Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 12-2-22

60 YEARS OF GOOD NEWS

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Although our roots go back to 1895, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle! What kinds of news have we been publishing since 1962? To make a donation, please scan this QR code or use the form below.

May we live to 120!

Board chair Evan Stein

Along-held birthday tradition is to wish the one celebrating הנש

(ad me’ah ve-essrim shana): May you live until 120. According to the Torah, it wasn’t until the ripe age of 80 that HaShem gave Moses the assignment of his life — to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, a task that we know occupied the succeeding 40 years. “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, ‘yet his eyes were undimmed and his strength undiminished.’” (Deuteronomy 34:7). This year, as the Chronicle lights its 60th candle — halfway to 120 — we recognize the

ever-growing urgency for financial support from our community. For six decades, the Chronicle has connected Jewish Pittsburgh. In the last few years, we have seen some of our most significant growth and change in both print and digital formats. We connect with more of our commu nity, on a more frequent basis, than any other Jewish organization. We don’t have a building or a large staff, but we are a vital part of the infra structure of the Pittsburgh Jewish community. We help individuals enrich their Jewish lives. We help other Jewish organizations thrive by spreading the word about all the good things that they do more than they could on their own.

The life of this paper has matured over the last six decades. We’ve grown in many ways, and there’s no denying our successes. What more tangible evidence of the strength of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community is there than a weekly print

publication read by thousands of community members each week, with a digital presence reaching tens of thousands each month?

Publishing news will never go out of style, but the printed paper as we know it may well be giving way to new forms of distribution. It’s imperative that we continue to invest in our online offerings and further develop our digital distribution channels if we want to stay relevant to the next generation of Jewish Pittsburgh. We must continue to evolve our platform, or we will be rendered obsolete.

Our community needs us not just to survive, but to thrive. As technology and society continue to evolve at a rapid pace, we will continue to inno vate and develop new ways to foster dialogue and connection across our community.

In honor of the Chronicle’s 60th anniversary, I implore you to give generously — in the face of

60 years of chronicling Jewish Pittsburgh

Editor Toby Tabachnick

For 60 years, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle has shared our community’s accomplish ments and innovations, challenges and disappointments. We have been a vital resource for news from around your neighborhood and from around the world. We have been with our readers as they celebrated and as they mourned. It’s a legacy we are proud of.

We hope you are proud as well. If not for you, this newspaper could not have thrived throughout the decades, not only connecting our community in real-time, but creating a record for future generations of the stories, events and opinions that shape Jewish Pittsburgh.

Six decades of the Chronicle connects us with our Jewish past — both personal and communal — by providing a record of our life cycle events and our institutions’ events. It is a reflection of our views and preferences on everything from religion to politics to the arts. It is a chronicle of where we have been, and why, and how.

Likewise, the Chronicle is a link to our Jewish future as generations to come will be able to peruse our own stories, challenges and celebra tions online and in print archives.

Finally, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle connects us in the here and now. From calendars of programs that bring us together, to opin ions representing our diverse array of thought, to news of individuals making a difference in the Jewish world and society at large, the Chronicle serves as a vital conduit to create and maintain community.

Our small, dedicated staff works tirelessly

to keep you informed of the latest happenings. Through our weekly print edition, our expanded online coverage and our social media presence — Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — we strive to meet you where you are.

And we are always seeking new ways to keep you informed and engaged. We have increased our coverage of individuals making a difference in Jewish Pittsburgh and beyond. Our Chronicle Book Club, now in its second year, has brought together a group of dynamic community members to discuss the latest in fiction and nonfiction works with Jewish themes, and we hope to add members to our roster. Last year, we launched a new Facebook group, Chronicle Connects, as yet another way of engendering community conversation and sharing news.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is consis tently recognized regionally and nationally for the quality of our content. In 2022, we were

on you

CEO and publisher Jim Busis

Sixty years ago, the Pittsburgh Jewish community decided that it was more feasible to sustain one Jewish newspaper rather than two. The Jewish Criterion (1895) and the American Jewish Outlook (1934) effectively became The Jewish Chronicle. An incredible amount has changed in the economics and technology of news publishing since 1962, as have the customs and concerns of the Jewish community.

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the central role that a local Jewish news publication plays in the daily life of a Jewish community. Beginning in the mid-1990s with the

development of the internet, the pressure on traditional media, including local Jewish news papers, has grown relentlessly. The pandemic added a sudden body blow by creating a severe drop in advertising. And for the past year, a return of inflation to a level not seen for a gener ation has added even more financial pressure.

The Chronicle has made adjustments to respond to all these changes, including during the pandemic. We’ve seen a flowering of our digital offerings, with a new website, expanded email newsletters and an enhanced presence on social media. We’ve revamped our printed news paper and distribute it for free to more members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community than ever. And readers tell us that our editorial quality is the best it’s ever been.

However, the financial pressures on us continue tenaciously. We have cut costs to the bone, and beyond. Due to profound industry

changes, advertising will never return to levels seen in years past, but we are doing everything we can to grow our print and digital ad revenue. In particular, we began a partnership this summer with the Cleveland Jewish News to grow our ad revenue, and early results are promising. We also continue to develop our base of both large and small donors.

Looking around the country, we see that Jewish communities that support their local Jewish newspapers generously have a quality local news product, while those that don’t have either a very poor one or none at all. Going from two Pittsburgh Jewish newspapers to one in 1962 made sense. However, if we were to go from one Pittsburgh Jewish news publisher to none, our community would be immeasurably poorer and weaker.

You count on us to bring you Jewish Pittsburgh, and now, more than ever, we count

diminished advertising revenue and ever-rising costs; despite growing readership and absent subscription fees; and, not the least compelling argument, that you’re reading these words, on this page, right now. We can’t afford to continue week after week, year after year, and decade after decade without your continued support.

Although the arc of my tenure as the chairman of this worthy institution is only in its infancy, I hope that the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle will continue to garner support from our community and continue connecting Jews in Pittsburgh and beyond, that its eyes will remain undimmed, its strength will remain undiminished and that it will continue to deliver good news to our community for another 60 years!

Yom huledet sameach! PJC Evan Stein Board chair

nominated for 12 Golden Quill Awards in an annual competition sponsored by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania that honors profes sional excellence in journalism and won three. We also won two Rockower Awards from the American Jewish Press Association.

Our team is committed to serving you. We are committed to bringing you the stories you want, and need, to read. We are committed to finding new ways of keeping you informed, engaged and inspired.

Only through your generosity can we continue our mission to inform, engage, educate and connect Jewish Pittsburgh. Please consider a donation to help us chronicle our community’s legacy for generations to come, and join us in celebrating 60 years of good news. PJC

Toby Tabachnick Editor

on you — our readers, our supporters, our fellow community members — to help provide us with the resources we need to continue to serve you every day online and every week in print. Our annual campaign last year, with the memorable theme “No news is not good news,” brought an unprecedented and generous response — more than 1,000 of you donated more than $100,000.

Although some of you have generously made contributions this year, this is our first and only campaign for 2022. We ask you now to help maintain award-winning, critical news and information about and for the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the next 60 years with your generous contribution. Thank you for reading, caring and doing what you can to help. PJC

Jim Busis Publisher and CEO

Beth Shalom celebrates 100 years in Squirrel Hill and looks ahead

By Adam Reinherz

With its building marking 100 years in Squirrel Hill, Congregation Beth Shalom commemorated the milestone by gathering in celebration and planning for the future.

Past presidents, current board members, congregants and friends flocked to the building’s social hall on Nov. 20 for a centennial event. The post-Shabbat affair featured food, dancing and an evening of fun.

The event was about “having a great time” and recognizing past presidents for their decades of commitment to the congregation, Beth Shalom Executive Director Robert E. Gleiberman said.

As a symbol of appreciation, each honoree was presented with a large mounted key.

Rabbi Andy Shugerman, Beth Shalom’s development director, credited the congregation’s leadership with ensuring that Beth Shalom remains a “pillar of the Squirrel Hill community and a leading voice of inclusive Conservative Judaism in western Pennsylvania.”

The party was a great way of celebrating the structure’s longevity, said Beth Shalom President Alan Kopolow, but it’s also “time for us to start taking better care of our building.”

The first step toward that goal, Kopolow said, was revealed last month.

On Oct. 27, state Rep. Dan Frankel announced that Beth Shalom — along with five other local institutions — was eligible to receive dollar-for-dollar matching funds as part of Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

Frankel’s announcement was exciting, Kopolow said.

The congregation was awarded $1

million, which will go toward repairing water damage to the “structural envelope” of the synagogue’s building, installing new roofs and solar panels, replacing HVAC and boiler systems and installing energy-efficient LED lighting throughout the building, Shugerman said.

“Our facility is aging, and a lot of work has to be done,” Gleiberman noted.

Since laying its cornerstone a century ago, Beth Shalom has been a constant hub for the community in Squirrel Hill, Shugerman said.

In addition to housing its congregation and related activities, Beth Shalom rents space to La Escuelita Arcoiris, a Spanishimmersion preschool; the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle; and Elegant Edge, a kosher catering company. Additionally, Beth Shalom welcomed New Light Congregation following the Oct. 27, 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life building, where New Light had been located.

As Beth Shalom continues serving the community, more resources are needed to support the building, Shugerman said.

Funding that’s available through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program marks a “major state invest ment in our community and in the places we call home,” Frankel said in a statement.

Gleiberman and Shugerman credited Frankel, state Sen. Jay Costa, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Mayor Ed Gainey, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle and numerous Beth Shalom volunteers with preparing neces sary paperwork for the grant, helping to secure funding and ensuring the congre gation’s future.

“We’re very excited about this,” Kopolow said. “We have lots of work to do.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Evan H. Stein, Board Chair Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary

Evan Indianer, Immediate Past Chair Gail Childs, Dan Droz, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Seth Glick, Tammy Hepps, Cátia Kossovsky, David Rush, Charles Saul

GENERAL COUNSEL

Stuart R. Kaplan, Esq.

Jim Busis, CEO and Publisher 412-228-4690 jbusis@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

EDITORIAL

Toby Tabachnick, Editor 412-228-4577 ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Andy Gotlieb, Contributing Editor

Adam Reinherz, Staff Writer 412-687-1000 areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

David Rullo, Staff Writer 412-687-1047 drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

ADVERTISING

Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate 724-713-8874 pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

p Beth Shalom President Alan Kopolow Photo courtesy of Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman

Reform, Conservative movements concerned over proposed changes to Israel’s Law of Return

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Rabbi Rick Jacobs is concerned about what a new governing coalition in Israel might mean for the Law of Return and its grandchild clause.

Jacobs is the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, representing 1.5 million Jews and nearly 900 congregations across North America. He is unequivocal about what a change in the law would mean.

“It’s a move that would undermine the very fabric of the Zionist enterprise and would be a deliberate harming of the sense of the Jewish people all over the world who know there’s one Jewish homeland and that the Law of Return has been a sacred commitment the state of Israel has made with world Jewry,” he told the Chronicle.

If there is persecution or rising antisemitism in North America or other parts of the world, he said, Jews know that Israel is their home.

Passed in 1950, the Law of Return granted Jews the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship. In 1970, the

law was amended giving the right of entry and settlement to those with at least one Jewish grandparent and a person who is married to a Jew, regardless of whether they are considered Jewish under the Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law.

In 2021, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that people who convert to Judaism in Israel through the Reform and Conservative movements must be recognized as Jews for the Law of Return and are also entitled to Israeli citizenship.

Those reforms have become threatened since the last Israeli election, Jacobs said.

Benjamin Netanyahu has worked to piece together a governing coalition in which he would serve as prime minister. The new coalition would include several far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, including the Religious Zionist Party led by Bezalel Smotrich.

Smotrich has pushed to cancel the grandchild clause, causing consternation and concern among liberal Jews in and out of Israel.

Jacobs said the Ukraine-Russian conflict is an example of why the clause is needed.

