’t change based on election results.
“We are committed to supporting the lives of women and children,” she said. “At NCJW, our focuses are particularly on reproductive justice, economic equity and preserving democracy.”
While NCJW’s philosophy doesn’t change, the organization is responsive to state and local policies, she said, noting that for the last year it has been working on expanding affordable and high quality healthcare, as well as pressuring politicians across Pennsylvania to include paid family leave.
The organization, Fogel said, will continue to work with elected officials who agree with its positions and those who have differing views.
the executive director of Beacon Coalition — a Pittsburgh-based non-partisan organization that operates to protect the rights and wellbeing of Jews — said that Democrats had a messaging problem.
“Whether people want to believe it or not, I think that there is a strong feeling about the direction of the country has been going and that those feelings were not addressed by the Democratic party,” he said, adding, “I don’t think they were entirely addressed by the Trump campaign, either.”
Trump, Kazzaz said, effectively leveraged the identity politics embraced by the far left that many people feel are out of sync with their worldview.
He noted that while Democratic Rep. Summer Lee was reelected in Pennsylvania’s 12th District, she lost eight points in the county’s 14th ward — which includes Squirrel Hill — compared to 2022.
That can be attributed to one thing, he said.
“People see how dangerous she can be. And I think she will continue losing that level of support year over year while she’s there
Yeshiva’s Mesivta and Boys High School, said students and staff are appreciative of the new surroundings: “All of the resources and funds that were needed to get where we are allows us to have the space and enjoy it.”
Unik pointed to usable areas where about
as people become more wise to what’s she
Lee has been an outspoken critic of Israel, calling for an arms embargo against
Other numbers support Kazzaz’s claim. WESA reported that Lee underperformed Harris by 10 to 20 percentage points in Pittsburgh’s East End neighborhoods. She also performed significantly worse in Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and Plum.
Overall, Kazzaz said that he was pleased with the winners of the 2024 election and their support for the Jewish community, pointing specifically to state Reps. Valerie Gaydos and Dan Frankel.
He said that state Treasurer Stacey Garrity, a Republican who has expressed support for the Jewish community and Israel, got more votes in Pennsylvania than anybody for any office, in any party.
“She got more votes than Trump, Harris, Casey or McCormick,” he said. (Garrity received 3,514,689 votes statewide.) “I think most of the news about that race is allyship with the Jewish community. So, I think in the Commonwealth we are finding and will continue to find more partners among our neighbors who want to combat antisemitism.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
welcoming,” Rosenblum said. Whether it’s allowing Yeshiva students to use the yard after school or bike through the parking lot, having them as neighbors “gives us more space and amenities.”
Back in the basement, Shollar stood in a windowless closet and touted Yeshiva’s 3-D printer.
Whether making keychains, tzedakah boxes or other items, there’s a method. The procedure recently was employed to help a classmate with transportation, Shollar said.
“Some guy broke his scooter and we made him a replacement part so he didn’t have to pay $40 for the piece.”
Learning is occurring throughout the building, Shusterman noted.
40 boys high school students exercise, eat and study. A finished beit midrash (study hall) overlooks Greenfield Elementary School.
“We have a collaborative relationship with them,” she said.
“They’ve been very helpful and
“When you see a finished product you don’t always appreciate the work and effort that’s gone into it,” he said. By observing a process, or even partnering in the creation, “you have that appreciation of going from the unfinished to the finished and all the steps it takes to get there.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Yeshiva:
p Rona Kaufman Photo courtesy of Rona Kaufman p Sue Berman Kress
Photo courtesy of Sue Berman Kress
p Marissa Fogel Photo courtesy of NCJW Pittsburgh
p Construction is underway at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh's Greenfield site. Photo by Adam Reinherz
Limping toward the light: A letter from me in this moment
Guest Columnist
Ihave been asked questions about Hersh, about the plight to free the remaining hostages and about hopes for the future of our people. From within a place of loss and confusion, I share with you a piece of myself:
My name is Rachel and I am the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six beautiful hostages murdered in Gaza at the end of August. We buried his battered and bruised body on Sept. 2, 2024, in Jerusalem.
I am also a wife, daughter, friend, student, teacher, Jew, Israeli, American, human and mother to two dynamic and vivacious daughters. And now, I am trying to become a navigator.
Like Magellan, Columbus and Sir Frances Drake, I am embarking on an odyssey into the unknown. My journey, I’m being told, can take the rest of my life to walk through. I am hoping to have a long life. And so I am starting my trek now.
“Now” can mean today, or this morning, or this hour. “Now” is whatever I have the mental, psychological and spiritual strength to bite into at the moment.
I am asked what it is like to go through such a deep and profound blow while being watched by many people. I find it incredibly difficult and curiously fascinating. I have always been a happily anonymous person. I am a high-functioning introvert — I can be comfortable in a crowd, but I always prefer to be home or alone. Maybe that was from being an only child growing up in Chicago. I never had a problem with it, ever. I had a lot of friends and could be with them when I wanted, or be alone at home filling my time in creative ways. I performed epic puppet shows for my stuffed animals, who I would line up as my eager audience, just one of a myriad of examples.
After sharing Hersh with so many for 330 days in order to help save him, he and my family have become recognizable to some. I am deeply grateful that so many took Hersh to be theirs and have been with
us during this dark chapter since Oct. 7, 2023, the date our world turned upside down. With that, now comes a lot of pressure, which I am trying to learn how to hold.
People reach out or stop me to share their pain. They describe how broken they are by the loss of Hersh and so many others. They go on to share personal losses they have had in their lives. They see my family as a vessel for the throbbing that they feel, for hits they have endured. It teaches me that there is an excess and surplus of suffering most people carry in
not “What do I imagine I would need in this person’s situation?” It is the hardest of challenges, not to put ourselves into someone else’s shoes, but to stay in our own shoes and look at this person who is not me. How do I allow them that room, that space, that air? How do we restrain ourselves from projecting what we need onto the person in front of us? Ouch. It is so very complicated to do successfully. We all fail at times. I know I certainly do.
When my girls and I are having a moment walking, breathing and smiling, and
I love you and am endlessly grateful for you loving Hersh. I love you for loving the hostage families. I love you for trying to help. But please, if you want to help me, let me go on walking.
their pockets. It changes over time, but it is always there, being transported around, just waiting for someone to show it to when the opportunity arises. And my presence often is that opportunity.
There is no measuring stick for aches of agony. Mine is no longer than his or hers. It’s different, and maybe newer, but pain is pain. Jon and I discovered this since Hersh’s death when thousands have come to us and shared their grief and their sorrow. And each day, when someone stops us to tell of their anguish it shows how unaddressed and still packed their satchels are, filled with tears, lumps and scars.
I feel like I have third-degree burns on my skin, so when people grab me or try to hug me, it is not helpful for me at this time. I think this is confusing for the person offering themselves to me. I know it is coming from a benevolent place in their heart. Years ago, a gifted teacher, Elana Friedman, taught me a piece, by the famous Reb Shlomo Volbe, about true chesed (kindness). This most complicated of disciplines requires looking at the person in front of us and saying to ourselves, “What does this person need?”
someone stops us and starts crying, they are robbing us of a moment of respite from the horror we are digesting. When I am walking alone, with a hat, glasses and my head down, it is me saying, “Please, oh please, let me breathe for a moment without having to also carry your pain. Your pain is as real as mine, but I have no strength at the moment to carry yours too. I love you and am endlessly grateful for you loving Hersh. I love you for loving the hostage families. I love you for trying to help. But please, if you want to help me, let me go on walking. When you see me and our eyes cross paths, please, oh please, just smile and wave. My knees are buckling from all the wounds people are sharing. I am just not formidable and powerful enough. Not yet. I am working on it. I wish to get there. Because I want us all to help lift each other, like the Amish do when they hoist up the frame for a new home they are all collectively building together. Let’s do that. But I am not robust enough…not yet.”
