Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 12-9-22

Family Forum seeks to prevent adults with disabilities from

By David Rullo | Sta Writer

Judy Cohen and Cindy Vayonis want to make it easier for parents of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to network with, and learn from, one another.

They co-chair a new program, the Family Forum, created in partnership with The Branch (formerly Jewish Residential Services) and Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh. Cohen, a past JRS president, and Vayonis, who served on Friendship Circle’s board, are both parents of adult children served by the organizations.

The genesis of the Family Forum, Cohen said, began with the fear of children “graduating to the couch.”

“Kids who have disabilities, after they graduate from high school programs or special schools like the Children’s Institute, where our children went, or high school with an IEP, often their opportunities are limited,” she said. “A lot of parents say they ‘graduate to the couch’ because they stay home, and there’s not a lot for

them in the community.”

JRS first sought to combat that outcome with Families in Transition, a committee formed to help parents concerned with housing needs, meaningful day activities, respite and transportation, among other issues.

Eventually, JRS, through the advocacy of Families in Tradition, set up group homes in Squirrel Hill.

“But it’s really broader than just housing,” Cohen said. “It’s really not Families in Transition, anymore. Our kids have gotten older. We looked at three broad areas that families are concerned about: housing, meaningful day activities, and then — the one that resonates most with me and a lot of families — what would happen to our kids if we’re not here to take care of them.”

“Long-term planning,” Vayonis said.

Family Forum, Cohen said, will provide opportunities to network and learn about

Pittsburgher named international president of Conservative movement’s umbrella group

By David Rullo | Sta Writer

Visitors to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism offices might find a few black and gold menorahs or dreidels adorning the space this year.

On Dec. 11, Pittsburgh native Andy Schaer begins his tenure as international president of the USCJ, the umbrella organization of Conservative Judaism in North America and the largest Conservative Jewish communal body in the world. He assumes the role after serving as the organization’s vice president and, before that, its treasurer.

Schaer grew up in Churchill and attended Tree of Life Congregation with what he called his “moderately observant family,” who were not steeped in the Conservative movement.

It was after college, when he returned to Pittsburgh, that Schaer became more involved with congregational life. He served as both the vice president of education and fundraising at

 Residents of Goldberg House, a Community Living Arrangement established by The Branch in partnership with Verland, at a sukkah-decorating event. A new program, the Family Forum, helps parents network and coordinate long-term needs for their loved ones. Photo courtesy of The Branch

 Andy Schaer will be installed as the USCJ international president this month.

Photo courtesy of Andy Schaer

Pittsburgh Secular Jewish Community marks 10 years together and looks to grow

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

en years, and countless holiday meals later, the Pittsburgh Secular Jewish Community marked its tin anniversary.The event held in May was an informal gathering due to the pandemic, the group’s founder, Susan Kershner Forrest, said.

As the PSJC looks ahead, its ability to stay connected is a testament to the richness its members add to each other’s lives, Forrest said.

Lori Levin, who charts her involvement with PSJC “from the beginning,” agreed.

“It’s like a family to me,” Levin said. “We know that we are going to celebrate our holi days together. We support each other with whatever we are going through in our personal lives. We are just with each other.”

That sense of community and connection was what drove Forrest to launch the group a decade ago. At the time, Forrest’s children were aging, she didn’t have family in Pittsburgh and she and her husband were looking for people to celebrate the holidays with, she said.

While all that was happening, Miriam Jerris, a rabbi with the Society for Humanistic Judaism, visited Pittsburgh.

According to the denomination’s website, “Humanistic Judaism celebrates Jewish life while foregoing appeals for divine inter vention, instead putting our faith in human reason and human power as the best vehicles for improving the world.”

Following the rabbi’s Pittsburgh talk, Forrest reached out to Jerris about starting a local group.

Ferris told Forrest that there were others in the area who also were interested in

Humanistic Judaism. As Forrest started calling around, she discovered that Jerris was right and that there were fellow Pittsburgh Jews with similar philosophies.

Although PSJC never officially aligned with the Society for Humanistic Judaism, several

Jewish Pittsburghers began gathering.

Deb Polk, a member of PSJC “since the very beginning,” told the Chronicle that the value of the group is that it “met an unmet need.”

“We are all very proudly Jewish and, for the most part, atheists or agnostics,” Forrest said.

“We love the cultural parts of the holidays, the food, a lot of the things that don’t have a God component.”

Levin said she was drawn to PSJC largely due to its distinctiveness.

“I was looking for a community that didn’t involve membership dues and didn’t revolve around prayer services,” she said, adding that since its inception, PSJC has satisfied those requirements.

“It’s a secular group where you can talk and eat,” Levin said. “And there is going to be good conversation, and there will be good food.”

Carol Zisowitz has attended PSJC meetups for the past three years.

“It’s stimulating,” she said. “We often have very good discussions. We have very nice parties and I’ve made some friends.”

“I was uncomfortable in synagogue — I really don’t believe most of the things they say or read — this was a way to be among other Jews who felt the same way I did,” she added.

Zisowitz, like other PSJC members, encour ages new people to join. The group meets the second Sunday of every month. Details are available on PSJC’s Facebook page.

“We welcome anyone,” Zisowitz said. “It’s totally secular. We don’t discuss anything like whether God exists. People are warm and welcoming and we have interesting discussions.”

“We are not a closed intimate group that isn’t interested in welcoming new people,” Forrest said.

Polk agreed, and said, “If they are interested we would love to have them come and check us out.” PJC

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

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p PSJC members gather for a Chanukah celebration. Photo courtesy of Susan Kershner Forrest

“We support each other with whatever we are going through in our personal lives.

We are just with each other.”

—LORI LEVIN

Local educator uses classroom to combat antisemitism

Adam Reinherz | Sta Writer

Depending on the day, William Paull might teach 260 eighth-graders. As much as the West Jefferson Hills School District educator is focused on each student’s literacy skills and reading comprehension, he also is worried about the silences.

“We talk about how important it is when you see something or hear something and you stand back, you are just as guilty,” he said.

While Paull imparts this message throughout the year, for the next several months he and his students are using the Holocaust as a prism.

Between November and January Paull’s curriculum will rely on familiar texts. There’s Eli Wiesel’s “Night,” Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” John Boyne’s “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” poetry from Martin Niemöller and historical accounts of children who lived, and perished, during the Shoah.

Instructional time, Paull explained, is dedicated to reading and discussing texts, but also to addressing jokes, memes, slurs and listeners’ responsibilities.

The importance of being an upstander, and calling out hatred or persecution, is a lesson that’s historically dictated and applicable today, Paull told the Chronicle.

“In 1932, people were just being disrespectful

to Jews and others who were not considered real Germans,” he said. “It slowly evolved from hate to something more serious.”

The fact that these attitudes led to genocide is critical, Paull noted: “We have to be careful because this history wasn’t that long ago. That’s what makes these lessons and this unit so important.”

About 10-15% of Paull’s students are Jewish, he said.

Some pupils share their family histories. Most are encountering Holocaust education for the first time.

As opposed to focusing on “the brutalities of the Holocaust,” Paull addresses the 10-12 years that preceded the extermination of 6 million Jews. By relying on timelines, and honing in on changing societal behaviors, Paul charts how a culturally advanced community could devolve.

Part of the purpose is to help students realize that the seemingly simplest of prejudices and slights can progress.

“It’s not so far-fetched to imagine what’s going on here,” he said.

Within his classroom, Paull talks about racist memes or comments people post online, and how left unchecked those remarks could portend disaster.

“If we don’t start teaching the youth about these wild events that took place, that started with a mean saying, [then a post] or a text could lead to something much greater that affects all of us,” he said.

Paull, 35, isn’t Jewish. He said his passion for teaching children about the Holocaust and the need to end hate began almost 15 years ago. As an undergraduate student at Duquesne University, he enrolled in a special topics class offered at the University of Pittsburgh.

The instructors covered the Holocaust and invited a survivor to speak.

“I always had the common knowledge about what went on during World War II — the rise of Hitler, what led to the Holocaust — but not until that class did I realize what needed to be

learned from the Holocaust,” Paull said.

Ever since that class, and becoming a teacher, Paull has tried to impart the lesson to his students that the Holocaust isn’t a story of numbers but of individuals and decisions.

Given the age and scarcity of survivors, Paull has opened his classroom to descendants of survivors. He said these interactions have helped young people understand a period — and its generational effects — that is quickly being forgotten.

According to a 2020 survey by the Claims Conference, the lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z is alarming.

Sixty-three percent of survey respondents didn’t know that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Shoah. Additionally, 48% of survey respondents couldn’t name a single concentration camp or ghetto.

Within the report, each of the 50 states was ranked based on its Holocaust Knowledge Score — scores were determined by the percentage of millennials and Gen Z adults who have “definitely heard about the Holocaust”; can name “at least one concentration camp, death camp or ghetto”; and also know that “6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.”

Despite faring in the top 10, Pennsylvania’s results are concerning.

Forty-five percent of Pennsylvania survey

Police respond to alarm at Tree of Life building

Pittsburgh Police responded to a burglar alarm last week at the Tree of Life building, leading to a brief investigation. No evidence of criminal activity was found, according to Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

“There was nothing there,” Brokos said. “No forced entry, no suspicious activity, nothing on the video.”

Officials are investigating the reason for the triggering of the alarm, which was reported on Nov. 30 around 9:30 p.m.

At the time of the initial police investigation, a person connected to the congregation reported the existence of online threats against the building, but Brokos called that a “mischaracterization.”

According to the security director, an out-of-state individual tweeted that they would be coming to the Tree of Life building to stage a protest. Local police were alerted, but nothing materialized.

Brokos said that police plan to increase patrols near the building. PJC

David Rullo

— LOCAL —

 Students participate in a Holocaust educational activity. Photo courtesy of William Paull  Holocaust educational materials created by William Paull's students.

Photo courtesy of William Paull

A Birthright for Christians: Passages sends young adults to Israel

students from their various programs. That soon expanded to public universities and colleges, as well.

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Have you heard about the organization subsidizing curated trips to Israel for college students and young adults?

While Birthright Israel has done this work for decades for young Jews, another group is doing something similar — for Christians.

Passages is a Christian organization that believes introducing students to Israel will strengthen the foundation of their Christian faith and give them important leadership tools.

