Afederal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against three Pittsburgh residents, charging them with conspiracy, defacing and damaging religious property, making false statements and possession of destructive devices.
The nine-count indictment, announced April 23 by the Western District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, identified the defendants as: Mohamad Hamad, 23, of Coraopolis; Talya A. Lubit, 24, of Pittsburgh; and Micaiah Collins, 22, of Pittsburgh.
Both Hamad and Lubit were indicted previously for their roles in defacing Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building and a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh sign with pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist graffiti. Lubit is Jewish.
According to the indictment, Hamad made false statements while seeking top-secret clearance as a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard assigned to the 171st Maintenance Squadron and stationed in Moon Township.
Hamad lied about his loyalty to the United States, according to the indictment, telling his interviewer that “his ultimate allegiance is to the United States,” despite telling others on multiple
occasions that his loyalty was to Palestine and Lebanon, and sharing various pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah content.
“He openly expressed support for Lebanon, Hezbollah and Hamas,” acting U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti, said in a news release. “In addition to his previously charged role in defacing Jewish religious property, he conspired with others named in the Superseding Indictment to manufacture and detonate destructive devices.”
Hamad has a history of posting antiIsrael rhetoric and support for terrorist organizations online.
On June 6, 2024, he posted to his Instagram account a picture of himself as a juvenile holding a firearm and stated, “Been toting that K since I was a boy, don’t play with me.”
On the same day he sent Collins, via the encrypted message app Signal, a message which included another image of him holding a firearm and the text, “Been a terrorist since I was a kid in Lebanon, real sh--.” According to the complaint, Collins replied “i love it . . . ”
On June 18, Hamad wrote Collins on Signal telling her that he had received chemicals — Indian black aluminum powder and potassium
that could be used
Chabad of Squirrel Hill nears completion on $2M remodel
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Sta Writer
Following more than 18 months of renovations, Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building is nearly complete and set to welcome generations of worshippers and learners.
The remodel of the building on Beechwood Boulevard, which formerly housed New Light Congregation, emphasizes light and space.
The project involved a “major transformation,” according to Jed Cohen, a construction manager who participates in Chabad of Squirrel Hill programming.
Months before Chabad entered into a contract with G6 Builders, a Pittsburgh-based construction company, Cohen was tapped by Chabad’s co-Director Rabbi Yisroel Altein to serve as “de facto project manager.”
Cohen, who said he happily accepted Altein’s offer, interviewed contractors, negotiated bids, reviewed invoices, oversaw weekly inspections and prepared a punch list of items that remain unfinished.
Having seen the project to its near completion — a chandelier will be installed in the coming week, Altein said — Cohen is proud of the beautified space.
“For me personally, I like having a place
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Chabad of Squirrel Hill were vandalized on July 29 by Mohamad Hamad and Talya Lubit, according to prosecutors
Courtesy photos
stained glass windows and custom cabinetry provide the backdrop to Chabad of Squirrel Hill's renovated sanctuary.
Photo courtesy of Chabad of Squirrel Hill
Headlines
Over 500 rabbis sign letter rejecting Trump’s antisemitism agenda
By Grace Gilson | JTA
Over 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration for “abusing the issue” of antisemitism, joining a growing chorus of opposition from Jewish leaders.
The letter, published Monday and titled “A Call to Moral Clarity: Rejecting Antisemitism as a Political Wedge,” was organized by two progressive Jewish groups — the Israel lobby J Street and rabbinic group T’ruah.
It follows another letter published last Tuesday by the Jewish refugee aid group HIAS that included the signatures of over 560 Jewish religious leaders. That letter condemned the “immoral use of the law” by the Trump administration, specifically citing the administration’s deportation campaigns.
The letters have become the latest in a widening call from Jewish leaders who have accused the Trump administration of using antisemitism as a pretext to further its anti-higher education agenda and its crackdown on immigrants.
“The resurgence of this age-old hatred is alarming, and we unequivocally stand against it in all its forms,” the J Street-Truah letter reads. “We must also be clear: the way in which the Trump administration claims it is combating antisemitism is not about protecting Jews — it is instead overtly abusing the issue to divide Americans, undermine democracy, and harm other vulnerable communities.”
A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. Also last week, five Jewish senators, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, signed a letter lambasting the administration’s crackdown
“Defunding universities, threatening to deport student protesters, and using Jews as a justification for authoritarian tactics does not make us safer; it makes us more vulnerable.”
–THE J STREET-T’RUAH LETTER
on Harvard, which has seen $2.2 billion in federal funding frozen over its response to campus antisemitism.
The HIAS letter criticized the Trump administration’s mass revocation of student visas. The administration has revoked over 1200 student visas, including those of some pro-Palestinian student activists. The administration began rolling back the revocations amid a spree of lawsuits from affected international students.
“As Jews and as Americans, we refuse to remain silent at the co-opting of our nation’s statutes and express alarm about the path
down which it leads. We demand that the administration abandon its manipulative interpretation of law and restore a commitment to the inalienable rights that are the source of our country’s greatness,” the HIAS letter read.
The J Street-T’ruah letter also denounced the Trump administration’s targeting of international students, which have included the detainment of pro-Palestinian student activists including Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia and Rumeysa Ozturk of Tufts.
“Defunding universities, threatening to deport student protesters, and using Jews
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as a justification for authoritarian tactics does not make us safer; it makes us more vulnerable. We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter read.
The J Street-T’ruah letter was signed by clergy from across the country, a mix of mostly Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis and cantors, along with a handful of Orthodox rabbis.
Several notable rabbis signed the J StreetT’ruah letter, including Sally Priesand and Amy Eilberg, the first Reform and Conservative women, respectively, to be ordained by their movements; and Deborah Waxman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The list also includes Sharon Kleinbaum, David Teutsch, Gordon Tucker, Arthur Waskow, Susan Talve, David Rosenn and Julie Schonfeld.
Pittsburgh Rabbis Amy Bardack, James A. Gibson and Mark Asher Goodman were among those whose signed the J StreetT’ruah letter.
The letter begins and ends with a call for Jews to take seriously the threat of antisemitism, which has increased since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, while also “refusing to let the fight against it be co-opted for authoritarian ends.”
“Our community has endured a very real spike in antisemitism in recent years. We’ve seen bomb threats, vandalism and attacks on our schools and synagogues,” said T’ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs in a statement. “It’s precisely because tackling this issue is so important that we can’t allow it to be hijacked by this administration to pursue an authoritarian agenda that puts us all at risk.”
PJC
Toby Tabachnick contributed to this report.
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p Rabbi Jill Jacobs, with microphone, speaks at a rally for Israeli democracy by Israelis and American Jews outside Israel’s consulate in Manhattan, March 27, 2023.
Photo courtesy of T’ruah, via Twitter
Headlines
Pennsylvania antisemitic incidents reach new high, according to ADL
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
For the third year in a row, antisemitic incidents in Pennsylvania have reached a new high, according to the 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents by the Anti-Defamation League.
The Keystone State ranked fourth in the United States for the most antisemitic incidents in 2024, with 465 incidents reported — an 18% jump from 2023. Nationally, there were 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism — an 893% increase over the last 10 years — the ADL reported.
Of the confirmed incidents tracked in the audit, 72% were attributed to harassment, 25% to vandalism and the remaining were physical assaults.
The spike of antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel continued, with totals exceeding any other annual tally in the last 46 years, making 2024 the fourth year in a row national antisemitic incidents increased, and breaking the previous all-time high. The average 12-month total for 2024 averaged more than 25 targeted anti-Jewish incidents in the United States per day — more than one an hour — according to the report.
For the first time in the ADL’s reporting history, a majority of the incidents, 5,452, were related to Israel. Nearly 2,600 took place at anti-Israel rallies in the form of antisemitic speeches, chants, signs and slogans. Pittsburgh has been home to several of these rallies, a large portion of which took place around the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and were organized or promoted by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Pittsburgh Apartheid Divest and Steel City Antifascist League.
Students for Justice in Palestine and the Party for Socialism and Liberation were the two most active organizers or co-sponsors of protests where antisemitic incidents
occurred, the ADL reported. Combined, they were involved in more than 50% of the protests in this category.
Allegheny County reported 84 incidents, second only to Philadelphia County. Most of those, 78, occurred in Pittsburgh. The city was second in the list of top cities and towns with the most reported incidents, surpassed only by Philadelphia. Both cities are home to large university campuses, where 45% of the state’s incidents occurred.
“In Pittsburgh, we saw a lot of vandalism this year and, unfortunately, a couple of the assaults that happened in the report happened to University of Pittsburgh students,” said Kelly Fishman, the ADL’s regional director serving Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania.
One of the more alarming trends, Fishman said, has been the number of times swastikas were present at rallies or painted as graffiti. The Nazi symbol was found everywhere from public places to elementary schools, she noted.
“And I’m really concerned about the rise of Holocaust denial, of Holocaust misinformation, of people saying, ‘Oh, Jews are making up the numbers and the experiences of the Holocaust,’” she said.
Fishman said that what has occurred in Pittsburgh over the last year has been alarming.
“The idea that we can shut down Jewish
voices — we’ve seen BDS referendums and a lot of antisemitism on campus,” she said.
The ADL continues to be concerned by antisemitic incidents from the far-right and far-left, Fishman said, noting that there is a “horseshoe effect” where the two seemingly polar opposite political ideologies meet.
“When we think about any kind of extremist ideology, when you become so extreme that you’re willing to use violence, there starts to be a lot less that separates you,” she said.
Fishman is hopeful that antisemitic incidents have reached their apex on college campuses but said there are still a disproportionate number of outside agitators, not associated with the universities and colleges, who are attempting to “keep the fire burning around the issue where a lot of students in places like Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Case, have kind of let go of that,” she said.
Those outside agitators, she said, often push content created by Iran, Hamas and other of its proxies.
Despite the efforts of those hoping to continue to push anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and antisemitic messages, local universities have “been working really hard to fight against antisemitism on campus,” she said, noting that Carnegie Mellon’s grade rose from a C to a B, and the University of Pittsburgh
Please see Antisemitism, page 11
E. J. Strassburger’s legacy of leadership takes center stage at Branch fundraiser
By Deborah Weisberg | Special to the Chronicle
Pittsburgh attorney and community leader E. J. Strassburger will be honored May 8 at Breaking Down Walls, a fundraiser for The Branch, a Squirrel Hillbased organization that supports individuals with psychiatric, developmental, or intellectual disabilities.
The event, at the Energy Innovation Center, uptown, will have a casual theme, “Dinner, Dancing and Denim,” and is open to the public. Tickets are $75.
Strassburger will receive the inaugural Krause Award, which is named for the late Dr. Seymoure and Corinne Krause, a couple instrumental in establishing The Branch, formerly Jewish Residential Services in 1993, to provide housing options for people with mental health challenges.
As JRS programming expanded, the name was changed, according to Karen Oosterhous, director of development and marketing, “to reflect that, while are founded on Jewish values and remain culturally Jewish, we serve a wider community.”