The Jewish people are at a juncture where we have so very much to figure out. The nugget of wisdom my mother taught me when I was young keeps nudging at
The High Holidays and neurodivergence
Guest Columnist
Imagine that you are in the middle of services on Yom Kippur, the most solemn day in Judaism. You are trying to concentrate on the Shacharit prayer, and suddenly a 6-year-old boy, dressed in a Minecraft T-shirt and shorts, and without a kippah, starts running around the synagogue, making noise and chattering “chichi,”
a pair of googly eyes in his hand.
You may think it is disrespectful for parents to dress their child like this, not make him wear a kippah, and allow him to run freely around the synagogue.
Now imagine this: At 6 a.m., the boy woke his parents, who, weakened by fasting, tried to get him to dress in synagogue clothing. But the boy decided to wear summer clothes, despite it being a cold day, and he started screaming and kicking at any attempt to dress him appropriately, ignoring all attempts to explain the importance of the situation. The parents, tired and only desiring to go to the synagogue to pray,
my hip, with its hands raised, wanting to be picked up, asking for attention. Her friend Danny shared the idea that if we always treat the person next to us as if they are the Messiah, in disguise as a regular person, we will be careful with how we speak and what we do in their presence. And if they choose not to reveal themselves in our lifetime, it will not matter, because we will have behaved respectfully and carefully to that regular person next to us. This is the most decent thing we can do in this complex and loud world piled with confusion and brokenness. Let us work on the lost art of respectfulness.
Hersh and I spoke about this idea often. We talked about how wearing a kippah is a way to show we believe there is something above us, watching us. I asked him just a couple of years ago what person he would imagine was watching him, from a window above, who would cause him to behave in an improved way. Even after all these long years, he said, Mrs. Carlton, his beloved first grade teacher from Virginia. We talked about that feeling of having someone or something we respect above us, how we behave differently. We behave better.
We seem to have lost this ability as a people. There is so much internal disagreement and strife in our Jewish world, and it has not served us well. I think our challenge as we limp forward toward the light, as we rise from the ashes that are still smoldering (and our cherished 101 hostages in Gaza, still languishing there as of this writing) is relearning how to listen. We have to master how to give space and oxygen, allow the person with whom we disagree to share their ideas, and try to understand them. And then they too should allow me to do that. Is it possible? Yes. Will it happen? As I have said since Oct. 7, 2023, hope is still mandatory. And so of course I hope and pray we use all of our creative and godly resources to succeed. We must.
May we all know better days, and may we find true and restorative comfort. Imminently. PJC
This essay emerged in response to questions posed by Voice of the People, an initiative of President Isaac Herzog for a shared Jewish future. It is republished from The Times of Israel.
allow him to dress as he wants.
Let’s not even talk about the kippah — that is a war that was lost several years ago, since the boy does not tolerate putting anything on his head.
Once in the synagogue, all the children go to the playroom while the parents pray. But for this child, the small size of the playroom, and the number of children there, make him feel confined and overwhelmed. The person assigned to take care of the children in the playroom has many in their care, and therefore the boy easily “escapes” and heads to the spacious sanctuary where the adults are
praying. Dad and Mom take turns watching him, since the child runs freely between the men’s and women’s sides.
A few days earlier, during Musaf on Rosh Hashanah, the boy decided to go into the synagogue’s garden, even though all the children were inside in the playroom. Attempts to get him to come inside were met with screams and kicks. So, his father resigned himself and recited the Amidah from the doorway, with his attention divided between the prayer inside and the child outside. At some point, the mother, who was
Please see Schnadower, page 13
Rachel Goldberg-Polin
Eduardo Schnadower
Chronicle poll results: Confidence in casting ballot for president
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “When casting your ballot for president, were you confident you made the right choice?” Of the 387 people who responded, 91% said yes; 8% said no; and 1% said they did not vote for president. Comments were submitted by 130 people. A few follow.
The outcome of the election is devastating. I don’t know how we, as a nation, got to this point. I fear for the U.S. and I fear for Israel.
Absolutely! And it was proven by the economy exploding when Trump was announced as president. He is certainly the best for our country and the state of Israel.
I made the right choice; the rest of the country made the wrong choice.
Given the outcome, I am deeply concerned about the future of our democracy — and fear the continued rise of antisemitism.
I voted for who is more likely to be proIsrael and to stop antisemitism.
Schnadower:
Continued from page 12
praying inside, noticed the situation and took her turn so that the father could be inside at least for the conclusion of the prayer.
The child in question has autism and attention deficit disorder. This is the reality that many parents of neurodivergent children face. We constantly have to navigate the delicate balance between caring for our child’s needs and following our traditions and rituals, which in many cases are not compatible with the needs of a child on the spectrum.
Waiting until the end of a seder to eat, staying at the table through the kiddush,
I felt so ambivalent.
Absolutely, without a doubt. I was voting to preserve our democracy, not for an
authoritarian government. Unfortunately, there were not enough folks like me to achieve that goal. Historic election indeed. Frightening results.
I am devastated with the election results. Anyone who thinks that American Jews or Israel will be better with a Trump presidency is not looking at the facts. I hope that I am wrong.
Great sadness for America and the world that our newly elected leader and many of his MAGA supporters are so full of hate. Not that long ago, we were the victims of the same rhetoric.
There was only one choice. Make America Great Again.
I wasn’t sure it was the best choice in terms of the history of presidents of the U.S. — it was just the best of the two options we had right now.
Evidently a lot of other people made the same choice I did. We just didn’t put out yard signs to let the world know who we support.
I cannot fathom how a majority of voters decided that their leader should be a convicted felon, demagogue, a wouldbe autocrat and misogynist who does not abide by any democratic laws and principles, let alone the Constitution of this country.
I didn’t choose any of the candidates for president on my ballot. Trump is despicable and Harris would have been terrible for Israel in my opinion. PJC
— Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question: Which of these issues most influenced your voting this election cycle: the economy; preservation of democracy; immigration/ border; abortion rights; Israel/antisemitism; something else? Go to pittsburghjewish chronicle.org to respond. PJC When
or simply answering “amen” are things that most parents take for granted; for parents of neurodivergent children, these
Absolutely. I voted for progress, dignity, body sovereignty and civility. That so many others chose the alternative is truly confounding to me.
children. They have offered flexibility within the rigidity that sometimes characterizes our rituals and traditions. They provide
Neurodivergent people and their families also have the right to live Judaism to the fullest.
can be great accomplishments — or completely impossible.
Fortunately for us, the Chabad of Squirrel Hill community, led by Rabbi Yisroel Altein and his family, has always opened its doors for us and has done everything in its power to accommodate the needs of our
A ‘helpful and honorable account’ of the life of Rabbi Walter Jacob
I hope that every reader of the Chronicle will join me in heartfelt gratitude to Eric Lidji for his beautiful and sensitive tribute to Rabbi Walter Jacob (“Rabbi Walter Jacob dies at 94,” Nov. 1). He has provided us all with a helpful and honorable account of the rabbi’s career at Rodef Shalom Congregation and the wider impact he made on our community.