The organization pays approximately two-thirds of the cost of the trip and has shep herded nearly 9,000 18-to-30-year-old students to the Jewish state since its launch in 2016. It has relationships with over 600 schools and organizations.

Passages was founded by board members who noticed that Christian tourists to Israel were primarily from an older generation and that Christian support for Israel was beginning to wane, said Serene Hudson, Passages’ vice pres ident of advocacy. They saw an opportunity for young Christians to tour the country as a kind of spiritual rite of passage to connect the next generation to Israel, their faith and the Bible.

The organization, Hudson explained, began partnering with Christian universities and colleges, offering them a chance to recruit

“By word of mouth, our alumni were sharing the opportunity with their friends. We had chaplains and faculty also coming on these trips, telling their colleagues, so eventually there were more people that desired to partner with us,” she said.

The program is open to all who self-identify as members of the Christian faith, Hudson said.

“We have a special Catholic track and initiative that is geared toward their experience of the Holy Land, and bring Catholic priests. We are quite ecumenical, so we have Protestant mainline, Evangelical, Catholic — we even have Assyrian/ Chaldean leaders that have come with us through the Eastern Christian Leadership Initiative.”

The program, Hudson said, has three main objectives:

— To help Christians discover their roots by creating a faith connection to Israel and the land of the Bible, taking them to both Jewish and Christian sites. Hudson said the importance of the heritage that Christianity has received from Judaism and the Torah is taught.

— Experience modern-day Israel by engaging with the culture of the people who live there, including Palestinians. A range of speakers discuss the geo-political situation, culture and technology connected to the land.

— Allow the students to tell their stories when they go back to campus.

Like many group trips, Passages begins its exploration of Israel in Tel Aviv. From there, its participants travel to Nazareth, visiting the Church of the Annunciation and other sites before going to the Sea of Galilee and locations believed to be connected to the life of Jesus. The missions then travel to Jerusalem, exploring both Jewish and Christian sites, including Yad Vashem, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

And while students interact with Arab resi dents in East Jerusalem and hear from different Palestinian speakers, Hudson said those inter actions are curated, explaining that there are debriefing sessions most nights to answer questions and to ensure the students recognize the rhetoric in a holistic way.

Hudson said the organization is aware of how missions with buses of Christian students might look to the Jewish community, so there is a “no proselytizing policy,” which everyone must agree to in writing before the trip. The tour also impresses upon the students the history of Christian antisemitism and what that has meant for Jewish-Christian relations.

“We try to impress upon them the need for sensitivity and to really hear the concerns from the Jewish perspective,” she said. “One of the key conversations they have is with an obser vant Jewish woman who talks about the Jewish perspective on evangelism. It’s a very, very chal lenging conversation for them because many of them are not exposed to that.”

Returning students, Hudson said, are

more likely to stand up against antisemitism, including BDS, on their campuses. A number of them continue with the organization’s lead ership program.

In fact, the trip to Israel is just one phase of a larger, leadership program developed by Passages that includes a focus on the roots of Christianity, the biblical redemptive narrative, Jewish-Christian relations, the modern history of Israel and trip logistics and preparation.

Phase two is the Israel trip followed by the Passages Capstone, a course that expands on the themes of the trip and allows participants to apply lessons in several short assignments after which they are welcomed into the Passages Leaders Network as alumni.

p Young adults on a recent Passages trip to Israel Photo courtesy of Passages

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 FRIDAY, DEC. 9

National Council of Jewish Women is proud to host teen leaders from Allderdice High School’s Black Student Union as they present Why Racism Is Systemic: Media and Race. This popular series is led by local teens who research an issue and present their findings and lived experience. Noon. ncjwpghevents.org/upcoming-events.

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 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 invite 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 SUNDAYS, DEC. 11 – JAN. 22

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 MONDAYS, DEC. 12 – JAN. 23

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

q MONDAYS, DEC. 12 – 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. 14 – 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 .

q THURSDAY, DEC. 15

Join NCJW for a Working Mom Support Group for mothers who work outside the home. Facilitated by group therapist Cortney Seltman, there will be snacks, tea, support, a babysitter and a chance to vibe with other moms like you. This event is for anyone who identifies as a mom. Free. 7 p.m. 1620 Murray Ave. ncjwpghevents. org/upcoming-events.

q SUNDAY, DEC. 18

Join the National Council of Jewish Women for Mitzvah in a Moment. Make Chanukah cookies for reproductive healthcare providers. 3 p.m. 1620 Murray Avenue. ncjwpghevents.org/ upcoming-events.

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 (J-JEP) 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 make 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/minimitzvah-day-blood-drive-south-hills-jcc and use code C438. For the Squirrel Hill location, register at jewishpgh.org/event/mini-mitzvahday-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

Philanthropists call on Jewish community to increase investment in Birthright

Following the recent announcement that budget cuts will cause Birthright Israel to cut up to one-third of its trip participants in 2023 and beyond, the leading philanthropic supporters of the program on Nov. 29 called upon Jews and Jewish organizations worldwide to become “fellow investors” in the organization that provides free 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults, JNS.org reported.

“We are creating space for others to commit, to re-commit or to increase their commitment. Birthright is not an Adelson family investment. It is an investment in us all, in our collective, communal future,” said Dr. Miriam Adelson, who, along with her late husband Sheldon Adelson, through the Adelson Family Foundation, has contributed nearly $500 million to Birthright during the past 15 years.

Adelson and Charles Bronfman addressed the Birthright Israel Foundation’s board meeting via video conference after Birthright announced last week that due to inflation and rising travel expenses that have increased the per-person cost of the experience to $4,500, the organization is “now seeking contri butions from the wider American-Jewish community to maintain the organization’s

provision of the critical program.”

American Jews who attend Birthright trips are 160% more likely to have a spouse who is Jewish, according to a recently published analysis by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.

Jewish passengers booted off Lufthansa flight in May are getting $20,000 payouts

Nearly seven months after they were denied boarding in Frankfurt, a group of more than 100 Chasidic Lufthansa passen gers are getting paid for their troubles, JTA.org reported

The airline is paying each passenger $20,000 plus giving them $1,000 to reim burse them for expenses incurred during the May incident, according to Dan’s Deals, the discount travel website that first reported the incident at the time. After legal fees and some other expenses, each passenger will net approximately $17,400, the site is reporting.

Lufthansa would not confirm the dollar figures but said that it is seeking to settle with each of the affected passengers, capping a series of conciliatory responses to the incident.

On May 4, airline agents in Frankfurt barred many Jewish travelers coming from New York City from boarding their connecting flight to Budapest, citing the fact that some of the passengers were not wearing masks, as was required at the time. But that rule was applied inconsistently, passengers

Today in Israeli History

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

Dec. 9, 1987 — First Intifada breaks out Riots erupt in the Gaza Strip and West Bank in response to a fatal army truck crash the previous day, marking the start of the First Intifada. The violence kills 900 Palestinians and 100 Israelis by the end of 1991.

Dec. 10, 2000 — Barak resigns as prime minister

Prime Minister Ehud Barak submits his resignation and calls for a special election. He hopes for a national vote of confidence in a direct election against Ariel Sharon but wins only 37% of the votes.

Dec. 11, 1947 — End of British Mandate is announced Arthur Creech Jones, the British colonial secre tary, opens a C ommons debate about Palestine by revealing that the British Mandate will end May 15, 1948, and that all troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 1.

said at the time, and a Lufthansa supervisor was caught on video speaking disparagingly about Jewish passengers as a group.

Global Index: Tel Aviv drops from first to third-most expensive city

Tel Aviv is no longer the most expensive city in the world, dropping from first place last year to third in the 2022 Worldwide Cost of Living Index, released on Nov. 30 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, JNS.org reported.

New York City and Singapore shared the top spot, with Hong Kong and Los Angeles tying for fourth place. Zurich, Geneva, San Francisco, Paris and Copenhagen placed five through 10, respectively.

The index is compiled by comparing prices in U.S. dollars for goods and services in 172 major cities around the world, with data showing that average cost of living in those places jumping by 8.1% compared to 2021.

“The war in Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russia and China’s zero-Covid policies have caused supply-chain problems that, combined with rising interest rates and exchange-rate shifts, have resulted in a costof-living crisis across the world,” Upasana Dutt, head of worldwide cost of living at EIU, said in a statement.

Loan company SoFi pulls ad after criticism that it features an antisemitic stereotype

An ad for a student loan refinancing

company was pulled after complaints that it features a stereotypical dishonest Jewish banker, JTA.org reported.

In the ad, for the company SoFi, a young couple is harassed by a schlubby, balding middle-aged man who dumps out the contents of the woman’s purse searching for change, then kisses and pockets a stack of dollar bills. Later, the man — who is wearing glasses, a gold watch and a tweed jacket — is shown hoarding their dinner at a restaurant, stealing their blankets in bed and using their sink to brush his teeth.

“I know what it says to [a] non-Jew like me,” Rhonda Moore, a real-estate appraiser in Ottawa, Canada, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It says to me, ‘Refinance with us and don’t let Jews steal your money.’”

That wasn’t what the ad’s creators intended: They said the meant the char acter to fit the archetype of a professor. But following a JTA inquiry inspired by Moore’s questions, the company said Wednesday that it would pull the commercial.

“Out of an abundance of caution, given the current rise in antisemitism, we are working to take down this advertisement as quickly as possible,” SoFi said in a statement.

The ad was produced by the company’s in-house creative team and had been running since late October. PJC

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

Dec. 12, 1920 — Histadrut is founded

The General Federation of Jewish Labor, known as the Histadrut, is founded in Haifa as an independent trade union for Jewish workers in Palestine. David Ben-Gurion is elected secretarygeneral in 1921.

Dec. 13, 1949 — Mossad is established

Reuven Shiloah, a Foreign Ministry special operations officer, is assigned the task of launching and leading the Institute for Collating and Coordinating Intelligence Operations, commonly known as the Mossad.

Dec. 14,

1981 — Israel annexes Golan Heights

The Knesset votes 63-21 in favor of surprise legislation to annex the Golan Heights — captured in 1967 — and apply Israeli law there in place of military administration. The Labor Party boycotts the vote.

