Jewish community member Jeffrey Letwin said that as a 62-year member of Tree of Life, he considers the gubernatorial Please see Mastriano, 25
By David Rullo | Sta Writer everal interfaith community leaders spoke out against Republican gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano at an Aug. 17 virtual press conference, just two days before a campaign rally in Pittsburgh featuring Florida Gov. Ron “UnitedDeSantis.andWin,” the Aug. 19 Mastriano rally, was organized by Turning Point Action. Jewish Pittsburgher Meryl Ainsman opened the press conference by saying that Pittsburgh is “no place for hate,” and decrying Christian nationalism and Mastriano’s use of the social media site Gab. “We believe in equality among races, among ethnic groups,” Ainsman said, “and we feel the two of them [Mastriano and DeSantis] represent the exact opposite of that.” Gab is widely recognized as an online home for extremists and conspiracy theorists. The man charged with killing 11 Jews at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018, posted antisemitic messages on the site before the massacre; in his Gab bio, he described Jews as the “children of satan.” It was revealed several weeks ago that Mastriano not only maintained a presence on Gab, but that he paid the site $5,000 in “consulting fees,” leading all new accounts on the platform to automatically follow him. His page was littered with scores of antisemitic comments left by people following him on Gab, many of them targeting his Jewish opponent, Josh Shapiro. After criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, Mastriano released a statement saying, “I reject anti-Semitism in any form,” and closed his Gab account. Notably, he has not specifically condemned the antisemitic comments on his page or the social media site.
Ukrainians unwavering six months after Russian
ix months ago, Squirrel Hill residents Claire Topal and Robert Lin, like many other people worldwide, made several donations to help Ukrainians after Russia’s For the first time in their lives, though, the Community Day School parents felt like “we should really do something tangible,” Topal said. Weeks passed. The couple scoured the internet. Lin discovered Uniting for Ukraine, a program launched by President Joe Biden on April 21 offering up to 100,000 fleeing Ukrainians a “safe and orderly” means of entering the United States and remaining for People in the U.S. wanting to help Ukrainians through the program file paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; they are then vetted by the U.S. government to ensure that they meet eligibilityLincriteria.recognized the program’s strengths and his family’s ability to meet its guidelines. He logged onto Facebook and found a group pairing Ukrainians with U.S. hosts. He spent hours researching the next steps. He then told Topal that he’d found a family in need and was setting up a Zoom call to speak with them the next morning. Topal was a bit apprehensive: “I was like, ‘I don’t meet people on Facebook. That’s sketchy, right?’” Lin reassured her that he did his due diligence, and said, “these people are awesome.” Messages between the Pittsburghers and Ukrainians were exchanged and a time to Please see Ukraine, page 10
Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park! Rabbi Seth Adelson throws out the first pitch at Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Pirates
MastrianooutleadersInterfaithspeakagainst support to invasion
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By David Rullo | Staff Writer Several users of the social media site Gab
Gab gained national attention in 2018 when it was discovered that the man accused of murdering 11 Jews in Squirrel Hill’s Tree of Life building was a regular user of Gab and had posted neo-Nazi propaganda and screeds on the site against the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He often called for violence against Jews.
Frankel, whose district includes Squirrel Hill, called Gab “very dark” but said, “there’s very little that can be done to shut them down other than to call them out and iden tify them and to hold people accountable who“That’sparticipate.”whatIthink we’re trying to do with Mastriano and his followers,” he added.
“I feel an obligation to make as much noise as I can,” Frankel told the Chronicle. “Other politicians are giving a wink and nod to this stuff. That’s not acceptable. Mastriano says ‘Well, you know Josh Shapiro is on Twitter,’ but this website is absolutely focused on white nationalism in particular, and is rife with hatred and antisemitism.”
Frankel’s chief of staff, who is not a regular Gab user, discovered the antise mitic posts directed against Frankel when searching the site. In one post, a Gab user posted a photo of Frankel and included the quote: “State. Rep. Dan Frankel, a Democrat repre senting Allegheny County, said he was there to speak out against the ‘white nationalist vision that unifies Gab users’ before it gains a larger foothold in mainstream politics.” Another user replied: “It’s coming kike. Hold on to your yamulke.”
Frankel said he is concerned for his safety and that of his staff. He has taken steps to enhanceShawnsecurity.Brokos, the director of commu nity security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said it’s important that law enforcement be made aware of social media posts like these so they can do a threat assessment.
“It’s something that we absolutely have to take seriously and as in many instances we’ve seen, especially through Gab, there is an implicit or direct threat against the Jewish community,” Brokos said. For Frankel, the threat isn’t simply against him and his staff. “I represent an area with very identifi able communities,” he said. “There’s a huge Jewish community that’s a target. We have a very identifiable Asian Pacific community that has been targeted. Both communities have seen an increase in harassment that have persisted well beyond the Tree of Life from an account on the social media site Gab targeting state
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2 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Headlines 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Main phone number: 412-687-1000 Subscriptions: 410-902-2300, ext. 1 JeniPRODUCTIONMannTough Production Manager Rachel S. Levitan Art/Production Coordinator Subscriptions Phone:Pittsburgh,5915andPittsburghPublished410-902-2300,subscriptions@pittsburghjewishchronicle.orgext.1everyFridaybytheJewishPublicationEducationFoundationBeaconSt.,5thFloorPA15217412-687-1000 POSTMASTER: Send address change to PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE, 5915 BEACON ST., 5TH FLOOR PITTSBURGH, PA 15217 (PERIODICAL RATE POSTAGE PAID AT PITTSBURGH, PA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES) USPS 582-740 Manuscripts, letters, documents and photographs sent to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle become the property of this publication, which is not responsible for the return or loss of such items. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle does not endorse the goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement. Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle SUBSCRIPTIONS 410-902-2300,subscriptions@pittsburghjewishchronicle.orgext.1 TO ADVERTISE 412-721-5931advertising@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.orgEmail: BOARD OF TRUSTEES Evan Indianer, Board Chair Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary Evan H. Stein, Treasurer Gail Childs, Dan Droz, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Seth Glick, Tammy Hepps, Richard J. Kitay, Cátia Kossovsky, David Rush, Charles Saul GENERAL COUNSEL Stuart R. Kaplan, Esq. Jim Busis, CEO and Publisher jbusis@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org412-228-4690 EDITORIAL Toby Tabachnick, Editor ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org412-228-4577 Andy Gotlieb, Contributing Editor Adam Reinherz, Staff Writer areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org412-687-1000 David Rullo, Staff Writer drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org412-687-1047 ADVERTISING Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org724-713-8874
Frankel criticized Mastriano and his rela tionship with Gab founder Andrew Torba in a July 21 press conference in which he called Gab a “festering cesspool of intoler ance.” The press conference was in response to news that Mastriano paid Gab $5,000 in “consulting fees,” apparently leading all new accounts on the platform to automatically follow him. Mastriano’s page was littered with scores of antisemitic comments left by people following him on Gab, many of them targeting his Jewish opponent, Josh Shapiro. After criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, Mastriano released a statement saying, “I reject anti-Semitism in any form,” and closed his Gab account. Notably, he has not specifically condemned the antisemitic comments on his page or Torba.
Please see Frankel, page 28
Another user replied: “He knows what happens to people like him once it happens.”
State Rep. Dan Frankel targeted by antisemitic posts on Gab have posted antisemitic threats targeting Pennsylvania state Rep. Dan Frankel (D-District 23). The posts appear to be in response to Frankel’s criticism of Gab last month after news reports revealed that Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano was active on the site and had paid Gab a $5000 “consulting fee.”
The Gab page belonging to the user on whose account the posts appear is filled with other antisemitic, racist and conspir acy-driven posts written by both him and others. In his “About” section, the user has links to essays promoting white supremacy and conspiracy theories against Jews. Frankel said he wasn’t surprised by the posts targeting him on Gab, noting that the social media site’s users often react against politicians who criticize them.
Kurland is an athlete and makeup artist and is eager to show American youth how Israelis experience high-energy activities like dance, gymnastics and Muay Thai. Purim, she added, is a perfect time to share her love of makeup and hair braiding.
Mayer said he knows that music is a great means of introducing children to a new language or another place, but he hopes to do even more with his talents.
Dekel is from Karmiel — Pittsburgh’s Partnership2gether’s sister city — and was a Diller Teen Fellow. She was supposed to visit Pittsburgh in 2020 but was unable to due to the pandemic. Despite never visiting Pittsburgh before last week, however, Dekel said she met several teens and local residents through Zoom and had heard about the city’sKurlandbeauty.is also from Karmiel and said her knowledge of Pittsburgh and its Jewish community stems from attending Emma Kaufmann Camp three years ago. “Pittsburgh is so green,” she said. “You can breathe and be relaxed. And I know that you say it’s big and noisy, but I think Pittsburgh is quiet.”
Bar Zeevi is from Midreshet Ben Gurion in southern Israel. Like Mayer, she had little knowledge of Pittsburgh before joining the program. Even so, she said, she researched local Jewish life and was delighted to discover how those of different denominations share spaces and join in activities together.
“What I read is that the community is a mix of Conservative, Orthodox and Reform, and I thought it was really cool because each one of us could find their own place inside the community,” she said. The English-speaking teens have different interests, which will help create inroads throughout the community. Dekel enjoys traveling and reading books about philos ophy or biblical commentary. So whether it’s during a discussion about a weekly Torah portion or a specific region of Israel, Dekel said she is excited to share her knowledge and learn from others.
“I think that music is something that brings the community together, even if it’s
Please see Shinshinim, page 25
Einav Mayer is from Kibbutz Dovrat in northern Israel. Before beginning the Shinshinim program, he didn’t know much about Pittsburgh. Since arriving, however, he’s found that his musical bent will be appreciated here; the family he is staying with is a musical bunch, and he’s been able to practice piano in their home.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 3 Headlines 500 Providence Point Boulevard | Pittsburgh, PA 15243 | www.ProvidencePoint.org Welcome to Providence Point, a 62+ Life Plan Community designed especially for you—for the way you live now, with the added peace of mind you want for your future. We put wellness and exceptional healthcare* at the center of all we do, along with offering spacious residences and unparalleled amenities. PremierPittsburgh’sRetirementCommunity *Providence Point Healthcare Residence was recently rated as one of the Best Nursing Homes in the USA by US News & World Report The retirement you envisioned is here. Jewish Chron cle Ad Jan 21 indd 2Chronicle Ad 21.indd 2 3/16/2022 1:32:55 PM1:32:55 PM Meet the Shinshinim: Building connections in Pittsburgh By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
Pittsburgh’s Shinshinim are here. Since arriving from Israel last week, the four young ambassadors have begun exploring the community and creating newTheconnections.18-year-olds, who deferred a year of Israeli military service to volunteer, will spend their time helping educators at Community Day School, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and religious schools throughout the area. These responsibilities, the teens explained, require more than simply teaching brighteyed American children cheery Hebrew songs. They hope to introduce young Pittsburghers to young Israelis and, in turn, share insight into each other’s passions and practices. Before joining the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh-supported program, Michal Dekel and Shahar Kurland were both familiar with western Pennsylvania.
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TUESDAY, SEPT. 13
q WEDNESDAYS, SEPT. 21-MAY 24 Registration is now open for Melton Core 1: Rhythms and Purposes of Jewish Living. This 25-lesson course will take you through the year’s cycle — the life cycle traditions and practices that bind us together. Explore not just what is and how is of Jewish living, but the why is that go with them. 7 p.m. $300 per person, per year (25 sessions), includes all books and materials. Virtual. org/melton-core-1.foundation.jewishpgh.
The Embassy of the Czech Republic, in collaboration with Classrooms without Borders, invites you to the online discussion with novelist, poet and translator Marek Toman 3 p.m. toman/?cwb-cache-buster=1novelist-poet-and-translator-marek-org/event/czech-embassy-series-featuring-cwbpgh..
THURSDAY, SEPT. 8
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Join1027healingpartnership.org.YeshivaSchoolsofPittsburgh to celebrate 80 years of chinuch at its new Greenfield campus. Welcome new parents and tour the building while enjoying wine and cheese and participate in the annual raffle drawing and basket/silent auctions. Contact junik@yeshivaschools.com to learn more. 6 p.m. $36 individual/$72 yeshivaschools.com/support/endofsummer.couple.
Calendar
Pittsburgh brings people together to explore and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience. All films are presented with open captions or subtitles, audio description, ASL interpretation and other accommodations, free of charge. This event also includes Q&As with visiting filmmakers, an art exhibit and post-film receptions every night. $15. FilmPittsburgh.org.
4 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
communityThemumon-karate.org/event/self-defense-with-the-experts-jewishpgh.10.27HealingPartnershipinvitestheto Welcoming the Month of Elul, a reflective and meditative event to awaken, prepare and become grounded as we head into the spiritual and reflective time of autumn and the High Holy Days. They will be hosting meditation practitioners, reiki-infused sound baths, expressive drum circles, speakers who will connect us with Jewish learning and a communal shofar blowing on the Sixth Presbyterian Church steps. Squirrel Hill JCC, 5738 Forbes Ave. 2 p.m.
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WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 31-OCT. 5 Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful. Study the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman. 12:15 p.m. Joinbethshalompgh.org/life-text.TempleSinaito study the weekly Torah portion in its hybrid class available on Zoom. Open to everyone. Noon. via-zoom11.html.parashah/weekly-torah-portion-class-templesinaipgh.org/event/
Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy for a four-week healing, consciousnessbuilding forest bathing series at the Frick Park Environmental Center. We will take 90-minute gentle walks throughout Frick Park while nurturing our connection to the natural world through reflective practices. If you feel disconnected from nature, yourself or others, consider joining our community and participating in this forest bathing series. We hope you will leave feeling more refreshed, calmer and more spiritually centered. Registration is required. Series is free. 9 a.m. Frick Park Environmental 1027healingpartnership.org/forest-bathing.Center.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7-SEPT. 11
SUNDAY, SEPT. 18
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The Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center present “For the Love of Cousins: Endogamy as a Tool for Jewish Genealogy” with genealogist Caitlin Hollander. Hollander will explore the other side of endogamy — how our ancestors’ familial ties can be used as a genealogical tool to break through brick walls and work around missing records, as well as the religious and historical contexts in which the branches of our family trees became so very tangled. 8:30 p.m. Free for JGS-Pittsburgh members; $5 for general public. To register, visit caitlin-hollander-8-31-22.org/events/jewish-genealogical-society-heinzhistorycenter.
Join Film Pittsburgh for its 10th annual ReelAbilities Pittsburgh film festival at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. The festival is co-sponsored by Point Park University. Through impactful films by and about people living with disabilities, ReelAbilities
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Join Classrooms Without Borders for Etty: Writing as Resistance, a one-woman play adapted from the writings of Etty Hillesum. Adapted and performed by Susan Stein and directed by Austin Pendleton. 7 p.m. Levy Hall at Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave. resistance/?cwb-cache-buster=1.cwbpgh.org/event/etty-writing-as-
THURSDAY, SEPT. 22
Join Shaare Torah as the congregation welcomes Rabbi Yitzi and Shoshanna Genack. A light dairy brunch will be provided. Free. 10 a.m. Shaare Torah Congregation, 2319 Murray Ave. Email office@shaaretorah.net to RSVP. fb.me/e/2QSG1s9aH.
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WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 31-SEPT. 28
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.
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Join Hadassah Greater Detroit for a virtual Log In & Learn session about Israel: Opportunities and Challenges. The topic for the session is “Gender Equality in Israel: Achievements and Barriers in Gender Equality.” Yiftah Leket, community shaliach of the Jewish Federation of Metro-Detroit, will be the guest speaker. Noon. $15. hadassahmidwest.org/GDLearn.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 15
THURSDAYS, SEPT. 15-OCT. 6
Join Chabad of the South Hills for a Pre-High Holiday Seniors Lunch Immunization clinic by Pathways Wellness program. Lunch, honey cake, hands-on holiday presentation and raffle prizes. Noon. Preregistration recommended. $5 suggested donation. 412-278-2658.
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 THURSDAY, SEPT. 29 Classrooms Without Borders, in coordination with Tali Nates, founder and director of the Johannesburg Genocide & Holocaust Centre, and in partnership with the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Liberation75 and the USC Shoah Foundation is pleased to present Remembering the Holocaust in the United Kingdom 2 p.m. around-the-world/?cwb-cache-buster=1.event/holocaust-museums-and-memorials-cwbpgh.org/
Join Classrooms Without Borders for an online post film discussion of “The Students of Umberto Primo” with director Alessandra Maioletti and executive producer Diane Boulanger. Moderated by Avi Ben Hur. 3 p.m. umberto-primo/?cwb-cache-buster=1.post-film-discussion-the-students-of-cwbpgh.org/event/
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 31
MONDAYS, AUG. 29 -OCT. 3 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21
Join Chabad of the South Hills for Shofar Factory, a blast for the entire family. Create your own authentic shofar, learn how a shofar is made, braid your own challah and taste Rosh Hashanah delicacies. 4 p.m. $12/shofar free for those in Discovery Club. 1701 McFarland Road chabadsh.com/shofar.