Each generation is privileged to know one or two “rabbi’s rabbis” who model the role of teacher, pastor and preacher. For all of us in Pittsburgh, Walter Jacob’s life was unique in generational bounty and rabbinic blessing. That his influence far transcended our civic boundaries and national borders can only serve to make us more blessed to have had him in our midst.
When I first arrived in town over 50 years ago, Dr. Solomon Freehof was still very much in our midst and Dr. Jacob had “recently” succeeded him as senior rabbi in Rodef Shalom’s pulpit. Lidji’s respectful retrospective allows us all to reflect on the decades of service through which the “younger” rabbi guided the destinies of Rodef Shalom and contributed to the entire American Reform movement. From embers of Shoah to Medinat
understanding and support when they see us facing our tribulations, and we are very grateful for them.
But not everyone has the ability to make a family with neurodivergent children or adults feel welcome. The expectation of rigidity and solemnity in rituals makes it
difficult for many communities to accommodate the behavior of a neurodivergent person; instead of offering support and encouragement, some communities expect a neurodivergent person to magically adapt to an environment they find oppressive and overwhelming.
Neurodivergent people and their families also have the right to live Judaism to the fullest. And if the Alteins have taught us anything, it is that Judaism is not a rigid board. You can always offer a little flexibility without anything breaking. PJC
Eduardo Schnadower was born in Mexico City and came to Pittsburgh in 2016 to work on his doctorate at Carnegie Mellon University.
Falk Lab School still has work to do
After reading “Falk Lab School apologizes after ‘offensive’ Bread and Puppet Rosh Hashana performance” (Nov. 8), I am left wondering how parents have confidence in educators who have so utterly and completely failed in their mission: What has been seen and heard can never be unseen and unheard. I am also left wondering at the matter now being considered as righted — by a mere apology.
The article did not mention any attempt to correct the misimpression left upon those who viewed the Bread and Puppet program with an accurate representation of the history and the facts. Is that how true educators proceed?
Dr. Miriam Weiss Pittsburgh
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We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.
Yisrael, from “Save Soviet Jewry” to progressive halacha, his place is assured in the annals of our people.
Rabbi Stephen E. Steindel Rabbi emeritus, Congregation Beth Shalom Squirrel Hil
Life & Culture
Maple brown sugar oatmeal bars
By Jessica Grann | Special the Chronicle
My maple and brown sugar oatmeal bars are my new favorite thing to bake. The recipe takes less than five minutes to measure and mix — plus the bars are nut-free, gluten-free and pareve! The more I read the ingredients in store-bought baked goods, the more I’m baking at home. This recipe will appeal to people who want to bake with less-processed sugars and who want to avoid saccharine breakfast foods. By using maple syrup and a little brown sugar for flavor, you will have just enough sweetness but can avoid the added chemicals of store-bought snack bars. Both Kids and adults will enjoy these. They are soft, dense and chewy — it’s like having a bowl of oatmeal in a bar. Grab a square or two when you’re running out the door, pack them in lunch boxes for “dessert,” or serve them for an after-school snack to tide everyone over until dinner is on the table.
This recipe mixes easily by hand so it’s perfect if you have little helpers around. As an added bonus, baking these will make your home smell heavenly.
These freeze well so if you like the recipe, make a double batch.
Ingredients
Makes 10-16 bars, depending on if you cut them into squares or thinner rectangles
2 cups rolled oats
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 large eggs, whisked well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oat milk or other pareve milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
Preheat your oven to 350 F and place the wire rack in the center of your oven.
You can use any neutral oil to bake these bars. I chose coconut oil, which is solid, measured it into a small bowl and set it near the back of my stove to warm. If you ever have a recipe that calls for a small amount of melted butter or coconut oil, this is the best way to melt it, while avoiding messy microwave splatters.
Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk them together.
Add the eggs to a medium-sized bowl and whisk well for 1 minute.
Pour the milk slowly into the eggs, while whisking constantly; whisk for 1 additional minute.
Add the vanilla and maple syrup and mix
until combined.
Pour this mixture over the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes to allow the milk mixture to soften and soak into the oats. I check this once at about 15 minutes, give it a good stir and let it rest.
Lightly grease a 9-inch-by-9-inch baking pan. Metal pans work best for this recipe.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth it out with a spatula and bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and starting to pull away from the edges of the pan.
Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan, which will take about 2 hours.
Turn it onto a board before cutting into pieces.
I often prepare this recipe while I’m making dinner so they can bake while we’re eating and we have fresh bars for the morning.
You can leave these out uncovered overnight if you’d like them to be a bit harder.
Enjoy and bless your hands. PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
A gory horror series with Billy Crystal and Itzhak Perlman? Who
is this for?
By PJ Grisar | Forward
If IMDb is to be believed, the violinist Itzhak Perlman, despite many appearances as himself, has only once played a character on screen.
Unaccountably it is in the new Apple TV+ series “Before,” where he plays the role of Drake, seemingly a professor of something or other at Columbia who shows up briefly in the pilot to tell a frazzled child psychiatrist played by Billy Crystal that he doesn’t recognize the strange language his 8-year-old patient started speaking in a moment of distress. (He does not, at any point, play violin or even show up in subsequent episodes.)
The reason for Perlman’s presence isn’t so mysterious. He seems to be friends with Crystal (who is also executive producer,
along with screenwriter Eric Roth), making a previous cameo as himself in Crystal’s movie “Here Today.” But bundled together with a cast that includes Crystal and Judith Light, and a screening and conversation held recently at the 92nd Street Y, there’s a more cynical explanation: They want Jews who comprise Crystal, Perlman and Light’s demographic to watch this.
By “this,” I mean a series of 30-minute episodes where Crystal stabs his hand and neck with sharp objects, dreams of blood geysering out of his body and carves into a child’s skull with a scalpel to extract an imaginary worm. Somehow I don’t see the target audience.
The plot of “Before,” created by Sarah Thorp, is as cockeyed as it is familiar. Crystal plays Eli Adler, a widower, firmly in the denial stage of grief. He is often visited by apparitions of his late wife (Light, who appears almost exclusively as a spectral scold). One day, a selectively mute child shows up on the stoop of Eli’s brownstone, fingers bleeding,
having carved something cryptic onto his door. The boy, Noah (Jacobi Jupe, admittedly excellent), is revealed to be a troubled foster child, and a family lawyer begs Eli to take him on as a patient.
Eli is reluctant, but when things get weird — like the aforementioned boy speaking in a foreign language that turns out to be “17th-century Dutch” — he becomes overly invested in finding the root of Noah’s trauma, which, shocker, may be connected to his own.
Maybe your sixth sense is tingling about now.
If while watching the oeuvre of Crystal, you ever wished that Harry Burns spent less time running to Sally Albright and more time dashing down hospital corridors, or that his analyst in “Analyze This” had a pediatric specialty that involved staredowns with dour elementary school kids, “Before” will deliver. But, if you have some trouble mentally slotting this veteran funny man into a frequently gross psychological horror, your doubts
are well-founded.
The supporting cast, which includes Rosie Perez as Noah’s foster mother, does its best with some strange material, but the proceedings all feel fundamentally mismatched, too psychologically shallow for those wanting a cerebral thriller and too fusty for horror fans. Even in the surprisingly expanding canon of comedic actors playing Jewish shrinks mourning dead wives and hallucinating while facing a problem patient (ahem, “The Patient”) the show is comparatively half-baked.