Dec. 15, 1999 — U.S. fund buys stake in Israeli water

San Francisco-based venture fund Aqua International Partners buys a 25% stake in Israeli bottled water company Mayanot Eden (Eden Springs) for $47.5 million, financing the company’s expansion into Europe. PJC

— WORLD —

p British Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones (left) speaks with Moshe Sharett, the Jewish Agency’s representa tive to the United Nations, in March 1948.

p A 1950 poster declares that an immigrant worker’s place is in the Histadrut.

Blinken: US will judge Israeli government on its policies, not its politicians

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will base its relationship to Israel’s incoming government on the actions it takes, not the people installed in positions of power, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a speech Sunday.

Blinken’s speech, to the conference of the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, was notable because it offered the first official response to deepening questions about how the White House would work with a Israeli government that includes far-right parties. Until now, sources close to the administration had suggested that the White House could decline to meet with those parties’ leaders.

Blinken said the Biden administration would “continue to unequivocally oppose any acts that undermine the prospects of a two-state solution, including, but not limited to, settlement expansion; moves toward annexation of the West Bank; disruption to the historic status quo at holy sites; demolitions and evictions; and incite ment to violence.”

The speech drew criticism from some J Street followers for stopping short of dealing firmly with an incoming Israeli government that they feel is taking aim at some of Israel’s core democratic principles.

“I had zero expectations for Blinken’s speech. And he couldn’t even meet those,” said Richard Goldwasser, a former J Street board member from Chicago, on Twitter. “Pablum on Xanax.”

The theme of J Street’s conference this year was battling anti-democratic forces in Israel and in the United States. Jeremy Ben-Ami, in his opening speech Saturday night, unveiled the group’s new motto, “Pro Israel, pro-peace, pro democracy”; the “pro-democracy” element was new. Ben-Ami drew a contrast with J Street’s main rival, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

AIPAC drew liberal Jewish criticism after its launch last year of a political action committee that backed an array of candi dates it perceived to be pro-Israel, ranging from progressive to far right. It has also declined to comment on the likely inclu sion in Netanyahu’s government of far right extremists, including Itamar Ben-Gvir, a disciple of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane.

“So rather than focusing on defeating the white nationalists and the election deniers, with whom most of Jewish America has

nothing in common, they instead are spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat liberal and progressive candidates who may or may not have once in their lives uttered a critical word about Israeli policy,” Ben-Ami said. “Organizations that failed to call out

do not speak for us.”

Perry of Pennsylvania, Biggs of Arizona and Jordan of Ohio have all to varying degrees endorsed the election lies by President Donald Trump that spurred the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

J Street’s conference was focused on democracy in the United States at times to the exclusion of the issue that founded the organization in 2008, Israeli-Palestinian peace. In a 30-minute keynote speech Saturday night, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Jewish Democratic congressman from Maryland known for his constitutional expertise, barely mentioned Israel.

“I know that you know what it means to be pro-Israel and pro-peace,” Raskin said. “And I want to just discuss for my time with you tonight what it means to be a pro-democ racy American in 2022 in a rather frightful world where so many people have turned to propaganda and conspiracy theory and disinformation and fanaticism and author itarianism.” He was interrupted multiple times by applause.

AIPAC noted J Street’s absence of conven tional pro-Israel content. “Not a word of praise for Israel,” the organization said in a tweet attached to a photo of Ben-Ami speaking at the conference. “Not a single recognition of Israel’s achievements or value. Not a single embrace of the Israeli people.”

Noa, the Israeli singer-songwriter, also appeared on Saturday night, singing songs that had been penned by PalestinianIsraelis. She likened the relationship of the Jewish Diaspora to Israel to that of a mother to a daughter, saying that mothers need to look out for the children, whatever tensions may arise.

“The Jewish people needs to help the maturing child,” she said, reflecting a theme that repeated itself throughout the confer ence: that a voice like J Street was especially needed at a time of crisis in its democracy.

“The worst thing we could do is walk away,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the director of T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights group.

Blinken did speak about the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, reflecting the pessimistic mood in the room but saying that he believed progress could still be achieved.

“I know that many people are disillu sioned,” he said. “Many people are frustrated.  We’ve been trying to get to a two-state solu tion for decades, and yet it seems that we’ve only gotten further away from that goal. But we cannot afford to give up hope. We cannot succumb to cynicism. We cannot give in to apathy. It’s precisely when times are difficult — when peace seems even further from reach — that we’ve simply got to work harder, that we must continue to pursue whatever openings we can to show that progress is still possible.”

the Ben-Gvirs and the [Bezalel] Smotriches of Israel while endorsing the Jim Jordans, the Andy Biggs, the Scott Perrys here in the U.S.

p Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., on March 21. Photo by Kevin LaMarque/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

“It’s precisely when times are difficult — when peace seems even further from reach — that we’ve simply got to work harder, that we must continue to pursue whatever openings we can to show that progress is still possible.”

—U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN

Michigan man charged with ‘ethnic intimidation’ after harassing synagogue-goers over Israel

members of the synagogue’s security team.

By Philissa Cramer | JTA

Aman who was waved away by local police after hassling people arriving at one of the Detroit area’s largest synagogues on Friday was arrested Sunday on charges of “ethnic intimidation.”

Hassan Chokr was arrested Sunday, two days after video emerged showing local police questioning and releasing him, even after he said he intended to head to another synagogue.

Chokr had allegedly shouted antisemitic and racist threats outside at Temple Beth El, a Reform synagogue in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as families were dropping children at the early childhood center on Friday morning. Beth El was Michigan’s first Jewish congregation, and its architecturally significant building looms over the sprawl of Bloomfield Hills, one of Detroit’s most heavily Jewish suburbs.

“He was hostile and verbally abusive, shouting profanity about ‘F Israel’ and ‘F the Jews’ — and threatening people, yelling at them that if they support Israel, they will pay or he will get them,” Rabbi Mark Miller, Temple Beth El’s senior rabbi, told the Detroit Free Press. Miller said Chokr also used racist language against

The incident comes amid a spate of alarming threats to synagogues in multiple states. In New Jersey last month, an 18-year-old man who had pledged allegiance to ISIS was charged with making a broad threat that affected all of the state’s synagogues, while a man who allegedly posted threats to synagogues online was arrested after traveling to New York City and obtaining weapons.

“Anti-semitic and racist threats or ethnic intimidation of any kind, will not be tolerated in our community,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a statement announcing the charges against Chokr on Sunday. McDonald created the suburban Detroit county’s first hate crimes office last year.

The charges followed criticism of the Bloomfield Township Police Department for their handling of their first encounter with Chokr after they responded to a call from Beth El’s security director. “The subject was released from the scene pending further investigation and was advised not to return to the Temple Beth El,” the department said in a statement posted to Facebook on Friday.

A video of the traffic stop filmed by a man identifying himself as Chokr and posted by the social media handle “FreedomFighterHassan” shows the encounter in more detail; the

police indicated that the video was of the actual traffic stop.

In the video, Chokr tells officers that he does not have any weapons and that he was exercising his freedom of religion by asking synagogue-goers whether they support Israel. He also uses racist language to describe Black people and tells the officers that he did not want to get a Jewish lawyer, as he said some had urged him to, because “Jewish people are killing my people.” Agreeing not to return to the synagogue that day, he then says, “I’m headed to another synagogue.”

At the end of the traffic stop, Chokr is told he is free to go as an officer gives him a fist bump and he is told, “Do us a favor and don’t go back.”

The fist bump and seemingly genial exchange ignited concerns from local Jews and national antisemitism watchdogs concerned that officers had not responded adequately.

“As a parent of Temple Beth El, I’m beyond disappointed with the law enforcement protocol and the little action taken,” one local woman commented on the police department’s first post. “Disappointed [is] an understatement.”

A police department lieutenant told the Detroit Free Press about the officers’ behavior, “There are some concerns about that.”

Still, the police department defended itself

in a second Facebook post Sunday announcing that an arrest had been made.

“We are aware of the social media posts and videos of this traffic stop that are circulating,” the statement said. “Our officers accomplished the goal of identifying the subject while using de-escalation techniques. ... We are unable to comment on specific investigative techniques, but we were able to assess that subsequent to the traffic stop the subject would not be an imminent threat to the community.”

Chokr was arrested by police in his home city of Dearborn, about 30 miles from Bloomfield Hills, and will remain in custody until his arraignment on two counts of ethnic intimidation, according to the police statement and local media reports. PJC

60 years

Pittsburgh

the news you need and the stories you want to read.

That’s something to celebrate.

To 120! Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org | 724.713.8874

 Temple Beth El of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as seen in 2008

Photo by Dave Parker, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Birthright imperative

It’s hard to think of today’s Jewish world without Birthright Israel.

Sending groups of young Jews to Israel for 10 days at no cost to them and letting the country work its magic on their Jewish identities seems like such a no-brainer that it can be surprising to learn that Birthright has only been around since 1999. The consensus, and we share it, is that Birthright Israel is one of the most successful Jewish innova tions of our time.

One way to judge how central Birthright has become to our North American Jewish core is by the howls that went up when it was learned that the Adelson Family Foundation was cutting back on its annual contribution.

Since 2007, the Adelson Foundation has been the largest donor to Birthright, having contributed nearly $500 million over the past 15 years. The announcement that the foun dation would reduce its annual gift to $20 million this year and to $10 million next year was quickly followed by the announcement that Birthright was scaling back its opera tions by up to a third. Before the pandemic, Birthright was taking 45,000 participants to Israel every year. Next year, only 23,000 participants are projected.

Birthright officials acknowledge that the reduction in the Adelson Foundation gift is not a surprise. It has been in the works since 2016. Yet for whatever reason, Birthright has not been able to secure supplemental funding to make up for the shortfall they knew was coming. Instead, they cut back

Unleashing our superpowers

Guest Columnist Nancy Strichman

Iwas sitting with my friend Racheli early one morning last fall at an Ashkelon community center as she fielded urgent phone calls, dealt with logistics for an upcoming event and welcomed surprise

visitors with warmth and generosity. I could only marvel at the seamless way she handled it all. More crises came up. More calm. Each time Racheli seemed able to leap another tall building in a single bound. As the pace of this continued into the next hour and her grace stayed intact, I began searching behind her chair for a Wonder Woman cape.

