Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8-20-21

AUGUST 20, 2021 | 12 Elul 5781

Candlelighting 7:52 p.m. | Havdalah 8:51 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 34 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Again, delta variant is uninvited Nazi references guest for event planners brandished at Fox Chapel Area School board meetings

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Getting to know:

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

number of vaccinated people increasing and pandemic-related restrictions easing, there was a surge of celebrations.

Brides and grooms who had postponed their weddings last year were pushing forward, and by June 2021, Margie Stang, owner of Margie Stang Events, saw a rapid return of well-attended affairs.

Two months later, big parties are still occurring, said Stang, but the delta variant is necessitating some tweaks.

“Large events are now offering more outside access,” she said. “And a wedding I’m working on in September is for vaccinated [people] only.”

Amy Bass, owner of Nota Bene Fine Paper Boutique in Aspinwall, has noticed similar requests regarding vaccinations.

Nazi salute, a false comparison to 1938 Germany and a reference to Josef Mengele — the Nazi physician who performed deadly experiments on concentration camp prisoners — were bandied at two successive Fox Chapel Area school board meetings this month where mask mandates were discussed.

At the “agenda study session” on Aug. 2, community member Amy Horn made a series of false claims to the school board, including that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not a government agency and that masks don’t work to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

When she concluded her remarks, she said, “We have the right to choose in this country, unless we’ve changed. Unless this is Nazi Germany in 1938.”

Horn’s comments were followed by cheers and claps by some in attendance.

At an Aug. 9 regular business meeting, Greg Dolan, who is running for a position on the school board, led a group of supporters in boos as each board member voted to require masks be worn by students in all grade levels.

Following the vote, Dolan stood and addressed the board — against the instruction of board president Marybeth Dadd. As Dadd banged her gavel and called for order, Dolan turned to the crowd and said, “This isn’t America. Let’s go!”

As some of the crowd began to leave, an unidentified man stood and raised the Nazi salute. A person in the crowd shouted at the board, “You made Dr. Mengele proud!” It is unclear from the video recording of the meeting whether that statement was made by the same individual who saluted.

Dolan declined to speak with the Chronicle, and instead pointed to comments on his

Please see Delta, page 14

Please see Fox Chapel, page 14

The Federation’s Daniel Heinrich Page 2

LOCAL ‘You Are What You Click’ Dr. Brian Primack on the dangers, and blessings, of social media Page 5

LOCAL Short but sweet

 “Forest Wedding Hall Decoration” by partyhelpgroup

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A Robinson competition features Jewish-themed short films Page 16

nd so it goes again.

With the delta variant causing a rise in COVID-positive cases, event planners are scrambling to help nervous brides, grooms and other celebrants.

“I’m dangling,” said Natalie Berger, an event planner for more than three decades.

Every day new questions arise. For example, people want to know what cocktail hours will look like: Is everyone going to be allowed to mingle? Will guests have to be seated? Will venues allow dancing? Will these parties even happen?

“We don’t know the answers,” Berger admitted.

Just a few months ago, the prospects of executing a late summer or fall 2021 celebration seemed less daunting. With the

Photo by CC PDM 1.0

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Dungeons & Dragons, Shabbat-style

HISTORY

Photographs and memories

LOCAL

A concierge rabbi

Headlines Getting to know: Daniel Heinrich

“ I fell in love with Jewish professional work.”

— LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

n embarrassing injury turned out to be a big blessing in the life of Daniel Heinrich.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s new director of young adult engagement and community collaboration was working as a sous chef at an Israeli restaurant. He had just finished putting in an 80-plus hour work week, and was preparing a Spanish meal for his wife, Alex Kimmel, a meal they had previously enjoyed while on their honeymoon.

Then a blade fell out of Heinrich’s food processor, landing on and cutting through his big toe.

“I was out of work for three months,” Heinrich said. “I had to get surgery. I couldn’t be on my feet.”

But, he added, “it was the best thing that happened to me.”

While recovering from the injury, Heinrich realized the long hours at the restaurant were making him unhealthy and that he had become borderline malnourished. He needed to find a new line of work.

The now ex-chef traded restaurant shifts for employment at Temple Beth El, a Conservative congregation in Portland, Maine, thus beginning his formal foray into Jewish communal work.

“I was 23 years old and very much trying to find this thing, a passion for something, a career — something that I could really dig into and find community,” Heinrich said. “I found that at the synagogue and in the job.

I fell in love with Jewish professional work.”

Heinrich’s Jewish communal roots run deep. He grew up in Huntington, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, where his

— DANIEL HEINRICH, JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PITTSBURGH’S NEW DIRECTOR OF YOUNG ADULT ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY COLLABORATION

p When not working, Daniel Heinrich and his wife, Alex Kimmel, enjoy spending time outdoors.

Photo provided by Daniel Heinrich

parents were active in Jewish life. His father served on several committees of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, and his mother is now CEO of Jewish Senior Life Detroit — similar to Pittsburgh’s Jewish Association on Aging.

“I grew up with a very deep-rooted understanding that it is so powerful and impactful to give back to the community, as a lay leader and a professional,” he said.

Heinrich was involved in his local NFTY chapter and served as president of his congregation’s youth group. In 2008, he traveled to Israel with NFTY, where he met his future wife and was inspired to study Jewish history. When he returned to the U.S., he enrolled at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and graduated with a degree in Jewish Studies in 2014.

And yet, instead of going to work for a Jewish Federation or a Jewish Community Center, he decided to become a chef. In fact, it was while studying abroad in Israel during his junior year that his passion — at least at that point — for the culinary arts took hold.

“I like to tell this story because it’s a very

Jewish community story,” he said. “I wanted to learn to cook so I asked my mom if she knew anyone, and she said I should speak with the shaliach at the Jewish Agency. The shaliach said, ‘You should speak with my colleague.’

[The colleague] said, ‘You should speak with my uncle, who has a friend that runs a catering business out of her house in Jerusalem.’”

Once back in Massachusetts, the cooking skills he honed in Israel landed him an internship — which turned into a job — at a French bistro. Heinrich spent the next three years working as a professional chef, first in Boston and then Maine.

It was while in New England that Heinrich had his accident, began working at Temple Beth El and got formal training to shore up his new career. He returned to Brandeis for a master’s in professional leadership, and earned an MBA in nonprofit management from the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program.

After he graduated, Heinrich and his wife, an Erie native, began planning their next move. She applied to Carnegie Mellon University for her master’s in arts management, and he landed the young adult engagement position at Pittsburgh’s Federation. The couple then moved to their new home in Squirrel Hill.

Heinrich is familiarizing himself with his new city and neighborhood while restarting in-person Federation Young Adult Division programs that had gone virtual because

of the pandemic.

Honeymoon Israel, which takes couples of all cultural, racial, religious, gender and sexual identities to Israel for nine days, is the most significant project on Heinrich’s to-do list right now. The trip is planned for February 2022, and applications started coming in a few weeks ago.

He is also excited about the Friends Match program, which pairs young adults, aged 22-45, looking to make new friends in the area.

When not working with the young adult Jewish community, Heinrich will be taking in the Pittsburgh restaurant scene and searching for places to hike, and maybe even camp, if he finds the time.

An eternal optimist — who also has a passion for environmental work — Heinrich said he is excited about working with young adults.

“I get to bring that passion and excitement and energy for the multiplicity of a person’s Jewish identity,” he said. “I get to spend every day talking to people who not only are Jewish, but are Jewish and environmentalists, or Jewish and social justice advocates, or Jewish and a parent or a caretaker for a family member.

“It’s a really great way to be a part of a community that is so passionate and idea-driven.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines

 A choice between going to school or shul on Rosh Hashanah

Photo by seb_ra via iStock

Potential PPS start date conflicts with Rosh Hashanah — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

fter more than a year of pandemic-related interruptions, Pittsburgh Public Schools is considering welcoming students back to class on Sept. 8 — the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

The new start date represents the first time students and staff will return to in-person instruction five days a week since March 2020.

Although school for pre-K-12 students was originally set to begin Aug. 25, the decision to potentially push the start date to Sept.

8 is to “lessen the strain of wearing masks during the hot days of summer,” according to PPS representatives.

“We are also listening to the concerns raised by our staff related to the impact traditionally high temperatures in August have on our facilities now coupled with the use of masks,” said Superintendent Anthony Hamlet in a prepared statement. “It is our hope this challenge would be lessened in September, allowing everyone a positive start in the new school year.”

Although the proposed start date may alleviate some concerns, its conflict with the High Holiday poses a problem for many Jewish families. In years past, PPS has not held classes on the first day of Rosh Hashanah but has been open on the second day.

Several community members told the Chronicle their children would be missing the first day of school because of Rosh Hashanah, including Greg Engel, whose son, Gabe, is a student at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School.

Engel said he doesn’t understand why school can’t begin on Sept. 9, or why PPS didn’t discuss other options with parents.

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Sara Stock Mayo, a Squirrel Hill resident and co-leader of Kesher Pittsburgh, said that although her children usually attend school on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, PPS’ proposed start date feels “a bit tone deaf.” Even if the possible conflict doesn’t affect her personally, she said, it still affects the community.

As of Aug. 12, Laura Cherner, director of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, has begun speaking with PPS administrators about the potential start date and its conflict with the holiday.

There is a concern from some members of the Jewish community that — after such a long time away from regular in-person instruction — PPS’ decision to begin on the second day of Rosh Hashanah may pose problems for children, according to Cherner.

The Federation and the CRC are committed to working with PPS representatives as it tries to “balance the complicated process of scheduling,” she said.

There’s “an excellent relationship” shared between the Federation’s Community Relations Council and PPS, said Adam Hertzman, Federation’s director of marketing, adding that the CRC has been able to successfully partner with PPS on various issues over the years.

Although the proposed schedule change was announced on Aug. 8, the decision has not been finalized. PPS board members are set to vote on an adjusted school calendar on Aug. 18 at a special legislative meeting. If adopted, the current school year will end on June 22 for students, and June 24 for teachers.

PPS representatives did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment regarding the potential start date. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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AUGUST 20, 2021 3

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PITTSBURGH

2021 ANNUAL MEETING SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 5:30–6:15 PM

A FREE WEBINAR TO REPORT: The Federation’s activities 2020-21, including pandemic response and strategic plan

JOIN DAVID D. SUFRIN, Chair of the Board

JEFFREY H. FINKELSTEIN, President & CEO

2021 RECIPIENTS OF OUR COMMUNITY’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS:

MEYER “SKIP” GRINBERG Emanuel Spector Memorial Award

RABBI MOISHE MAYIR VOGEL Doris & Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award

DETAILS & REGISTRATION:

jewishpgh.org/annual-meeting or call 412-992-5251 Full inclusion is a core value of Jewish Pittsburgh. The Jewish Federation welcomes invitees of all backgrounds, races, religious affiliations, sexual orientations and gender expressions.

Call 412-992-5251 to discuss needs. Audio hotline of upcoming events: 412-930-0590.

The annual meeting is underwritten by a grant from the Lillian & Dr. Henry J. Goldstein Annual Meeting Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Foundation.

THANK YOU to our Diamond Level Corporate Partner

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Headlines Brian Primack on social media: A ‘double-edged sword’ — LOCAL —

By Sarah Abrams | Staff Writer

D

r. Brian Primack was not in the Tree of Life building on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, when an antisemitic gunman murdered 11 worshippers and seriously injured two others. But his wife and daughter had been in the building just one week earlier.

As the community began to heal, Primack, a former Pittsburgher and medical researcher, and now the dean of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, found himself “frequently returning to the question of what role social media had played in these events,” he told the Chronicle.

While, according to news reports, the gunman’s violent tendencies were encouraged on a social media site, members of the wider community were using other social media platforms to support those affected by the massacre and start the healing process.

Seeing that, Primack said he realized “what a double-edged sword social media is.”

That realization was the inspiration for his new book, “You Are What You Click: How Being Selective, Positive, and Creative Can Transform Your Social Media Experience,” based on Primack’s research connecting

“ Social media can be very valuable, but it also carries a lot of risks.”

— DR. BRIAN PRIMACK an increase in social media use to a rise in depression and loneliness. One particular study referenced in the book, for example, cites research showing that a person who uses many different social media platforms is up to three times more likely to suffer from depression than someone who only uses one platform — even if the two users are spending the same amount of time online.

Building from that and other insights, in “You Are What You Click,” Primack suggests ways to maximize the social media experience for positive outcomes.

“It’s no secret that social media is a phenomenon in today’s world,” Primack said. “Some people have found that those who use social media paradoxically feel more lonely, depressed and anxious. Our research has been trying to figure out what the relationships are here. Social media can be very valuable, but it also carries a lot of risks.”

Prior to moving to the University of

Arkansas, Primack lived in Pittsburgh for two decades and was a member of both Congregation Beth Shalom and Congregation Dor Hadash. He was dean of the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh and also founding director of Pitt’s multidisciplinary Center for Research on Media, Technology, which has garnered multiple top research awards.

Primack, a practicing Jew, has taught adult education courses on the topic of social media and spirituality. Because so much of a person’s free time these days is spent looking at their phone, he said, there is less time for personal reflection.

“I’ve often thought about this through a Jewish lens,” Primack said. “We take a media break during Shabbat. Even if you do not celebrate the Sabbath, it’s an option to at least have a media break during that time.”