Crystal is to be commended for trying something a little different, but there’s no shame in saying the treatment didn’t work this time. Thankfully there is consolation for him. If the show gets overlooked or even panned, he surely has Perlman on speed dial to play the world’s saddest violin. PJC
This story was originally published on the Forward.
p Maple brown sugar oatmeal bars
Photo by Jessica Grann
Life & Culture
Old monsters return in new book by Squirrel Hill author Zoje Stage
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
Awriter best known for terror is taking a turn at sweet. Zoje Stage, the USA Today bestselling author of “Baby Teeth,” “Getaway,” “Dear Hanna,” “Wonderland” and “Mothered,” is broadening her scope with “My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast.”
Available from publisher Bad Hand Books on Dec. 3, the Jewish writer’s newest work follows 9-year-old Pru along the age-old quest of determining what lurks at night.
“My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast” begins with a familiar plea from the protagonist’s mother. Heeding the call, Pru starts cleaning her room; but the task isn’t so simple. Pru has long suspected things living beneath her bed. To her delight, they do. UnderSlumberBumbleBeasts are whimsical and peculiar but not “frightening underthe-bed monsters,” Pru tells readers. Instead, they’re “shy animal-like thingies.”
Stage’s story follows the creatures and Pru along a juvenile adventure adults can relish.
Readers of “Baby Teeth” and “Dear Hanna” will remember the animal-like beasts from Hanna, the star of Stage’s earlier works.
“From the beginning, I wanted ‘My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast’ to be a real book. I felt like it would be a really cool companion piece to ‘Baby Teeth,’” Stage told the Chronicle. Publishers weren’t always convinced.
Part of the difficulty with bringing “My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast” to print is that it “does not fit neatly into the publishing world’s ideas about what a children’s book should be,” Stage said. “It’s an illustrated book, but not meant for toddlers. It has chapters, but it’s not an early reader kind of chapter book. And it’s not long enough to be a book for true middle grade readers.”
Stage persevered and credited Bad Hand Books founder Doug Murano with not only recognizing the work’s value but “publishing this crazy, little oddball, illustrated children’s book that adults also happen to love.”
The Squirrel Hill resident is eager for readers to delve in, even though the text differs from earlier efforts. Unlike past works, none of Stage’s characters in the new book are Jewish and the setting doesn’t reference Jewish spaces, neighborhoods or local haunts.
Omitting cultural cues, religion and even Pittsburgh from the text lent a certain generality, she said. “With this book and this idea of it being really universal and timeless, I kind of wanted it to have this sense, truly, that any child or any adult could look at it and have it be relatable.”
At the same time — despite its connection to earlier works — Stage wanted the story to
function independently.
“I think for adults who have read ‘Baby Teeth’ or ‘Dear Hanna,’ they get an extra element of remembering certain bits of it from the novels,” she said. “But honestly, those are bonuses for adults. I think kids could appreciate it just for what it is and what it was meant to be.”
Enriching Stage’s story are amusing illustrations by J.E. Larson. A glossary of “wonderful
ords,” compiled by Pru, appended to the text’s end, is also fun.
Along with definitions, the nearly 40-word glossary includes pronunciations devoid of phonetic symbols, “written in a style f “how a 9-year-old would explain these things to another 9-year-old,” Stage said. Omitting carets and upsilons was driven by a desire to create “something that kids uld look at, spell out the words and figure out.”
S tage said she loved drafting the glossary and hopes its inclusion spurs a certain fondness for language among young readers.
When kids encounter “weird words in books” the goal is to eschew any fear of looking up the meanings, she said.
Since releasing “Baby Teeth” in 2018, Stage’s books have been celebrated by Forbes Magazine, Library Journal, PopSugar and others. She is currently at work on another terrifying novel for adult readers. Regardless of demographic, she h opes her writings continue igniting imagination.
“To me, that’s what makes life fun,” she said. “Having these amazing discoveries about things you’ve never thought about before, I encourage everybody to do that. It just makes life so much more interesting.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Illustration by J.E. Larson
Life & Culture
Thanksgiving is coming…. What do I serve?
Guest Columnist
Uriel Marcovitz
Thanksgiving is a time to gather, give thanks and enjoy a feast that often features a diverse mix of flavors and textures. Whether you’re hosting or bringing a bottle to share, an amazing kosher wine can add something special to the table. Choosing the right wine for each part of the meal can elevate the experience and highlight the flavors of traditional Thanksgiving dishes.
Here’s a guide to help you pick wines that pair beautifully with each course on the Thanksgiving menu.
Sparkling wine to start the celebration
A sparkling wine is a festive way to begin any holiday meal, and options like prosecco or cava work wonderfully. These wines are light, refreshing and full of tiny bubbles that enhance the palate. Sparkling wines tend to be slightly acidic, which means they can pair well with a variety of appetizers, such as olives, smoked fish and lighter salads. You may notice I don’t recommend Champagne; Champagne has higher acidity and often a more intense, yeasty profile, which typically does not complement most Thanksgiving flavors. Foods with savory spices, rich gravies or earthy vegetables can make Champagne’s acidity stand out a little too sharply, which is why prosecco, with its softer, fruitier profile, or cava, which has a subtler yeastiness, are easier pairings for the traditional Thanksgiving spread.
Whites for a versatile pairing
White wines are a great choice for Thanksgiving because they’re versatile and work with a wide array of flavors. Two popular options are sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, each bringing something unique
to the table. Sauvignon blanc is known for its bright acidity and herbaceous notes, which can enhance vegetable dishes like green beans or roasted Brussels sprouts. For those who prefer a fuller-bodied white, a lightly oaked chardonnay is a great option. The gentle oak brings out subtle flavors of vanilla and toast, which pair well with turkey, gravy and roasted root vegetables. Chardonnay’s slight creaminess can complement heartier sides, and it has enough body to stand up to the rich flavors of Thanksgiving without overwhelming them.
Rosé as a middle ground
If you’re looking for a wine that can please a crowd, a kosher rosé offers a lovely
middle ground. Rosé wines are typically light, with fresh, fruity notes that appeal to a variety of palates. They’re versatile and can complement both white and red meats, making them perfect for a Thanksgiving meal where turkey takes center stage. Rosé also pairs well with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and other side dishes, adding a refreshing lift to the richness of the meal.
Light to medium-bodied reds for the main course
For the main course, many Thanksgiving hosts choose red wine, and light-to-mediumbodied options like pinot noir and merlot are ideal. Pinot noir is often recommended for its subtle, earthy flavors, which pair well with turkey, gravy and stuffing. Pinot’s bright acidity balances the meal without overpowering it, and the earthy undertones can bring out the flavors in mushroom or herb-based dishes.
Merlot is another great choice; my friend Bob would probably disagree. I will convert him to be a merlot lover someday! Merlot has soft tannins and notes of plum and dark berries, which makes merlot easy to drink and pairs well with both turkey and richer side dishes like mashed potatoes or roasted squash.
Full-bodied reds for bolder flavors
If you want something with more intensity, a full-bodied red like cabernet sauvignon or syrah can add depth to the meal. These wines work best if your Thanksgiving spread includes bolder flavors like dark meat, duck
or heavily seasoned stuffing. Cabernet sauvignon can have firm tannins and dark fruit notes that pair well with grilled or roasted turkey. Syrah, with its spicy and smoky undertones, is another excellent option if you’re serving rich sides like sweet potatoes with cinnamon or gravy with herbs.