And while I can happily add more to her list of heroic skills here, Racheli Tadesa

on the program. That is unfortunate. But perhaps this is the wake-up call needed to remind us of the importance of the program and to make clear why no one should take it for granted.

Last month, researchers at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University reported that in comparing Jews who had taken a Birthright trip with Jews who had never been to Israel, Birthright participants were 85% more likely to be “somewhat/very” attached to Israel and 160% more likely to have a spouse who is Jewish. Those statistics are compelling. We urge efforts to expand communal and institutional support for Birthright. To be sure, despite the widespread belief that Birthright is funded by a few very wealthy Jews, the Birthright Foundation currently

has nearly 40,000 annual donors. The Israeli government provides a large portion of Birthright’s estimated $150 million annual budget. And according to the 2018 annual report — the most recent available — 17 donors gave $1 million or more.

We recognize that there are aspects of the Birthright program that give some donors pause. For example, some critics aren’t happy with how the program deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even so, Birthright is doing exactly what it was created to do and what the Jewish world has come to expect. Indeed, because of its success, Birthright has become an essential Jewish rite of passage almost on par with bar and bat mitzvahs.

Birthright deserves meaningfully expanded communal support. PJC

Malkai is indeed most famous for her superpower of building community. It is a fitting origin story to an epic adventure. Back in 2017, at 2 a.m., after getting her newborn to sleep, she decided on the spot to send a Facebook post inviting other Ethiopian women living in Israel to join her in co-creating a new kind of community for themselves. It was her own version of a leap for humankind, a call out to the universe. It was something Racheli had been

thinking about for some time — this idea of how to cheer herself on, and at the same time champion other women from her community. Here she was — a wife, a mother of three, a sister of seven brothers, a daughter of parents who had left everything in Ethiopia decades ago to come to Israel.

Racheli was figuring out how to make her own bold journey in a land with lots

A rock star channels Jewish outrage at antisemitism

Guest Columnist

Eric Fusfield

The antisemitic utterances of Kyrie Irving and Ye (formerly Kanye West) prompted condemnations from many celebrities, both those with Jewish back grounds and those who weren’t Jewish but who issued solemn pledges of support for their Jewish friends and colleagues. Oscarwinning actress Reese Witherspoon went as far as to tweet, “This is a very scary time,” to which one follower chimed in with an anti-Israel rejoinder.

Solemnity, however, unexpectedly yielded to outrage at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction cere mony in Los Angeles. What was no doubt expected to be one of the evening’s least momentous junctures, the honoring of lawyer-agent Allen Grubman, turned into a consciousness-raising session when rock star John Mellencamp took the stage for a profanity-laden introduction speech.

“Allen is Jewish, and I bring that up for one reason,” Mellencamp said. “I’m a gentile, and my life has been enriched by countless Jewish people.”

Mellencamp then turned it up a notch. “I cannot tell you how f***ing important

it is to speak out if you’re an artist against antisemitism,” he continued. “Here’s the trick: Silence is complicity. I’m standing here tonight loudly and proudly with Allen, his family and all of my Jewish friends and all of the Jewish people of the world.

F*** antisemitism!”

Whoa.

What was surprising about Mellencamp’s speech was not his principled stance, but the sheer indignation and the unbottled emotion that gave voice to it. For millions of Jews who have fearfully observed the growing normalization of antisemitic motifs in today’s popular culture, such a righteous outburst was surely a welcome surprise, but it begged a question for the entertainment industry: “Where have you been until now?”

We sometimes temper our responses to hatred, perhaps out of decorum, perhaps out of a sense that there may be worse injustices that merit greater attention and outrage. For a culture that rightfully decries racism and

offenses against other marginalized groups, hatred and discrimination toward Jews sometimes receive less opprobrium than the world’s oldest and most persistent social illness warrants.

Some of this is undoubtedly due to the popular conception of Jews as a white, privileged group undeserving of victim status. Another contributor is the prevalent, but demonstrably false, notion of the Jewish state as a white, colonial settler project whose central aim is to displace an indigenous people.

But the mainstreaming of antisemitic atti tudes plays a clear role as well. This is why the antisemitism and anti-Zionism of celeb rities has proven so insidious. Whether it’s in response to Mel Gibson, John Cusack, Roger Waters, Ye, Kyrie Irving and even U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the objections have been some what muted in proportion to the danger that antisemitic pronouncements by celeb rities presents.

Polite tweets and affirmations of support for the Jewish community have been the norm among those who have registered objections. But antisemitic sentiments, like those expressed by Ye and Irving, persist in the public realm.

Enter John Mellencamp. As rock music critic Greil Marcus once wrote, rock and roll is not a “polite, quiet, cerebral” art form.

“If you’re reading a newspaper, that music says, put it down, listen to me.” If someone is going to deliver the passion that the fight against antisemitism requires, it might as well be a rock star, then.

At a time of rising antisemitism, Jews need allies. Particularly helpful are allies with high visibility who can turn the dial on the outrage machine to a volume at which it can be heard by Jews and nonJews alike.

Jews are vexed, fearful and angry at the antisemitism that has manifested itself across the political and social strata and injected itself into the popular culture. On a night in Los Angeles before a national television audience, Mellencamp channeled our indignation and used his platform to spread it. Will other celebrities follow? PJC

Rabbi Eric Fusfield is B’nai B’rith International’s director of legislative affairs and deputy director of its International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy. This article first appeared on JNS.

What was surprising about Mellencamp’s speech was not his principled stance, but the sheer indignation and the unbottled emotion that gave voice to it.

Please

Strichman

Chronicle poll results: Books

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “How many books have you read or listened to this year?” Of the 179 people who responded, 41% said more than 20; 20% said 11-20; 18% said 6-10; 15% said 1-5; and 6% said zero. Comments were submitted by 40 people. A few follow.

One of the pleasures of retirement.

I keep track of my reading on The StoryGraph app and, according to it, the two books I’m currently reading are numbers 67 and 68.

Reading exercises my brain and nourishes my soul. With a book, I am never lonely. As I used to tell my middle school students: “Read a book / Make a friend / The joys of reading / Never ever end.”

I always read two novels per vacation week; and I get 1 week of each summer,

winter and spring beach getaways. Due to reading enough as a lawyer and devouring magazines the other 49 weeks, sadly, that is all I can accomplish.

Every Shabbat afternoon (as well as other times).

I love Audible because, with four credits a month, my kids also get books on my account, so I get to listen to everything they’re listening to as well my own books, which provides an interesting insight into their current interests. I often listen to some books repeatedly to refresh my memory. It’s also a way to discover hidden talents in my children, most notably how my son can listen at 2X. Way too fast for me.

Thank God for free audiobook access for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh card holders! I listen to a book a week on average. This was one of the bonuses of COVID — a phenomenal discovery that has changed and enriched my life immeasurably.

I take time to read every day. It’s quiet time that I value highly. All of my reading is done with hard copy books. Barnes & Noble and library book sales are favorite destinations of mine.

I have read three books a month for book groups plus another 25 or so just for me. I can’t understand why people don’t read.

Streaming is killing reading. We used to be the people of the book. Now we’re the people of the stream.

I usually have two or three books going at the same time, to fulfil spiritual, creative, literary and, often, lighthearted needs.

Zero completed, many started. PJC

— Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question:

Does the Chronicle provide an appropriate amount of coverage about the rising tide of antisemitism? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle. org to respond. PJC

Continued from page 10

of opportunity but lots of obstacles, too. She had so much she wanted to learn from others and to share, especially as she had just completed the daunting task of getting her college degree in her early 30s. One truth Racheli instinctually knew was that in helping herself and the women around her, together they could improve the quality of life for many in the Ethiopian community in Israel.

The following morning, after her latenight invitation was sent out, Racheli woke up to messages from about 2,000 Ethiopian women who were ready to join this effort. Her bold move of showing up gave a new kind of opportunity to connect and empower each other. The Facebook community has continued to grow over time as women gave each other encouragement, advice, tough love, referrals and concrete support. This community, built over years now, is grounded in the principles of mutual aid and solidarity.

Within a few years, the network reached well over 17,500 members — about one third of all the women of Ethiopian descent in Israel. Local groups sprouted to meet in person, courses were started, tools were offered to help women who hoped to advance themselves in higher educa tion, in their careers and everything in between. The group also became a platform supporting businesses owned specifically by Ethiopian women, creating a kind of “micro economy of scale.”

Together the community offers a way for women to celebrate each other’s successes, while also giving support when women find themselves in precarious situations such as domestic violence or sexual harassment. Over time, with so many opportunities and so many ideas, Racheli decided to take the next step — to formalize these varied efforts. In 2020, she established Empowering Ethiopian Women, the first nonprofit of its kind in Israel, dedicated exclusively to improving the lives of women of Ethiopian origin in Israel.

skills building workshops. Activities such as English courses and financial webi nars are being offered to the community. Local meet-ups are taking place in cities around the country, like a recent one in Ashkelon where women spoke of successful stories of entrepreneurship.

Racheli’s heroic journey isn’t one in which she went out on a quest to explore foreign lands to search for meaning, leaving all those she loved behind. Rather, her grand adventure is to help other Ethiopian women see their own greatness in their everyday

Ethiopian identity and culture connect to their everyday lives in Israel. Just one of the many examples is the first gala event that took place last spring, honoring their rich Ethiopian heritage and celebrating Ethiopian women who are trailblazers in various fields.

For now, the nonprofit Empowering Ethiopian Women hopes to build on its grassroots culture as it grows. There is a balance of keeping its original spirit at the same time that it moves to a more institutionalized nonprofit model with built-in mechanisms to ensure community engagement. Certainly, it has been a tall order for Racheli along with countless volunteers to answer all the needs of thousands of women on a regular basis. The transition over time can help more and more women leap buildings in a single bound with the needed scaffolding underneath.

Racheli and everyone who is part of Empowering Ethiopian Women are just getting started. Make sure to stay tuned for the next installment. PJC

Through various collaborations their work continues to expand. Examples include everything from a recent partnership with Microsoft, which is providing mentorship to young women studying computer science, to a partner ship with Tech Career for training and

Calling all memories!