A former Branch board chair, Strassburger will be feted for his many contributions to growing the organization. In 2006, he arranged a partnership between then-JRS and ACTION Housing to turn a 10-unit apartment building
on Squirrel Hill’s Darlington Road into Jason Kramer Hall, an affordable, independent living facility for people with disabilities.
In 2012, Strassburger was pivotal in transforming the long neglected former Poli’s R estaurant site at Murray and Forward avenues into Krause Commons, a multi-use Branch facility.
Krause Commons includes Branch offices, 33 affordable apartments, half of which are set aside for people with disabilities, and the Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse, which provides social, educational and recreational programming for adults living with mental illness.
For members like Jan Harris, of Beltzhoover, the clubhouse has been transformative.
Now 70, Harris first visited the clubhouse 12 years ago at the direction of doctors who were treating her for severe depression, and
she became a regular, noting that the facility’s warm sense of community has helped put her on an even keel.
“It’s the love that’s here,” said Harris. “We know that the staff love us. When you are in that environment of love it becomes easy to grow.”
She takes part in a work-ordered day, which is designed to help members build self-confidence and meaningful relationships as they perform tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Birthdays and other holidays are celebrated. Members operate a thrift store to serve each other.
“I graduated from cleaning to doing dishes and gradually became more and more involved,” said Harris, who now considers herself a clubhouse leader. “On Christmas we socialize and eat together. We had a seder this year for 60. I have made some very good friends here.”
Harris and three other members will share what Harris calls “the understory” of their challenges at the May 8 fundraiser.
“In general, people don’t talk about it, because there’s so much shame and so much stigma,” Harris said. “Sharing our really deep stories — that’s what we want sponsors and donors to connect with … what brought us to the clubhouse, what brought us to our knees.”
Harris said she wants donors to see who is benefiting from their generosity. “I am very excited that we are going to be able to that.”
The fundraiser will mark the 25th
anniversary of the clubhouse, and the 10th anniversary of the Dr. Solomon and Sarah Goldberg House, a residence for adults with disabilities.
Strassburger was chosen for the Krause award because he is “the consummate volunteer for us,” said Nancy Gale, Branch executive director.
“He has used both his professional talents and community connections to help us do some very important projects, like establishing Charles Morris Hall and Jason Kramer Hall. He understood the real estate market, and did a lot of fundraising for the building we are in.”
“Running a capital campaign takes significant effort, and he has been involved in every big project we’ve have.”
Strassburger said the Krause award, which will be presented to him by his daughter-in-law, City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, represents the success of “an entire proverbial village.”
“I had so many collaborators along the way — too many to mention — who contributed their time and talents, as well as incredibly generous believers, like Seymoure and Corky Krause, the Levin family and others, who contributed their money,” E. J. Strassburger said. “The wonderful result has been lifechanging experiences for the clients of the Branch (née JRS), and their families.” PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
p E. J. Strassburger
Photo courtesy of E.J. Strassburger
p Signage at anti-Israel encampment in Pittsburgh in 2024 Photo by Jim Busis
Headlines
Synagogue shooting survivors share how global support restored faith in humanity
By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
In the weeks and months following the Oct. 27, 2018, Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the survivors and family members of victims received thousands of gifts and letters from people around the world, most of them strangers.
Jodi Kart, whose 88-year-old father, Melvin Wax, was murdered during the attack, felt uneasy at first.
“I was in such a fog. I had not a processed what had happened,” Kart told a group of about 60 friends and neighbors at the University of Pittsburgh’s University Club on April 22. “I felt very vulnerable, and all of a sudden, I’m receiving things from strangers. And it felt uncomfortable.”
But as the days progressed, she said, she began to “look forward to receiving the cards and the letters and the items.”
“Suddenly, I could see that there was so much kindness in the world and that was the exact opposite of what I had just experienced,” Kart recalled. “I had experienced the worst kind of hate that anybody could experience.”
When she began to focus on the fact that people took the time to reach out to her, “it truly was like a wave of kindness,” she said.
About a year later, when the items started coming more sporadically, Kart missed receiving them.
“I didn’t realize how impactful they were,” she said.
Several of those items were on display from March 27-April 25 at the University Club, showcased in the exhibit “Lessons from The Tree of Life,” which was created in partnership with the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. The exhibit is slated to travel to Cleveland, New York and Miami over the next year.
The items range from heartfelt notes, to children’s drawings, to handmade Judaica, such as a challah cover embroidered with the names of the 11 people who were killed: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.
Kart was among a panel of speakers from REACH (Remember, Educate and Combat Hate), the 10.27 Healing Partnership’s speakers bureau, which connects with schools in the region to share firsthand accounts of the real-world consequences of antisemitism and hate-based violence. Also on the panel were Amy Mallinger, whose grandmother Rose Mallinger was murdered during the attack; Andrea Mallinger Wedner, who was seriously wounded in the attack, and whose mother, Rose Mallinger, was killed; Martin Gaynor, a survivor of the shooting and a former member of Congregation Dor Hadash; and Dan Leger, a survivor of the shooting and a member of Dor Hadash.
The panel was moderated by Eric Lidji, the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives, which
when a tragedy is broadcast far and wide, he said, “a lot of very unusual things happen. All of a sudden, people who don’t know you feel connected to you. And one of the ways that manifested in Pittsburgh was that people from all over the world sent things to Pittsburgh, and they sent them in ginor mous quantities.”
So far, the Rauh Jewish Archives has catalogued at least 10,000 objects that came in after Oct. 27, 2018.
“And they come from all over the place, from towns that you would not think of would care about Squirrel Hill, from other parts of the world,” Lidji said.
Lidji said it was important to consider the process of creating these objects.
“When somebody makes something by hand, they are thinking about you the entire time they’re making it, and you can feel that when you look at these objects,” he said. “But the thing that you can’t forget is that they were actually meant for people. They were meant for specific people. They were meant for the people who were most directly impacted by Oct. 27, and they were meant for the larger community and for the city. And part of what we’re trying to do now is to reconnect that human bond that was intended originally.”
The panelists shared how meaningful it was for them to receive the cards and objects.
“The support that I found all around was what got me through this whole thing,” Wedner said. “Gifts, cards, notes … I felt a love and support from everywhere and I never felt alone. I appreciated everything that I got. I probably still have a lot of the things hidden in a drawer, but someone took the time to put those in the box, put them in the mail and send them to me.”
Many of the letters Wedner received came from school-aged children.
“Teachers were teaching them about the victims,” she said. “We got tons of letters
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The Court of Common Pleas affects real people every day. Bryan’s deep roots, proven judgment, and integrity make him the kind of judge Allegheny County needs.
“My hospital room was really decorated with lots of beautiful drawings and things that people had made to send to me that
p From left: Dan Leger, Martin Gaynor, Eric Lidji, Amy Mallinger, Andrea Mallinger Wedner and Jodi Kart
Photo by Toby Tabachnick
Calendar
Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.
SATURDAY, MAY 3
Families with young children are invited to spend Shabbat morning with Rodef Shalom at Shabbat with You. Drop in for a light breakfast, play date, sing-along with Cantor Toby Glaser and a Shabbat activity with Family Center Director Ellie Feibus. 9 a.m. $5 per family. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom. org/shabbatwithyou.
SUNDAYS, MAY 4–JULY 27
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Men’s Tefillin Club. Services and tefillin are followed by a delicious breakfast and engaging discussions on current events. 8:30 a.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.
MONDAYS, MAY 5–JULY 21
Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership for Roll for Insight: Community-Building Role-Playing Games
Meet every other week to connect and grow with new friends through playing tabletop role-playing games designed to inspire emotional depth. They will use RPGs to explore the intersection of identity, emotional resiliency and games to fight isolation and disconnection, and to meet new people and form friendships. Free. No experience required. 16 and up. 5:30 p.m. Jewish Community Center, 5738 Forbes Ave. 1027healingpartnership. org/rpg-club.
MONDAYS, MAY 5–JULY 28
Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmudstudy. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
Join Temple Sinai for an evening of mahjong every Monday (except holidays). Whether you are just starting out or have years of experience, you are sure to enjoy the camaraderie and good times as you make new friends or cherish moments with long-term pals. All are welcome. Winners will be awarded Giant Eagle gift cards. All players should have their own mahjong cards. Contact Susan Cohen at susan_k_cohen@yahoo.com if you have questions. $5. templesinaipgh.org.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7
Congregation Dor Hadash invites you to an open house to visit their religious school. They are currently enrolling new students for the 2025-26 school year. Their part-time religious school education is for students in kindergarten through seventh grade. Classes meet weekly on Wednesday afternoons. 4:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. dorhadash.net.
WEDNESDAYS, MAY 7–JULY 29
Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Daniel Fellman presents a weekly Parshat/Torahportionclass on site and online. Call 412-421-9715 for more information and the Zoom link.
Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful with Rabbi Mark Goodman in this weekly ParashahDiscussion: Life & Text. 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/life-text.
Calling all Hadassah members in Pittsburgh! Join usfor a delicious brunch as we reconnect and learn about the amazing work of Hadassah.
Classrooms Without Borders will share information about the new collaboration with Hadassah in Pittsburgh Register online. Questions or for mailing instructions, contact your Pittsburgh Chapter of Hadassah Representative Lynda Heyman at lheyman@hadassah.org.
FRIDAY, MAY 9
Join Rodef Shalom’s Cantor Toby Glaser for a 20s and 30s Kabbalat Shabbat. Get to know other young Jewish professionals and close out the week with apps, wine and great company. Registration required. 7 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/lateshabbat.
TUESDAY, MAY 13
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for Pre-Shavuot Torah and Tea. Explore the “soul” of Shavuot and the meaningful lessons it o ers in our lives today. 7 p.m. Email caltein@chabadpgh.com for the location. chabadpgh.com/tea.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14
Join Chabad of the South Hills for a Seniors Lunch, including the presentation “Adapting Homes to Seniors’ Challenging Needs,” by Comfort Keepers. 1 p.m. $5 suggested donation. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com.
Join JFCS for its Annual Meeting, Past, Present, Future: The Profound Impact of Community Support, as it celebrates its last year of successes and achievements while looking toward the future. Guest speaker: Eric Lidji, Rauh Jewish Archives director. 6:30 p.m. JCC Katz Auditorium, 5738 Darlington Road. jfcspgh.org/event/jfcs-annual-meeting-2025.
THURSDAY, MAY 15
Chabad of Squirrel Hill presents Unity Challah Bake, a challah-making workshop for men and women. Make a beautiful and delicious heartshaped challah and enjoy a bu et of assorted challah and dips. 7 p.m. $15; 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/lol.
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its May 4 discussion of “Jews Don’t Count,” by David Baddiel. From Amazon.com: “‘Jews Don’t Count’ is a book for people who consider themselves on the right side of history. People fighting the good fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia and, particularly, racism. People, possibly, like you.