Sweet wines for dessert
Thanksgiving dessert often includes pies and other sweets that call for a wine with a touch of sweetness. Moscato, late harvest riesling or port are excellent choices. Moscato is light, floral and slightly fizzy, which makes it perfect with apple pie. Late harvest riesling, on the other hand, is rich and honeyed, with a fuller body that pairs beautifully with pumpkin or pecan pie. Port with its rich, sweet and full-bodied profile makes it an ideal companion to the flavors of Thanksgiving’s classic desserts. All of the wines offer a sweet ending to the meal without overwhelming the dessert’s flavors. It’s easy to create a wine experience that complements the rich flavors and warmth of Thanksgiving, enhancing every dish on your table and making the holiday gathering even more memorable. Enjoy the opportunity to blend tradition with taste, sharing the perfect wines with friends and family in gratitude and celebration. PJC
Uriel Marcovitz is a former restaurateur in Pittsburgh. He studies wine with the Court of Master Sommelier and holds advanced-level sommelier status.
Photo by Kaboompics.com via Pexels
‘A Real Pain’ is Jesse Eisenberg’s love letter to Poland, the country his family left under duress
By Jackie Hajdenberg | JTA
In Jesse Eisenberg’s new film, a pair of American Jewish cousins on a heritage tour of Poland sneak back onto a train they already had tickets for, after getting off at the wrong stop.
“It’s the principle of the thing,” says Benji, played by Kieran Culkin. “We shouldn’t have to pay for tickets in Poland. This is our country.”
“No it’s not,” says David, played by Eisenberg. “It was our country. They kicked us out because they thought we were cheap.”
It is an exchange that encapsulates the mix of pathos, humor and fast-paced banter t hat Eisenberg brings to “A Real Pain,” which he wrote and directed in addition to starring in.
Eisenberg, 41, loosely based the script and characters on a composite of real people and experiences, including a 2008 visit with his now-wife to what was once his great-aunt’s house in Poland until 1939 — back when the Eisenbergs were still “Ajzenbergs.”
“I was at this house, I was standing in front of it, and I was expecting to feel something specific and revelatory, and nothing came,” Eisenberg said in a Zoom interview. “That feeling of emptiness kind of stayed with me for a long time. I was trying to diagnose the emptiness, and I was wondering: Is it because I’m an unfeeling person? Or is it because it’s really just impossible to connect to the past in an easy way, in a kind of external way?”
All these years later, “A Real Pain,” which hit theaters earlier this month, seeks to ask those questions, Eisenberg says: “How do we reconnect to the past? And how do our modern struggles connect to the struggles of our families?”
Eisenberg, best known for his cerebral, often neurotic turns in “The Social Network,” the FX limited series “Fleishman is in Trouble” and a number of Woody Allen films, has returned to the Holocaust as a subject in a number of projects. In 2013 he wrote and starred in “The Revisionist,” an off-Broadway play about a Polish survivor of the Holocaust. In 2020 he took part in a staged reading at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage of “The Investigation,” Peter Weiss’ documentary play about the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-1965. That same year he played Marcel Marceau in “Resistance,” about the famed mime’s role in the French resistance.
As in “Treasure,” a movie released this year in which Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry star as a daughter and father who travel to Auschwitz, “A Real Pain” is about the main characters’ evolving relationship and about the legacy of the Holocaust on American Jews now two generations removed from the genocide.
In Benji and David Kaplan, viewers are introduced to two very different expressions of trauma: Benji feels everything and has no filter and an ability to get people to open up, while David is overly cautious, analytical and takes medication for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
They set out for Poland while reeling from the death of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, joining a tour group of adults much older than they are. The group is led by facts-obsessed guide James (Will Sharpe), and includes Marcia (Jennifer Grey), whose marriage recently fell apart, as well as a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan).
Egyiawan’s character is based on a real person, Eloge Butera, who converted to Judaism because, Eisenberg said, “the only people he felt connected to were older Jewish people who could relate to the experience.”
Eisenberg and Butera have stayed in touch since meeting at a wedding years ago, and Eisenberg said he had always thought Butera’s story made him an interesting model for a trip participant.
“As I was writing, of course, it occurred to me that it does this other thing, which is allow the audience to broaden out their perspective,” Eisenberg said from Indiana, wearing the same red Indiana University baseball cap his character wears throughout the film. (Eisenberg dropped out of Hebrew school in his native New York City but has recently begun attending a synagogue in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives with his family.)
He added, “It allows me to bring in other stories of trauma in a way that’s not kind of academic, but actually in the physical presence of this man who is a survivor.”
As the movie’s characters reckon with their personal and collective trauma, the main characters’ differences come into stark relief. Benji wisecracks his way across the brittle terrain, while David deals with a sense of guilt for ever having felt like his own problems were legitimate.
On a walk with the group, the cousins briefly imagine what their life would be like if the Holocaust didn’t happen. They would probably be religious Jews, Benji thinks, and have beards, and not touch women, according to traditional interpretations of Jewish law. Bottom line: They would likely still live in Poland.
That’s a scenario with some appeal for Eisenberg, who developed such an affection for the country while filming there that he decided to seek citizenship, an option often available to descendants of Polish Holocaust survivors. He will become a citizen this month and formally mark the occasion at the Polish embassy in Washington, D.C., which will also screen the film.
“I think of myself as a New Yorker through and through, because I go to Broadway shows and I was born here, but the reality of my lineage is that we were Polish for a lot longer,” Eisenberg said. “There’s something so kind of sad about the way things can end so abruptly and be forgotten so abruptly, because to remember was so painful, because of the war and because so many people were killed. And so the way I think about it is I’m trying to reconnect.”
Filming in Poland, Eisenberg said, allowed him to experience the generosity of the people living there who worked to tell his family’s story and preserve the memory of the Holocaust, defying his expectations of contemporary Polish cultural attitudes toward the Holocaust.
In 2018, the Polish government, led by the right-wing nationalist Law and Justice Party, passed a law criminalizing speech blaming Poland for crimes committed by the Nazis, part of a broad effort to demand pride in Polish history. (The party was ousted from power last year.) The law created a chilling effect for some stewards of Holocaust history, curbing a public reckoning about the degree to which Poles collaborated with the Nazis.
The crackdown on “unpatriotic” accounts of Polish history also caused a shakeup at the Polin Museum, Poland’s national Jewish museum, where “A Real Pain” had its international premiere in May. A museum leader was pushed out when he sought to stage an exhibit about a wave of antisemitic persecution in 1968. When the museum recently marked its first decade, Eisenberg spoke virtually at the gala. Eisenberg said the political tensions over
Holocaust memory did not encroach on him as he filmed on location, including at the interior of the Majdanek concentration camp, which remains remarkably preserved.
“I’m aware of it in a kind of intellectual way, but my experience there was just the exact opposite,” he said. “I was working with a crew of 150 people who were all eager and working their asses off to try to make my personal family story come to life.”
In gaining permission to film at Majdanek, Eisenberg said he benefited from telling a story that is rooted firmly in the present, even though the camp uniquely lends itself to filmmaking set in the past because it remains in roughly the same condition as it was in when the Nazis operated it.
“A few things were in our favor: Most movies want to shoot in Majdanek, and they want to turn it into 1942 Auschwitz, and they want to have 100 extras in Nazi uniforms running around with guns. We were trying to do the opposite,” Eisenberg said. “What we were trying to do was depict Majdanek as it is now as a tourist site, in an attempt to do the exact thing Majdanek is trying to do itself, which is to try to bring awareness to this, to the horrors that occurred on these grounds.”