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is celebrating 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@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Your submission may be included in our 60th anniversary issue, Dec. 30! PJC

lives. Aside from skills, toolkits and mutual support, it is about understanding indi vidual strengths and collective assets in order to help each other thrive. It is also about honoring the generations of women before them who helped to shape who they are today. Much of their efforts explore how

Nancy Strichman, Ph.D., teaches grad uate courses in evaluation and strategic thinking at the Hebrew University’s Glocal program, a master’s degree in international development. Her research has focused on civil society, specifically on shared society NGOs and gender equality in Israel. She lives with her family in Kiryat Tivon and grew up in Pittsburgh. This article first appeared on The Times of Israel.

Strichman:

Together the community offers a way for women to celebrate each other’s successes, while also giving support when women find themselves in precarious situations such as domestic violence or sexual harassment.

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Forum: Continued from page 1

those areas for families with loved ones who have an intellectual or developmental disability.

Friendship Circle Executive Director Rabbi Mordy Rudolph said his organization — which engages youth and adults with diverse abili ties in a full range of social activities — works to ensure that the transition into adulthood is seamless, productive and as positive an experi ence as possible. Often, though, there is a gap.

“It’s always something we’re aware of,” Rudolph said, “so if there’s something we can do to make the process easier for parents and families, we’re open to do it.”

Family Forum, he said, is one way to

Schaer:

Continued from page 1

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills before being named its executive vice president and, eventually, its president.

“I think during my presidency and since, the congregation has thrived, unlike many,” he said. “I think in large part that’s due to the approach of our rabbis — not so much to my presidency — but really to Rabbis Alex and Amy Greenbaum and their warm, forwardthinking approach.”

Schaer also served on the board of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. He is the father of three and splits his time between his homes in Shadyside and Florida.

Schaer decided to become more involved with the Conservative movement’s leadership after attending several USCJ conventions and seeing the type of work being done by the organization. He realized, he said, there was an opportunity for congregations to work together to address some of the challenges they were facing.

“We can do things together that none of us can do individually, and by doing so we can strengthen the movement,” he said.

Educator:

help families involved with Friendship Circle and The Branch who don’t always overlap.

“Some of our members will graduate into a JRS program immediately, there are some folks who will, right away, move into a JRS group home but obviously, many don’t,” Rudolph said.

While Families in Transition evolved to be more staff-driven, this new committee is fami ly-driven, said Alison Karabin, program director of The Branch and Family Forum liaison.

“I think there are a lot of families thinking — no matter how old they are — what their children or siblings’ lives are going to be like when they’re no longer around, and that’s a really big daunting question,” she said. “I know that’s one of the things Family Forum is going to work on.”

And while there is no set plan for what the Family Forum will look like, Karabin said, it will

“I became very aware that these opportunities existed, and I wanted to get involved. I want there to be a viable Conservative move ment for my kids, and I felt the needs aligned well with my strengths and where I could add value.”

S chaer said that his appointment demonstrates that the USCJ isn’t a New Yorkcentric organization, and there are strong Jewish leaders across the United States who can add value through time or donations to help advance its mission.

The soon-to-be-installed president said he understands that the world is changing and that people are looking for different things from spiritual movements.

“We need to continue to thoughtfully evolve so we stay relevant,” he said. “It starts with understanding the needs of our constituents and results in programming and services that more effectively support and strengthen our synagogues.”

Schaer is particularly passionate about reaching teens in the Conservative movement. To do that, he said, the USCJ must first gain deeper insight into how teens want to engage and what interests them and then provide on-ramps that work for them.

help answer that question.

“I know that’s one of the things this is going to work on — finding information for people and talking about it and helping people to get resources they need to make decisions,” she said.

The involvement of both The Branch and Friendship Circle will help eliminate the need for back-and-forth conversations, Karabin noted. Often, she said, someone will talk about an experience at a Friendship Circle event with a person seated next to them. That person would then talk about that information at a Branch event. The Family Forum will streamline the communication of information for parents.

Karabin said decisions made regarding the care of intellectually or developmentally loved ones can be emotionally wrenching.

“If you’ve fought for advocating for your

“There’s a lot of work to be done, and we’re committed to doing it,” he said. “We’re going to embark on a very aggressive strategic plan, which will include in-depth research to gain the insights needed.”

USCJ le adership, he said, will speak to as many teens as possible and then build programs relevant to them. The programs, he said, won’t necessarily reflect a one-sizefits-all approach; rather, they will be tailored to the needs of congregations. That may mean a program developed for a single shul might be applicable to the entire community, city, all of North America or even globally.

By working this way, Schaer believes teens can find opportunities that are socially, spiritually and intellectually meaningful and, in turn, the USCJ will develop leaders to fill the pipeline of talent within the Conservative movement.

USCJ and Rabbinical Assembly CEO Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal is looking forward to Schaer’s leadership.

“Andy’s commitment to synagogue life, his visionary and patient leadership and menschlikh keit make him an outstanding choice as the next president of USCJ,” Blumenthal said.

Officials at Beth El said in a prepared

child all your lives while they were schoolaged, to decide to let them to live outside the home and have someone else take care of their day-to-day needs, that’s a really big change,” she said. “I think talking to other parents who have gone through that, you really get someone who understand what you’re going through.”

The idea is for parents who have walked the walk to help parents who are just beginning their journey, Vayonis said.

“I want to give back to them because there was no one around to do this for me,” she added. “I feel like we’ve gone down this path, we’re still learning every day, this wasn’t around a few years ago. We’re trying to develop it. I have such good feelings about it,” she said. PJC

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

statement that the congregation was proud of its former president.

“We are proud to see Andy extend his talent with USCJ,” the statement read. “We are happy to support Andy and look forward to seeing the impact he will have on USCJ as the incoming president. Wishing Andy all the best.”

Contemplating his upcoming presidency and what he hopes to accomplish, one word keeps popping up time and again in Schaer’s thoughts — “more.”

“We have a lot of talent in the Conservative movement, and we need more. We need to build a bigger, better talent pipeline for careers in the movement. We need more educators, more clergy. We need executive directors. We need to make these careers more interesting and more relevant to young people,” he said.

In the end, he said, Conservative Judaism’s goals are simple.

“Our effort to keep pace with modernity without sacrificing our authenticity makes us unique and this role interesting and challenging,” he said. PJC

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

Continued from page 4

respondents can’t name a single concentra tion camp or ghetto; 40% don’t know what Auschwitz was; and 59% don’t know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Shoah.

Passages:

Continued from page 5

A group of Passages participants was in Pittsburgh last month visiting sites in the city, including the Tree of Life building, the site of the most violent antisemitic attack in the history of the United States.

Passages spent the last six years developing relationships with some Jewish organizations, including: Hillel on Campus, with which they have sponsored interfaith Shabbat dinner; the Israel on Campus Coalition; and the Israeli embassy, with which they are planning a second year of events at the embassy in Washington, D.C.

Tsipy Gur, founder and executive director of Classroom Without Borders, a Pittsburgh-based organization that educates teachers about the Holocaust, Israel and Jewish history, said the study and recent antisemitic fervor espoused online evidence of a need for renewed educational commitment.

Jordan Eskew, 19, a University of San Diego international relations major who visited Israel with Passages in July, said she thought the trip would be an opportunity to learn more about a country — religiously and politically — that often came up in her studies.

Eskew said that she enjoyed visiting sites mentioned prominently in the Bible like the Sea of Galilee and old Jerusalem. The shuk made a particular impact on her.

“I have a Middle East concentration, so my minor is Arabic,” she said. “Just hearing the different dialects of Hebrew and Arabic in Jerusalem was really cool for me.”

The trip, she said, helped humanize news of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that she often hears about at school or on the news. She said it also helped her understand the effect

“There is no better time to teach about the Holocaust, and to learn from it, than now,” Gur said.

Paull said he hopes his classroom efforts make a difference and that others join him in combating the swell of hate.

“We need to be nicer and more empathetic to other races, religions and beliefs, and learn how

of antisemitism in the States.

“It’s much easier for me to see the human aspect of the people taking the brunt of this hate and the humans behind the antisemitism,” she said. “You gain perspective when you gain those personal relationships and become a bit more protective.”

Vanderbilt junior Anthony Muñoz, who joined a Passages trip in August, said he found the program to be a valuable tool to battle campus antisemitism. It also made him more willing to have conversations with Jewish campus groups, something he might not have done before.

“I’ve had conversations with Jewish families and Hillel on Campus or Chabad and been able to ask them, ‘How do you all do this?’ or ‘How do these things affect you?’ I was meeting with our Hillel director when the Kayne West tweet came

to live together as one,” Paull said. “It sounds very cliche to say that … [but] we all need to be better. I have 260 children I can speak to on a daily basis — I hope I am making an impact — but it really takes everyone.” PJC

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

out and he was able to tell me, ‘This is how this affects the Jewish community as a whole,’ and ‘this is how we see that,’” he said.

Muñoz, who is continuing with the Passages leadership program said the trip helped connect him deeper to his faith and the birth of Christianity.

“It also helped learn more about Jews, how best to talk to them and approach conversation and not take a stance like, ‘You all are others of us,’ and how to approach conversations from an area of love. One of the biggest things for me and my faith is loving others. So, if I can find out how to best love another community, I want to do that 100%,” he said. PJC

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

New book about Kaufmann family details regional and generational impact

ability to remain a viable department store years after shoppers largely moved online.

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

It’s unusual for local news to trump Sunday football, so when journalists Marylynne Pitz and Laura Malt Schneiderman managed to do that following a Steelers game, they knew they were on to something.

Shortly after Macy’s closed the former Kaufmann’s store downtown in late 2015, the journalists collaborated on a digital project for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pitz, an art and architecture reporter, and Schneiderman, a web developer, created “The Kaufmann Legacy,” a collection of text, photos and artwork detailing the family’s professional and philan thropic efforts.

As soon as the website launched, “the comments started blowing up, and we started getting phone calls and emails,” Schneiderman said. “Then we looked at the page views, and the page views were higher that day for our story than for the Steelers.”

“It’s a rare moment,” Pitz said.

After noticing that 40,000 unique viewers had come to learn more about the Kaufmann family and the eponymous department store, Pitz and Schneiderman pitched the idea of

extensive research began.