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q THURSDAYS, SEPT. 29-DEC. 15 Register now for the virtual course Melton: Social Justice – The Heart of Judaism in Theory and Practice. This 10-part Melton course highlights the Jewish call to action and provides a practical approach for achieving lasting change. Drawing from classic and modern texts, the course explores the communal connection that compels us to support the most vulnerable. 7 p.m. theory-and-practice. social-justice-the-heart-of-judaism-in-foundation.jewishpgh.org/meltonPJC www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership’s holistic support group as they partner with Sunny’s Community Garden on a journey to address grief through the healing power of gardening and herbs. This fiveweek program involves self-expression through gardening and writing. The group is open to all adults who have experienced grief, no matter where they are on their healing journey, and offers an opportunity to connect and grow with others. 10 a.m. 5738 Forbes. Ave. org/seeds-of-resilience.1027healingpartnership.
Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh at the Squirrel Hill JCC for an introductory class to learn how to protect yourself, intelligently, through Mumon karate. You will receive training to prepare your mind and body to avoid or be capable of effectively defending yourself against real danger. Meet and practice with Dr. Paul Kovacs and Dr. Mark Weingarden, practitioners who have taught and trained non-commercially for more than 50 years. For ages 14 to adult. 1 p.m.
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“I do think about how much hate, discom fort and anxiety I’m heaping upon myself when I write various things — the quantity and quality of the response, how that might impact me, how that might impact my chil dren, my husband,” she said. “You sort of have to fortify yourself. It’s like anything else. I think that is just life.” Steinsaltz — and his 1977 book, “The Strife of the Spirit” — with teaching her that comfort isn’t ideal and can actually impede personal and communal growth.
By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
, page 27 p Hannah
Sept. 1, 1915 — Weizmann joins British Admiralty Chaim Weizmann, who helps win the Balfour Declaration in 1917, is appointed as an honorary technical adviser to the British Admiralty on supplying acetone, a key to making the mili tary explosive cordite. PJC
The first passenger train arrives in Jerusalem from Jaffa. The 53-mile railroad, built by the Ottomans with Belgian rails and British coal, reduces the travel time from two days to four hours.
The Israeli Cabinet decides to end produc tion of the Lavi fighter jet. The Lavi (“Young Lion”) was doomed by cost overruns and by an agreement not to sell the aircraft to other countries. Aug. 31, 1947 — Last meeting for special panel on Palestine
As an advocate, professor, Hassid and mother, Twitter provides an outlet and means of connecting, Lebovits said, but there are also burdens associated with tweeting and publicly opining on issues regarding educa tion in the Orthodox world, aspects of family purity and society’s regard for homelessness.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 5 Headlines We Prepare Trays for All OccasionsHOMEMADE SALADS & SOUPS CATERING SPECIALISTS DELI PARTY TRAYS DELICIOUS FRIED CHICKEN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF VAAD OF PITTSBURGH WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES. GROCERY COOKED FOODS DELI MEAT SPECIALS DOMAINEPINOTBARTENURAGRIGIO$12.99750MLDUCASTELROSÉ$41.99750ML MONDAY & TUESDAY DINNER SPECIAL Egg Salad CucumberWrapsSalad $20.00 WINE SPECIALS TAKE-OUT SPECIAL STORE HOURS Sun. • 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Mon-Wed.• 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Thurs. • 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Fri. • 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Pepper Steak $1139 LB Cut Up Fryer $379 LB Whole Fryers $369 LB IBERIA BLACK BEANS $169 16 OZ ASSORTEDHARIBOFLAVORS $319 EA SCHWARTZ PEANUT BUTEER DUPLEX COOKIES $499 EA UNGERS FROZ GEFILTE FISH $899 20 OZ NAVEL PASTRAMI $1499 LB XTRA CORNEDLEANBEEF $2099 LB HERRINGMATJES $899 LB HALAVA $999 LB CARROT DILL SOUP $999 QT VEGETABLE MEDLEY $799 LB SAUSAGEPEPPERSSTUFFED $999 LB CHICKEN BREAST IN WINE SAUCE $1299 LB — WORLD — Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
Aug. 26, 1903 — Russian newspaper publishes ‘Protocols’ “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the most widely distributed antise mitic publication in history, is first published in Znamya, a Russian newspaper. The Times of London proves it is a fraud in 1921.
The Second Zionist Congress begins in Basel, Switzerland, with 400 delegates, nearly double the size of the First Zionist Congress. The newcomers include Theodor Herzl’s father and Chaim Weizmann.
This week in Israeli history
Hannah Lebovits left Squirrel Hill, but she won’t leave community
Aug. 27, 1892 Jaffa-Jerusalem— rail line opens
Please see Lebovits Lebovits Photo courtesy of Thaddeus D. Matula, DoubleLife
Films
Aug. 29, 1967 — Fourth Arab League summit starts The Fourth Arab League Summit convenes in Khartoum, Sudan. The summit ends Sept. 1 by declaring the famous “three nos”: no peace, no recognition and no negotiations with Israel.
Aug. 28, 1898 — Second Zionist Congress convenes
Aug. 30, 1987 — Cabinet halts Lavi production
The U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, formed four months earlier, meets for the final time. Its majority report, endorsed by eight of the 11 members, calls for partition into two states with an economic union.
Hannah Lebovits is logged off Twitter to heal. Since 2017, the former Squirrel Hill resident has used the platform to educate, question and occasionally provoke others on topics ranging from feminism and Orthodox Judaism to communal structures and safe housing. More than 16,000 people look to Lebovits for hot takes and insights. Lebovits said she’s enjoyed her absence from the social network but plans on logging on again soon; various professional responsi bilities will require her to return to tweeting as early as next week.
As an assistant professor of public affairs and urban planning at the University of Texas at Arlington, her research focuses on community development, how homelessness is a “defining” feature of communities, and how women, LGBTQ Orthodox Judaism often generates push back, she said, but even so, she continues. “I think you can speak up,” Lebovits said. “You can speak up very firmly. You can speak up in ways that almost seem like you can no longer be attached to that identity, while still personally remaining attached to thatDoingidentity.”sois uncomfortable at times but necessary, she continued: “I certainly think that I am exposed to many more mainstream practices as an Orthodox Jewish woman today than my mother was exposed to 40 or 50 years ago because there’s been a lot of people who have said, ‘We really need to talk about this and we need to work on this.’” Lebovits shares her ideas on Twitter, in publications including The Forward and Cleveland Scene, and in her classroom.
Turkey, Israel to restore full diplomatic relations after break in 2018 Turkey and Israel will return ambassadors to their countries, ending a four-year rupture as each country seeks to expand ties and influence in the Middle East, JTA reported.
The resort, which closed in 1986 after 70 years of operation, was demolished in 2018. It was one of the largest and bestknown destinations in the “Borscht Belt,” the Catskill Mountains region that served as a popular Jewish vacation destination well into the 1960s. It was not immediately clear what the three-and-a-half-story building was used for, the Associated Press reported, although comments on the Facebook post suggested it was the former house of Elaine GrossingerEtess, who was the daughter of the resort’s celebrated hostess and executive Jennie Grossinger. The resort’s main building had already been demolished.
The resort operated 36 buildings, a ski slope, golf course and swimming pool, along with two kosher kitchens. It could accommodate nearly 1,500 guests.
A federal judge denied ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s attempt to get its parent company Unilever to stop selling the brand’s ice cream in the West Bank, JTA reported. A U.S. District judge in Manhattan said Ben & Jerry’s claim that the sale would harm its brand, which incorporates social justice, was “speculative,” Bloomberg reported, and he blocked the ice cream maker’s appeal for an injunction against Unilever. Ben & Jerry’s said last year that it would suspend sales to the West Bank while maintaining sales in Israel’s pre-1967 territory. That spurred condemnation by Israeli government officials and some U.S. Jewish organizations, along with calls for a boycott of the ice cream maker. In June, Unilever sold its Israeli business stake to Israel-based American Quality Products, Ltd., which has owned Ben & Jerry’s Israel factories and distributed the product in Israel since 1987. American Quality Products, Ltd. publicly vowed to continue selling Ben & Jerry’s in the West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s sued in July to stop the sale, arguing that it violated the agreement the company signed when it sold to Unilever in 2000, which permitted the brand to continue pushing social justice issues.
Fire destroys building at Grossinger’s, the inspiration for ‘Dirty Dancing’
An abandoned building on the site of the late Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel was consumed by a fire on Aug. 16, New York Jewish Week reported, citing the Liberty, N.Y. Fire Department.
The resort is often cited as the inspiration for Kellerman’s Mountain House resort in “Dirty Dancing,” the 1987 period rom-com starring Jennifer Grey. The cause of the fire is under investigation, though police received reports of a teenager running into nearby woods, the Mid Hudson News reported.
Sierra Club reschedules Israel trips canceled under pressure from pro-Palestinian groups Five months after canceling its planned trips to Israel, and then — following outrage from Jewish organizations — apologizing days later and saying the trips would be reinstated, the Sierra Club has quietly posted a new excursion to Israel for next year, J. The Jewish News of Northern California reported. Called “Natural and Historical Highlights of Israel,” the two-week trip in March will include many of the same activities the Sierra Club offered before activists convinced the environmental nonprofit to cancel two Israel outings: snorkeling, bird watching, nights on a kibbutz and a visit to Tel Aviv. Participants also will meet with Palestinians working on conservation to hear “first-hand about their daily and ongoing challenges,” according to the itinerary. The itinerary additionally lists a visit to the Arava Institute, which brings Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and students from around the world together for environmental studies and research. PJC Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
Accords, which normalized relations with four Arab countries. Ben & Jerry’s loses bid to block its ice cream from being sold in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the news on Aug. 16 after Lapid spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The agreement follows a visit to Ankara in March by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who met with Erdogan. It was Erdogan who initiated a suspension of ties after violence flared on the Israel-Gaza border following the Trump administration’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 2018.
Ties were previously strained in 2010 after Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, which sought to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, but Israel and Turkey reconciled in 2016. Israel seeks to build on the 2020 Abraham
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The starkest sign at the RJC event of how hard it might be for a Muslim, secular or other wise, to navigate a post-Trump GOP came in repeated invocations of the term “JudeoChristian,” a concept that has dubious origins but which is repeatedly deployed on the right to describe America’s origins and ethos.
— When David Friedman, the Trump administration’s ambassador to Israel, was first asked to endorse Pennsylvania’s Republican candi date for Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, he said one thing stood out to him. “I have to tell you, I was intrigued by the idea of a pro-Israel Muslim, a very pro-Israel Muslim,” Friedman told a crowd assembled Wednesday night in a hotel ballroom by the Republican Jewish Coalition. “In the old days, that would probably be as common as a Philadelphia Eagles fan in Manhattan.” Friedman was unveiling his endorsement at a pivotal time for Oz, who is badly lagging in the polls behind Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, amid a series of gaffes that Fetterman has exploited.
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By Ron Kampeas | JTA PHILADELPHIA
For Friedman, the term meant that America’s founding was inextricably tied to the Jewish right’s claim to the West Bank. “We’ve grown untethered from the great Judeo-Christian values that made our country such a great country,” said Friedman. “That’s where the values came from, they came from the land of Israel.”
Friedman confessed to not having been overly aware of Oz prior to his entry into the race, but his experience provided an oppor tunity for one of the more relaxed exchanges of the “Theevening.onlything I knew about Dr. Oz was when I would call my mother-in-law at 10 o’clock in the morning, she said, ‘I can’t talk — I’m watching Dr. Oz’,” he said. “It’s always good to get your mother-in-law on your side,” Oz said. It became awkward again when Friedman asked Oz if he understood what some of the signs at the event, spelling Oz’s name in Hebrew and English, signified. “I’d be shocked if you know this,” Friedman said. “What does the word Oz mean” in Hebrew? Oz, the successful physician who has read a thing or two in his life, stared at Friedman. “Pure strength,” he said. “Strength,” Friedman said, taken aback for a moment. “Right.” PJC
In a symbol of the strange bedfellows that politics generally, and Israel politics specif ically, can create, the event placed on the same dais an ideologue ardently committed to the Jewish claim to all of biblical Israel and a daytime TV celebrity who happens to be a Muslim. The result was an hour-plus session of mutual admiration, of agreement on the country’s direction (dire) and of awkward efforts to identify common ground in the post-Trump Republican Party and its efforts to keep under its umbrella constituencies as diverse as the fans of a Muslim physician who dispenses new-agey health advice and hypernationalists who see an iteration of Islam as a deadly threat. The mood was festive, with banners declaring, “Pro-Israel, pro-Oz!,” “Jews for Oz” and Oz’s name in Hebrew and English. Music mostly of an ’80s vision rocked the room as a happy crowd of folks old enough to remember the lyrics exchanged notes before the participants came on stage. “Doctor, doctor, gimme the news, I got a bad case of loving you” heralded Oz’s arrival. Oz appeared to be the person in the room least preoccupied by the happenstance of his birth to Muslim Turkish immigrants, but his faith kept on coming up. Matt Brooks, the RJC executive director, set the tone at the outset. Brooks contrasted Oz with Fetterman, who has been endorsed by J Street, the Jewish lobby that advo cates Israel relinquish lands as a means of achieving a two-state solution and is reviled on the right as a result. (Friedman has likened J Street to Jewish traitors.)
Photo by Ron Kampeas
“You will hear tonight from an incred ible candidate, Dr. Oz, a Muslim Republican who is going to be more pro-Israel than his Democratic opponent, think about that!” Brooks said, drawing applause from the crowd of 300. “Their choice is J Street JohnForFetterman!”theRJC,the emphasis on Oz’s faith dovetails with its years-long effort to recast the GOP as a more inclusive party; its first endorsements in this congressional cycle were all Latino and Asian American. Speaking to reporters after the event, Brooks repeated his concerns about the alliance the GOP nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, has forged with“Weextremists.havesome concerns we would like to see addressed,” he said. But none of that came up onstage, where Friedman used Oz’s religion as an opportunity to talk about what he sees as one of his own signature accomplishments, the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries. (Who on former President Donald Trump’s peace team was preeminent in bringing about the agreements is now the subject of competing books the principals are now publishing: Friedman made his case in “Sledgehammer” and Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, just published “Breaking History.”) “That’s one of the beauties of the Abraham Accords, that there are thousands and thou sands and thousands of people in the Muslim world who now become highly pro-Israel,” Friedman said. “I had a conversation with President Trump a few weeks ago and I said, you know, ‘Mr. President, I have an easier time getting a kosher sandwich now in Abu Dhabi than I have in Washington, D.C.’” Friedman said the Arabs he speaks to understand why he believes Israel should be sovereign over Jewish holy sites in the West Bank precisely because of their deep commitment to Islam. “They’re nothing if not a people bound to an ancient religion with holy sites,” Friedman said. Oz agreed, saying, to applause, “I don’t think that Israel should give up any of its territory,” but he did not seem eager to do so as a Muslim. When he mentioned the faith he was born into, he was careful to identify as a “secular Muslim.”
Oz’s apparent sensitivities comes after a bruising primary in which one of his rivals, David McCormick, sought to deploy Oz’s dual Turkish-U.S. citizenship against him, and another, Kathy Barnette, had a history of Islamophobic commentary. Oz squeaked out a win in the primary, assisted by an endorsement from Trump, who saw in Oz a fellow reality TV star who has a facility for communication. But Oz’s persona, at least before he entered the polit ical arena, was expansive and embracing of diversity, which does not jibe with the insu larity and suspicion of others that Trump brought to the party. If anything, the Pennsylvania primary suggested that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” is a creature taking on a life of its own. Barnette, the Trumpiest candidate, said after learning of the Oz endorsement, “MAGA does not belong to President Trump.”
— NATIONAL —
“ We’ve grown untethered from the great Judeo-Christian values that made our country such a great country. That’s where the values came from, they came from the land of Israel.”
Republican Jews, including Trump’s Israel ambassador, back Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania
— DAVID FRIEDMAN, THE TRUMPAMBASSADORADMINISTRATION’STOISRAEL
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 7
Rabbi
Voices of European Jewry: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
My husband and I sat on the plane on the runway at JFK International Airport in early July, waiting to take off for two-and-a-half weeks in Israel. As I was about to put my phone on airplane mode, I got a call from my 22-year-old son. “We’re going on a third date tomorrow,” he announced excitedly. “I’ll call you afterward to let you know how it goes.” I looked at my husband and said: “He could be engaged before we get home.” You see, while my husband is a Conservative rabbi and I’m a Reform rabbi, our son is Haredi. He was in the process of shidduchim — a system of matchmaking in Orthodox communities — so that he could find a wife. I could tell from the way he talked about this particular young woman that she could be “the one.” I also knew that if things continued along the path they were on, my son would be engaged after another five or six dates, and sure enough, I was right. Nearly every time I’d tell anyone who isn’t Orthodox that my son was in the process of looking for a wife, they’d say: “Oh, he’s having an arranged marriage.” This is a common misconception about Haredi Jews — that they all get fixed up by their elders with no say as to who they marry. In fact, while each Haredi community is different and I do not intend to speak for all of them, in my son’s experience, nothing could be further from the truth. While there’s great diversity within Haredi Judaism in their shidduchim processes, in my son’s community when someone is ready to start dating, they put together a brief resume, including informa tion about themselves, their family and a list of references. They also let the person who is representing them in the process — the shadchan, or matchmaker — know what they’re looking for in a mate. Contrary to my liberal Jewish colleagues’ common assumptions, the shidduchim process is not so unlike using the dating apps that so many secular Jews use. Two Haredi people may see a picture of the other person before agreeing to go out, but the focus is much less about “swiping right” based on superficial aspects, and more on finding a partner who is a good fit intellectually and emotionally, and who wants similar things out of life. When it comes to dating, there are a number of rules that the couple has to follow, the most well-known being that they can’t be alone in a private indoor space on a date, and they’re not allowed to physically touch until they’re married. After each date, each of them informs the shadchan who set them up if they want to go out again — if they both say “yes,” then there’s another date. If one or both say “no,” then they each move on. Depending on the community, there are different rules and customs for the dating process. In my son’s community, the man and the woman each have full free will in deciding whether or not they want to marry someone, and they very consciously choose a person that they care for and want to spend the rest of their life with. While the marriages aren’t “arranged marriages” in the sense that my friends who are critical of the shidduch process mean, Haredim do believe that prospective marriage partners are arranged by a divine hand. My daughter-in-law-to-be explained to me: “Though outwardly we chose each other, everything that happens in life is determined by Hashem, and it, therefore, is an ‘arranged marriage’ in a different sense of the word.” She went on to note the Talmudic teaching that 40 days before a male child is conceived, a heavenly voice calls out, announcing who the child will marry one day (literally a “match made in heaven”). Obviously, the Haredi way of matchmaking and dating is very different from what we do in the non-Orthodox Jewish world, and I know that the shidduchim process wouldn’t have been for me. I value and prefer the norms that I’m used to in the liberal commu nity I inhabit, where people date, often for a while, and really get to know each other — with no restrictions on what they can do together — before making the decision to get married. I like that I already knew my husband well, and felt very comfortable with him, before we were married. However, I’m humble enough to recognize that the way I experienced dating, romance and engagement is just one way to do things, and it’s not objectively “better” than others. This isn’t the way things work in the commu nity in which my future daughter-in-law was raised and which my son chose to join. While the Haredi system may not have Red, green and blue block letters greet us as we leave the baggage claim area.
Guest Columnist
WELCOME TO LUXEMBOURG, the homemade paper sign reads. Grasping hold of the sign with one hand each are two curly-haired girls waving and smiling. They look in my direction, and I look at them — and without any introductions we know each other. I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter welcome to Luxembourg City. Global Jewish Pen Pal Dani and her girlfriend Maya excitedly lead us to a bus outside the airport. Public transportation is completely free in Luxembourg. On the trip to Dani’s parents’ house, we quickly learn a lot about Dani and Maya. Dani is a master’s student studying jour nalism in Brussels, Belgium. Maya is doing a residency after medical school in the emer gency department of a Belgium hospital. They met, and now live, in Moishe House Brussels, part of an international network of homes that serve as hubs for young adult Jewish communities. Each month, Dani and Maya, along with two other Moishe House Brussels residents, plan several events for local Jews in their 20s. Dani returns to Luxembourg City often, the place where she grew up, to visit her parents. After a nice, home-cooked lunch with Dani’s parents, we set out to tour a city like I have never seen before. Luxembourg is so green. I could not stop commenting on the vast number of trees, valleys and other beau tiful features of nature I saw everywhere. On Friday morning, we headed to the Deportation Memorial. We had arranged to meet with Marc, an employee of the Shoah Foundation in Luxembourg, who would show us around the exhibit since the displays were not in English. It turned out the memorial was not for the Luxembourgish Jews who were deported during the Holocaust. While still important history to learn and remember, this memo rial at the train station in Hollerich served as one of the main gathering sites and depar ture points for young Luxembourgers forced to join the German labor service and the German military service during the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg. It isn’t often the memorial receives visitors. Marc appreciated the chance to show us around. He went out of his way to show us the Luxembourg train station from which Jews had been deported to ghettos and concentration camps, and then Villa Pauly, where he works. Villa Pauly was a spur-of-the-moment addition to our itinerary. I had not heard of it before; it had never come up in any of my research prior to the trip — which was crazy. Villa Pauly served as the headquarters of the Gestapo, the secret police of the Nazi regime, during the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg. Why was this place not well known? It struck me that — compared to other cities I visited — Luxembourg began commemorating its Jewish Holocaust victims much later. For instance, a plaque was placed outside Villa Pauly in the 1980s to commemorate the Luxembourgish victims of World War II, while a plaque for Jewish victims wasn’t put up until 2012. Villa Pauly was originally built in 1923 as a mansion in the center of Luxembourg City for surgeon Dr. Norbert Pauly. It later became the place where the Jewish Council of the city was forced to meet with the Nazis to implement new rules for the community, and, in the basement, there were torture cells for Jews. To walk in that building and stare at the very floor where the Nazis had stood was eerie, to say the least. The next day, after attending Shabbat services at Consistoire Israélite de Luxembourg, an Orthodox synagogue — and the only synagogue in Luxembourg City — we were invited to Shabbat lunch at Rabbi Alain Nacache’s house. Nacache is the chief rabbi of Luxembourg and the rabbi at the Orthodox synagogue. We walked with Nacache, Dani, two of the rabbi’s sons and one of the sons’ friends to the house. The neighborhoods we passed during our 15-minute walk from the synagogue reminded me of walking through the streets of Jerusalem on a Shabbat afternoon. I was shocked by some qualities of the family that seemed to me uncharacteristic of Orthodox families. The rabbi’s daughters wore pants and did not go to synagogue — but they were clearly very knowledge able and into the singing portion of the afternoon. He let them choose songs that we sang, and while I didn’t recognize all of them, the Sephardic tunes that were part of his family were beautiful. The family spoke French. They had a pet dog that roamed around our feet as we ate. After hamotzi, the rabbi hilariously started throwing pieces of challah at people around the table instead of passing a plate around with slices. Like any Shabbat meal I have attended anywhere in the world, though, the food and good times kept coming. As we left the rabbi’s house and walked toward the Old Town of Luxembourg, I couldn’t help but reflect on my experience that morning. Inside the synagogue, Dani had shown us a picture that was sitting around from her time in the Jewish Scouts. Although she has moved away from home, Luxembourg will always hold a special place in her Jewish identity. Sure, she prefers egalitarian spaces. Sure, she never had a bat mitzvah growing up in Luxembourg. But nonetheless, Dani is a face of the Luxembourg Jewish community. She knows everyone and everyone knows her. Hanging out with Dani was easy. As we hugged goodbye that evening, she was already making plans to come visit me in Pittsburgh. I can only hope to sometime soon have the opportunity to show some of the Global Jewish Pen Pals I have met on this journey my own country.
8 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Opinion
PJC Madison Jackson is a graduate student at the Chatham University MFA program in Creative Nonfiction Writing. She lives in Squirrel Hill and is the founder and exec utive director of the Global Jewish Pen Pal Program. She is traveling throughout Europe this summer and writing for the Chronicle about Jewish life in diverse locations.
Please see Frisch, page 9 Please stop calling my Haredi son’s marriage an ‘arranged marriage’
Robyn Frisch Guest Columnist Madison Jackson
There are unhappy marriages and divorces in the Haredi community, just like in the non-Orthodox world. There are numerous reasons why a marriage may not work out. I’ve gotten to know many Haredi Jews who have happy, loving, long-lasting marriages.
His memory inspires all the members of the NCCK and is an enduring blessing for this community.
Palestinian terrorists get a free pass from much of the media or, if covered at all, are called “militants” as if civilians are a legitimate military target. Media and especially Jewish media need to stop legiti mizingWhatterrorism.terror? They rarely write about Israel’s people, only the plight of the Palestinians.
Pittsburgh We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be Letters may not exceed 500 may be cannot be to the email: letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 address: pittsburghjewishchronicle.org/letters-to-the-editor secular last weekend’s terror Do you think CNN’s special report “Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America” did a good job of presenting the problem of contemporary antisemitism? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 9 Opinion been for me, I do think that it has many posi tive aspects. For example, Orthodox young adults are fixed up with and marry someone that they know wants the same things out of life that they do. During the comparatively short period of time that they’re dating, they discuss important issues such as how many kids they want, where they want to live, what kind of religious home they want (not every Haredi person is identical), what their expectations are as to each of them working, etc. They are thus likely to marry someone who has similar goals and aspira tions, not just someone they are attracted to and enjoy being with (though those two things are also important to them). As a colleague of mine put it recently: “In our world, we fall in love and then get married. In the Orthodox world, they get married and then fall in love.”
published.
They sure would have given it plenty of coverage if it had been Palestinians who had been shot.
Jonathan joined the New Community Chevra Kadisha (NCCK) in 2006, two years after it was formed. He was responsible for recruiting many new members, including myself (Zarky). He participated in making important decisions about liturgy and practice, and helped grow the NCCK into a committed and caring community. Members of the men’s chevra came to rely on him as a rosh (head of the taharah team) who knew how to handle anything that came up. He participated in all the NCCK’s meetings, frequently spoke at the group’s annual 7th of Adar dinner, helped demonstrate taharah practices in public education sessions, and got to know all the staff members at the funeral homes that requested a taharah. He was selfless, neither talking about his contributions nor seeking recognition for them, epitomizing the virtue of giving of himself unhesitatingly and fully for the sake of doing the right thing. He said that being part of the chevra made his life meaningful and fulfilling. We will always remember his words at the conclusion of a taharah: “Gentleman, it has been a privilege to perform this mitzvah with you.”
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following ques tion: “Did the secular media provide adequate coverage of last weekend’s terror attack in Jerusalem?” Of the 165 people who responded, 83% said no; 11% said yes; and 6% said they weren’t sure. Thirty-four people submitted comments. A few follow.
The media decide on which news stories to focus. It seems that Israel wasn’t important enough to put emphasis on it.
David Pollock Pittsburgh Jonathan Schachter contributed meaningfully to community The Chronicle’s news obituary (Aug. 8) of Jonathan Schachter z”l is a fitting tribute but tells only part of the story of his volunteer service to our community.
PJC — Toby Tabachnick Writer hits a home run Chronicle Staff Writer Reinherz hit a home run with his article about Tanner Jacobson (“MLB life begins for Allderdice grad Tanner Jacobson,” Aug. 19). Adam pitched Tanner rather than an opener and a curveball to family, friends and Taylor Allderdice. Good work as usual.
words and
editor via
Address:
media provide adequate coverage of
attack in Jerusalem? No. 83% Yes. 11% Not sure. 6% Chronicle weekly poll question:
PJC Frisch: Continued from page 8
Our local media is one-sided and is not objective in reporting on instances in Israel. This matter was overshadowed by the FBI raid on Trump’s estate.
Deane Root Zarky Members,RudavskyNCCK
edited for length and clarity; they
Website
The day after my husband and I returned home from Israel, two-and-a-half weeks after my son excitedly texted about going on a third date, he got engaged. The next day, I met his fiancée for the first time, and to say that I adore her is an understatement. I can’t imagine that even if he’d gone on hundreds of dates, he possibly could have found a better partner. Depending on how you view things, you may see their mutual happiness as the result of God’s will, a talented matchmaker or simply good fortune. But there’s one thing it isn’t: an “arranged marriage” (at least by other human beings). The two of them may not have gone on dozens of dates or lived together for years before getting married. But each of them has been blessed to be engaged to someone introduced to them after a good deal of due diligence was performed by several thoughtful and caring individuals, and ultimately chosen by each of them through their own free will. I truly believe that in each other they have each found their bashert (soulmate). I hope that everyone can be so fortunate, no matter what community they’re part of and what their dating practices are. PJC Rabbi Robyn Frisch is the director of the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship for 18Doors as well as the Spiritual Leader of Temple Menorah Keneseth Chai in Northeast Philadelphia. This piece first appeared in the Forward.
— LETTERS — Chronicle poll results: Terror attack in Jerusalem Did the
returned. Mail or email letters to: Letters
daytime
Jonathan’s love for the Hebrew language began in his youth, developed in his teens at the Hebrew-speaking Camp Massad in the Poconos and continued with his participation in adult education classes in Pittsburgh. He conversed with friends in Hebrew when given the opportunity, read and chanted liturgy fluently and, for many years, led High Holiday services for congregations lacking a hazzan.
The media mostly prefer to report on the things Israel does that can be construed as negative and rarely the negative things that are done to us. Does the Jewish media provide any coverage at all on the murder of children in Gaza by the IDF? Or are their lives of noOfconsequence?coursenot — just like the Chronicle. Taking sides with the Arabs. The description of the Kotel as “one of Judaism’s holy sites” (as opposed to the most holy site in my view) was dismissive. The BBC also described the Wall as a place that Jews make a pilgrimage to once a year. Well, people were there for the end of Tisha B’av which comes once a year, but BBC seemed to miss the ongoing, daily prayers made by Jews all year long — as though they confused it with something else (on purpose?). They provided the bare minimum, and I had to search The New York Times and Washington Post to find it! No. What attack? Had a Jewish Israeli been the shooter, it would have been front-page news. And, for example, The New York Times bent over backward to focus on justifying the violence. I asked several individuals if they knew about the attack. They had no idea; hadn’t read or heard about it.
Ukraine: p Marsha Shisman and Natalya Shisman Photo by Edie Shealy p Katya and Claire Topal Photo by Adam Reinherz
Packing is a familiar process, the young mother explained. After fleeing Kharkiv, spending a week driving west and staying in about 15 different hotels and residential spaces near the Poland-Ukraine border, Katya, Andrew and Diana finally made their way to Pittsburgh.
“Calling every morning and saying, ‘How are things? How was the night?’ it’s almost obnoxious because it’s not getting any better.” Natalya Shisman agreed. The JFCS staffer who came to Pittsburgh from Ukraine at the age of 5 said she’s been in regular contact with Ukrainian friends and family.
What comes next Back in Squirrel Hill, Katya is seated on an outdoor couch beside Topal. The Ukrainian parolee is going over the requisite steps that she, Andrew and Diana will need to complete before arriving in their new apartment.
“It’s very difficult there right now,” Marsha said of life in Kharkiv. “People just sleep in the buildings with no windows, no water, no gas or electricity. They go to people who can give them some food. It’s just horrible there, and the winter is coming.”
Updates from abroad Freeman said her understanding of the situ ation stems from both her professional work and personal life. She came to the States in 1993 from Odessa and still has friends and family in DespiteUkraine.regularly using FaceTime, WhatsApp and Teams to communicate, “it just becomes really difficult,” she said.
Pittsburgh-based attorney and immigra tion expert Ellen Freeman called Uniting for Ukraine “unprecedented,” and credited USCIS with administering it so quickly. One difficulty, though, is that parolees are not treated like refugees, so they are not permitted to begin working immedi ately upon arrival to the States; instead, parolees are required to “apply and secure employment authorization before they can work,” Freeman said. The fiscal realities impact the pool of potential applicants.
Marsha uses Viber and other messaging apps to communicate with a close friend in Kharkiv who “has a daughter with Down syndrome and a husband who lost his hearing. They don’t have international pass ports, and she just simply said, ‘If we die, we dieThetogether.’”situation has worsened for Ukrainians during the past six months, Marsha said. In the beginning, the people there “still had some food, sugar, bread. They had jobs. They had some money, some savings. And now they have exhausted their resources.” People in Pittsburgh need to know that Ukrainians need weapons and support, Marsha continued. “For every gun available, there are six people who want to use that gun to defend their freedom,” she said. During the past six months, Marsha has donated money to several Ukrainian causes. She’s also helped Ukrainians who’ve come to Pittsburgh by translating docu ments and providing food, clothing and household items. “I’m doing everything I can,” she said. In some small way, Marsha said, she is paying back the kindness Pittsburghers showed her more than 30 years earlier. In 1989, she came to the States with Natalya and another young daughter. “Miles and Pat Braverman picked us up teddy bear because we came with no toys. Marcia Levaur was my lifetime English teacher and became my best friend.” Marsha said that mentioning their names is critical because “those people made lives for my family here in America.”