He said he had ended up becoming close with a number of young scholars on the staff at the camp memorial. “Our relationship started off with suspicion,” Eisenberg recalled, “and wound up as a beautiful meeting of the minds.”
Eisenberg said he believed that collaborating with others around his age — removed by generations from direct connection with the Holocaust — enabled “A Real Pain” to channel a fresh approach to grappling with the past.
“I’m in a younger generation,” he said. “I have enough distance to go to Poland … and not feel the kind of visceral memories of pain, but going there with an open heart and mind and meeting people who I love and who are contemporaries and friends and who are working to make the world a better place.” PJC
— FILM—
p Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) are seen at far right in a scene from “A Real Pain,” directed and written by Eisenberg.
Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Celebrations
B’nai Mitzvah
Ezra Adelman will be called to the Torah as a b’mitzvah at Rodef Shalom Congregation on Nov. 16, 2024. Ezra, the child of Amy Sturtz and Joshua Adelman, is an eighth grader at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy. They are the older sibling of Cora Adelman, and the grandchild of Carol Adelman and the late Alan Adelman of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Roger Sturtz and Judy Zolensky of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and the late Linda Krouse of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Ezra has a passion for all things science, Minecraft, and is an active member of BSA Troop 109. They love spending time with their friends and their cats, Moth and Möbius.
Addison Morgan Pope, daughter of Leslie and Ryan Pope, will become a bat mitzvah at Beth El Congregation on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. Addy is the sister of Kenzie and Brooklyn, and the granddaughter of Wendy and Steve Denenberg, and Kimberly and William Pope. Addy is an eighth grader at Fort Couch Middle School, where she is a cheerleader and a player on the lacrosse team. She also enjoys playing for Steel City Lacrosse Club. For her bat mitzvah project, she is volunteering with the Miracle League of the South Hills.
Brooklyn Reese Pope, daughter of Leslie and Ryan Pope, will become a bat mitzvah at Beth El Congregation on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. Brooklyn is the sister of Kenzie and Addy, and the granddaughter of Wendy and Steve Denenberg, and Kimberly and William Pope. Brooklyn is a seventh grader at Fort Couch Middle School. Brooklyn enjoys being a cheerleader. For her bat mitzvah project, she is volunteering with the Miracle League of the South Hills.
Torah
How do we know?
ERabbi Doris J. Dyen
Parshat VaYera
Genesis : 18:1 - 22:24
very year Jews read the same parshiot in the same order. Yet every year, each parashah is a new experience. Why? Because our circumstances have changed and we ourselves have changed, and are still changing, in ways we may not be aware of.
This fourth parashah begins with a straightforward statement that raises many questions: “YHVH appeared (va-yera) to him by the trees of Mamre…” (v.1). From the preceding narrative, we understand that “him” is Abraham. But how did YHVH appear? There is no thunder or earthquake. Instead, when Abraham “looked up” (va-yar), what he saw was three strange men approaching him (v.2). What does Abraham think at that moment? Unexpectedly his world has just changed. He’s uncertain: What do I do now? Who are these strangers? How should I act toward them? Should I be afraid of them? Should I trust that they mean well?
Abraham chooses to act from trust, and his trust is rewarded. He welcomes the three strangers into his home and treats them hospitably. They in turn give Abraham and his wife Sarah very good news: Sarah will be able to birth a child.
Max and Rachel Eichner of New York, New York, joyfully announce the birth of their daughter, Miller Sophia Eichner, on Oct. 19, 2024. Proud grandparents are Elyse and Marty Eichner of Squirrel Hill, and Barbara Fix of Scarsdale, New York (formerly of Johannesburg, South Africa). Miller is named in loving memory of Rachel’s late father, Milton Selwyn Fix, and Max’s late maternal grandfather Sanford Berman, paternal grandmother Sally Eichner and paternal grandfather Sidney Eichner. Miller is also the great-granddaughter of Claryne (Sanford) Berman of Pittsburgh (formerly of Steubenville, Ohio), the late Berjulie and Hubert Press of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the late Filly and Harry Fix of Bloemfontein, South Africa. PJC
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In the next part of the narrative, the mood darkens. As the three visitors prepare to travel on to Sodom, YHVH reveals a plan to completely destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah “because their sin is so grave.” (vss. 17-21) Does Abraham overhear YHVH’s soliloquy? Do his three visitors hear it as well? Are those men the ones voicing it to Abraham? Unclear. But somehow they all know what’s going to happen.
After the men have left for Sodom, Abraham “remains standing before YHVH.” He is afraid that the punishment for Sodom and Gomorrah will be too harsh, and argues with YHVH: If there are even a few good people there, shouldn’t they be saved? He’s successful: YHVH agrees to modify the plan. Was YHVH secretly uncertain as well? Unclear. In the ensuing disaster, Abraham’s nephew Lot and part of Lot’s family, who lived in Sodom, are among the few who escape safely — aided by two “divine messengers.” Were these two of the three men who had visited Abraham?
We next meet Abraham as he travels with his family. Their path leads through the kingdom of Gerar. It is a fraught moment: Abraham doesn’t know these people; he fears for his safety and that of his family. What should he do? How should he act? Abraham decides to tell the inhabitants that Sarah is his sister — not his wife. King Abimelech is attracted to Sarah, assumes she’s available, and has her “brought to him.” But YHVH intervenes and, in a dream, accuses Abimelech of sin regarding Sarah “because she is a married woman.” Abimelech counters that he is blameless, because Abraham had not spoken truthfully. YHVH agrees that Abimelech “did this with a blameless heart.” Abimelech then confronts Abraham: Why did you lie about Sarah’s status? Abraham admits that he lied
due to fear. Because of his dream, Abimelech realizes that Abraham is a prophet of YHVH and suggests reconciliation. The two make a pact to trust each other and swear an oath of peace at Beer-Sheva; Abraham settles his family there. In this encounter between Abraham and King Abimelech we see again the emotional tug-of-war between fearing strangers and trusting them, heightened during times of uncertainty.
The story that follows is set in Beer-Sheva and focuses on Sarah’s relationship with Hagar, Abraham’s other wife, both of whom now have a child. Sarah was promised that her son, Isaac, will be the favored one. But she fears that Hagar’s son, Ishmael, who is older than Isaac, will take Isaac’s inheritance. She demands that Abraham banish Hagar and her son from their home. We read: “This matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his.” Once more, an uncertain moment: What should Abraham do? Follow his own heart’s wish? Accede to Sarah’s demand? Abraham does send Hagar and Ishmael away. As they wander in the wilderness, Hagar’s tearful anxiety increases: She fears Ishmael will die. But YHVH asks her to trust that YHVH will “make a great nation of him.” Enabled to “open her eyes,” Hagar sees a nearby well with water, saving both mother and son.
The parashah’s dramatic final story of the binding of Isaac also involves the interplay of fear and trust in moments of uncertainty. YHVH tells Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac up to a hill and sacrifice him as a “burnt offering.” Abraham obeys the instructions, but doesn’t tell Isaac that he’s part of the plan. Isaac grows fearful: “Where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” Abraham does not assuage Isaac’s fear: He only says “YHVH will provide” the offering. Tension builds as Abraham ties Isaac to the altar. Just as Abraham raises his knife over Isaac, a divine messenger stops him from carrying out the sacrifice. Abraham’s trust in YHVH is rewarded: A ram becomes the burnt offering instead.