Schneiderman and Pitz realized their work on “The Kaufmann Legacy” only scratched the “very surface” of what there was to know, they said. Thanks to trips to the Heinz History Center and Fallingwater (a Laurel Highlands home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmann family), Schneiderman and Pitz learned more about the Kaufmanns’ regional impact.

The journalists share those details in a new book, “Kaufmann’s: The Family That Built Pittsburgh’s Famed Department Store.” Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press

on Oct. 18, the 263-page book recounts how brothers Jacob and Isaac Kaufmann joined a community of 19th-century German Jewish merchants — many of whom also arrived in western Pennsylvania with dreams of starting anew — and became millionaires and local icons in mere decades.

“You really had to have drive and work ethic and vision to make all of that happen,” Pitz said of the brothers’ efforts. “Lots of people came here and peddled. Only a fraction of them exceeded and reached the pinnacle of success that the Kaufmanns did.”

“And only one of them was the last one standing,” Schneiderman said of the business’

Even with the Kaufmanns’ financial climb, “behind this enterprise is a family that sort of embodies the glittering heights and the lowest lows,” Schneiderman said. “They were so successful, they functioned so well as a family, a taste-making family, and a family trying to educate the public. At the same time, they had such tragedy in their lives and such dysfunction in some respects. It was really sort of the extremes of the American experience embodied in one family.”

Vignettes, footnotes and photographs within “Kaufmann’s: The Family That Built Pittsburgh’s Famed Department Store,” give readers insight into the locally celebrated family. But while scouring the book or visiting Fallingwater offers hours of fascination, Schneiderman and Pitz hope there’s a larger takeaway.

This small group of individuals created a generational impact, Schneiderman said.

Pitz agreed: “The people who built Kaufmann’s elevated their customers’ tastes, educated them about quality and gave back to the community in a myriad of ways, and we’re all richer for that.” PJC

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

Marylynne Pitz

Photo courtesy of Marylynne Pitz

p

Schneiderman

Photo courtesy of Laura Malt Schneiderman

Lemon ricotta fritters for Chanukah

Note: I doubt you will have any fritters left over, but if you do, make sure to store them in a paper bag for 1-2 days at room temperature.

By LeAnne Shor | The Nosher

Iknow that sufganiyot — jelly donuts — are traditional and beloved for Chanukah. But

I feel confident that once you try these easy and incredibly delicious ricotta fritters, you will be converted to these sweet fried treats. And if I’m making a confession, I have actually never loved traditional sufganiyot. Sometimes our family made our own, or bought from local bakeries, but were usually left feeling kind of “meh.” They were always a bit too bread-y and heavy.

Around 10 years ago, my sister enlight ened us all with these perfectly crisp, round fritters. They’re so light and creamy with a hint of fresh lemon zest. The batter comes together in just five minutes, and it is as easy as making pancakes! We love to warm up some of my mom’s homemade jellies and jams for dipping.

Since these babies are at their absolute best right when they’re fresh, I like to fry them up while I make tea after the holiday meal. The wow factor of fresh fritters is incom parable! Our guests always really love the deconstructed sufganiyot because it’s unex pected and gets people talking. I love to serve a variety of warm jellies like pomegranate, peach and blackberry.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

4 eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4-6 cups canola oil, for frying

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup jam or jelly (I love pomegranate, peach and blackberry, but feel free to use whatever jam you like)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat, until it reaches 365 F.

2. In the meantime, in a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta, sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk to thoroughly combine. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and lemon zest; whisk to thoroughly combine.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and stir with a spoon until the batter just comes together and there are no lumps of flour.

4. If you don’t have a candy thermometer,

If small bubbles form around the spoon immediately, the oil is hot enough. When the oil has come to temperature, use a #40 cookie scoop (2 tablespoons) to carefully scoop the batter into the hot oil, without crowding the pan.

5. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side,

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until deep golden brown. Check the first

6. Use a slotted spoon or metal spider to remove the fritters and any excess oil, then transfer to paper towels to drain.

7. Dust with powdered sugar.

8. In a small pan, heat the jam or jelly until it becomes liquid, then transfer to a serving bowl. Serve immediately for best results. PJC

The following is an excerpt from our upcoming book: Retire Secure for Professors

C haritable giving and bequests are a broad topic, and mostly beyond the scope of this chapter. Before you make any substantial gifts, whether to charities or as gifts to people, you will need to first think about how much you want to give away while you are alive and how much you want to give to specific charities and individuals at your death. The focus of this chapter is on using Qualified Charitable Distributions (‘QCDs’) as a tool to satisfy your charitable giving intentions while you are alive. Later in this chapter, I will provide a broad overview of the points to consider in gifts you make during your life and bequests you make at death.

Most university faculty members who are over age 70½ (not 72 as you might think is logical) will have money in a Traditional IRA, and many will make annual donations to charity. If this describes you, you should be glad to know that the Qualified Charitable Distribution rules are now permanent tax laws, and we can safely put them to use.

QCD Rules and Limitations

A QCD is a method for donating to charity directly from your IRA. It only applies to distributions from IRAs, not other retirement plans like 401(k)s or 403(b)s. So, if you are still working, you cannot make a QCD from your university retirement plan, as QCDs can only be made from IRAs. If your plan permits inservice withdrawals, however, you could transfer funds from your university retirement plan through a trustee-to-trustee transfer into an IRA account. You can then use QCDs using a ‘back-door’ method

by effectively using your work-related retirement plan money to take advantage of the favorable tax treatment by giving to charity through a QCD. Of course, you have to be charitably inclined to want to go through this extra step.

When the QCD laws were established, you had to begin taking RMDs by age 70½. Even though the SECURE Act raised the RMD age to 72, it didn’t change the QCD laws. Before the SECURE Act, if you were making QCDs before you turned 72, your charitable contribution coming directly from your IRA counted as at least part of your RMD. Now, however, if you are age 71, you may still make a QCD even though you aren’t required to take an RMD. If you do not itemize deductions, the result does affect your taxes, because the QCD is not included in your taxable income. In addition, since you are using pretax IRA money instead of after-tax money to make the donations, you are inherently saving taxes.

The QCD rules allow you to make charitable donations directly from your IRA. The good news is that, even though you are taking a withdrawal from your Traditional IRA to make the donation, it is not taxable to you. On the other hand, you cannot claim a charitable contribution that was given via a QCD on your itemized deductions. People often think making a charitable donation through a QCD will not make any difference in their taxes, and, in some cases, it might not make a significant difference if

you itemize your deductions, depending upon the amount of the contribution.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut tax rates but also restricted itemized deductions and increased the standard deduction, was a gamechanger. Many taxpayers who used to itemize will no longer be able to do so. For the people who used to itemize but no longer can, QCDs provide a terrific way to save on taxes.

You get money out of your IRA without having to pay the taxes. In many cases, if you didn’t have that option and you weren’t itemizing your deductions, you would not get the benefit of the charitable deduction, with the exception of a lousy $300 per individual (maximum $600 deduction for a married couple) that was available as part of Covid relief for non-itemizers for 2020 and 2021. As this book goes to press, it is not clear whether this deduction will be extended or not.

Rules limit the types of charities that can receive QCD donations. Donations to donor-advised funds, private foundations, or a supporting organization under IRS Section 509(a)(3) are not permitted. Unfortunately, this means that donations to a Fidelity or Vanguard Charitable Giving account or any other donor-advised fund cannot be used for QCDs. However, most other 501(c)(3) charities qualify.

QCD rules limit direct IRA donations to charity to $100,000 per year per person. If you are married,

you and your spouse can donate up to $100,000 each or $200,000 total. As of this book writing, there is proposed legislation to increase the QCD limit to $130,000 per individual. For some clients, the best math solution for their goals was to aggressively use QCDs for the rest of their lives or at least to the point they wanted to continue making charitable deductions.

Even if you do itemize, the advantage of using QCDs is that you lower your taxable IRA income and thus lower the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) shown on your tax return. If you only take the required distribution from your IRAs and you use a QCD, you will only be taxed on the remainder of your RMD above the charitable contribution. This provides many money-saving advantages in various tax situations, as discussed below.

For university professors who have after-tax contributions in their IRAs, any charitable contributions made through a QCD will not use up any of the after-tax basis. The pro-rata rules do not apply to these types of distributions which is good news.

To read the remainder of this chapter, please join our Book Launch Team by going to https://PayTaxes Later.com/ProfessorBookLaunch and completing the form. The book is in the final pre-publication stages, and if you join our team, you will receive immediate access to the working manuscript. About the Author: Steve Kohman is our senior veteran number-crunching CPA. Special thanks to James Lange, CPA/Attorney and Jennifer Hall, CPA, for their significant additions to this chapter.

p Lemon ricotta fritters

Photo by LeAnne Shor

Benjamin David Avraham Mezare was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah in Jerusalem this past November. Ben is the son of Nicole and Roi Mezare and the grandson of a three-time IDF war veteran in Israel. Ben is a seventh-grader at Community Day School and enjoys basketball, football, soccer, cycling, languages, math, science and physiology, and is a proud member of the student council. In his spare time, Ben is involved in many sports teams and tournaments and enjoys all sorts of summer camps, including JCC’s Emma Kaufmann Camp.

Bat Mitzvah

Alia Max Arnold is the daughter of Hadassah Max and Jonathan Arnold, and sister to Judah and Micah. She is the granddaughter of Paula and Jeffrey Max (Liverpool, England) and Laura and George Arnold (Pittsburgh). Great-grandmothers are Ida Powell and Doris Kennedy, of Liverpool and Pittsburgh respectively. Alia is a seventh-grader at Community Day School, where she plays flute in the band and participates in Odyssey of the Mind. When she isn’t reading, Alia can be found biking the trails around Pittsburgh with her family and skiing or paddleboarding depending on the season. Alia will become a bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom on Dec. 10, 2022.

Torath Chaim Anshe Sfard Congregation was organized in 1927 around the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Jacob Hurvitz, in partnership with his brother Rabbi Moshe Shapiro and others in their close knit circle. Practicing Sephardic rituals and tradition amongst Yiddish speaking Russian immigrants, Torath Chaim spawned a fraternal spirit and camaraderie that has lasted for generations. English was a second language at 728 North Negley Avenue, the last congregation in the “Stend”.