“Let’s be clear,” he said. “There are hundreds of thousands of people from

the former Soviet Union who have made aliyah and qualify under the grandchild clause. It’s also clear that in North America, with the rise of antisemitism, the antisemites aren’t asking, ‘Excuse me, are you the child or grandchild of a Jew?’”

The contemplation of changing the Law of Return is deeply offensive and a gross affront, Jacobs said.

This isn’t the first time changes to the grandchild clause have been threatened, Jacobs noted, but in the past, the move was largely opposed, including by those in the Israeli government and around the world.

Organizations are now coordinating against this latest salvo, he said.

Jacobs said hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Jews are affected by any changes to the law and that it would weaken Jewish society.

“If somebody who has one Jewish grandparent decides to move to Israel and cast their lot with the state of Israel and contribute to the society, serve in the Israel Defense Forces and build up the Jewish state, why in the world would we not embrace that person and support and encourage them?”

Jacobs is concerned with other changes that the new coalition government may enact. He described the Religious Zionist Party as one of the most extreme parties ever included in a coalition.

Pittsburgh university groups prepare for impact of Birthright cuts

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

It just became a little harder for every Jewish college student to visit Israel.

Founded in 1999, the Birthright Israel Foundation, which funds educational trips to Israel for approximately 50,000 young Jewish adults each year, announced in late November that due to budget issues it will be forced to cut up to one-third of its participants beginning in 2023.

The news came after the Adelson Family Foundation, which is the largest supporter of Birthright, announced plans to reduce its funding.

The Adelson foundation has given between $35 million to $40 million annually to Birthright, according to Haaretz. This year’s donation will be for just half that amount, or $20 million. The foundation told Birthright to expect another 50% cut in 2023, reducing its contribution to $10 million.

Birthright announced at the beginning of the year that it was lowering the maximum age of participants to 26. For the last five years, the program was capped at the age of 32. Birthright said at the time that it was reducing the age limit because young adults were delaying trips.

While the Adelson foundation cuts have hurt, Birthright also cited inflation and rising travel expenses that have increased the per-person cost of the experience to $4,500, as drivers of its decision to cut back on the number of participants.

increase from 2022 to 2023, but that growth won’t be enough to make up for the rise in expenses and inflation.

In July, Birthright celebrated sending 800,000 young adults from 68 countries to Israel since its inception.

Both Hillel JUC of Pittsburgh and Chabad at Pitt send students twice a year to Israel through Birthright.

For Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein, the news that Chabad at Pitt won’t get its usual number of buses or seats for its trip stings.

“Registration hasn’t even opened, and we have already filled up 85% of our seats, with people still asking if they can reserve one,” he said. “We

“They’re all going to feel it,” Rothstein said. “It’s a bummer. It’s a big bummer.”

Hillel JUC Executive Director and CEO Daniel Marcus is mindful of the strain Birthright is under.

“We appreciate and understand the economic realities, and we know that Birthright is doing all they can to provide students and young adults with the opportunity to go to Israel,” he said. “However, Hillel will continue to strive in our objective of ensuring every Jewish student has the opportunity to travel to Israel.”

Marcus said that an immersive Israel experience provides a transformative opportu nity for students.

othstein agreed, saying that one way to combat the disinformation American students see in the media about Israel is to visit the country. He noted that, often, the bus drivers on the tours are Israeli Arabs living as fullledged members of Israeli society.

“When you go there, it’s not the speeches that make the difference,” Rothstein said. “It’s the one-on-ones that you get.”

irthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark acknowl edged the impact of the cuts.

We know that those who miss out on a Birthright trip are unlikely to travel to Israel at all,” he said in a prepared statement.

Mark also spoke of the effects the cuts will have on Jewish institutions.

Without a major immediate increase in fundraising, we will be hard-pressed to have the positive effect we’ve had on many individuals — and that will inevitably impact American Jewish organizations that are used to seeing enthusiastic young adults return from Israel and take major roles in the Jewish community. On average, nearly 60% of communal professionals in the U.S. are Birthright alumni.”

Both Marcus and Rothstein remain committed to finding ways to send every Jewish student who wants to go to Israel on a trip. For the moment, though, neither is sure how they will accommodate the need.

“There’s always the possibility that donors will step up and say, ‘How much do you need?’ but it’s not my money and this is business,” Rothstein said. PJC

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

p Students from University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University on a 2019 Birthright trip.

Photo courtesy of Hillel Jewish University Center

— LOCAL —

— LOCAL —

p Rabbi Rick Jacobs Photo Copyright © Union for Reform Judaism, Jill Peltzman

Rabbi and former FBI agent team up to teach cultural sensitivity to nursing students, recalling Oct. 27, 2018

Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

Shawn Brokos and Rabbi Elisar Admon told Duquesne University School of Nursing students that a series of intersecting responsibilities and decisions demonstrate the value of partnership and cultural sensitivity.

Brokos and Admon’s comments, which were shared during a discussion at Rodef Shalom Congregation on Nov. 4, helped the future health care professionals learn how seemingly disparate parties can collaborate, even in the most trying environments.

Brokos — a former federal law enforce ment agent overseeing crisis management for the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office — told the students that when the attack at the Tree of Life building occurred on Oct. 27, 2018, she traveled to the site, established a command post near the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues and worked with city police, state police and other federal authorities.

Even after the gunman was apprehended that morning, Brokos and the FBI continued partnering with the other law enforcement arms for “14 long days” while the crime scene was processed, she said.

Cooperating with other agents and officers wasn’t new to Brokos — she’d been at the FBI for more than two decades. Teaming up with an Orthodox rabbi, though, was something different.

Admon told the nursing students that hours after the shooting, he and Rabbi Daniel Wasserman, a fellow member of Pittsburgh’s Chevra Kadisha (one of two Jewish burial societies in the city), arrived at the scene, met with agents and delivered details regarding religious practices.

“According to the Jewish tradition, we have a special way we deal with death,” Admon said.

Ideally, bodies are to be buried within 24 hours; autopsies are discouraged; and, to the extent possible, all blood and other bodily material should be buried along with the deceased.

Admon and Wasserman related the religious tenets to Brokos and other members of the FBI and asked them to respectfully comply.

Brokos heeded the requests. She then allowed Admon and Wasserman to observe the site so that the rabbis could strategize next steps for the burial society. Brokos — who has served as director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh since January 2020 — told the students that despite her more than 20 years of work with the FBI, that day presented a series of firsts.

“That day was a large learning curve for us at law enforcement,” she said. “Usually, we have our rules of engagement and we’re going to do it the way we do it, and that didn’t happen here.”

The discussions held on Oct. 27, 2018, made it clear that both the rabbis and law enforcement agents had responsibilities

to fulfill, and that — despite being unable to bury the bodies within 24 hours — a partnership between the groups was achievable during this “traumatic situation,” Brokos said.

“We were very mindful of Judaism, and what the impact that had on the community,” she said. “And the leaders of the Jewish community were very mindful that we have a job to do, too.”

Admon credited Brokos and other law enforcement agents with appreciating cultural sensitivities while remaining committed to their duties. He added that one of the biggest lessons of Oct. 27 was the need to practice self-care.

“It’s essential for first responders,” Admon said.

As medical professionals, there will be plenty of demanding situations, he said, and “you have to know when it’s too much. When you have an eight-hour shift or a 12-hour shift and you’re given a break, use it. Don’t push yourself until you can’t go anymore.”

It’s “healthy” to pause, he continued. “We want you to be nurses for many, many, many more years and not to say after a few months, ‘I’m done. I can’t take it anymore.’”

Along with encouraging the students to care for themselves, Admon — who is also a chaplain for the Pittsburgh Police and Pennsylvania State Troopers, as well as the Army — informed the audience about various Jewish practices, including sabbath observance, dietary restrictions and

circumcision (Admon is also a mohel).

Ralph Klotzbaugh, an assistant professor of nursing at Duquesne, praised Brokos and Admon’s presentation, saying it conveyed the “importance of cultural understandings and cultural humility.”

Noah Amrhein, a Duquesne University nursing student, told the Chronicle how impressed he was that the FBI and Jewish community worked together so closely in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

Fellow student Emily Covlish called the presentation both “eye-opening” and productive as she begins her career: Nurses care for people of all backgrounds, she said, and it’s difficult to know every detail about someone’s culture, but being “more openminded” is important.

Mai-Ly Nguyen Steers, an assistant professor of nursing at Duquesne, said Brokos and Admon are invited several times annually to speak with nursing students, and that one of the most impactful ideas conveyed is that Jews continued to be attacked.

During her Nov. 4 talk, Brokos referenced data from the FBI and said that despite representing fewer than 2% of the U.S. popu lation, Jews are the victims of nearly 60% of religious bias crimes.

“Most students aren’t aware how attacked the Jewish community is,” Steers said. “If you’re not Jewish, it’s not necessarily on your radar.”

Mackenzie Quinn, a nursing student hailing from Maryland, said that before the

talk she didn’t know about the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Several students among the 40 who attended Brokos and Admon’s address also said that it was the first time they heard that 11 Jews were murdered at Shabbat services in Squirrel Hill four years ago.

Klotzbaugh suggested several reasons for the knowledge gap.

Either because it didn’t impact them directly at the time, or because of the “rapidity” of the news cycle and the prevalence of mass shootings, people are often unaware of so many traumatic events, he said.

By welcoming Brokos and Admon, students can not only expand their knowl edge base but move beyond stereotypes and put faces to cultures, Klotzbaugh said: “When you work with a community and you develop these types of presentations, it gives you a sense of the community.”

Quinn, who spoke with the Chronicle after touring Rodef Shalom, said she grew up in a Lutheran church and didn’t know much about Judaism, or the Oct. 27 attack, before Brokos and Admon’s talk.

Seeing a sanctuary, hearing about a community and the details of what transpired in the aftermath of Oct. 27, 2018, is helpful, Quinn said.

“It’s beneficial for nurses to understand and be open to learning people’s cultures and religions,” she said. “This is a good experience.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

— LOCAL —

p Shawn Brokos and Rabbi Elisar Admon

Photo by Adam Reinherz

An early history of Jewish Pittsburgh, and a hidden one

available sources, and sometimes less so.

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

The original Jewish Encyclopedia from 1906 contains two histories of the Jewish community of western Pennsylvania. One is what you would expect. The other is a kaleidoscopic snapshot of Jewish life across this region at the precipice of great change.

The first can found in Volume 10, on page 63, under the H-less listing “Pittsburg.” It is credited to Dr. J. Leonard Levy of Rodef Shalom Congregation and Dr. Cyrus Adler of the American Jewish Historical Society. They begin with a disheartening caveat: “There are no reliable records of the beginnings of the Jewish community.”

From that unpromising point of depar ture, the authors chart the development of the local Jewish community over its first 60 years — from the pioneers in the 1840s to the immigrants who were arriving daily from Eastern Europe as it was being written.

With the benefit of nearly 120 years of archival preservation, we can now easily factcheck their work. Some of their assertions still stand tall, while other shrivel under the unsympathetic gaze of the primary source material available to us today. But that’s the nature of history. It’s only as accurate as the

To read the essay now, its greatest deficiency rests not with its facts but with its scope. It hangs tightly to the community elites. It only details two congregations — Rodef Shalom and Tree of Life — and relegates the dozen others in the city to a sentence. It ignores the growing regional community outside the city, and it collapses the Jewish communal struc ture into a list of prominent names and their prominent projects. And it fails to under stand the tremendous changes underway in the community at that time.

The rest of the story comes at the end of the encyclopedia.

A section titled “Full List of Patrons” names everyone who contributed to the massive fundraising effort required to develop the Jewish Encyclopedia. Included on the list are more than 200 people and organizations from all across western Pennsylvania.

The list reveals a community in motion.