"It is the comedian and writer David Baddiel’s contention that one type of racism has been left out of this fight. In his unique combination of close reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes, Baddiel argues that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of anti-Semitism . He outlines why and how, in a time of intensely heightened awareness of minorities, Jews don’t count as a real minority: and why they should.”
Your hosts
Toby Tabachnick, Chronicle editor
David Rullo, Chronicle senior staff writer
How it works
We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, May 4, at 1 p.m.
What to do
Buy: “Jews Don’t Count.” It is available at some area Barnes and Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon.
THURSDAY, MAY 22
Join Chabad of the Squirrel Hill for Sip and Paint Night. Enjoy Israeli wine, desserts and good company while creating a beautiful painting of Jerusalem. 7 p.m. $25. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com/paint.
THURSDAY, MAY 29
Rendezvous in Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden with drinks and hors d’ouvres for a free live performance with Doug Levine and Cantor Toby Glaser. 6:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/garden.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
Join Rodef Shalom Congregation for Biblical Garden Open Door Tours: free, docent-led tours of the congregation’s Biblical Botanical Garden the first Wednesday of the month. 12:15 p.m. Free. 4905 Fifth Avenue. rodefshalom.org/garden.
MONDAY, JUNE 9
Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for The Sound of Jewish Music, a magical evening for women featuring music, dance and inspiration. 6:30 p.m. $18/adult, $10/student in advance; $25 at the door. Katz Performing Art Center, 5738 Darlington Road. soundo ewishmusic.com.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18
JFCS Pittsburgh presents From Stigma to Strength: Understanding Mental Health History and Managing Anxiety, exploring the evolution of mental health understanding and providing practical tools for today’s challenges. The session will dive into the historical roots of mental health stigma, discuss how current global challenges trigger anxiety and present evidence-based strategies for maintaining well-being. Virtual lecture and participation is free. 6 p.m. jfcspgh. org/CounselingRegistration. PJC
It is also available through the Carnegie Library system.
Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting. PJC
— Toby Tabachnick
Headlines
Oct. 7 hero shares harrowing firsthand account with Pittsburgh audience
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
Astory garnering global attention was quietly retold in Pittsburgh. Inside the recently renovated Chabad of Squirrel Hill, 37-year-old Menachem Kelmanson shared his experiences on Oct. 7, 2023.
Kelmanson, who in the past 18 months has drawn international acclaim for saving more than 100 residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, recalled spending Simchat Torah with his family in Otniel, hearing of the early morning attack near Gaza on Oct. 7, driving with his brother Elhanan and nephew Itiel Zohar to Be’eri, entering the Israeli kibbutz and spending nearly 16 hours voluntarily rescuing civilians amid Hamas’ surprise assault.
Relying on photos from Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, Kelmanson, a teacher, rabbi and IDF reservist, calmly spoke to more than 120 Pittsburghers on April 22, telling stories of bypassing checkpoints, breaching residences and hurriedly situating civilians into a recovered jeep.
Kelmanson, an unassuming man with short gray hair, chronicled numerous rescues he and his family orchestrated, including that of an 87-year-old grandmother who was hard of hearing, a woman 41 weeks into her pregnancy and a nearly naked father who hid beneath shrubs after Hamas terrorists filled the man’s safe room with smoke, murdered his 15-year-old son and abducted his 13-year-old daughter.
“Every man and woman, there is a story there,” Kelmanson said.
For more than an hour — and with permission from each survivor, he noted — Kelmanson, dressed in a black polo shirt, slacks and tzitzit dangling at his sides, detailed Be’eri’s chaotic scene.
Before the attack, the kibbutz’s population was about 1,100. On the morning of Oct. 7, hundreds of terrorists entered Be’eri, killing more than 100 residents and “torturing scores,” The Associated Press reported.
By the time fighting quelled on Oct. 10, more than 30 residents were taken hostage by terrorists, according to an IDF inquiry.
Help on a holiday
Otniel, a West Bank settlement, is nearly an hour’s drive from Be’eri.
Shortly after Kelmanson agreed to accompany his older brother (a former IDF reserve lieutenant and Mossad member), the two donned IDF uniforms and headed west toward the Gaza envelope. At Be’eri’s gated entrance, Kelmanson saw billowing smoke and dead civilians; inside the kibbutz, fighting ensued.
“I never heard sounds like that in all my army service — shooting, bombing,” he said.
Outside the kibbutz, Kelmanson saw IDF soldiers from units including Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet 13, Tzanhanim and the Golani Brigade strategize. Civilians stood nearby.
“I don’t know how, but they succeeded to get out,” Kelmanson said.
Despite safely exiting the kibbutz, civilians’ family and friends remained inside. WhatsApp messages were shared.
“They were asking for help, calling, can
somebody come,” Kelmanson said.
Kelmanson and his brother, later joined by their nephew, entered the kibbutz and moved between houses retrieving residents. Avoiding gunfire and bombing was one challenge; navigation was another.
In small towns like this, Kelmanson said, “everybody knows everyone,” the homes don’t have addresses and directions are colloquially delivered, “Take a left and then at the kindergarten take a right.”
For almost 16 hours “Team Elhanan,” as they were later called, ventured between houses, the kibbutz entrance and back.
Kelmanson largely followed his older brother’s lead.
“People think that Elhanan was always walking with a big smile and hugging everyone,” Kelmanson said. “That’s not his character. He was an officer — really straight and formal.”
Kelmanson’s wife, Ayelet, who joined her
Once, during a family trip in Israel, she recalled, her car stalled on the side of the road after 11 p.m.
She called her husband, who told her to phone his brother. She did.
But Elhanan wasn’t one to answer calls and extend pleasantries, Ayelet said. “He goes, ‘Where are you? Send the location.’ And then he hung up.”
Ayelet’s story elicited laughter from attendees. Once quiet resumed, she continued: “That’s just a little bit of a taste of who he was.”
Search, rescue, return
Inside Be’eri, the Kelmanson brothers and their nephew searched for civilians.
“In the beginning, people still had batteries in their cell phones,” Menachem Kelmanson said. “People had been hiding in their safe rooms for 18 hours, 20 hours.”
As time passed, however, cell phone service ceased.
“We came to people who had asked for help 10 hours ago, 12 hours ago, and when we got to their houses we couldn’t help them anymore,” Kelmanson said. “Seeing that picture, and going back to their friends and relatives at the gate and telling them what we found was the most difficult moment that night.”
Arriving at homes where residents were still alive wasn’t much easier, he continued. “It became really difficult to convince them to open the safe room door. They were terrified.” Hours after coming to Be’eri, Kelmanson, his brother and nephew approached a house. The three men exited the jeep. Elhanan and Itiel secured the area. Menachem Kelmanson broke into the home through a window. He announced his presence but heard no answer, then approached the safe room.
From the other side of the door, a woman asked, “Who are you?” Kelmanson recalled.
“I’m an IDF soldier, please open the door,” he said.
“But who are you?” she replied.
“I’m Menachem Kelmanson,” he said. “I’m from the reserves. I’m from Otniel, please open the door.”
Often, saying his name and place of residence spurred an emergence from hiding. In this case, however, it didn’t work.
“Keep talking,” she said. “I want to hear your Hebrew. I want to hear your accent.” Kelmanson said he needed a way to confirm his identity.
He told her, “It was Simchat Torah today.” She replied, “Keep talking. I want to hear you.” “It was Sukkot. It was Rosh Hashanah,” he said. She told him she needed to hear more. Kelmanson finally yelled, “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonoai Echad.”
Immediately, the woman opened the safe room door “and she started to cry,” Kelmanson said. “I hugged her. I helped her to calm down, and I took her and her sister to the jeep, and we took them out.”
Months later, on Hanukkah, Kelmanson met the woman and other displaced Be’eri residents at a hotel. The kibbutz had organized a reception to show their gratitude.
Kelmanson said he told the woman during the celebration that when he stood inside her home and yelled “Shema Yisrael” it wasn’t a prayer. It was a primal call.
“I’m Jewish. I’m here for you. Please open the door. I’m Jewish, and it’s for this reason I’m here. Please open the door,” he said.
Be’eri isn’t known for its religious observance, Kelmanson told Pittsburghers.
Long before the Hanukkah celebration or Oct. 7, concerns regarding economics, rabbinic control, mandatory military service and judicial reform in the Jewish state spurred protest and splintering throughout Israel and the Diaspora.
Kelmanson, who said his Pittsburgh talk was simply an opportunity to share “what he saw that day,” said he’s been comforted by a familiar echo: “This yell, ‘I’m Jewish. I’m a Jew. I’m here for you.’ You can hear it all around the world for over a year and a half of war.”
p Squirrel Hill resident Michal Schachter created this mosaic as a gift for Menachem Kelmanson.
Photo courtesy of Michal Schachter
p Israel Prize recipient Menachem Kelmanson speaks during an April 22 program at Chabad of Squirrel Hill.
Photo by Adam Reinherz
Headlines
Shoah Foundation widens its mandate to collect testimonies about contemporary antisemitism, too
By Grace Gilson | JTA
For decades, the USC Shoah Foundation has amassed testimonies of Holocaust survivors, with the goal of preserving stories before they cannot be told firsthand. Now, with survivors dwindling, the organization founded by Steven Spielberg is expanding its mandate to collect testimonies from Jews about global antisemitism since World War II.
The Holocaust research center is partnering with the American Jewish Committee to collect 10,000 testimonies, the groups announced on Sunday. Their collaboration will form a central component foundation’s Contemporary Antisemitism Collection, seeking to showcase the various ways antisemitism has manifested since the Holocaust.
“We must clearly show to the world — and preserve for the future — what antisemitism is, what it looks like, and the personal toll it takes on Jews around the world. AJC has seen, firsthand, the way antisemitism has morphed and manifested itself in different ways since the end of the Holocaust,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch in a press release.
The USC Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg in the wake of the success of his Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” is home to the largest collection of testimonies of victims of genocide, including the Holocaust, in the world. It houses over 61,000 testimonies.
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the foundation said it would take testimony from survivors. The new partnership widens the funnel of new stories.
“Our partnership with AJC will enable us to reach survivors of antisemitic violence from all over the globe,” said Robert Williams, CEO of the USC Shoah Foundation. “In turn, this is a powerful statement that bringing the world’s attention
to antisemitism requires partnerships built on a shared commitment to giving voice to the personal histories of those who have and continue to experience one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring forms of hatred.”
One testimony that will be included in the new collection is that of Daniel Pomerantz, a survivor of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and has been attributed to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
“The [Hezbollah] terrorists killed 85 and injured 300. These were my friends and colleagues. They were Argentinian Jews and Argentinians of all backgrounds. Thirty-one years later, those responsible for orchestrating that horrible day — for attacking my place of work, my community’s gathering place, and for murdering and maiming dozens — have still not been brought to justice or held accountable for their crimes,” said Pomerantz, who is now the executive director of AMIA, in a press release.