The congregation established a cemetery in 1928 along Wickline Road in Hampton Township. Well maintained by a dedicated committee led by Moshe Shapiro’s great-greatgrand-daughter Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife, Torath Chaim Cemetery features a monument dedicated to the Shapiro Family. The earliest burials in this gently sloping hillside cemetery of over 500 graves predate the congregation. Ledger books recorded through the mid-1960’s are housed at the Rauh Jewish Archives, and are written in Yiddish.

Torath Chaim Cemetery began an association with the JCBA in 2022.

Versions of ourselves in Parshat Vayishlach

surprised that he actually needs to spend the last portion of his life in Egypt watching his beloved Joseph nurture the family and feed the region.

Ten years ago, I was applying for my first rabbinical position in New York City. The night before the weekend audition (proba), I was riding in a car with one of my mentors, a rabbi with decades of experience. I took the opportunity to ask for advice going into this big weekend, and I remember the exact words he offered. He said, “Yitzi, be yourself.” In my mind, I responded that for those classic words of wisdom I need not have asked. Sensing my disappointment, he then added, “But be the most rabbinic version of yourself.” He left me to puzzle the meaning of that cryptic mandate.

At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Vayishlach, we encounter the biblical Jacob returning from Laban’s home where he spent the past two decades. Jacob is appre hensive about his upcoming encounter with his brother Esau. The night before Esau and Jacob meet, Jacob is visited by an angel representing Esau, and they wrestle. Jacob is victorious, and he demands the angel bless him. The angel, in turn, bestows on Jacob the new name of “Israel,” the title held forever by the future Jewish people.

Yet, when Jacob asks the angel to share his own name, the angel is coy and retorts, “Why do you ask my name?” The Midrash cited by Rashi explains the underlying tension, and why in a conversation about names and titles the angel is so cagey. The angel explains that he is an emissary of God, and so his iden tity fluctuates each time that he is given a mission. He has no set “name” because he has no stable identity. This response is also a message for Jacob.

More than any other hero of the Torah, Jacob lives in transition. He grows up in the home of Isaac and Rebecca and for decades studies, “sitting in the tents” of knowledge. He then spends 20 years in faraway Haran as a shepherd of the flocks of Laban. When he returns to Canaan with his family, he has a few years of tranquility, a time he would have thought to be his retirement, but is

Jacob’s is a life of flux. He is never settled, always moving to a new place and challenge. It is to the transitory existence that the angel responds. An angel shifts and is completely reinvented for each situation or mission, and he declares to Jacob that his method must be different. Jacob is not an angel, he is a person, and people need to develop and cherish a stable sense of self. Jacob must utilize the same traits that he activated in the home of Laban as he marches toward his new future. Regardless of his new environments, he must continue to be a person of faith and fortitude, of truth and tenacity.

Jacob can and must know that he is the father of a people that will need to respond to vastly different environments. They must do that by maintaining an understanding of who they are and the values they stand for. When people act like angels, and choose absolute recreation for every circumstance, they inadvertently destroy their roots and are left to blow in the wind. To be grounded, the Jewish people must recognize their heri tage and ideals while offering quick response to each new situation.

As I look back on my experience in the rabbinate over the decade, I have been in diverse situations, environments and loca tions. I also begin to understand what it means to be a rabbinic version of myself. I need to identify and foster the aspects of my personality that will encourage and inspire others. I am who I am, but I have a personal and communal mandate to culti vate my best personality and activities. We are not all rabbis, nor are we Jacob, but the angel’s directions are for each of us. We must know ourselves and we must bring our best selves to bear even as everything around us changes. PJC

Rabbi Yitzi Genack is the rabbi of Shaare Torah Congregation. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Yitzi Genack Parshat Vayishlach Genesis 32:4 - 36:43

JCBA’s expanded vision is made possible by a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Foundation

GREENWALD: Esther R. Greenwald, 87, passed away on Dec. 1, 2022. Daughter of the late Fanny and Benjamin Rothman and beloved wife of the late David Greenwald. Sister of the late Erika Rothman. Mother to Lisa (Ed) Benison and Jill (Greg Adams) Greenwald. Devoted Nana to Devin and Derek Benison and Anabel and Serena Adams. Esther was born and raised in Pittsburgh, attended Peabody High School and Chatham College, where she got a degree in psychology. She had different jobs throughout her life but most enjoyed her time working for the Carnegie Museum. Graveside services and interment were held at Beth Abraham Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

HONIGSBERG: Marilyn Honigsberg, on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. Loving wife of Charles Honigsberg. Beloved mother of Michael (Daniel) Honigsberg (Montinez) and the late David Honigsberg; mother-in-law of Alexandra Honigsberg. Sister of Paul (Josette) Schwartz and Arnold (Susan) Schwartz. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment New Light Cemetery. Contributions may be made to New Light Congregation, 5915 Beacon Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. schugar.com

MYERS: Barbara Labov Myers , July 12, 1935 – Nov. 16, 2022. Barbara lived and died on her own terms with the strength of her convictions all her 87 years. Barbara was born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After she graduated from Atlantic City High School, she crossed over the Albany Avenue bridge and, in her words, “escaped to freedom!” in Philadelphia where she enrolled in the Albert Einstein School of Nursing. During nursing school, a mutual friend intro duced her to Gene Myers, a recent graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. They fell in love and married in 1956. Daughter Marjorie was born in 1957 while Gene was studying for his final exams at Temple Medical School. Jeffrey was born in October 1961 in Boston where Gene completed his internship and residency. Together the family moved to Frankfurt, Germany, where Gene was a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and then New York City, where Gene completed a fellowship with John Conley, the most outstanding head and neck surgeon in the world. From NYC, the family headed to Philadelphia where Gene joined the ENT practice of his father, Dr. David Myers. In Philadelphia, Barbara did two things that changed her life. She attended interior design classes at the Philadelphia College of Art as well as a two-year educational course at the Barnes Foundation where she studied its renowned collection of impressionist paintings and embraced their philosophy of aesthetics. This was a transformative experience for her career in interior design and her life. Gene was appointed to the position of chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh. Once settled in, Barbara began her career by working in several wellestablished design studios, and then went on to open her own studio with longtime friend and colleague Mr. Mark Scurci. Barbara created unique designs for both the home and commercial settings. Gene was invited all over the world to lecture and operate and together they traveled to over 100 countries. Barbara is survived by daughter Marjorie in San Francisco and husband Cary Fulbright, their sons Alex (newsman in Israel) and Charles (CIA-trained chef), son Jeffrey (chairman of the Head and Neck Surgery Department at MD Anderson in Houston) wife Lisa Myers (a nurse practitioner) and their sons Keith (MD), Brett (graphic designer in Berlin) and Blake (sophomore at University of Colorado). Barbara is also survived by her sister, Shirley Labov Bernstein and her husband, Howard, as well as by their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The family wishes to express its profound gratitude to the many nurses, physical therapists and physicians of UPMC, particularly, Dr. Michael Finikiotis, Dr. Scott Gunn and Dr. Paul Gardner, as well as the wonderful team at Gallagher Home Care and Home Hospice, and Angels for the Elderly LLC. There was no visitation. Barbara’s funeral was held at The Homewood Cemetery Chapel, 1559 South Dallas Avenue, Pittsburgh. Arrangements by John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. (freyvogelfuneralhome.com). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the General Otolaryngology Fund at the Eye & Ear Foundation, Eye and Ear Institute, 203 Lothrop Street, Suite 251, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or online at eyeandear.org. PJC

Anonymous

Bernard

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —

Sunday December 11: Sidney Epstein, Anna Gold, Ella Kazan, Jennie Levy, Donald J. Malt, Isaac Mikulitsky, Jane Florence Pianin, Joseph Reisz, Freda Rosenwasser, Charles Saxen, Norman M. Schwartz, Yetta Vinocur, Judge David H. Weiss

Monday December 12: Bessie M. Bleiberg, Joan Brandeis, Samuel B. Cohen, Louis Debroff, Hilda B. Friedman, Jacob Gilberd, Marcella Shapiro Gold, Bella Goodman, Everett Green, Eileen G. Herman, Frieda K. Lawrence, Ruth M. Lazear, Sadye Lincoff, Carl Markovitz, Jacob Mendelblatt, Marcus Rosenthal, Goldie Mallinger Schwartz, Charles B. Shapiro, Julius Sheps, Morris Solomon, Bella Stein, Edna Teplitz, Celia Verk

Tuesday December 13: Bernice Finegold, Bertha Fingeret, Rebecca A. F. Finkelhor, Leo Freiberg, Margaret K. Lebovitz, Martin Rebb, Edward F. Reese, M.D., Esther Rice, Herbert Rosenbaum, Bessie Rosenblum, Eugene M. Rosenthall, Louis Schultz, Dorothy Schusterman, Albert H. Snyder

Wednesday December 14: Gertrude P. Elias, Leonard Enelow, Arthur Forman, Jack J. Friedman, Jacob Gold, Norma Harris, Harry Haynes, William Hersh, Milton Iskowich, Max Janowitz, Sylvia Kalmenson, Nannie Klater, Shirley Krouse, Ruth Kwall Land, Joseph Levitt, Allan Lippock, Maurice Malkin, Rebecca K. Malt, Harris Nathan Miller, Ruth Murman, Annette Nussbaum, Harry Rosenfield, Harold J. Rubenstein, Frank Smith, Zelig Solomon, Anne C. Weiss

Thursday December 15: Maurice P. Ashinsky, Esther L. Bialer, Saul Broverman, Julian Falk, Harry First, David Frank, Louis Frank, Rose Goldstein, Martin W. Hepps, Sarah Jacobson, Alvin Lichtenstul, Jennie Markovitz, Julia Monheim, Myer Palkovitz, Morris Rudick, Morris J. Semins, Aaron Siff, Dr. Jacob Slone, Shirley Starr, Morris Weiss

Friday December 16: Susan Barotz, Irving I. “Chick” Bogdan, Victor Chesterpal, Marc Leon Front, Rae Kleinerman, Dr. Hyman Levinson, Fannie Malkin, Max Mallinger, Louis Menzer, Fannie Rice, Marvin L. Silverblatt, Sam Swartz

Saturday December 17: Julius Berliner, Jacob Braun, Florence Meyers Clovsky, Leonard Samuels Finkelhor, Edward L. Friedman, Alfred Krause, Max Lemelman, Sarah Young Pretter, Hymen Rosenberg, Annie Segall, Lillian Shermer, Max Strauss, Samuel Z. Udman, I. Barnes Weinstein

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

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

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Florence Meyers Clovsky

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Fannie Rice Dr. Marc Rice Fannie Rice Simma & Lawrence Robbins Sara Rosenberg

Richard, Mindy, and Logan Stadler Benjamin Platt Richard, Mindy, and Logan Stadler Charles Saxen Richard, Mindy, and Logan Stadler Milton Henry Platt

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‘Non-Jewish Nanny’ to Orthodox children becomes a social media sensation

By Alan Zeitlin | JNS

Adriana Fernandez laughs when she recounts how she got it wrong when it came to understanding what “kosher” means.