But what about Isaac? Was he ever able to regain trust that his father wouldn’t try to hurt him again? The text relates that “Abraham returned to his servants,” but says nothing further about Isaac’s whereabouts or emotional state.
Uncertainty — that slippery, disorienting feeling — is a clear theme throughout this parashah. And this year, it permeates our modern lives as well. We’re all asking: What do we do now? How do we know? These Torah stories teach that in times of uncertainty, acting out of fear can push us into untenable situations; the decisions we make may endanger those we love and hurt us as well. We learn that trust between individuals, between communities, or between whole societies, isn’t automatic; it must be earned. These stories show how important honesty, kindly intentions and fairness are in navigating the complexities and uncertainties of life — as true now as in ancient times. PJC
Rabbi Doris J. Dyen is the spiritual leader for the independent Makom HaLev community. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.
Obituaries
BERMAN: Helen May Lebowitz Berman passed away peacefully, at home, on Nov. 6, 2024. She was born on Sept. 4, 1925, in McKeesport Hospital, and is the daughter of the late Rose and Benjamin Lebowitz. Upon graduation from Glassport High School in 1943, she received a Senatorial scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Commercial Education, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. Her academic excellence was rewarded by her acceptance into the honor sorority of Commercial Education. During her freshman year at Pitt, she and some of her classmates joined a Jewish youth group where she met her future husband, Don Berman. They were married for 75 years. Helen soon determined that teaching was not her first choice as a career, so she obtained a job as a secretary in the human resources department at Spears, a Pittsburgh department store. After spending a year in that position, she was urged by friends to apply for a job in the research department of the United Steelworkers of America, which made her life’s career. In her retirement years, Helen took a job at Travelwares in Sewickley, where she built many friendships and memories. She supported artistic and civic organizations, with frequent trips to City Theatre, Public Theater, Pittsburgh Symphony and Opera, and several lecture series. She was a member of the Sewickley Music Club, Edgeworth Garden Club and worked with Don every year at the Pittsburgh Aids Task Force in conjunction with the Sewickley Garden Tour. Helen was a wonderful cook and baker. She loved to entertain. Playing tennis and traveling were also some of her favorite activities. Her list of friends is endless, as she loved getting to know people and fostering relationships. Helen is survived by her two children, Beth and Paul (Jane); four grandchildren, Patrick (Marie), Andy (Ashley), Seth (Theresa) and Molly (Harris); nine great-grandchildren, Faith, Aiden, Cameron, Axel, Ainsley, Liam, Bennett, Alanna, Raffi and one on the way. She was preceded in death by her husband, Don. Our sincere thanks to At Home Senior Services for the wonderful care/caregivers they provided for Helen and Don, and to Gallagher Hospice for their services during such a difficult time. A private service will be held in the coming days. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the John Syka Funeral Home in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Helen’s name to: Gallagher Hospice, 1370 Washington Pike, Suite 401B, Bridgeville, PA 15071, gallagherhospice.com, and to: Union Aid Society – Sewickley, 601 Thorn Street, Sewickley, PA 15143, unionaidsociety.net.
BLUESTONE: Patricia (Patsy) Unger Bluestone, age 91, passed away peacefully on Nov. 6, 2024. She is survived by son James (Maria); two grandchildren, Dr. Dane Bluestone Holland (Joe) and Elyse Bluestone; niece, Margie Reiff; and nephew, Alfred Lewy. She is preceded in death by husband, Dr. Charles Bluestone, MD; son, Mark; and parents, Marian (Barnett) and Ben Unger. Patsy was born in Pittsburgh in 1933. She married the love of her life, Charles Bluestone, in 1954 in Pittsburgh. They would have been married for 70 years in August 2024, but for Charley’s death in June 2024. Patsy attended Penn State University, then graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in education. She taught for three years to support Charley while he attended the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. In 1959, they moved to Chicago for his otolaryngology residence at the University of Illinois. In 1969, she enrolled at Pitt’s School of Social Work and graduated from Boston College (1972) with a Master of Social Work (MSW). Patsy was a former director of the Pace School, a well-known local school that provides individualized instruction. She was also a volunteer for many years with Family House. The family would like to thank Carol and her excellent team of caregivers, who have cared for her and for Charley for the past several years. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
RECK: Carolyn Reck, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Beloved wife for 60 years of Wayne Reck. Loving mother of Joel and Howard Reck. Devoted Bubbie of Alexis, Austin, Taylor, Piper, Riley and Demi Reck. Services and interment were private. Contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, PO Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com.
Please see Obituaries, page 20
Mary Gertrude Haughey a/k/a Molly Haughey a/k/a Mary G. Haughey, Deceased August 13, 2024, of North Versailles, Pennsylvania No. 02-24-06079
Patrick Haughey, Executor; 100 Silver Pines Dr., Gibsonia, PA 15044 or to Bruce S. Gelman, Esquire, Gelman & Reisman, P.C., Law & Finance
Bldg., 429 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1701, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information. THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —
Sunday November 17: Freda S Barbrow, Sadie Brand, Philip L Escott, Lottie Haas Fried, Esther Green, William S Lichtenstul, Mollie Malt, Addie Mayer, Ida Stein Morgan, Dr Irving Perlmutter, Louis Pollock, Rose Richmond, Anna Snyder, Dorothy J Spolan, Max Stein, Selma Zober
Monday November 18: Irving Clovsky, Bessie Cohen, Samuel E Jacobson, Sarah Levine, Max Lipkind, Doris Lipner, Joseph Mandel, Herbert B Marks, Grace Miller, Aron Reznick, Lena Schuster, Myra Fern Seder
Tuesday November 19: Dorothy Bender, Joyce Fienberg, Harold I Freed, Richard Gottfried, Elizabeth D Gusky, David Lederman, David Jacob Lerner, Grace Levenson, Anna Roth Levitan, Rose Mallinger, Eugene Marchbein, Benjamin Miller, Freda (Fritzi) Paul, Michael Pirchesky, Esther Portnoy, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Rose Schultz Saltsburg, Isaac Serrins, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Harry Tepper, Melvin Wax, Jessie S Yorkin, Irving Younger
Wednesday November 20: Herzl L Amdur, Louis J Azen, Wilma Rosenberg Blau, Dorothy Brand, Sally Brenner, Nat M Cherkosly, Morris Cohen, Pauline Daniels, Gertrude Dektor, Gertrude Frank, Bella Friedman, Ruth A Gold, Isaac Goldstein, Dr Robert Grauer, Morris O Guttman, Anna Lewinter Hirsh, Rose Hoffman, Sylvia Israel, Israel Leff, James Samuel Levine, Albert Love, Benjamin R Protas, Elizabeth Rome, Samuel Rudick, Ruth Witt Simon, Sidney Wein
Thursday November 21: Estherita Cohen, Emanuel Feldman, Solis L Goldman, Helen Gottesman, Barbara Rom Krum, Abe M Miller, Geoffrey Roberts
Friday November 22: Dr Max A Antis, Frank Cohen, Rose Feigenbaum, Bernard Aaron Feldman, William L Fogel, Rose Glick, Blanche Moskowitz Gould, Saul Kopelson, Rachel Lazarus, Celia Meyers, Harold L Roth, Sarah Safier, Theodore Sokoler, David Volkin, Lena Wesoky
Saturday November 23: Robert Scott Ackerman, Emery J Feldman, Linda Goldston, Nathan Israel, Paul Kimball, Morris B Kirschenbaum, Mary Mannheimer, Saul I Perilman, Rosalyn Serrins, Mitchell Shulman, Rose Stern, Paul Emanuel Tauberg, Samuel Viess, Clara Weiner, Martha Weis, Louis Zweig
“Blessed Are You Eternal our God, master of the universe, for raising the bent.”