Another testimony will come from Antoine Haguenauer, who was attacked in Paris in February while attending a memorial for the Bibas family, who were killed in Hamas captivity.
“I was berated, told I supported genocide. I was threatened — they told me they would follow me home, leak my address, kill me and my family. I was assaulted — punched in the head from behind. When I reported the attack to a police officer, he told me: ‘You could press charges, but what would be the point?’” said Haguenauer in a press release.
Once completed, the collection will be the largest archive of firsthand testimonies of postwar antisemitism.
Antisemitism, and discourse surrounding it, has remained a central part of the Jewish experience. Last week, the ADL released a report that found that antisemitic incidents in the United States had set a new record for the fourth year in a row. Part of the trend was spurred by what the organization determined was an over 80% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses. PJC
p American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch speaks at the organization’s Global Forum 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 14, 2023. Photo courtesy of the American Jewish Committee
Headlines
Trump mandates universities to report foreign funding, a demand of pro-Israel groups
President Donald Trump has demanded that U.S. colleges and universities report all foreign funding in an executive order issued last week, JTA reported.
The order requires colleges and universities to report all gifts and funds from foreign countries and states that funds could be revoked from schools that fail to comply with reporting standards. It is the latest salvo in a broad set of White House efforts cracking down on campuses — including freezing billions of dollars of funding and arresting student activists.
The executive order comes amid calls from Jewish and pro-Israel groups for greater reporting standards, driven by concerns of foreign anti-Israel influence on campus and in classrooms from countries such as Qatar or Iran. Last month, the House advanced a bill that sought to lower the threshold for reporting gifts from most foreign countries from $250,000 to $50,000.
The House bill received support from AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition. Opponents, including umbrella groups for colleges and universities, say the legislation will inappropriately expand government monitoring of higher education and could hinder international collaboration.
Global antisemitism has declined since peaking in the months after Oct. 7, study says Rates of antisemitic incidents have
experienced a “sharp decline” across the world more than a year after Oct. 7, 2023, according to the author of a new study from Tel Aviv University, JTA reported.
The study of global antisemitism, published last week, noted that the number of incidents decreased in many countries in 2024, including France, Britain, Germany, Mexico and South Africa, although rates broadly remain higher than they were before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
The study was conducted by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice. It collected tallies of antisemitic incidents in 2024 from “dozens of police departments, specialized agencies and organizations that monitor and combat antisemitism, Jewish communities, Jewish leaders, and media organizations,” which often employ differing standards and definitions of antisemitism.
Despite the overall downward trend, in some countries, including Australia and Italy, there was a notable spike in the number of antisemitic incidents, the report said. In Australia last year, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, there were 1,713 antisemitic incidents, compared to 1,200 in 2023. Italy saw 877 antisemitic incidents in 2024, compared to 454 in 2023, according to a Jewish watchdog group.
The report was published the same week as another study of antisemitism in the United States by the Anti-Defamation League that reported 9,354 antisemitic incidents across
Today in Israeli History
Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
May 2, 1968 — Channel 1 starts broadcasting
Israelis view their first general-interest TV broadcasts when Israel Television goes on the air at 9:30 a.m. with the image of a menorah, soon followed by the Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) parade.
May 3, 1906 — Actor Meir
Margalit is born
Stage actor Meir Margalit is born in Poland. He begins acting at 13 and moves to the Land of Israel in 1922 with an agricultural youth group. He spends most of his acting career with the Ha’ohel Theatre.
By
May 4, 1939 — Birth of writer
Amos Oz
Writer Amos Oz is born in Jerusalem. After his mother’s suicide when he is 12, he runs away from home at 14. He changes his name from the Yiddish Klausner to the Hebrew Oz, meaning “strength” or “courage.”
the country, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.
‘Outrageous’ says Chicago Jewish Alliance of city’s mayor wearing keffiyeh
The Chicago Jewish Alliance denounced Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson last week after the local chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted a photo of him wearing a keffiyeh to celebrate Arab Heritage Month, JNS reported.
“This is outrageous,” the alliance wrote. “For the mayor of Chicago to stand there — cloaked in a symbol now synonymous with Jewish bloodshed, flanked by an organization that justifies it — is more than tone-deaf. It’s a betrayal.”
“It tells Jewish Chicagoans: Your pain doesn’t matter. Your dead don’t count. Your safety is negotiable,” it continued, adding that the garment is “not neutral. It’s a flag of war.”
The statement went further to call out CAIR, stating the organization is a “co-conspirator in the largest terror-financing trial in U.S. history.”
CAIR blamed Israel for the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and was removed from the White House national strategy on antisemitism under the Biden administration. Its executive director, Nihad Awad, said that Israel does not have the right to self-defense.
While the alliance condemned the action, the organization added that Arab Heritage Month “should be celebrated” but “through food, music, poetry and history,” and “not by embracing symbols of terror.”
Status of anti-Israel student group in New Haven revoked for unapproved protest
Yale College, the undergraduate branch of Yale University, withdrew the registered status of an anti-Israel student group last week for its part in an unapproved off-campus protest, drawing a university investigation for what it says were “disturbing antisemitic conduct at the gathering,” JNS reported.
While the university acknowledged that the protest was not directly affiliated with any student organization, it cited in a press release efforts by Yalies4Palestine to encourage people to join the event through social media posts, as well as the group “taking credit” for it in a public statement.
“This occurred only one day after Yalies4Palestine had met with Yale College officials to discuss recent policy violations and were warned that further violations would jeopardize the group’s privileges,” the university wrote in the statement.
Yalies4Palestine has already been removed from a public database of Yale student clubs. The revocation means that the group cannot reserve spaces on campus, request university funding, use the Yale name or partake in several other privileges.
The protest was directed at an event organized by Shabtai, an independent Jewish leadership society based at, but not affiliated with, Yale, which featured Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. A video taken at the protest and posted by a Jewish student shows a chain of protesters blocking the student’s path. PJC
May 5, 1985 — Reagan visits Bitburg, BergenBelsen
President Ronald Reagan makes brief remarks outside the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, then delivers a speech on German-American reconciliation at the World War II military cemetery in Bitburg.
May 6, 1951 — Ben-Gurion visits TVA
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion arrives in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a twoday tour of Tennessee Valley Authority facilities. The tour is part of Ben-Gurion’s 26-day U.S. trip to launch Israel Bonds.
May 7, 2002 — Bomber kills 15 while Bush, Sharon meet
A suicide bomber kills 15 Israelis and wounds 55 others at a Rishon LeZion pool hall while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington. Hamas claims credit.
May 8, 2007 — Herod’s tomb is discovered
Hebrew University’s Ehud Netzer, a specialist in Herodian archaeology, announces that he has found the tomb of King Herod the Great at Herodium in the Judean Desert, verifying the account of the ancient historian Josephus. PJC
Items are provided by the Center for
p Meir Margalit performs for the Ha’ohel Theatre in 1947.
David Eldan, National Photo Collection of Israel
p President Ronald Reagan and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visit
Headlines
Defendants:
Continued from page 1
build explosives. “Some sh— came in the mail today. Can’t wait to have fun with you,” he messaged, according to the indictment.
On July 4, 2024, the indictment alleges, Hamad shared a video of an apparent Hamas funeral on his Instagram story and wrote, “Ya Allah, I can’t take this anymore, I want to fight and die. I don’t want to live here anymore. I’m jealous of these fighters, they got to fight in the way of Allah and have achieved the highest level of Jannah.”
In a July 6 Instagram post, Hamad shared a picture of a firearm with the message, “Alright yall say a prayer with me. Inshallah one day each bullet in this mag kisses the foreheads of the Zionist oppressor.”
Both Hamad and Collins conspired to manufacture and possess a destructive device and discussed the potential uses for the devices they were building and testing, the indictment charges, noting that after the pair detonated one device, Hamad built additional devices, including pipe bombs, and detonated those.
Collins is the daughter of Chad Collins, a pastor at Valley View Presbyterian Church in Garfield and a national organizer with Friends of Sabeel North America, an organization the Anti-Defamation League has characterized as “a driving force behind various Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns.”
Chad Collins and some members of his family are vocal anti-Israel activists and
Chabad:
Continued from page 1
of worship where I am comfortable, where I can worship and learn, and not just for me but for my family too,” he said. “My kids had a b’nei mitzvah there. I hope it’s a place that they can feel is a second home for them.”
Chabad’s connection to the building dates to 2017. At the time, Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh purchased the space from New Light for $750,000. Following the sale, Chabad, which was meeting at Yeshiva Girls School on Denniston Street, relocated to the former New Light building. After Yeshiva obtained the former St. Rosalia site in Greenfield in 2021, “they offered us to buy [the former New Light building] dollar for dollar,” Altein said. “After they graciously sold us the building, we started exploring the renovations.”
Altein believes the newly refurbished center will better serve constituents thanks to several tweaks and reconfigurations.
“The actual floor plan didn’t change but because of the way we renovated we can use the space more efficiently,” he said. Apart from doubling the kitchen size, “which will allow us to accommodate a lot more cooking and serving in the shul,” Chabad created a partition that enables the sanctuary and adjacent social hall to seamlessly flow regardless of the program size.
Chani Altein, Chabad’s co-director, said the partition was designed in a manner to support various events without noticeable distraction.
“When we need the full space it’s open, and it looks like that’s the way it was made to be. And when it’s closed or we want it to be closed, it looks that was the way it was made to be,” she said.
participated in last summer’s illegal encampments at the University of Pittsburgh. His daughter Nesta Collins was arrested and charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct at the encampment. The criminal complaint alleges that Nesta Collins rushed a security barrier at the encampment with the intent to disassemble it, and pushed it into responding police officers. Chad Collins was a spokesperson for the encampment group at a June news conference.
according to a recent court filing.
Less than a month ago, Hamad filed a motion to modify the conditions of his 2024 home detention release while awaiting trial for charges of damaging religious property and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
In support of his motion — which the judge ultimately denied — Hamad stated that he “has been on home detention for approximately 152 days, with no violations of any kind reported to this Honorable Court,” and proffered several
“This investigation serves as a reminder that we need to remain diligent and continue to leave no stone unturned as we protect our community.”
–SHAWN BROKOS
In May 2024, the pastor shared to his Facebook and Instagram accounts a graphic that featured an inverted red triangle, a symbol used by Hamas to mark military targets. At the time of his arrest, Hamad was found to own a shirt featuring the same inverted red triangle and the words “Respect existence or expect resistance,” with a figure whose face is covered by a keffiyeh. An inverted red triangle was part of the graffiti painted on Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building.
The government believes Hamad had been
letters from friends attesting to his character.
One of those letters was written by Elyanna Sharbaji, a University of Pittsburgh graduate who served as vice president of the anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine. SJP was recently suspended by the university and is currently working with the ACLU to sue the school.
Sharbaji also worked with Not On our Dime, an anti-Israel, BDS organization that collected signatures to get a referendum on the May 2025 ballot that, if passed, would have prohibited the city from doing business with Israel or any entity
Chani Altein praised Perla Lichi, of Perla Lichi Design, for helping Chabad “create something that is warm, welcoming, light and airy.”