“I used to think it was just that you couldn’t have a cheeseburger and couldn’t mix cheese and meat,” Fernandez, 25, told JNS.

She has gotten a lot right since then, as her claim to fame is being a non-Jewish nanny to Orthodox Jewish children in Boca Raton, Florida. She said that in about a month on Instagram, as @nonJewishnanny, she has garnered more than 31,000 followers. She receives millions of views on both her TikTok and Instagram posts.

“I was an in-demand nanny in general, and there was one family, and they said, ‘Is it OK we’re Jewish?’” Fernandez recalled. “I said, ‘Of course.’ Then from word of mouth of how kids loved me I wound up working for many Orthodox Jewish families.”

She said she quickly learned rules and terms like shomer negiah, the practice which stipulates that men and women should not touch unless they are married.

“That’s not a big deal at all,” she said. “With COVID, obviously people were shaking hands less anyway, but I was never somebody that needed to hug everyone.”

Fernandez said she quickly learned about tznius, the need to dress modestly, which she also said is no problem.

She said after one occasion when she picked up children, a woman told her

she was not dressed appropriately, and she learned to wear clothing that is not at all revealing.

In one TikTok post, she talks about some of her favorite Jewish songs on her Spotify List and includes hits like “Ashira” and “Schar Mitzvah” by Mordechai Shapiro, who she says is her favorite Jewish singer.

A soprano, Fernandez studied to be a professional opera singer, and she said the season begins now. The vocals she learned in German have helped her pronounce Hebrew or Yiddish words correctly, so she can authentically make the “ch” sound and perfectly pronounce “Pesach.”

Fernandez said several Jewish brands have reached out to her to collaborate, including clothing stores.

What’s one thing that really surprised her about the Orthodox community?

“I was blown away by sheitels ,” she said. “I couldn’t tell at first that it wasn’t their real hair.”

She also has gotten so accustomed to separate milk and meat dishes that when she washes her own dishes at home, she feels bad for a minute with only one set. She adheres to the rules of kashrut, of course, when in the homes of her clients.

Fernandez said that in the last few years, she has worked with more than 50 Orthodox families and has formed strong bonds with many of the kids. She said she rejected offers from families to be a live-in, full-time nanny and instead works with different families. She has specific nights free for opera perfor mances or training, and in some cases, she might act as a nanny for many hours a day, and some days, not at all.

“I take it as a big responsibility and it is a gift to work with children,” Fernandez said.

She said some adults, and some children, mistake her for being Jewish. While the ages vary, the children she takes care of range from newborns to 10-year-olds.

Fernandez is aware of the rise in antisemitism.

“I think it’s terrible that people would have hate for innocent people,” Fernandez said. “It’s hard to understand how people could be like that.”

She said she was raised not to stereo type people and to treat everyone kindly and those are the values she teaches now and she will also pass down when she has children of her own.

She said that among the many comments she receives online surrounding her work with Jewish families, only a handful are negative. She added that Orthodox Judaism might seem strange or difficult for someone not exposed to it, but she respects how the families live.

Fernandez said she hopes parents raise their children to be respectful and not hate anybody.

On the Mislaibeled podcast, when she was quizzed about terms, she correctly answered that an upsherin is when a 3-year-old boy gets a haircut for the first time and that lashon hara is speaking negatively about people. She rated cholent as a 6 or 7 on a scale from 1-10, but She gave yapchik (potato kugel with meat) a 10. She was repulsed by overnight potato kugel and gave it a 1. She also enjoys chrain (horseradish).

Closing out her interview with JNS, Fernandez said that while she knows all about kosher cuisine and feeds the children, “I haven’t been asked to cook.” PJC

p Adriana Fernandez

nanny to Jewish children in Boca Raton, Florida. Photo courtesy of Adriana Fernandez

Michael

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Adam Sandler recounts how he wrote ‘The Chanukah Song’

By Alan Zeitlin | JNS

Adam Sandler recounted a funny remark from a celebrity mentioned in his famous “The Chanukah Song” when he spoke to a crowd at the 92nd Street Y (now called 92NY) in Manhattan last week.

Following a screening of his new film “Hustle,” Sandler said he showed his daughters the spot on 56th and Broadway where he stood in front of a diner and had the idea for the tune.

“I am so proud of that song, I love it,” Sandler said, explaining that he excitedly wrote the song at the NBC studios of “Saturday Night Live.” He didn’t have Google back in 1994, and he went by what he thought was correct. The lyrics include: “Harrison Ford’s a quarter Jewish ...” and Sandler later found out he was off by 25 percentage points.

“I remember when I met Harrison Ford, he goes: ‘Half!’ ” Sandler recounted as the crowd erupted in laughter.

In “Hustle,” which can be seen on Netflix, Sandler plays Stanley Sugarman, a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who spots a Spanish phenom he thinks can be great in the NBA. Sandler said the character has the same name as his father, who passed away 20 years ago. Stanley Sandler, like the character, had a beard and taught his children sports. Sandler said when his father got mad, Sandler would do impressions of him.

He also said family events were fodder for comedy.

“All my family’s Jewish; everybody kind of has a funny way about them,” Sandler said. “I definitely, after every family get-together, couldn’t believe what I saw sometimes.”

Sandler said his brother told him he should be a comedian like Eddie Murphy and even reserved a spot for him to perform at a club.

“My brother is the reason I got into this whole thing,” he said.

Sandler recounted that he began doing stand-up comedy at the age of 17. It didn’t click at first.

“I would bomb every night,” he said.

Of course, Sandler landed a gig as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and was known for being “Opera Man,” along with other characters. He went on to an illus trious film career in which he played Israeli

secret agent Zohan in 2008’s “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” He also made a string of comedies and dramatic films such as 2002’s “Punch-Drunk Love.”

audience what celebrity he could call and a person shouted out that he should call his mother. He said she would always answer even if he called at

—ADAM SANDLER

Interviewed by MTV reporter Josh Horowitz, Sandler was asked whether he had a temper in real life, given that many of his characters suffer from tendencies toward overwhelming rage.

“I’ve had it for a long time,” he said. “I would snap but it would go away very quickly.”

In “Hustle,” to prove he is a scout, Sandler’s character calls former NBA great Dirk Nowitzki. He asked the 92NY

3 a.m., and would pretend it was normal.

“She’s never admitted to sleeping,” Sandler said. “She’s always ‘resting.’”

One of Sandler’s best roles is Howard Ratner, a Jewish diamond dealer and sports gambler in the 2019 crime thriller “Uncut Gems,” directed by Jewish brothers Benny and Josh Safdie and co-written by the brothers and Ronald Bronstein. Sandler said that, in a scene in which he is choked in the backseat of a car,

the actors were actually choking him.

Sandler said he is working on a new film with the Safdies that is slated to shoot in April. Horowitz asked if the film feels like a heart attack, given that “Uncut Gems” is a nerve-wracking film with an unpredictable twist.

“It feels like one of their movies for sure,” Sandler said, adding that there is a romantic element. “They just don’t want to do anything you’ve seen before.”

Sandler added that he would get nervous when interviewed on TV by David Letterman and a song he performs on tour about the late Chris Farley, his former colleague on “SNL,” made him tear up the first few times he played it.

Asked if he was a genius or lucky to have signed a deal with Netflix in 2014, he said he barely knew what Netflix was, but the streaming giant’s CEO Ted Sarandos kept trying to get him to make movies for the service. Sandler stated that while he was shooting a film in Toronto, two teenage boys on a porch said they were watching Netflix, which convinced him to give it a shot. PJC

p Adam Sandler at a press conference for “Click” in 2005

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“I am so proud of that song, I love it.”

Community

Ten Commandments and World Faith Hike

As part of an annual tradition dating to 2006, Rodef Shalom Congregation and Boy Scouts of America Laurel Highlands Council participated in the Ten Commandments and World Faiths Hike. During the almost 4-mile trek, participants visited 10 religious institutions in the Shadyside and North Oakland sections of Pittsburgh. At each stop, a clergy member described the basic theological tenets of their religion, aspects of their house of

Pittsburgher participates in Personal Errands Day

Meerkats, Pizza and White Whale

Hooray for Mal and Maccabi

worship and one of the commandments. Participants learned about the Jewish, Anglican, Baptist, Buddhist, Byzantine Catholic, Christian Scientist, Greek Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sikh and Zoroastrian traditions.

p Rabbi Sharyn Henry, right, speaks about Judaism while participants hold an unrolled Torah scroll. Photo courtesy of Rodef Shalom Congregation

Author and illustrator Brooke Barker discussed her new book “How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?” during an event at White Whale Bookstore. Along with sharing that crows remember people’s faces and jaguars like cologne, Barker gifted attendees personalized drawings and stickers.

SHABBOP Shalom

Undergrads opened their homes to host Shabbat dinners for fellow students for Hillel JUC’s second annual Shabbat Over Pittsburgh (SHABBOP).

p Students provided the space, and Hillel JUC helped provide the meals. p Kudos to Kedem. Photos courtesy of Hillel JUC

part in Nefesh B’Nefesh and Friends of the IDF (FIDF) Yom Siddurim (Personal

p Ari Gilboa serves in the Nahal Infantry brigade in the IDF as a chief private. Photo courtesy of J Cubed Communications

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh celebrated former staffer Alan Mallinger and Pittsburgh’s 2022 Maccabi delegation.

p Former Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh staffer Alan Mallinger was recognized for 21 years of helping Pittsburgh’s Maccabi team. Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh