Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 12-30-22

Chronicle’s top stories of 2022

By Adam Reinherz | Sta Writer

Even in a city with unending gray skies, the sun sets. So, with 2022 now nearing its end, it’s time to review the year that was. Between new homes, new hires, rising costs, surging antisemitism and a bridge collapse, 2022 was one to remember.

Here are the Chronicle’s top stories of the year:

January

Pandemic pangs

The year began with reverberations of past seasons. The city’s three Jewish day schools spent January weathering COVIDrelated sickness and staff shortages. Despite the hardships, faculty and staff — many of whom serve double-duty as parents — persevered.

Jennifer Bails, director of marketing and communications at Community Day School, told the Chronicle, “They’re managing their stress, their families. They’re managing the stress of knowing that kids who they care about and love and nurture every day are catching the virus. And they are doing their job under circumstances that are less than ideal with grace and professionalism.”

Collapse of Fern Hollow Bridge

On Friday morning, Jan. 28, the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. The event, which drew national attention, coincided with a scheduled visit to Pittsburgh by President Joe Biden.

“I’ve been coming to Pittsburgh a long time,” Biden said, noting the large number of bridges

in the city. “And we’re going to fix them all.”

The Fern Hollow Bridge reopened last week.

February

Fighting for better care

Every February, Jewish organizations worldwide mark Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month. In Pittsburgh, local advocates called out state restrictions on funding.

The shortage of care professionals is a direct result of Pennsylvanian policy, noted Ruth Siegfried, of InVision Human Services. The nearly 200 Pennsylvania-based agencies cannot control the rates for homeand community-based services (HCBS) because Medicaid is the only payer of intellectual disability and autism services, she said.

Alison Karabin, project manager at The Branch (formerly Jewish Residential Services), said that although change can be effectuated by state leaders, the work begins at home.

“This is an area where people contacting their representatives and writing letters can make a difference,” Karabin said. “Advocating for better funding for direct support professionals is something we can all do, and it’s important for our voices to be heard.”

March/April

Responding to invasion of Ukraine

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 20, 2022. In the weeks and months following, Pittsburghers offered support. JFCS staffers fielded calls from local residents looking to help. Immigration attorneys offered expertise. Organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, raised money. Federation CEO and President Jeffrey Finkelstein traveled to Poland and witnessed relief efforts for fleeing Ukrainians. Finkelstein told the Chronicle that Pittsburghers were compelled to help for several reasons.

“A lot of our families come from there,” he said. “It’s part of Pittsburgh’s nature that when Jewish communities are under attack, in any way, whatever that attack means, we step up. We’ve done it during different attacks within Israel. We step up and give above our weight class. It’s our nature as Pittsburghers.”

May

New name, new entity, seismic purpose

During a May 3 press conference, Tree of Life Congregation Rabbi Jeffrey Myers and Carla Swickerath of Studio Libeskind — the architecture firm contracted to rebuild the shuttered site — unveiled plans for a new national institution dedicated to ending antisemitism.

Myers said the goal is lofty but noted that ending hate involves more than stopping the persecution of Jews.

“People who commit antisemitic acts are not merely antisemites; they’re anti-Black, anti-gay, anti-Asian, anti-Pacific Islander and any group

they’re not comfortable with,” Myers said. “They spew forth their vile language and action.”

Tree of Life representatives also announced that the congregation will be a separate entity from a newly established nonprofit and will be housed in the Tree of Life building. It will have its own CEO and board of directors and will oversee the building. Myers will continue to serve as the congregation’s rabbi.

June Mega Mission

More than 200 community members joined the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh on a Mega Mission to Israel. The June 13-21 trip enabled participants to visit Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Karmiel/Misgav, Haifa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Masada. In addition to visiting historical and cultural sites, participants observed projects and spaces supported by Federation efforts.

Ellen Teri Kaplan Goldstein, Community Campaign chair, said the trip was a chance to see Israel in ways not usually portrayed by the evening news.

goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement. Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

p Fern Hollow Bridge collapse Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Rendering of new Tree of Life building Image courtesy of Lifang Vision Technology

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

MONDAYS, JAN. 2 – FEB. 20

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

TUESDAYS, JAN. 3 – FEB. 21

Join Temple Sinai for a weekly Talmud class with Rabbi Daniel Fellman. Noon. On-site and online. For more information and for the Zoom link, contact Temple Sinai at 412-421-9715.

SUNDAYS, JAN. 8 – FEB. 19

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

MONDAY, JAN. 9

Join Temple Sinai for Make ‘n’ Eat Monday Nights — A Year of Spices sponsored by the Women

of Temple Sinai. January’s spice is cumin, with instructor Annie Weidman. The instructor will lead students in making a meal so everyone can eat together and taste the featured spice. 6 p.m. $15. templesinaipgh.org/event/spicecooking.html

MONDAYS, JAN. 9 – 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 Schi 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

TUESDAY, JAN. 10

Are you a senior with your afternoons free? Temple Sinai is starting a new activity just for you — Lunch and a Movie. Join them for Moroccan food and enjoy the classic movie “Casablanca.” $10. Noon. Register at templesinaipgh.org/event/ SeniorLunchMovie.html.

WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 11, 25; FEB. 8, 22

Hadassah Greater Detroit invites you to Beyond Shtisel: A Closer Look at the Hasidic World, a

Ladies Hospital Aid Society calls for grant proposals

Application format.

four-part virtual series learning about di erent Hasidic communities, discussing some provocative issues, and viewing videos of Hasidim in their home environments. Gain an understanding of what the life of Hasidim is really like. 7 p.m. $10 per session or $35 for all four sessions. hadassahmidwest. org/GDShtisel

THURSDAY, JAN. 12

Join Classrooms Without Borders for a post-film discussion of “Liga Terezin,” with Oded Breda, Michael Schwartz and moderated by Avi Ben Hur. “Liga Terezin” is a documentary that tells the incredible story of the soccer league which took place in Ghetto Theresienstadt, 40 miles northwest of Prague. 3 p.m. cwbpgh.org/event/post-filmdiscussion-liga-terezin

Save the date for NCJW’s conversation with local romance novelist Lainey Davis. Enjoy an evening of cocktails and tales while learning about the writing process, hear an author-read excerpt and ask questions. 5 p.m. Registration details to follow. ncjwpghevents.org/upcoming-events

SATURDAY, JAN. 21

Join Temple Sinai for a special concert with musician Eliana Light. Great for all ages. Free and open to the public. Registration required. 7 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/event/ElianaLight

SUNDAY, JAN. 29

Join Temple Sinai and award-winning author Lisa Barr on Zoom to discuss her book, “Woman on Fire.” 6 p.m. Free. Register at templesinaipgh. org/event/LisaBarr.html.

MONDAY, JAN. 30

Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for an evening with award-winning author and expert on antisemitism Dr. Jud Newborn. He will discuss the topic “The White Rose Anti-Nazi Resistance and Heroes Today in the Fight for Democracy.” The event will begin with a wine and cheese reception, followed by the lecture. Virtual options are available. 7 p.m. 1900 Cochran Road, 15220. Free.

forms.gle/xeMTmZ3ZBfQqshzh9

WEDNESDAYS, FEB. 8 – 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. PJC

The Ladies Hospital Aid Society of Western PA is calling for project proposals that align with the organization’s mission. Grants may range from $500 to $10,000.

Application materials must be electronically submitted or delivered to the LHAS office on or before Jan. 15. LHAS follows the Western Pennsylvania Grant

“LHAS delivers support with compassion for the educational, financial and health needs of diverse communities in western Pennsylvania,” according to a spokesperson for LHAS .

Additional information is available by calling 412-648-6106 or at lhas.net. The LHAS office is located at LHAS 3459 Fifth Avenue 7N , c/o UPMC Montefiore Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. PJC

Toby Tabachnick

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Jan. 8 discussion 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

Toby Tabachnick

— LOCAL —

Menorah from iconic 1931 photograph returns to Germany

A brass menorah from a famous photograph taken during the rise of the Nazis made its way back to Germany for a Chanukah candle lighting ceremony in Berlin attended by the country’s president, JNS.org reported

“This light is a strong societal symbol against hatred,” German President FrankWalter Steinmeier said. “Each of us must stand up against every form of antisemitism.”

During Chanukah in 1931, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner, photographed the family menorah on the window ledge of the family home in the north German port city of Kiel. In the background can be seen the Nazi party’s regional headquarters with a large swastika flag.

On the back of the photo, which came to stand for the looming threat to European Jewry, Rachel Posner wrote: “‘Death to Judah.’ So the flag says. ‘Judah will live forever.’ So the light answers.”

Yehuda Mansbach, the couple’s grandson, “wept openly” after lighting the candles at Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the president of Germany, on Dec. 19. The Posners’ granddaughter, Nava Gilo, 68, also attended.

Detroit Pistons wish Kyrie Irving a happy Chanukah

The Detroit Pistons wished Brooklyn Nets star guard Kyrie Irving a happy Chanukah on Dec. 18, the first night of the holiday, JTA reported.

The Pistons appeared to be trolling Irving, who recently shared an antisemitic film on Twitter and initially refused to apologize. The scoreboard displayed both a spinning globe and a Chanukah graphic with a menorah while he was at the free-throw line.

The former references previous comments the controversial All-Star has made about the earth being flat. The latter appeared to be a pointed reference to the recent antisemitism scandal.

Irving was suspended for eight games in November after he tweeted an Amazon link to “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a documentary that promotes the false idea that Jews were heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade, denies the Holocaust and says Black people are the real Jews.

Irving initially refused to apologize but ultimately did so multiple times.

murders, JTA.org reported.

Irmgard Furchner was 95 when she was arrested and charged with crimes related to her work as a secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp in Nazioccupied Poland during World War II. Tried in juvenile court because she was under 21 at the time, she was sentenced on Dec. 20 to two years of probation, in what is likely to be one of the final convictions related to crimes committed during the Nazi regime.

Furchner initially resisted prosecution, fleeing by a taxi from her old-age home on the first day of her trial; she was soon apprehended. Furchner also had not commented on the charges against her until recently, when she spoke briefly during her final court appearance earlier this month.

“I am sorry for everything that happened,” she said, in a statement that local news reports said had been a surprise. “I regret that I was in Stutthof at that time. That’s all I can say.”

Unilever ‘resolves’ legal battle with Ben & Jerry’s board over Israel sales

Unilever was embroiled in monthslong litigation with the Ben & Jerry’s board over Unilever’s sale of the brand’s Hebrew and Arabic licenses to an Israeli company that would sell the products in both Israel and the West Bank against the board’s wishes. Those sales will now continue uninterrupted.

The terms of the agreement are confidential, a Unilever representative said.

Unilever sold off the brand’s Israel license to dodge the Ben & Jerry’s board’s attempts, dating to summer 2021, to prevent the ice cream from being sold in “occupied Palestinian territories” — a move that was met with severe backlash from many Jewish and pro-Israel groups.

Police recover stolen ancient Torah scrolls

Israel Police announced on Dec. 20 that three ancient Torah scrolls stolen in November from a Rishon Lezion synagogue were recovered, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Two brothers in their 30s possessed the scrolls, leading to their arrests.

German

woman, 97, convicted of complicity in 10,500 Nazi

death camp murders

A 97-year-old German woman whose trial for aiding Nazi crimes was briefly derailed when she fled last year was convicted of complicity in 10,500 concentration camp

Today in Israeli History

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

Dec. 30, 1990 — Weizman is fired over PLO contacts

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir drops Science Minister Ezer Weizman from the Cabinet after accusing him of meeting with a senior PLO official in 1989 and corresponding with PLO head Yasser Arafat.

Dec. 31, 1973 — Golda Meir wins election after Yom Kippur War

Israelis elect the eighth Knesset. The Alignment wins 39.6%, keeping Prime Minister Golda Meir in power. The election was postponed by the Yom Kippur War, whose backlash forces Meir to resign in April 1974.

Jan. 1, 1995 — Full Agranat Report is released

The 1,500-page Agranat Report, the government’s official assessment of the IDF’s performance in the October 1973 war, is released except for 48 classified pages almost 21 years after the preliminary report was issued.

Jan. 2, 1927 — Cultural Zionist leader Ahad Ha’am dies Ahad Ha’am, the pen name of Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg, a leader of the movement for cultural Zionism, dies in Palestine at 70. He argued that Zionism should put Jewish renewal ahead of political goals.

Jan. 3, 1919 — Faisal, Weizmann sign agreement Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal, son of Sharif Husayn of Mecca, pledge mutual respect and cooperation between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. The mandate system blocks their accord.

Jan. 4, 1935 — Mosul-Haifa

Pipeline opens

A pipeline spanning 590 miles from Kirkuk, Iraq, to Haifa begins carrying oil from the Mosul fields to the Mediterranean Sea. Crude oil takes about 10 days to travel through the 12-inch-diameter pipe.

Jan. 5, 1930 — Mapai party is founded

An extended legal battle over ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s operations in Israel appeared to come to a close as its parent company announced it had reached an agreement with the brand’s independent board of directors, JTA.org reported.

Police said the suspect broke into the Beit Eliyahu Tunisian Synagogue after Friday night prayers; worshippers who arrived the next morning found the synagogue’s interior in ruins.

The scrolls, one of which is 180 years old, came to Israel from Djerba, Tunisia. PJC

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

Mapai billboard for the 1951 Knesset elections reads in Hebrew, “We should be given

Two leftist political movements, David Ben-Gurion’s Ahdut Ha’avodah (Labor Unity) and Joseph Sprinzak’s Hapoel Hatzair (Young Worker Party), merge into Mapai, which dominates early Israeli politics. PJC

— WORLD —

p Soldiers stationed near the Suez Canal vote in the Knesset election Dec. 31, 1973.

By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press O ce

In fighting antisemitism, Jews can be our own worst enemies. We shouldn’t be.

Guest Columnist Jonathan A. Greenblatt

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, and even if you’re not Jewish, you can’t miss the fact that antisemitism is back in the news again: Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, Nick Fuentes; extremists returning in droves to Twitter; President Donald Trump kowtowing to antisemites over dinner at Mar-A-Lago; “Saturday Night Live” opening with a monologue trafficking in antisemitic tropes; members of the Black Hebrew Israelites intimidating Jewish fans coming to Barclays Center, and an endless feedback loop of antisemitism coursing across social media.

Coming at a time when antisemitic incidents already had reached the highest point in recent memory, this is the kind of mainstreaming of antisemitism that we haven’t seen since the 1930s.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, it is that when it comes to the Jewish people, hatred doesn’t discriminate. When Kanye says Jews control the music industry, he’s not talking about rich Jews or conservative Jews. He’s not singling those who may support Likud or those who back Meretz, two Israeli political parties. He’s not calling out Orthodox Jews versus Reform Jews. He’s talking about us all. Same with the white supremacists who are circulating Great Replacement conspiracy theories about Jews conspiring to bring more people of color and immigrants into America to “replace” white people. They don’t care if you are a die-hard MAGA voter or a card-carrying member of Democratic Socialists of America. It doesn’t

matter: If you’re Jewish, you are in their crosshairs.

Another unfortunate example is the Mapping Project, an insidious campaign that ostensibly accused pro-Israel Jews of conspiring together in Boston. However, it didn’t target only Zionist organizations. They targeted all Jewish organizations, from a nonprofit helping the disabled to a Jewish high school.

And yet, while our enemies see us as one, the Jewish community too often seems riven by discord and infighting.

We are divided around religious practices and beliefs. We are deeply riven by politics. We do not see eye to eye when it comes to the state of Israel, and at times we can’t even agree on the definition of antisemitism itself. At times, absurdly, some Jewish leaders seek to tear down other Jewish leaders even as it tears apart the community, as Steven Windmuller, a retired professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, recently documented.

I point this out not to diminish the value of debate and dissent — these are fundamental to our tradition. But we need to be mindful of when debate descends into division.

Indeed, when viewed by those on the outside, these internecine divisions within our community can lead to misunderstandings and confusion. Why can’t Jews agree on anything? At best, hostility makes us look petty, mean and foolish. At worst, it allows antisemites to see within us whatever it is that they hate the most.

Usually in the aftermath of antisemitic attacks such as we saw after the shooting at the Tree of Life building or the hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas, Jews from across the political spectrum set aside our differences and come together in a show of unity. We lock arms, proclaim we are one, call on our policymakers to do more, put up our

defensive shields and hope for the best.

But at a time when a celebrity with a cult-like following, Kanye West, or Ye as he now calls himself, is using his platform of 38 million-plus social media followers to spread hateful tropes about Jews — the kinds of unhinged and hateful canards, such as Jewish control and power, that have led to antisemitic attacks throughout history — I would argue that the locking-arms response, while effective in the moment, does not have the staying power that we could achieve if we had a more unified and close-knit Jewish community.

What does have staying power? In this uniquely fragile moment, we must choose to embrace our differences, or at least accept them and lean into Ahavat Yisrael, the love for our fellow Jews. We ferociously can disagree internally while standing completely united to external hate.

We are our brother’s keeper, and any Jew suffering from antisemitism is ultimately our responsibility. We must come together, despite our differences, and fight those who hate our people.

How can Jews stand together against antisemitism while respecting our ideological divides?

First, this isn’t a moment to try to win each other over. This is a moment to declare that every Jew matters and is worth protecting. We may disagree on many things, but we can appreciate that difference doesn’t have to equal division. We cannot allow the toxic partisanship that has seeped into so much of our society to poison our communal spaces. There are no “tikkun olam” Jews. There are no “Trump” Jews. There are only Jews, and we need to remember the dictum — you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Second, we should recognize that self-defense starts with self-love and self-knowledge. Jewish literacy is essential to our long-term survival. Many like to remark how Rabbi Abraham Joshua

My Peloton Chanukah inspiration

Guest Columnist Erica Brown

On my 438th Peloton workout, I finally felt part of an elusive virtual exercise family. Early Sunday morning, on the eve of Chanukah, I sat on my stationary bike, prepping for a week of fried-food temptations. I saw with surprise that Peloton posted both a “Chanukah Ride” and a bonus “Chanukah Cool-Down,” words I’ve never associated with the red and white Peloton logo. The workout

started with “Chanukah Blessings,” a sweet song by the Barenaked Ladies, who are not exactly a popular Sunday School choice. They acknowledged the sad stepchild that is my holiday: “With the jingle bells and the toys/And the TV shows and the noise/It’s easy to forget at the end of the day/Our whole family will say/These words for Chanukah.” Then they actually recited one of the blessings and did their best with its guttural pronunciation.

This song was followed by Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” a reminder of the Maccabean revolt of the first century that required courage and bravery. I was told to turn up the cadence for the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” and make my

Remembering Franco Harris

Guest Columnist

David Eisner

Last week was bittersweet for football fans, but especially for Pittsburgh Steeler fans. Legendary Steeler running back Franco Harris passed away on Tuesday, and Friday marked the 50th anniversary of Franco’s

Immaculate Reception, the play that the NFL designated the greatest in its 80-year history.

I was lucky enough to be at Three Rivers Stadium in my hometown 50 years ago to see the game on the afternoon of Dec. 23, 1972. But my memory of the game — and the catch — are only one of many from that weekend.

First, it was the Steelers’ first playoff appearance in the team’s long (40-year) history. One of the original franchises in the NFL, the Steelers had been, for most of the years since 1932, one of the

resistance tougher for Ellie Goulding’s “Lights.” Gloria Estefan took us to the cool-down with “Coming Out of the Dark.”

Suddenly spandex Jews with water bottles can enjoy a nod of recognition. Enough with the cheap, battery-operated Hannukah Harry dressed in blue and white from Bed Bath & Beyond that gyrates strangely and serves no purpose. Down with navy potholders and kitchen towels covered in dreidels from Target. The commercialized leftovers that feel like weak holiday handouts to poor cousins were now eclipsed by the elation that comes with a genuine gesture of belonging.

Between Kayne West and a month of radio

Heschel prayed with his feet — but he did so in part because he wrapped tefillin with his hands. This is not to say that we all need to observe our faith in the same manner. There are plenty of Jewish people who opt out of ritual entirely, and yet their connection to our peoplehood is as strong and as valid as those who daven, or pray, every day. But shared values that emanate from Torah still bind us as a people — we need to redouble, not just our efforts to pass on these values to our children in ways that relate to the next generation, but we also must relearn these values ourselves.

Third, we must never allow our ideological blinders to gloss over or ignore antisemitism from those who are generally our political allies. We must be morally firm and call out antisemitism where we see it, and not just when it is convenient politically. We must be equally fierce in the political circles where we belong, where we ultimately have more influence and clout, as in simply calling out hatred by pointing to those on the other side.

During his lifetime, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson shared his wisdom about the fact that while every Jewish person is a unique individual, as a people we share a “basic commonality that joins us into a single collective entity.” The Lubavitcher Rebbe understood that this unity has sustained the Jewish people throughout history.

If we look to our ancestors, we can see examples of how holding together at times of strife has made our community stronger. It’s quite possible that we may be living in one of those difficult periods again. I hope we can meet the moment. PJC

Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and National Director of the ADL (AntiDefamation League). This column first appeared on JTA.

carols, I entered this December feeling unusually lonely and invisible in society. Every year, I battle this niggling sense of not belonging, but this year it is worse. The treacherousness of antisemitism is everywhere. It has become unacceptably normative today in ways unimaginable to the daughter of a Holocaust child survivor. And it’s psychically exhausting to carry around all that baseless hate. The beautifully decorated trees in offices, stores and apartment lobbies that always dwarf the 12-inch menorah with the ugly orange light bulbs bother me more this year than before. I feel smaller and less at home.

league’s worst — they had never before reached the playoffs. So, for long-suffering Steeler fans, and especially for longtime season-ticket holders like my family, this game was a very special event.

Game day was also a very special occasion for my family. It was the day of my brother Ken’s bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom. Ken did a great job leading shacharit, the preliminary prayers, and reciting his haftarah. I am sure that no 13-year-old ever had to manage the clock with the precision Ken demonstrated that day;

there were more than a few in attendance who were keeping close watch, given the 1 p.m. game time. And, no question, more than one attendee prayed harder for a Steeler miracle than they had ever prayed before.

My father was able to obtain extra tickets for the game from his friend and client, Jack McGinley, brother-in-law of the Steelers’ founding owner,

Chronicle poll results: Chanukiah placement

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Where do you display your chanukiah (menorah)?” Of the 200 people who responded, 53% said “inside the house”; 42% said “near a window”; 3% said “I don’t have or use a chanukiah (menorah)”; and 2% said “outside.” Comments were submitted by 41 people. A few follow.

It’s an exquisite reminder that wonderful miracles can happen.

The more menorahs the better.

My partner and I sit in the dining room and talk — no media, no screens — watching the candles burn down.

I built an 8-by-5-foot menorah and a 3-foot dreidel I put in the front yard.

We are lucky to be able to show our Jewishness in public.

Brown:

Continued from page 6

But my holiday workout this year made me feel visible in a way that my ugly Chanukah sweater did not. Peloton instructors are always telling me they see me. It’s how they got me through COVID. It’s how they drag me through mornings when I just don’t have the strength. “I see you,” they goad. “You can do this.” I never believed them, of course, but always appreciated the sappy encouragement. And, they were right, I did manage to build up strength and resilience. My instructor for the Chanukah ride was the charming and overly optimistic English actor and athlete, Bradley Rose. Bradley, I really appreciate the way you said latkes and sufganiyot, the Hebrew for donuts, which you pronounced almost perfectly and certainly enthusiastically. You even told me to be a mensch. You were trying. And I noticed. I see you.

And you said something else that I will not forget when I’m off the bike. Mimicking and adding to the lyrics of John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice,” you said, “We are not going to sit in silence anymore. We will stand up. Side-by-side next to each other.” You explained why you were doing this ride: “Personally, right now, I think more than ever that we need to stand shoulder by shoulder. I’m an ally for this community.” You told me you were an ally more than once during

I have four: one in a window on each side of my home.

I keep my real menorah on my kitchen table and an electric one in the window.

the ride. And I hope you’re not an ally because your last name is not really Rose but Rosen or Rosenberg — because the victims of hatred cannot be its only street fighters. Thank you for fighting with me, shoulder to shoulder, even if our stationary bikes are going nowhere.

Then, as you told me amid the sweat at 79 cadence and a resistance of 50, “It’s time for a little more tolerance.” You told me to “care for every individual’s beliefs and rights.” You said, “Bring it on. Stand by my side because I stand by you.” Bradley, thank you. Thank you for caring. Thank you for creating 20 minutes of inclusivity this December. May your generosity of spirit spill over well beyond the Peloton family and help others appreciate that you can never fight hatred alone. To all of you in the fight: “You got this.”

The ride was over. It was time to exhale, get off the bike, shower and get the menorahs ready. Night will come. Darkness will cover the sky, but those small lights will grow larger each night. Bradley, thanks for encouraging us to be that light. When it comes to the fight against intolerance, I treasure the words of your fellow instructors: I am. I can. I will. I do. PJC

Erica Brown is the vice provost for values and leadership at Yeshiva University and the director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University. This column first appeared on The Times of Israel.

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Poetry Contest

Our readers are invited to submit poems to the Chronicle’s Poetry Contest. Winning entries will be published in our Feb. 3 issue. The theme is women in the Torah.

Three winners will each receive a $54 gift card to Pinsker’s Books and Judaica, supplied by an anonymous donor. All submissions must be received no later than Jan. 18.

Guidelines:

Poems must be submitted to newsdesk@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Please type “Poetry Contest” in the subject line. The poem must be in a Microsoft Word file. No PDFs or handwritten entries will be accepted.

• One submission per author

• Must include the author’s name, address, phone number and email address

• Poem should reflect the theme of women in the Torah

• Unpublished poems only PJC

I put one inside in a doorway opposite the mezuzah. I put another one at the window.

We are a light to the world as well as its moral compass. We need to shine a light to dispel the darkness in the world.

I have a collection of 40 chanukiahs/menorahs! The one I light is in the window The others are on my mantle, and in my dining room and kitchen.

We put the menorah in the window to publicize the miracle, like we always do.

It’s time to be proud and strong as Jews when antisemitism is coming at us from so many directions.

I don’t have a window visible from the street, so I use the alternate option of lighting opposite the mezuzah. I love how Israel does it: glass boxes outside with menorahs in them. We should do that in America.

Eisner:

Continued from page 6

Art Rooney. So immediately following services, a dozen or so male family members (and probably one-third of the rest of the synagogue) had a quick kiddush and headed to the stadium. “Lucky” Ken got to stay behind for lunch with the “ladies,” glued to his radio as home games were then blacked out on television.

One of the reasons Ken has ascribed for his all-star performance that day was the autograph of (none other than) Franco Harris that I slipped into his hand before services. I had obtained that autograph the day before when my father and I went to the airport to greet some out-of-town family and met Harris there; he was there to meet his parents, and graciously penned his signature for us.

I must admit that my memory of the play exists mostly from the 1,000 times I have watched replays. I suspect that, like me, most fans in the

In this antisemitic climate, my feeling of safety in publicly displaying my menorah has changed, but my courage and pride have been fueled by the photograph of a menorah in the window across from a Nazi flag, taken in 1931 by Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner. PJC

— Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question : What is your go-to plan for New Year’s Eve? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC

stadium that day looked down in disappointment when Raider Jack Tatum violently knocked the ball away from Steeler John “Frenchy” Fuqua and missed seeing Harris’ miracle catch live. I will never forget the joy I felt, however, as I watched Franco sprint into the end zone for the Steeler win, and the excitement we felt when my cousin Cary and I stormed the field with thousands of others to embrace Franco and the other players as they celebrated the victory.

Last week, however, as we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Ken’s bar mitzvah, we mourned the loss of the great football player — and man — who turned a special day for our family into a sports history day for the ages. May the memory of Franco Harris be for a blessing. PJC

David Eisner is a former assistant secretary for management at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He grew up in Pittsburgh. This column first appeared on JTA.

Not optimistic about Biden’s antisemitism task force

I don’t hold out much hope for meaningful work by this task force (“Biden task force to draft strategy for fighting antisemitism,” online, Dec. 13). The mention of Islamophobia alongside antisemitism concerns me. It smacks of Speaker Pelosi’s bill condemning hate speech in a resolution originally intended to censure antisemitic remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar. Furthermore, I find it ironic that the announcement of the planned task force was made by the White House’s official spokesperson, Karine JeanPierre, whose resume includes service as national spokesperson and senior adviser for MoveOn.org, a group that challenged anti-BDS legislation and called for a boycott of AIPAC, which MoveOn.org characterized as a racist group. Nor is Jean-Pierre the only Biden appointee with ties to antisemitic groups. For example, Maher Bitar, whom Biden put in charge of intelligence on the National Security Council, formerly worked for BADIL, a group which demands a “right of return” to Israel of the Palestine refugees (6 million people claiming descent from Arabs who fled Palestine during 1940’s Arab-initiated violence aimed at preventing the emergence of a modern Jewish state in the Jews’ ancestral homeland). These “refugees” have been raised in societies that honor and reward Palestinians for killing Jews. Israel’s taking them in would be the death knell for the nation-state of the Jews.

Toby F. Block Atlanta, Georgia

p The Posner family’s menorah in 1931 Photo courtesy of Yad Vashem via JNS.org

Jewish candidate runs for Summer Lee’s vacant PA House seat

Swissvale’s council, she said.

By David Rullo | Sta Writer

Abigail Salisbury wants to be the first Jewish representative in Pennsylvania’s 34th District.

Salisbury is the Democratic candidate running against Republican Robert Pagane, a retired police officer from Wilkins Township, for the commonwealth’s House seat vacated by Summer Lee. Lee was elected on Nov. 8 to represent Pennsylvania newly created 12th Congressional District in Washington, D.C.

The 34th District, which abuts Squirrel Hill, encompasses several eastern suburbs, including Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, Forest Hills, Churchill, Braddock, North Braddock and Wilkins Township.

Salisbury is a Swissvale resident who currently serves on the borough’s council as chair of community initiatives. An attorney, in 2015 she started a reduced-cost law practice catering to nonprofits and small businesses struggling to find affordable legal advice.

“I’m a sole proprietor, so it’s just me, although I’ll be bringing on an associate if I go to the State House,” she said. “The U.S. government thinks a small business is under 200 employees but many of my clients are like me, small businesses with one person, or a couple of people.”

Salisbury started her law office from her

second bedroom before paying off her student loans and buying a building in the city.

“I found a niche that I made for myself serving people who might not otherwise have that opportunity,” she said, noting that owning the building fulfilled a campaign promise when she first ran to serve on the Swissvale’s council.

While not a Pennsylvania native — she moved to the state while still in grade school — Salisbury understands the needs of the district she wants to serve.

“Wilkinsburg has its own personality and needs, as Chalfont has its own personality. So does Swissvale,” she said. “They share a lot of commonalities because they have that shared Mon Valley post-industrial history, but they all vary in ways.”

Salisbury has a history of working with various constituents, all with different needs, through her professional work and during her time on

“Swissvale is a very diverse community, not just racially but socioeconomically,” Salisbury said. “In the Regent Square part of Swissvale, you can purchase a million-dollar home but if you go into the heart of Swissvale, near Rankin, you can buy a home for $50,000. A substantial portion of the community is highly educated and high-income earners, but we have a substantial portion living below the poverty line.”

The State House hopeful said that different services are needed throughout the district. It’s a question of equity versus equality, she said.

“It’s like the meme that shows people trying to look over a fence,” she explained. “They’re all different heights, so people need different things to get to the same place.”

Salisbury said her focus will reflect her campaign’s tagline: “Service, safety, success.”’

Infrastructure, she said, will be a big part of that work, adding that it was one of the main reasons she decided to get into politics. There is a bridge in the borough that has a worse rating than the recently reopened Fern Hollow Bridge that collapsed in Squirrel Hill, she said.

The council member has experience dealing with failed infrastructure. In 2020, the back portion of the council chamber building collapsed in Swissvale. Salisbury was the council president at the time. She worked with state Sen. Jay Costa (D-District 43) to secure a $2.5 million grant to help rebuild.