“The way she’s designed the room you feel peaceful and tranquil,” Chani Altein said. “It’s conducive for davening, spirituality and growth-oriented experiences.”
Cohen pointed to a reworked ceiling, LED lighting, stained glass windows and lush carpeting, which collectively brighten the interior, and lauded the craftsmanship behind custom cabinetry holding several Torah scrolls and books.
Chabad’s new vestibule, which is lined in Jerusalem stone, is a “showpiece,” he continued, and allows easy access to updated ADA-compliant bathrooms.
The building’s second floor includes a “stately looking study” with a wet bar,
that does business with Israel. Not On Our Dime ultimately stipulated that it was unable to collect the requisite number of valid signatures.
Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said the indictment is a “testament to the persistent and diligent work of law enforcement” and “indicative of the incredible collaboration with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners.
“The July 29, 2024, targeted graffiti assault at the Jewish Federation and Chabad of Squirrel Hill was not just a graffiti case — it was the overt act masking a serious and dangerous intent to do harm to the Jewish community. The investigation uncovered a much deeper and complex conspiracy involving Hamad, Collins and Talya Lubit, including allegiance to a foreign terrorist organization, a desire to eradicate Jews and Israel, and a pathway to violence culminating in the acquisition of explosive devices. This investigation serves as a reminder that we need to remain diligent and continue to leave no stone unturned as we protect our community.”
Hamad faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Collins faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Lubit faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. All three defendants have pled not guilty.
At April 23 hearings, Collins was released on bond, and Hamad was detained pending an April 29 detention hearing. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Maintaining that sense drove the project, he explained.
Construction was staged so that Chabad never had to “move out completely,” he said.
Exterior work, including a new driveway, was completed during colder months. Interior work, which served as the bulk of the efforts, was undertaken in the spring and summer, thus allowing Chabadgoers to enjoy continued services and programming beneath erected tents in the property’s backyard.
couches, classrooms and a children’s learning center, he said.
Community members were invited to see the nearly-completed project last month during an inauguration dinner honoring Dr. Stanley Marks.
Yisroel Altein commended Marks, Robert Mallet, Yekusiel Kalmenson and several foundations for providing the encouragement and assistance to undertake the nearly $2 million project: “There were a lot of generous people in the community who participated from as little as $10 dollars to as much as tens of thousands. We really felt like this was a communitywide participation.”
As an April 22 event with guest speakers Menachem and Ayelet Kelmanson demonstrated, the “space is up and running,” Altein said. “And while it’s beautiful, it also has a warm welcoming feeling.”
“One of the things that we learned during COVID is that you can never say we’re shut down and we’re done,” Yisroel Altein said. When in-person gatherings were restricted, “we went full force in Zoom and did what we were able to, to the best that we were able to, because there’s an importance in maintaining ongoing activities. Judaism doesn’t take a break and we can’t take a break. The more we can keep the flow going, the better off it is for people and for the organization.”
Cohen, who saw more than 120 people enjoying last week’s Kelmanson event inside Chabad’s new space, said the project feels as though it’s come “full circle.”
“My family has had a Jewish presence in Pittsburgh for six generations. My great-great-grandfather was a chazan at Beth Shalom. Fast forward to my kids — Rabbi Altein officiated their b’nei mitzvah in 2019. It’s very important for me to have Jewish roots in our town,” he said.
Increasing Jewish communal connection through warmth, substance and comfort is the key, Yisroel Altein said. “We want people to feel welcome here.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
p Adjacent to the sanctuary, a revamped room with bright lighting will be used for kiddushes, luncheons and various programs. Photo courtesy of Chabad of Squirrel Hill
Headlines
Antisemitism:
Continued from page 4
rose from a D to a C on the ADL’s antisemitism report card.
And while much of what has been occurring on college campuses is initiated by far-left groups, Fishman said far-right extremists are still active.
“We’ve seen it shift into more progressive ideology, really targeting the LGBTQ+ community, the immigrant community,” she
Survivors:
Continued from page 5
bring in about 10 a day, and she would sit there and she would read them to me. Show them to me. Hang some of them on the wall.”
When he finally went home, he realized that for every 10 items his wife brought to the hospital, there were about 300 more.
“So I literally have thousands of these things in my home that now are part of the archives, because I didn’t feel that they just belong to me,” Leger said. “They belong to history, and Eric is really good at making sure that the history is retained and organized and ready to be shared.”
Leger stressed the importance of reaching out to others in pain.
“Everybody has an obligation to reach out to other people, to let them know that
Kelmanson:
Continued from page 7
‘Be with me’
As nightfall arrived in Squirrel Hill, Kelmanson closed with a story. He shared how despite exhaustion, he, his brother and their nephew attempted a final rescue around 10:25 a.m. on Oct. 8.
The difficulty with entering a home during daylight, Kelmanson explained, is that one’s eyes must immediately adjust to interior darkness.
“Our flashlights on our guns were dead,” Kelmanson said.
Elhanan entered the house first. Waiting inside was a terrorist, Kelmanson said. “He started to shoot Elhanan in the chest. I saw my beloved brother falling down.”
Kelmanson rapidly approached. The terrorist fled to a bedroom. Shots were exchanged. Kelmanson’s hand was wounded. Shrapnel hit Kelmanson’s face. His eyes were covered in blood. Kelmanson tried lifting his brother.
“He was too heavy,” Kelmanson said. “He was a big man. I told Itiel, ‘Please help me.’”
The nephew replied that he couldn’t leave the doorway without risking the terrorist’s reemergence.
“We were stuck there a few minutes. I don’t know how many,” Kelmanson said. “I tried to lift Elhanan, and then I saw that there was air moving in his mouth. I know that it’s not a real sign, but I held him, and I yelled to him, ‘Be with me, stay with me.’ And then he made eye contact with me. For us, it was a really important second.”
Kelmanson said that in Otniel, the brothers and their families lived nearly side-by-side.
“Me and Elhanan were really close,”
said. “White supremacists and extremists follow whatever’s happening politically in the country so right now we’re seeing them target those progressive ideologies. To be fair, they still use antisemitic tropes — that didn’t go away but we are seeing them move especially into anti-immigrant ideology.”
Fishman said the battle against hate is fought in person and online. She noted that several platforms — including Roblox and Minecraft — have become home to antisemitic rhetoric.
“There was a story from a rabbi I worked
with in Ohio, who called me because a gentleman in the community called him and said, ‘My child got sucked into this online platform.’ The school called and said there had been some pretty antisemitic ideology that the child was sharing. It was a 10-year-old girl,” Fishman said.
If there is a bright spot in the last year, Fishman said, it’s that the Jewish community isn’t standing alone.
“We do see a lot of allies in Pittsburgh,” she said. “We’re working with the Hindu community. We’re working with the Black
“Gifts, cards, notes … I felt a love and support from everywhere and I never felt alone. I appreciated everything that I got.”
–ANDREA MALLINGER WEDNER
someone cares about them, because you don’t know who might not have anybody to care about them until these things happen,” he said.
What people send is less important than the fact that they took the time to send it, Gaynor said.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a painted rock, if it’s a paper mâché flower,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how beautiful or professionally it’s done. The words don’t matter for the fact that someone cared, and this is a concrete
a hand-painted portrait, purportedly of her grandmother, but that really depicted someone else.
“We were a bit shocked by that,” she said. “But just to know somebody sat down and painted this decent picture of someone they thought was Rose Mallinger, it really meant so much. It wasn’t her, but that was OK.”
After Oct. 27, Gaynor said, he “was in a very dark place. I was very worried. I was very afraid. I didn’t know what was happening to my country, and I did not know whether this was still a safe place for me to be as a Jew. I didn’t know if it was time
Kelmanson said. “There were two houses between us. We would sit next to each other in shul every Shabbat and holiday. Every holiday we ate together. Every summer we would go out and vacation together.”
A bond like that is transcendent, Kelmanson said. “Even during that terrifying night, the jokes are the same. And sometimes, the jokes are the things that make you miss them most.”
Kelmanson, who along with his nephew received the Israel Prize for Civilian Heroism, told the Chronicle that the Israel-Hamas war has implications far beyond its place of battle.
“We are fighting not just for the people in Israel. We are fighting for all the Jewish nation,” he said. “The hate, the anger, the cruelty we saw, people need to know who is our enemy. On the other side, people need to know that we have a really special spirit
community. These are all identity groups that have also felt the pressure.”
There were 76 antisemitic incidents logged into the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Virtual Command Center this time last year. So far, there have been 98 reported in 2025.
The ADL’s Audit of Antisemitism can be found at adl.org/resources/report/ audit-antisemitic-incidents-2024. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
to leave, or if I would know when it was time to leave. I didn’t know how I would protect my wife if we were attacked.”
Then the notes and objects began coming in. Pittsburgh’s sports teams began showing their support, as did other community members.
“I had emails, texts, phone calls from people,” Gaynor said. “These things all made a huge difference. My faith in humanity had come close to shattering, and these restored it. It made plain to me again that the overwhelming majority of people in our country and in the world are decent, kind, caring people. … Yes, there are some people who hate, there are evil people in the world. That is a fact, but there are very few of them relative to everyone else.”
PJC
Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
fear. Sometimes, it’s much more difficult to be in the position where you know you might be left alone with everything than actually going out to fight … I think that from a distance, when people don’t actually live through that, it’s not something you can actually understand.”
Standing in Chabad’s hallway, Squirrel Hill resident Debby Eisner held back tears while describing the evening.
“I’ll think about it forever,” Eisner said. “It’s a story that’ll stay with me.”
Tuesday’s program was supported by Michael and Tova Milch along with other sponsors, according to Chabad of Squirrel Hill co-Director Rabbi Yisroel Altein.
of togetherness, of strength, of courage.”
Some look to soldiers for bravery. Kelmanson said he does too, but also found it elsewhere on Oct. 7.
“I came to houses and I saw a father who was holding the handle in the safe room for over 18 hours. That taught me a lot about parenthood. I think people need to hear that,” he said. “We have a responsibility to know what happened, to know the truth, the good things and the bad things.”
Soldiers and patriarchs are part of the story, but there’s another aspect, Ayelet Kelmanson told the Chronicle.
Women and children, “who are not on the front lines,” are shouldering enormous loads, she said. “I think that people don’t know — people who aren’t left behind for a year and a half with the entire household, the responsibilities, the
Michael Milch called the event “unbelievably moving,” and said when he was approached about underwriting the evening he felt that hearing these stories in person “would be an amazing opportunity” for Pittsburghers. “I’m very glad that we’re able to make it happen.”
Before exiting the building, fellow Squirrel Hill resident Michal Schachter told the Chronicle she’s followed the tale of “Team Elhanan” for nearly a year and a half.
When she heard that Kelmanson was coming to Pittsburgh she decided to make him a mosaic. During dinner, before the formal program began, Schachter delivered the gift.