Obituaries
Obituaries:
Continued from page 19
RUBIN: Frank Howard Rubin: Born Oct. 3, 1927; passed away on Nov. 7, 2024. He was a beloved husband to the late Florence Rubin, devoted father to Kimball (Hannah) Rubin and Alison (Dan) Rubin, and loving grandfather to Jared (Jesika) Rubin and Fallon (Eliza Forman) Rubin. Frank was born in Pittsburgh to Fannie and Albert Rubin and continued to live his life there. Throughout his career he served in the Army during WWII stationed in Guam, he held numerous degrees, had success in multiple business endeavors and served as past president of the Tree of Life synagogue. Frank is deeply remembered by his loving family: Kimball and Hannah Rubin; Jared and Jesika Rubin; Fallon Rubin and Eliza Forman; Alison Rubin and Dan. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Inc. Funeral Home, 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside. Burial took place at Pliskover Cemetery. Donations in Frank’s memory can be made to the Pliskover Cemetery Association. May his memory be a blessing.
Lee & Lisa Oleinick
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SHUMAN: Betty (Kalb Weiner) Shuman, 19302024, passed away peacefully on Oct. 19, 2024, at the age of 94. She is survived by a loving family, including her children: Gail Korval (Arnie), Karen Weiner (Jonas Goldenberg), David Weiner (Joan McLaughlin), Linda Shuman, Eric Shuman (Whitney) and Nina Nelson (Per Folin). Betty found great joy in spending time with her grandchildren: Sarah Korval (Scott Wisnaskas), Adam Korval, Emily Boym (Jonathan), Rachel Goldenberg (Adam Silver), Trinley (Matt) Goldenberg, Kevin Weiner, Paige Weiner and Eric Weiner (Georgia Pope) — and was especially fortunate to welcome two great-grandchildren, Nate and Zach Boym, into her life. Betty also leaves behind several beloved nieces and nephews, as well as an exceptional team of caregivers who grew to be her dear friends. Born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, to George and Minnie (Bergman) Kalb, Betty’s early years were filled with cherished moments alongside her older sister Pearl and a close-knit group of cousins in Squirrel Hill. She played the violin and often spent afternoons at movie matinees, enchanted by the stories on the big screen. Betty attended Taylor Allderdice High School before enrolling at the University of Pittsburgh. During this time, she met Leroy Weiner, whom she married in 1950. Together they made their home in New Castle, Pennsylvania, where they lived happily until Leroy’s passing in 1984. Betty earned her master’s degree while raising a family. She subsequently taught freshman English at Youngstown State University, sharing her love for literature and language with countless students. Betty and her husband Leroy were deeply engaged community members — both in their local circles and far beyond. Betty was also active politically, taking part in the League of Women Voters and as a proud supporter of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, lending her time and voice to causes she believed in. Betty and Leroy’s home was always a welcoming place. They worked with the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors, which introduced them to individuals from around the world. Through an American Field Service program, they welcomed Nina Nelson, a Swedish exchange student who quickly became an integral part of the family. Betty’s passion for volunteering extended to her children — sometimes enthusiastically. When her daughter Gail signed her up to be a Girl Scout leader, Betty creatively led the troop for six years. Betty’s love for cooking was a gift she passed along to her children. She was an early adopter of healthy ingredients, though she kept one delightful indulgence on her menu: ice cream. Through friends, Betty met Ed Shuman, and they married in 1987. She moved back to Pittsburgh that year. Though Betty had spent most of her life indifferent to sports, she surprised everyone by becoming an avid Steelers fan — a late-life passion that few saw coming. Betty’s true enthusiasm, however, was always for people. She adored her children and grandchildren, cherished deep connections with friends, and found joy in learning about other cultures. Betty and Ed shared a love for travel, embarking on adventures across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Winters brought them to Longboat Key, Florida, where they eventually settled permanently in 2020. Betty and Ed enjoyed a warm and fulfilling life together until his passing in 2022. Betty was famously directionally challenged — a trait so strong it managed to pass down through the generations. But perhaps even more notable was her insatiable intellectual curiosity. A lifelong learner, she delighted in courses, lectures, books and movies. Her love for the New York Times crossword puzzle became a shared ritual with many family members. Betty’s quick wit and delightful sense of humor were cherished by all who knew her. She aged with grace, embracing each chapter of life and finding joy even amid health challenges — after all, there was always ice cream to be enjoyed. Please think of Betty with your next scoop. Donations may be made in Betty’s memory to the Leroy R. Weiner and Betty (Weiner) Shuman Scholarship Fund (greaterworcester.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/ create/fund?funit_id=1761) hosted at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, JFCS Refugee and Immigrant Services of Pittsburgh, or to a charity of your choice. PJC THE BEST OF THE h IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK.
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Congregation Beth Shalom Pittsburgh Jewish Book Festival
Special Bonus Session with Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Join Award-winning chefs and bestselling authors of the James Beard Award–winning cookbook, Zahav, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook as they discuss their newest book, Zahav Home
Since opening Zahav (the beloved, award-winning, and critically acclaimed restaurant in Philadelphia that serves a powerfully flavorful menu inspired by modern Israeli cuisine) 15 years ago, co-owners chef Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook have learned at least two things: Cooking at home isn’t anything like cooking at the restaurant, and, how to bring Zahav’s signature ideas to the home kitchen.
Michael Solomonov is the multiple James Beard Foundation Award–winning chef behind Zahav, which won the 2019 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant award and was named an “essential” restaurant by Eater.
Steven Cook is the co-author of four cookbooks: the James Beard Award–winning Zahav, Federal Donuts, Israeli Soul, and the forthcoming Zahav Home.
Cost is $20 per person. Student charge is $5 per person. (Must present valid student ID at the door.)
For entry and a Zahav Home book, the cost is $50 per person.
Registration is required to attend.
Ribbon cutting and book festival Congregation Beth Shalom welcomed guests to the Jewish Book Festival presented with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Carolyn Slayton and Seth Glick (Glick is a board member of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle). The Nov. 10 kickoff included author talks, a book signing and ribbon cutting for the Hebrew Book Lending Library.
The gift of giving Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh hosted a welcome celebration for Pomegranate Society members. The Oct. 29 event at Bitz Opera Factory featured an address by Rep. Abigail Salisbury (D-34). Women who support the Community Campaign with annual gifts
Love anyway in Pittsburgh Community members gathered at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary on Nov. 8 for an inter faith Love Anway Feast. The program provided a post-election space for people to sit and eat
Photo courtesy of Shari Woldenberg
Photo courtesy of the Rev. Liddy Barlow
Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh hosted father/son learning. The Nov. 9 event welcomed nearly
Photo courtesy of Chezky Rosenfeld
Diane Samuels, left, Rep. Abigail Salisbury and Sheryl Silverman
Chabad at Pitt welcomed state Supreme Court Justice David Wecht and Duquesne University Associate Professor of Law Rona Kaufman for a dinner and talk titled, “Is that legal?” The
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Photos courtesy of Chabad at Pitt
The University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program and the Panim Collective Present:
SERIES OF EVENTS WITH DR. SHAYNA WEISS
Poalei Tzedek 6138 Phillips Avenue Saturday, Nov 23 8:00 pm