For example, almost 10% of the local contributors listed their home as Allegheny, Pennsylvania. There were roughly 25,000 Jews living in Pittsburgh at the turn of the 20th century. They were highly concen trated downtown, but a notable minority lived across the Allegheny River. These were largely families who had arrived from Germany over the previous 50 years. They were more established than the next generation of Jewish immigrants, and they

HOW WE

Equipped with only pencils and rubber bands, eighth graders compete to design and construct the strongest catapult. By following supply and time constraints, students embrace efficiency and creativity in the engineering process.

were overwhelmingly affiliated with Rodef Shalom Congregation.

The Jewish Encyclopedia was published between 1901 and 1906, as this group was migrating to the East End. In the contribu tors’ list, Morris Kingsbacher listed his home as Allegheny, Pennsylvania, but the 1906 city directory places him on Northumberland Street. Within a year of the completion of the Jewish Encyclopedia, Rodef Shalom had relocated to its current address on Fifth Avenue. It was following its membership.

An even more dramatic migration was also underway. The urban Jews living in the twin cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny accounted for 82% of the total Jewish population of western Pennsylvania in 1907. The other 18% were living in nearby small towns, and their numbers were growing even faster than those in the city.

Some of the towns on the list are expected: McKeesport, Altoona, Braddock. But the largest showing by far came from Bradford, Pennsylvania, up near the New York state line. Bradford in the early 20th century was one of the older and larger Jewish communities in western Pennsylvania, propelled by the local oil economy. It even had a Jewish mayor, Joseph C. Greenwald. He’s on the contribu tor’s list. Another contributor was “A. Simon,” likely Abraham Hirsch Simon. His daughter Janet Simon Harris was a rising star in the National Council of Jewish Women. She

would become its national president from 1913 to 1920 and later chaired its Foreign Relations Committee.

ENGINEER

How will you give your child the tools to engineer success?

p An advertisement for the Jewish Encyclopedia, published in the local Jewish Criterion in January 1906. Dr. J. Leonard Levy of Rodef Shalom Congregation was an important supporter of both publications.

Image via Jewish Criterion, Pittsburgh

Jewish Newspaper Project

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.

q SATURDAY, DEC. 3

Calling musical kids of all levels. Temple Sinai is hosting a special workshop for fifth- through 12th-graders interested in singing and/or playing instruments with singer/songwriter Alan Goodis. After the workshop, the teens will be featured in Goodis’ concert at Temple Sinai that evening. Free and open to the public. Dinner included. 4:30 p.m. Contact Drew Barkley with questions or to register at Drew@TempleSinaiPGH.org or 412-421-9715, ext. 111.

Join Temple Sinai for a special evening of music with guest performer Alan Goodis Goodis is a touring Jewish musician playing over 150 events a year. Free and open to the public. 7:30 p.m. Register at templesinaipgh.org.

q SUNDAYS, DEC. 4 – JAN. 15

Join a lay-led online Parashah study group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q MONDAY, DEC. 5

Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for First Mondays with Rabbi Alex. Abby

Chai

Mendelson presents “I Never Kill on Shabbos: The Rise and Fall of Jewish Gangsters in America.” RSVP by Nov. 25. 11:30 a.m. $7 per person. bethelcong.org

q MONDAYS, DEC. 5 – JAN. 16

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

q MONDAYS, DEC. 5 – MAY 15

Understanding the Torah and what it asks of us is one of the most important things a Jew can learn. But most Torah classes begin in Genesis and never finish the first book. If you want a comprehensive overview of the whole Torah, Torah 1 is the course for you. In the first year of this two-year Zoom course, Rabbi Danny Schiff will teach Genesis, Exodus and the first half of Leviticus. In the second year, he will complete Leviticus and cover Numbers and Deuteronomy. $225. 9:30 a.m. foundation. jewishpgh.org/torah-1.

q WEDNESDAYS, DEC. 7 – MAY 24

Registration is now open for “Melton Core 1: Rhythms and Purposes of Jewish Living.” This 25-lesson course will take you through the year’s cycle — the life cycle traditions and practices that bind us together. Explore not just the what is and how is of Jewish living, but the why is that go with them. 7 p.m. $300 per person, per year (25 sessions), includes all books and materials. Virtual. foundation.jewishpgh.org/ melton-core-1.

News for people who know we don’t mean spiced tea.

Every Friday in the and all the time online @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

For home delivery, call 410.902.2300, ext. 1.

q THURSDAY, DEC. 8

Join Classrooms Without Borders for a post-film discussion of “The Partisan with the Leica Camera” with Yael Perlov and Simon Lavee and moderated by Avi Ben Hur. 3 p.m. cwbpgh.org/event/post-filmdiscussion-the-partisan-with-the-leica-camera-withyael-perlov-simon-lavee-moderated-by-avi-ben-hur.

q SUNDAY, DEC. 11

Join the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh for Hungarian Jewish Family Research with Vivian Kahn. Kahn will reference records from the vast area that was formerly part of Hungary, which includes present-day Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, northern Serbia, northwestern Romania and Sub-Carpathian Ukraine. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to hear from someone who has been instrumental in obtaining many of these records. 1 p.m. Free for JGS-Pittsburgh members; $5 for the general public. heinzhistorycenter. org/event/hungarian-jewish-family-research.

Classrooms Without Borders and the Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to The Oneg Shabbat Archives and Beyond: Documenting and Preserving the History of European Jewry at the Jewish Historical Institute. 2 p.m. cwbpgh.org/event/beyond-oneg-shabbatgroundbreaking-research-and-findings-in-the-jhi.

q SUNDAY, DEC. 18

Join Classrooms Without Borders and Rabbi Jonty Blackman as they light the lights of our menorah and celebrate the miracle of Chanukah. Of Maccabees and Miracles will explore some of the lesser-known stories behind the Chanukah traditions. 4 p.m. cwbpgh. org/event/of-maccabees-and-miracles-with-rabbijonty-blackman.

Join the Joint Jewish Education Program for its annual Chanukah celebration, Latkepalooza Enjoy games, crafts, prizes, donuts and latkes. $5 per person or $15 per family. 10 a.m. Beth Shalom Congregation. jjep.org

q MONDAY, DEC. 19

Join Chabad of the South Hills for South Hills Lights, a glow-in-the dark communitywide Chanukah event. Enjoy menorah lighting, lively music, face painting, glow-in-the-dark tent, donuts and gelt drop. Free family fun. Enter the Grand Chanukah Raffle for $18. Registration online is strongly encouraged. Free. 5 p.m. Dormont Pool parking lot. chabadsh.com

q WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21

Join the Squirrel Hill AARP for a holiday party including bingo with prizes and refreshments, to celebrate all the upcoming holidays. Come see old friends and makes some new friends. 1 p.m. Falk Library, Rodef Shalom Congregation. For more information, contact Marcia Kramer at 412-656-5803.

q MONDAY, DEC. 26

Join the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh for a Mini-Mitzvah Day Blood Drive

Schedule your lifesaving appointment at either the South Hills or Squirrel Hill location. For the South Hills location, register at jewishpgh.org/event/mini-mitzvahday-blood-drive-south-hills-jcc and use code C438.

For the Squirrel Hill location, register at jewishpgh.org/ event/mini-mitzvah-day-blood-drive-squirrel-hill-jcc and use code C189. 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. PJC

Join the Chronicle Book Club!

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Jan. 8 discus sion of “The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World,” by Jonathan Freedland. From Barnesandnoble.com: “Award-winning journalist and bestselling novelist Jonathan Freedland tells the incredible story of Rudolf Vrba — the first Jew to break out of Auschwitz, a man determined to warn the world and pass on a truth too few were willing to hear — elevating him to his rightful place in the annals of World War II alongside Anne Frank, Primo Levi, and Oskar Schindler and casting a new light on the Holocaust and its aftermath.”

Your Hosts:

• Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle

• David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer

How and When: We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Jan. 8, at noon.

What To Do:

Buy: “The Escape Artist.” It is available at area Barnes & Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle

Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting.

We hope you enjoy the book. PJC

Toby Tabachnick

12 Pittsburgh moms find inspiration on a ‘real bonding trip’ to Israel

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

Jackie Braslawsce had traveled before to Israel — but never on a personal retreat. Certain moments from the November trip, even after she returned to her Squirrel Hill home, seemed beyond magical.

“The craziest, most fun thing ever was going to the [Western] Wall in the middle of the night during Shabbat,” Braslawsce said. “It was so surreal and so much fun. It was so special. It was so awesome.

“To me, that was what I really needed.”

Braslawsce was among 12 Pittsburgh mothers to take part in Momentum, a kind of Birthright for moms, and travel to the Jewish state from Nov. 1 to 8. It was the fourth group to travel from Pittsburgh as part of the yearlong program, and the first to go since the onset of the pandemic.

Joining the trip was another group of 12 women — all mothers, like Braslawsce — from Momentum partner city Warsaw, Poland.

Pittsburgh’s Momentum program is spon sored and subsidized by the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Classrooms Without Borders.

Adam Hertzman, director of marketing for Pittsburgh’s Federation, said Momentum “is a real bonding trip.”

“The whole point is to make a cohort of this group so they have a personal connection to Jewish life,” he said.

It worked wonders for Braslawsce. Since returning to Pittsburgh, she has faithfully lit Shabbat candles alongside a shinshin — a teenage Israeli emissary — who lives with her this year.

“I really needed to reignite my spark and my spiritual self,” she said.

A big part of the inspiration stemmed from daily lectures and themes that tied the group to places like the Dead Sea and Masada, as well as day trips to Sfat, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Karmiel and Misgav, said Kim Salzman, Israel and overseas director at Pittsburgh’s Federation, who lives with her family in Misgav.

“We had inspiring lectures every morning,” Salzman said. “They dealt with Jewish values,

values as a mother, as a Jewish mother. These lectures, the women are expected to take back to their homes with them.”

Braslawsce, who has worked exten sively for Jewish organizations, had traveled before to Israel.

This time, though, was different — she was the layperson taking it all in.

“It was a completely different experience,” she told the Chronicle. “It is really nice when you can sit back and soak in the surroundings. And it was really special. When people ask, ‘How was Israel?’ [I say] ‘It was magical.’ It was really a great experience.”

Braslawsce attributes the success of the trip largely to the organization skills of Chani Altein, co-director of Chabad of Squirrel Hill, who helped guide the Momentum experience. She also managed to have a bunch of “It’s a small

world” interactions with people she knew in her 20s, 30s and beyond.

“It was such a beautiful experience,” she said. “Just walking on the land — it felt so safe and it felt so free. It felt so good just to be in Israel. It felt like home.”

Braslawsce also had a great time in Karmiel and Misgav, Israel’s Pittsburgh’s sister city and sister region, where Momentum participants were hosted by local families. Braslawsce even got to meet the Karmiel family of the Israeli girl who’s been living with the Braslawsces in Pittsburgh.

Braslawsce’s final take?

“I recommend everyone doing this trip — it was amazing!” PJC

Stage and screen veteran Sheldon Epps’ new book recounts connections to Pittsburgh and the Jewish community

Epps’ time in Teaneck was happy, he told the Chronicle. In fact, he was caught off guard when, later in life, he experienced racism.

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Sheldon Epps learned early on how to bridge different worlds.

Actor, director of both adult and chil dren’s productions on stage and screen, artistic director — there isn’t much he hasn’t done in the performing arts world.

Epps realized the importance of being wellrounded and the value of diversity at a young age. Born on the West Coast in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, he moved to Teaneck, New Jersey, when his father was relo cated for work.

“I was frequently the only person of color in my classes,” Epps recalled. “It was a pretty big culture shock.”

Being Black in a white community wasn’t the only big adjustment for Epps, though: Teaneck is a predominately Jewish neighborhood.

“You’re hearing new words and a different language, being introduced to new foods and new holidays and customs,” he said of his expe riences living among Jews for the first time. “It’s not that anybody was unwelcoming — in fact, they were quite welcoming.”