It’s challenging, he added, “to juggle all of these idiosyncratic worlds. I changed my

p Dr. Brian Primack

own behavior on social media and I realized it was overwhelming to keep up with all of these different worlds without focusing on any one of them.”

As part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture Series, on Sept. 2, Primack will give a virtual presentation on “You Are What You Click,” spirituality, the writing process and his links to Pittsburgh. The event is free with registration at pittsburghlectures.org/lectures/ brian-primack/.

“You Are What You Click” will be officially released on Sept. 14. PJC Sarah Abrams can be reached at sabrams@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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AUGUST 20, 2021 5

Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q SUNDAY, AUG. 22 The Book of Job is one of the most powerful pieces of writing in the Hebrew Bible. Focused on the question of “Why do the righteous suffer?” this book has universal significance. In this course, Rabbi Danny Schiff will offer a journey through the core themes raised by the Book of Job. 10 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh.org q SUNDAYS, AUG. 22, 29; SEPT. 5, 12, 19 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, AUG. 23, 30; SEPT. 6, 13, 20 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 25; SEPT. 1, 8, 15 Bring the parsha alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful. Study the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman. 12:15 p.m. bethshalompgh.org/life-text

q THURSDAYS, AUG. 26-JUNE 30, 2022 The Alan Papernick Educational Institute Endowment Fund presents Continuing Legal Education, a sixpart CLE series taught by Foundation Scholar Rabbi Dr. Danny Schiff. Earn up to 12 CLE credits. Each session is a stand-alone unit; you can take one class or all six.

8:30 a.m. With CLE credit: $30/session or $150 all sessions; Without CLE credit: $25/session or $125 all sessions. For a complete list of dates and topics, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org/continuing-legal-education. q SUNDAY, AUG. 22; THURSDAY, AUG. 29 “It Couldn’t Happen Here,” a documentary-style play about the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings, is available for screening on Zoom. Two performances: Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. and Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. Presented

by Congregation Dor Hadash. Tickets will be available at dorhadash.net/calendar. q TUESDAY, AUG. 24 Yeshiva Schools invites you to attend their annual dinner honoring the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and community builders Rabbi and Mrs. Yosef and Nechoma Itkin. All proceeds benefit academic excellence. 1100 Liberty Ave. 6:30 p.m.

To register, visit yeshivaschools.com/dinner.

Join Moishe House Pittsburgh in learning Hebrew at Aleph Bet 101. Meant for the beginner, learn in a low-pressure environment with residents Charlie and Sam as teachers. 7 p.m. facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh

Film Pittsburgh presents the 10th annual Robinson International Short Film Competition, which honors and awards talented independent filmmakers JC Opn Beach Boardwalk REVISED MORE_Eartique 8/16/21 5:04 PM Page 1 whose work illuminates the Jewish experience. The

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event honors the memory of Sanford N. Robinson, Sr. This year the competition will show six films and winners will be awarded $18,000 in cash prizes.

A reception follows the screenings. $15. 7:30 p.m.

Carnegie Museum of Art Theater, 4400 Forbes Ave. FilmPittsburgh.org q WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25 The Butler family invites you and a few hundred of their closest vaccinated friends to the 29th or 30th NCSY Garden Sizzler: A vaccinated adults-only gastronomic extravaganza. 7:30 p.m. centraleast. ncsy.org/sizzler q FRIDAY, AUG. 27 Join Moishe House Pittsburgh in bringing together longtime community members with new friends during Shabbatluck. Enjoy a phone-free, homey gathering. Contributing food is optional, but making a toast is mandatory. Your toast can be as simple as “L’chaim” or as comprehensive as sharing a goal for this community. 7 p.m. facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh q SUNDAY, AUG. 29 Join Classrooms Without Borders, The Ghetto Fighters House, South Africa Holocaust and Genocide Foundation for a discussion with Loung Ung, author of the bestselling memoir and the critically acclaimed 2017 Netflix original movie directed by Angelina Jolie, “First They Killed My Father.” For more information, visit classroomswithoutborders.org/loung-ung.

Chabad of Greenfield invites you to attend their Pre-Rosh Hashana Family Fun Day. Enjoy a shofar factory, crafts, food rides, Kona Ice truck and more.

Fun for all ages. Suggested donation $18 per family.

Magee Park. 12 -3 p.m. chabadofgreenfield.com Have you been frustrated on dating apps this summer? Is it because your pandemic dating skills are rusty, or just because conversations never seem to go anywhere? Join Moishe House Pittsburgh for their “dating app clinic.” They will help edit your profile, take a new photo if needed, give advice about matches and share favorite dating app stories.

2 p.m. facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh q MONDAY, AUG. 30 Join Beth El Congregation for its Speaker Series with guest Seth Kibel. Kibel will present “The Jews of Tin Pan Alley,” exploring the lives and music of celebrated Jewish songwriters, whose achievements would come to dominate that body of work known as the “Great American Songbook.” Classic recordings, rare video clips and “live” performances from the instructor will make this program as exciting as the music itself. 12 p.m. bethelcong.org

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Chabad of the South Hills welcomes Yosef Hashimi, who will share his fascinating story, “From Mohammed to Zion.” Born to an Afghani Muslim father, a direct descent of Mohammed, and an American-Jewish mother, Yosef is now an Orthodox Jew and vice president at IBM. This event marks the first yahrzeit of Rabbi Ephraim Rosenblum, OBM. $8.

7 p.m. chabadsh.com/event

q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1 The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh invites you to attend its 126th Annual Meeting.

Broadcast live via Zoom and in person with limited seating at Levinson Hall. Seating limited with advance registration required. 5:30 p.m. RSVP at ralley@jccpgh.org. jccpgh.org/event/jcc-126thannual-meeting. q WEDNESDAY SEPT. 1; TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 See Israel with the one you love. Honeymoon Israel is open to couples of all cultural, racial, religious, gender and sexual identities who are looking to create connections with each other and to Jewish life. Open to couples with at least one Jewish partner. Each trip includes 20 diverse couples from the same city. Learn more at one of three information sessions: Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.; or Sept. 14 at noon or 6 p.m. jewishpgh.org/honeymoon-israel q THURSDAY, SEPT. 2 Please join Jewish Residential Services for Guardianships and Alternatives, an informative program featuring Gerri Sperling, attorney from Strassburger McKenna Gutnik and Gefsky.

Sperling will outline the basics of guardianship in Pennsylvania. Elysia Mancini-Duerr, staff attorney at Disability Rights Pennsylvania will speak about alternatives to guardianship, including powers of attorney, mental health powers of attorney, health care advance directives, having a circle of support, health care representatives, and limited/emergency guardianships. 5 p.m. For more information, go to jrspgh.org/events/. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 12 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for its 2021 annual meeting “Open Windows.” This year’s honorees are Meyer “Skip” Grinberg and Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel. 5:30 p.m. jewishpgh.org/ annual-meeting Avi Ben Hur unpacks the causes and core issues that relate to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The goal is to make the subject accessible to educators and give them the tools with which to grapple in the classroom with the subject and with breaking news. Each section will be accompanied with suggestions for further exploration. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/arab_israeli_conflict q THURSDAY, SEPT. 23 In cooperation with Tali Nates, founder and director of the Johannesburg Genocide & Holocaust Centre, Classrooms Without Borders begins a new innovative Museums and Memorial series.

Alongside CWB scholars, travel with museum historians, experts and contemporary witnesses to 10 different regions to explore the history behind the exhibits, discuss the nature of memory and memorials, and discover how the world remembers the Shoah and honors the lives we lost.

2 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org/holocaust_museums_ and_memorials_around_the_globe. PJC

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Headlines Shabbat-friendly Dungeons & Dragons gives kids respite from pandemic — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

welve-year-old Jacob Fischbach was bored. School had moved online because of the pandemic and extracurriculars were largely non-existent. As 2020 rolled along, each day seemed to stretch into the next. Even Shabbat — when Jacob typically saw many of his friends at Congregation Beth Shalom — felt swallowed up by COVID constraints.

So Jacob and his friend Eli Kranjec got together with a small group of other kids from Beth Shalom and made a plan to reclaim their Saturday afternoons: Instead of sitting at home and feeling isolated, they decided that Shabbat would be a time for Dungeons & Dragons. Eli, 13, the oldest of the group, would become the dungeon master in the tabletop role-playing game.

Dungeons & Dragons was created in 1974.

Since then, 50 million people have enjoyed the popular fantasy game, which encourages players to create their own characters and engage in various adventures.

Eli was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons as a student at Community Day School. Teacher Chaim Steinberg had offered an elective for middle schoolers, according to Eli’s mother, Danielle Kranjec.

Shortly thereafter, Eli decided he wanted to become a dungeon master. It’s a fun role, Eli said, with “a lot of behind-the-scenes work.”

The dungeon master writes the story, sets the rules and asks others to explore, he said.

“You’re sort of like the God of the world.

I enjoy it more than being a player.”

Eli quickly took to being a dungeon master and parlayed it with another pandemic-related diversion: painting.

“I had a lot of free time,” he said. “It was quarantine, I needed a new hobby and

p The kids held a socially distanced and masked Dugeons & Dragons game on March 14, 2021. Pictured: Hannah Adelson, Jacob Fischbach, Margalit Kranjec, Niv Friedman, Eli Kranjec and Ezra Forrest Photo by Danielle Kranjec

I wanted to get into art.”

So along with creating an imaginary world for his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends, Eli the dungeon master painted miniatures of monsters, complete with spikes and other menacing features to help everyone visualize the scene.

As the weeks went on, Eli took his role more seriously. So did the players.

Although the dungeon master largely sets and interprets the rules of the game, players

create their own characters by determining different factors, such as strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma, as well as species, class and moral outlook. Players’ choices, along with the use of a polyhedral (multi-faced) die, help set the game’s course.

Although Dungeons & Dragons relies on role-playing, there’s also a fair amount of writing involved. This presented a problem: The kids typically met up Saturday, and they weren’t comfortable writing on Shabbat.

“We all wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons,” Eli said. “And I wanted everyone to feel like their beliefs were respected...We had to come up with a collective solution that didn’t involve breaking beliefs.”

So the group chose to focus more on the role-playing aspects of the game than the combat, which typically involves writing.

And so when the kids played outdoors at Please see D & D, page 15

Beth Shalom names Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman interim director of Derekh and youth tefillah

C

ongregation Beth Shalom has hired Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman as its interim director of Derekh and youth tefillah. He began his tenure last month, succeeding Rabbi Jeremy Markiz.

Goodman is the spiritual leader of Brith Sholom Jewish Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, a position he has held since 2018. He will continue to serve that Conservative congregation — which holds monthly Shabbat services — while working at Beth Shalom.

“I am absolutely thrilled we found him, and that he was available to us,” said Alan Kopolow, Beth Shalom’s president. “He’s going to be a great addition to our staff. He’s very well liked, people are comfortable with him. He’s a great teacher. We got lucky.”

Goodman was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2006. He served as the PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman

File photo

school rabbi and director of Judaic studies at the Denver Jewish Day School in Colorado,

from 2012 until 2017, and as rabbi at Congregation Har Mishpacha in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, from 2014 until 2018.

Goodman moved to Pittsburgh with his wife, Noa, a physical therapist at UPMC, and their two children, Yigal and Etta, in 2018.

Goodman said “continuity” will be important in his new role at Beth Shalom, as he serves as a bridge to the next permanent director. Accordingly, he will not be creating many new initiatives, he said, but instead will reestablish programs that were paused or moved to a virtual space because of COVID-19. Those programs include a Monday Talmud class; a Wednesday class on the weekly parsha; the Speaker Series in conjunction with the Jewish Book Council; and Lox and Learning — a Sunday session on contemporary topics.

“The Derekh job is about working with

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lay people to make their vision come true,” Goodman said. “A big part of it is asking people what they want and then trying to get it over the line.”

His time as a member of Beth Shalom has been helpful in his new role, Goodman said, as he not only attended many of the programs he will now be leading, but is able to see things from the perspective of the congregation’s members.

Goodman will also be working with Beth Shalom’s youth.

“I’ve worked with kids my whole career,” Goodman said. “I feel comfortable working with young folks and really like building a sense of prayerfulness and spirituality with kids. I like making kids’ services fun.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

AUGUST 20, 2021 7

Headlines Brownsville to Brownsville — HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

W

hile reviewing photographs recently, I was told that the man seen here is Rabbi Hershel Pfeffer. Instantly, the meaning of the image was transformed in my mind. What had been a generic Jewish scene — a scribe completing a Torah — became heartwarmingly specific.

Here was a beloved local spiritual leader, long before most of us knew him.

Rabbi Pfeffer passed away earlier this year at 98. When he arrived in Western Pennsylvania in 1944, he was a 22-year-old bachelor, a child of the Lower East Side and a graduate of Yeshiva Chaim Berlin in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He came to this region as an emissary of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.

Once here, he met his wife, Rosella Mendlowitz of McKeesport. Perhaps her community gave him an appreciation for the needs of small-town Jews in the region, or perhaps the needs of small-town Jews were more widely appreciated at that time. Either way, part of his responsibilities involved visits to these small-town Jewish communities, including occasional trips to teach children in Brownsville, down in Fayette County.

Between the wars, small towns like McKeesport and Brownsville accounted for nearly 40% of the Jewish population of Western Pennsylvania. Even into the early

Temple Ohave Israel in Brownsville called Rabbi Pfeffer to town on May 24, 1964, for a twin siyum sefer Torah celebration. The congregation had purchased one Torah scroll. The other scroll came from the family of Danny Greenfield, who gave this photograph and other records from the Jewish community of Brownsville to the archives.

Accompanying the photographs and news clippings is a typescript of a speech delivered that day by his father, Max Greenfield, who was president of the congregation at the time. “This day comes as a great moment in the life of our congregation. A handful of loyal members are working hard to keep this congregation alive,” he p Rabbi Hershel Pfeffer completes a Torah scroll at Temple Ohave Israel in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on said in an introduction. Later May 24, 1964 Photo courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives in the short address, he added, 1950s, between one-quarter and one-third “We of Ohave Israel pride ourselves that our of the Jewish population of this region lived Shuel has, and shall continue to transmit the outside of Pittsburgh. Throughout the 20th message of Sinai from generation to generacentury, these small-town Jewish communities tion. We are comforted by the knowledge that regularly sought the assistance of Pittsburgh our Congregation has never willfully turned rabbis. Sometimes they needed rabbinic inspi- its back upon sacred tradition, hallowed ration or authority, but often they just needed custom, and revered minhag.” people with certain practical religious skills — By the mid-1960s, a steep population mohelim who could perform a circumcision, decline had begun in many small-town shochetim who could provide kosher meat, Jewish communities. Brownsville continued and soferim who could check and repair as long as it could, but sold its synagogue tefillin, and mezuzos, and Torah scrolls. in the late 1970s. One of its scrolls went to

Gemilas Chesed in White Oak and another went to Beth El Congregation in the South Hills, where it is used in the weekday chapel.

Every photograph shows an actual moment.

In this photograph, where quill approaches parchment, a small-town congregation with nearly 60 years behind it, and an uncertain future ahead, was making a statement of its principles. To complete the task, it had called upon a nearby rabbi who possessed the ancient skill required for completing a Torah and who had come to this region specifically to help Jewish people at the margins.

Perhaps that particular story — the Torah scroll, the small-town congregation, the Chassidic rabbi — fails to rouse your spirit.

But some other story certainly does. Every group — families included — has some document or photograph that captures its most closely held values. Those values are often encoded, and the key for deciphering the code is contained in your head. If you leave this earth before writing it down, it dies with you.

An unlabeled photograph is forever at risk of becoming a punchline about outdated hairstyles. But a labeled photograph is an invitation into the lives of the actual people who occupied your world before you did. Is there any easier, cheaper or more underappreciated way to promote Jewish continuity than to label your photographs? 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.

Former Pittsburgher builds new pulpit as concierge rabbi — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

L

arry Selleh was raised in a Conservative Jewish household. But, when his father, Dick, died in 2020 and it came time to memorialize him, Selleh, who owns a photo booth company, had a problem.

His immediate family members weren’t observant Jews. They were not members of a congregation, and did not have a relationship with a rabbi.

A colleague had a recommendation: Look into engaging a concierge rabbi.

“I said, ‘Like who?’” Selleh recalled.

Enter Rabbi David Greenspoon.

Greenspoon held several sessions with the Selleh family in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Maryland they call home. And he worked to oversee everything — from the military honors to Dick Selleh’s memorial designation as a Mason.

“As he was talking throughout the ceremony, you would’ve thought he knew my dad, which was perfect,” Selleh told the Chronicle.

“I told him I’d recommend him for every funeral. He was great — for everything.”

Greenspoon runs Jewtique, a Virginiabased business that offers rabbinic services a la carte for life cycle events — like weddings, bnei mitzvah and burials — as well as for day-to-day needs like Torah study.

8 AUGUST 20, 2021

He’s no novice: Greenspoon was the spiritual leader of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Fox Chapel from 1998 to 2005 and, during his time in Western Pennsylvania, served as president of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association. After leaving Pittsburgh about 15 years ago, he went on to serve congregations in Massachusetts and Virginia.

But, a few years back, the rabbi realized there was a need to address long-developing trends in Jewish affiliation in the United States. It was not a secular age, but, outside of Orthodoxy, an increasingly unaffiliated one.

“Not affiliating with a place has been a thing for decades, the trends are really clear,” Greenspoon told the Chronicle. “If more non-Orthodox Jews were not affiliated with a congregation, they were on a transactional basis for services.

“I knew,” he added, “there was a real-world need that wasn’t being fully met.”

Greenspoon, who is independent and now not affiliated with any group or congregation, started small but with a splash, netting front page coverage in a Baltimore paper for hosting High Holiday “services a la carte” out of a Presbyterian church’s fellowship hall.

Surprisingly, the setting reminded Greenspoon of his four years in the U.S. Navy.

“In that time, you learn to be adaptive,” he said. “When you were on ship, there was nearly no space and you do what you needed to do.”

Rachel Katz knows Rabbi Greenspoon well

who lives in San Diego but is getting married in Maryland on Sept. 25.

In particular, Katz said she appreciates how Greenspoon works to involve himself in the process — even if it is via cross-country Zoom calls and conversations about books like “The New Jewish Wedding,”

by Anita Diamant.

“He’s a really cool guy,” Katz said. “He’s a great person to talk to, whether about Jewish traditions or just life. He’s given us a lot of guidance.”

Greenspoon says he customizes each service around those p Rabbi David Greenspoon Photo courtesy of Rabbi David Greenspoon he’s serving, from the — though not from his time at any congre- process of preparing for the wedding to the gation. The graphic designer/art director day of the event.

The big question: Would he come back met Greenspoon about a decade ago when her family used his concierge services for to Pittsburgh to officiate a service? You her bubbe’s memorial service. He officiated better believe it. over the service for another grandparent a “I’ll meet people wherever they want me few years later. to meet them at,” he said, “physically — and When it came time to seek an officiant for spiritually.” PJC her wedding, Katz knew just who to ask.

“We wanted him to be a part of this celeJustin Vellucci is a freelance writer living bration — we just like his style,” said Katz, in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Researchers unveil massive study on Jews of color, boosting fight for racial justice with hard data — NATIONAL —

By Asaf Shalev | JTA

F

or the past few years, Jews of color in the United States have been counted and recounted. They’ve been argued over and used as props in ideological battles.

Now their own voices have emerged as hard data with the release of the most comprehensive survey of Jews of color ever carried out.

The movement fighting racism within the Jewish community is heralding the study as a watershed moment.

Responses from more than 1,100 people in the study reveal a deep engagement with Jewish identity that has often come with experiences of discrimination in communal settings.

In some cases, Jews of color said they are ignored. In others they are casually interrogated about their race and ethnicity.

Respondents said white Jews will sometimes presume a need to educate them about Jewish rituals or assume they are present in synagogues or schools as nannies and security guards rather than community members.

Some 80% of respondents said they have experienced discrimination in Jewish settings.

Titled “Beyond the Count,” the study out of Stanford University corroborates with data the anecdotes of racism in the Jewish community that have been widespread for years.

The study’s sponsor and research team hope the findings will jolt Jewish institutions into funding initiatives for and by Jews of color and changing the composition of decision-making bodies to reflect Jewish diversity.

“This study validates the experiences of Jews of color, and it also takes away a bit of the illusion that Jewish community organizations are doing enough to respond to racism and racial injustice,” said Ilana Kaufman, executive director of the Jews of Color Initiative, which commissioned and funded the study. Kaufman also shared her reaction to the study in an essay.

Its 1,118 participants were found through an online survey that started with a series of screening questions to ensure that only those identifying as Jews of color were included.

The study was not designed to be a statistical representation of all Jews of color, but as an in-depth sampling of the views. Interviews with 61 of the participants provided additional texture and nuance.

In a finding that baffled researchers, two-thirds of respondents were women.

Nearly half of the participants identified with one or more racial categories, while two-thirds said they were biracial, mixed or multiracial. One in five were Black or African-American, about a tenth were Hispanic or Latino, and a tenth were Asian.

Some 7% identified as North African or Middle Eastern, and a small percentage identified with other racial or ethnic groups.

Two-thirds of the respondents were raised

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p Top left, clockwise, Gage Gorsky, Dalya Perez, Ari Kelman, Tobin Belzer, Vincent Calvetti and Tory Brundage

Jewish and a similar percentage have at least one Jewish parent. About 40% said they converted to Judaism.

The researchers behind the study noted the diversity of both backgrounds and views among the participants.

“Jews of color are anything but monolithic, but there are common, prevalent trends about the places and moments when they are not fully embraced by the community or made to only bring a part of themselves to a program or congregation,” said Dalya Perez, a member of the research team who works as an equity strategist for Microsoft. According to her biographical description, Perez is the daughter of an immigrant father from the Philippines and a refugee mother who is a Sephardic Jew from Egypt.

One Native American interviewee quoted in the report had moved to a new area and sought out community at a local synagogue.

What the woman encountered were intrusive questions about her identity.

“At times I’ve had to compartmentalize sides of myself because it’s just so mentally exhausting facing the ‘What are you?’ questions,” she said.

A Black man who is active in the Jewish community told researchers about a similar experience of being scrutinized over his perceived differences.

“I went to Shabbat services recently and a woman came up to me and said without introducing herself, ‘Shabbat Shalom. So are you here for a religion class? Did you

convert?’” he recalled.

One set of findings that researchers said should galvanize Jewish leaders to specific actions has to do with Jews of color seeking community with one another. Nearly 40% of participants said they had no close friends who are also Jews of color and half said talking to other Jews of color about their experiences was very important. Jews of color can have a sense of belonging among white Jews, the survey said, but only about half said they have felt they belong.

Perez said these findings demand “tangible” investments in community initiatives for Jews of color.

Defining exactly what the term “Jew of color” means is a challenge that the researchers and the wider Jewish racial justice movement have grappled with for years.

Calling it an “imperfect, but useful umbrella term,” the study said people identified as Jews of color for a variety of reasons.

Some were referring to belonging to a racial group as is common in the United States.

Others use the term to capture their national, geographic or ethnic heritage, as in the case of certain Iranian, Ethiopian or Sephardic Jews.

The ambiguity of the term arose previously in debates over the total number of Jews of color in the U.S. Estimates of the community range from 6% to 15% depending on the study and definition. A 2019 report from the Jews of Color Initiative argued that the community has been chronically undercounted because of poor study designs.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Courtesy via JTA

The recent Jewish population report from the Pew Research Center did not attempt to answer the question, but it did conclude that 92% of Jews identify as white.

As the title “Beyond the Count” suggests, the new study’s authors want to turn the focus away from past debates and move toward a deeper understanding of Jewish diversity.

Asked how they express their Jewishness, the participants offered five main responses: Three out of four said that working for justice and equality was very important to their Jewish identity. About two-thirds selected passing on their Judaism, honoring ancestors, remembering the Holocaust and celebrating holidays as very important expressions of Jewishness.

The quotes from interviewees enlivened the numbers and pointed to the wideranging ways in which Jews of color conceive of their identity. One woman, who identified as white, Black and Native, spoke about the significance of being outdoors and observing birds or the rustling of leaves.

“Nature grounds me that there’s a creator responsible for all of this,” she said.

An Indian American talked about the challenge of keeping kosher in the South, while an Asian American said they had recently brought people together for a Bollywood-themed Shabbat ritual.

“With every person I talked to, their story was so unique and interesting,” said Gage Gorsky, one of the researchers. “Each time I said, ‘Wow, yeah, another way to be Jewish that I hadn’t even thought of.’” PJC AUGUST 20, 2021 9

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Poland officially approves law that limits Holocaust restitution claims, sparking global Jewish outrage

Poland’s president signed into law a bill that will restrict Holocaust restitution claims

by Jews and others who had property stolen by the Nazis or Soviet-backed occupation forces during the World War II era.

The law, signed by President Andrzej Duda, gives all property restitution claims a 30-year time limit from the alleged theft.

That will effectively wipe out any claims from the World War II years.

Israel’s top two leaders called the law antisemitic and the country recalled its ambassador to Warsaw. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is Jewish, voiced considerable concern prior to Duda’s signing, and international Holocaust restitution organizations also fumed after its passage.

“Poland today approved — not for the first time — an immoral, anti-Semitic law,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called it “a shameful decision and disgraceful contempt for the memory of the Holocaust.”

Duda and other Polish leaders claim the bill will simplify the country’s property laws and end a period of corruption

and confusion over restitution claims. The majority of those claims have actually been made by non-Jewish Poles.

But the move is a clear continuation of the country’s right-wing government’s longstanding crusade to separate itself from the effects of Nazi war crimes. In 2018, Poland triggered a similar amount of ire over a law that made it illegal to blame Poland for any Holocaust atrocities, despite the fact that many Poles collaborated with the Nazis.

The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) told Reuters that it hopes Poland will still resolve from the “Communist era,” during which Communist forces retained stolen Jewish property first taken by the Nazis. Poland has given back millions in compensation for property that was owned by Jewish communities, but it is the only major country in the former Soviet bloc that has taken no action to return private property, according to the WJRO. Lapid added that Poland’s ambassador to Israel, who is out of the country on vacation, should not return, and said that Israel is coordinating with the U.S. on further steps to condemn the law. Poland indicated that it will recall the ambassador. “[Poland’s ambassador] should use the time he has on his hands to explain to the Poles what the Holocaust means to Israel’s citizens and the extent to which we will not tolerate contempt for the memory of those who perished and for the memory of the

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which they came. But identical panels featuring a pattern of overlapping red and green circles are clearly visible in photographs taken before the Cathedral Road Synagogue’s closure that are available online through the People’s Collection Wales.

The photographs were taken by a representative of the Jewish Historical Association of South Wales, which reported that a local museum stored the windows until 2013. At that time, a representative of the synagogue’s former members offered the windows to relatives of those who had paid for them. No one accepted the offer, so the windows were sold to a salvage firm and the local community lost track of them, according to the association’s notes on the photo archive page.

The panels in Rowe’s shed appear to have been reassembled in a different arrangement from how they appeared in the synagogue, which now houses offices and a parking lot behind a semi-restored facade in a complex called “Temple Court.”

At one point, there were thousands of Jews in Wales, many of whom ended up there when their plans to get from Eastern Europe and Russia to the United States were derailed.

Now, according to a 2019 BBC report, there are just a few hundred, almost all in Cardiff, the capital city. Cardiff has one Reform synagogue that does not appear to have a rabbi and an Orthodox synagogue run by a Chabad rabbi.

(It’s also the hometown of a Congolese British soccer star named Rabbi Matondo.) PJC

This week in Israeli history — WORLD —

Etgar Keret, one of Israel’s most popular writers, is born in Ramat Gan. Keret’s quirky work, mainly short stories and graphic novels, wins critical acclaim as well as sales.

He also writes screenplays.

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After the Cathedral Road Synagogue in Cardiff, Wales, closed in 1989 amid a steep decline in the local Jewish population, its stained-glass windows went missing.

Now, some of the once-majestic synagogue’s stained-glass panels have resurfaced — in a backyard chicken-coop renovation that a British garden supplies company just declared best budget shed of 2021.

Cuprinol runs an annual shed competition to promote its products, which include both prefabricated sheds and the supplies to build bespoke sheds. This year’s winner in the “budget” category was Les Rowe for his seven-sided “Tranquility Base,” featuring a wooden floor reclaimed from a local church and at least five stained glass panels, several of which say “In Memoriam.”

Rowe told local news media that while he had gotten lots of materials from his friends and family, the panels were from a synagogue in Cardiff and he had purchased them on eBay “many years ago.” (He hadn’t gotten to use them until now, he said, because he had to wait for his chicken to die to free up space in his yard.)

While some of the news reports about Rowe’s shed has noted the windows’ origins, none has identified the synagogue from

August 20, 1967 — Etgar Keret is born

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Holocaust. It will not stop here,” Lapid said in his statement.

August 21, 1969 — Al-Aqsa is burned

An immigrant from Australia, Denis Michael Rohan, sets fire to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by pouring kerosene through a keyhole and throwing in a match. He enters an insanity plea and is deported.

August 22, 1891 — Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz is born

Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, whose “The Tree of Life” stands outside Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, is born in Lithuania. In his later years he draws inspiration from Judaism for his work.

August 23, 1969 — Nasser calls for all-out war

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who has turned to devout Muslim practice, calls for all-out war against Israel in response to the arson attack on Al-Aqsa mosque two days earlier.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

August 24, 1926 — Playwright Nissim Aloni is born

Playwright Nissim Aloni is born in a poor neighborhood in the south of Tel Aviv. The Habima Theatre produces the first of his 12 plays, “Most Cruel the King,” about King Jeroboam I, in 1953.

August 25, 2004 — Israel wins first Olympic gold

Windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel’s first Olympic gold medal at the Summer Games in Athens and, having won bronze in Atlanta in 1996, becomes the first Israeli with multiple Olympic medals.

August 26, 1955 — Dulles outlines US plan for Middle East

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles reveals a U.S. plan to launch covert peace talks, guarantee the borders of Israel and Arab states, and provide a loan to Israel to pay reparations to Arab refugees. PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Jewish Pitt professor helping former U.S. workers leave Afghanistan

J

ennifer Brick Murtazashvili, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets and a former adviser to the Department of Defense and United Nations, is working with a group of Pitt graduate students to help former U.S. workers leave Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control of the country. Many believe the workers are in danger.

Murtazashvili, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and is a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, spent time doing research in Afghanistan, is the author of “Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan,” published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press.

“There are lot of people who have worked against the Taliban who are enormously at risk, who stuck their head out and never expected it to happen this quickly,” Murtazashvili told Trib Live.

“The risk to them is because they were working for America, and the Taliban has targeted those who worked for Americans in the very recent past. They rightfully fear for their lives.”

While the Biden administration’s expanded refugee program is intended to help those former U.S. workers now trapped in Afghanistan, the requirements to get that help are difficult: specifically, getting proof of employment — sometimes from several years ago — from former employers.

Murtazashvili is working with grad students to get that proof, according to Trib Live, which reported that the Center for Governance has received more than 200 requests for help from former U.S. workers trying to leave Afghanistan in recent days.

p Jennifer Murtazashvili in Baghdad Valley, Bamiyan Province in Afghanistan several years ago

“Organizations come and go, managers come and go, organizations merge, and some folks just have no idea how to find out how they get this letter (of employment verification),” Murtazashvili told Trib Live.

Other requirements for eligibility to come to the U.S. via the refugee program are strict.

“You had to be on the payroll of an American organization,” Murtazashvili told the Trib.

“You couldn’t be a subcontractor, you couldn’t be a nonprofit that got a grant from another organization, you couldn’t be a government official who worked alongside the Americans — and those are requests that we are getting a

An illicit engagement party roils Australian Jews as new COVID-19 outbreak extends lockdown — WORLD —

By Philissa Cramer | JTA

V

ideo from a packed engagement party is roiling the Jewish community of Melbourne, Australia, amid a growing outbreak of COVID-19 that has extended yet another stringent lockdown there.

Compliance with local rules has been spotty across Melbourne during the latest lockdown, which comes after a year and a half of intense restrictions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus there.

But the local Jewish community is again emerging as a hotspot. Local authorities are planning to set up vaccination and testing sites in the heavily Orthodox suburb of St Kilda East after a mother and son there tested positive, and sites in other Orthodox areas, including Caulfield and Balaclava, have landed on the growing list of locations with known exposures. In Melbourne, 25 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the engagement party video has offered what many say is hard proof that some Orthodox Jews are not taking the pandemic seriously. The video, which is circulating online, shows a groom speaking to a crowded room of unmasked guests, PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

at one point joking, “Clearly this is legal, because this is a group therapy session.”

Laughter follows.

“Many people will have seen a video from the engagement party circulating. I have,” Philip Dalidakis, a Jewish former lawmaker who works for the Australia Post, wrote on Facebook Sunday. “There are people in it that I know & I am speechless. I am genuinely shocked at the brazen disregard for our laws.”

According to Rafael Epstein, a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 68 people were present and contact tracing is underway after someone at the event tested positive for COVID-19.

“If you’re angry, believe me you are not as angry as almost all of the Jewish community,” Epstein tweeted.

Among those expressing anger was the Australia Jewish News, which called on local Orthodox leaders to condemn gatherings that violate the city’s lockdown rules and to penalize local rabbis who have condoned them.

On Sunday, the Rabbinical Council of Victoria issued a statement urging local Jews to “comply with all government restrictions without exception” — then it issued a stronger comment after criticism from the newspaper and others.

“For the removal of any possible doubt, this includes all illegal gatherings including

for prayer,” said the unsigned clarification, which was posted to Facebook. “We implore anybody considering flouting the law to refrain from doing so. We unreservedly condemn such actions, which bring risk and shame to the entire community.”

But the group did not suggest that it would name or penalize rabbis who have participated in gatherings, which local Jews said had been happening for a variety of reasons throughout the pandemic.

Responding to an Australia Jewish News Facebook post, Rabbi James Kennard, principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College, a modern Orthodox day school, wrote that such condemnation is needed, and signaled that a wide array of gatherings had been taking place in contravention of local rules.

“It is painful to speak out against fellowJews in public. But at this time, the danger of staying silent is too great,” Kennard wrote.

“Because the law states that we must stay at home, because the experts tell us that this is the way to save lives, because of the risk of terrible Chillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name), every rabbi and leader must cry out. We must take the heartbreaking path and stop the gatherings — for prayer, for s’machot, for school. Just stop.”

Speaking on Australian TV, Daniel Aghion, the president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, said, “We’ve

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Photo courtesy of Jennifer Murtazashvili

lot. They don’t qualify under the current rules.

That’s something that should change.”

Murtazashvili and her group are looking for assistance from the community.

Anyone interested in helping can email cgm@pitt.edu. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

heard about a number of non-compliances.

That’s actually quite disturbing for us.”

Australia has experienced perhaps the world’s most stringent restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, Australians and permanent residents have effectively been barred from leaving the country, while only a small number of people have been allowed to enter. Under the current lockdown in Victoria, Melbourne’s region, all gatherings in private homes are banned and the only kinds of gatherings that are allowed are funerals of 10 people or fewer.

Tension over compliance with COVID-19 rules has emerged around the world in and around Orthodox communities since March 2020, when rules aimed at stopping the spread of disease made minyans, or the quorums required to say some prayers, illegal in many places.

Early in the pandemic, Melbourne police raided several sites where Orthodox Jews were illegally holding minyans. Last October, private citizens confronted a group of haredi Orthodox men leaving a school.

Dalidakis wrote that most local Jews were adhering to the rules. But, he said, “small pockets of our Orthodox & ultra Orthodox community need to see this event as an opportunity to reset & reflect on just how dangerous & selfish their behaviour has been.” PJC AUGUST 20, 2021 11

Opinion The cost of disgrace is not cheap Guest Columnist Jonathan Tobin

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or those old enough to remember the images of the last days of South Vietnam, recent events in Afghanistan are shockingly familiar. In each case, a flawed American ally facing a determined foe quickly collapsed once both sides to the conflict realized that the United States wouldn’t lift a finger to help its friends.

Afghanistan was America’s longest war, and sadly, it must go down in history, like Vietnam, as one in which a superpower was defeated by a much weaker enemy. In both instances, there are good reasons to argue that defeat might have been inevitable despite the skill and bravery of the U.S. forces, and that of our allies, who fought there.

And in both cases, it’s entirely likely that most Americans will — while blushing at the sight of despicable enemies gloating over their triumph, as well as the bloody consequences for those locals who fought with or helped us there — not care all that much.

Our lives will go on undisturbed, even if troubling memories about Taliban rule will pop up on the 9/11 anniversary or when the oppression of women or other Islamist atrocities that will commence in Afghanistan are publicized.

That won’t be the case for other American allies, including those like Israelis, who, thankfully, don’t depend on the presence of U.S. troops to defend them against enemies.

The United States may still be a country whose national defense is a function of oceans and continents. But smaller countries that live in dangerous neighborhoods inhabited by those, like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the victory of Islamists like the Taliban will indeed be celebrated, are, however, forced to draw harsh conclusions about their alliances with the United States and whether its government can be relied upon to keep its word when the chips are down.

The Vietnam analogy cannot be ignored.

By the time an armored offensive by the North Vietnamese Army (and not, as myth would have it, successful guerrilla fighters) swept into Saigon, the overwhelming majority of Americans were heartily sick of the Vietnam War. When a Democratic Congress overruled a Republican administration’s desire to resupply the South Vietnamese, most shrugged and said, not unreasonably, that they had given enough in a war that didn’t make them any safer. They continued shrugging when the Communist victors put roughly a million of the losers in re-education camps and when hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, who hadn’t been able to get on the last helicopters out of Saigon, fled their homes in unsafe small boats hoping for a chance to get to freedom.

It will probably go even harder for the people of Afghanistan. But a broad, bipartisan consensus in favor of ending the “forever” war in that country will cause most Americans to avert their eyes without too much trouble.

After all, Americans have poured vast amounts of blood and treasure into Afghanistan, even if, thankfully, the casualty count was a fraction of what it was in Vietnam. They have every right to think that after 20 years they have sacrificed enough.

The denouement happened on President Joe Biden’s watch as his feckless predictions that another Saigon wouldn’t happen proved false, and the sense that the government that had lost control of events and, even worse, didn’t really care pervaded even sympathetic coverage of his folly in the mainstream media.

But the blame for this debacle is bipartisan.

It starts with the George W. Bush administration. The United States had every right to invade in the fall of 2001. Yet Bush discounted the long history of catastrophes for foreign armies in Afghanistan dating back to Alexander the Great, and included the British and Soviet empires when he ordered U.S. troops to attack in retaliation for the Taliban’s hosting of the Al-Qaeda terrorists that attacked America on 9/11. The initial American success in routing the Taliban from power was heartening, but rather than leave the Afghanis to sort out their fate, U.S. and NATO forces felt impelled to stay and

to begin a futile effort at nation-building.

Despite the positive impact that had on so many there, this was doomed to failure in a nation where many of the people had little interest in either democracy or the benefits of life in the 21st century, as opposed to the medieval Islam practiced by the Taliban.

President Barack Obama inherited a stable conflict in which the West arguably still had the upper hand. Democrats had campaigned in 2006 and 2008 on the idea that Afghanistan was the “good war” as opposed to the “bad” one being fought

by Bush in Iraq. Still, his 2011 declaration that the United States intended to leave signaled to the Taliban that all they had to do was to wait it out until the Americans had enough and were gone.

That mistake was compounded by President Donald Trump, who engaged in pointless and humiliating negotiations with the Taliban in order to try to make good on his promise to “end” a war in which the other side was determined to keep fighting until victory. Trump set in motion a plan for withdrawal that also encouraged the Taliban and helped guide their final offensives. Nevertheless, he had contradicted his “America First” neo-isolationist beliefs by vigorously pursuing a victorious campaign against ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria that Obama had flubbed, coupled with a tough stance against Iran. That at least held open Please see Tobin, page 15

100 years of debunking The Protocols: The fight goes on Guest Columnist Kenneth Jacobson

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significant moment in the history of the effort to combat antisemitism took place 100 years ago this August.

The occasion was the detailed refutation of the most influential and conspiratorial antisemitic documents that ever appeared, “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.”

The writer of this historic refutation was Philip Graves, a journalist of the Times of London. He analyzed the Protocols, which claimed that it was the discovery of the secret plans of world Jewish leaders to take over the world. Rather than a discovery of any such plans, Graves proved that, in fact, the composers of Protocols, members of the Russian secret police, had concocted it by plagiarizing a satirical French piece that dealt with a completely different subject.

Graves ably demonstrated by showing the comparable structures and expressions of the two documents that the Protocols had been fraudulently conjured up to generate the most conspiratorial anti-Jewish sentiment.

The fact that the Times of London exposed this fraudulence was of great significance and was instrumental in efforts to combat the poisonous influence of the Protocols

12 AUGUST 20, 2021

over many years. Whenever the Protocols reared its ugly head, the main tool for combatting it and for passing laws or taking action through the courts in some European countries barring its dissemination, was the admirable Graves rebuttal.

Remembering and commemorating this important development 100 years later is appropriate. It supports the idea that rational and scholarly analysis are important tools in the struggle against antisemitism and all forms of hatred.

At the same time, we must remember that despite this excellent work, the Protocols played and continues to play the most insidious role in the worst kind of anti-Jewish hatred.

Before the Graves refutation, the most extreme use of the Protocols was employed by the opponents of the new Communist regime in Russia. During the Russian civil war, thousands of Jews were murdered, many under the guise of the Protocols’ notion that Jews were all-powerful and behind the takeover of Russia by the Communists.

Unfortunately, after the Graves refutation, the Protocols continued to live on and have a poisonous impact, not just in Russia but across Europe and even around the world.

In the United States, the great industrialist Henry Ford disseminated the Protocols over several years to an American audience through his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. Many Americans who had not been exposed to such systematic antisemitic

ideas before then were now subjected to a worldview of Jew-hatred.

Of course, most importantly, Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine used the main theme of the Protocols — evil Jewish power — to turn the German people from merely not liking the Jews to seeing them as a grave threat to Germany. Hitler explicitly invoked the Protocols, his regime mass-distributed the book, and ultimately the Protocols served as part of what has been called the Nazis’ “warrant for genocide,” culminating in what we all know as the horrors of the Holocaust. In more modern times, much of the Arab world continues to circulate the Protocols as part of a longtime effort to delegitimize the state of Israel and seeing inherent Jewish insidiousness as the underlying nature of the Jewish state.

And most recently, ADL uncovered the fact that the newly elected president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, had overseen a project in Iran several years ago that presented the Protocols in a 50-episode film series, shown on public TV and distributed in hardcopy to pilgrims visiting Iran, as if the document were an accurate description of Jewish power and intentions in the world.

It is important to understand why the Protocols has had such an influential and long life, however pernicious. The creators of the document understood that millions of people around the world had been inculcated for centuries with the idea that Jews were secretly all-powerful and destructive.

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This was the core and unique element of antisemitism. They realized that if they could create a document that would confirm these sentiments, people would believe them to be authentic.

Which is exactly what happened, as evidenced by an incident in Bern, Switzerland, in 1935. Due to the Graves refutation and the horrific violence against Jews based on the Protocols, the Swiss government had passed a law making it illegal to distribute the Protocols. Two individuals were being prosecuted for exactly that. At the trial, a slew of witnesses testified to the fraudulent nature of the Protocols, citing Graves’ work. Finally, one of the defendants came to the docket and was asked about how he thought about things in light of all these testimonies. He said, none of that bothers me because I see in everyday life all around how the Protocols is an accurate description of reality, that the Jews are all-powerful and trying to take over the world!

Let us celebrate the 100th anniversary of the refutation of the Protocols as one of the finest examples of seeking to overcome such destructive lies with authentic truth. Let us remember as well, however, that the work to combat its poisonous message is far from done, even a century later. PJC Kenneth Jacobson is deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League. This first appeared on The Times of Israel.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion I used to judge ex-Orthodox Jews.

Then I started listening to them.

Guest Columnist Rivka Nehorai

T

en years ago, I sat shocked watching a new music video from one of my creative Jewish heroes, Matisyahu.

Newly married and studying in yeshiva, my husband and I were trying to figure out how to uplift the art world in alignment with our Orthodox Torah ideals.

Yet here was my icon, Matisyahu — who rose to fame singing about his faith and wearing the black hat and modest suit of a Hasidic Jew — dancing around in a Santa suit for his “Miracles” video with a shot of an immodestly dressed woman and a guy dressed up as Antiochus using the word “babes.”

Outraged, I wrote a blog post imploring the singer to remember that he was a “poster child” for a serious, beautiful and deep people.

A few months later I ran into Matisyahu himself in a random little shul on Shabbat.

I introduced myself after services and took the quick opportunity to bless Matisyahu in coded language that he should “continue helping the Jewish world.” He bowed his head in thanks and I walked away feeling good about what I had said.

I understand now that I was really blessing him to continue to suppress his own truth and voice, and for him to toe the expected “traditional” Orthodox Jewish line out of my

fear of what non-Jews might think. At the time, I believe he owed it to all of us.

A few years after we left Israel, my husband and I began hosting gatherings in Brooklyn for creative, out-of-the-box Jewish thinkers. Our guests included a significant number of what are derogatorily referred to as “off-the-derech” Jews: those who had been raised in the ultra-Orthodox community but had left it. Many of them no longer followed many or most of the traditional Orthodox interpretations of Jewish law. But, my God, their Jewish spirit and the depth of their insights blew me away.

I can still hear the haunting, booming melody of one man who occasionally came.

Born and raised in a strict Hasidic sect, he cherished his memories of singing together with his father and brothers on Shabbat. He had chosen to leave that community because he needed to search for a truth and a life beyond it, but he loved Judaism so fiercely and deeply that I can cry just thinking about what it was like to hear him sing.

If I could say one thing to my outraged self watching Matisyahu shift directions 10 years ago, and what I would say to Orthodox Jews today who say they are hurt by “My Unorthodox Life” and any of the other critical examinations of the Orthodox world, it is this: Listen.

These Jewish people who have “left” and are now creating art that is critical of your community are your greatest teachers.

They have seen the belly of the beast and they have valuable information for you. They know how to make your world healthier, safer and more just. And they love the Jewish people and Judaism perhaps more than you will ever understand.

Instead of worrying about the optics of a celebrity Hasid going his own way, I should have been worrying about those who are hurting, who are being abused by the systems that structure the Hasidic world. Those who want a different life but can’t escape. Or those who escape with scars.

Just listen to their stories, I would tell my past self, and see how you can be a part of the change.

I know that many thrive in Orthodoxy.

But the point isn’t that the system works for some or even most people. The point is that when someone is sharing their story of what didn’t work for them, it creates an opportunity to discuss the change that can be made, from giving yeshiva students an adequate secular education to changing the way homosexuality is viewed.

If those critical of the Orthodox world are dismissed as traumatized, mentally disturbed or bitter, we miss out on the greatest gift our society could receive. To become whole. To become better. To end abuse. These voices are the checks and balances for a society.

Once upon a time, before I married, I was a kiruv, or outreach, professional. I worked with an offshoot of a modern Orthodox youth group that worked largely with

secular Jewish youth.

I was close with one high school student in particular, a dancer who had recently started keeping Shabbat and Orthodox modesty laws. The advisers told her that she could be a dancer or she could be a religious Jew, but she couldn’t be both.

As a religious artist, I disagreed. I printed out different opportunities for Jewish Orthodox dancers offered in Israel and America and brought them to a meeting with the student and my colleagues. I insisted that there was no reason she had to choose.

I left the meeting feeling good about helping steer the discussion, yet never paused to consider how problematic the situation was in the first place.

Years later I look back and wonder: Why was it OK to take a vulnerable girl into a room with people she looked up to and pressure her to make a choice about her life that did not need to be made?

This was not in some ultra-Orthodox sect. This was a group of modern Orthodox advisers, all kind and well-intentioned.

For the past 20 years I classified myself as “Orthodox,” although I always identified more as “post-denominational.” The denominations limit us. Especially within Orthodoxy, it becomes more about proving you fit in than about being part of an ongoing conversation.

Our creative community in Brooklyn Please see Nehorai, page 15

Chronicle’s mask-wearing poll results

L

ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “With the resurgence of COVID-19 due to the delta variant, are you changing your behavior?” Of the 345 people who responded, 80% said they were changing their behavior in some way. Half (167 people) said they are now wearing a mask indoors and outdoors if it’s crowded, and 31% said they are wearing a mask inside but not outside. Just 3% (11 people) said they were not changing their behavior, now or ever. One hundred people submitted written comments. A few follow:

about our daily lives.

People have to remember that there are families that have unvaccinated children in their households (our family is one of them).

We all have to do our part in protecting the children/vulnerable who can’t be vaccinated.

We need to be mindful of this as we are going

I believe that as someone who is vaccinated, I’m exceeding expectations by wearing a mask. I believe that the vaccine is a blessing and effective in preventing COVID.

Correction

It’s hard to unite people with polarized views when we don’t respect choices or fail to open our minds to information that may not be in your comfort zone.

There should be more of a concerted effort against the unvaccinated, i.e., requirements to continue working, loss of health insurance, inability to access public spaces and private establishments.

The public’s health is a priority.

We know how this virus affects people

In “JFCS critical needs support is stopgap to downward spiral” (July 30), JFunds was inaccurately described as “a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh initiative that brings together Pittsburgh based Jewish financial support services.” Rather, it is a formal collaboration of the nonprofits and programs that offer financial assistance to members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community: Hebrew Free Loan, Jewish Assistance Fund, JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry, JFCS Jewish Scholarship Service, Jewish Federation Israel Scholarship Program and Passport to Israel program. These organizations themselves established JFunds to prevent the duplication of services and partner on marketing efforts to best serve the community. PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

With the resurgence of COVID-19 due to the delta variant, are you changing your behavior?

1.19% 3.26% Not sure

Not now and not ever.

14.54%

Not now, but I will if it becomes more prevalent where I live.

49.55%

31.45%

Yes, I’m wearing a mask inside but not outside.

Yes, I’m wearing a mask inside and outside if it’s crowded.

and who is at risk. We do not need any more government mandates for those who are not at risk. If you have been vaccinated or not you should bear all risks. What ever happened to

personal responsibility and freedom?

Because I dislike wearing a mask, if mask mandates persist, I will only leave my house when I must.

I am looking forward to getting a third shot. How sad that so many people still won’t get the shot. It defies common sense.

Even though I have been fully vaccinated since late March, I have been wearing my mask whenever I go shopping in stores. I will now start wearing my mask if I am in crowds outdoors as well.

There is no way of knowing who is unvaccinated these days and with the delta variant increasing the number of affected people, I am not willing to risk my health. PJC

We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or email letters to:

Letters to the editor via email:

Website address:

letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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

Fax 412-521-0154

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pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

AUGUST 20, 2021 13

Headlines Delta: Continued from page 1

“People are putting more cards in their invitations asking attendees to be vaccinated, or [show] proof of a negative COVID test,” said Bass. “I haven’t heard of anyone saying you need to bring your vaccination card, but yes that is a trend.”

Still, event planners agreed that the delta variant isn’t causing the level of disruption to party planning as seen in 2020. According to The Knot, an online wedding planning company, a survey of 7,600 respondents revealed that 47% of couples who planned to get married in 2020 postponed their weddings to 2021 or later.

Delta may be a new chapter, but it’s the consequences of 2020 that are largely impacting party planning now. Vendors are not only responding to increased demands but are doing so with a smaller

staff, Bass said.

Event planner Shari Zatman, owner of Perfectly Planned by Shari, agreed and said she’s seeing a “tremendous labor shortage.”

The experience one has when trying to dine out — only to discover the restaurant has fewer hours and smaller capacity — mirrors what’s happening in the events industry, she said.

“Restaurants, labor, hospitality are all similar to some degree,” Zatman said. “I don’t know if it will change in status once the federal stimulus ends at the beginning of September. There’s some thinking that more people will come back to work once that ends.”

Zatman was referring to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, which extended and provided additional unemployment benefits that will keep the current weekly enhancement of

unemployment checks at $300 through Sept. 4, according to Pennsylvania’s Office of Unemployment Compensation.

What happens after Sept. 4, like so much else in the industry, is unknown, but whether it comes to staffing, invitations or any other aspect of an event, experts are advising people to be patient.

Bass said she gives her clients realistic timelines, telling them the days of ordering rushed materials are over.

“This is how long things take,” she said.

“We have some vendors who are quicker than others, but vendors are taking longer to produce.”

Some clients of Zatman who were creating a bat mitzvah invitation quickly learned about pandemic-related delays.

“They wanted something specific and, because of the timeline, had to make a compromise,” she said. “We never would have gotten the invitations otherwise.”

Fox Chapel: Continued from page 1

campaign’s Facebook page. But he stated in a Facebook message to the Chronicle that he disavowed the actions of this person or persons, and was not present when it happened.

“My clear and unequivocal condemnation of the actions of a stranger after I left the meeting the other night speaks for itself,” he wrote.

However, the video of the meeting shows the “stranger” leaving along with Dolan and his supporters. There was not a specific “clear and unequivocal condemnation” of the Nazi salute or mention of Mengele written

by Dolan on the campaign’s Facebook page.

Instead, he reposted comments by Dadd and wrote: “I agree these insults are out of line and they should stop. Our community needs to come together.”

Dadd wrote a Facebook post on Aug. 10 denouncing the Nazi references at the meetings.

“During the last two School Board meetings I have listened to community members make statements/comparisons to and use Nazi symbols in reference to decisions the Board was making,” Dadd wrote. “These actions and statements are completely unacceptable and anti-Semitic. The atrocities that were committed by the Nazis have no place in the discussion of this School Board. The Board is happy to hear the viewpoints of the community, but they must be made in a way that doesn’t insult large portions of our community and members of our Board who are Jewish. I can handle criticism, that’s part of the job, but bringing in comparisons to Nazi actions is beyond what is acceptable.” She concluded by saying she was speaking only for herself but was certain others agreed with her.

The Fox Chapel Area School District’s response appears to have evolved following the incident.

According to a Jewish parent who asked not to be identified over concern for the safety of her family, the district first issued a statement that did not condemn the Nazi references at the meetings.

“I emailed them saying I saw your statement; it didn’t condemn anything. We need to call it out in order to ensure people are 14 AUGUST 20, 2021

p An unidentified male gave a Nazi salute during the Aug. 9 Fox Chapel Area School Board meeting.

Screenshot by David Rullo

p During the Aug. 2 Fox Chapel Area School Board meeting, Amy Horn made comparisons between mask requirements and 1938 Germany.

Screenshot by David Rullo

aware of what’s not appropriate,” the parent told the Chronicle. After posting another message on its website on Aug. 10, calling for all members of its school community to be “respectful in their interactions with each other and during district events,” the district sent an email to parents on Aug. 11: “The Fox Chapel Area School District is deeply troubled that during our recent School Board meeting, some members of the public that were in attendance compared the decisions that the district and School Board were making regarding student health and safety planning to the atrocities of the Holocaust, including a visible display of a Nazi salute directed at the Board,” the email said. “Anti-Semitic and all hateful speech

and actions have no place in our district, and the Fox Chapel Area School District denounces hateful comments, signs, and symbols in all forms.” (This sentence was in bold type in the email.)

Carrie Conti attended the meeting on Aug. 9 and was seated several rows behind the man who raised his arm in a Nazi salute. She said none of the parents who regularly attend board meetings know him.

“That’s what’s driving me crazy,” said Conti, who has four children enrolled in the school district. “We’re trying to ID him. We’re all like, ‘You look so familiar,’ but none of us are able to put a name to him.”

Like much of the country, many community members have been revved up by

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Although the delta variant, and COVID in general, is forcing changes across the industry, people are still “forging ahead” with their celebrations, Zatman said.

Berger agreed, and said people are continuing to move forward in various ways, with some celebrants not wanting to discuss the delta variant at all and others asking a host of questions.

“I’m holding my breath and hoping for the best for everybody,” said Berger. Event planners are trying hard to juggle client, venue and vendor demands, she said, but so many things are “out of our control” But, added Berger, while everyone is experiencing a lot of stress, it’s important to keep things in perspective.

“We’re not doing brain surgery. We’re doing a party.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. discussions about a possible mask mandate in the schools, she added.

“This has been a high-tension thing,” Conti said. “Our community has a lot of Facebook groups and those groups have been incredibly hot lately. It was only a matter of time before it spilled into our school board meetings.”

Debbie Leuchter Stueber remains active in the district even though her children have graduated. Her parents are Holocaust survivors, and each year she speaks at Dorseyville Middle School during its annual Holocaust education assembly.

She said she was surprised that there were references to Nazis at the meetings.

“I don’t know how people go from requiring masks to be worn to equating it to the Holocaust, although we have people in the legislature that have done that, like Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Stueber said.

Greene, a Republican representative of Georgia, has made repeated statements equating House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s requirements that House members wear masks to the Nazis. She also compared wearing masks to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear under Nazi occupation.

The repeated instances of false equivalencies being made between the Holocaust and wearing masks or getting vaccinated show the need for education, said Laura Cherner, director of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

“It’s a form of Holocaust denial,” she said.

“If you truly understand the gravity of the Holocaust and its lasting impact on the Jewish community and our families, you would not so flippantly use Nazi symbols or Heil Hitler. It’s deeply offensive.”

Analogizing to the Holocaust “normalizes it,” Cherner added. “It takes away from the gravity and horrors of the Holocaust.”

“When you really boil this down,” said Lauren Apter Bairnsfather, the director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, “this is the opposite of the Holocaust. We’re talking about a public health crisis and trying to address it in a way that works.

“The Holocaust is killing people,” she said.

“This is saving people.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines D & D: Continued from page 7

each other’s homes on Saturday afternoons over the course of the pandemic — sometimes in 27-degree weather, Eli’s mother said — Shabbat became a time for imagination, exploration and fostering friendship.

“It was so sweet,” she said, recalling how the kids would roll up on their bikes, set up the game in the backyard and offer individual snacks. “It was wholesome, COVID-safe and organized by the kids themselves. They were totally in charge.”

Like Eli and Jacob, school was online most of the year for many of them, and this was one of the few social outlets available. And this group offered a mix of ages and genders.

Although the kids met almost every week throughout the pandemic, their last get-together was in June. At that point, the world seemed to be on the road back to normalcy. Scheduling became more difficult.

Extracurriculars returned. Families took vacations. Kids went to camp.

“The pandemic kind of made it possible for this to happen because they didn’t have anything else going on,” said Danielle Kranjec. “No one was going anywhere.”

Jessica Hammer, a Beth Shalom member and an associate professor of learning science at Carnegie Mellon University, said she was fascinated, but not surprised, to learn of the kids’ activities.

Whether it’s Dungeons & Dragons or other games that bring people face-to-face, powerful experiences can result — especially during a period like COVID, she said. Games like Dungeons & Dragons provide a way “where we can be together from six feet apart,” share an imaginary world and build relationships.

Tobin: Continued from page 12

the possibility that — if push came to shove, as it did this month — he might not ignore a situation in which American allies in Kabul were endangered or overwhelmed.

Not so with Biden, who, given his supposedly superior command of foreign policy, could still have overturned Trump’s Afghanistan plans, as he did his predecessor’s policies on Iran and other issues. His administration was unprepared for the crisis and failed to respond effectively, even to the point where Americans and those who had served our cause were left behind in the final rush to flee Kabul. The imagery of a president and his spokesperson on vacation and unavailable for comment as an ally fell to a sworn foe of America and the West will linger in the world’s memory of these events.

Nehorai: Continued from page 13

was filled as well with those who jumped between cleaving to tradition and listening to the reality on the ground of what was and wasn’t working and shifting because of it.

15 AUGUST 20, 2021

p Game materials

Photo by MichaelRLopez via iStock

Hammer holds joint appointments at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and Entertainment Technology Center, and as part of her research she investigates how games can facilitate difficult conversations, including those dealing with morality and ethics. Because players invent a world together as they play, they end up showing different parts of themselves and their beliefs to people “who may already know you, but not know you that way,” she said.

This is critical in this day and age, continued Hammer, as COVID has negated so many opportunities for meaningful social interactions. Because of their design, roleplaying games can not only help people form new friendships and understandings, but can also help sustain “long-standing

relationships through a period that I think is very hard on all of us,” she said.

When school ended this year, Squirrel Hill resident and Beth Shalom member Shoshanna Barnett scrambled to find an activity for her 7-year-old son, Ari BarnettJolson. She signed him up for Dungeons & Dragons classes and Ari quickly took to the game.

“It was awesome,” he said. “We get to go on an adventure. We battled monsters. We did puzzles. All sorts of fun stuff.”

Hammer has a 6-year-old daughter who was also just introduced to Dungeons & Dragons. She said there’s something special about the weekly Shabbat game. In particular, she said, it’s meaningful to spend time with others who hold similar values.

Hammer speaks from experience, as she remembered being excluded from joining role-playing games when she was younger because she would not write on Shabbat.

“Hearing about this shomer Shabbat group,” said Hammer, “makes me think that my daughter can have a different experience with being a Jewish role-player than I did.”

Ari Barnett-Jolson didn’t think much about the moral heft of a Sabbath-friendly Dungeons & Dragons clan. When asked whether he’d be interested in joining, Ari offered a practical outlook based on pandemic experiences.

“If it’s outside, yes,” he said. “If not, no thanks.” PJC

What’s more, the problem isn’t merely a question of the failures of Biden and the three presidents who came before him. As was the case after Vietnam, there needs to be a reckoning within the military and intelligence establishment in Washington.

As much as their political masters, they were the architects of this disaster and need to be held accountable with respect to the strategies they pursued and their inability to properly evaluate events right up until the final disaster.

That is something that, sooner or later, Americans will attend to, as they’ve done before after other failures.

Israelis, on the other hand, must reckon with the immediate consequences for the Middle East. American allies must rightly wonder how they can possibly rely on a government like the one led by Biden as threats from other Islamists —like the regime in Iran, and its allies and auxiliaries

— continue to grow stronger.

The administration will point out that Israel and even the Gulf states and other Arab nations, which have good reason to feel slighted by Biden, are in a very different position than Afghanistan. That’s true, but as the president continues to engage in an effort to renew Obama’s appeasement of Iran, how can he possibly ask any of America’s allies to trust him to take their security into account when negotiating with the theocrats of Tehran?

While there is still time to reverse course, at the moment, Washington is giving every indication that it is a declining world power drifting into an incoherent and ineffective stance against Iran’s terrorist threats and nuclear ambitions, as it has done in Afghanistan.

That leaves Israel and its Arab allies more dependent on each other than ever. And it must force them to think of the necessity of

both acting on their own without the United States, as well as to consider reaching out to other powers like Russia and China, even though their intentions are far from benevolent and cannot be trusted.

This creates a formula for a far more dangerous world than it would be if the United States were led by people who understood the dangers and were focused on protecting U.S. interests, rather than pursuing illusory goals rooted in ideology and not realpolitik. A willingness to take responsibility for this failure — something that Biden clearly refuses to do — would be a start. Some believed that beginning in January, the “adults” were back in power and that as a result, the world would be safer. If only that were true. PJC

This past year, I moved far away from everyone who shared their stories with me in the last decade. I now live in Long Beach, California, outside of an observant Jewish community. It’s quiet here, as my husband and I try to untangle for ourselves how Jewish practice and belief can serve us in contributing most to the world.

One thing has become clear to us: We need to listen to the critics, no matter where we are. Don’t worry about what the non-Jews will think. Don’t worry about a “backlash” from white supremacists or antisemites or other Jews.

Just listen. The future belongs to those who struggle and question and search

and shift — and can inspire us to create a better Jewish world, if only their stories are taken seriously. PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate, where this first appeared.

Rivka Nehorai is an artist, art educator, and community builder. She lives with her family in Long Beach, California. This first appeared on JTA. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Life & Culture Robinson International Short Film Competition to feature Jewish-themed films from around the world — FILM —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

F

ilm Pittsburgh will present the 10th annual Robinson International Short Film Competition, Aug. 24 at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The competition is open to independent filmmakers whose short work illuminates the Jewish experience.

“You don’t have to be Jewish to win the award, but the winners have to have the essence of Jewish,” said Kathryn Spitz Cohan, executive director of Film Pittsburgh. “That might be something as obvious as the Holocaust or something less well known or something like tikkun olam, which is a very Jewish principle, but maybe not everyone knows about.”

Tuesday’s screening will include six works, three of which will be named winners and share a cash prize of $18,000.

Spitz Cohan said the filmmakers of the three winning films — selected by a jury — are invited to Pittsburgh to attend the award gala. The filmmakers know they are winners, but will not know from which category until the live announcement at the event.

The Robinson International Short Film Competition was created by Judy, David

p Dawit Tekelaeb (left) and Daniel Gad in the Oscar-nominated film “White Eye,” which will be screened at the 10th annual Robinson International Short Film Competition, Aug. 24.

Still provided by Film Pittsburgh

and Heather Robinson to honor Sanford N. Robinson Sr., Judy’s husband and the father of David and Heather.

Sanford N. Robinson was a passionate supporter of the arts, said Heather Robinson in a press release, and he would be “astounded” by the talents of the filmmakers represented.

“Every year we look forward to seeing these films and this year does not disappoint,” she said.

The competition, which includes works 35 minutes in length or shorter, has garnered respect in the film community.

“It’s interesting because our director of programming, who programs different short film festivals across the country, has started to get inquiries about the Robinson

competition — which is great because that means that word has gotten out there,” said Spitz Cohan.

She said festivals like the Robinson Competition are important because they provide a platform for short filmmakers who use their work as calling cards to garner attention and raise funds to make feature-length films. Shorts don’t typically get the attention of feature-length works, Spitz Cohan explained.

“I would argue that it’s just as challenging to make a short film,” she said. “It’s just as hard, if not harder. You don’t have the luxury of 90 minutes. You have to have your beginning, middle and ending told concisely in whatever amount of time you have.”

Many Academy Award-winning filmmakers,

she added, started out making shorts.

This year’s competition will screen the animated short “Cinema Rex”; the Israeli short “Fine”; the Holocaust work “A Head Shorter”; “Jude,” director Amos Menin’s retelling of his grandfather’s journey that began on Kristallnacht; Or Sinai’s “Long Distance”; and the Oscar-nominated “White Eye.” Spitz Cohan said the screenings will allow the audience “to see filmmaking from around the world, different topics with a Jewish theme. They’ll travel and see different stories.”

The screening at the Carnegie Museum of Art is the start of a new relationship for Film Pittsburgh, which previously used the SouthSide Works Cinema until it closed last year.

Next month, Film Pittsburgh will screen works at the museum as part of its ReelAbilities Pittsburgh Film Festival, Sept. 8-12.

Following the 91-minute screening, the Robinson International Short Film Competition will conclude with an award ceremony and reception in the Café Carnegie.

For more information on the competition or the shorts, or to purchase tickets, visit film pittsburgh.org/pages/robinson-shorts. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronice.org.

BE OUR GUEST AT TEMPLE SINAI FOR THE HIGH HOLY DAYS! TOT SERVICES Looking for an informal, inviting way to teach your little ones about the High Holy Days? Join Rabbi Keren Gorban for a fun, active service of stories, singing, and dancing for families with children ages 0–5.

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Life & Culture Greater Phoenix’s Orthodox community reflects on ‘explosive growth’ — RELIGION —

By Nicole Raz | Contributing Writer

W

hen Rabbi Ariel Shoshan and his wife, Ayala, moved to Phoenix from Baltimore in July 2002, he can only recall a handful of kosher restaurants, four daily minyanim and one K-8 school.

“It is not really possible to put words to the explosive growth of Torah Judaism in the Phoenix area (since),” he said.

In 2002, there were roughly 44,000 Jews living in the area, with 3%, or about 1,320 identifying as Orthodox, according to Arizona State University’s 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study. In 2019, there were roughly 98,750 Jews, with 3%, or about 2,962 identifying as Orthodox, according to ASU’s 2019 Jewish Community Survey.

The growth mirrors that of the Phoenix metro area overall.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Arizona has experienced the third-highest population growth nationally since 2010, and Phoenix is currently the nation’s fastest growing city.

Growth in the Orthodox community has meant that there are now at least 15 daily morning minyanim, many kosher food

p Jeremy Rovinsky and his family

options and several Jewish schools.

“I think the number of children receiving a Torah education is at least seven times the size it was in 2002,” Shoshan said. “The most amazing element of the growth is the hundreds of families and individuals who have bravely accepted upon themselves the joy and responsibility of an observant life.”

According to the Pew Research Center, 17% of Jews ages 18 to 29 nationally self-identify as Orthodox, while 11% identify as haredi Orthodox, compared with 3%, and 1%, of Jews 65 and older, respectively.

Robin Meyerson, Jeremy Rovinsky and Yisroel Loeb are among thousands of others who have contributed to the growth of the local Orthodox community over the past decade or so by becoming observant, by relocating or both.

Meyerson grew up knowing she was Jewish, but nothing more.

“My mom and dad wanted to show me and my brother the world,” she said.

“We traveled to Australia, Malaysia and England and I learned about other cultures, like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.” But not Judaism.

She didn’t know what it was, but she was always searching for something. Looking Please see Phoenix, page 18

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Rovinsky

Families, Traditions, Connection These are what make the High Holidays so important.

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AUGUST 20, 2021 17

Celebrations

Torah

Anniversary

Shouting with joy as we gather again

On August 24, Elliot and Rebecca Lemelman will celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary. Due to Florida being a hot spot of the COVID-19 virus, there will be no gathering of the family. PJC

Phoenix: Continued from page 17

back, she believes it was the pintele yid: a spark of Jewishness within every Jew, observant or not.

When she was 11 and living in the United States for a year, she asked her parents to find a synagogue. For one year she went to Sunday school at a small temple in Paducah, Kentucky.

In high school, she played Auguste van Pels in the school play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

“And that’s it. That was the extent of my Jewish knowledge,” she said.

Meyerson, who lives in Scottsdale, met her husband when she was 19 studying business at Arizona State University. Coincidentally, he also did not know much about Judaism.

After the couple married and had their first child, they began exploring Judaism together.

They began at Temple Chai, a Reform synagogue, then went to Congregation Har Zion, a Conservative synagogue, and ultimately landed at Ahavas Torah, which they helped found.

That path mirrored her own practice — she started by adding a mezuzah to her home, then keeping kosher and then observing Shabbat.

“It was a journey, it was not overnight,” she said. Through a free telephone service called Partners in Torah, she learned from a woman in New York over the course of eight years.

“We became really good friends and I met her in person a few times. She taught me almost everything I know,” she said.

Meyerson is now co-director of Project Inspire Arizona, chair of the Shabbos Project Arizona and provides life coaching to Jewish women.

Meyerson said becoming Orthodox has been the greatest decision of her life.

“I felt blessed that I found this secret society,” she said.

Rovinsky grew up Reform on Long Island, New York. It wasn’t until he was a preteen that he was introduced to Orthodoxy. And in college, while he studied philosophy and political science at American University in Washington, D.C. in preparation for law school,

he learned as much about Judaism as he could.

“I always had questions,” he said. “Some things didn’t make sense to me.”

He became active in Hillel and participated in a program by the Avi Chai Foundation, which exposed him to “the whole spectrum of Jewish ideas.” The program took him to Israel, where he realized he wanted to study abroad. During his second semester of his junior year in 2006, he did.

While in Israel he spent time in different synagogues. “I was looking until something clicked,” he said. That click came when he met Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld.

“He really spoke to me. He is the most self-actualized person I’ve ever met. When I met him I was in awe. I was like, ‘Wow. Whatever this guy has is what I want.’”

After Rovinsky graduated from American University, he decided to learn from Gershenfeld and applied to Machon Shlomo yeshiva, where Gershenfeld teaches and is dean.

He had already been accepted to George Washington University for law school, but deferred a year to attend yeshiva.

Rovinsky knew the path he was headed down once he made the commitment to go to yeshiva, and he’s grateful he made the choices he did.

“The more you learn, the more questions you have. But the basic questions that I’ve always had, they’ve been answered,” Rovinsky said. “ Living with the answers that I’ve always searched for and gotten has given me a deep, fulfilling feeling.”

Rovinsky, his wife and their young sons came to Arizona in 2013, when he had the opportunity to take a judicial clerkship.

Yisroel Loeb grew up in Far Rockaway, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. He was always aware that being Orthodox is a choice. His parents became religious independently before they got married event though nobody else in their families did.

“I was close with my extended family and none of them are Orthodox Jews or even totally Jewish,” he said. “Nobody else in my family married a Jew.”

Rabbi Seth Adelson Parshat Ki Tetze Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25-19

A

year ago, on Shabbat Ki Tetze, we called my daughter to the Torah as a bat mitzvah. Since the whole world was in pandemic mode, with no vaccine yet in sight, we had a handful of people in the Faye Rubinstein Weiss Sanctuary at Beth Shalom — my immediate family and a scant few others — and the rest of the attendees were all participating via Zoom. Prior to March of 2020, this was obviously not the way that most benei mitzvah were fêted, and even in August, it still seemed quite strange.

There was no huge party in celebration of Hannah’s joining the ranks of Jewish adults; there was no florist, no caterer, no DJ. We had made a token few matching kippah/ mask sets, and a video photo montage (which made me cry multiple times!) which we shared with friends and family online.

But, as with all of the benei mitzvah services in the COVID context, 19 of them at Beth Shalom since March, 2020, the experience was distilled to the essence of what celebrating benei mitzvah should be: a public acknowledgment that this child is now one of us, one who has inherited the mantle of mitzvot, the entire catalogue of holy opportunities that are the spiritual fulfillment of Jewish life. And it was a worthy reminder that this distillation is exactly what bat/bar mitzvah is all about. As my daughter chanted the opening of the Fifth Haftarah of Consolation, “Ronni, aqarah!” (“Shout with joy, O barren one!), and with it the promise that the barren shall soon be fruitful, I looked forward to a more joyous time, but understood that our celebration was not at all

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Rosh Hashanah

Monday, September 6th: Rosh Hashanah th Monday, September September 76 Tuesday, Monday, September 6thth::: th th Tuesday, September 7 Wednesday, September Tuesday, September 7 :: 8th: th Wednesday, September September 8 8th :: Wednesday,

7:30 P.M. 7:30 P.M. 8:45 7:30 A.M. P.M. 8:45 8:45 A.M. A.M. 8:45 8:45 A.M. A.M.

Yom Kippur

Wednesday, September 15th: 7:00 P.M. Yom Kippur th Wednesday, September 7:00 Thursday, September 16th15 : th:: 8:45 A.M./5:30 Wednesday, September 15 7:00 P.M. P.M. th Thursday, 8:45 Thursday, September September 16 16th:: 8:45 A.M./5:30 A.M./5:30 P.M. P.M.

For Non-Vaccinated Individuals For Non-Vaccinated Non-Vaccinated Individuals Masking and Social Distancing Enforced For Individuals Masking and and Social Social Distancing Distancing Enforced Enforced Masking

18 AUGUST 20, 2021

Change

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th ĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ sŝƐŝƚĂƟŽŶ Sunday: August 29 & September 5th, 10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. th th Sunday: August 29 29th & September September 5 5th 10:00 A.M. A.M. -- 12:30 12:30 P.M. P.M. Sunday: August & ,, 10:00 EĞǁ >ŝŐŚƚ ĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ͗ ϳϱϬ ^ŽŽƐĞ ZŽĂĚ͕ WŝƩƐďƵƌŐŚ͕ W ϭϱϮϬϵ EĞǁ >ŝŐŚƚ ĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ͗ ϳϱϬ ^ŽŽƐĞ ZŽĂĚ͕ WŝƩƐďƵƌŐŚ͕ W ϭϱϮϬϵ EĞǁ >ŝŐŚƚ ĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ͗ ϳϱϬ ^ŽŽƐĞ ZŽĂĚ͕ WŝƩƐďƵƌŐŚ͕ W ϭϱϮϬϵ

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Rabbi Seth Adelson is senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

helping you plan for what matters the most

Please see Phoenix, page 19

All are Welcome All are Welcome &ƌŝĞŶĚůLJ͕ ŐĂůŝƚĂƌŝĂŶ͕ ŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƟǀĞ &ƌŝĞŶĚůLJ͕ ŐĂůŝƚĂƌŝĂŶ͕ ŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƟǀĞ Rabbi Jonathan Perlman Rabbi Jonathan Perlman

lessened by our diminished circumstances.

A full year later, as we have begun to gather again, cautiously, in person now, I am feeling a whole lot of delayed joy merely in seeing actual people in our sanctuary once again.

And as we read Parshat Ki Tetze once again, with its many, many laws (74 mitzvot by one reckoning, the most of any parshat), I am reminded of the power that this framework of mitzvot still has over us, of the structure and holiness it brings. Although few of us own oxen or sheep, we are still guided by the obligation to return our neighbors’ lost items. Although few of us need to forage for food, we are still guided by the obligation to shoo away the mother bird before taking her chicks, so she will not see; it is a reminder to respect all creatures. Although few of us invite guests onto our roofs, we are still guided by the principle of building a parapet to prevent people from falling off, a guideline to safeguard the lives of others.

So all the more so, I am shouting with joy as we dive into Ki Tetze and that framework once again, not only as the proud father whose daughter has been reading Torah at Camp Ramah this summer, but also because we continue to teach and learn and celebrate and seek those holy opportunities that our tradition affords us. No virus will break that chain of tradition; no pandemic will prevent us from living and relating the wisdom of the Jewish bookshelf. I am grateful and joyous for our mitzvot and the opportunity to interpret them for our time, and I am hopeful that the benei mitzvah we celebrate from this point forward will be just as meaningful. PJC

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Headlines Phoenix: Continued from page 18

He appreciates that about his upbringing, because it allows him to be in “many different worlds” and helps him as a clinical psychologist.

Now as a parent to an 11-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son, he also wants his kids to know that being Orthodox is a choice.

“I would like them to choose the lifestyle that I have chosen so I can eat in their kitchen,” he joked.

He and his family moved to Phoenix from New York in 2015 for his residency in clinical psychology. People generally move to the Southwest to start over, and to reinvent themselves, he said.

“And that is no different for the Orthodox community,” he said.

Loeb feels the local Orthodox community is warm and welcoming, and not insular.

“If you’re Orthodox, you’re not just going to be involved in the Orthodox community, or if you’re Conservative you’re not just going to be involved in the Conservative community, etc.,” he said. “There is communication and respect between the various branches in the Jewish community that may not be present in other communities.”

He noted the local community is one that allows people to explore their own Jewish identity on their own terms.

“Phoenix is a live-and-let-live type of place, more than the East coast.”

In their years in the Phoenix area, Meyerson, Rovinsky, and Loeb have watched the community grow firsthand.

Meyerson recalls when there was only one mikvah. “Now there are three and a few more being built,” she said. “We used to be one of a few families walking to synagogue on Saturdays in Scottsdale, but now the streets are growing so much we have a dedicated traffic light to help the Orthodox Scottsdale community.”

Rovinsky compares the rapid change to dog years.

“In one year, it’s like seven years worth of

change,” Rovinsky said.

He has helped to represent Phoenix at the Orthodox Union’s annual community fair, geared to people living in the New York area to learn about different Orthodox communities around the country.

But Phoenix hasn’t been represented for several years.

“It’s more for communities that are desperate for people to move there. We’re kind of the opposite,” he said. “Phoenix is a really great place; we don’t need to offer incentives, like other communities offer, to get people to move here.”

He gets calls all the time from people interested in relocating to Phoenix. He attributes the interest to Phoenix’s cost of living and Jewish schools.

“The schools here are top quality schools if you are looking for an Orthodox school,” he said. “And Arizona is the best for tuition assistance, so it’s very affordable as well.”

Rovinsky and Loeb agree that one of the things that makes the city’s Orthodox community special is that there are still many ways to make a difference.

“The community has infrastructure, but it’s not built up the way that bigger Orthodox communities are,” Rovinsky said. In 2019, he helped to launch the Orthodox Union’s Semichas Chaver Program in Phoenix, for example. The program teaches practical lessons in Jewish law and ethics in six-month intervals.

Shoshan moved to Arizona to become director of the Phoenix Community Kollel.

The founding rabbi of Ahavas Torah in 2004, Shoshan said the community had a strong foundation created by the rabbis and community leaders before him.

“Today, there is a sense of togetherness and mission in an environment of religious sincerity and passion,” he said, “We have great schools and state programs that make school more affordable, and we have excellent shuls and places for Torah learning at every level and for every age.” PJC

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Lawrence F. Leventon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selma G. Leventon Allan & Vivian Levine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hannah Rae Levine Stanley Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Herbert Marks Janet & Don Moritz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Papernick Janet & Don Moritz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Samuel Papernick Janet & Don Moritz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Papernick Larry Myer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dana Myer Ted Pinsker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Captain Morris Rudick Ted Pinsker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Rudick Simma & Lawrence Robbins . . . . . . . . . . . . .Frances Nadler Edith Schneider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Hirsch Edith Schneider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Max Hirsch Edith Schneider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Flom Edith Schneider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Michael Oresick Jay Schuetzman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold I. Freed Eileen Snider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Snider Richard S. Stuart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ruth E. Supowitz Iris Amper Walker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Amper Harold C. Weiss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred L. Weiss

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —

Sunday August 22: Max Breverman, Harvey Deaktor, Isadore J. Ficks, Etta Glass, Howard Sylvan Guttman, Ethel Kanselbaum, Isreal Miller, Sidney Pariser, David Vinocur, Mary Weintraub Monday August 23: Morris Abrom, Michael Balmuth, M.D., Jacob Berman, Mendel Binstock, Ben Cartiff, Martin David Gillis, Goldie Harris, Simon Jonas, Esther Friedberg Levy, Charles Papernick, Charlotte Levy Pollack, Louis A. Robins, Florence H. Szobel, Cyril Freda Wolfson Tuesday August 24: Ben Astrov, William Flom, Aaron Green, David Lester, Frances Nadler, Mamie Grace Rosenbloom, Pauline Roth, Shiffra Schneirov, Pauline Naomi Shorr, Mendel Silverman, Edith Simon Symons, Emanuel L. Wasser Wednesday August 25: Regina Berg, Ethel Borovetz, Celia Grudzinsky Catz, Joseph Gelman, Lillian Ohringer Girson, Louis Goldberg, Barbara Goldstein, Louis Hershenson, Herbert Isaacs, Leon Kweller, Leon Lappin, Pearl Beck Levy, Norma Lewis, Essie Jacobs Marcus, Martin S. Morrow, William Richman, Rose Leib Rothman, Mollie Steinman, Selma Volkin, Joseph Weitzman, Belle Strauss Wilder Thursday August 26: Justine Becker, Pessie Esman, Nathan Glantz, Leah A. Gluck, Toby Goldberg, Martha Hirsch Green, Bess Z. Kaufmann, Morris Kessler, Leah Tobias Levy, Rose Mikulitzky, William Miller, David Pecarsky, Goldie Rubin, Lena Ruttenberg, Estelle Rae Sable, Martin S. Taxay, M.D., Joseph N. Verk Friday August 27: Minnie E. Aberman, Emanuel Hyman Bennett, Isadore Brown, Ted Brown, Norma Cohen Dobrushin, Julia Kitman, Fannie Liebman, Lillian E. Friedman Pachtman, Samuel M. Rosenzweig, Sadie Rebecca Ruttenberg, Benjamin C. Simon, Meir A. Weiner, Meyer Wolk, Irving S. Zamore Saturday August 28: Elizabeth Marine Chaiken, Esther F. Cohen, Sadie Friedland, Leonard H. Goldberg, Samuel Henry Harris, Ella Herman, Henry H. Katz, Anna C. Kenner, Benjamin L. Schulman, M.D., Yetta B. Sirota, Ruth Soffer, Bennie Star, Lawrence Swartz, Harry H. Wyner, Oliver Zimmer

PITTSBU RGH NEWEST ’S FUNERA L HOME

Nicole Raz writes for the Jewish News of Phoenix, an affiliated publication where this first appeared.

STORIES COME TO

Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from …

In memory of …

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Gelman Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sylvia B. Karpo Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grace Levenson Phyllis Pearl Astrov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harry Pearl Donald Berk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leo E. Berkowitz Margaret Browar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Henry Browarsky Sherry Cartiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irene Posner Sherri Cohan & Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miriam M. Glantz Edward M. Goldston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ted Brown Dr. & Mrs. Marc Greenstein & Sons . . . . . . .Michael Stone Sandford Hansell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abraham Hansell Joan G. Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nathan Israel Joan G. Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sylvan Joseph Israel Falk Kantor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sayde R. Kantor Carole Kaufman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albert Hendel Sandra Press Kearns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dr. Sanford Press Sandra Press Kearns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hilda Press Aaron Krouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ida Magdovitz Krouse Harold & Cindy Lebenson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marlene Harris Harold & Cindy Lebenson . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Niderberg

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

AUGUST 20, 2021 19

Real Estate FOR SALE

REALTOR SERVICES

I STAND WITH ISRAEL! “This realtor is A+ Golden! She went above and beyond to help me. She is so very knowledgeable, so very professional, always upbeat and trust worthy.

I will recommend her to all my friends and family members. Outstanding realtor and human!”

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Meeting needs that I didn’t even know that I had!”

The real estate market is very strong! If you are wondering what your house would sell for, please give me a call!

Jordana Zober Cutitta, Realtor, Associate Broker, MBA 412-657-3555 | Jordanazc@kw.com

Business & Professional Directory AUTOS WANTED

BUYING

AUTOS WANTED 724-287-7771 BUYING CAR$ $UV$ TRUCK$ VAN$ Denny Off$tein Auto $ale$ FREE Legal Title Transfer FREE Vehicle Pick up

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HELP WANTED

LANDSCAPING

LAWN CARE

PRE-K TEACHER WANTED

Call me now! Call me later!

LAWN CARE/LANDSCAPING SNOW REMOVAL

Rodef Shalom Congregation is looking to hire a qualified early childhood educator

20-25 hours per week (mornings) $15 hourly which also includes time spent for meetings, prep and PD This is a nine-month position For more information contact Kristin at 412-621-6566 ext. 120 or karsh@rodefshalom.org

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IT’S amazing WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR.



Selling? Buyers are flocking to the ’s Business & Professional Directory To advertise, call 412.687.1047.

20 AUGUST 20, 2021

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Real Estate REALTOR SERVICES

FOR SALE

KEEPING IT REAL IN REAL ESTATE!

F O R S A LE

Contact me today to find out how Howard Hanna’s exclusive buyer and seller programs can benefit you!

• Buy Before You Sell • Money Back Guarantee • One Stop Shopping • Hanna Gold Advantage • Homes of Distinction • HSA Home Warranty Protection

SHADYSIDE • THE HIGHWOOD CONDO • $199,000 A charming 2 bedroom with great windows and light, hard wood floors, roof top deck and assigned parking. These units rarely come on the market. Permitted to have 2 cats.

SHADYSIDE • $205,000 FIRST TIME OFFERED! Only a few doors from Walnut and Starbucks. Adorable garden apartment with parking. Rarely one on market. Pets permitted.

ROSSLYN FARMS • 24 WINTHROP • $598,000 New Listing! A true architectural masterpiece designed by Derek Martin. Owner has renovated the home.

ING It is truly a jewel. Most of the home has glass wallsPfacing END an interior courtyard with a gas fire pit, a Koi pond and . The kitchen is done to perfection just like the rest of the home. Bathrooms and kitchen floors are superbly done and the 2 main baths, as well as the kitchen have heated floors. too much to list. Must see.

SHADYSIDE • $1,100,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVE. CONDO Special! 3 bedroom 3.5 bath condo with 3-car side-by-side garage. This unit has many living spaces DING including an expansive living dining room, a raised PEN library above a family room, another den for the use of the bedrooms and a great eat in kitchen. This building includes a guest suite, exercise room, fabulous storage rooms, and a 24/7 attendant in the entry.

Contact Denise today for the REAL facts on why NOW is the best time to buy or sell!

Denise Serbin, Realtor HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE

WASHINGTONS LANDING • 57 WATERFRONT DR • OPEN SUNDAY 1-4 • $679,000 Fabulous townhome on the water with a park-like setting! Enjoy a gourmet cooks kitchen that opens to the dining/living area with a beautiful gas fireplace, glass doors to a newer trex deck that has a remote controlled awning. 2nd floor master area has a dual vanity, two person jacuzzi, as well as a shower, and a water closet. The third floor has a great room that extends the length of the home and has a full bath … a multi purpose room for entertaining, as well as sleeping. Call for directions.

FOX CHAPEL MEWS • $599,000 • NEW PRICE! Stunning, move in ready condo with every updated amenity, just hang up your clothes! 3 BR, 3 BA, double patio, storage galore, and steps from the elevator. The Mews offers indoor pool, exercise room, outdoor tennis, and beautiful guest suites. Convenient location to all city areas, and walking distance for coffee or shopping. Shown by appointment with Etta Golomb. 412-725-6524 LAWRENCEVILLE • $599,000 • MCCLEARY SCHOOL CONDO Spectacular 3 bedroom 2 bath condo. McCleary School Condo. Great for a family. Mile high ceilings, 9.5 ft. island, sleek counter tops stainless appliances. 2 car covered parking. Bldg. amenities include roof top deck, exercise room, dog washing station.

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BUYING OR SELLING?

SQUIRREL HILL • $810,000 ING First Time Offered! By the park! 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath, beautifully renovated home. Great windows, END woodwork, renovated baths and kitchen. WonderfulP deck and grounds! Integral garage. Elegant Home.

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THE BEST OF THE IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK.

412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK

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THEN GET THE FULL STORY

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REALTOR SERVICES

Are You Buying or Selling a Home?

Let Us Guide You Through the Process!

CALL THE SMITH-ROSENTHAL TEAM TODAY.

Smith-Rosenthal Team

Jason A. Smith & Caryn Rosenthal Jason: 412-969-2930 | Caryn: 412-389-1695 Jasonasmith@howardhanna.com Carynrosenthal@howardhanna.com

5501 Baum Blvd.

Pittsburgh PA 15232 Shadyside Office | 412-361-4000

SHOWCASE YOUR PROPERTIES EVERY WEEK IN THE PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE Contact Kelly Schwimer to schedule your advertising kschwimer@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 412-721-5931 advertising@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

AUGUST 20, 2021 21

“Legacy, to me, that’s the easy word. If you want this to continue, it’s not just physical, it’s the values you want to leave behind.”

— JCC Legacy Society member

A legacy lasts forever.

Create yours today.

TO DISCUSS CREATING YOUR JCC LEGACY, CONTACT FARA MARCUS AT 412-339-5413 OR FMARCUS@JCCPGH.ORG 22 AUGUST 20, 2021

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community It’s time to sound the shofar To mark the start of the Hebrew month of Elul, the 10.27 Healing Partnership held a Rosh

Chodesh teach-in. The Aug. 8 program was followed by shofar blowing on the corner of Forbes and Murray Avenues in Squirrel Hill.

p From left: Rabbi Larry Freedman, Cantor Julie Newman, Eric Lidji, Anabel Lantzman, Rabbi Doris Dyen, Dean Root and Ziva Lantzman

Photo by Deborah Freedman

Summer smiles at JCC Camps

We love the log jammer

Campers at both the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s specialty camps and James and Rachel Levinson Day Camp enjoyed a week of art and athletics.

Friendship Circle members and families spent the day at Kennywood. The annual event enabled members of all abilities and their families to celebrate summer fun with rides, friendship and barbecue. t From left: Paige Eddy, Rachel Herskowitz and Alyssa Marchitelli

p We’re making something great.

p From left: Daisy Vazquez, Sydney Smith and Abby Blank

p Gears, axles and pulleys are the tools for summer fun. p Putting on a clinic

Photos courtesy of Emma Curtis via Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p From left: Ekow, Adjoa and Kofi Opoku-Dakwa and Michael Lobel

Photos courtesy of Leighann Calamera via The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

AUGUST 20, 2021 23

KOSHER MEATS

• All-natural poultry — whole chickens, breasts, wings and more

Empire Kosher Fresh Boneless Chicken Breasts

6

99

• All-natural, corn-fed beef — steaks, roasts, ground beef and more • Variety of deli meats and franks Available at select Giant Eagle stores.

Visit gianteagle.com for location information.

lb.

Price effective Thursday, $XJXVW through Wednesday, $XJXVW , 2021

Available at 24 AUGUST 20, 2021

and

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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