“You have to have a high degree of functionality

and drive and knowledge within your borough government to go after grants like that,” she said.

In fact, she said, infrastructure is vital to the success of communities.

Communities will suffer, she said, “if people’s sewer laterals fail and people abandon their homes and commercial district because they can’t afford to spend $50,000 on a $70,000 property. You can’t have successful schools if the roads won’t bear the weight of a school bus. Infrastructure issues maybe aren’t the most exciting — I know that the hearts and minds of Americans don’t light up when you talk about sewers — but these are real issues that absolutely have to get handled.”

Salisbury and her husband have been members of Temple Sinai, and ran the young adult program there for a while. The two also taught Torah classes and previously attended Rodef Shalom Congregation. Pre-pandemic, she said, the couple attended services at Congregation Beth Shalom.

She said the Jewish concept of tikkun olam — each person doing their part to help correct the world — is what motivates her.

“It’s not your job to fix the whole world, but neither are you free to desist from trying,” she said. “I keep that in my mind and keep plugging along, moving forward and doing what I can.”

The special election takes place Feb. 7, 2023. PJC

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

Jewish Yankees pitcher visits JCC, delights lunch-goers

J Cafe diner and Oakland resident Bob Goshen said he, too, is a former New Yorker and that he grew up 10 blocks from Yankee Stadium.

By Adam Reinherz | Sta Writer

Velma Leocadio moved from Brooklyn to Churchill two months ago. Shortly after becoming an Allegheny County resident, Leocadio, 62, looked for a social outlet. She discovered J Cafe. After learning more about the program, Leocadio decided to head to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill branch and meet other seniors, eat lunch and enjoy — what she hoped would be — a meaningful afternoon.

To Leocadio’s surprise, on her first day at J Cafe, New York Yankees relief pitcher and part-time Pittsburgh resident Scott Effross and his dad, Stefan Effross, were visiting the JCC, speaking with community members and serving lunch.

Upon realizing the identity of the tall apronclad Jewish gentleman preparing her meal, Leocadio paused, introduced herself and asked for a photograph.

“He’s an amazing player and for him to come here, and to serve food, that tells you everything about the person he is,” Leocadio said. “To me, it’s just awesome.”

After being traded Aug. 1 by the Chicago Cubs, Effross tallied a 0-0 record, including 3 saves, 3 holds, and a 2.13 ERA in 13 relief appearances during 12.2 innings with the New York club.

“I went to some Yankee games and the way they play, his spirit just being here, it’s overwhelming. I just get the chills,” Leocadio said.

“I was a fan of the Yankees for 50 years until I came to Pittsburgh,” Goshen said.

Meeting Effross was a “thrill,” and something Goshen plans on relating to his two grandchildren.

Effross told the Chronicle that speaking with seniors, volunteering and learning more about the community were the reasons why he decided to visit the JCC.

“It’s obviously great anytime I can interact with fans and get opportunities to meet people of different walks of life,” he said.

But what made the Dec. 22 visit extra special, Effross noted, was the fact that it was Chanukah, that he was with his dad and that the two Jewish men were able to contribute during the holiday.

“It’s a little bit challenging during the season to kind of stay on top of Jewish traditions, so any time I can, during the offseason, celebrate with our family — whether it’s the High Holidays that kind of happen at the end of the season, and then Chanukah happens during the wintertime — those are always cherished moments,” he said.

Effross grew up in Twinsburg, Ohio, celebrated his bar mitzvah at Congregation Shir Shalom and later played college baseball at Indiana University.

His father, Stefan Effross, said that whether watching his son pitch before thousands of cheering fans or serve beef brisket, Harvard beets and confetti couscous to a room full of seniors, “it’s rewarding.”

“It’s nice that people know him, and it

makes me feel good just to watch his climb,” Stefan Effross said.

As the father/son team happily chatted with lunch-goers and took photos with passersby, JCC Chief Development and Marketing Officer Fara Marcus described the value of such interactions.

“When we heard that Scott was interested in becoming active with the JCC and the JCC community, we welcomed him with open arms,” she said. “He’s just an unbelievable human being who is very humble and wants to give back in any way to the Jewish community

and the Pittsburgh community.”

Scott Effross deflected the praise and said it’s always a “good opportunity to be able to help out your community and sort of serve them the way that you were raised.”

“I’m very proud to be Jewish, and to be raised Jewish from my father and my mother, and be a part of that community,” he added. “I would love to be able to help out in any way I can.” PJC

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

p Abigail Salisbury Photo courtesy of Abigail Salisbury

— LOCAL —

p New York Yankees relief pitcher Scott Effross and J Cafe diner Velma Leocadio

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Why was the Chronicle created?

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

The term “community newspaper” usually describes the coverage of a newspaper. For the Jewish Chronicle, it originally referred to the business model.

The year 1961 ended with two local English-language Jewish newspapers in Western Pennsylvania. The Jewish Criterion was founded in 1895 and had been owned by the Alter family since about 1907. It received competition in 1934 with the creation of the American Jewish Outlook, managed by Al Golomb and edited by Dr. Asher Isaacs.

The two newspapers differed somewhat in their worldview, but their local coverage was similar and sometimes nearly identical from week to week. Any press releases and community notes sent to one publication were usually sent to the other.

These two newspapers coexisted for 28 years, until they were both purchased by the United Jewish Federation in 1962 and merged to create the new Jewish Chronicle.

The idea for consolidating the local Jewish press originated with the United Jewish Federation, rather than one of the newspapers. Both the Jewish Criterion and the American Jewish Outlook were profitable. In other words, it was not a bailout. So what motivated the move?

“It has long been felt that it was of the utmost importance that every member of the Jewish community should be given an opportunity to be fully informed of the main streams of Jewish life in Pittsburgh, in the nation, and in the world,” UJF President Herman Fineberg wrote in a January 1962 letter to all the members of the United Jewish Federation. “Although both publications tried to extend their circulation, the results fell short of adequate coverage of the community. And even where the newspapers did circulate, many of the valuable interpretive materials in one publication were not available in the other. It was further felt that only a community newspaper could fully reflect the entire community in all of its many activities, opinions, and aspects.”

In that last sentence, Fineberg was using the word “community” to describe

ownership. The Federation was so eager to start a community-owned newspaper that it briefly contemplated becoming a third competitor. But ultimately it worried about

which could destroy the others but none of us believed in the long run that it would be to the benefit of Federation even if any of us were inclined to try it,” Saul Shapira

more than $300,000 — almost $3 million today —to purchase the two newspapers. What did the Federation get for its money?

Here were the assets listed in the original agreement: “furniture, fixtures, supplies, lists of advertisers, contracts with advertisers, the names ‘The American Jewish Outlook’ and ‘The Jewish Criterion’ together with the good will thereto attaching.” The actual purchase agreements with the two newspapers also included subscriber and circulation figures, but Federation already had a list of every Jewish household in the region.

As Shapira explained, “The Federation is buying good will, not equipment.”

Under the original arrangement, the Federation created a new nonprofit corporation called the Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation. The foundation published the Jewish Chronicle as a franchise of the Federation, paying some $55,000 annually for the right to the name, a list of advertisers, and office furniture.

The franchise fee would be used to pay down the purchase price of the two predecessor newspapers, so that communal charitable funds wouldn’t have to be used. Once the debt was cleared, the newspaper could use its profits for other initiatives.

The idea of shifting a local Jewish newspaper from private to communal ownership was not unprecedented, but it was novel. It had happened in Philadelphia and a few other cities, but too recently and too infrequently to have a dependable track record.

“The Chronicle was looked upon in those first issues as a dubious experiment,” Joel Roteman later wrote about the early days. “After all, it hadn’t been done before.”

The “experiment” was this: Could a community newspaper be editorially independent and financially selfsufficient without the pressure of a profit motive?

The original business case for the Jewish Chronicle was based on reducing competition in the local media advertising market. The Jewish Criterion and American Jewish

p The Jewish Chronicle’s first board of trustees Image courtesy of the Pittsburgh Newspaper Project

p Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation President Joseph W. Feldman, Board Member Dorothy Binstock, and Printing Committee Chairman Irving R. Isaacs inspecting the new photo-typesetting machine, 1965 Image Courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives

Renewing a pledge made six decades ago

Editor

Toby Tabachnick

In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” which translates to a phrase most of us are familiar with: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Yes, I know it’s a cliché. But as one of my favorite college professors once told me, the reason why most phrases become cliché is because they are true.

On March 8, 1962, a message to the Jewish community of Pittsburgh appeared on Page 8 of the new Jewish Chronicle. It is unclear whether the message came from the paper’s editor, its publisher or its board. What is clear is the message’s sincerity as Chronicle leadership addressed its readers for the first time with a pledge that the paper would “cover the news within its sphere without fear and without favor.”

“The new Chronicle may not always be right

in the long view of the future historian — or even in the view of the Monday morning quarterback of today,” the message continued. Its team, though, would “make no excuses for our shortcomings, but we shall always be ready to apologize for our errors.”

The voice representing the nascent newspaper expressed pride in serving an “alert and literate community,” and urged the Chronicle’s readers not to hesitate “to disagree vigorously, but be brief.”

“We want this to be a provocative newspaper — your newspaper,” the message read.

“The editorial staff has been assured full news and editorial freedom at all times in the highest sense of American press freedom. This we shall exercise as responsibly and as forcefully as we can.”

Despite the passage of 60 years, those same words — or at least those same sentiments — could have been written by me, today.

Since its beginning, the Chronicle has had one mission: to be a source of unbiased information, connecting its readers through a provocative forum that stimulates and inspires conversation, action and new ideas. It was, and is, a community newspaper in

the truest sense of the phrase. Have we always gotten everything right? Of course not. But, as the paper’s earliest leaders wrote, we are quick to apologize for any errors. Do our readers sometimes disagree with what we print, or what we choose not to print? Definitely — and often. We continue to invite that feedback, which we always take seriously. Like our predecessors, our staff persists in covering the stories of importance to our community “without fear and without favor.” That doesn’t always make us popular with everyone, but we remain committed to serving you with the journalistic integrity essential to convey the news you need.

In some ways, the world was very different back in 1962. In preparing for this special anniversary section, I perused countless issues of the Chronicle published throughout the decades. A lot of them made me smile. Of course, the prices of the products advertised in our pages were sometimes hysterically low, and some of the items would not find a place in our pages today (cigarettes, anyone?). Engagement and wedding announcements were plentiful, and often included a list of out-of-town guests and a detailed description of the bride’s gown.

Creating common avenues of understanding

Publisher and CEO

Jim Busis

“The Chronicle is just a right-wing rag.” “The Chronicle is just a leftwing rag.” We often hear both sentiments from some of our more partisan readers. We could congratulate ourselves that if we are criticized from both ends then we must be doing something right, but we can’t be satisfied with this situation. Looking back over the past 60 years, it’s worth reflecting on where

our Pittsburgh Jewish community is in terms of partisanship and how it got here.

People often remark on how unified the Pittsburgh Jewish community is compared to other Jewish communities, especially larger ones on the coasts. That may or may not be true, but I think it is uncontestable that we are more divided than we were in 1962 and more divided than most of us would like. The forces driving the partisan divide are national and largely secular, affecting all American society in all places. However, we still must work to make our Pittsburgh Jewish community the best it can be despite these larger forces.

In 1962 the media landscape was much

Remember the good old days?

Board Chair Evan H. Stein

Remember the good old days? March 8, 1962, was the date of the first issue of The Jewish Chronicle, the product of a merger between The Jewish Criterion and The American Jewish Outlook, an event you can read more about in this week’s special 60th anniversary section.

You remember ’62, don’t you? Cable television was in its infancy; it had an A/B box you had to get up off the couch to switch in order to get all of the channels you paid for. If you watched broadcast TV, the top dial had to be set to UHF so you could turn the bottom dial to any channel higher than 14. (Our beloved WQED was on channel 13; the bottom dial didn’t get much exercise at our house.) And maybe you even had to turn the antenna on the roof to point in the direction of your broadcast to get a better signal (or put some aluminum foil on the rabbit ears — the oldest trick in the book).

I don’t remember any of this; I was born two decades after.

I do remember the paperboy (forgive the use of the gendered noun; such was the term at the time) knocking on our front door without fail every week to collect his cash and tear off our square receipt: “Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Press, week ending….”

The hands of time turned more slowly then. There was an end to the news day. Reporters filed their pieces on deadline — then went home for dinner — and newspapers were printed overnight. The barrier to entry for journalists was substantial, and publishers’ reputations were built on the quality of the reporting that came out of their newsrooms. The infrastructure required to generate a daily, or even a weekly, paper was substantial enough that only serious publishers could survive. We agreed on the issues and debated their merits. There was order in the chaos.

Today, with our precious freedom of speech firmly in the grasp of every amateur reporter or aspiring journalist, Facebook and Twitter have become the digital town squares where gossip — never mind “news” — spreads at lightning

simpler and broader in scope and readership. There were relatively few choices of newspapers, magazines, radio and television — and those news publishers tended to appeal to the broadest set of people. There was also more government regulation about fairness, so there was a degree of balance and a lack of harsh rhetoric. Most people agreed on the basic facts of issues, even if there were still sharp divides over concerns such as civil rights or the Vietnam War.

In the ’80s and ’90s cable television took off, bringing more fragmented audiences and sharper rhetoric to their news and opinion shows, as well as blurring the line between news and opinion. In the ’90s and into the new century

There were briefs announcing the meetings of the many family clubs active in the area. It was a different time.

Yet, the similarities between then and now are striking as well. Throughout the decades, the Chronicle has covered community events and the people who make them happen. There have been features on local artists, food columns and opinion pieces. Our readers’ letters to the editor have been a constant. And, of course, news of Jewish interest from around the country and around the world has filled our pages.

What struck me most as I scanned those old papers — which are digitized and available at digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu — is the fact that, all these years later, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle remains true to the mission set forth 60 years ago.

As we move into our seventh decade, we humbly renew the pledge we made to our community back in 1962. We will strive to perform in accordance with our tagline — Connecting Jewish Pittsburgh — as we continue to report fairly and accurately, always with the best interest of Jewish Pittsburgh in mind.

Happy anniversary to us, and to you, the community which we are proud to serve. PJC

the internet greatly accelerated these trends by allowing anyone to publish without professional supervision and standards and allowing ever more niche audiences. Finally, from the early 2000s until today, social media exploded to an extent previously unimaginable and took these trends to the limit. News has always had a bias toward negative and sensational stories — “if it bleeds it leads” has been a mantra for a long time. However, with social media, the management of people’s feeds by algorithms that maximize “engagement” — time spent and interactions

speed to a massive following. Anyone with an internet connection can spin up their very own WordPress blog, or TikTok vlog (short for “video log,” in case you’re still living in the ‘60s). Everyone who wants one has a digital platform to share their whims with no concern for accuracy, accountability or journalistic integrity. Antisemitism runs rampant, fake news abounds, and alternate facts are the norm. Chaos.

This is why the work that the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is doing is so vital to our understanding of the world around us. How you consume our news isn’t of issue — whether from our printed paper, through our website, our social media platforms or an RSS reader. What’s important is that the words our trusted reporters write make it in front of you; that the perspectives and observations of our award-winning journalists are read by you. And that you’re engaged enough with good journalism to consider and digest the news, and make informed decisions for yourselves.

We continue to invest in our digital offerings, making sure that our fair newsroom isn’t left behind by the digital revolution. After all, aren’t we already 23% of the way through

the 21st century?

In the months and years to come you may discover more ways to access Chronicle content through our digital distribution channels. While we are committed to keep printing our paper each week and delivering it free of charge to Jewish Pittsburghers, we invite you to explore our website at pittsburghjewishchronicle.com. Read the digital representation of our printed paper on issuu.com. Browse our Facebook feed. Tweet at us, and retweet our tweets. And if you really like what you’re reading and are so inclined, scan this QR code and forward this article to a friend via text message or email. The good old days are of blessed memory. Welcome to the 21st century! PJC

60th Anniversary

60 years of connecting Jewish Pittsburgh

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

The Jewish Chronicle published its first issue 60 years ago, but its roots go back more than 125 years to its predecessor papers, The Jewish Criterion, founded in 1895, and The American Jewish Outlook, founded in 1934. The Jewish Chronicle was created in 1962 when the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh purchased those two papers and created one consolidated source for community news. In July 2017, the newspaper

Feb. 8, 1895 The Jewish Criterion publishes first issue

Dec. 14, 1934 The American Jewish Outlook publishes first issue

Jan. 1962 The United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh (now the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh) announces its purchase of The Jewish Criterion and The American Jewish Outlook, and that in their place a new nonprofit, the Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation, would publish a single paper.

March 8, 1962 The Jewish Chronicle publishes first issue

1962-1968 Chronicle is housed in the Forbes Building, 120 Atwood Street.

1962-1983 Albert “Al” Bloom serves as founding editor.

June 25, 1962 Chronicle adopts policy of printing “mixed marriage announcements,” but with the caveat that they must not include any reference to non-Jewish clergy or a church

Sept. 10, 1965

Fineman is hired as Chronicle Teen Reporter. Fineman, an awardwinning writer, went on to become the global editorial director of the AOL Hu ngton Post Media Group and was Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief.

Jan. 1, 1968 is not “a house organ” of the Federation and that it will “not avoid reporting on controversy.”

1968-1985 Chronicle is housed in the YMWHA Buiding, 315 S. Bellefield Ave.

Oct. 15, 1970 Board decides the Chronicle will never be allowed “to cause disunity in the community.”

June 24, 1971 Chronicle leadership decides “cigarette ads are OK.”

March 15, 1973 Sally Kalson publishes her first article, a review of “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.” Kaslon became a popular columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

1975-1980 Chronicle publishes its Sight Saver edition. The four-page, large-print edition summarized the news and provided information about services for senior citizens. It was the first edition of its kind to be published by an American Jewish newspaper and won a Smolar Award for Excellence in American

Joel Roteman’s tenure as

Chronicle is housed in its own building at 5600 Baum Blvd., which it purchased for $307,500. It sells the property in 2011 and moves to a smaller, rented space in Congregation Beth Shalom’s

Indiana Printing and Publishing begins to

Chronicle leadership decides to accept an ad from Bet Tikvah, a “congregation serving the gay community.”

changed its name to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, emphasizing its local focus.

In six decades, the Chronicle has seen a lot of changes. It has had five managers or CEOs at its helm: Albert Golomb (1962-1967); Albert Zecher (1967-1993); Barbara Befferman (1993-2011); David Caoin (2011-2012); and Jim Busis (2012-present). The paper has had six editors and has been housed in four different locations.

But through the years, the mission of the Chronicle has remained the same: to be an indispensable source of news while helping to build and strengthen the Jewish community of southwestern Pennsylvania. Here’s a look back.

Feb. 2, 1995 Ads for rabbi performing interfaith marriages are rejected.

Oct. 1998 The Chronicle’s first website, Jewish Chronicle-Pgh.com is launched.

April 20, 2000 “We Are Family,” a 40-page collection of the stories of Pittsburgh’s Jewish families, is published by the Chronicle.

2001-2014 Lee Chottiner’s tenure as executive editor

Oct. 2001 Chronicle website PittChron.com is launched.

April 18, 2007 Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project is launched. A collaboration of Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, the Rodef Shalom Congregation Archives, the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center and the Chronicle, the free website contains more than 9,000 digitized and searchable back issues from four local English-language Jewish newspapers: The Jewish Criterion, The American Jewish Outlook, The Jewish Chronicle and the YM&WHA Weekly.

2010-2012 J… Jewish Pittsburgh Living Magazine, a magazine focused on Jewish culture, is published by the Chronicle four times a year.

2010 The Chronicle becomes a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

2014 The Chronicle contracts with Mid-Atlantic Media to provide production, administration and editing services. Mid-Atlantic Media, based in Maryland, also publishes the Washington Jewish

Week, the Baltimore Jewish Times and Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent.

2014-2019 Joshua Runyan’s tenure as editor in chief

July 2017 The Jewish Chronicle relaunches with its new name, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, to emphasize its core commitment to the local Jewish community. It ceases to charge community members for subscriptions and remains free online. Its new website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, which is hosted by The Times of Israel, is launched.

2019-2020 Liz Spikol’s tenure as acting editor-in-chief

Jan. 2020 The Chronicle is a founding member of The Pittsburgh Media Partnership, a collaborative of news organizations from in and around Pittsburgh, with the goal of supporting and maintaining a vibrant local media landscape.

March 1, 2020 Toby Tabachnick begins tenure as editor

March 12, 2020 Gov. Tom Wolf urges nonessential businesses to close due to COVID concerns. Chronicle sta begins working remotely.

Feb. 2021 The Chronicle is selected to participate in the inaugural Jewish Journalism Fellowship, a yearlong program designed to help local Jewish news outlets thrive in the 21st-century media landscape, supported by the Maimonides Fund. PJC

— Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center, contributed to this compilation.

Greens87/ iStock / Getty Images Plus

The Chronicle looks back on 60 years of news

By Adam Reinherz | Sta Writer

News cycles operate in various patterns. For the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, that cycle has largely functioned on a weekly basis. Since the paper’s first printing in 1962, more than 3,000 issues have arrived at readers’ homes. Layouts, logos and the paper’s name have changed, but the Chronicle’s commitment to covering local and international news affecting the Pittsburgh Jewish community has never waned.

In an effort to highlight this paper’s award-winning coverage, we’ve reviewed more than 100,000 pages of print. Here’s a sampling of top stories from the past six decades.

March 8, 1962: On this we stand

In its first issue, the Chronicle covered community events, international affairs and provided readers with a recipe for Asparagus a la Russe (reprinted on Page 20). The major takeaway of the first issue, though, was a statement of the paper’s policy, titled, “On this we stand.”

“The Jewish Chronicle will be, in every sense of the word, a newspaper. It will not purport to speak for the Jewish community. But it is the policy of the publisher to make of the newspaper a mirror of the community in its local, national and international aspects. Its columns will be open to all responsible voices and organizations. Everything of importance in Jewish life will be within its purview. The editor of the Jewish Chronicle will welcome news and views from organizations and individuals. Coverage will be as comprehensive as timing and mechanical conditions permit.”

Sixty years later, we’re honored to continue that charge.

March 13, 1964: Montefiore Hospital

Months prior to this issue, Sam L. Stein, a kosher butcher, suffered a heart attack. Weeks before the issue was printed two

surgeons and a cardiologist from Montefiore Hospital implanted a pacemaker inside Stein’s body. The 90-minute procedure was not only a “relatively new operation,” but the “new style electric-pacer” was the first of its kind to be successfully used in Pittsburgh, according to the Chronicle.

Since that issue, the Chronicle has continued reporting on innovative medical practices, regional efforts to promote health and wellness and the community’s relationship to Montefiore Hospital. In 1990, Montefiore was sold to the University of Pittsburgh for $145M. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation was established in 1990 from the proceeds of the sale of the hospital.

April 27, 1972: Soviet Jewry

Solidarity Day involved a nationwide rally, and a locally sponsored event, scheduled for April 30, 1972. The goal, according to organizers, was to demonstrate American support for Soviet Jews and to “urge President Nixon to include the plight of Soviet Jewry in his talks with U.S.S.R. leaders in Moscow.”

Solidarity Day, and the work of the Pittsburgh Conference on Soviet Jewry, represented one of many communal efforts to help Soviet Jews. For more than a decade, and even after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, the Chronicle reported on local activists

committed to the cause as well as those aided by individual and collective undertakings.

April 5, 1973: Riverview II Apartments dedicated

Days before Riverview II Apartments were dedicated, the Chronicle covered the new building and its intended impact on the community. Riverview II Apartments included 136 units, which provided “80 efficiencies and 56 one bedroom apartments,” adjacent to Riverview I on Browns Hill Road.

“The Riverview Apartments, I and II, is a major facility which allows elderly people to maintain independent living with programs of recreational and nutritional services strengthened by inconspicuous protective care,” board president Bernard Goodman said at the time.

The $2.7M facility demonstrated a communal commitment to its elderly residents, as well as one of numerous efforts — through the years — to build, repair and improve the structures of Pittsburgh Jewish life.

August 7, 1975: New population study

As phase one of the United Jewish Federation Greater Pittsburgh Demographic Study wrapped, the Chronicle reported on

its multiple findings.

Alvin Rogal, chairman of the committee that conducted the study, told the Chronicle at the time that apart from determining the number of Jewish residents in the area — 52,638 within 17,546 Jewish households — the study proved the community’s stability.

“In other cities the Jewish residents of the central city have drained into outlying communities. But in Pittsburgh there is no such erosion and indeed no shifting of any consequence,” he said.

Figures from the study were contrasted with previous findings conducted in 1963 and 1938.

Rogal added that the information gleaned from the study will provide the Federation and other Jewish agencies insights and ideas about delivering future services.

Years later, the Federation conducted similar demographic studies. The most recent study, conducted in 2017, reported there were nearly 50,000 Jewish adults and children living in Greater Pittsburgh.

December 23, 1982: Recession hits communal life

During the early 1980s, an extreme economic recession impacted Jewish life.

60th Anniversary

60 Years:

Continued from page 13

Following a Council of Jewish Federation study of 50 key Federations, the Chronicle reported on the recession’s impact within the community.

“Senior adults are worried because of the high cost of living and the threat of Social Security cutbacks. Most middle class management husbands are losing their jobs… As a result of the impact of the economic crisis on Jewish families, Jewish educational institutions anticipate a further decline in enrollment in schools and in summer camps.”

Nearly 40 years after that recession, the Chronicle reported on the recent economic crunch and how families, organizations and communal institutions are responding.

September 2, 1993: Renaissance Campaign

Renaissance was a joint effort by the United Jewish Federation and several Jewish organizations to “increase the breadth and quality of services available to the community.”

The late Leonard Rudolph and Donald Robinson co-chaired the $45M campaign.

Rudolph told the Chronicle at the time, “If we are concerned about the continuity of Judaism, then we have to provide the community with quality institutions.”

Renaissance raised funds to support education and services provided by schools and organizations, including Community Day School, Hillel Academy, Yeshiva Schools, the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family and Children’s Services.

Dec, 17, 2012: Jewish burial becomes litigious

After conducting a religious burial in 2009, Rabbi Daniel Wasserman — then rabbi of Shaare Torah Congregation and a director of the funerary practices of the Vaad HaRabonim of Pittsburgh and its Chevra Kadisha — was accused of breaking state law and investigated by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation for “practicing as a funeral director without a license.”

In December 2012, Wasserman announced a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth’s Board of Funeral Directors, Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation of the Department of State and Board of Professional and Occupational Affairs in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The Memorandum clarified Pennsylvania law, and guaranteed “that individuals engaged in performing the ceremonies, customs, religious rites or practices of any denomination or sect are excluded from the definition of ‘funeral director’ in Pennsylvania law, as has always been the case.

p Rabbi Daniel Wasserman, right, spends Mitzvah Day 2019 teaching Hillel Academy students how to build a casket. Photo by Adam Reinherz

60th Anniversary

60 Years:

Continued from page 14

This includes churches, meetings, mosques, synagogues, temples or other congregations of religious believers engaged in handling, transporting, preparing and disposing of deceased human bodies.”

Wasserman retired from Shaare Torah last summer. Gesher HaChaim, an organizational outgrowth of Wasserman’s efforts, continues providing Jewish burial.

November 2, 2018: Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and its aftermath

Days after 11 Jews were murdered during Shabbat morning services inside the Tree of Life building, the Chronicle printed its first issue regarding the massacre. That paper included coverage regarding the attack, the funerals and community response.

Since that issue went to print, the Chronicle has continued covering the aftermath of the antisemitic attack. In doing so, and by providing informative, responsible and award-winning news, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle proudly upholds the aim of its founders: to be “in every sense of the word, a newspaper” — a publication that mirrors the community, and to provide coverage that is as “comprehensive as timing and mechanical conditions permit.” PJC

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

Pittsburgh

were left beside the Tree of

building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

60th Anniversary

— HISTORY —

Advertising — it’s the lifeblood of newspapers.

From its inception, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle has been supported by loyal advertisers who have enabled the paper to tell the stories of the Pittsburgh Jewish community.

For six decades, the Chronicle’s readers have been loyal patrons to the companies that have advertised in its pages, from the first ad in the first issue of the new paper — the McBride Sign Company — to Prime Kosher and Orrs Jewelers. Jewish organizations, realtors and restaurants have all realized the value in reaching out to you, the Pittsburgh Jewish community, through the Chronicle.

Here is just a small sample of the ads that appeared in 60 years of the Chronicle. PJC

—Compiled

by David Rullo

see

GREETINGS:

It is an honor to join with The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle in celebration of their 60th anniversary.

William Penn founded Pennsylvania based on fairness and equality, and we must continue to be a place that pays faithful tribute to those core values. By celebrating and embracing our diversity, we uphold the principles and ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicl e is an independent Jewish news organization serving the Jewish community of Greater Pittsburgh. The Chronicle provides local, national, and global news including opinion pieces and features on culture, food, health, history, travel, sports, and more. The Chronicle’s roots go back more than a century as an indispensable source of news and information to build and strengthen the Jewish community of the Greater Pittsburgh area.

As Governor, and on behalf of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I extend my best wishes to The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle for a memorable 60th anniversary celebration

TOM WOLF

Governor

December 20, 2022 FROM

Celebrating 20 years of grantmaking for women and girls

The Jewish Women’s Foundation congratulates the Jewish Chronicle for 60 years of service to the Pittsburgh Jewish community

Retro recipes: Asparagus — the ‘choicest of all spring vegetables’

where they snap easily. This removes the tough lower ends which may be used in soup stock.

The first issue of The Jewish Chronicle featured a new column called “What Morsels These Foods Be,” by Mildred Grossberg Bellin, identified as the Chronicle/ JTA Food Editor.

That column is reprinted here.

Legend has it that when Louis XV was King of France, he invented, and with his own hands, prepared for Madame du Barry an omelet adorned with asparagus.

This may be fact or fiction, but it is true that since ancient days our ancestors throughout Europe have considered asparagus a regal dish, the choicest of all spring vegetables.

The very names given to many recipes show how widespread is its use, and recall favorite methods of preparation in different continental countries.

Varied Forms

From Russia comes Asparagus a la Russe, rich with sour cream and toasted almonds; Asparagus Polonaise includes minced egg yolks, parsley, and the buttered crumbs so beloved in Poland; Flemish Style Asparagus is served with melted butter, parsley, and quartered hard-cooked eggs. And so it goes.

To prepare asparagus for cooking , first wash it thoroughly. Break the stalks at the point

Trim off the scales and tie the tender stalks in bunches of six. Place upright in a tall, narrow saucepan, add water just to the tips, and cover the pan. Cook about 18 minutes, or until the stalks are tender but not wilted.

A speedy way of preparation, known as the California method, is particularly suited to those dishes which use cut-up asparagus, such as the main dish casserole described below. Wash and snap the stalks as usual. Cut off the tips, then cut the tender stalks in thin slices, at as sharp an angle as possible.

Place cut pieces and tips in a frying basket, and plunge this into rapidly boiling water. Bring to a boil once more, then cook three or four minutes, until the asparagus is tender crisp. Remove the basket from the water and drain.

Asparagus a la Russe

2 teaspoons butter

2 teaspoons grated onion

1 tablespoon white vinegar

¾ cup dairy sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. cooked fresh, or 10 oz. cooked frozen asparagus

¼ cup chopped, blanched almonds

3 tablespoons fine, dry bread crumbs

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, add the onion, and cook slowly until the onion is soft

but not browned. Add the vinegar and cook over medium heat three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream, salt and pepper.

Arrange the asparagus in a single layer in a well-buttered shallow baking dish which can be brought to the table. Pour the sour cream sauce evenly over the asparagus, and sprinkle the almonds and bread crumbs evenly over the sauce. Bake at 350 F until hot, about 15 minutes. Serve in the same dish. This amount makes three or four portions.

Asparagus Casserole

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups milk

¾ cup grated American cheese

½ cup fine, dry bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook and stir until the mixture bubbles. Remove from the heat, and gradually stir in the milk. Return to the heat, and cook and stir until smooth and thickened. Gently combine with the cheese, asparagus, olives, salt and pepper.

Place half the mixture in a 1 1/2-quart casserole (buttered), cover with a layer of half the eggs, and sprinkle half the bread crumbs evenly over the eggs. Repeat. Bake, uncovered, at 350 F about 20 minutes. PJC

p Asparagus casserole

Lukawo / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Past Chronicle leaders remember the way it was

By David Rullo | Sta Writer

Barbara Befferman Danes might be remembered as the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle’s former CEO but, as she recalled, she began her career “at the lowest post on the totem pole.”

Thanks to the new Career Development Center at Jewish Family and Children’s Services (now Jewish Family and Community Services), Danes was hired as an advertising coordinator at the Chronicle in 1984.

“It was a wonderful thing for me,” she said. “I worked there until June 2011.”

When first hired, Danes’ tasks included intaking obituaries and pasting classified ads into the paper’s layout by hand — an antiquated process that ceased to exist in the era of desktop publishing.

Danes said it was easy to recognize her early work in the paper.

“If you look back on the classified ad page in that time period, whole pages are crooked,” she said. “I don’t know why. I’m very good at hanging pictures. But I just had a hard time.”

While the ads might have looked askew on the page, Danes said she had a better record when it came to a more important part of the job — “getting the right ones in the paper.”

“I loved the job,” she said. “I loved the Chronicle from the very first day.”

Danes eventually took over as the paper’s business manager; when her mentor, Albert Zecher, retired, she was promoted to CEO.

At that time, the Chronicle had 11 employees, including those filling bygone positions of the publishing world, like typesetters.

Danes’ tenure coincided with changes in the newspaper business, mainly the start of the internet age, which she remembered as lean years when the paper had to readjust to find its footing.

It was also a time of transformation for the Chronicle, as the paper moved first from Bellefield Avenue to Baum Boulevard, then eventually relocated to its present home at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Danes said the Chronicle was an institution people wanted to be a part

of, and where community members would often come to share story ideas or good news.

“I remember a young woman came to place her engagement announcement. Her fiancé had just given her the ring in the car, and she made him drive her to the paper to share the news. I don’t even think she told her mother yet,” Danes recalled with a laugh.

The Chronicle, Danes said, holds a special significance for her.

“It literally saved my life,” she said. “When I started working there, I was a single mother. My daughter was 5 and my son was 2. We closed at 2 p.m. on Friday and I was able to pick my kids up and be a real mother. I had the holidays off when they were off, too. On the weekends, when I had to go in and balance the books, the kids would come and play. The Chronicle had all these great games. I can’t say enough about my years there.”

Former editor Joel Roteman fondly remembers when he started at the Chronicle as an assistant editor.

“It was in 1967, right before the Six-Day War,” he said.

He spent the next 35 years at the paper.

The editorial staff was small during Roteman’s tenure, a fact his editor wanted to keep from the public.

“You weren’t allowed to have two bylines in the same issue,” Roteman recalled. “He didn’t

want people to know how small we were. So, we had to make up a fake name. Mine was Leo J. Nametor, which is Joel Roteman backwards. No one ever figured it out. It sounded like it could have been a real name.”

When Roteman became editor, the paper’s circulation was approximately 15,000 households, 50% of which had Squirrel Hill addresses.

“We had a loyal readership back in those days,” he said.

Roteman said he particularly enjoyed writing celebrity profiles.

“My favorite was Phyllis Diller,” he said. “She was coming in for a Hadassah Spectacular. I did a phone interview with her, and we started feeding off each other’s jokes and laughing throughout the interview. It was a terrible interview, but it was so much fun.”

On a more serious note, Roteman recalled interviewing Yitzhak Rabin’s widow, Leah, after his assassination.

“I remember speaking with her about his smoking habit,” Roteman said. “I said he always had a cigarette in his mouth. She said, ‘It wasn’t smoking that killed him. It was a gun.’”

There’s another gun that persists in Roteman’s memories — the one in the waistband of a young man who took him hostage, a former Chronicle intern who

became radicalized about the plight of Jews in the former Soviet Union.

“I got a call from a teenage boy who said, ‘Such-and-such is coming over and he has a gun. He has taken me hostage.’ I said OK. I thought it was a hoax. Then he showed up with a scared 15-year-old.”

Roteman said he could see the outline of a gun in the waistband of the hostagetaker. While his secretary quickly shut her door and made calls trying to connect with the boy’s family, Roteman attempted to reason with him.

“He said, ‘I’m leaving for Israel tonight. You have to print my story as is or I’ll blow your head off.’ I said, ‘If you blow my head off the story is going to be “Chronicle editor gets his head blown off.” They won’t even look at your story. Besides, I wouldn’t even promise the president I would print his story word-for-word.’”

Eventually, the boy’s family came and took him home. No charges were pressed.

Roteman said the Jewish community has changed since his time with the paper, noting that it’s older and more affluent.

“I remember when we made a big deal because the Federation campaign made $6 million. That’s not such a big deal anymore,” he said.

p Chronicle Editor Joel Roteman and Chronicle General Manager Albert Zecher accept an award on behalf of the paper

Photo courtesy of Joel Roteman

p Barbara Befferman Danes

Photo courtesy of Barbara Be erman Danes

Advancing healthcare innovation, advocacy, collaboration, and education in the interest of better population health

THE JEWISH HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INCLUDES THREE SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

Since its creation in 1990 through the sale of Montefiore Hospital, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation has provided the Jewish community of Pittsburgh and its agencies with over $75 million in support, including over $60 million for Jewish senior services.

Thanks to the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s unique approach to activist philanthropy, the following organizations and initiatives have been launched and positively affect the community and/or region:

AIDS Free Pittsburgh

Dementia Friends Pennsylvania

Feinstein Fellowships

PA Youth Advocacy Network

Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative

Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Learning Network

Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative

Squirrel Hill Food Pantry

Squirrel Hill Health Center Stop the Bleed Teen Mental Health Collaborative UpStreet Pittsburgh Virtual Senior Academy Women’s Reproductive Health Funders Group Working Hearts ...among many others

WHEREAS, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is an independent multimedia Jewish news organization serving the Jewish community of Greater Pittsburgh, officially founded in 1962 by Albert W. Bloom, then a reporter and science editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and,

WHEREAS, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle’s roots go back more than 100 years to two predecessor newspapers, The Jewish Criterion, founded in 1895, and The American Jewish Outlook, founded in 1934; and,

WHEREAS, in 1962 The Jewish Criterion and The American Jewish Outlook merged to create The Jewish Chronicle, eventually changing its name to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle in 2017 to emphasize its local impact and focus; and,

WHEREAS, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle became one of t he leading Jewish newspapers in the United States featuring numerous prize-winning series under Bloom’s leadership; a nd,

WHEREAS, the Chronicle is published by the independent nonprofit, Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation, providing local, national, and global news of i nterest to t he Jewish community; and,

WHEREAS, the Chronicle also publishes opinion pieces and features including culture, food, health, history, travel, sports, local Jewish events, including public events and life cycle events, and more; and,

WHEREAS, the award-winning newspaper has played a vital role in connecting the Jewish community since its inception; and, WHEREAS, The Chronicle publishes weekly in print and daily online at pittsburghjewishchronicle.org as well as email newsletters and posts on social media.; and,

WHEREAS, The Chronicle serves as an indispensable source of news and information while working to build and strengthen the Jewish community of the Greater Pittsburgh area; and,

WHEREAS, Tens of thousands of members of t he greater Pittsburgh Jewish community rely on t he Chronicle to keep t hem informed and connected to their community l ocally and abroad; and, WHEREAS, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle has cemented itself as a foundational newspaper not only f or the Jewish community, but for the City of Pittsburgh at large; and,

WHEREAS, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle happily celebrates its 60 th anniversary of providing award-winning, meaningful, cultural, and transformational news coverage to its readers.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby recognize a nd honor the decades of work and news coverage that the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle has provided and continues to provide to both the Jewish community, within and beyond the borders of Pittsburgh, and to the Greater Pittsburgh community.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the Ci ty of Pittsburgh does hereby declare December 30, 2022, to be “Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.

Sponsored by Councilmember Erika Strassburger Co-sponsored by Councilmembers Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, Deb Gross, Bobby Wils on, Anthony Coghill, Bruce Kraus, R. Daniel Lavelle, Barbara Warwick, and Rev. Ricky V. Burgess

Attest: Kim Clark-Baskin, CMC President

of

Community Day School marks golden jubilee

It’s not often that a 30-year-old institution decides to change its structure, rewrite its bylaws, find a new board and hire a new chief executive officer — but that is exactly what Community Day School did in 2002.

With Dr. Lois Weinstein at the helm, the leaders of the Jewish private school decided it was time to leave its partnership with the Jewish Education Institute (JEI) and return to its roots as an independent entity. The separation was completed on June 23, 2004.

That decision launched a new era for CDS, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022.

Local college students face varying degrees of antisemitism on campus

By Adam Reinherz Sta Writer

Andrew Cole recently experienced two instances of antisemitism. The first one wasn’t intended for his ears. The second one was. Before recounting the events, Cole, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, said he needed space. He walked a few feet away, paused and explained how he grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, a place where he could count the number of Jewish classmates on his hands. High school was only a couple years ago but a lot has changed, he said. There was a pandemic, students were sent home from college and classes went virtual. Cole missed the lecture halls where professors spoke about American history or urban development. He longed to be with his friends, like those he met while playing a giant dreidel game on Chanukah.

being a mom-and-pop type school.” Weinstein said the break was necessary so parents would think about CDS the same way they did other respected private institutions in town, including Shady Side Academy and Winchester Thurston School.

Founded in 1972 as a non-denominational private Jewish day school for students in kindergarten through third grade, the school added one grade level each year for the next five years until it capped out at eighth grade.

In 1988, CDS had an enrollment of 77 students. It added nearly half as many when it merged with the South Hills Solomon Schechter School, swelling the number of students enrolled to 107. Three years later, the school became part of the JEI. Ronna Harris Askin was board chair

As spring semester 2020 rolled along in a virtual world, Cole realized he was struggling. He finished the term, then took a gap year and worked on farms across the country before returning to Oakland this semester for in-person classes.

Something is different now, he said, and maybe that’s the reason why the first incident was so disturbing.

It happened during a gaming session. Cole wasn’t playing, but heard one of the participants tell a fellow player to “Quit being so Jewish.”

Cole thinks the comment was made in the context of a trade. He also doesn’t think it would have been uttered if his presence had been noticed — and that might be the most hurtful part about it, he said.

“I don’t even think he considered me whatsoever, which kind of felt worse

Theresa Kail-Smith

of Council Clerk

Council In Council, December 28, 2022

By David Rullo

p Images from prior decades: Top row, 1970s; second row, 1980s; third row, 1990s; fourth row, 2000s; and bottom row, 2010s Photos courtesy of Community Day School

Congratulations to Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle on

60th Anniversary

Looking back over the years…

YEARS

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

The Chronicle has held a special place in the hearts of its readers for six decades. Here are some of their fondest memories — and what keeps them reading.

Found bashert in Chronicle

I met my wife, Sophia, through a personal ad she placed in the Jewish Chronicle, and 30 years later we are still together.

I would wait for delivery on Fridays to see all of the “gossip” in the city. When I was young, I would read to see who I knew that got engaged, married and had children. As I am a “senior,” I unfortunately read the obituaries of who I knew in my class or were friends who have passed on. I live in the northern suburbs and happily belong to Chabad, so my involvement in the city is not the same, but I still like knowing what is “happening” around town.

Rona Mustin Wexford

Chronicle keeps us connected and motivates us to act

The Chronicle is more than just a way to know who in our community have been getting married, having children, becoming b’nei mitzvah, or passing away. It is more than reports on what Pittsburgh Jews and Jewish organizations are doing, and more than a reliable transmission of news from Israel and around the world.

The Chronicle incites us to do what we are supposed to do: to think, to contemplate, to deliberate. It grounds us as to where we factually are now, so that we may direct our actions where they are appropriate and needed. It is a medium — an impartial vehicle of the Fourth Estate — that keeps us connected with our global community as we interact with each other and with all of our other communities in daily life.

We were married by Rabbi Gibson at Temple Sinai and lived in Squirrel Hill before moving to Southwest Ranches Florida last year.

Keeping up with friends, past and present

I remember the Jewish Criterion and the beginning of the Jewish Chronicle.

Happy 60th anniversary to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle!

N. Glickman Squirrel Hill

A balanced, indispensable source of news

I am a voracious reader and “political junkie” who subscribes to three daily

is proud to support Jewish news and proud to work every day to connect people to Jewish life.

Compiled by Toby Tabachnick | Editor

Laurence Landis Southwest Ranches, Florida

Audrey

— LOCAL —

p Landis wedding photo

Photo courtesy of Laurence Landis

p Personal ad in the Chronicle through which Laurence Landis met his future wife, Sophie Image courtesy of Laurence Landis

newspapers — The New York Times, the Washington Observer-Reporter and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — and two weekly publications: Time and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

I rarely, if ever, miss reading the Chronicle in detail. It has been indispensable to me for decades. It offers news and information for everyone within the Jewish community and it has done an outstanding job of balancing the interests and concerns of the distinct branches of Judaism.

Under varying leadership teams over the years, I have been grateful to have been consistently afforded a generous number of appearances for my lay commentary.

On countless occasions over the years, friends and acquaintances have told me that they saw a letter of mine in the Chronicle, which is something that serves to stimulate discussion.

I thank my former high school classmate, Chronicle Publisher and CEO Jim Busis, and all the members of the dedicated staff of Pittsburgh’s vital Jewish newspaper for all of its efforts to publish a quality Jewish newspaper, dedicated work which continued even at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s to the next 60 years!

Pittsburghers know how things were with me when I was deployed to Iraq and Kosovo, and traveling around the globe on military missions.

I was the longest volunteer, 33 years, reading for the blind and printhandicapped on the Radio Information Station. I managed the show and read the Chronicle for an hour. All the news, grocery specials and obituaries — in fact the entire paper. One day I pronounced Benjamin Netanyahu’s name incorrectly and a listener called in immediately!

I enjoy reading the Chronicle and look forward to it arriving weekly.

Here is to at least another 60 years, and if I can read it for half of that time, I will be happy. Mazel tov.

Elaine H. Berkowitz, DMD Ross Township

A connection to a community — and a showcase for art

Oren Spiegler Peters Township

Reading the Chronicle on radio

Time flies. Sixty years. Well, I am certainly old enough to remember when the Chronicle was first published.

I have enjoyed reading it in print and online from all parts of the world. I wrote letters which were used to let

As a transplant to Pittsburgh from Chicago via Los Angeles more than 50 years ago, I will always be thankful for the Chronicle, which has provided a much-valued connection to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and to the Jewish world beyond. This paper has also provided a generous showcase for my work as an artist and illustrator in service to the Jewish community through the many special holiday covers I contributed over the years, going back to 1971 when I first arrived here. You may see some of them on the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project online.

Ilene Winn-Lederer Greenfield

Mazel Tov to the Pi sburgh Jewish Chronicle on achieving your 60th

Anniversary milestone. The JCBA values our relationship with you and thanks you for 60 years of service.

p Chronicle covers by Ilene Winn-Lederer Images provided by Ilene Winn-Lederer

Scott E. Seewald · Chair of the Board

Brian Schreiber · President and CEO

Dec. 21, 2022

Jim Busis CEO and Publisher

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., Fifth Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Dear Jim and staff,

Congratulations on the 60-year anniversary of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. You are all to be commended on reaching this milestone and your service to your readership and community, which stretches far beyond our city’s borders and southwestern Pennsylvania.

The history of your newspaper is deep and rich, with predecessor publications The Jewish Criterion (founded in 1895) and the American Jewish Outlook (founded in 1934) laying the foundation for your current award-winning work. The news, feature and opinion articles and multimedia work your staff has crafted has strengthened not only the Jewish community but also connected your readers, providing them with important information that enriches their lives.

Further, the stories that your staff tells about your community brings broader meaning to people of other faiths. In today’s divisive political and cultural environment and an evolving media ecosystem, that work has become incredibly important. Your publication and website finds a place for others to share their views and experiences as well. You have trained generations of Pittsburgh journalists, too, through internships and staff positions that have led them to successful media careers.

Thank you, Jim, and your editorial staff for serving as leaders in the Pittsburgh journalism community The Press Club board and our members laud this anniversary and your achievements and look forward to more in the coming years.

Best always,

Helen Fallon

President

p The staff of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle holds some memorable issues of the paper. From left: Staff Writer David Rullo; Publisher and CEO Jim Busis; Editor Toby Tabachnick; Senior Sales Associate Phil Durler; Staff Writer Adam Reinherz

Photo by Kim Rullo

For over a century the Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel has been part of the landscape and texture of the Shadyside section of the city. This year marks the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Jewish Chronicle and over 100 years of our community roots.

In our quest to maintain quality, tradition and diversity, we remain proud that Sharon Ryave Brody is the first Jewish woman in Western PA licensed as a funeral director and humbled that we have now entered the fourth generation of our family business.

Serving the entire Western Pennsylvania Jewish community, Ralph Schugar Chapel accommodates all denominations—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, unaffiliated, interfaith, secular, and non-traditional. Offering a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional approaches and materials including green burials, Ralph Schugar Chapel also is completely wheelchair accessible and is specially equipped for the hearing impaired. Working with all families, in all price ranges, Ralph Schugar Chapel provides the finest care and most compassionate service available to our community.Experts in green burial for over 100 years. Four Generations of Ryave Brody Family Service to the Pittsburgh Jewish Community

60th Anniversary

Chronicle:

from page 10

Outlook both regularly offered ad hoc deals to lure advertisers away from each other. As the only newspaper, the new Jewish Chronicle could stick to a set rate sheet.

The business case was also based on the Federation mailing list. Under the original agreement, the Federation purchased subscriptions to the Jewish Chronicle at half-rate for anyone who had donated at least $10 to its annual campaign. This gave the Jewish Chronicle a circulation of 7,500 on its first day. The Federation also expected several hundred additional subscriptions to non-members throughout the tri-state area.

The final piece was hiring Al Bloom to serve as editor. Bloom had the rare combination of deep Jewish literacy, communal connections and journalistic chops.

Soon after Bloom announced he would be leaving the Post-Gazette to lead the new Jewish Chronicle, a Post-Gazette executive pulled him aside and asked, “What are you doing? You must be out of your mind. Why would you give up a hard-earned position in the daily field to take on a weekly? You write what you like. You travel. You have the world with a ribbon around it. Why give it up for this which is completely untested and unproven? Besides, in 25 years there won’t be a Jewish community.”

Recalling that incident in the Jewish Chronicle’s 25th anniversary issue, Bloom wrote, “Deeply, I appreciated the concern — but not all of us clearly appreciate Jewish history. The more nearly appropriate Hebrew word is ‘emunah’ (faith-confidence).” PJC

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

Continued from page 21

Former editor Lee Chottiner said that he viewed coming to work at the Chronicle as a profound step in his life.

“I had been an active Jew forever,” Chottiner said. “I had been to Israel a couple of times. I was active in my synagogue. I followed Jewish issues. I thought this was a way for me to write something that was more meaningful than a township meeting or police blotter.”

Chottiner particularly remembered the 9/11 issue he oversaw during his tenure.

“We were preparing for the High Holiday issue,” he recalled. “It was a Tuesday morning. We were called into the publisher’s office. There was the burning tower in New York. At first, we thought it was an accident.”

The decision was made to include a story in that week’s paper. Chottiner sprang into action, calling writers to report from the paper’s entire coverage area, as well as including an editorial cartoon on the front page instead of the typical High Holiday cover.

“A few people criticized us,” Chottiner

said. “At least one wrote me a letter saying she was looking forward to an uplifting cover.”

Chottiner also recalled covering the story of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut on the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated at the end of its final flight in 2003, killing its sevenmember crew.

Of course, the paper also included the bread-and-butter issues its readers cared about.

“We did a story about handicap accessibility to Jewish facilities,” Chottiner said. “We wrote about how non-Jewish funeral homes were getting into the act of Jewish funerals.”

When Chottiner became editor, he said, the paper was in a period of transition.

“I wanted to take it in a different direction than Joel [Roteman] had it, a more news-oriented direction,” he said. “I’m sure

Toby [Tabachnick, current Chronicle editor] has taken the ball and is moving it down the field,” he said. PJC

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

Top Stories:

August

Continued from page 3

Added journey, new beginnings

Following the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Mega Mission to Israel, a group of almost 20 Mission attendees traveled from Jerusalem to the United Arab Emirates between June 22 and 26.

Federation senior vice president and chief development officer Brian Eglash told the Chronicle that visiting UAE was a chance to “connect with the growing and burgeoning Dubai Jewish community.”

July Response to Dobbs

Following the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which sent the question of abortion rights back to the states, members of the Jewish community responded.

Former Women of Reform Judaism president and Temple Sinai member Lynn Lazar said that the Court’s decision requires people to “keep fighting for our rights, unfortunately, even after 50 years.”

Conversely, Cecily Routman, president of the Pittsburgh-based Jewish Pro-Life Foundation, said, “The justices of the Supreme Court corrected the major errors in jurisprudence that happened in 1973 because the Constitution does not enumerate, spell out, the right to abortion.”

Added costs of education

As inflation reached a 40-year high, parents and teachers experienced new burdens. The price of markers, glue sticks, folders and other classroom staples soared. Local organizations and the Jewish day schools responded by directing community members to spaces where resources and supplies were available. Day school representatives told the Chronicle that they tried to help defray costs, but they, too, experienced increased expenses.

Rabbi Sam Weinberg, of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, said he received a request from “every single teacher” for a raise due to inflation. The appeals make sense, he continued, as “everything has gone up; stuff is more expensive.”

Jonathan Schachter z”l

Shortly before his retirement as executive director of the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh, Jonathan Schachter died unexpectedly. Apart from leading the group as a staffer, Schachter also served as a volunteer and president of the organization. Schacter was an active member in the New Community Chevra Kadisha and a widely respected member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

“Jonathan was somebody who was truly committed to community,” Congregation Beth Shalom’s Rabbi Seth Adelson said. “He was a person who was dependable and Jewishly knowledgeable and willing to give his time for people in need.”

September

New pulpit posts

Following the retirement of Rabbi Daniel Wasserman, Rabbi Yitzi Genack assumed the spiritual helm of Shaare Torah Congregation. Genack previously served Riverdale Jewish Center for 11 years.

Genack told the Chronicle that his goal is to “foster a community that reaches outward.” That desire, he said, reflects his personality: “I want to get to know people, be there with them and foster relationships.”

After leaving her role as director of Jewish life at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in March, Rabbi Amy Bardack accepted the position of rabbi at Congregation Dor Hadash. The part-time post enables Bardack to return to her roots: She began her career as a pulpit rabbi in Greenwich Village.

“Now’s a good time in life to go back to the pulpit,” she said. “That was one of the reasons I left Federation — the unprecedented opportunity for pulpit rabbis.”

October

Moving forward, but mourning continues

Weeks before marking four years since the antisemitic attack at the Tree of Life building, the community mourned another loss. Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor and Tree of Life Congregation member whose late arrival to services on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, likely spared his life, died. Samet was a regular minyan-goer and an outspoken and celebrated member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

“He was such a strong, solid guy — he was a fighter,” said Alan Hausman, president of Tree of Life. “There was the perception that he’d last forever. He was a one-ofa-kind person. He was incredibly learned; he knew all the Talmud and all the parsha and he’d always have a question to ask the rabbi.”

Throughout October, the community volunteered, studied Torah and gathered together in memory of the 11 people murdered inside the Tree of Life building.

November

Elections make Pennsylvania firmly blue

Pittsburghers and Pennsylvanians rejected the idea of a midterm national red wave, and after tallying the ballots, election officials reported that the commonwealth was blue. Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro defeated his Republican gubernatorial opponent Doug Mastriano by nearly 13%; Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman beat TV

personality and Pennsylvania transplant Dr. Mehmet Oz; Democrat Chris Deluzio defeated Jeremy Shaffer to keep Rep. Connor Lamb’s 17th District congressional seat blue; and Democrat Summer Lee was declared the victor shortly after the polls closed in her race against Republican Mike Doyle in the commonwealth’s 12th District.

December

Renovated bowling alley clears lane for teen care

cials and mental health professionals joined JFCS Pittsburgh for a ceremonial ground breaking at the former Forward Lanes in Squirrel Hill, introducing the first physical location for UpStreet Pittsburgh.

In October 2020, JFCS launched UpStreet (upstreetpgh.org) as an innovative virtual means for teens and young adults (ages 12-22) to easily access free mental health services.

“Of the 44,000 youths living in the city of Pittsburgh, 20% struggle with their mental health; and suicide is the second-largest cause of death for this same demographic,” JFCS Chief Operating Officer Dana Gold said.

During the past two years, more than 2,000 young people have used the UpStreet virtual service, according to UpStreet Clinical Coordinator Erin Barr.

Having a physical space that’s walking distance from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, the day schools and several bus lines was key, JFCS President and CEO Jordan Golin said: “It’s going to be really easy for kids after school just to walk on over and get help.” PJC

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

Busis:

Continued from page 11

— means that data analysis determines what items get pushed. And that data analysis exposes the dark side of human nature. Not just negative stories, but hate and vitriol get promoted. The result is a vicious cycle where nasty partisan culture among people promotes nasty partisan culture in media and social media which reinforces the trend. Couple this with growing ideologies that there is no such thing as objective truth, and that the role of media is to advocate for a cause rather than to portray what really happened, and you get a perfect storm leading us to where we are today.

Where we are is not conducive to a productive discussion, let alone actually solving any of the complex problems we face either as a

nation or as a Pittsburgh Jewish community. Our society is increasingly fragmented into segments, each living in its own information bubble where it only sees news and opinions that correspond to one worldview and thereby reinforce it. There is no common understanding among the different segments as to what the facts are or even what the common issues are. As an experiment, try switching back and forth one night between MSNBC and Fox News. It’s as if they are living on different planets. A recent survey found that most Americans were against intermarriage — not marriage between people of different religions, but between people of different political affiliations.

We see this every day at the Chronicle. There are bitter divisions to some extent when it comes to issues surrounding the coexistence of different denominations of Judaism as well as new movements; in national political issues

like “racial justice” and “freedom”; and most of all, in the two core Jewish political issues: Israel and antisemitism. The Chronicle cannot ignore these divisions; it is our job to provide news and opinions about all these issues.

Let’s take antisemitism as one example. Antisemitism has been growing and evolving from multiple directions, but many members of our community pigeonhole antisemitism into convenient categories that fit their worldview and further their political arguments. Many people on the right are happy to recognize and denounce antisemitism on the left but seem incapable of recognizing it or denouncing it when it comes from the right. Many people on the left are happy to recognize and denounce antisemitism on the right but seem incapable of recognizing it or denouncing it when it comes from the left. At the Chronicle we try to cover all of it — from the right, from the left, as well as antisemitism

that is harder to categorize. Antisemitism from the left and the right don’t always manifest in the same ways, but they are all streams of antisemitism. They are all dangerous to Jews and to society more broadly. The Chronicle’s staff tries very hard to get our stories right and to be fair and objective; in many cases, we believe we do a better job of that than some larger and more famous news publishers.

Our role is to provide that underlying base of quality news and information that can tie our Pittsburgh Jewish community together — that can create common bases of understanding and even empathy for others whose lives and outlooks are different than ours. So if you disagree with what we publish or don’t publish, go ahead and write letters to the editor, write opinion pieces, write comments on stories on our website and on social media — but don’t stop reading us. Embrace us and join us. We will all be better off for it. PJC

p Dr. Jordan Golin discusses UpStreet's move into the former Forward Lanes. Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Mega Mission participants walked in a “Pittsburgh Loves Israel” parade their first night in Israel. Photo by David Rullo

The amazing, serendipitous life of Philip

Pearlstein,

painter of nakedness and nonchalance

By Charlie White | Special to the Chronicle

Very few lives are lived out at epic scale, spanning time in an almost cinematic fashion as if choreographed to carefully touch upon a generation’s most significant events. And while such lives might conjure images of heroic figures, and even Teutonic ideals, our modern heroes rarely fit the classical mold; notable lives played out across the slog of real time are often filled with the mundane, frustrating and painful occurrences that we all endure. One such life adventurer whose time on Earth married the miraculous and the mundane is the great American figurative painter Philip Pearlstein, who died on Dec. 18 at the sagacious age of 98. Pearlstein’s journey was an epic tale of America, art and the changing ideas and ideals that allowed a poor Jewish boy from Pittsburgh — who stood only a few inches over 5 feet tall — to be remembered as a giant in the eyes of many.

In the fashion of a true American epic, the opening scene of Pearlstein’s life can be imagined as a classic silent film. Fading up from black, we see the hazed skies and muted sunset of early 20th-century Pittsburgh. It is 1924, just shy of a century ago, and Philip has been born to a young Jewish couple, David and Libby (Kalser) Pearlstein.

It is the late dawn of modernity in the industrial epicenter of America, and although Philip was born into a time of certain national prosperity, he came of age in the Great Depression. He grew up in a small house on Murray Avenue, the only child among 10 family members living together in close quarters; his father sold chickens and eggs to help make ends meet. Luckily, Philip’s artistic talent became evident early, and his natural predilection for drawing was met with the rare support of his parents, who allowed him to attend the generous Saturday morning art classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art. With both his family and an esteemed institution buttressing his talents, the formative pieces of a classical art education began to miraculously fall into place.

Philip’s talent opened doors to a world of opportunity. At 17, while a student at Taylor Allderdice High School, his involvement in the Carnegie Institute’s 14th annual show of high school art resulted in Life magazine reproducing two of his paintings in its June 16, 1941, issue. Such a national honor might have sparked in Philip the kind of hubris unique to adolescence, or it might have been his artistic life’s highpoint. Instead, Philip gleaned from it an early insight into the fleeting nature of recognition, and the wider legitimacy needed to seriously pursue art as a career and a future. This brief moment in the spotlight allowed Philip to dream outside of the confines of his parents’ world and to imagine another for himself.

University and war

In the fall of 1942, Philip entered Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie

Mellon University) to study art and design under the tutelage of Robert Lepper, a fabled artist and professor who developed the country’s first industrial design degree program. Lepper encouraged his students to look at ordinary items from their daily lives as potential works of art, a practical and intellectual shift that resonated with Pearlman and many of his peers. However, Pearl Harbor had been attacked only nine months earlier, and America was rapidly preparing for war. So, in June of 1943, alongside many of his conscripted classmates, Philip found himself heading to Europe.

Here, our American epic enters its classic war drama period, now in Technicolor and with sync sound. We see a Jewish American youth — a sort of local art hero who’s earned laurels at home — heading across the ocean to become part of the very machinery (most of it forged at home along the Ohio River) that would ultimately bring Hitler’s march to a halt. There is a romance to this part of Pearlstein’s story as, alongside the gritty truths of war and its unspoken horrors, an individual’s inner strength and outer confidence emerge in such a period. There is also something prescient about this place and time in Philip’s life, when what must have seemed like a profound interruption may in fact have been a necessary recalibration in his life’s trajectory.

These fortuitous events, born from a rupture that could have ended Philip’s life or resulted in debilitating trauma, instead helped to chart his future and set his course. Philip found himself again at the vanguard of a transforming America, and again he seemed to be in the right place at the right time. In the war, art had saved Philip’s life, a fact that he shared in an essay many years later when recalling his time in the military. His drafting and drawing talents had kept him from the frontlines, while his continual practice of sketching had kept his mind together; he sent more than a hundred small works back home to his parents as a sort of promise and preservation of his person.

Philip came home in 1946, returned to Carnegie Tech on the GI Bill, and, as a result of the ripple in time caused by the war, met a young man who would become an inextricable part of his life, and a young woman with whom he would fall in love. The new friend was Andy Warhola (not yet the famed Andy Warhol) and the new love was Dorothy Cantor, who Philip would marry and with whom he would raise a family and share a life for the next 68 years. During his time abroad, Philip gained maturity and insight that allowed him to now experiment and take creative risks with his artistic practice. During this critical period, Philip cemented his relationship to observational art and to what would become a new era in American realism, an interest that went against nearly every cultural trend on the horizon.

When Philip first arrived in New York, he pursued work in graphic design and went on to get a master’s degree in art history from New York University, where he focused on artist Francis Picabia and completed his

Philip’s story was a grand narrative of a great American artist, an account of 20th-century Jewry, and an everyman’s tale of art, love, life and friendship.

thesis in 1955. There was a matter-of-factness — almost a squareness — to Philip that differed greatly from his friend Andy Warhol’s persona and ambitions and placed him outside of the many currents of contemporary New York. Yet he was utterly of his moment and his work slowly evolved to reflect this, becoming more and more of its own time. Pearlstein became an instructor at the Pratt Institute, and then a professor at Brooklyn College. As if guided by the worries and wishes of Depression-era parents, he created a stable platform that allowed him to care a bit less about selling artwork, which meant that he could paint what felt right, instead of what people wanted or the art world expected.

Defining a style

Art movements have a cascading impact on young artists. Sometimes new practitioners drown under the force of stylistic currents; other times, they stay afloat, getting beyond the cresting rage and into calmer waters where they are able to swim in their own ideas again. In the mid-20th century, these movements created a sort of cultural accretion, moving from abstract expressionism, to Pop art, to minimalism, to conceptualism, and to photorealism and beyond. What is most notable in this period is that Pearlstein continued to carefully observe, draw and paint figures, nudes, portraits, people, and places outside of these currents. By the early ’60s, when he was in his late 30s, his practice had evolved into highly focused painting of nudes from life. It was an antiquated idea, but with his approach it became shockingly modern: In Pearlstein’s bodies and pared-down spaces,

there was a nonchalance that allows the nude to be naked, the human to be humane and the erotic to be exchanged for something more intellectual and less objectified.

This was an absolute breakthrough: Bodies seated, slouching and resting above carefully executed parquet floors meeting white beveled moldings. Nude figures with long hair and body hair reclining on draped textiles and carefully detailed rugs. There is a meaningfully untraditional quality about Pearlstein’s nudes, and although they show the influence of Henri Matisse and Francis Picabia, they are more photographic, more exact. If the visceral, the muscular, the fleshy and the felt was the space of the secular, then Pearlstein’s cooler, intellectually painted bodies, spaces and patterns were the Semitic interpretation of figuration. Pearlstein had, after years of refinement, captured a look and feel that was both of and outside of its time in ways that made his work part of something entirely new. As such, he joined a very small group of painters who could, without much antipathy from their peers, continue the humanistic tradition of figuration, and, in many ways, keep it alive.

The apex of a career

Here our American epic enters its third and final act, its modern period, with far less lyricism and much greater realism. This was the apex of Pearlstein’s career, and it coincided with the changing of the guard, a period defined and designed by a younger generation born in America rather than those who had arrived. It was at this point

p Andy Warhol (front) poses for this 1948 photo with fellow Carnegie Institute of Technology students Philip Pearlstein and Dorothy Cantor.

Photo provided by the Archives of American Art/Smithsonian Institution

Vayigash: Revealing character

Life & Culture

Pearlstein:

place in art history just like the artists he studied at the beginning of his career.

As our secular calendar year 2022 draws to a close, we cannot help but to turn our thoughts to both a year now ending as well as to the future on our horizon.

How could it be otherwise? The end of an annum is an invitation to review how we have comported ourselves — in speech and silence — over the last 12 months and to make proper adjustments to our behavior going forward, for in these ways do we reveal our true character.

In Vayigash, we read of Joseph receiving and then revealing himself to his brothers upon their coming down to Egypt to plead for food in the midst of a famine. The brothers do not recognize the one before whom they stand; Joseph, for his part, immediately recognizes his siblings, yet (owing to his own mixed feelings about the past) is slow to own up to his identity.

Joseph, who is in a position of supreme authority, responds to his brothers with ostensible generosity — but he also secretly plots against his own. Thus, before sending his siblings on their way with necessary provisions, Joseph secrets a silver goblet into his brother Benjamin’s sack, effectively creating the pretense to frame an innocent man for acts he did not commit.

Joseph, who originally chose not to be candid with his brothers, is soon overwrought with what he’s done; and when he can no longer abide his own duplicity, Joseph comes clean, disclosing his true identity with great emotion. This moment is significant because in it, Joseph redeems and thus reveals his true character.

But what of the other members of the court who participated in the original charade? Silently deferring to the vizier’s authority, not a single member of the royal retinue objects to the ways in which

Benjamin and his family are treated. Perhaps some feared for their livelihood or even their lives; this we can understand. But what of those who could have spoken up but held their tongues? Each of us is, after all, responsible for our own choices.

And what of you and me? What of our own silence in the face of injustice? What of those times when, as leaders and role models, we have had an opportunity to do the right thing but chose, instead, to remain mute in the face of improper, even immoral, behavior perpetrated by confederates and friends?

The choice to remain silent, too, reveals character. After all, to say nothing when one has an opportunity to right a wrong is a tacit acceptance of the same; and to continue freely associating with those who engage in such unsavory activity also shows all who we are.

Facing our own errors in having rushed to judgment (for example) or holding ourselves to account for our silence long after the harm is done is never easy. But necessary, it is. After all, we do not surrender our agency just because we join a group; there is no true anonymity in numbers and we shall be judged by both the choices we make and the company we keep.

So it was that at the moment of Joseph’s big reveal to his brothers (perhaps the most emotionally charged moment in all the Torah), he sends everyone away. Why? So Joseph may be alone with his conscience, fully present with his brothers, and revealed thereafter as a man of singular character.

Vayigash’s message: Confront yourself courageously. Course correct as necessary. Cultivate your character continuously.

It’s never too late to do the right thing! PJC

Rabbi Aaron Bisno is the Frances F. & David R. Levin Rabbinic Scholar at Rodef Shalom Congregation. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.

that Pearlstein’s influence and ideas began to permeate the art world and its institutions.

Pearlstein had hit his stride, and in 1979, at age 55, he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Henry Kissinger for the cover of Time magazine. This was not his most iconic work, nor was it in keeping with his many other portraits; confined by the magazine’s aspect ratio, it was akin to a closely cropped headshot and bereft of any additional visual cues. However, the layers of this opportunity were many, and their meanings myriad.

This portrait marked a turning point, a shift from outsider to insider, with Philip, seemingly always in the right place at the right time, no longer being an interloper on the sets of the grand narrative; instead, he was now a part of it. Philip was unknowingly completing a journey from the margins of America to the center, a journey shaped by the influence of his generation. Here was Philip’s return to a popular and powerful American periodical. Here, also, was the portrait itself, of a Jewish statesman and complex individual. And here was the unexpected turn of a man known for his stark, modern nudes who was carving out his own

Throughout his life, Philip Pearlstein painted every single day. Diligently working in his studio well into his 90s, he painted when no one was watching and when the art world had moved on. He continued in his own steadfast, unique style in spite of the shifts and demands of the art world, in spite of the trends. And, in turn, this methodical and singular practice shaped Philip’s life: uprooted him from his humble beginnings in Pittsburgh, shielded him from battle during the war, and granted him the courage to face each new day after the death of his beloved wife, Dorothy.

Philip’s story was a grand narrative of a great American artist, an account of 20th-century Jewry, and an everyman’s tale of art, love, life and friendship.

Now that he’s no longer here, his work and life will be remembered and perhaps seen with a new perspective and honored anew.

Now, we can all reflect on the life and work of this little man, who led a beautiful and full life and who mastered the purity of the human form. PJC

Charlie White is head of the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of Congregation Dor Hadash.

Rabbi Aaron Bisno Parshat Vayigash

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Culture

Celebrate New Year’s with chocolate souffle

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

Iknow I’m not the only one who prefers to stay home on New Year’s Eve. I don’t care for huge crowds and the older I get, I just want to have a comfortable but luxurious night at home. I don’t usually make a special dinner but we always eat well. I like to make a cheese board and have Botarga, which is a Sephardic delicacy made from fish roe. I usually add fruit, nuts, olives and crackers. So many of our religious holidays are set by times and prayers, and we really enjoy New Year’s because it feels like a free day to us where we can simply go with the flow. New Year’s Eve follows Shabbat this year but there is still plenty of time to whip up something special.

I like to deconstruct classic recipes to make them easier to follow and less difficult for people to experiment with. Chocolate souffle sounds daunting to most home chefs. There are lots of steps with finicky instructions. It takes time and effort — but actually much less effort than baking a batch of babka. After you do it once and understand the steps, you’ll see there isn’t much to be afraid of.

I use Julia Child’s classic recipe with a couple of small adjustments. It’s hard to get much better than a master but I like a bit more flour and salt than she used. Whether you’re creating a romantic date night at home or celebrating with your family and friends, this is a beautiful delight for your loved ones.

Ingredients

⅓ cup strong black co ee or ⅓ cup boiling water with ½ teaspoon of espresso powder. You can also use Starbucks Via instant co ee.

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 tablespoon vanilla

4 tablespoons butter, divided; do not substitute with salted butter

2 cups whole milk; do not substitute for lower fat

⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

4 eggs yolks

6 egg whites

½ teaspoon salt; I prefer sea salt

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ cup sugar

Powdered sugar for decorating

My best advice is that, when making a recipe with multiple steps, get all of the ingredients out of the cupboard and refrigerator first. With fine baking it’s important that eggs, milk, cream and butter are at room temperature before starting. In most seasons, this means taking things out of the fridge an hour before you plan to use them. Measure what you can beforehand and set aside an area for each step so everything is ready to go when you are. You can also separate the egg whites and egg yolks into separate bowls an hour ahead of time, which will help them to reach room temperature more quickly.

There are three main steps: Melting the

chocolate; cooking a pudding-type base with the milk and the flour; and beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. You gently fold it all together at the end and bake it. Use the best butter and chocolate you can find; better ingredients always turn out better results.

Typically in baking if you don’t have unsalted butter you simply omit the salt from the recipe, but that won’t work here. There is salt added to the egg whites that is necessary for them to change from a liquid to a solid texture. I recommend using a stand mixer to beat the egg whites. You can be flexible with your baking container as long as it’s well-buttered. I used a 2-quart souffle dish, but the recipe can be divided into about 8 small ramekins, which will shorten the baking time to about 25 minutes. If you don’t have a round baking dish with tall sides, you can use a saucepan if the handles are ovenproof and it’s the correct size.

Place the oven rack one slot from the bottom of the oven. The souffle expands while baking and needs lots of room to move upward. Preheat oven to 425 F.

Preparing the baking dishes

You need heavy-duty aluminum foil or parchment paper to make collars for the baking dishes. Souffles will rise tall while cooking; that is why they still taste airy and creamy even after they have collapsed. I use about a tablespoon of butter to grease the baking dish, but you must also grease the inside of the collar as well. Measure out the foil about twice the length of the circumference of the rim. Fold it in thirds so it is strong and stiff, towering about 4 to 6 inches over the rim of the dish. You only need to butter the top part that the souffle will touch — this is the part that stands over the top of the baking dish — which will keep the souffle from running over the sides. If you don’t have paper tape to seal it, place another small oven proof bowl at the seam to hold the foil or paper tight to the base of the pot. This may sound like a lot of instructions just to make the collar, but it is really very simple.

Warming the chocolate

To warm the chocolate, use either a double boiler or a regular sauté pan with a medium-sized glass Pyrex bowl sitting on top. Put about 3 inches of water in the base and

bring to a soft boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Pour the coffee/coffee mixture over the chocolate and let the bowl sit over the simmering water until it’s melting nicely. Use a rubber spatula to mix and smooth the melting chocolate. Once well combined, turn the burner off but leave the bowl sitting over the water pan so that it stays supple and easy to mix in for the last step. You can cover this if you wish with foil or a lid.

Preparing the base

Pour the flour into another saucepan and, using a whisk, mix in 2-3 tablespoons of milk into the flour until you see a smooth paste. Keep adding milk slowly, a few tablespoons at a time, whisking until the milk and flour are well combined.

Add in 3 tablespoons of butter.

Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a soft, slow boil, stirring constantly. It’s important to keep stirring, but that means it will take a little longer to bring the mixture to a slow boil. Once air bubbles up consistently, cook for 4-5 minutes while stirring. It will have the consistency of a homemade cooked pudding.

Remove from heat.

Every 30 seconds or so give the hot mixture a good stir, which releases steam and helps it to cool. It can be warm to the touch when you add in the egg yolks, but if it’s too hot your eggs will curdle and you’ll have to start over.

Add each egg yolk one at a time, whisking it in completely until there are no streaks of yellow, and repeat until they are all combined. Set aside.

Beating the egg whites

Pour the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium for a few minutes until soft peaks appear; the egg whites should look frothy and be an opaque white. If you stick your finger in or raise the whisk attachment, the egg whites should softly lift up so they look like soft, fluffy clouds. There should not be any liquid egg white at the bottom of the mixing bowl. If you see any liquid just run the mixer for another minute or two.

Sprinkle the sugar over the top and mix for another 4-5 minutes on medium until

the egg whites are glossy and stiff as they would be for a meringue or a pavlova. I often turn up the speed to high for the last minute to get the best results. It’s always better to feel that you over-whipped them as opposed to under-whipping them because the egg whites are the most important part of the souffle.

While the egg whites are mixing, stir the chocolate into the milk and flour mixture until well combined. If the chocolate cooled too much you will need to gently warm it so it is pliable before mixing it in. It’s OK to have some small lumps of flour remaining — you won’t notice them in the finished souffle. Once well combined, stir in the tablespoon of vanilla.

Gently add the chocolate mixture to the bowl of egg whites, folding the mixture over with a silicone spatula. The sooner you mix the egg whites with the batter the better your end result will be. It may take a few minutes of gentle folding until you don’t see any streaks of white.

Pour this mixture into the prepared baking dish immediately. Place the baking dish on a cookie sheet with edges to protect your oven from any mess.

Place the baking dish and tray onto the oven rack, close the door and immediately turn the heat down to 375 F. Set a timer for 40 minutes and don’t open the oven door, not even to peek.

After 40 minutes, pull the tray about halfway from the oven and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top with a mesh sifter; put back to bake for another 10-15 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean or almost clean. A souffle has a very different consistency than cake — it can be almost pudding-like in the middle.

You can serve the souffle fairly hot with a dollop of fresh whipped cream, but it will stay warm for almost an hour after baking.

People who are perfectionists get very wrapped up in the idea of a souffle not falling. Guess what? Unless you are a Ritz Carlton-level chef, your souffle is going to fall — it doesn’t change the taste one bit.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

p Chocolate souffle

Photos by Jessica Grann

BERGER: Regina “Rachel” (Taube) Berger, of Rehovot, Israel, passed away Oct. 18, 2022. Regina is survived by her husband, Marc Berger; their children and grandchildren; and her sister Nina and brother Bentzion. Regina, 68, was the eldest daughter of Cantor Moshe and Mrs. Bertha Taube (Regina’s father was saved from the Holocaust as a member of Schindler’s List and fought in Israel’s Independence War; her mother served as a nurse during the war). Regina was born in Jerusalem, then traveled at the age of 4 with her parents to New York, eventually settling in Pittsburgh, where her father served for decades as cantor of Congregation Beth Shalom. Regina graduated from Hillel Academy High School and then studied dance therapy at Stern College for Women and New York University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree. In 1974, Regina married Marc Berger (also an alumnus of Hillel in Pittsburgh), and after short periods in Pittsburgh; Madison, Wisconsin; and Atlanta, Georgia, they settled in Rehovot, Israel, where they have raised their family and have both been active members of their community. Regina, an accomplished musician, founded the program in musical therapy at the Sinai School for Special Needs Children in Ramla, where she was beloved by her students and worked for more than 40 years, eventually receiving a Lifetime Achievement award at her retirement in 2021. Regina, a longtime member of the Israel Hospital Clowns service, brought cheer to children in hospitals throughout Israel. Regina was also known to her family and friends for her crafts, her inspirational writings, and for her positive outlook toward life, bringing happiness to many. A private funeral was held in Israel.

CONN: Jana Rosen Conn, on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022, at her home in Point Breeze. Sister of Gregg Rosen and sister-in-law of Monique Van Damme, and special friend to countless others. Jana’s husband Ross Conn and her parents, Cecelia and Fred Rosen, predeceased her. There will be no visitation, funeral service or graveside service. Instead, a celebratory event will be held in the Point Breeze neighborhood in Pittsburgh during the spring of 2023. Interment at Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to any pet shelter of the donor’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

Pittsburgh Garden Center, president of the Academy of Lifelong Learning, and a Democratic committeewoman. She believed in helping others and generously supported local and national nonprofits, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Symphony, WQED and countless others. She also worked for the School of Urban and Public Affairs at Carnegie Mellon University, at The Wheeler School, and as a travel agent and high school librarian. Gloria had a love of plants and gardening and was a certified Master Gardener. She lived her life as she chose, a free spirit, up until the very end. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the ACLU, P.O. Box 23058, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. schugar.com

MICHAELS: Milton Meyer Michaels, MD, died Dec. 24, 2022, at 95 years of age. He was born March 25, 1927, the only child of Israel and Dora Berman Michaels. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Lois Glazer Michaels; children Eric (Carol), Marian, Jacob, and grandchildren Jonathan, Laura (Sean) Spielberg, Isaac and Oli. Treasured and respected by a large circle of family and friends, he will be remembered for his wit, love of family, loyalty, devotion to the practice of medicine and enthusiasm for athletics.

Milton, a lifelong Pittsburgher, graduated Taylor Allderdice High School, served in World War II in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman, graduated University of Pittsburgh and its Medical School in 1954. He studied hematology under Dr. William Dameshek in Boston returning to Pittsburgh where he practiced for over 50 years. He was an extraordinary diagnostician, recognized for his compassionate care and constant attention to the medical literature, quoting current NEJM articles until his last weeks. Milton lived a full and vigorous life with humor and integrity.  Services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh 15213, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022.   Donations can be made to the Israel and Dora Berman Michaels Teacher Training Fund at Rodef Shalom, Doctors Without Borders, 40 Rector St, 16th Floor, New York NY 10006, or a charity of your choice. Professional services by D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com

PATTAK: George H. Pattak, age 100, of Delray Beach, Florida, formerly of Mt. Lebanon, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022. Beloved Husband of 63 years to the late Beverly (Beck) Pattak. Loving father of Francine (Richard) Morison, Wendy (Andrew) Widger and Mark (Elaine) Pattak. Cherished Grandpa of Sarah Morison, Alexander (Heather) Morison, Emily Ireland, Lisa (Jacques) Bromberg, Dana ( Matthew) Kennedy, Ben Pattak and Greg Pattak. Loving Great-Grandpa of Zachary, Spencer, Wesley, Will, Simon, Joseph, Autumn and Dylan. Beloved son of the late Aaron and Ruth (Perchesky) Pattak. Predeceased by brothers and sisters. Service were held at William Slater II Funeral Service. Burial at Ahavath Achim Cemetery, Kennedy Twp. slaterfuneral.com

Cemetery. Contributions may be made to a charity of

Dr. William Jacob Forstate, at home, surrounded by his family on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022. Beloved husband of Roslyn (Rosenberg) Forstate. Loving father of Benjamin and Sylvia Forstate. Brother of David (Judy) Forstate. Uncle of Jessica (Bobby) Fernandes, Kaitlyne (Adam) Roth, Eric Forstate and Stephanie Rosenberg. Great-uncle of Vincent Fernandes and Karalyn Roth. Born in Brooklyn, New York, William grew up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, attended Punxsutawney High School, graduated from William and Jefferson College and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Forstate served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Dr. Forstate was a dedicated cardiologist with Premier Medical Associates for over 30 years and was passionate about his patients. He was a sports fanatic, loyally following the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates and Penguins, as well as Pitt football and basketball. He enjoyed traveling, books, movies, theaters, museums and fine dining. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel,

KLEIMAN: Gloria June Kleiman, on Friday, Dec. 23. Beloved wife of the late Edwin Ira Baime and the late Bernard Kleiman. Loving mother of Michael J. Baime (Karen Bowles), David S. Baime (Sarah Batcheler), and Ronald E. Baime (Nancy Baime); step-mother of David Kleiman and Leslie Kleiman. Daughter of the late Ernest and Pearl Prince. Sister of the late Gerald Prince. Also survived by grandchildren Emma Baime, Edwin Baime, Stephen Baime, Ian Baime and Daniel Baime. Gloria was born in 1931 in Squirrel Hill. She lived a life full of travel, art, family and helping others. Gloria was the president of the

SCHWARTZ: Bernard Schwartz, on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Beloved husband of the late Lillian Cousin Schwartz; devoted father of Mona DeLeonardis and the late Sharyn Corona and Lee Howard Schwartz. Brother of William Schwartz and the late Charles Schwartz. Grandfather of Jason, Jessica (Lucas), Carly (Robert), and Sherri. Great-grandfather of Kayla, Andrew, Aiden and Leia. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Graveside services and interment were held at Tree of Life Memorial. Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

Inc. Interment B’Nai Israel

Obituaries

WEIHRAUCH: On Dec. 24, 2022, Edmund “Ed” Weihrauch passed away peacefully in the presence of his family in Squirrel Hill. He was the beloved husband of Margarita Pelakh; caring father of Sabrina Weihrauch; and proud grandfather of Dane Jacomen. He was the son of Abraham and Sabina Weihrauch, born in Lvov, Poland, on Aug. 30, 1938. Ed was a child survivor of the Holocaust. At age 4, a year after his father was called up to the Soviet army, Ed and his mother were forced into the Lvov ghetto. A year later, they were the only members of his family to escape the ghetto. For the next two years, the two went deeper into hiding in Poland’s rural countryside. Months before the end of the war, Ed and Sabina were taken in by a group of Soviet partisans. Ultimately, they were separated from this group and taken to a forced-labor prisoner camp. On the eve of the war’s conclusion in July 1944, they were allowed to escape the camp — at which point, Sabina took Ed to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and later, to Munich, Germany. At age 12, destitute but hopeful, Ed and his mother immigrated to the United States, sponsored by a great-uncle. They eventually landed in Pittsburgh, living in Highland Park. Tragically, Sabina passed away five years later from cancer. Shortly after his arrival in Pittsburgh, Ed became a bar mitzvah at the Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh. He continued his studies at Peabody High School and the University of Pittsburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Science and master’s in English. Ed was an early pioneer in the computer industry, where he ultimately discovered his passion for teaching computer science as a professor.

While studying at University of Pittsburgh, Ed married Barbara (Cannon) Weihrauch; deceased 1996. Ed was married to Barbara for 29 years. Ed later married Mary (Ocskay) Weihrauch; deceased 2007. They enjoyed a common love of animals, having owned horses, cats and dogs. Late in life, Ed married Margarita Pelakh. Their meeting at Pittsburgh’s Jewish Film Festival came at a time when Ed was embracing his Jewish heritage and opening “the doors of certain rooms in [his] mind [kept] tightly shut.” Ed was a gifted teacher, not only in computer science, but in life. He loved the outdoors — hiking, mountain biking and most of all, walking his dogs in Frick Park. Ed was passionate about soccer, having been a member of the University of Pittsburgh’s varsity soccer team, and supporting his grandson’s love for the game. The tragedies and hardships that Ed overcame as a child survivor did not define the man who he became later in life. He went on to live a rich life filled with joy, best captured in his own words imparted upon his young grandson: “If there is a lesson I learned much later in life it’s to strive to do the best you can, be aware of wonder — particularly in the everyday little things that we all take for granted — and be true to yourself.” Graveside service and interment were held at Homewood Cemetery. A celebration of his life will be held at a later time. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph SchugarChapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

WEINER: Steven “Steve” J. Weiner, 79, of Pittsburgh, passed away on Dec. 24, 2022. Steve was born on May 24, 1943, to parents Helen and Jack Weiner. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Steve attended Taylor Allderdice High School and was a nationally-ranked tennis player as a teenager. He graduated from Massanutten Military Academy and later attended the University of Miami, where he played varsity tennis. Steve is survived by his wife, Sheila, whom he married on Oct. 10, 1973, in Pittsburgh. Steve and Sheila spent almost 50 years together and raised two children, Amy Weiner Caplan and Jack Weiner. Their lives together were filled with love and laugher while he and Sheila supported each other through all their endeavors. Steve is also survived by his three adoring grandchildren: Ava Caplan and Ethan and Matthew Weiner. He was a devoted husband, dedicated father, and proud Poppi. Steve worked in the family business, Sleepwell Mattress Company, for over 20 years and later opened The Prop Shop, a thematic prop rental house that supported numerous parties and fundraisers in Pittsburgh, nationally and internationally throughout the years. Steve loved the game of tennis and played in his youth and most of his adult life. Also known as “Cuz,” “Unc,” “Weenie,” “Fish” and “Poppi” (his favorite) to many, he was very outgoing and fun-loving and was the life of any party. He had a large circle of friends who were more than friends — they were family. Many of those friendships extended over 70-plus years of his life. When Steve wasn’t busy with work, his family and friends or playing tennis, he enjoyed relaxing by the pool, reading, playing golf or poker, cooking, and dining at his favorite restaurants. After retiring in 2020, Steve dedicated time to his children and grandchildren and gave of his time by delivering food for the less fortunate. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 12 noon, at Rodef Shalom Congregation. In lieu of flowers or gifts, donations may be made to the Highland Park Tennis Club: via mail at PO Box 5020, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 or online at HPTC.info. (Please indicate the specific program that you would like for your donation to support: the Free Clinics, the Scholarship Fund, or the Blind and Visually Impaired Program.) Arrangements by John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. freyvogelfuneralhome.com PJC

Sherwin F. Glasser

Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Izzy Brown

Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lepke Brown

Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne B. Goldston

Lynne Gottesman and Debra Ritt

Sharon Greenfield

Elliot

Richard

Barbara

Randy

Shelley

Joan

The

Andrea

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

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —

Sunday January 1: Mollie Gilberd, Ida L. Gusky, Israel Herring, Eva Katz, Rose Levine, Lib H. Levy, Stanley Myles Perilman, Milton Henry Platt, Elsie Wintner Rosenberg, Celia Si M. Alan Slone, Minnie Stein

Monday January 2: Lepke Brown, Florence Burechson, Linda Elmaleh, Joseph L. Friedman, Anne B. Goldston, Harry Gordon, Fred Gottesman, Freda Halpert Gross, Irvin Grossman, William M. Kahanowitz, Bessie Levine, Joseph A. Mervis, Bessie Recht, Max Selkovits, Joseph Sigal, Harold Sylvan Soltman

Tuesday January 3: Herbert Burechson, Nelson Carl Cotlov, Sylvia S. Cramer, Lena Dizno Fanny R. Goldstein, Jerome S. Goldstein, Louis S. Klee, Seymour Kramer, Leah Krauss Lenchner, Simon Linton, Anita Middleman, Nathan A. Pearlman, Abe Robin, Esther Rothman, Anna Ruben, Edward F. Stein, Estelle Strauss, Eleanor Lee Swartz, Harry Tannenbaum, Rose Weinberger

Wednesday January 4: Minerva Aschkenas, Rose Fruhlinger Berger, Joseph M. Cohen, Avrom Dobkin, Miriam L. Gallow, Harry Green, Max Greenberg, Rose Kalser, Harry Kaufman, Benjamin Knina, Edgar Landerman, Louis Levin, Jack I. Mallinger, Esther Marks, Helen Rosenbloom, Louis Silverblatt, Florence Silverman

Thursday January 5: Trudi Danenberg, Mary Dine, Alfred Engel, Saul Franklin, Diane Friedman, Eleanor Glasser, Lena Goldstein, Saul M. Gordon, Tillie Green, Rena R. Labbie, Herbert Lenchner, Lillian M. Levick, Samuel Moses, Leonard Rofey, Lilly E. Rosenberg, Zelda Sadowsky, Hyman Schwartz, Marion Segal, Rachel Seidenstein, Kenneth Zapler

Friday January 6: Darlene D. Beck, Harold E. Caplan, Abraham Cohen, Molly Crea, Jacob Harry Feingold, David S. Finkel, Samuel Goldblatt, Phillip Jacobson, Louis C. Klein, Leonard L. Launer, Sidney Linzer, Hyman Mallinger, Marvin L. Olender, Nathaniel Pinsker, Seymour N. Seltman, Belle Skirboll, Dorothy Stein, Lena Steinfeld, Arthur J. Stern, Ralph Morris Swartz, Sam Warmstein, Edith Wolinsky

Saturday January 7: Dora S. Birnbaum, Hyman Bleckman, Violetmae Caplan, Sarah Gerson, Anna Lebovitz Glick, Jack Green, Benjamin Hushan, Helen Karnold, Sonia B. Lewinter, Henry Mustin, Carrie W. Nevins, Rose Rosenberg, Irvin Skirboll, Leo B. Stoller, M. D., Yetta Weiss, Jacob Wolk

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

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Anonymous Miriam Kopelson

Faye Bleiberg

Bessie Bleiberg

Faye Bleiberg

Max Mallinger

Faye Bleiberg Morris Krantz

Hyla & Sandor Caplan

Zelda Sadowsky

Sylvia Elias Samuel Brill

Joan Finkel David Finkel

Sherwin F. Glasser

Eleanor F. Glasser

Joseph Goldhammer

Fred Gottesman

Racille Olender Light

Lemelman Max Lemelman

A. Linzer

Sidney Linzer

and Kenneth Love Charlotte Cohen Love

Malt Marian Malt

& Howie Miller Sylvia S. Cramer

Privman Maurice Margolis

Love and Rutman Families Charlotte Cohen Love

J. Sattler William Spokane

Paula Rofey Singer Anna Ruben

Eileen Snider Dan Snider

inlays.

SHADYSIDE • $695,000

North Woodland Rd. Townhome. Unique custom built sophisticated 4 levels. Lower Level has a great wine cellar, storage, int garage, and a side room which could be an office. First floor has a great room kitchen, dining and living area, plus 1/2 bath. This room leads to an unbelievable courtyard and luscious grounds with a sprinkler system. Next level- large room with a whimsical full bath. Top level has a great master area, with master bath and laundry, Smashing steel and glass staircase, dramatic lighting. Terrific acrhitectural details.

Community

Hockey and Chanukah

Skating celebration

Fun, food and friendship were enjoyed at Schenley Ice Rink during a Chanukah party with Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh. After lighting the menorah, celebrants made edible menorahs out of icing and graham crackers and enjoyed a visit from Princess Elsa and Princess Anna who read a story and joined in the ice skating. Along with partaking in a great evening affair, partygoers

Let’s party

Community members joined The Branch for a Chanukah celebration. Apart from enjoying delicious gelt, partygoers lit candles, observed a parade of menorah-topped cars, ate cookies and latkes and danced to music by KleZlectric.

Time to celebrate miracles

Early Learning Center students from Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh treated Chanukah as an opportunity to practice fine motor skills.

p

a menorah.

Forty members of Chabad Young Professionals preceded a trip to the Penguins game with menorah lighting at the Downtown Shul.

p Shoutout to Ira Frank for facilitating the event.

Photo courtesy of Henoch Rosenfeld

Photo by David Bachman

It’s never too early to learn that Chanukah joy includes fitting candles within

A lota latkes

Staffers from the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh enjoyed a Chanukah celebration complete with cookies, coffee and latkes.

p JCC President and CEO Brian Schreiber prepares latkes during the staff appreciation event.

brought unwrapped toy donations for kids ages 5-18 for the Children’s Village of Israel.

p Friendship and winter coats guarantee warmth.

p Never a bad season for matching sweaters Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

Giant Eagle ad appearing in the Chronicle’s first issue.