December 19, 2025 | 29 Kislev 5786
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL “Rooted in Humanity”
Tree of Life’s new campaign LOCAL
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Candlelighting 4:38 p.m. | Havdalah 5:42 p.m. | Vol. 68, No. 51 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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$200K state Community reacts to Australia Chanukah shooting grant to bolster student support and parent programming at Jewish day schools
JHF’s investment in community
p Sen. John Fetterman joined the celebration of Chabad of Greenfield the first night of Chanukah. The celebration included words by phone from Rabbi Menachem Aron, director of Chabad of RARA (Rural and Regional Australia).
Squirrel Hill Health Center receives sizable grant Page 6
LOCAL A compassionate career
Sandy Budd’s decades of service to survivors Page 10
LOCAL “Wavelengths” making waves
Female Jewish artists celebrated at Pitt Page 16
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
A
t least 15 people were murdered by two gunmen as they celebrated the first night of Chanukah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. More than two dozen were injured in the terrorist attack, which took place at 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, Dec. 14. The Chanukah event, attended by hundreds of people, was organized by Chabad of Bondi, and those killed include Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an emissary of the movement who has worked in Australia for the last 18 years. Several Pittsburgh Chabad rabbis knew Schlanger and his family. Aleph Institute’s Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel was a cousin of the shliach. “I watched him grow up,” Vogel told the Chronicle. “It’s so sad and painful. Eli was a great kid.” One of the shooters, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital. The pair had ties to ISIS, according to The Times of Israel. An unarmed civilian, Ahmed al-Ahmed, tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen, JTA reported. He was shot twice but is expected to survive. Police said they found an explosive device in a car belonging to the gunman who was killed. Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, head shliach of
western Pennsylvania and the rabbi of the Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh, said that the attack was “very sad.” “Chabad does the public menorah lighting all over the world and is very public in everything that it does,” he said. Rosenfeld said the Jewish community will not retreat. “The Jewish answer to darkness has always been the same,” he said. “We add light. We show up. We stand visibly and proudly as Jews.” Americans learned of the attack as they woke Sunday morning, hours before the community began celebrating Chanukah with public menorah lightings throughout Pittsburgh. Chabad of Squirrel Hill was readying for its annual menorah parade and celebration. Rabbi Yisroel Altein said that rather than shrink from public gatherings, the attack should cause the opposite reaction. “We should stop and think, ‘How can we respond to such hate with more positivity?’” he said. “How can we do it bigger and better? How can we get more Jews involved? How can we bring more light?” The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh issued a statement saying it stood in solidarity with the Australian Jewish community, noting that the shooting was the deadliest attack of Jews in the Diaspora
p Educating today's students requires investment from teachers and the community.
Photo courtesy of Community Day School
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
A
$200,000 grant, funding behavioral health services and support for neurodiverse learners, was awarded to Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The funds, according to school leaders, will boost physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and social work within the institutions, as well as enable schools to host community-centered programming regarding parenting and teen mental health. “What we want to do — and what we know we can do — is have the best possible services embedded within our schools,” Casey Weiss, Community Day School’s head of school, said.
Please see Shooting, page 12
SHARE THE LIGHT OF
Chanukah
adogslifephoto/Adobe Stock
Please see Grant, page 12