“Who is interested in coming to the United States if they cannot work, if they cannot sustain themselves, unless they have really close relatives, or those sponsors really promise to feed them and clothe them and provide a roof over their heads for at least six months?” Freedman said.
“I’m really happy that we’re here, and we’re in a safe place, and with all these amazing people, but it’s really hard,” Katya said. “I cannot post any photos to Instagram because I know how hard it will be for my Ukrainian friends to see, so I just post information about the war.” She said she hopes people in Pittsburgh realize that Russia is a “terrorist” and that the war’s outcome matters to western civilization.
10 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
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“The situation isn’t getting better. If anything, it’s getting worse,” Shisman said. Some Ukrainians are choosing to remain in place because they don’t want to leave the homes where they have spent most of their lives. Other Ukrainians are moving to shelters, “but in the shelters, there might not be standing room,” Shisman said. “These aren’t nice places where there are comfortable beds. There’s barely a space for you to be able to lay down.”
meet on Zoom was finalized. When the hour arrived, Topal said, both parties were trying to assess each other’s legitimacy. Lin and Topal’s two children were in the background. Katya and Andrew (the Ukrainian couple who Lin found on Facebook) held their nearly 1-year-old daughter, Diana. “You could just see how sweet they were as parents,” Topal said of Katya and Andrew. More Zoom calls transpired. Additional messages were exchanged. Lin and Topal filed the necessary paperwork with the U.S. government. Katya and Andrew were vetted. The Ukrainians were approved. Lin and Topal helped Katya, Andrew and Diana secure flights. Finally, on June 22, Topal met the young family at the Pittsburgh airport. “After I saw Claire, I felt like we are at home,” Katya said, while seated beside Topal on an outdoor couch in Squirrel Hill. “We are with our family now.”
Temporary housing in someone else’s home Since late June, Katya, Andrew and Diana have lived with Lin and Topal. The two mothers spoke highly of each other and the love their children share. The experience has created new friendships and offered cultural insight — Katya now makes “Jewish borscht,” which she described as replacing pork with chicken — but the Ukrainians and Pittsburghers both know the housing situa tion is temporary. On Sept. 1, Katya, Andrew and Diana are moving to an apartment. Topal said she’s sorry to see the perpetu ally upbeat family go, but acknowledged that “it’s hard to be in someone else’s house.” Katya, 25, is an internal medicine doctor and worked as a hospitalist in Ukraine. To obtain a comparable job in the States, Katya would need to complete three medical licensing exams, an occupational English test and a three-year residency. Her parole status through Uniting with Ukraine ends in June 2024. She and her family would like to return to Kharkiv, where their friends and relatives remain. In the interim, Katya said she may work as a research assis tant or clinical researcher — assuming the necessary paperwork goes through. “The system just does not set people up for success,” Topal said. “No matter how on top of it you are, everything just takes so much more time than you think.”
Another challenge to Uniting with Ukraine is the disparate treatment parolees receive upon arriving in the country depending on the state. “If you happen to go to Connecticut, you’re going to get all kinds of benefits — health insurance for children, food stamps, affordable housing, even some cash assis tance,” Freeman said. But not all states have the same Pittsburghbenefits.holds itself out as a place where individuals and corporations are committed to welcoming immigrants, but Freeman wishes elected officials did more to actualize this sentiment. If politicians want to encourage diversity or people-to-people programming, there needs to be more of an effort to provide affordable housing and access to transporta tion, interpreters and health care, she said. “It has to come from the top down. Community activists are going to bring their own families in and that will be it.”
“The war is going to end, and if Ukraine doesn’t win then the war will be in Poland, in Germany, in other European countries,” Katya said. “I hope that Ukraine will win this fight.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 11 Fall Arts Preview Top: The Fab Four - The Ultimate Tribute; middle: Gallery Crawl; right: Guy Hollingworth, Liberty Magic Photos courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
A conversation with lyricist, composer — and CMU alum —
Schwartz, page 22
Schwartz has fond memories of his four years in Pittsburgh, and of the Pittsburgh Public Theater where he “saw many a show” and on whose O’Reilly stage he will perform next month along with guests Debbie Gravitte, Scott Coulter and Michael McCorry Rose. “Stephen Schwartz & Friends” will feature several songs penned by Schwartz along with “some stories about how they got written,” he said. That, coupled with the singing talents of his guests, he said, “makes for a pretty entertaining show.”
Fall
By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
“I actually do a little presentation about how a song from ‘Wicked’ was developed,” Schwartz said. “And I play some earlier versions of the song.” Additionally, “there will be stuff from ‘Pippin’ and ‘Godspell,’” as well as “some mashups” along with songs from unproduced shows.
Schwartz, who is Jewish, was not raised in a particularly observant home, yet several of his shows have been inspired by his Jewish
Photo by Nathan Johnson see
Stephen Schwartz
It will be a “homecoming” for Broadway legend Stephen Schwartz when he returns to Pittsburgh next month — but not an uncommon one. The Academy and Grammy Awardwinning composer and lyricist of megahits such as “Pippin,” “Godspell” and “Wicked” will perform at the O’Reilly Theater on Sept. 19 in “Stephen Schwartz & Friends.” But Pittsburgh is a frequent destination for the Carnegie Mellon University alum who visits often to work with theater students at his alma mater. Working with CMU students, Schwartz told the Chronicle during a Zoom interview, is, first, a way to give back to the university, which “was very good to me in a lot of ways, obviously.” But he has some “ulterior motives” as well, he said: “I like working with young people, and I’ve found some people there who’ve gone on to be future cast members of shows of mine.” Schwartz was born in New York City in 1948. He studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School of Music while in high school and graduated from CMU in 1968 with a BFA in drama. It was while a student in Pittsburgh that he, along with CMU class mate Ron Strauss, developed the musical that would ultimately launch his career: “Pippin.” Then, in 1971, Schwartz wrote the music for “Godspell,” created by CMU classmate John-Michael Tebelak. Schwartz credits CMU with helping propel his career, which went on to include credits such as Disney’s “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and“Perhaps“Enchanted.”Iwould have had a career without [CMU],” Schwartz said. “But I certainly wouldn’t have had the same career. For one thing, specifically, that is where ‘Pippin’ began. And that show wouldn’t have existed without the various things that happened when I was at Carnegie Mellon. And, of course, that is the show that I brought with me when I first moved to New York in an attempt to get it produced, and it led to everything else that happened for me.”
— MUSIC — Please
The setlist will include songs familiar to fans, including at least one from one of his most popular shows, “Wicked.”
Arts Preview
12 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG ACCOUNT NUMBER CURRENTNAME ADDRESS CITY, STATE, ZIP PHONE EMAIL PHONECITY,NEWNAMEADDRESSSTATE,ZIP EMAIL DATE EFFECTIVE SNOWBIRD RETURN DATE Don’t miss an issue Please clip this coupon and mail to: 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 All changes can be submitted in writing or emailed to subscriptions@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.orgorcall410-902-2300,ext.1 ADDRESSOFCHANGE
Themes of identity, displacement and migration, along with works in translation, will be the focus of City of Asylum’s Pittsburgh International Litfest (LitFest ‘22), according to Abby Lembersky, the organization’s director of programs.
Beginning Sept. 10, the festival features writers and artists from 15 countries speaking more than 11 languages and is meant to be a companion event to City of Asylum’s Jazz Poetry festival, which occurred in May. Fitting within the broader themes are subjects that will resonate with a wide audience. On Sept. 13, Angie Cruz will discuss her new book “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water,” exploring the world of a woman in her mid-50s who loses her job in the Great Recession. Acclaimed writer Gary Shteyngart, whose novel “Our Country Friends” centers on a group of friends who gather in a country house to wait out the pandemic, will talk about his book on Sept. 14. “Part of the hope for a festival like this,” Lembersky said, “is to pull books that are newly published, newly coming out. What we’re seeing now is people who started writing in the pandemic.”
Freedom of expression, identity explored at City of Asylum’s International LitFest
“Of course, that is complementary to City of Asylum’s broader vision, our commitment to being a place for international voices and cross-cultural exchange in Pittsburgh,” she added. Unlike last year’s LitFest, which was Zoomonly, this year’s 10-day free festival takes place both in person and online.
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 13 Fall Arts Preview FALLPresentingATTHEJCC!Programsforallagesandinterests•Swim•Dance•ShootHoops•GetFit•Learn•HaveFun! Join us! membership@jccpgh.orgJCCPGH.org|412-697-3522 Scan the QR Code or visit: program-guide-registrationhttps://jccpgh.org/ HEREIT’SALL
By David Rullo | Sta Writer
— LITERATURE — Please see Asylum, page 22
“What happened at Chautauqua speaks to why City of Asylum exists,” Lembersky said. “We are a safe haven for writers who are exiled under threat of persecution. Screenshot of City of Asylum’s International LitFest, which was online-only last year. This year, the LitFest will feature in-person sessions. Photo provided by City of Asylum
The writers participating in the festival explore subjects beyond the pandemic, though. Identity and connection are two other themes that play important roles, Lembersky said. Both Morgan Talty and Dubravka Ugrešić will discuss works that don’t use COVID-19 or the resultant economy as a backdrop. Talty will discuss his short story collection “Night of the Living Rez” about the indigenous Native American Penobscot people on Sept. 12. “Thank You for Not Reading” by Ugrešić is about the world of publishing and young authors who first became famous in some other way. The author will speak from her home in Croatia on Sept. 10. LitFest shines its light on literature in translation during three of its sessions. On Sept. 10, Kate Hedeen and Zoë Skoulding, editors of “Poetry’s Geographies,” discuss the anthology with Michelle Gil-Montero, a translator from Pittsburgh’s Eulalia Press, which publishes works in translation. Persian translator Sara Khalili and Iranian illustrator Nooshin Safkhoo share the stage on Sept. 17. On Sept. 20, City of Asylum turns its gaze to the theater for a staged reading and post-show artist discussion of Ukrainian writer Mykola Khvylovy’s 1924 novel “I am (Romance),” originally intended for the Slovo House Kharkiv — a writers’ house offering residency to cultural figures in Ukraine. The night will include opportunities to discuss theater in translation, as well as Ukrainian cultural heritage. The festival’s Sept. 19 session, “DISSIDENCE: Exiled Writers on Resistance & Risk,” will hold special significance in light of recent events. On Aug. 12, author Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times while being interviewed by City of Asylum co-founder Harry Reese at the Chautauqua Institution. In 1989, Iran’s Supreme Leader declared a fatwa against Rushdie, accusing him of insulting Islam and blaspheming Muhammad in his novel “The Satanic Verses.” In response to his experience and the growing incidences of attacks on writers, Rushdie formed the International Parliament of Writers in 1993. IPW called on European cities to provide support for endangered writers in exile. In 1997, Rushdie spoke in Pittsburgh and mentioned the idea. Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, were in attendance, and, after a circuitous journey, formed a Pittsburgh chapter of City of Asylum in 2003. Rushdie served as a founding member of the North American board of the organization, which now has chapters in several cities.
THEATER — Please see Bruce, page 22
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
14 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Fall Arts Preview www.afairinthepark.org September Mellon Park – Fifth & Shady Friday 9th 1 pm – 7 pm Saturday 10th 10 am – 7 pm Sunday 11th 10 am – 5 pm Artwork by Stevo Sadvary In Person or Zoom For Rates and Availability Piano Lessons Vocal Coaching Songwriting douglas@levinemusic.com levinemusic News for people who know we don’t mean spiced tea. Every Friday in the and all the time @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.onlineForhomedelivery,call410.902.2300,ext.1. Chai
Veteran actor
“He considered himself a jazz musician with a microphone,” Marmo said. “He said, ‘I’m like Charlie Parker. I grab the microphone and I blow, blow, blow.’” When he goes on stage, Marmo works to remain engaged, trying to bring Bruce to life — and true to the comedian’s ethos, there are a few places in the script he left open to improvise and riff. “He was a wordsmith, so it’s about following the next word, trusting my instincts, that I’ve embodied Lenny and just trust in the rhythm,” Marmo said. If Bruce is remembered for anything besides his seminal comedy, it’s his use of words and First Amendment battles. The comedian had a long string of arrests for obscenity beginning in 1961. He was found guilty in 1964 and died in 1966 before his appeal. While viewed as a forerunner to George Carlin and Richard Pryor, Bruce spent the last few years of his life railing against the judicial system in routines that sometimes veered into him simply reading court transcripts and commenting from the stage. “His quote,” Marmo said recalling Bruce’s First Amendment struggles, “was, ‘There aren’t dirty words, just dirty minds.’”
Ronnie Marmo speaks in long sentences broken into quick staccato phrases. His vocal style is reminiscent of groundbreaking Jewish comedian Lenny Bruce. It makes sense. Marmo, who lives in Los Angeles but calls himself a “Jersey guy,” has portrayed Bruce for more than 15 years. The actor first starred as the comedian in the play “Lenny Bruce is Back and Boy is He P!$$ed.” While researching Bruce for the role, he fell in love with the comedian’s message. “I wanted to do his material but, in that show, we didn’t do the bits, we just talked about them,” Marmo recalled. After securing the rights to Bruce’s material, Marmo penned “I’m Not a Comedian I’m Lenny Bruce.” The one-man bioplay will be staged in Pittsburgh on Oct. 21-22 at the Byham Theater. Marmo said that when he originally wrote the show, he never dreamed such a large portion of his career would be tied to Bruce. “People ask me, how can you do a 90-minute monologue 394 times for an audience, and I say that I identify with him so much and it’s such an exploration every night, I don’t get bored or get into a by rote rhythm,” Marmo said. The importance of staying present and not simply reciting lines is at the heart of portraying a character like Bruce who rose to fame in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is seen as a contemporary of both the Beat Generation writers and bebop jazz musicians.
If the actor’s portrayal of Bruce seems prescient in these politically turbulent times, he said it’s more coincidental. “I know I look really smart,” Marmo said. “It looks very timely because of the First Amendment and everything, but the truth is that it just kind of came together. It was a perfect storm.” One of the elements that just “came together” was finding the right director for the play — veteran actor Joe Mantegna. Marmo said that almost eight years ago he told Mantegna that he was raising money and working on the script for “I’m Not a Comedian …” When the play was completed, Marmo read it to Mantegna who said he wanted to direct it. “This guy is amazing,” Marmo said. “Directors usually go to the rehearsals, come for opening weekend, maybe come back the second weekend and give a note. He’s seen the Trust
channels Lenny Bruce in one-man play
Ziegler — whose most famous work, the widely produced “Photograph 51,” starred Nicole Kidman on London’s West End and was awarded the best play of 2019 by the “Chicago Tribune” — was raised in a Reform Jewish household in Brooklyn, growing up near Orthodox Jews in the Hasidic center of AsWilliamsburg.anadult,she said she became fasci nated by the concept of arranged marriage within the faith — a point which triggered extensive research for what would become “TheZieglerWanderers.”wondered, “Just how diffi cult is it to leave the community, if that is something you want to do? It’s pretty reve latory,” she said. The playwright did not see herself as entirely separate, though, from the conver sation; in fact, she said she “viewed all of us as Jews on a continuum.”
Fall
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Ziegler didn’t want to detail much of what occurs in the play, citing the desire to keep the audience on its toes and, yes, in the dark a bit. But she’s excited to be working with City Theatre and plans to trek to Pittsburgh periodically to be as involved in the produc tion as the cast and crew dictate.
“I thought I was in one place on that spec trum and Hasidic Jews, who were following the Hebrew laws to the letter, were in another,” Ziegler said. “My faith was more flexible than that.” “The Wanderers” finds Hasidic couple Esther and Schmuli contemplating intimacy on their wedding night. It also revolves around a more secular couple of Jewish novelists, Sophie and Abe; Abe begins a flirtatious correspondence with a film star — and everything unfolds. The secular relationship, Ziegler said, “is a marriage that has various pres sures inside of it.”
PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
“The Wanderers,” the latest work from Brooklyn-based play wright Anna Ziegler, uses the lenses of Judaism and Jewishness to paint a portrait of connection.
“The people who work at City Theatre, I really like,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed the times I’ve been in Pittsburgh. The audiences are terrific. It seemed like a no-brainer to me.”
“It’s the story of two couples, two Jewish couples — one is a Hasidic couple and one is a secular couple,” Ziegler told the Chronicle. “The play is about how we are all more the same than different. And there’s a universal search for meaning in our lives.” City Theatre Co. recently announced that the Ziegler play, which is set to open at the Roundabout Theater in New York City, will have a Pittsburgh run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 18.
p Promotional art for “The Wanderers” Image provided by City Theatre — THEATER —
“What’s great about Anna’s writing,” she added, “is it’s an inter-generational explora tion — it’s a universal story about love and family and legacy.” Ziegler said she “was thrilled they were interested in this one.”
“I think it sort of evolved,” she said. “[Writing plays] is a lot less lonely than writing poems ... I love seeing this thing that was just in my head come to life. I’ve always found theater magical.”
“The Wanderers” premiered at the Old Globe in San Diego and has played in various locations, including to Jewish audi ences in ZieglerIsrael.ismodest about her plays’ successes and talks about her early experiments with poetry, which were highly narrative-driven and featured lots of dialogue — both touch stones of playwrighting.
Arts Preview
Playwright peers into the world of arranged Jewish marriages in ‘The Wanderers’
“We’re all big fans of her work,” said Clare Drobot, artistic co-director of the Pittsburgh company. “We read this play and fell in love with it.”
By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
Preview
Please see History, page 22 Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org | 724.713.8874 Sept 9: Senior Living Sept 23: Rosh Hashanah Like what you see? Be a part of our upcoming special sections
16 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle
The glow of the past, the light of life
Fall Arts
The recent reopening of the Kaufmann Center culminated with a tour of the building. The line was long, and the foyer was crowded. I inched inside and, as I tried to get out of the way, I found myself facing a painting hung promi nently by the door. Seeing that painting by that door, I heard a pleasing “click” in my mind. It was the wheel of history finishing one of its big, graceful rotations and locking back into place. The painting is titled “Irene Kaufmann Settlement.” The artist is Shelly Blumenfeld. It shows the old Irene Kaufmann Settlement House amid a buzz of everyday activity — families arriving, friends leaving, kids crowding the balconies, flags waving. What makes the painting special is its glow. The edges are gray and misty, but the center is illuminated with a strong, soft light that comes from nowhere in the scene itself. “Irene Kaufmann Settlement” debuted in the spring of 2017, as part of Blumenfeld’s one-woman show at the American Jewish Museum at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. The show, titled “Hill District Paintings,” was a series of recent paintings she had made based on the Hill District. By the time she was 9 or 10, Blumenfeld was given a little responsibility at the store. She was allowed to ask customers “Could we help you?” Then she would locate their item in the crowd of inventory, take their payment, and place the money in the The Reznik store stayed on Logan Street until 1955, when it was demolished in the redevelopment of the lower Hill District. The cash register followed Reznik to lower Fifth Avenue. In time, that store closed, too, and Blumenfeld rescued the register. Decades later, when Blumenfeld’s own grandkids were little, they would come for dinner and spend the evening playing shopkeeper, filling the old register with Monopoly money. After her grandson asked about the register, Blumenfeld went down to her basement to find it. Seeing it there, old and beautiful, the artistic impulse struck. She made a sketch. The sketch became a painting, a glowing cash register titled “No Sale.” The painting led to another. She made paintings of the Reznik dry goods store and paintings of Logan Street. Paintings of another family store, Fairman Wallpaper & Paint Co., with its dizzying patterns of wall paper swatches. Paintings of produce stands and bakeries, of wartime parades and victory gardens, paintings of neighbors sitting on their stoops, and the painting of the grand old Irene Kaufmann Settlement House. All these paintings glow with a calm inner light. Blumenfeld is one of those artists whose style is instantly identifiable. Once you learn to recognize her particular soft luminosity, you start to discover her paint ings befriending you all over the community. From a technical standpoint, the light comes from Samuel Rosenberg. When she was a child, Blumenfeld recalls seeing Photo courtesy of Eric Lidji — HISTORY —
Reggie Watkins Quartet with Orrin Evans BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive Backyard at 8th & Penn Free and open to the public q SEPT. 17 Along King LINES Ballet Pittsburgh Dance Council; Byham Theater king-lines-ballettrustarts.org/production/81900/alonzoq SEPT. 19 Stephen Schwartz & Friends TRUST Cabaret Series O’Reilly Theater; 621 Penn schwartz-and-friendstrustarts.org/production/81937/stephen-Ave.
There is a lot going on in and around Pittsburgh this fall, from stimulating art exhibits and thoughtprovoking theater to uplifting musical performances. Here is a sample of the amazing cultural events our city has to offer in the coming months. THROUGH OCT. 2 Guy Hollingworth in “The Expert at the Card Table” Liberty Magic Series Liberty Magic; 811 Liberty trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/liberty-magicAve. THROUGH OCT. 23 “The Pittsburgh Left” SPACE; 812 Liberty Ave. Free and open to the public. THROUGH NOV. 22 “Supply and Demand” Wood Street Galleries; 601 Wood Street q SEPT. 2 Kurtis Conner Live! Byham Theater; 101 Sixth trustarts.org/production/81952/kurtis-connerSt. Roger Humphries + RH BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive; Backyard at 8th & Penn; Free and open to the plus-rh-factortrustarts.org/event/23672-2022/roger-humphries-public SEPT. 3-25 Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Park “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Sept. 3 and 4 at 2 p.m., Frick Park Sept. 10 and 11 at 2 p.m., Highland Park Sept. 17 and 18 at 2 p.m., Westinghouse Park Sept. 23 at 6 p.m., Schenley Plaza in Oakland Sept 24 and 25 at 2 p.m., Frick Park Admission is free with online and onsite donations requested. pittsburghshakespeare.com
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For more than half a century, Judy Collins has been an accomplished poet, songwriter and singer. She is now experiencing a profound level of growth and prolific creativity. Spend “An Evening With Judy Collins” on Wednesday, Sept. 7, beginning at 8 p.m. at the Byham Theater.
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An Evening With Judy Collins Byham Theater; 101 Sixth with-judy-collinstrustarts.org/production/82170/an-evening-St. q SEPT ReelAbilities7-11Film Festival
Pittsburgh Playhouse; 350 Forbes filmpittsburgh.org/pages/reelabilitiesAve. q SEPT. 9-11 A Fair in the Park Craftsmen’s Guild; Mellon Park craftsmensguild.org q SEPT. 1001. Last Podcast on the Left Benedum Center; Seventh Street and Penn Ave. trustarts.org/production/76055 q SEPT. 10-20 Pittsburgh International Literary Festival (LitFest ’22) City of Asylum; 40 W. North Ave. https://cityofasylum.org/ q SEPT. 13
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q SEPT. 26 Chris Rock Ego Death World Tour 2022 Benedum trustarts.org/production/78965Center
q SEPT. 23 Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District 5-10 p.m; Pittsburgh’s Cultural District Free and open to the public crawl.trustarts.org Mike Birbiglia Live Byham trustarts.org/production/82428Theater
SEPT. 7
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q SEPT. 24 - OCT.16 “Clyde’s” City Theatre; 1300 Bingham St. citytheatrecompany.org q SEPT. 24 - APRIL 2, 2023 The 58th Carnegie International 4400 Forbes cmoa.org/2022-carnegie-international/Ave.
Please see Calendar, page 18
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18 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Fall Arts Calendar q SEPT. 27 Thomas Wendt Quintet BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive Backyard at 8th & Penn Free and open to the public q SEPT. 30 Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets Benedum saucerful-of-secretstrustarts.org/production/77222/nick-masons-Center q OCT. 5 -16 Disney’s “FROZEN The New Musical” PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh Benedum in-pittsburghtrustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/pnc-broadway-Center q OCT. 7 - 9 Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Storytelling In Motion August Wilson African American Cultural Center 980 Liberty pbt.org/performances/storytelling-in-motion/Ave. q OCT. 7 - 15 “Idaspe” Quantum Theatre; Byham quantumtheatre.com/idaspe/Theater q OCT. 12 - 30 “A Raisin in the Sun” Pittsburgh Public Theater; The O’Reilly Theater ppt.org q OCT. 13 “Somewhere-14Strange” New Hazlett Theater; 6 Allegheny Square newhazletttheater.org/events/somewhere-strange/E. q OCT. 21 - OCT. 22 “I’m Not a Comedian … I’m Lenny Bruce” Byham im-lenny-bruce/production/82432/im-not-a-comedian-dot-dot-dot-Theater q OCT. 28 The Fab Four-The Ultimate Tribute Byham ultimate-tributetrustarts.org/production/81379/the-fab-four-the-Theater q NOV. 2 DEC. 4 Henry Evans in the Enchanted Cards of Buenos Aires Liberty Magic trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/liberty-magicSeries q NOV. 7 Megan Hilty TRUST Cabaret Series; O’Reilly trustarts.org/production/81940/megan-hiltyTheater q NOV. 11 12 A Bronx Tale: One Man Show Byham Theatertrustarts.org/production/82206/ a-bronx-tale-one-man-show q NOV. 13 Joanne Shaw Taylor Byham trustarts.org/production/82319/joanne-shaw-taylorTheater q NOV. 15 20 “Hadestown” PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh; Benedum Center pnc-broadway-in-pittsburghtrustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/ q NOV. 19 Ballet Hispánico Pittsburgh Dance Council; Byham trustarts.org/production/81901/ballet-hispanicoTheater q NOV. 22 - 27 “Les Misérables” PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh; Benedum Center pnc-broadway-in-pittsburghtrustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/ q NOV. 26 DEC. 18 “The Wanderers” City citytheatrecompany.org/play/the-wanderers/Theatre q NOV. 28 Disney Princess The Concert Presented by Pandora Benedum concert-presented-by-pandora trustarts.org/production/75674/disney-princess-the-Center PJC STORYTELLINGOCT.7-9 AUGUST WILSON AFRICANCULTURALAMERICANCENTER GET $5 OFF USE PROMO CODE: PBTFALL5 412-456-6666 | PBT.ORG IN MOTION Artists: Tommie Lin O’Hanlon and Josiah Kauffman | Photo: Duane Rieder Calendar: Continued from page 17 “Frozen,” running Oct. 5-16 at the Benedum Center, is billed as an “unforgettable theatrical experience filled with sensational special effects, stunning sets and costumes, and powerhouse performances…It’s pure Broadway joy.” p Caroline Innerbichler (Anna), Caroline Bowman (Elsa), and the Company of the “Frozen” North American Tour Photo by Deen van Meer
p Jesse Eisenberg receives an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award during the Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Zuzana Gogova/Getty Images
Eisenberg — who has branched out into playwriting and other theater work since his best-known performance as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 hit “The Social Network” — has explored the themes of the Holocaust and how it’s connected to his contemporary experience before. In the 2013 play “The Revisionist,” which he wrote and starred in off-Broadway, Eisenberg played a science fiction writer who travels to Poland to find a quiet place to finish editing a manu script. He stays with a 75-year-old cousin who talks about the trauma she suffered both in the Holocaust and under the Stalinist regime after the war. The play was based on a real experience Eisenberg had meeting a relative in Poland, the New York Jewish Week reported at the time. The play’s artistic director told the Jewish Week that Eisenberg was interested in exploring how young people today are “curious about the Holocaust but not aware of its profundity.”
“A Real Pain,” which will star Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, will begin shooting in Warsaw in March, Screen reported last week. After their grandmother dies, according to a description in Screen, Eisenberg and Culkin’s characters try to learn about her past, and their journey — which involves joining a Holocaust-themed tour — brings up questions about pain and trauma in a modern context.
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In the 2020 biographical drama “Resistance,” Eisenberg played the famed French-Jewish mime Marcel Marceau, who fought with the French Resistance in World War II. He has played other Jewish characters, too: in 2010’s “Holy Rollers,” he plays a young Hasidic Jew who becomes a drug dealer. Last year, he was cast as a lead in the upcoming TV adaptation of “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” the 2019 novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner about a Jewish man’s middle-age crisis. Speaking to Screen about the upcoming film’s main characters, Eisenberg said: “They have a funny, fraught relation ship; it’s a bittersweet story, as we realize maybe we don’t fully belong together, but against the backdrop of this incredibly dramatic history.” —
PJC — FILM
“I’m trying to ask the question is modern pain valid against the backdrop of real historical trauma,” Eisenberg, who traces his Jewish family roots back to Poland and Ukraine, told Screen. “I think I’m speaking to the experience of people [in their 30s] who go back and it’s foreign to them — and now suddenly real.”
SHAKESPEARE'S MAGICAL COMIC ADVENTURE
By Caleb Guedes-Reed | JTA Jesse Eisenberg’s newest film directing project follows two estranged cousins who travel to Poland and learn about their grandmother’s Holocaust story.
Jesse Eisenberg’s next film follows 2 cousins who explore their Holocaustgrandmother’sstory
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The production was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter. No casting announce ments were made yet, but given that the artist died at 35 from tuberculosis, it’s hard to imagine either Depp, 59, or Pacino, 82, would play him. Born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Livorno in 1884, “Modi” lived a short life marked by constant illness, drug and alcohol abuse and a large number of lovers (including the painter Jeanne Hébuterne, who, eight months pregnant with his child, committed suicide the day after he died). Though he completed hundreds of paintings and sculp tures, Modigliani wouldn’t find recognition until years after his death in 1920. Modigliani very occasionally explored Jewish themes in his art, including in a famous 1908 painting, “The Jewess,” but he was always conscious of his Jewish identity, according to his biographers. That identity was explored in a 2017 exhibit at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. Depp’s film would be the fourth Modigliani biopic. A 2004 effort starring Andy Garcia was trashed by critics, with The New York Times calling it “catastrophic.”
By Andrew Lapin | JTA Riding a wave of tabloid notoriety after winning his highly publicized defa mation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is planning to direct a biopic about a different troubled figure: the Jewish Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.
Photo by Zak Bennett/AFP
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star is partnering with Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino to produce the film, which will be adapted from the 1979 play “Modigliani” by Dennis McIntyre. It will chronicle the life of the artist whose portraits and sculptures of Parisian women (often in the nude, with elongated faces and limbs) posthumously made him the toast of the art world in the early 20th century. “The saga of Mr Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honored, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen,” Depp said in a statement. “It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with.”
Johnny Depp, fresh off his defamation trial, is directing a film about Jewish Italian painter Modigliani
Along with an already announced role as King Louis XV in an upcoming biopic of the royal mistress Jeanne du Barry, Depp is hoping to use the Modigliani film to mount a Hollywood comeback after a closely scru tinized trial that divided the entertainment industry. During the trial, Heard and her attorneys painted a vivid picture of Depp as a serial abuser, while he and his team aimed to depict her as a manipulative liar. The ugliness of the trial spilled onto social media, where armies of Depp fans (many of whom were later revealed to be bots) mobilized against Heard. The jury ruled all but one count in Depp’s favor and the remaining one in Heard’s; both sides have appealed the case. PJC p Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani is pictured at his workshop in Paris, circa 1918. Photo by Apic/Getty Images — FILM —
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“It works in all kinds of ways,” said Harel.
Local filmmakers and TV studios have been shooting award-winning movies and series in Israel for decades, taking advantage of the country’s desert vistas and ancient cities. But it’s expensive to film in Israel, which may serve as a deterrent to foreign production companies. Now the country is marketing itself as a location for interna tional shoots with a 30% rebate incentive for foreignAnnouncedproductions.jointly by the ministries of culture and sports, foreign affairs, finance and tourism earlier this month, the two-year incentive will offer reimbursement of up to NIS 16.6 million ($4.9 million) for film and TV series shot in Israel.
“It could be that Israeli producers will be working on something and bring the produc tion here, or foreign producers will connect with an Israeli team. It’s very personal, what makes this kind of thing work.”
It took many years for the five govern ment ministries to work together to offer the incentive, said Frohlich. Production companies had until Aug. 22 to send in their proposals for the first round of tax incentives that are being offered for the next two-year period. The rebate can be applied to projects with local Israeli animation studios as well as post-production work on films, such as editing and sound. Frohlich said the ministries researched the industry thoroughly, investigating what kinds of rebates are offered by other countries. Israel is offering a 30% rebate, while some countries give 40% and others only offer 20%.
It will take time to figure it all out, agreed“What’sRozenbaum.important is to get this started and fix things along the way,” he said. We’re entering into a kind of competition with other countries.
It will take time for productions to consider Israel as an obvious location for filming, akin to Toronto or Athens, said producers.
“We know that Israel is known as an expensive country, but this is a country with great locations,” said Raz Frohlich, director general of the Culture and Sports Ministry. “You can access green hills, desert, history and cities within short distances and there’s plenty of English here. There’s lots of reasons to come here, but the [new] tax return is a big plus.”
PJC — FILM — “
“It’s a tool that really needed to happen already,” said Harel. Industry insiders like to point to several foreign productions, such as the 2017 Conan O’Brien special, the fourth season of Jill Soloway’s “Transparent” and the first and second seasons of “Homeland.”
The ministries are currently trying to market Israel as a potential location, placing ads in industry publications and reaching out to networks of film and television professionals.
— RAZ FROHLICH, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE CULTURE AND SPORTS MINISTRY
“I’m so happy it’s finally happening,” said Rozenbaum. “It’s important, not just financially but also because it improves our technical skills. The industry will have additional budgets and everyone will learn new skills.”
”
“We’re entering into a kind of competition with other countries,” he said. “We know that sometimes a producer who is setting a scene in Jerusalem goes to Greece instead. We learned about the costs of productions.”
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 21 Fall Arts Preview Here's to a healthy and sweet new year! Names here Rosh Hashanah 5783 Publishes September 23 Greeting Deadline September 19 If you have questions or want to reserve ad space call Phil Durler at 724.713.8874 Wish Your Family & Friends L’Shana Tova Here's to a healthy and sweet new year! Names here Choose from one of the ads shown or have us customize your greeting (add $15 to ad cost). *Personal Greetings only. Logos and Business Names cannot be accepted. 1/8#1$125 #2 May the joyful sounds of the shofar welcome in a new year of health, laughterhappiness,andlove! Names here May the joyful sounds of the shofar welcome in a new year of health, happiness, laughter and love! Names here 1/4 $170#3 #4 1/4 $1701/8 $125 Seeking to woo TV and filmmakers, Israel offers 30% rebate to sweeten the deal By Jessica Steinberg |
Frolich added that Israel offers a safe, stable environment for work, although there have been times when filming was paused or pulled from Israel due to unrest. The third season of “Homeland’ was switched to Morocco in 2013 because of concerns over the uncertain situation in Syria. The Israeli production company that arranged the location shots reportedly lost tens of thousands of dollars on the cancellation.
Still, it’s a source of potential income that’s well worth pursuing, said producer Marek Rozenbaum, who has worked on dozens of Israeli films for nearly 40 years, and has been working on this idea for the last 25, he said.
The Times of Israel
It’s an opportunity that the Israeli govern ment is adopting very late, said producer Amir Harel, whose latest film, “Valeria Is Getting Married,” is nominated for several Ophir Awards. “There’s many countries fighting over this industry.” When the incentives work, said Harel, it creates employment for the entire “food chain of film production,” from crews to caterers, hotels and restaurants.
“I’m in upstate New York. There’s a feeling of being in a little bubble, which is very different from when you step into New York or another big city like Pittsburgh,” he said. Shteyngart, who is known for his humor, said his blend of tragedy and comedy can be traced to his Russian Jewish background.
Asylum:
Schwartz: Continued from page 12 show, I’m not exaggerating, over 100 times. He just keeps coming back. It’s amazing.” Mantegna and Marmo have known one another for nearly two decades, the actor said. Mantegna even became ordained so he could officiate at Marmo’s wedding. The actor said the death of his mother at 53 motivated him to try out for the stage. He recalled that she often told him he should give acting a try, although he was reluctant. When she died, it forced him to reexamine his goals.
Author Gary Shteyngart said he felt it was vital to participate in City of Asylum’s LitFest this year. “What they are doing is so important,” Shteyngart said. “I know my friend Salman Rushdie was associated with them, which makes it even more important. It just puts it back in everyone’s mind.” The Soviet-born Shteyngart said he’s been to City of Asylum before and has a great fondness for Pittsburgh. His college roommate was from Pittsburgh, so he visited the city, and its Squirrel Hill neigh borhood, often. The author, who was born in St. Petersburg, said he is no longer allowed to visit his ancestral home. “The last time I tried to visit, they said my passport was no longer valid,” he said. The Jewish writer said two of his grand parents were born in Ukraine. “I obviously have a lot of feelings toward Ukraine and the horror it’s been subjected to,” he said. “Our Country Friends,” which was just published in paperback, isn’t strictly about the pandemic, Shteyngart, said, but more about friendship. He’s excited to discuss the novel in person, now that people might be feeling more comfortable getting together again.
“It’s kind of humor from the edge of the grave,” he said. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Bruce: Continued from page 14 Rosenberg teaching art classes at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House. He was part of a group of legendary instructors and coaches who bestowed the wealth of human culture to the people of the Hill District. Blumenfeld was too young to attend those classes. She came to know Rosenberg later, as an adult, when she joined his renowned evening workshop for adults at the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association on Bellefield Avenue in Oakland. In the class, Blumenfeld was surrounded by women who were on their way to becoming legendary — Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Jane Haskell, Lois Kaufman. She was the youngest by a few years, and today she is among the last of that generation of artists. She caught Rosenberg as he was completing a decades-long transition. His early acclaim in the 1930s came from paintings of street scenes. He conveyed the grimness of daily life in a big, hard city, but he infused each moment with affection and dignity. From there, he moved into allegory in the 1940s and then into pure abstraction in the 1950s. Rosenberg was eager to bring his students along. He taught them underpainting, color theory, texture and form, as well as how to think. On Thursday nights, he always gave the class a problem to solve visually. Make a painting that shouts. Make a painting that whispers. Paint something that takes the eye in, and then takes the eye out. Through these weekly exercises, Blumenfeld learned how to make her canvases sway and glow. In many of Blumenfeld’s most iconic paintings, her subject is light — ribbons and banners and needles of light, clustering in vibrant motion. Even her paintings of actual tangible objects, like flowers or dancers or canyons, soon explode into abstraction. The Hill District paintings are different. To start, they’re figurative. But the differ ence is more profound. In these paintings, the glow isn’t the light of life. It’s the light of memory, specifically the way certain specific details from the past can remain shockingly crisp in your mind forever and yet swim inside a fog of loose impressions. These are paintings of return. Blumenfeld returns to the neighborhood of her youth. She returns to the teacher of her youth. She revisits his subject using the skills he taught her, but with the style she herself developed in the lifetime between then and now. After the JCC show closed, Blumenfeld made one final return. She donated “Irene Kaufmann Settlement” to the Hill House, the literal and spiritual successor to the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House. With the migration of the Jewish population away from the Hill District in the 1930s and 1940s, the six-story building gradually tran sitioned as well, becoming a Black institution. Through a merger in the 1960s, it became the Hill House. The old building was eventually demol ished, replaced with a modern structure by architect Walter L. Roberts. All that remained was the auditorium from the late 1920s. The Hill House closed in 2019 amid financial troubles. For months, the outlook was uncertain. Would that block remain in service to the communal mission it had served for 119 years — one year shy of Jewish posterity — or it would become another plot in the real estate market. Eventually, the audi torium was transferred to an afterschool arts program called ACH Clear Pathways, which oversaw at $4 million expansion of the site. As part of that transfer, ACH Clear Pathways was given ownership of all the art owned by the old Hill House, including Blumenfeld’s painting. By hanging the painting at the front door, ACH Clear Pathways Executive Director Tyian Battle made a point. When you walk through ACH Clear Pathways today, you feel the spirits of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House: kids making art like Rosenberg taught, kids making music like Anna Perlow taught, kids rehearsing plays like Simon Gerson taught. The Israeli author David Grossman once wrote, “When I first heard about the life cycle of salmon, I felt that there was something very Jewish about it: that inner signal which suddenly resonates in the consciousness of the fish, bidding them to return to the place where they were born, the place where they were formed as a group.” For thousands of Jewish people in Pittsburgh, the Hill District is upstream, a point of return. 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. Duringexpression.”“DISSIDENCE,” Russian poet Dmitry Bykov, Nigerian Pwaangulongii Dauod, Nicaraguan Pedro X. Molian and Algerian Anouar Rahmani will share the stage for the first time, discussing their experiences, writings and commitments to creative freedom of expression.
Continued from page 13
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The feeling is mutual. “I’m always happy for the opportunity to come to Pittsburgh,” Schwartz said. “It’s something I always look forward to doing, and I’m always happy to be there.”
PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.at
In fact, Marmo is such a fan he’s coming to the city several days before his show. “I’m coming eight days early because the weekend I’m playing there’s no game,” he said. “I’m literally going to be in Pittsburgh for eight days because I’m going to a Steelers game the week before.” After nearly two decades playing Bruce, Marmo still isn’t ready to say goodbye to the role. That might be because of the other work he does at the same time. He has had roles in TV shows including “General Hospital” and “Criminal Minds” and has shot three different pilots. He’s also a filmmaker, a director and runs two theater companies. “I always feel like the day I am phoning it in is the day I’m going to walk off the stage and so far, it hasn’t happened,” he said. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
heritage. “Rags,” which opened on Broadway in 1986, for example, tells the story of a Jewish immigrant fleeing to America from Russia in “‘Rags,’”1910.Schwartz said, was the show in which he first “encountered the idea that I wanted to explore and learn more about my roots. So I talked to my parents about their parents and grandparents and did a lot of research, obviously, into that big Jewish emigration that happened around the turn of the 20th century.”
His father’s family were Austrian-German Jews who came to America in the 1860s. His mother’s family immigrated in the early 1900s. But “it was a very similar trajectory as to the family in ‘Rags,’” he said. Other Schwartz musicals may not feature specifically Jewish characters, but several nonetheless connect to the composer’s Jewish values. “I think, philosophically, some of the themes about personal responsibility and what are our obligations as human beings and members of society to others and to our families — I think those are very much Jewish themes, at least as I’ve encountered them in literature,” he said. “I think that those interested me a lot and continue to interest me. I think ‘Children of Eden’ maybe most overtly deals with those themes, but even in a show like ‘Godspell,’ which of course is based on books of the New Testament, is dealing very much philosophically with how you treat others and how you behave as a member of a community.”
Schwartz, 74, has several projects in theTheworks.stage adaptation of “The Prince of Egypt” — a musical that follows the life of Moses — is playing in London’s West End; Schwartz looks forward to the show coming to America, either on Broadway or as a national tour. The much-anticipated movie version of “Wicked” — which will be released in two parts — is slated to begin filming toward the end of the year. And he is working on two new shows, the details of which are under wraps. That’s a lot for Pittsburgh’s Schwartz fans to look forward to — in addition to the Sept. 19 performance of “Stephen Schwartz & Friends.”
History: Continued from page 16 It’s important that we protect freedom of
“I was like, ‘What am I doing? I really want to do that,’” Marmo said. “I reached out to a friend who knew about an audition locally in New Jersey. I tried out, got the part and never looked back.” If Marmo, who isn’t Jewish, is surprised by his success, he doesn’t let on. Nor does he take it for granted. If he’s been taken aback by one aspect of his career though, it’s the audience that has shown up for “I’m Not a Comedian … I’m Lenny Bruce.” “I thought my entire audience for the play would be the Jewish community who were old enough to have seen him,” Marmo said. “So, I made sure to put all the crowdpleasing stuff in there, and then, it turns out the ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ opened the door for every generation,” he said. Marmo is excited to bring his one-man play to Pittsburgh — and not just for the opportunity to perform. “I’m the biggest Steelers fan,” he said. “When I was 6 years old my dad brought me home pajamas with the black and gold, and then I started to watch the Steelers in the ‘70s — Mean Joe Greene and all those guys. I’ve been obsessed with the Steelers.”
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 23 ■ S.J. Noven Koach Award: Jeffrey E. Cohen ■ Rogal-Ruslander Leadership Award: William S. Goodman ■ Ida & Samuel Latterman Volunteer Mitzvah Award EKC Game, Set, Splash Co-chairs: Beth Goldstein and Jeremy Goldman Maria and Noah Jordan Lauren and Jason Kushner Dana and Michael Laidhold Elizabeth Goldberg and Michael Weisberg ■ Lillian Goldstein Senior Adult Volunteer Leadership Award: Marilyn Holloway ■ Caplan-Lieber Human Relations Award: Jocelyn Paulin JCC 127 th ANNUAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 5:30 PM LEVINSON HALL • 5738 FORBES AVENUE • SQUIRREL HILL 2022 VOLUNTEER AWARDS
I feel very, very lucky that our children are who they are. From an early age [my son] was very proud of his Judaism. And he goes to Jewish summer camp — that, in his words, unlocked his Judaism even more. Last Hanukkah, he said, “I want a Jewish star. That’s what I want for Hanukkah.” And I kind of blew him off, because I didn’t think he really meant it, and halfway through the eight days, he sheepishly said, “Mom, do you remember that I asked for a Star of David?” And I said, “Wait, you really want one?” And he said, “Yeah, I do.” And I asked why, and he said, because he feels a very strong Jewish identity, and that kids in high school, who are Christian, are also very proud of their religion, and they wear crosses. So why shouldn’t he wear a symbol that shows who he is? So I said, “OK, sure,” But I was apprehen sive about it. And I certainly didn’t say this to him, for all the reasons that made this special a necessity: Because I think he’s innocent, and he didn’t really realize the millennia that we have to look back on persecution against Jews. He just thought, “This is who I am, and it’s no big deal.” I just said, “OK. How can I argue with that?” Now I’ve heard from Deborah Lipstadt, and also Jeff Cohen, who was one of the hostages in Colleyville, saying that he wears his kippah out in public much more than
Jewell Buckner, Deceased of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania No. 02-21-9033 William Buckner, Executor; 1484 N. Saddle Street, Gilbert, AZ 85233 or to Bruce S. Gelman, Esq., Gelman & Reisman, P.C., Law & Finance Building, 429 Fourth Ave., Ste. 1701, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
“The bad news is there is antisemitism in America,” Bash told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The good news is I work in a place that wants to shine a spotlight on it, and allow for an investigation into what is happening, why it’s happening and what are theBash,solutions.”amember of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., is the great-grand daughter of Hungarian Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz. She told JTA that having the opportunity to report a special on modern antisemitism was “one of the most important things I’ve ever done.”
Dana Bash says her new CNN special on antisemitism is ‘one of the most important things I’ve ever done’
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Lucille C. Katz, Deceased of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania No. 02-22-4896 Jerry E. Katz, Executor; 6448 Melissa Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 or to Bruce S. Gelman, Esq., Gelman & Reisman, P.C., Law & Finance Building, 429 Fourth Ave., Ste. 1701, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Please see Bash, page 28 — TELEVISION —
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The hour-long special, “Rising Hate: Antisemitism In America,” aired on CNN on Aug. 21. It’s a broad overview of the last few years of antisemitism in America, with a particular focus on how it has evolved in the digital age. Other topics include the Coleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage crisis that unfolded earlier this year; the role former President Donald Trump’s campaign played in fomenting antisemitic rhetoric; Jewish college students who have reported discrimination on campuses; and the oper ations of the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit that tracks and responds to antise mitic threats from an undisclosed bunker in the Chicago area. Notably, the special did not cover the 2018 massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life building. Antisemitism is a personal topic for Bash, in more ways than one. To accompany the special, she authored an essay on CNN’s website in which she discusses her own recent apprehension when her preteen son asked her if he could wear a Star of David necklace in public. Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism, is interviewed in the special, and also discusses why she wears a Star of David as she works. “My young son showing the world that he is Jewish made me nervous,” Bash admits in the essay, because “I knew that antisemi tism is on the rise in America.” But, she later concludes after working on the special, “It turns out that normalizing the practice of and pride in Judaism is one of the antidotes to prejudice — something that my young son understood innately.”
By Andrew Lapin | JTA
Legal Notice
It’s one of the most important things I’ve ever done, for sure. Because I’m taking myself out of it, for the most part, and truly researching and talking to people who are experts, who are monitoring it, who are victims of this hate, and trying to understand the origins, and, more importantly, the reasons for the rise now. I have such a, like so many Jewish Americans, rich and sad and storied family history. And you know, the reason most Jews are in America is because we were perse cuted wherever we were. Now, that’s true for other religions. That’s true for Christians, that’s true for Muslims, that’s true for others. America is the place where we’re supposed to be able to practice our religion freely. But we know the truth. The truth is that prejudice is very much alive and well, and has been from the beginning of this country. Deborah Lipstadt said something to me about why she wears a Jewish star now. She said it’s because when somebody who is Black or somebody who is brown-skinned, Latina, somebody of color walks in a room, and there is a person who is prejudiced in that room, they know who that person is.
This interview has been condensed and edited. What does it mean for you as a Jew, and as the descendant of Holocaust victims, to be hosting and reporting on the topic of antisemitism?
In conjunction with the special, you published an essay on CNN about your son’s desire to wear a Star of David necklace in public, and your own nervousness or apprehension around that. Tell me about that.
And I was really, frankly, nervous. Because it’s such a big, important topic. But I felt honored, in a really twisted way, to be able to participate in this, because it’s so important and runs so deep in my soul.
CNN’s Dana Bash has what she calls “a very, very Jewish response” to the question of why she hosted a special for her network on antisemitism in America.
When there is an antisemite in a room and a Jewish person walks in the room, it’s not immediately clear who we are, what our reli gion is – what our race is, if you really want to get down to it. And so she wears a Jewish star so she doesn’t hide, and to try to normalize the idea that we are not what the conspiracy theories and the tropes make us out to be. How did this special come together? When did you start talking about it? Our senior producer on the program is Melissa Dunst Lipman. She has been pushing the bosses to do this for a while. And unfor tunately, the news environment made it clear that there’s a need for it, because there was attack after attack after attack. We had Pittsburgh and we had Poway and we had Colleyville, the list goes on. They said, “Yeah, we should do this.”
While the interfaith community members who spoke at the press conference are not part of an organized effort, a new group, PghJewsUniteAgainstExtremism, has been formed. Marla Werner, a member of the group, said it was created by some leaders in the local Jewish community “to work arm-in-arm with the interfaith community.”
Because we feel our religious freedom is at risk.” “Our goal,” said group member Sue Berman Kress, “is to educate the public about [Mastriano’s] history and where he stands. There seems to be a lot of people that don’t know about his association with Gab and how highly he has spoken of Torba. They don’t know he’s talked about how Christian values should be at the heart of governing. Our goal is to make sure, before people go to the voting booth, they know what is in his history.”
DeSantis’ appearance at the rally made waves in his home state of Florida, as well. The Business Insider reported that Jewish Democrats in his state called on him to pull out of the rally. In the story, Rabbi Mark Winer, pres ident of the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, accused the governor of providing “active comfort” to the worst elements of America.
PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. from page 3 raceThe“personal.”shooting at the Tree of Life building may not have happened “but for these online havens that embolden neo-Nazis and white supremacists and other hate groups,” Letwin said. “Make no mistake, these groups are a direct threat to the Jewish community, to communities of color and all religious minorities. Mastriano’s ties to Gab are alarming. They’re disgusting.”
Mastriano: Continued from page 1 p Republican
not related to learning Hebrew,” Mayer said. He’s hoping that during the year there will be opportunities for fellow musicians to play together, as those experiences aren’t only educational but “just fun in general,” he said. Zeevi is an artist with an ability to sew, paint and weld. Back home, during Adloyada (an Israeli parade marking Purim), she oversaw costume design — a responsibility that required her to begin helping participants as early as two months before the holiday. Zeevi said she’d love to see a citywide arts-filled Purim parade, like those in Israel, but is also keen on introducing students to paint and other expressive mate rials when discussing the Jewish state. As excited as the 18-year-olds are to begin working with local youth, there’s a certain level of fear that goes along with being a part of the Shinshinim program. “It’s kind of scary because if they don’t like me I don’t want them to hate Israel,” Dekel Representingsaid.an entire country is a “big” responsibility, she added. “It’s stressful because we don’t necessarily know how to handle some of the arguments [people may want to have]. We also don’t want to get into politics because it’s not our job.”
Risa Kelemer, Federation’s Shinshinim coordinator, said the young adults are not here to serve as formal educators but rather “18-year-olds who just graduated high school and are able to create those kinds of very natural connections with kids in the same age group essentially.” Even so, the Shinshinim said the task is worrisome.“We’vecome to represent Israel and, for some people, that’s already a reason to argue,” Dekel said. If people wish to challenge the Shinshinim about Israeli politics or poli cies, Kurland is nervous about her ability to respond in English.
“I think that in Israel you can say every thing because in Israel this is what we do,” she said. “But like when you say something a little bit harsh here people can be sensitive about that and maybe get very defensive.” Mayer said he’s less distressed about a potential linguistic divide than an information gap.
Shinshinim: Continued
Whereas bolstering Jewish peoplehood is a program element Kelemer said that the Shinshinim “serve as a bridge not only between Israel and Pittsburgh but also between different institutions — because there are very few people in the commu nity who migrate between CDS and all the Hebrew schools and the JCC.” Given their “bird’s eye view of the commu nity,” Kelemer is eager to see what the 18-year-olds accomplish in Pittsburgh. The Shinshinim are “talented, they are energetic, they kind of reinvigorate every institution that they’re a part of,” she said. They “come in with fresh ideas, a fresh mindset and a different way to connect and speak about the conversations that we’re already having in the community.”
Gibson said as long as Mastriano’s campaign is framed in the rhetoric of Christian nationalism, Muslims, Jews and liberal Christians are all under threat.
Rev. Richard Freeman of the Resurrection Baptist Church in Braddock said that even growing up in southern Georgia during the civil rights movement, he “did not experi ence the type of vitriol in Georgia that I have experienced now.”
“When people say they want to harm us, we now believe them,” Gibson said. “I’m extremely concerned that people will act on that nationalism in ways that harm actual human beings —Muslims, Jews and even liberalAinsmanChristians.”saidthe press conference was not organized by the campaign of Mastriano’s Democratic opponent, Shapiro; rather, she said, it was organized by a nonpar tisan group of people who have expressed concern to each other.
“We’ve individually sent out emails to contact lists trying to engage people, so I suspect this group will grow, but it is not an official group of any sort,” she said. “It is just folks, people like us.”
There is a lot of “fake news on social media,” and although Israel, and Israelis, may be often maligned online, Zeevi said she hopes that by spending time together the Shinshinim and American youth will gain greater insight into one another. Part of their “mission,” Kurland said, is predicated on understanding American Jewish practices: “We need to learn how you live and how you make your traditions. And we need to bring this to Israel.”
Freeman said the notion of Christian nationalism is “an affront” because “it is totally inconsistent with the gospel that I preach,” adding that his teachings are based on those “of a Jewish guy named Jesus.” Christian nationalism, according to the Associated Press, is the idea that God has destined America for greatness and will give the country a “divine blessing.” It’s the belief that Christian values should dictate the country’sNotingpolitics.thatThomas Jefferson kept a copy of the Quran in his book collection, Brother Mizanoor Biswas, chair of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, said America became a beacon of hope because of its inclusivity. He called the journey toward religious nationalism by some in the country “a great tragedy and disappointment” and noted that there have been several incidents of violence against Muslims in the last few years.
More than 200 people, who have learned about the group via informal emails, have joined, she said. “We are focused on the one issue of reli gious freedom and the one race of Mastriano versus Shapiro,” she said. “That is the entire purpose of PghJewsUniteAgainstExtremism.
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“His going out of his way to campaign for Mastriano just underlines for all of us in Florida the extent to which Gov. DeSantis provides such comfort — such safe harbor — to bigots and racists of every kind,” Winer said. In a Fox News poll conducted at the end of July, Shapiro was leading Mastriano by double digits, 50% to 40%. The Chronicle has reached out to the Mastriano campaign several times for comments. As of press time, the Chronicle has been unable to schedule an interview with the candidate. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano
“The idea that one religion is better than the other should be excluded from Pennsylvania,” Biswas said. “The ideology is a direct threat to Americans.”
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“While I’ve lived in Israel my entire life, and I’ve experienced many parts of it, I’m scared that I wouldn’t be able to answer every question that everyone has about the country,” he said. “I’m not an expert on everything, even though I live there, and I just don’t want to spread misinformation aboutZeevithings.”said that she and the other Shinshinim agree there’s at least one major concept that Americans need to be“There’sunderstand.adifference between Israel the country, the government, and the people in Israel,” she said. “That’s a really big differ ence that people are not very aware of.” Along these lines, the Shinshinim appreciate that working with a younger demographic may require responding to inaccurate information they see online.
“This language is not my first language,” she said. “I cannot [articulate] my ideas like I would in Hebrew, and that’s hard because sometimes people can’t understand me when I sayKurlandsomething.”is also concerned about the cultural differences that can affect conversation.
Temple Sinai Rabbi Emeritus Jamie Gibson ence because of several troubling statements tion of church and state is a “myth.” Gibson noted that Gab CEO Andrew Torba recently stated that America is an explicitly Christian country, and that there is no room for Jews in his Christian movement. “We have seen the fruits — or lack thereof — of our nation being led by Godless pagans, nonbelievers, Jews, and fake Christians-inname-only,” Torba said in a statement last month, NBC reported. “If we are going to build a Christian movement it must be exclu sively Christian and we can’t be afraid to say that out loud.” In an interview in May, Mastriano praised Torba for creating Gab. “I am teacher of text, and the sacred text of America is called the Constitution,” Gibson said. “These people who promote this exclu sivity should be informed that God, as a word, is found nowhere in the Constitution and that the First Amendment guarantees
my right by saying ‘Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’” Ainsman, who served as board chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh at the time of the massacre at the Tree of Life building, said she is concerned about the possibility of violence and further extremism if Mastriano is elected. “We have learned that rhetoric can promote violence within a community or against a community,” she said. “I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I do have concerns that if he were to be elected and continues to speak the way he does and have the followers he does, that it could incite violence.”
26 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Celebrations Torah The Original Our Only Location At 2145 BRIGHTON ROAD • PITTSBURGH, PA 15212 • 412-321-2235 Serving the Jewish Community Since 1924 LEGAL NOTICE
One of the more curious mitzvot given in Re’eh is that of the ir hanidahat — the city that has been subverted by idolaters, such that all the inhabitants therein are now idol aters as well. The Torah instructs us to burn such a city to the ground, and put all of its inhabitants and its cattle to the sword. Now, of course, it goes without saying that we do no such thing; in fact, rabbinic litera ture goes out of its way to make sure that we do not actually put anybody to death, or burn down any cities, despite what the Torah tells us. And in this particular case, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 71a) declares this case to be theo retical. Any city that contains at least one mezuzah, says the Talmud, cannot be an ir nidahat, and what city does not have at least one mezuzah?! As with the ben sorer umoreh, the stubborn and disobedient son, whom the Torah also condemns to death, the rabbis find a workaround on the same Talmudic page. Why, then, is the ir hanidahat mentioned in the Torah at all, if it is merely theoretical? So that, the Talmud explains, we might use it as an opportunity to teach and interpret some Torah, and thereby receive the appro priate reward for doing so; learning Torah for its own sake, of course, is itself the reward. Those of us who appreciate the sense of learning Torah as its own reward may occa sionally feel that we are vastly outnumbered. It is certainly possible for us to lament the state of affairs in the Jewish world and see growing secularism, intermarriage and disinterest in Jewish institutions as a sign that we are moving into an idolatrous state as a society. For that matter, analogous phenomena are taking place among our non-Jewish friends and colleagues. It is all too easy to see our society as having been completely subverted by idolaters. I am speaking, of course, not about the idols which the Torah references, idols of wood and stone to which people bow. Rather, today’s idols are lucre, Big Data and filling the spiritual gaps in our lives with mean ingless material pursuits. The idolatry of distraction, of ephemera, is the modern threat to all our souls. And yet, amidst all of that emptiness, we still call young women and men to the Torah. We still attempt to fill them with our traditions, our text, our values. We still engage in moments of deep tefillah, prayer, in holy communities throughout the world. Our community just sent 240 participants on a Federation mission to Israel, seven buses of Pittsburghers. There are still plenty of metaphorical mezuzot to be found, and ever so much more. There are still many among us who understand that living Jewishly, that learning from our ancient bookshelf and maintaining our distinctive practices improve our lives and our world. There are even more ways available to learn today, more ways to receive that unique reward, and probably more people engaging with our sacred literature than ever before. Can we do more? Yes. Can we reach higher? Absolutely. Our Jewish practice, our educational institutions, our leadership must be continually reconsidered and refreshed. We have to keep trying to reach deeper within and without our communities to raise the bar in terms of Jewish engagement. Even as we face idolatrous times, it is up to us, to you who are reading this column, to be an ambassador for Jewish life and learning. You can be that mezuzah. PJC Rabbi Seth Adelson is senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association
Rabbi Seth Adelson Parshat DeuteronomyRe’eh 11:26 - 16:17
Public comments
There are even more ways available to learn today, more ways to receive that unique reward, and probably more people engaging with our sacred literature than ever before.
site on historic properties
Be the mezuzah!
B’nei Mitzvah
Zev Isaac Adelson, son of Rabbi Seth and Judith Adelson, brother to Oryah and Hannah and grandson to Patricia and Leonard Adelson and the late Anna Marie and Ervin Hoenig, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Aug. 27, 2022, at Congregation Beth Shalom. An eighthgrader at Community Day School, Zev studies cello at Pittsburgh Music Academy and enjoys playing in recitals in the CDS band and at PMA. He also loves performing in musicals at the JCC and CDS as well as riding his bike and waveboard. His other passions are Star Wars and LEGO. Mackenzie Elizabeth Pope , daughter of Leslie and Ryan Pope, will become a bat mitzvah at Beth El Congregation on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. Kenzie is the older sister of Addison and Brooklyn, and the granddaughter of Wendy and Steve Denenberg and Kimberly and William Pope. Kenzie is a rising eighth-grader at Fort Couch Middle School, where she is a member of the basketball and softball teams. She also enjoys playing for Steeltown Basketball Club and The Canonsburg Lady Knights softball team. For her bat mitzvah project, she is volunteering her time with The Miracle League of the South Hills.
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Iam quite pleased to be able to offer words of Torah on Parshat Re’eh this year in particular, as my son is called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on this Shabbat at Congregation Beth Shalom.
Rebecca Glatz and Malcolm Dombrowski were married May 28, 2022, in Pittsburgh. Rebecca is the daughter of John and Karen Glatz of Pittsburgh, and the granddaughter of Paul Lyle and the late Ruth Lyle. Malcolm is the son of Joseph Dombrowski and Bonnie Shore-Dombrowski of Tucson, Arizona, and is the grandson of the late Barbara and Jack Shore of Pittsburgh. Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Tucson officiated. Malcolm attended medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at UPMC. Rebecca graduated from Duquesne University and received her master’s degree from Carlow College in elementary education. Rebecca also runs a successful custom cookie company called Becka Bakes. The couple have relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a year while Malcolm completes his fellowship. PJC
Tuesday August 30: Sarah Americus, Alan Herbert Azen, Annie Berezin, Samuel Berger, Isadore A. Bernstein, Susan Dickter, Rebecca L. Guttman, Anne Harris, Mary Garson Mazer, Marie G. Mundel, Louis Rosenbloom, Eli Spokane, Morris Toig, Louis Whiteman
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In the beginning of the year and when it ends, We Remember em.
Esther Bennett
Squirrel Hill is different, she continued, not only because it’s a “highly dense urban neighborhood within urban boundaries, but it’s also a place where people regularly use public space to engage with each other, to talk to each other, to see each other.” This gives people a greater sense of accountability, Lebovits explained. “If you’re not really behaving so nicely in synagogue, it doesn’t just exist in synagogue — it also exists when you show up at Murray Avenue Kosher, when you show up at Giant Eagle, when you take your kids to the park.”
Nadine Kruman
Robert Rosenstein
Ruth Haber
Dr. Simon Berenfield
Dora Berenfield
Wednesday August 31: William Americus, Tillie Bennett, Samuel W. Berk, Zelda Glantz Chasick, Alex Glantz, Howard W. Jacobson, Mollie Kurtz, Sara Melnick, Sharon Lee Morton, Milton Moskovitz, David Pearlstein, Rose Rom, Alex Ruben, Fannie Shapiro, Leo Spiegle, Harry Treelisky, Louise Ziskind
Judi & Robert Miller
Richard, Mindy, and Logan Stadler
Marilyn Elkin
Isadore
Friday September 2: Anna Friedman Calig, Rose Calig, George H. Danzinger, Ella Friedman, Edith Goldstein, Liuba Horvitz, William M. Katz, Marcel Lucja, Frank Miller, Frances Rosen, Benjamin David Schwartz, Becky Weiner, Nathan Zapler, Annie Wirtzman
More than a decade has passed since Lebovits called Squirrel Hill home. She lives in Dallas with her husband and two children, yet remains grateful of her childhood and experiences at Yeshiva Schools and Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. Her research and years of living in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Cleveland and Dallas helped her appreciate Squirrel Hill’s uniqueness, she said. “Across the United States most Orthodox Jewish communities, at this point, are located in either quasi-suburban neighbor hoods within urban boundaries or entirely suburban neighborhoods,” she said. “The way that these neighborhoods are developed and designed is such that local activity is car-based: People get in their car, they go to get their amenities, they get back into their car and they leave.”
Those silencings — whether occurring in rabbinic literature or modern discourse — are problematic. And there’s a certain irony, Lebovits said, about the follow-up to iden tifying these wrongs: “Four or five tweets down the line — after I start engaging with somebody about a communal issue — there’s a, ‘Well why don’t you just leave?’” Lebovits refuses. Because rejection isn’t always the answer, she said. “Why should every critic have to leave their community? Why should every person who is critical of a couple of things have to leave everything they love. I don’t believe in that at all.”
PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Lebovits: Continued from page 5
SIROTA: Phyllis Greenspan Sirota passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. She was preceded in death by her parents, Molly and Julius Greenspan, and her brother, Danny Greenspan. Phyllis was the wife of the late Bernard B. Sirota, and mother of David (Toby), Debra (Bruce) and DJ (Diane). She cherished her grandchildren: Jordan Berk, Kyle Berk (Laney Kiefer), Halley (Matthew) Moe, Marni Sirota, Joshua Sirota and Evan Sirota. She will be remembered for her stories of family and friends, long walks, playing card games, and her pride in and love for her family. Funeral services are private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ronald McDonald House Charities rmhc. org/. The Sirota family arrangements have been entrusted to William Slater II Funeral Service, Scott Twp. PJC Her understanding of community is based on qualitative research, she said, but also her lived experience. She grew up on Hobart Street in Squirrel Hill to parents who worked “very full-time jobs.” Despite their demanding schedules, however, they made sure to be around at specific points of the day. The family also relied on caregivers to help with Lebovits and her six siblings. She said her parents “chose to hire older Black women who they felt were very caring in their nature, uniquely interested in helping raise Jewish children, [women who] valued faith and the importance of faith in people’s lives and certain forms of obedience and respect for elders. That sort of norma tive experience, of being loved by and loving Black women, was the most natural thing to me and has very much shaped my life and myLebovitsperspective.”dedicated her dissertation to her two caregivers and wrote, “To Esther O. Law and Lula Gittings, the two women who gave me a voice and handed me a pen.”
Louis Sigal
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Herbert Cohen
PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 27 Obituaries Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — A gift from ... In memory of... A gift from ... In memory of...
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ADAMS: Gertrude Mae Adams passed peacefully on Monday, July 25, 2022, at her home in Glenshaw. She was the loving wife of the late Marvin Adams. Daughter of the late Samuel and Ruth Weinberger. Cherished mother of Evan Adams (partner Deborah Irwin) of Wexford, Pennsylvania, and Randy (Julie) Adams of Sharon, Massachusetts. Sister of the late Rita (Bernard) Marks. Proud grandmother of Lauren Adams (fiancé Sean Pratt) and Jeffrey Adams. Loving aunt of Jay Marks, Ron Marks and Anastasia Leopold. Graveside services and interment were held at New Light Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Macular Degeneration Association at macularhope.org/, 5969 Cattleridge Boulevard, Suite 100, Sarasota, FL 34232 or New Light Congregation newlightcongregation.org/donations/,at 5915 Beacon Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com
The density of the community, she said, creates increased responsibility as neighbors constantly see each other “over and over again.” This level of engagement helps Lebovits understand community.
Hyman & Sara Lederstein
Thursday September 1: Lillian Bergad, Florence Bertenthal, Fannie Cohen, Patty Danovitz, Lena Darling, Rose Gold, Dora F. Greene, Bernard J Harris, Jeanette Miller Horowitz, Leah Katz, Pearl Laufe, Selma G. Leventon, Natalie Myra Lewis, Harry Malkin, Laura Marcuson, Rabbi Pincus F. Miller, Stefanie Ann Miller, Sylvia Monsein, Harry L. Richman, Max Roth, Gwen Amy Shakespeare, Howard S. Snider, Oscar Wilson, Isadore Sidney Wolfson
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Monday August 29: Joseph Cooper, Max Eger, Louis Eisenfeld, Meyer Fiman, Pearl Greenfield, Abraham Pittler, Charles Shapiro
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“People who are stripped of their ability to describe their own lives, and to talk about themselves as fully embodied humans, expe rience a deep injustice,” she said. “I think that is so often what happens to Orthodox Jewish women — where every single descriptor of us is occurring via the lens of men.”
Anonymous Leah Katz
Anonymous Rhea Mark
Sunday August 28: David Bass, Gertrude Chotiner, Leopold Diamond, Louis Farber, Sadie Friedlander, Louis Friedman, Milton S. Gordon, MD, Rose Grace Halpern, Alihu Klein, Raschel (Ray) Levine, Anna Rabinovitz, Hinda Kuhl Rubenstein, Samuel Verbin, Adolph Wirtzman
Saturday September 3: Harry Z. Davidson, Rabbi Henry Friedman, Helen Handlesman, Samuel E. Jacobson, Mimi Lawrence, Pauline Racusin Leventon, Jennie D. Miller, Rachel Mintz, Jennie Papernick, Ernst Perlstein, Dora Shaffer, Sarah Snyder, Mildred Tannenbaum, Sophie Tauber, Saul Weis
Simon Miller
“Part of being honest and being authentic is you have to say, ‘Hey, I’m struggling with this. Is anyone else?’ And when they say, ‘no,’ you have to recognize that it’s an individual struggling and you don’t really have a right to co-opt community to describe that struggle,” LebovitsLebovitssaid.appreciates that Twitter and other outlets give her space to share, probe and ponder, but she also recognizes that when writing about her involvement with a Jewish burial society or parenting, she enjoys freedoms that aren’t universally held.
The other thing that I learned is how pervasive this is online. And it’s not just in the deep dark web. It’s on social media. It’s in online gaming that our young kids are using, and that we think is a safe space. And that’s something that we have to be incredibly aware of.
Education is really the number-one thing that I learned that we have to be aggressive and zealous about. Because that’s the way to combat antisemitism, is to educate. There are people who just have hate in their heart, period, and they don’t want to hear it. But for the most part, people get caught up in using tropes or using language that is inherently antisemitic and they don’t realize it until it’s pointed out, which is education.
So religious practice and observance is so important. It’s something that is personally important to me and to some Jews, but it’s irrelevant to the notion of antisemitism.
As of press time, Torba’s post had received more than 560 comments and 821 reposts, many veering into virulent antisemitic comments, tropes and memes. One user wrote: “It’s anudda SHOAH.” Other Gab users reposted stories from the Chronicle as well: “Interfaith leaders speak out against Mastriano campaign’s use of Gab,” published online Aug. 18; and “Mastriano campaign attempts to pivot, says it rejects antisemitism,” published Aug. 1. Those reposts also were followed by antisemitic comments, some directed at the Chronicle. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Frankel: Continued from page 2
Let’s talk about the special itself. It’s very wide-ranging. What are you hoping people will take away from it? I’m hoping that people take away a couple of things. Number one is that it’s so easy, espe cially in the world in which we live, to have a point of view and be dug in and not listen to somebody else.
One of your interview subjects is the Chabad of Poway’s rabbi, Mendel Goldstein, whose superiors have been trying to get him to resign in the aftermath of a tax fraud scheme involving other members of his family, and he’s been resisting pressure to do that. Was that a conversation at all? No. We went in with one goal, and that is to put a spotlight on what happens when hate goes unchecked. This is a synagogue where a man came in — a young boy, really, 19 years old, was radicalized online and went in with a gun and with the intent of killing people. That was the focus: who that person is, why they did it. This is strictly about antisemi tism: violent antisemitism, in this case.
And I just want to say, they’re not equiva lent. I did not talk to one person who said that they’re equivalent. The extremism and antisemitism on the far right has devolved into real violence, people with semi-auto matic weapons going into synagogues and shooting down Jews for no reason other than they were Jews. On the left, it’s more discourse. Jonathan Greenblatt at the ADL said to me, “On the right, it’s like a category-five hurricane or tornado and they just come in and that just tears everything apart. On the far left, it’s more like climate change. It’s slow moving, it’s growing. Some people deny it exists, but it does exist, and if you ignore it, it’s going to envelop you.” And I thought that was a really good analogy.
PJC Bash: Continued from page 24 shooting three-and-a-half years ago. We need to make sure people are aware of this andAfterprepared.”theChronicle published this article online on Aug. 19, Gab founder Torba reposted a tweet from Pennsylvania State Rep. Dan Miller, who had reposted this story. In response, Torba wrote, in part, “People are done caring about your eternal victimhood complex. Free speech means the right to offend… Stop conflating offensive memes with ‘threats.’”
Really what I want to get across is that it’s an age-old conspiracy theory. We’re now, unfortunately, much more familiar with conspiracy theories. A disease pops up, it’s the Jews. A thunderstorm pops up, it’s the Jews, the economy goes down, it’s the Jews. And it is corrosive when it comes to society.
Let’s just take antisemitism that is growing on the progressive political left. What I learned in doing this, which was probably the most fraught, complicated part of this hour, is that people are just talking past each other. Rabbi Danny Zemel, he’s a proud progres sive and he’s my rabbi [at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C.]. I called him, and I said, “You have to help me here, because I have to get this right.” And I talked it through with him. He completely understood, because not everybody who’s on the progressive left, who stands up and says they’re an anti-Zi onist, really means that they’re anti-Jewish, that they’re antisemitic. He suggested I talk to Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who runs [the rabbinic human rights group] T’ruah, and I inter viewed her, and she’s the one who explained and described that to me. What she does with her friends in the secular progressive world [is] to try to stop their rhetoric and their approach from devolving into antisemitism. When she hears them say, “Well, I’m anti-Zionist,” she says, “What do you mean by that? Explain what you mean by that.” If they say, “Well, I don’t like the policies of the Israeli government,” well, that’s not antisemitism. Lipstadt says that if you want to hear the biggest criticism of the Israeli government, go sit in a cafe in Jerusalem and listen to the Jews. What is antisemitism is criticizing the Israeli government with tropes, like, “The Jews run the world, the Jews are powerhungry or money-hungry.” And then it gets into much more of a slippery slope, which is what happened to this young woman who I profiled who goes to SUNY New Paltz, where she said she is a proud Zionist in an Instagram post and she got kicked out of a group to help victims of sexual assault, that she founded. Because they didn’t even want to hear what she meant by that. [The student, Cassandra Blotner, is one of two who recently filed a civil rights complaint against SUNY New Paltz with the Department of Education.]
You’re describing such a central part of the debates within the Jewish community about how to talk about antisemitism, how to frame it, especially when it comes to the left versus the right, and the question of whether they’re equivalent.
On the note of Jewish practice, there wasn’t a ton in the special about Jews as Jews. How important do you think it is for understanding antisemitism to understand Jews beyond the context of like victims of antisemitism? Good question. Let me answer this way: My great-grandparents were secular Jews in Hungary. They weren’t self-hating Jews. They didn’t run from their Judaism, but if you would ask what they were, they would say, “We’re Hungarian.” And then eventually they would get to the fact that they were Jewish. The Nazis didn’t care. They still took them to the gas chamber and killed them in Auschwitz.
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PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 26, 2022 29 LAWRENCEVILLE • $680,000 New Listing! Fabulous 4.5 year-old, 4 level Contemporary with a view of the City. Open concept living, dining and kitchen. 3 Bedroom, 3.5 bath, special loft/mezzanine with French doors opening to a City view. 2 Car int. garage. JILL and MARK PORTLAND RE/MAX REALTY BROKERS 412.521.1000 EXT. 200 412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK FOR SALE SHADYSIDE • $795,000 Directions: Townhomes on Fifth across from Highland. Sophisticated, dramatic one of a kind townhome. Unique custom built. 4 levels. Starting in lower level enjoy great wine cellar, integral garage, storage with side room for all of your extra gear. First floor has a Great Room, kitchen, dining and living area and a beautiful 1/2 bath. This area leads to an unbelievable courtyard and luscious grounds with a sprinkler system. The courtyard is owned by this unit. The grounds are part of the common area. Next level has a rather large room with a whimsical full bath. Top floor has a great Master Area and Laundry. Smashing steel and glass staircase, dramatic lighting, terrific architectural details make this one of a kind! For the buyer that wants unique, bright, and sophisticated.
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| O: 412.521.1000 x340 | M: 412.818.3578 5125 Fifth Ave. 2 & 3 Bedrooms Corner of Fifth and Wilkins Spacious 1500-2250 square feet ”Finest in Shadyside” 412-661-4456 www.kaminrealty.kamin.com KEEPING IT REAL IN REAL ESTATE! Denise Serbin, Realtor HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE Squirrel Hill O ice 6310 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-480-6554 mobile/preferred 412-421-9120 o ice deniseserbin@howardhanna.com Contact Denise today for the REAL facts on why NOW is the best time to buy or sell! 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 1533 Asbury Place $474,9001533 Asbury Place $474,900 “Looking to buy or sell a great house? Call Greathouse!” WANTED: Grandma & Pap’s VERY Old Clothing, Costume Jewelry, Hats, Purses, Shoes, Fur Coats/Stoles, Wedding Gowns, Quilts/Textiles. Quantity preferred. Cash Paid - Will Pick Up Toll Free 888-736-7242 CASH: BUYING GOOD WRECKED MECHANICAL PROBLEMS DOMESTIC FOREIGN CARS TRUCKS SUVS VANS PURCHASED AT YOUR LOCATION FREE LEGAL TITLE TRANSFER DENNY OFFSTEIN AUTO SALES 7 DAYS 724-287-7771 Shrub and Tree Trimming Summer Special Senior and Military Discounts Summer Clean Ups Versa Lock and Precast Walls, Concrete Work Edward 412-951-3437 LOOK AT THIS! HOME REMODELING/ REPAIRS Senior Discounts Painting Drywall • Carpentry • Flooring • Etc. Leave a message for Lonnie at: 412-583-5336 or email at LonnieP7145@gmail.com FOR SALE 2 Crypts Star of David allHomewoodWallCemetery$18,000inclusive Call Ray 412-999-8102 Business & Professional Directory Real Estate FOR SALE REALTOR SERVICES REALTOR SERVICES FOR SALE FOR RENT AUTOS WANTED BUYING CRYPTS FOR SALE LANDSCAPING REMODLING THE BEST OF THE h IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK. Sign up on the right hand side of our homepage. pittsburghjewishchronicle.org GET THE news THEN GET THE FULL STORY ❀ In the callForJewishPittsburghChroniclehomedelivery,410.902.2300,ext. 1
5715 BEACON PLACE, UNIT 217 • LOCATED NEAR THE CORNER OF BEACON & MURRAY • $189,900 Easy living in the highly sought-after Beacon Place Condominium Building, an ADA and 62 Years and Older Community, this is one of the rare two-bedroom two fullbath units. This immaculate condo unit has been lovingly maintained by its current owners and is just waiting for you to call it home. Amenities galore in the building, including gym, community room with kitchen, and storage area. Located at the corner of Beacon and Murray, all of the best that Squirrel Hill has to o er is right is at your front door. Also conveniently located along major public transit lines, making trips outside the neighborhood a breeze. by The Onufer Team Onufer
30 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 7:00–8:30 P.M. EDT SENATOR JOHN HEINZ HISTORY CENTER 1212 Smallman St, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Valet ParkingJOINAvailable 2022 AWARD RECIPIENTS CAROL L. ROBINSON Emanuel Spector Memorial Award RIVKEE AND RABBI MORDY RUDOLPH Doris & Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award 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 412-992-5233 or email kparker@jfedpgh.org to discuss questions or accessibility. The annual meeting is underwritten by a grant from the Lillian and Dr. Henry J. Goldstein Annual Meeting Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Foundation. To register, please scan QR Code or visit jewishpgh.org/annual-meeting Please register by noon, Friday, September 16 DAVID D. SUFRIN Chair of the Board JEFFREY H. PresidentFINKELSTEIN&CEO MEETINGANNUAL2022 THANK YOU TO CorporateDiamond-LevelOURSponsor: CorporateGold-LevelSponsor:
p All hands together for summer fun at JCC South Hills Day Camp.
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p Campers at Gan Israel Pittsburgh ready for an outdoor adventure. Photo courtesy of Chanie Rosenblum Ethan Goetz became an Eagle Scout after completing a project that he worked on with members of his troop, cross-country team, the athletic department and facilities crew from North Allegheny Schools. Ethan put in 22 engraved posts (with mileage markers and arrows for direction) around the middle school cross-country course. Ethan’s work helped solidify the course for XC runners as well as for the community at large by allowing course users to know how far they’ve gone and where the next post is for the almost 2-mile loop. Additionally, Ethan added a professional start/stop sign for everyone to know where to begin. Photo courtesy of Jill Goetz
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p Splish splash, it’s time to swim. Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Photos courtesy of Temple David So much fun (and stuff)
32 AUGUST 26, 2022 PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG Price effective Thursday, through Wednesday, , 202 Alle Kosher 80% Lean Fresh Ground Beef •All-natural, corn-fed beef — steaks, roasts, ground beef and •Varietymoreof deli meats and •All-naturalfranks poultry — whole chickens, breasts, wings and more Available at select Giant Eagle stores. Visit GiantEagle.com for location information. KOSHER MEATS Available at and 99 lb.