Epps, a Carnegie Mellon alum, was in Pittsburgh last month promoting his new book, “My Own Directions: A Black Man’s Journey in the American Theater,” in which he discusses growing up in a Jewish neighborhood and its impact on his life and career.

“Because I became comfortable as a Black man in a largely white society, when I faced racial prejudice and racial challenge, I was taken by surprise,” he said.

Teaneck did more though than provide a secure neighborhood for a Black transplant; it was where Epps discovered the theater as he began performing in high school productions.

When the future director decided to turn his high school extracurricular activity into a voca tion, his life’s path took him to Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor’s degree from CMU in 1973.

It was while attending college at the Oakland university that Epps reached a milestone in the life of an actor, earning his Equity card while working at the Civic Light Opera between his junior and senior year, and right after he graduated.

Epps worked as an actor for several years before co-founding The Production Company in New York City. He made his directorial debut with the Tony-nominated “Blues In the Night,” and went on to direct numerous plays and musicals.

Beginning in 1994, Epps started directing tele vision shows including “Evening Shade,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “Everyone Loves Raymond,” “Sister, Sister” and “Hannah Montana,” among others.

He became the artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse in 1997, where he experienced both the highs and lows of his career, he said.

“The high was 20 years at the Pasadena Playhouse and building that theater,” he said.

“At the time I started, the theater’s artistic repu tation was not so great and wasn’t enjoying a lot of respect. It’s for others to decide if it’s a great theater, but I know that it had moments of greatness.”

The lows, Epps said, were the theater’s finan cial difficulties. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010 but reopened less than four months later after receiving a multimillion-dollar anonymous gift.

“Those days when I sat in a dark theater, all by myself, with the building locked up, those were the lows, which, fortunately, did not last,” he said.

Epps is a member of the executive board of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and a two-time recipient of the Theater Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artists Residency Grant, which supported his four-year tenure as asso ciate artistic director at The Old Globe. He is the senior artistic adviser at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

Epps recounts tales of his private and profes sional life in his new book, which he decided to write because of the Black Lives Matter move ment, he said. Before 2020, he explained, the American theater was self-congratulatory in what it saw as its lack of racism.

“I wanted the book to make it clear,” he said, “that [racism has] been around for all the decades before when I was directing, and before that. So, it’s been a long-standing challenge in the American theater — one that we are beginning to meet, but that we still have work to do. I thought telling my story would be an encouragement to do that work.”

Epps said he found much inspiration for his book from his time in Pittsburgh and from its most famous playwright, August Wilson. Wilson, he said, is quoted as saying he never wrote anything, he simply allowed the work to come through him.

“I feel the same way,” Epps said. PJC

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

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

p Chani Altein and Jackie Braslawsce in the northern region of Israel Photo courtesy of Jackie Braslawsce

p Pittsburgh Momentum participants at the Western Wall Photo courtesy of Chani Altein

p Momentum participants show their Pittsburgh pride in Israel. Photo courtesy of Chani Altein

p Sheldon Epps

Photo by Jonathan White Public Relations

Trump’s dinner with a Holocaust denier draws rare criticism from some of his Jewish allies

detractors but from some of his biggest fans.

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

Two weeks after feting Donald Trump as America’s most pro-Israel presi dent ever, the Zionist Organization of America had harsh words for the man who aspires to return to the White House.

“ZOA deplores the fact that President Trump had a friendly dinner with such vile antisemites,” ZOA said Sunday in a news release. “His dining with Jew-haters helps legitimize and mainstream antisemitism and must be condemned by everyone.”

The group was referring to Trump’s dinner last week with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who came out as an antisemite in recent weeks, and Nick Fuentes, the right-wing provoca teur and Holocaust denier. Trump hosted the pair at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, on Tuesday.

Reaction to the dinner was initially muted in the days before Thanksgiving, but over the long weekend, a host of figures denounced Trump for meeting with the two men, though some did so more strongly or explic itly than others. Among Jews, the criticism has come not only from Trump’s longtime

“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this,” David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, said Friday on Twitter. “Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable.”

Friedman is rarely anything but effusive in praising Trump, whom he once said would join the “small cadre of Israeli heroes” for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights and exiting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures. But on Friday, his tone was more pleading as he tweeted to Trump: “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”

Trump for his part said in statements on his Truth Social social media site that he hoped to assist Ye, whom he described as “troubled,” and that he did not know who Fuentes was. (Ye said he had come to Mar-aLago to ask Trump to be his running mate in his own nascent campaign.)

“We got along great, he expressed no antisemitism and I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson,’” Trump said of Ye, referring to a Fox News opinion show hosted by Carlson, whose embrace of the Great

Replacement conspiracy theory has led the Anti-Defamation League to call for his removal. “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

The response was reminiscent of Trump’s swatting-away of criticism after he told the Proud Boys, a far-right group, to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate in 2020, in response to being asked to condemn white supremacists from the debate stage. He subsequently said he did not know who the Proud Boys were. (The group later rebranded as explicitly antisemitic.)

Jewish Pittsburgh of connecting 60 years

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We invite you to help the Chronicle commemorate its first 60 years in a special feature section to be published Dec. 30 The section will take a look back at the last six decades through the photos, stories and advertisements that helped define our community and will set the stage for our next 60 years.

From local events to world affairs, from births to deaths and everything in between, the Chronicle has been the eyes and ears of Jewish Pittsburgh since 1962. We remain dedicated to serving you, our readers, and continuing to provide the news you need and the stories you want to read.

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Trump’s contention that he did not know Fuentes raised eyebrows for some. Like the Proud Boys, Fuentes is part of the extremist fringe of the Republican Party that has made up part of Trump’s base. The founder of a white nationalist group called America First, he was a leading organizer of the “Stop the Steal” rallies organized by Trump supporters to try to overturn the election results showing that he lost in 2020; he was also present at the rally that Trump addressed preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that aimed to derail the transition of power.

Fuentes, who routinely rails against Jews on his livestream, also attended the 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and more recently has grown close to far-right lawmakers in Trump’s party, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia and Rep. Paul Gosar in Arizona.

But even those who took Trump at his word that he did not previously know Fuentes said that was little excuse for dining with him.

“A good way not to accidentally dine with a vile racist and anti-Semite you don’t know is not to dine with a vile racist and anti-Semite you do know,” the Jewish rightwing pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted on Sunday. (Shapiro’s tweet kicked off a heated exchange with Ye, who recently returned to Twitter as the social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, restores many accounts that were suspended for violating the site’s old rules, including Trump’s.)

Reaction to the dinner kept Trump in

the spotlight over the course of a holiday weekend, a double-edged sword for the first Republican to declare a 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s rise was fueled by nonstop media coverage, including of seeming misdeeds that did not doom him with his supporters. Still, one Trump advisor told NBC News that the event was a “f—ing nightmare” for the campaign, which has gotten off to a rocky start.

Also condemning the meeting were Jewish organizations that have not hesitated to criticize Trump’s flirtation with extremists in the past, including the American Jewish Committee, the Reform movement of Judaism and the Anti-Defamation League.

The Biden White House also condemned the incident. “Bigotry, hate, and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in America, including at Mar-a-Lago,” its state ment said. ”Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.” (Asked to comment on Trump saying he didn’t know Fuentes, Biden himself told a reporter, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”)

The White House’s statement did not name Trump, nor did statements from many Republicans, including the Republican Jewish Coalition, at whose annual confer ence Trump spoke last week. The group did not initiate a statement, but, in response to reporters’ queries, released one.

“We strongly condemn the virulent antisemitism of Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and call on all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with them,” said the statement, first solicited by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. The RJC and its CEO, Matt Brooks, retweeted Haberman.

Why the RJC would not name Trump drew follow-up questions from reporters, including Haberman, as well as a barrage of criticism on social media.

Brooks, evidently stung, called such queries “dumb and short-sighted” on Sunday

p President Donald Trump and rapper Kanye West embrace in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 11, 2018. Photo by Calla Kessler/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Hispanic MLB players visit Israel to promote ChristianJewish relations

Three Hispanic Major League Baseball players were recently brought to Israel for a week by the Philos Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that promotes Christian relations with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, JTA.org reported.

The athletes — Nelson Cruz, former Phillies second basemen Cesar Hernandez and Jeimer Candelario, all Major League Baseball players in the United States — were surprised by what they learned at lunch, too. For instance, they had not known of the existence of Black Jews, including the thousands of Ethiopians living in Israel.

The players and their significant others toured Christian sites in Jerusalem and the Galilee and ran a baseball clinic for Jewish and non-Jewish youth in Raanana.

The visit also aimed to “proactively” combat antisemitism, Philos Project Director of Hispanic Affair Jesse Rojo said, “to show our baseball players that they can make a differ ence, not wait for someone to come out with an antisemitic tweet to do something.”

Israelis are gaining weight and smoking more, new report finds

Israel is in the midst of a national obesity epidemic, Israeli health care workers are warning, JNS.org reported.

“We’re in the midst of a global epidemic that has reached Israel — the obesity epidemic,” said Dr. Dan Oyero, a specialist in family medicine and an obesity doctor at Maccabi Health Services, according to Ynet.

“Obesity is a chronic, multi-systemic disease that must be treated professionally since it leads to many illnesses, such as cardio vascular disease and mental and emotional problems,” he said.

According to a National Program for Quality Indicators report released on Nov. 22, both obesity and smoking are rising in Israel.

“The data shows that the epidemic is weak ening among the overall population, but we k now that those in a low socio-economic group are more exposed to it,” Oyero said.

The data regarding Israelis’ ciga rette consumption also is concerning. Approximately 20.1% of Israelis aged 16 to 74 smoke, up from 19.6% in 2019.

“In recent years, we’re seeing an increase in smokers in the overall population and also among teenagers,” said Professor Yossi Azouri, an expert in family medicine at Maccabi Health Services, according to the report.

Israel, Japan take first steps toward free trade agreement

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid agreed on Nov. 22 to move toward signing a free trade agreement with Japan, JNS.org reported.

An FTA between the two countries will mean “discounts for products and goods from Japan for the benefit of the Israeli market and

increasing Israeli exports to Japan, the thirdlargest economy in the world,” Lapid said.

“This year, we are also celebrating 70 years of relations between our countries and this is further proof of their growing strength — diplomatically and economically,” he added.

The last FTA Israel signed was also its first with an Asian country. On Sept. 27, it ratified a free trade agreement with South Korea.

“For quite a long time already we have been calling for our government to open FTA nego tiations with Japan, and I know that the private sector in Japan is also keen on that,” said Dan Catarivas, director general of foreign trade and international relations at the Manufacturers Association of Israel.

El Al reports a strong third quarter

El Al posted strong financial results for the third quarter and also has its going concern qualifications removed, Globes reported.

The airline reported strong ticket demand as pandemic-related travel restric tions were removed.

E l Al’s third-quarter revenue was $626 million, up 21% from the previous quarter and 147% more than in the same quarter in 2021. A net profit of $67 million was reported, although that includes $38 million gained by partially selling its frequent flyer club.

Bnei Menashe inaugurate their first synagogue in Israel

Last month, Bnei Menashe immi grants from India dedicated the Eliyahu

Hanavi Synagogue, their first-ever house of prayer in Israel, in the northern city of Nof Hagalil, JNS.org reported.

A bout 150 worshippers attended the inauguration.

“The opening of the first synagogue in Israel for the Bnei Menashe is an historic and exciting event,” said Michael Freund, c hairman and founder of Shavei Israel, an NGO which promotes the immigration of Bnei Menashe, according to a press statement.

“Just like any other Jewish community, the Bnei Menashe have their own unique customs, traditions and hymns, which are worthy of preservation. We are delighted that the Bnei Menashe immigrants will now have a syna gogue of their own in which to keep these traditions alive,” he said.

The Bnei Menashe, or sons of Manasseh, claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, exiled by the Assyrian Empire more than 2,700 years ago. Their ancestors wandered through Central Asia and the Far East before settling in what is today northeastern India along the borders of Burma and Bangladesh, according to Shavei Israel.

The synagogue will be used by immi grants from the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram. A second synagogue in a different neighborhood of Nof HaGalil, will be opened for immigrants from Manipur, another north eastern Indian state. PJC

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

Today in Israeli History

Dec. 5, 1949 — Ben-Gurion rejects international status for Jerusalem

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

Dec. 2, 2001 — Bus bombing in Haifa kills 16

During the Second Intifada, a plumber from Nablus detonates an explosive device on a No. 16 Egged bus in Haifa, killing himself and 15 other passengers and injuring 35 others.

Dec. 3, 1969 — Findings of Jewish Quarter dig are revealed

Hebrew University archaeologist Nahman Avigad announces the results of his excavation of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, shedding light on nine stages of the city’s history.

Dec. 4, 2004 — Tommy Lapid’s Party is booted from government

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismisses five members of Tommy Lapid’s Shinui from the Cabinet because of the secular party’s opposition to a budget that Lapid says underfunds basic needs to boost Haredi education.

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declares in a Knesset speech that “Jewish Jerusalem is an organic, inseparable part of the State of Israel” and that Israel will not give up sovereignty over its “eternal capital.”

Dec. 6, 2007 — Helene’s Palace believed to be found

An Israeli excavation discovers the remains of a 2,000-year-old mansion in the Old City of Jerusalem that is believed to have belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene, who died in Jerusalem around 55 C.E.

Dec. 7, 1953 — Ben-Gurion resigns, is succeeded by Sharett Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, announces his resignation and retirement to Kibbutz Sde Boker. He is succeeded by fellow Mapai member Moshe Sharett, the foreign minister.

Dec. 8, 1885 — 1st Knesset Speaker Joseph Sprinzak is born Joseph Sprinzak, the first speaker of the Knesset and an interim president, is born in Moscow. He helps establish many institutions that form the state’s foundation, such as the Histadrut labor federation. PJC

— WORLD —

p Tommy Lapid expresses opposition to the proposed government budget during a Knesset debate on Dec. 1, 2004.

p Helene’s Palace is believed to be the mansion of a royal convert to Judaism who died around 55 C.E. Library of Congress

“They are anti-LGBTQ, anti-nonOrthodox Jew, anti-Palestinian citizens of Israel,” Jacobs said. “The list they look down on is quite long and quite distressing.”

The Masorti-Conservative movement is also concerned about a possible change to the Law of Return.

The Rabbinical Assembly — the inter national association of Conservative rabbis — released a statement in November rejecting calls to end recognition of Masorti-Conservative and Reform conver sions in Israel.

“We unequivocally reject the invalidation of conversions by Masorti-Conservative and Reform rabbis for the purposes of Aliyah and denounce all initiatives that challenge the auspices of the main streams of Judaism, and which seek to disrupt the critical foundation of religious pluralism that allows the State of Israel to survive

History:

Continued from page 7

With minimal research, you can connect many of these small-town contributors back to Dr. Levy. “Country Jews,” as they were known, were increasingly a priority of the Reform movement. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations created a “circuit” work program in the 19th century to provide resources to these disparate Jews.

Trump:

Continued from page 10

morning and said on Twitter by way of explanation, “We didn’t mention Trump in our RJC statement even though it’s obviously in response to his meeting because we wanted it to be a warning to ALL Republicans. Duh!”

Max Miller, a Jewish Republican just elected to Congress from Ohio, and a former wingman for Trump, also did not name Trump and instead appealed to Ye, who at least until recently had become cherished on the right as a Black Christian conservative, to make a course correction.

“Nick Fuentes is unquestionably an antiSemite and a Holocaust denier. His brand of hate has no place in our public discourse,” Miller said on Twitter. Ye “doesn’t need to keep walking this path. Letting people like Nick Fuentes into his life is a mistake.”

and flourish,” the statement reads. “Further, Israel is the homeland of all Jews. To deny the authenticity of Reform and Masorti-Conservative Judaism would effec tively sever Israel’s connection with millions of Jews throughout the world.”

Temple Emanuel of South Hills Rabbi Aaron Meyer said that only a small percentage of the Jews he worked with toward conversion would choose to make aliyah.

However, he added, “this feels like a symbolic repudiation or alienation. I’m less concerned about the practical ramifi cations as much as I am about the realities of a group trying to estrange Jews from the state of Israel.”

Meyer said he doesn’t think the issue is yet on the radar of many people who are exploring Judaism, but he is concerned about the new Israeli government being pieced together.

“If this strain of extremism continues to have a stranglehold over coalition politics, it does have the potential to

The program became the new Department of Synagogue and School Extension in 1904. Dr. Levy was later appointed supervisor over District 7, covering the half of Pennsylvania “west of a line drawn north and south through Harrisburg.” His work led to the formation of new B’nai B’rith lodges and synagogues and eventually spawned the pioneering Southwestern District of Pennsylvania Jewish Religious Schools Program.

While the small towns accounted for a fifth of the regional Jewish population, they

challenge the inroads Israeli Reform and Masorti-Conservative movements have made,” he said.

Despite the challenges presented by the proposed governing coalition, Jacobs doesn’t think conditioning funding from the United States is a good idea.

“Israel is surrounded by very hostile forces,” he said. “The kind of rockets that have been unleashed from Gaza don’t land on people of some political persuasion. They land on everyone. I think Israel’s security and safety is essential. I also think it’s critical that Israel remains a Jewish democratic state.”

While Reform and Conservative Jews are leading the charge against changes to the Law of Return, any alterations have the potential to affect Orthodox conversions in the United States as well.

In 2018, Israel’s official Jewish religious authority published a list of 69 rabbinical courts it trusted to perform conversions, thereby rejecting the authority of many leading Orthodox rabbis in the States,

accounted for almost a quarter of the local contributors to the Jewish Encyclopedia.

That small but notable imbalance is significant. The small-town Jews were merchants, not laborers, and they were generally better off economically than t heir urban counterparts. As such, they soon became an important source of communal fundraising.

As Dr. Levy was going around soliciting donations for the Jewish Encyclopedia, his colleague Rabbi Aaron Mordechai Ashinsky

Prominent Jewish Republicans not making statements included David Kustoff, a Tennessee Jewish Republican congressman; Jason Greenblatt, once a top Middle East adviser to Trump; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who were both top advisers to Trump when he was president. A spokesman for Kushner did not reply to a request for comment.

Lee Zeldin, the Jewish Republican New York congressman seen as having a future in the GOP leader ship after performing more strongly than expected in a failed bid to be elected governor of a Democratic state, also did not issue a statement, and his spokesman did not reply to a request for comment. Zeldin has otherwise been outspoken on Jewish issues in Congress and co-chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Black-Jewish caucus.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is the only Black Republican in the Senate and who co-chairs its Black-Jewish caucus, also had

not commented as of Sunday night. Scott is believed to be a 2024 presidential hopeful.

Other Republican leaders denounced extremism but did not call out Trump by name. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman known for her closeness to the former president, like the RJC, replied only when asked by a reporter — in her case, from Bloomberg — and did not name Trump.

“As I had repeatedly said, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech, and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party,” McDaniel said.

Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned antisemitism — but without mentioning Trump, Fuentes, Ye or any of the forms of antisemitism they have expressed. Instead, Pompeo spoke of his own role in undermining the boycott Israel movement — a cause that none of the men who dined together has embraced.

including liberal Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss and Modern Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, both of New York, according to a report in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

For now, Jacobs hopes that Jews of all stripes will voice their concern about the possible changes.

“It’s not a small group that will be offended,” he said. “I hope that Zionists of all different backgrounds — I hope that even Orthodox Zionists — are offended that this would even be proposed by the new government. The ultra-Orthodox parties are supportive of this move. I think that the only person who has a good chance to block it would be Prime Minister Netanyahu. We hope and pray, and are going to continue to raise our voices, that he knows what kind of harm this decision would cause.” PJC

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

was doing the same thing for the new Jewish Home for the Aged, which also opened in 1906. These two Jewish leaders were creating a fundraising template that would remain important for more than 50 years. Coming soon: Some of the names on the list. PJC

Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at rjarchives@heinzhistorycenter. org or 412-454-6406.

“Anti-Semitism is a cancer. As Secretary, I fought to ban funding for anti-Semitic groups that pushed BDS,” Pompeo said on Twitter. “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”

Trump was the ghost in the Republican machine last weekend at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas: the declared candidate who party leaders believe still commands the unswerving loyalty of at least a third of the base. With his capacity for lashing out at critics, taking on Trump directly is seen as a fool’s game by many in the party.

A handful of Republicans already known for their open criticism of Trump, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, did denounce him by name.

“This is just awful, unacceptable conduct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current candidate,” Christie tweeted on Friday. PJC

‘The Fabelmans’: Steven Spielberg’s antidote to Jewish victimhood

marks on all of us.

It’s worth remembering Spielberg’s journey as we try to figure out how to respond to the recent wave of anti-Jewish sentiment in this great land of opportunity.

Ihope the Jew haters who bullied a young Steven Spielberg in his new movie “The Fabelmans” get a chance to see the film. In fact, I hope Kanye “Ye” West, Kyrie Irving, Jew-hating white supremacists and any sect who believes American Jews are not the “real Jews” also see the film.

I want them to see the film for many reasons, but primarily because of the young Spielberg’s reaction to being called a “kike” and a “Christ killer” and getting beaten up by ignorant, Jew-hating thugs while in high school in the mid-1960s.

Instead of wasting his life wallowing in victimhood, instead of using the Jew haters as scapegoats for his failed life, Spielberg went creative.

His revenge on the haters was to become arguably the most successful and influ ential filmmaker of his time, a Jew who regaled hundreds of millions throughout the world with stories that left indelible

You see, Spielberg is not an outlier. He’s only one of the more visible examples of American Jews responding to antisemitism by doubling down on success and achieve ment. There have been millions more like him, in all fields.

Not surprisingly, a scholarly study from 2007 by Paul Burstein of the University of Washington concluded that “Jews are much more successful economically and educationally than other ethnic, racial, and religious groups in the United States.”

What are we to do with such informa tion? Ignore it? Pretend it doesn’t exist? Be embarrassed by it?

For better or for worse, the reality is that it’s hard for most people to feel sorry for Jews. We need not take that personally: People who are perceived to be successful rarely attract much sympathy. That’s why any attempt to define Jews as “victims,” however justified, will always be a tough sell.

We can quote all the studies we want about being the most attacked minority

group in the country, but our “success narrative” in America is too ingrained in people’s consciousness. No matter how hard we try, most people will never see us as credible victims.

If anything, we should consider going in the opposite direction — promote achieve ment, not victimhood. At the very least, this will be credible, since people already see Jews as high achievers.

The problem is that we’re so traumatized by the antisemitic trope of the “all-pow erful Jew” that we’re afraid to own up to our success, lest it fuel those dreaded conspiracy theories.

So we’re trapped. We don’t make credible victims, but our success is too cred ible for comfort.

This is why I loved “The Fabelmans”: It’s not activism. It’s not a documentary about fighting antisemitism. It’s not a survey showing how terrible America has become for Jews.

It’s none of those things. It is, above all, entertainment!

The Judaism in the film is part of a great story. Non-Jews who see the film, including the haters, will see Spielberg’s family lighting Chanukah candles and a young Spielberg

receiving gifts that will spark his dreams of creating films.

They will see a young Spielberg refusing to apologize for killing Christ because, as he says, he wasn’t there 2,000 years ago.

They will see a young Spielberg turn into a hero among the Jew-haters of his high school by creating a beach film on “ditch day” that blew his school away on prom night.

Near the end, there’s a close up shot of the young Spielberg’s face as he’s operating the projector on prom night. Slowly, he realizes the positive reaction to his film from students who until then had shown him only animosity toward his Jewishness.

You can almost read the lesson on his face: “This is how I will fight Jew hatred from now on. By not denying my Jewish identity, by having the time of my life, and by bringing a little joy to the world. I will fight it like a winner, not a whiner.” PJC

David Suissa is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tribe Media Corp and the Jewish Journal.

This article, which appeared on JNS, was originally published by the Jewish Journal.

Trump’s Jewish supporters must condemn and disavow him

Guest Columnist David Suissa Guest Columnist Jonathan S. Tobin

If pro-Israel Republicans think former President Donald Trump will apologize or make amends in any way for choosing to have a public dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort home with two notorious antisemites, they haven’t been paying attention to how he has conducted his public career. And if they think they can weather this controversy by trying to divert attention from what he’s done by pointing to the way their Democrat oppo nents tolerate and even support antisemitism on the left, they’re equally delusional.

Trump’s dinner date with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes constitutes a turning point for his Jewish supporters and Republicans in general. Up until now, almost all of the attempts by Democrats to accuse him of antisemitism or of encouraging Jew-hatred have been highly partisan charges that didn’t stand up to scrutiny.

After all, Trump didn’t actually say the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 were “very fine people” or anything like that. Nor are his complaints about Jewish voters not rewarding him for his historic support for Israel antisemitic, as those who twist his entirely factual comments into a charge of dual loyalty have tried to assert. He not only consistently condemned antisemitism but did far more to combat it on American college campuses than any other president.

Combine all that with his close family ties to Jews, the case for damning Trump as an

antisemite or an ally of antisemites simply didn’t hold water. And no one who wasn’t already convinced that he was the spawn of the devil believed a word of it.

But after the Mar-a-Lago dinner, it’s no longer possible to ignore the issue. And it’s incumbent on those who have staunchly defended him until now to do the hard thing and concede that he has now done some thing they wouldn’t forgive or forget if it had been a Democratic president or former one who did it.

To their credit, the Zionist Organization of America, which gave Trump its highest award at its New York City dinner earlier this month, did “deplore” his remarks. His former lawyer, David Friedman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2017-2021, also tweeted his dismay, and called for his former boss to disavow West and Fuentes.

But the problem here is not just that Trump has granted an unwarranted legitimacy to both West and the even more vile Fuentes. It’s that we all know that Trump will never walk this back or make the sort of apology that could help to ameliorate the harm he’s done.

Trump doesn’t believe in apologies.

Part of this stems from a savvy apprecia tion of how to deal with gaffes or kerfuffles that, in most cases, he made deliberately in order to gain attention or simply to generate outrage among media and political-estab lishment foes. He knows that his opponents will never give him credit for his accom plishments or for doing the right thing with respect to any controversy. He long ago came to the conclusion that the only response to being attacked was to ignore the brick bats and move on to the next dustup for maximum political advantage.

In this case, however, there can be no

moving beyond an incident about which he can’t pretend he wasn’t aware of the consequences. Nor can it be put down as just another instance of liberals trying to enforce political correctness with cancel-culture tactics.

To those who might say the dinner is no big deal, the context here is everything. Trump may know West and had hosted him in the White House. But, as questionable as his outreach to the mentally unstable rapper/fashion mogul who has been diag nosed with bipolar disorder was then, it’s indefensible now.

West’s open antisemitism has been a major story in recent weeks, after a series of tweets in which he aired various conspiracy theo ries and made threats against Jews. That had followed an appearance by him on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson” show from which his antisemitic remarks had been edited out. He has subsequently continued to double down on his hate in one bizarre public remark after another, while also claiming to be plan ning on another absurd run for president.

Trump should thus have steered clear of any public connection with such a toxic and destructive personality under any circumstances. But this isn’t a routine month for Trump; he just announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

And he has spent a disproportionate amount of time since then seeking to shore up Jewish support, as was indicated by his last-minute decision to make a virtual appearance at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition conference only days before his tête-à-tête with the two antisemites.

It’s one thing for him to gripe about Jews who don’t prioritize Israel’s security

voting for Democrats, rather than him or any Republican. It’s quite another to do so while associating with a celebrity who is using his influence with the public to main stream antisemitism.

Nor do Trump’s excuses about not knowing who Fuentes was excuse his meeting. As pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted, the best way to avoid a meeting with an antisemite whom you don’t know is to avoid contact with one whom you do.

Moreover, it’s not as if Trump is unfa miliar with some of the controversies in which Fuentes and his extremist followers (called “Groypers”) have been involved.

Fuentes was the focus of controversy in 2019, when conservative pundit Michelle Malkin’s support for the YouTube person ality/Holocaust denier led the Young America Foundation — a group founded by conservative icon William F. Buckley — to cut ties with her.

As I wrote at the time, it was imperative for conservatives to make sure that Fuentes and his ilk were not given mainstream platforms to spread their hatred. But Trump continued retweeting Malkin, even when almost everyone else on the right began to ignore her.

Nor is it likely that Trump, who never forgets a slight to himself or his family, had forgotten that Fuentes’s Groypers had heckled his son, Donald, Jr. Yet, he report edly enjoyed Fuentes’s fawning over him at the Mar-a-Lago dinner.

The meeting will help Fuentes, a partici pant in both the 2017 Charlottesville disgrace and “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in his effort to work his way into the mainstream

Sportswashing

Guest Columnist Radha Stirling

Three years ago, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, along with a few of their allies, were boycotting Qatar over Doha’s alleged ties to financing terrorism, and its friendly relationship with Iran. At that time, the Emiratis and the Saudis suggested that the boycott could potentially be lifted if Qatar forfeited hosting the World Cup this year.

Fast forward to November 2022, and the Saudis and Emiratis are among the biggest contingents of football fans who traveled to Qatar for the event. UAE hotels were expected to hit full capacity during the World Cup, as tourist bookings spill over from Doha.

It turns out that refusing to forfeit hosting the event was likely what broke the back of the boycott.

By January 2021, the Gulf States appeared to have fully comprehended the power of sports to mute political criticism. After all, it muted theirs. Saudi Arabia and the UAE learned firsthand that people’s love of sports generally surpasses their disapproval of dictatorship, corruption and human rights abuse.

Perhaps more importantly, they learned that the money associated with sporting events, and the financial knock-on effects of hosting them, is an image purifier. The Gulf has realized that credibility is a purchasable commodity; nothing confirms this more than Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup.

Arguably, the UAE was the first of the Gulf States to explore the cleansing proper ties of sports, with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai,

diluted by the typical whataboutism of citing the bad behavior of Democrats.

making regular appearances at the English Derby and establishing himself as British horse-racing’s greatest benefactor. Sheikh Mohammed has poured billions of dollars into the sport, which employs nearly 20,000 people in the UK. In doing so, he has bought himself respectability among British elite society, where any discussion of the ruler’s controversies would have been simply impolite and awkward.

Abu Dhabi noticed the laundering effects of sports, too, and began hosting UFC fights in 2010. Since then, the relationship with the MMA organization has blossomed, and Abu Dhabi has cemented its position as a hub for the billion-dollar sport.

Sports has proven to be a vehicle for soft power, and the Gulf is deploying that power vigorously. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund recently purchased Newcastle United football club, the UAE owns Manchester City, and the Saudis also own Sheffield

United. The UAE’s Etihad and Qatar Airways have major deals with European football clubs worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Dubai is even planning to open a Real Madrid theme park.

It should be understood that from a purely financial perspective, Gulf States’ investments in sporting events are, by defi nition, catastrophically unprofitable. Qatar has spent roughly $200 billion more than it will earn from the World Cup, but what countries like Qatar and the UAE are actually buying, of course, is immunity — and that is priceless. PJC

Radha Stirling founded Detained in Dubai and Due Process International in 2008 and has since helped and advised more than 15,000 foreign nationals facing trouble in the UAE. She is the host of the Gulf in Justice Podcast, covering regional issues in depth. This piece first appeared on The Times of Israel.

from the fever swamps of the far-right. It will also encourage West to continue with his efforts to speak out on public affairs, rather than seek treatment for his problems.

What this means is that, barring the unlikely event of a full apology and condemnation of West and Fuentes from Trump, no Jewish conservative or Republican can possibly support him again. His accomplishments as president earned him gratitude, but not a lifetime get-out-ofjail-free card with respect to actions that aid antisemites.

Nor should the censure of Trump be

There’s plenty to say about that, especially with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s disgraceful decision to bring a known antisemite and BDS supporter like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) with him as part of his offi cial delegation on his trip to Qatar to attend the soccer World Cup. It’s also true that former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have met with Louis Farrakhan, the nation’s leading hatemonger.

Yet none of it mitigates what Trump has done.

What’s worse is the likelihood that some of Trump’s devoted supporters will now, as they invariably do, not only dismiss the

meeting with West and Fuentes as unim portant, but also dispute, as Carlson and pundit Candace Owens have already done with respect to West, the pair’s culpability as spreaders of hate.

That is something that will not only add fuel to the fire of the already growing problem of antisemitism. It will also likely become part of the debate about Trump’s presidential campaign, as his true believers bash Jews who support his GOP rivals as ingrates and part of an establishment conspiracy that is out to get their hero.

Like it or not, Trump has almost certainly ensured that tolerance for antisemites on the far-right will become an issue in the 2024 Republican primaries, despite the fact that

Chronicle poll results: Chanukah shopping

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following ques tion: “Have you started shopping for Chanukah?” Of the 155 people who responded, 40% said yes, 38% said no and 22% said they don’t shop for Chanukah presents. Comments were submitted by 31 people. A few follow.

I shop all year round. When I see some thing special, I buy it and put it away!

My children are adults; I give them real gelt and the chocolate type.

I can’t focus on Chanukah until Thanksgiving is over.

Now that our children are adults, we take them on vacation instead of getting them things. But as the next generation makes an appearance, that may change.

It is insulting to equate Chanukah with Christmas. I was not brought up that way, I did not bring my daughters up that way, and my grandchildren are not being brought up that way.

Calling all memories!

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is cele brating its 60th anniversary this month!

Tell us, in 300 words or less, what the Chronicle has meant to you over the years.

Send your submission to newsdesk@pitts burghjewishchronicle.org. Your submission may be included in our 60th anniversary issue, Dec. 30! PJC

We give gelt.

We give a gift a night for each of the eight nights to our children — it builds great bonding.

Shopping for Chanukah is nonsense. There is no Jewish source for presents on Chanukah. It is only copying the non-Jewish world. In Europe, children would collect money to give their teachers who made next to nothing. It would be a good idea to give our Jewish teachers money because even in America they do not receive a good salary.

Need to shop early ... shortages.

I give money or Israel Bonds.

the party he seeks to lead again is mostly composed of lockstep supporters of Israel and philosemites.

What is also clear is that there is no longer a reasonable argument to be made for continued support for Trump based on his stand on Jewish issues. Understanding this is going to be hard for many Jews who have become deeply invested in him and in burnishing his legacy. But unless he miraculously learns how to admit fault, anyone who clings to him can’t pretend to be serious about opposing antisemitism. PJC

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate) where this first appeared.

Gifts? This isn’t Christmas. Chanukah shopping should enhance the holiday (books or music for example), not imitate the gentiles. But no, I haven’t bought my candles yet.

I have shopped through my synagogue gift shop and online Jewish sites.

Actually, I am already done. PJC

Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question:

Chronicle weekly poll question : How many books have you read or listened to this year? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle. org to respond. PJC

Address: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Website address: pittsburghjewishchronicle.org/letters-to-the-editor

The best grilled cheese sandwich. Period.

By Keri White | Contributing Writer

The grilled cheese sandwich is an undisputed classic. Melted cheese on buttery toasted bread really can’t miss.

Whether it is offered as an old-school white bread with American cheese version or a fancy combo of imported cheese, artisanal bread and specialty condiments, this sand wich is pretty wonderful. OK, OK, it’s not exactly health food, but sometimes a splurge is warranted and, as far as indulgences go, this one is quite delicious.

When it is paired with a simple salad like the one below and chased with a dessert of fresh fruit, sorbet or mint tea, the richness of the grilled cheese sandwich balances out.

Over the last month, we ate a lot of dinners in front of the television supporting our beloved Philadelphia teams, and sandwiches lend themselves well to this type of eating.

This particular version took advantage of the last of the late-season tomatoes and also incorporated a dash of spice. Coating the outside of the bread with mayonnaise is an unorthodox approach, but trust me, it enhances the crispiness of the bread, adds a subtle tang of flavor and, although this is not much of a consideration under the circum stances, slightly reduces the fat content in the sandwich by using a bit less butter.

As for the bread, I opted for a hearty whole grain loaf, but any good quality sturdy bread works — try a plowman’s loaf, table bread, boule, sourdough, et cetera. Different bakers have different names but you are looking for something firm and kind of chewy, not anything delicate or flimsy.

Using grated cheese ensures even melting and a transcendent texture. The amounts below are estimates; depending on the size of the bread, more or less of each ingredient may be needed.

Makes 1 sandwich

2 slices best quality, sturdy bread

4 thin slices of tomato, cut to fit the bread

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon mayonnaise (enough to barely coat the outside of the bread)

¼-½ teaspoon your favorite bottled hot sauce or very finely chopped chili peppers (optional)

1 tablespoon butter

Lightly coat one side of each bread slice with mayonnaise. Melt half of the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.

While the butter melts, assemble the sandwich. Place half of the cheese on the non-mayonnaise side of the bread. Place the tomatoes on the cheese, then add the hot sauce if using, and top it with the remaining cheese. Cover it with the remaining slice of bread, and place it in the skillet. Slowly cook the sandwich to a golden brown on the bottom, carefully flip and add the remaining butter to the skillet.

Lift the sandwich and tilt the pan to allow the butter underneath. Cook the other side of the sandwich to a golden brown, remove it from the pan, and prepare for raptures.

If this flavor profile does not tickle your fancy, consider the following grilled cheese variations:

Rye bread, Swiss cheese, caramelized onion, grainy mustard

Italian bread, mozzarella cheese, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes

Italian bread, provolone cheese, roasted peppers

Pumpernickel bread, Muenster cheese, thinly sliced dill pickles, mustard Sourdough bread, feta cheese, olive tapenade

Challah, goat cheese, apples, honey

Rye bread, smoked Gouda, Russian dressing, sauerkraut

Boule, Monterey jack, salsa Baguette sliced on the diagonal, brie, walnuts, fig jam

For the salad:

1 small head lettuce, bibb, red leaf, romaine, et cetera, torn

1 beet, peeled and sliced with a vegetable peeler

1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

For the dressing:

1 pinch salt

1 generous sprinkle of black pepper

1 scant sprinkle garlic powder

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Autumnal

salad Serves 2

This simple salad offers a light counterpoint to the richness of the grilled cheese and nicely showcases seasonal produce.

Toss the salad ingredients in a mediumsized bowl. Sprinkle the dressing ingredients over the salad and toss well. Serve immediately. PJC

Keri White writes for the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication.

p The best grilled cheese sandwich

Photo by Keri White

Stars, sand, dirt

- 32:3

As a soccer fan, I love the every-fouryears instance of the World Cup, where the best national teams from 32 countries come together to see who is the best. There’s fabulous sports on television every day. The best athletes in the world are competing. And the ugly military or diplomatic conflicts between countries over borders or resources that we read in the news day after day are replaced with a much more civil act of conflict — 11 men or women kicking a ball on a wide expanse of grass.

God tells Jacob, “Your descendants shall be as the dirt of the earth.”

Rabbi Aharon Levin, the Reisha Rav (1879-1941), author of the Torah commen tary “HaDrash Veha’iyun,” notes the distinction between these metaphors of the Jewish people — stars, sand, dirt: “We find that stars are separate, one to another, without connection to their fellow. Sand, the grains gather and pile next to each other, but they do not truly attach one to the next. Only dirt, when mixed with other dirt, binds and cleaves together to make one block.”

Creating sacred community is a blend of all of these things — recognizing the stars, the sand and the dirt. Sometimes individuals get the chance to shine and stand out,

I especially love the sense of community the World Cup creates, especially within one country. When I root for the USA, it doesn’t matter what my politics are or what religion I practice or what city I’m from. It doesn’t even really matter if I am a big soccer fan or if I am tuning in to my first match in four years. The World Cup forges a community around our collective national identity that, however brief, unites us and washes away our differences. We are united in soccer.

This week’s parsha contains one of the more poetic lines in all of Torah — a promise from God to Jacob that happens to be similar, but different, to promises God made to Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham that God will make his descendants “as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea.” In Genesis 26 God tells Isaac, “I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven.” But here,

for the betterment of all. Sometimes we gather together as distinct individuals for a common cause, while remaining unique, like the grains of sand on a beach. And some times we nullify our distinct qualities for the betterment of the greater good of all — like slapping on a soccer jersey and screaming our heads off for our country, or showing up to minyan just to be the 10th person, so that someone can say kaddish. Judaism is all of these things, but in this week’s parsha, we get a bit of a reminder on the emphasis of being part of the collective, that we might improve the lives of our communities to the “west, the east, the north, and the south.” PJC

Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman is the spiri tual leader for Brith Shalom Jewish Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the associate rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.

Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman Parshat Vayeitzei Genesis 28:10

The World Cup forges a community around our collective national identity that, however brief, unites us and washes away our differences.

We are united in soccer.

Obituaries

FRIEDMAN: Murray A. Friedman, on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. Beloved husband of 63 years to Doris Glosser Friedman. Devoted father of Barry (Sally Minnock) Friedman and Evelyn (Joel) Diamond. Brother of Joseph Friedman. Son-in-law of the late Edith and Nathan Glosser. Son of the late Rose and Arthur Friedman. Cherished Pop-Pop of Joshua, Ethan and Noah Diamond, Joseph, Nicole and Eli Friedman. Also survived by great-grandson, Charlie Diamond. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Hamedrash Hagadol/Beth Jacob Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Adat Shalom Synagogue, 368 Guys Run Road, Cheswick, PA 15024 or Beth El Congregation-South Hills, 1900 Cochran Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15220. schugar.com

JAFFE: Ronald Jaffe, MD, of Oakland, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, age 79. Beloved husband of Sandra Jaffe, father of Assaf Jaffe and the late Dana Jaffe, grandfather of Noa Reiter and Sam Lampenfield, son of Felix and Ilse Jaffe, brother of Steven Jaffe and the late Allan Jaffe; also survived by many family members and friends. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June of 1943, Ron graduated from the University of Witwatersrand with an M.B.,B. Ch in 1969. He went on to complete residencies in pathology at Sheba Medical Center (Tel Hashomer, Israel) and Children’s Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts), 1971-75 and 1975-76 respectfully, and a fellowship at the Mallory Institute of Pathology (Boston, Massachusetts) from 1976-77. During their time at university, Ron and Sandra married and spent five years in Israel and two years in Boston before settling in Pittsburgh in 1977. They raised children, maintained wonderful social and cultural lives, and developed their respective careers. Ron and Sandra had two grandchildren, and he remained their strongest supporter and greatest friend through all of life’s ups and down. Of all his titles — husband, father, doctor, friend — it was “bumpie” that brought him the most pleasure. Ron held a deep and unwavering passion for pediatric pathology throughout five decades of his life. Beyond his immense contributions in the field, he will be remembered as a generous mentor, a world-renowned scientist and a quiet yet wickedly funny colleague. He will be greatly missed by all those who had the privilege of knowing him. He will live on in the hearts of the many people who loved and admired him. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Homewood Cemetery. schugar.com

KOHN: Rita (Ritadale) Kohn, age 78, passed away in her home on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. She was the much beloved wife for 38 years of Thomas C. Kohn, the cherished mother of Holly (Bruce) Rudoy and Scot (Carrie) Lehman, and the adored ’Ma of Madelyn and Zachary Rudoy and Elijah, Jacob and Joshua Lehman. She is also survived by her stepchildren Pamela (Bill) Kovick, Richard Kohn, Carolyn Kohn, grandchildren Melissa Reichard, Matt Kovick and Elisha Holby, as well as several great-grandchildren. Rita was preceded in death by her brother Arthur Lebovitz and parents, Hilda and Meyer Lebovitz. Rita loved being a Lebovitz and grew up a Squirrel Hill girl on Northumberland Street. It’s a testament to Rita’s authenticity and caring nature that she remained lifelong friends with all of her cousins and several of her Linden Elementary and Taylor Allderdice girlfriends who she dearly loved. Rita had an intellectual side and earned a master’s degree from Carlow College which she put to use as a librarian at Upper St. Clair Public Library, and later as a law librarian at the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas before serving for many years as a dynamic partner in support of her husband’s entrepreneurial success. Rita saw goodness in the world, traveled widely and gave back generously through her decades as an ESL tutor in both Pittsburgh and Naples. She was an avid athlete on the tennis court, golf course and ski slopes, as well as a voracious reader of the best books. Having made beautiful homes in Pittsburgh and Naples, Florida, Rita’s zest for life, sparkling eyes and fabulous smile will be missed by so many. Services and interment were private. Contributions may be made in Rita’s memory to Literacy Pittsburgh or to Temple Emanuel of the South Hills. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

KOTOVSKY: Irwin Kotovsky (aka Irv Kotovsky) passed away peacefully on Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, at the age of 92. Beloved husband of 29 years to Cher (Goldman) Kotovsky. Brother of Kenneth (Avis) Kotovsky. Brother-in-law of Merle Goldman. Granddad of Rachel Foy. Uncle of Jack Kotovsky (Elizabeth Cooper) and Laura Kotovsky (Ran Libeskind-Hadas). Preceded in death by parents, Jacob and Dorothy Kotovsky, and daughter Karen Foy. Irwin, born July 10, 1930, a 1948 graduate of Allderdice High School, and a 1953 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree in mining engineering. A member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1953-1955. Irwin, after leaving the Army Reserves, began a career in the lighting industry and in 1964 started his company Architectural Lighting Inc., eventually leading to his current manufacturing company, Modular International Inc., in 1987. Throughout his career, he held 30 U.S. and international lighting product patents. Irwin enjoyed every aspect of being a business owner. Known for his love of traveling, fine wine, good champagne, international cuisine, and friends from around the world, Irwin had a generous heart and would help a stranger as well as those close to him. Those who knew him loved him. Services were held at Ralph

Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Memorial contributions can be made in Irwin’s memory to the following charities: B’nai Emunoh Chabad (bechabad.org), Riverview Towers/The Jewish Association of Aging (jaapgh.org), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (.nationalmssociety. org). schugar.com

LANDIS: Rochelle Claire Landis was the wife of Thomas (Red) Whittington. She was prede ceased by her parents, Mildred and Paul Smoller, and brother, Sanford (Sandy). Rochelle and her mother were very close, and Rochelle never stopped missing and mourning her mother after her death. Rochelle found the love of her life in Red Whittington. In Hollywood parlance, they had a “meet cute” at Carnegie Hall in Oakland during a concert intermission, when she dropped her program and Red picked it up for her. She then asked if he was familiar with the Barber violin concerto and invited him to sit with her. This was the beginning of a long partnership. Through the years, Rochelle and Red shared their love of music and attended many concerts. It is fitting that their relationship began at one — and that days before Rochelle’s death, Red arranged to have two violinists come and play for her at home. In part, this loving gesture acknowledged that Rochelle had been first chair violin at Allderdice High School. A lifetime resident of Squirrel Hill, Rochelle earned an undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Her graduate program was part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society effort. In exchange for her tuition, she taught in underserved areas. This included a Hill District school for preg nant students and the Holmes School (formerly in South Oakland), where students called her and two other young teachers the “Mod Squad.” (And indeed, Rochelle was always hip and stylish.) She spent most of her career teaching English at Peabody High School, where she also directed and choreographed student performances. She had a lifelong passion for dance as well as music. The concerns that were at the core of Rochelle’s being were animal rights and animal welfare. In fact, Rochelle asked that these words appear on her headstone: Remember the pain of living things. For decades, Rochelle worked tirelessly to relieve the animals’ pain. She was active in many local animal rights and animal welfare organizations. She stood up for all animals, including racing greyhounds who were used for sport and greed, and pigeons who were victims of a cruel annual shooting event. She was a longtime vegetarian who would not support the horrific practices of factory farms. She made her home a haven for countless dogs and cats. All were dear, but none so dear as greyhound siblings Normy and Nova, whom she so greatly missed after their deaths. Rochelle leaves behind two beloved felines, Gracie and Tovah. Services were held at Ralph Schugar. Burial was private. Donations may be made to animal charities, such as Humane Animal Rescue Pittsburgh, Animal Care and Welfare Pittsburgh, and Going Home Greyhounds Wexford. schugar.com

LEWIS: Harriet S. Lewis, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. Beloved wife of the late Dr. Morton M. Tanner and the late Elliott “Bud” Lewis. Loving mother of Barbara Lewis Lanigan, Marc and Amy Lewis, Scott and Julia Lewis and Kimberly Lewis. Sister of the late Ruth and late Paul Jacobowitz and Susan and late Leonard Rosenberg. Yaya to Erin, James, Quinn and Elizabeth. Great-grandmother of Elliott Branch Lewis and August Arthur Lanigan. Companion of the late Lou Zeiden. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel Inc. Interment West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Association on Aging, Attn: Development, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or a charity of donor’s choice. schugar.com

NEWMAN: Sylvia Newman, from Glassport and White Oak, passed peacefully at age 93 on Nov. 22, 2022. She was born on May 25, 1929, to her parents, the late Myer and Rose Alpern. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh receiving a degree in education. She taught at Greenfield, Roosevelt and Minadeo elementary schools in Pittsburgh for several years until taking time to raise her children. She returned to teaching at Community Day School in 1981 where she touched and influenced the lives of numerous students. Besides teaching, she enjoyed cooking and baking and hosting her family for every holiday. She is survived by her daughter, Rhonda Gelman Kelley (Daniel) of Baltimore; son Bruce S. Gelman (Dana) of Pittsburgh; grandchildren Benjamin Kelley, Robert Kelley, Brandt Gelman, Phillip Gelman and Tobyn Gelman, and great-grandchildren Maya, Hannah, Merrick and Marlo, and her sister, Rochelle Glanz. Besides her parents, she was also preceded in death by her husband, Boris A. Gelman, her husband Marvin B. Newman, her stepmother Leah Alpern, and her sister Rae Kessler. Special thanks you to all her caregivers that took such good care of

Contact the Development department at 412.586.3264 or development@jaapgh.org for more information.

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —

Sunday December 4: Leo L. Americus, Fannie Bowytz, Karen Kaplan Drerup, Irving Gibbons, Clara Helfand, Eva Herron, Jennie W. Mogilowitz, Jack Myers, Louis Sadowsky, David Louis Smith, Martha Spokane, Samuel Srulson, Dena Stein, B. William Steinberger, Sylvia E. Swartz, Sari R. Talenfeld, Betsy Mark Volkin, David A. Weiss, Ida C. Wise, Anna Zacks

Monday December 5: Nettie R. Broudy, Pescha Davidson, Israel Levine, Max Mallinger, May Schachter, Ben E. Sherman, Sophie Patz Strauss, Louis Thomashefsky, Charles Wedner

Tuesday December 6: Dr. Solomon Abramson, Max Adler, Saul Cohen, Ethel Simon Cooper, Robert Davidson, Chaya Dobkin, Marcella Dreifuss, Nathan Fireman, Ruth Hirsch, Isador Katz, Bessie Levine, Lena Riemer, Sara Berkowitz Rozman, Etta M. Sigal

Wednesday December 7: David Ackerman, Alan Adler, Bertha Lillian Berliner, Simon Blatt, Morris Braun, David Breman, Sarah Cramer, Gussie Finkelstein, Jacob Firestone, Sol Z. Heller, Rebecca Hoffman, Hyman Kalovsky, Ithamar Lando, Frances Elling Levine, Morris Levine, Tema Lewinter, Sam Makler, Benjamin Mitchel, Esther Bluestone Morrow, Jacob Offstein, Elly Mars Goldstein Resnik, Sam Sacks, Silas J. Simensky, Ethel Solomon, Jack Talenfeld, Dr. Louis Weiss, Bessie Zakowitz, Samuel Zaremberg

Thursday December 8: Max Blatt, David H. Fischman, Walter Frank, Fern Halpern Kaye, Lawrence L. Lifshey, Marian Malt, Edward C. Meyer, Sam Salkovitz, Harry B. Saltman, Harry Soltz, Abe Stolovitz, Samuel Tufshinsky, Jacob Winer

Friday December 9: Eleanor Bergstein, Thomas Berlinsky, Maurice A. Berman, Sybil Young Cherington, Henrietta Chotiner, Bessie C. Cohen, Hyman Cohen, Gertrude Dugan, Joseph O. Goleman, Helen Gusky, Meyer Leff, Leona Mandel, William Nathan, Hyman Parker, Samuel Silverman, Anna R. Weil

Saturday December 10: Flora Breverman, Harry A. Cohen, Lillian Cohen, Sol M. Cohen, Morris D. Golden, Myron (Bunny) Klein, Edward Lamden, Pvt. Joseph Mandel, Louis J. Rubenstein, Fannie Solomon, Edward E. Strauss, Blanche Strauss Zionts

Obituaries

Obituaries:

her. Services at were held Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment was at Elrod Cemetery, Temple B’nai Israel section in Versailles, PA. Contributions can be made to Gemilas Chesed Synagogue in White Oak, PA. schugar.com

RUTTENBERG: Ilene Ruttenberg, loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, after a brave battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Her family was by her side. She was 83 years old. Ilene is survived by husband Jeffrey, daughter Margie, son Jimmy (Lori), grandsons Ben and Zack, sister Ronna (Harry Back) and countless friends and loved ones. Her brother Steve Pariser passed in 2017. Ilene was born on Aug. 24, 1939, in Pittsburgh to Morris and Ethel Pariser. She attended Leslie College in Boston where she earned a BA in early childhood education and met her future husband. Jeff and Ilene were married on Oct. 1, 1961. They lived in Providence until 1965 when they moved with their young daughter to Pittsburgh. A few years later they had their son and their family was complete. Jeff and Ilene were married for 61 years. They had a special lifelong partnership rooted in love. They supported each other during life’s challenges and celebrated life’s mitzvahs and blessings. One of Ilene’s biggest blessings was being a grandmother. She loved to babysit and read to Ben and Zack when they were little. Ilene was known as “Mema” to her grandsons and as Mrs. Ruttenberg to hundreds, if not thousands, of other children and parents during her nearly 40 years of teaching preschool at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. Ilene was adored and admired by her students and parents. Mrs. Ruttenberg’s classes always had a waiting list. Ilene won many awards and was recognized for her teaching and for the programs she created and developed at the JCC, including “Amazing Afternoons.” Her family is proud of her contributions to the community but is mostly grateful for the many years of love and support she provided. Her family also wishes to thank the wonderful staff at AHAVA Memory Care and Sivitz Hospice for their loving care of Ilene. Donations to honor Ilene can be made to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh or Autism Speaks. A service in celebration of Ilene’s life will be held at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m. Visitation with the family will follow. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory, Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com.

WEISBAND: Arnold L. Weisband, beloved husband of the late Myrna (née Sherer) passed peacefully on Nov. 25, 2022. Arnold was born in 1932 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Squirrel Hill where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he lettered in basketball and football and met his wife, Myrna. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in pharmacy. Arnold became a pharmacist in 1954 and purchased the Kennilworth Pharmacy and operated it until 1997 when he retired. He was an avid golfer and tennis player. Arnold enjoyed traveling with his wife, Myrna, and enjoyed spending time with his family. He is survived by his children, Jeffrey (Cheryl), Gary (Wendy) and Richard (Mary). He has seven grandsons: Ryan (Alina), Erik (Arlyn), Doug (Iryna), Brett (Rachel), Ari (Emily), Vince (Neha) and Leland (Diana). He is also survived by five great-grandchildren, Cassie, Conrad, Caden, Logan and Sebastian. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions in his memory can be made to the University of Pittsburgh (giveto.pitt.edu) or Adat Shalom Synagogue, 368 Guys Run Road, Cheswick, PA 15024. schugar.com PJC

Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from ... In memory of...

Barbara Hepner

Zelda Sparks Hepner

Jan & Edward Korenman Martin Rebb

Randy Malt Marian Malt

Ted Pinsker

Nathaniel Pinsker

Arthur Presser Israel “Dulley” Presser

Anne D. Rosenberg Edward David Rosenberg Anchel Siegman Fredric Alvin Green

Barbara E. Vogel

Sydney Bertenthal

Anonymous Charles Wedner Marcia J. Weiss Dr. Louis Weiss Marcia J. Weiss Anne C. Weiss

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Leonard Cohen’s 1973 Yom Kippur War concerts to be dramatized in TV series by ‘Shtisel’ writer

reported the news on Monday.

that they were moved by his support.

By Gabe Friedman | JTA

Leonard Cohen’s momentous trip to the Sinai Desert to perform for Israeli soldiers in the wake of the Yom Kippur War is being turned into a drama tized TV series.

“Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai” will be written by Yehonatan Indursky, a co-creator of “Shtisel,” the landmark Israeli drama about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem, according to Variety, which

The limited series, an adaptation of jour nalist Matti Friedman’s 2022 book of the same name, will film in Israel in 2024. It’s being co-produced by Keshet, the Israeli company that has also produced shows such as “Prisoners of War,” which was adapted for U.S. audiences as “Homeland.”

Cohen’s trip to the frontlines of the 1973 war became a turning point in the way the folk troubadour incorporated his Jewishness into his songs — for instance, his 1974 album “New Skin for the Old Ceremony” featured “Who By Fire,” a song inspired by the Yom Kippur “Unataneh Tokef” prayer. Despite

being internationally famous, Cohen slept in an army sleeping bag, ate army rations and performed a series of concerts for on-edge soldiers, who decades later told Friedman

“In October 1973 the poet and singer Leonard Cohen — 39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end — traveled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and blood of the Yom Kippur War,” the show’s press materials read.

“Moving around the front with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into a global crisis and met hundreds of fighting men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Cohen’s audi ence knew his songs might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot the experience.” PJC

— MUSIC —

p Leonard Cohen performs in Hamburg, Germany, May 4, 1970.

Photo by Gunter Zint/1970 K& K Ulf Kruger

OHG/Redferns/Getty Images

Smiles and sanitation

No Place for Hate

Thankful volunteers

We’re no turkeys

Temple Emanuel of South Hills’ environmental sustainability committee participated in a roadside cleanup in Mt. Lebanon.

p Marty Altschul, Sarah Mangan and Sarah Levinthal beautify the neighborhood. Photo courtesy of Temple Emanuel of South Hills

For the past two years, Community Day School has earned the No Place for Hate designation banner by designing lessons on inclusion, respect and anti-bias. The No Place for Hate committee has strived to create a thriving school community where all feel welcome.

p Community Day School students hold a signed No Place for Hate pledge. Photo courtesy of Community Day School

Volunteers served lunch to Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh staff and students. The annual pre-Thanksgiving feast included turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, jello and, of course, pickles.

p Dr. Robert Davis and Ben Davis dispense jello.

p Becky Goldwasser, Diana Lemkov and Maya Beck are ready to serve lunch. Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

p Lev Wedner

Photos courtesy of Community Day School