The tiled picture depicts a globe. Israel is in the middle colored in gold. Beneath the map are two hands: one reaching out, grabbing the other. Encircling the image are Hebrew words with Talmudic origins. In English they mean, “Whoever saves one life is as if he saved the entire world.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
p Ayelet and Menachem Kelmanson speak during an April 22 program at Chabad of Squirrel Hill.
Photo by Adam Reinherz
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They have a manual. We need a movement.
Guest Columnist
Michael Masters
Free speech is a right enshrined in the fabric of our country. Just as we must be vigilant in protecting it, we must also be clear-eyed about what it is and what it is not. Where speech is motivated by hate or is intended to support or encourage fear or violence or terrorism, the right of free speech is not absolute. Free-speech protections have never extended to terrorist activity. Pro-Hamas documents found recently on college campuses and the internet told people to: “Build your cell.” “With an efficient sledgehammer in your hand, you can cause quite a bit of damage!”
“ … make sure you have your routes planned for a perfect getaway.”
“Do not have your face on show at any point during the action.”
These are just some of the recommendations made in materials that have been discovered, including propaganda allegedly from Hamas’ media office that surfaced at Barnard College and a digital manual that explicitly promotes violent tactics. These are not handbooks for people on how to exercise their voice. These are guides for how to create a cell, avoid detection, engage in reconnaissance and then how to carry out an attack. The details are frightening to read.
The presence and distribution of these
materials on American college campuses underscore a chilling reality: Terror groups are becoming increasingly organized, strategic and emboldened in their attempts to foment outrage and attack Jews.
These materials and their dissemination, at times by third parties who are not students, seem explicitly designed to turn educational spaces into battlegrounds for hatred instead of what they should be — safe spaces for students to learn and grow.
acted on as aggressively as they should be — on Sept. 11, 2001. We must learn by leveraging our lawful tools to counter the forces of terrorism and hate that seek to normalize themselves in our society and undermine our country.
We have Hamas’ playbook in our hands. We need to counter their manual with our own movement.
First, the difference between lawful, protected speech and First Amendment activity and support for designated terrorist organiza-
We have Hamas’ playbook in our hands. We need to counter their manual with our own movement.
We should not be naive or gullible enough to believe that the tactics some advocate — from using burner phones to recommending not wearing shoes that could identify you — will be limited to mere vandalism and destruction of property.
The discovery of these documents comes in the wake of warnings by the former director of national intelligence that Iran was playing a role in stoking protests on U.S. campuses in the spring of 2024.
This reality must galvanize us into action. Shame on us if we fail to act decisively in this critical moment. History will judge our response.
We have seen the impact in the United States when intelligence and information are not
tions must be recognized. Under the law, 8 U.S.C. 2339B(a)(1), anyone who “knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so” commits a federal crime. This includes “speech to, under the direction of, or in coordination with foreign groups that the speaker knows to be terrorist organizations,” as ruled in Holder v. Humanitarian L. Project, which also says that our First Amendment and other freedoms do not protect persons who provide material support to these “particularly dangerous and lawless foreign organizations.”
Second, where individuals violate the law regarding support for terrorist organizations, they should be charged and prosecuted.
Beyond that, we must pursue entities that are propagating this material and those who fund them, whether they are nongovernmental organizations or foreign state actors. We have seen strong action from law enforcement and prosecutors in this regard; they must be lauded. Where institutions, including college campuses and universities, fail to support and undermine the enforcement of the law, they must be held accountable. Hamas, Hezbollah and those working on their behalf are not supporters of free speech, they are carrying out the will of foreign terrorist organizations and undermining free speech in the process.
Lastly, none of us must be deluded as to what is going on. The manuals that have been propagated are not designed to advocate for the oppressed or seek justice. They are, in their own words, designed and intended to “disrupt, damage, [and] destroy” their targets. Individuals and organizations have been targeted. Their other target — our democracy and the values upon which it was established.
We know our enemy’s tactical war plan. Having this in our possession gives us the responsibility and advantage to act strategically and decisively. This isn’t about free speech, which must be protected. It is about stopping terrorist organizations from spreading hate and violence against the Jewish community and undermining our country. PJC
Michael Masters serves as the national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network. This article was first published on JNS.
Trump’s hasty approach to an Iran deal could be a big problem for Israel
Guest Columnist
In seeking a new nuclear deal with Iran, President Donald Trump looks eager to disrupt the status quo — without a coherent vision for how to do so.
Which is why his March ultimatum that if the talks didn’t succeed within two months, he’d consider military action — almost certainly aided by Israel — is so dangerous.
With the clock ticking, United States envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met for a second time last week, with the latter describing the talks aimed at a new nuclear deal as “constructive.” And while Trump’s countdown clearly stemmed from a desire to quickly and conclusively eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat, it has dramatically raised the stakes, especially for Israel. It increases the chances of an unfavorable deal, and will limit Washington’s flexibility in responding should diplomacy fail.
Prospects for a beneficial deal with Iran have always been slim — which is part of why many, including Trump, saw the first Iran deal brokered by former President Barack Obama as so flawed. The Iranian regime is ideologically bent on countering U.S. interests, including by
seeking Israel’s destruction. No nuclear agreement will change that basic fact about Iran’s engagement with the world.
Which means that, if Iran opts for a deal to walk back its nuclear efforts in exchange for loosening U.S. sanctions, it may leverage that economic relief to reinvest in its conventional military capabilities and proxies that threaten the U.S. and Israel. In other words: The nuclear threat might abate, but Iran could still leave the negotiating table diplomatically emboldened and militarily empowered.
model” that Prime Minister Netanyahu and others in Israel have pointed to — the 2003 deal under which Libya agreed to fully dismantle its nuclear program.
What this leaves is an arrangement broadly resembling the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump withdrew from during his first term. That deal, known as the JCPOA, was opposed by many Israeli security officials for failing to enshrine plans for a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, and for not addressing Iran’s non-nuclear activity
The truth is that rushing into either a deal or a war with Iran is likely to be a mistake.
A deal also necessarily risks improving the much-reviled Iranian regime’s shaky domestic footing by relieving the country’s economic crisis. Underlying Witkoff’s talks is the belief that the conventional threat posed by Iran is preferable to the nuclear one.
— all while strengthening the regime through sanctions relief.
Trump’s time-bound ultimatum also raises the risk of military confrontation. According to a recent New York Times report, Trump has, since taking office, discussed coordinating with Israel on a possible strike on Iranian nuclear sites. It’s a mistake to underestimate how destructive Iran’s retaliation might be if those plans came to pass. It could conceivably set both Israeli and U.S. civilian and military targets in the Middle East in its crosshairs, upping the chance of a destructive full-scale war.
Yes, Iran has deliberately avoided risking real damage in its recent retaliatory strikes on Israel amid the Oct. 7 war. And there is an argument to be made that a joint strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is the only way to decisively prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, or to bring it back to the table to discuss a deal on more advantageous terms.
And it’s not clear that a new deal has any chance of resulting in a true end to Iran’s nuclear program. Witkoff recently demanded that a new deal involve Iran agreeing to fully dismantle its nuclear enrichment program, a right choice after he previously suggested the administration might agree to a mere scaling back. But Araghchi, his Iranian interlocutor, has explicitly written off the so-called “Libya
The JCPOA took multiple years to negotiate, and its significant drawbacks would likely be even more pronounced today, given how much Iran’s nuclear program has advanced in the years since. The limited timeframe Trump has given for the current round of talks all but eliminates the possibility of addressing the flaws of the last deal. The pressure to reach a hasty agreement could result in a strengthened Iranian regime that has not entirely abandoned its nuclear ambitions, and is better positioned to bolster its traditional military capabilities.
But Trump’s deadline raises the pressure to take decisive action within a given time frame, even if conditions are not favorable. And the current moment is very far from ideal for risking a full-fledged U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
The U.S. administration and the Israeli government currently face severe trust deficits among key regional and international partners. In the case of the U.S., this is the result of Trump’s critical view of NATO; near-total freeze on foreign aid; impending imposition of tariffs on key U.S. trading partners; and
Alex Lederman Please see Lederman, page 15
Chronicle poll results: Did Pope Francis improve relations with the Jewish world?
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an online poll the following question: “Do you think Pope Francis improved relations with the Jewish world?”
Of the 216 people who responded, 51% said yes, 31% said no and 18% said they weren’t sure. Comments were submitted by 44 people. A few follow.
Pope Francis cared that Jews exist and actively sought to prosper a positive relationship, which is a step in the right direction. Christians should actively care about Jewish life and relationships and he modeled that in his own way.
The answer was yes, until he seemed not to know why Israel had to go into Gaza.
He certainly intended to and tried, but I’m not sure how successful he was.
As a man of peace, I believe he promoted world unity and thus was a friend to Israel. At the same time he was a friend to the Palestinians as well.
Lederman:
Continued from page 14
willingness to withdraw support for key allies facing shared strategic threats.
These dynamics have challenged the U.S. relationship with European partners with whom coordination would be essential in any confrontation with Iran. And Trump’s controversial plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza has strained trust with Arab states who share concerns about Iran’s regional ambitions. This could create real problems for Israel.
Did Pope Francis improve relations with the Jewish world?
It seems that he played both sides. He advocated for inclusiveness, empathy and love for all people. His values echoed Jewish values.
Sunni Arab states like Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are aligned with Israel and the U.S. in being opposed to Iran’s malign activity, have in recent years prioritized rapprochement. They’re aware that a U.S.-Iran or Israel-Iran war could devastate the regional economy and potentially fan the flames of Iranian-exported Shiite fundamentalism, threatening the stability of their own regimes.
Wariness over the direction of the Gaza war, dim prospects for progress on the Palestinian issue, and Israel’s increasingly aggressive post-Oct. 7 security doctrine further erode their
We must invest in Jewish schools that serve every Jewish family
Two separate yet related issues stood out to us in Mendy Cohen’s op-ed “If we want Jewish life to survive, we must invest in the living” (April 18).
First, we agree wholeheartedly with the case he makes to invest in Jewish education so that our children understand “where they come from and what it means to be a Jew” as a means of fighting antisemitism. We have noticed a pattern among many Jews who speak out against Israel: They are, to varying degrees, woefully undereducated about the history of Israel, the inextricable connection between Israel and Judaism, and even basic Jewish tradition and halacha, despite many having robust knowledge about the Holocaust. This is a true failure of the past few decades of Jewish education in America and highlights the need for urgent reimagining and bolstering of Jewish education for Jewish families and students.
Second, we are two Jewish moms — among dozens in our Jewish community and likely thousands nationally — who desperately want a high quality Jewish education for our children, but for whom Jewish day school did not meet our children’s and families’ needs. The school our children attended was unprepared and unable to meet the needs of our students who are neurodiverse and have mental health diagnoses. (For the out-of-pocket price tag, it also did not offer anything special in terms of general education, academic acceleration, or, notably, the arts.) As a result, our children have ended up in other schools, to our dismay.
There are many Jewish families who are philosophically and financially committed to Jewish education whose children are not accepted in and do not have their needs met at our educational institutions. Not having schools that provide a supportive, high quality Jewish education for our children puts an additional burden on us to provide this ourselves, when we already have a more challenging parenting journey given our kids’ needs. Both neurodiversity and mental health diagnoses are becoming better and more frequent. Our Jewish schools must become more inclusive by committing themselves to meeting the needs of a wider swath of Jewish students. This will require significant education and training for staff and administrators as well as having robust support for students. The children who need these changes to happen are vital to the future of our Jewish community.
But this, of course, will require a lot of money. Without taking away from the good that may come of the Tree of Life rebuilding initiative, there is no doubt that a sum of tens of millions of dollars would be much better spent on significant strengthening of and innovation at Pittsburgh’s Jewish day schools. Meeting more Jewish students’ needs and making
On a recent visit to Buenos Aires, I read a letter Francis wrote to a leading rabbi in Argentina with whom he shared a lifelong friendship. It was a heartfelt expression of support for the Jewish community and all they had to offer one another. As pope, he did much to emphasize these sentiments. I do not think his political views on Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza contradict that support.
His comments on Gaza were troubling. I did not like this pope, and disagreed with the majority of his doctrine.
Although I believe that there is much more work to be done, the pope’s messages regarding combatting antisemitism, and education about Jewish stereotypes and antisemitic tropes, must be spread in local parishes. I desperately hope that there is continued progress with the next pope.
Antisemitism has only gotten worse.
We will have to wait and see, but he did no harm.
capacity to give Israel the benefit of the doubt when it comes to striking Iran. Israelis’ deep mistrust in their leadership and the growing number of IDF reservists declining to report for duty makes this situation especially precarious. All-out war with Iran would further strain social cohesion in the face of a challenge that requires unity and resilience. The truth is that rushing into either a deal or a war with Iran is likely to be a mistake. But with Trump having already established the two-month timeline to give talks a chance, reneging on his threat if talks fail stands to erode
He was a man of the people but never included the Jews in those he cared about, or accepted the fact that Jews see life very differently than Christians do.
Pope Francis connected with people and issues beyond the Catholic Church to provide peace, love and, above all, hope.
Pope Francis was a beacon of light for everyone who allowed themselves to see his loving heart. He was a person who accepted everyone for who and what they are.
He was good for the Jews. He wasn’t good for Israel, but he was better than most popes on Israel. PJC
Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question: Do you make your own challah? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
U.S. and Israeli deterrence. The Iranian nuclear issue is a challenge for which there are no quick fixes. No matter the outcome of these talks, the path forward depends on careful planning and deliberate coordination — not ill-conceived ultimatums and brinkmanship diplomacy. PJC
Alex Lederman is the senior policy and communications associate at Israel Policy Forum. This story originally appeared in the Forward. To get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox, go to forward.com/newsletter-signup.
In defense of Trump’s campus crackdown on antisemitism
I am very discouraged by the opposition of many Jewish organizations to the president’s policies toward curbing anti-Jewish activities in our country (“10 leading US Jewish groups denounce Trump administration’s campus crackdown,” online, April 17).
I unequivocally support President Trump’s courageous efforts to curtail antisemitism on our university campuses and to remove from our country miscreants such as Mahmoud Khalil, whose very presence constitutes an assault upon decent society.
No one objected when the Roosevelt administration removed third-class mail franking privileges from Father Coughlin’s Social Justice newsletter in 1942, nor do I think any major Jewish organization lost any sleep when President Truman both denaturalized and deported German American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn after World War II.
Frankly, I find the opposition to our president’s policies in this regard from the nonOrthodox camp to be a case of advancing liberal interests over Jewish interests. That has never served our people well.
L. Blatt Chicago, Illinois
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the quality of offerings at our day schools so strong that all Jewish families have the best educational option within the Jewish community would pay incalculable dividends for generations of Jewish people in Pittsburgh and beyond.
Aviva Lubowsky and Karen Kantz Pittsburgh
David
Life & Culture
Poached salmon with dilled cucumber salad
put in a lot of effort.
By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle
Ithink poached salmon doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s easy to cook, hard to mess up, and makes a perfect meal when you’re short on time and want to serve something that looks like you
This is a summertime favorite of mine, especially when served with a quick pickled cucumber salad. The vinegar and dill add a beautiful brightness to the fish.
Prep for this recipe takes fewer than 5 minutes, and start to finish cooking time is a half hour. This is a great dish to make a day ahead as you can serve it cold or at room temperature.
Poached salmon
Ingredients:
1 pound salmon
½ of a small onion, thinly sliced Sprinkle of sea salt
3 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 lemon, thinly sliced in rounds
Use any boneless salmon filet of your choice. I prefer to cook salmon with its skin on but skinless salmon pieces could be used. You can purchase it in barbecue slices, which are usually between 2 to 3 inches thick per slice, or cut your filet into 3 or 4 pieces of that size. You can make less or more of this recipe easily, as long as you have a pot big enough to hold the pieces while leaving some room between them for cooking. Use a sauté pan or wide, shallow pot with a tight-fitting lid.
Slice half an onion into thin slices as you would for preparing gefilte fish.
Place the salmon slices into the pot and cover the fish half-way with water. A 10- or 12-inch wide pot is a good size to poach a pound of salmon.
Add the onion to the water, lightly sprinkle with salt and add the peppercorns and bay leaf to the water. I prefer the aromatics from the bay leaf but you can omit it if you don’t have it in your pantry.
Place one thin slice of lemon on each piece of fish. It’s common to add a half cup of dry white wine to poached fish. I omitted it from this recipe but you can add it if you have it on hand.
Bring this up to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low.
Cover the fish and gently simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to rest for 10 minutes, then uncover the fish to cool to room temperature.
Discard the lemon slices and remove the salmon from the water as soon as it’s cool.
If you cooked the fish with its skin it may stick to the bottom of the pot. If the skin
is stuck, use a spatula to gently remove the piece from the pot, leaving the skin behind to discard with the water.
This can be served at room temperature the same day, or refrigerated to eat later in the evening or for lunch the next day.
Garnish with a fresh slice of lemon before serving.
Dilled cucumber salad
Ingredients:
1 large English cucumber, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Pinch of sea salt
Sprinkle of pepper
3-4 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
Once at a bistro, I had salmon served with quick pickled cucumbers and I’ve been making it that way ever since.
Prepare the cucumber salad 10-15 minutes before serving.
Thinly slice the cucumber and place the slices in a wide, shallow dish.
Add 2-3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, the dill and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Lightly toss, stirring a few times before serving.
You can add a small amount of oil if you choose but I love this with vinegar only.
Dill mayonnaise
Since you already have fresh dill on hand you may as well whip up an easy dill mayonnaise. Use about a half cup of mayonnaise, juice from half a lemon, 3 tablespoons of finely chopped dill, salt and pepper to taste.
Thin this out with 1-2 tablespoons of liquid after it’s combined. Use water to make this pareve, or a little milk or half and half for a dairy meal.
This fish hits the spot in the warmer months and is nice for a weeknight dinner, Shabbat fish course or Sunday brunch.
Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
— FOOD —
p Preparing poached salmon
Photo by Jessica Grann p Poached salmon with dill cucumber salad
Photo by Jessica Grann
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One of my favorite things about retirement is that I no longer have to commute daily to B’nai Abraham in Butler. Though I loved my congregation and my work there, the onerous drive was over an hour. To make that boring commute go faster, I used to listen to classical music on WQED-FM or the local NPR news station, WESA. Besides beautiful music and the daily news, I heard many excellent human interest stories over the years.
One particular show sticks in my mind. This show featured an interview with Ben Mattlin, an author who, since birth, had suffered from a debilitating muscular degenerative condition that had put him in a wheelchair and given him limited use of his arms and hands. Despite his physical handicaps, he graduated from both Harvard and Princeton, had a successful career as an author, sustained a long marriage, and fathered and raised two children.
One of his books profiled 15 inter-abled couples like he and his wife. Some of these profiles were heartbreaking, not because of the individuals’ disabilities, but by the limitations placed on them by parents and others who loved them. Most had been told not to expect to experience love, marriage, parenthood, or even careers, but that their life expectation would be always to live with their parents. Obviously, somehow, these 15 people and their partners were able to break away from this limited view of what their lives could be. Mr. Mattlin kept using the same phrase to explain society’s limited expectations for the disabled: “unfair and untrue.” I came away from the program thinking that 21st-century civilization may have come a long way in the treatment of differently abled people, but obviously has further to go.
diseases. We can even see the medical sense of temporarily isolating the individual from the community. However, we might not be as comfortable reading about other conditions that would cause an individual to be excluded from the camp or town. These conditions concerned menstruating women and those who recently had given birth. At least the way back into the community for these groups was outlined by Torah. There were proscribed rituals for menstruating or birthing women to reenter a state of purity, and a list of improvements the diseased person must exhibit before being allowed back into the camp by the priests.
As we will read in a few weeks in the Torah, those with a handicap, even just a broken arm or leg, were considered unfit to serve as priests, or even to offer sacrifices. Sacrifices in ancient Israel were offered for a variety of reasons: to thank and show appreciation to God, to seek atonement for sins and to maintain a close relationship with the Holy One.
No rituals were given to these individuals to reenter the state of purity necessary to reclaim these privileges. The psychological trauma of being separate from their fellow Levites or Israelites in not being able to perform the same jobs or rituals would have been great. Even greater would have been the denial of any close relationship with God or a way to atone for sins.
It is very hard for us with our modern sensibilities to read these passages. We learn in Genesis 1:27 that we all are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. If one follows that pronouncement to its logical conclusion, one must conclude that all, including the differently-abled and diseased, are created b’tzelem Elohim
If everyone contains a spark of the Divine, why are some of us put in a different category and even denied a way to be close to the Divine? Might these biblical passages account for, at least in part, the way those with disabilities often have been “othered?”
Our biblical ancestors were afraid of human conditions they didn’t understand. They were particularly terrified of skin diseases and other physical afflictions that appeared unclean. Passages in Tazria-Metzora describe in minute detail the conditions temple priests would use to pronounce a person impure, and expel him or her to outside the community. Isolation must have been a hard burden on those who were already experiencing lessthan-optimal health.
Perhaps we can empathize with our ancestors and understand the fear they felt about those with skin afflictions and other
In many ways, we in the 20th century have grown into a more sensitive and educated people who see the injustice of “othering” those with diseases or disabilities. As Mr. Mattlin’s story points out, we have work to do. Recent cuts in programs that affect those with disabilities have made our work even more pressing.
There is no time like the present for working to effect change for the good. PJC
Cantor Michele Gray-Schaffer served as spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Abraham. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.
Cantor Michele Gray-Scha er Parshat Tazria-Metzora Leviticus 12:1 – 15:33
Obituaries
BERG: George Berg of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his loving family on April 20, 2025. He lived a rich and meaningful life, shaped by resilience, curiosity, and compassion. Born on April 10, 1931, in Berlin to Annemarie and Walter Nurnberg, George left Nazi-occupied Germany as a young boy in 1938. He was raised by his devoted single mother in Kansas City, an experience that forged the strength and determination he carried throughout his life. George’s early love of both science and the arts led him to a difficult choice between becoming an art museum curator or a physician. Ultimately, his desire to help others guided him to medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1955 and completed his residency in urology at what is now UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. After his residency program, George proudly served as a major in the U.S. Army Reserves Medical Corps. Over a distinguished 40-year career, George served patients at eight hospitals across Pittsburgh. He held numerous leadership roles, including founding partner of the Triangle Urological Group, chief of urology and later president of the medical staff at Allegheny General Hospital, and president of the Pittsburgh Urological Association. A medical innovator, George was part of Pittsburgh’s first kidney transplant and helped introduce the lithotripter, a groundbreaking technology for non-surgical kidney stone removal. George was not only a gifted surgeon but also a compassionate caregiver and dedicated mentor. He cherished the personal connections he made with his patients and found great joy in teaching medical students, residents and fellow physicians. Outside of medicine, George’s creative spirit flourished. He was an avid painter, often capturing the beauty of Pittsburgh’s landscapes. He also enjoyed woodworking, photography, stamp collecting, golf and exploring the world. A true connoisseur of life, he delighted in nature, travel, fine food and wine. George’s greatest joy was his family. He is survived by his beloved wife, Susan; his children Debra Berg (Willie Werwaiss), Jim Berg (DeeAnne Domnick), Tom (Fran) Berg; and stepchildren Ashley Dickey (Matt Kirsopp) and Shaun (Natassia) Dickey. He was a proud grandfather to Jakob Berg, Marisa Berg, Josh (Jackie) Berg, and step-grandchildren Declan and Vera, and great-grandfather to Lillian. He was predeceased by his first wife, Betty Berkowitz Miller. His love, wisdom and warmth as a husband, father and grandfather will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered. A private celebration of George’s life will be held at a later date. Arrangements made by the Bock Funeral Home, Ltd., Glenshaw. George’s memory may be honored through donations to: North Hills Community Outreach nhco.org/donate and Museum of Jewish Heritage (Holocaust Education) mjhnyc.org/support.
GOLDSTON: Edward M. Goldston, on Monday, April 28, 2025. Beloved husband of the late Linda Leebov Goldston. Cherished father of Joe (Jennifer) Goldston and the late Sam Goldston. Son of the late Joseph and Anne Goldston. Grandfather of Sam, Quinn and Judah. Eddie always said if you picked something you like to do, you haven’t worked a day in your life. He loved real estate almost as much as he loved his grandchildren. He was fiercely devoted to his family and his faith. Once you became his friend, you became his friend for life. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or a charity of the donor’s choice. schugar.com
KAUFMAN: Marilyn Kaufman, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Beloved wife of the late Paul Kaufman. Daughter of the late Dorothy and Joseph Goldstein. Loving mother of Amy (Matthew) Tietze, Jonathan (Jina) Kaufman and Mary Beth Kaufman. Cherished sister of late Ann Lois Mallit. Devoted grammy of Cameron Tietze, Theo Kaufman and Scarlett Kaufman. Also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Services and interment were held at Kether Torah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to New Light Congregation (newlightcongregation.org). Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
ROTH: Harold “Bud” Roth, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Beloved husband of his beautiful late wife, Ramona Roth; loving father to daughters Heather Roth and Carolyn Roth; cherished brother of the late Gloria Feld, Janet Sheer and Dolores Smooke; brother-in-law of Shirley Stahl. Also survived by cousins, nieces and nephews. The family wishes to thank the staff at Bridges Hospice, especially nurses Champagne and Christy, social worker Michelle, aide Candi and Chaplain Yuri, Dr. Rhee and Ellie Frye of Hillman Cancer Center, and dear friend Dr. Fran Solano for the excellent care they provided for him. Bud was a World War II veteran, earning the badge of Expert Marksman. He was the former owner of Bud’s Supermarket and worked as the marketing and general manager for The Food Gallery. Bud was also a volunteer with SCORE and a Diamond Award Winner as well as a Mason and member of the Dallas Lodge North Hills #231. He was an honorary Girl Scout and a Boy Scout. He will be greatly missed by his daughters, family and friends. Services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Interment West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hillman Cancer Center, 5115 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232; Bridges Hospice, 4130 Monroeville Boulevard, Monroeville, PA 15146; or a charity of your choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Please visit schugar.com for full obituary. PJC
Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from ... In memory of...
Harry & Ronna Back Morris B Pariser
Marlene Cohen .Melvin Murman
William Glick
Richard Glick
Harold & Debra Goldberg Penina Reva Goldberg
Edward M Goldston .Jack Goldstein
Edward M Goldston . Yosef Goldston
Edward M Goldston
Sam Goldston
Vincent Katz .Sadie Zoltan Katz
Renee Malt Hart
Randolph Malt
Esther & David Miller .Dina Stark
Barbara E Ostrow .Jacob Barniker
Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler . Minnie Gertrude Wolf
Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information. THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —
Sunday May 4: Harry Broff, Katie Elpern, Lottie Fleisher, Arthur Goldsmith, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Goldston, Sam Goldston, Yosef Goldston, Beate Gruene, Pearl Katz, William Kliman, Selma Neiman, Imre Neubauer, Jacob Schulman, Sidney Yecies, Rose C Zapler
Monday May 5: Pauline Schlesinger Americus, Louis Berlow, Ida Rose Diamond, Julius Goldberg, Dr Joseph Irwin Greenberger, Samuel Judd, Rose Markowitz Klein, Jerome J Levenson, Rose Marks, Melvin Murman, John Rothman, Freda B Saltsburg, Sol Sieff, Yetta Weinberger, Minnie Gertrude Wolf, Harry Yecies
Tuesday May 6: Harry Auerbach, Joseph Braun, James A Eckstein, Lena Fish Freedman, Sidney Friedman, Samuel Laskowitz, Louis P Rosenberg, Vivian Baltin Rosenthal, Ruth E Sherman, Dina Stark, Morris Zeff
Wednesday May 7: Stanley Friedlander, Isadore Gerber, Ida Ginsburg, Penina Reva Goldberg, John J Klein, Sam Klein, Samuel Mermelstein, Hymen Oawster, Rachel Racusin, Marcus Schwartz, Fay L Sidler, Rita W Silverman, Milton Snyder, Esther Supowitz
Thursday May 8: Isaac Adler, Paul Beerman, Pearle G Conn, Fred Gluck, Michael N Lutsky, Rose Mannison, Max Neustein, Fannie Rapoport, Morris Rosenberg, Dr Herman A Saron, Albert Schwartz, Florence Simon, George Simon, Philip Sugerman, Jay Weinthal, Norman Leonard Weissman
Friday May 9: Hilda Parker Cohen, William Feivelson, Max Geltner, Lena Gescheidt, Samuel Goldblum, M .D , Albert Lawrence Jacobs, Grace Lebovitz, Samuel H Miller, Elva Hendel Perrin, Mary Evelovitz Rom, Andrea Sue Ruben Serber, Florence Specter, Morris Stern, Cecelia Tepper, Louis E Walk, Bernard Weiss, Maurice Wilner
Saturday May 10: Jeanne Gettleman Cooper, Isadore Cousin, Louis Diamond, Regina Friedman, Bennie M Granowitz, Sam Greenberger, Isadore Gutkind, Solis Horwitz, Hyman Kramer, Anna Finestone Levit, Renee Malt Hart, Samuel Monheim, Louise Plotkin, Leonard J Singer, Jewel Weiss
“ e nish line is just the beginning of a whole new race.”
Lee & Lisa Oleinick
Israel’s oldest Holocaust survivor dead at 109 on Yom HaShoah
By JNS Staff
Nechama Grossman, Israel’s oldest Holocaust survivor, died at the age of 109 on April 24, coinciding with Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day.
Her granddaughter Luba told Kan News, “I am in shock—I have no words. Honestly, we thought she’d make it to 110. Yesterday, I gave her a bath, and she wasn’t feeling well. She was lucid until the end and died peacefully. On Holocaust Remembrance Day of all days.”
Grossman in recent days “dreamed that there were Nazis near her; she woke up and said she dreamed they were choking her. She was afraid of the Nazis — that it was coming back,” Luba told the public broadcaster.
“She always said that we need to live in peace and without wars. All the grandchildren served in the army so it wouldn’t happen again. On Oct. 7, [2023], her great-grandchildren were in the army. It was very hard for her — she cried that it’s happening again, and that antisemitism is rising.”
Her son Vladimir Shvetz told reporters recently, “My mother, Nechama Grossman, is 110 years old — one of the oldest Holocaust survivors in the world. She lived through the worst of humanity and she survived. She raised her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, to teach them that unchecked hatred cannot win.
“We must remember her story, remember the Holocaust, remember all the survivors; learn from it so that her past does not become our future,” he added.
Grossman’s funeral was held on Friday afternoon in her hometown of Arad, some 28 miles east of Beersheva.
Eve Kugler, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor from the United Kingdom who had been scheduled to participate in the March of the Living in Poland on Thursday, also died on Yom HaShoah.
Kugler was born in 1931 in Germany and experienced the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom.
Approximately 120,000 of the Holocaust survivors who made Israel their home after the 1941-1945 destruction of European Jewry remain alive as of this month, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs said last week.
According to the government figures, around 10% of the country’s survivors, or 13,000 people, died since last year’s Yom HaShoah in May 2024.
Some 1,400 (0.6%) of the estimated 220,800 Holocaust survivors living in 90 countries today are centenarians, and half of the remaining survivors live in Israel, according to figures published by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany on Tuesday.
The Claims Conference’s report, titled “Vanishing Witnesses: An Urgent Analysis of the Declining Population of Holocaust Survivors,” projects that just half of the Holocaust survivors alive worldwide today will remain in six years, with just 30%, or about 66,250, remaining in 2035. By 2040, just 22,080 survivors will remain, according to the Claims Conference. PJC
p Nechama Grossman, Israel’s oldest Holocaust survivor
Photo courtesy of the Grossman family
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Ihave had the privilege of cooking Jessica Grann’s family recipes in the Chronicle for half of a year. And now I am excited to share one of my own.
This is a recipe from my grandmother, who made these pastries for my mother and aunt on special occasions. My grandmother suffered from a neurodegenerative disease and although I knew her as a child, I never was able to taste her cooking or ask her about the origins of this recipe when I discovered it as an adult.
Our family knows it’s a recipe from Europe and we think its roots are Swedish, as tjuv poikar translates to “thief boys” — pastries so good that they would be stolen by all the boys.
I left in all the funny flaws you find in a recipe written on a typewriter. And I particularly find the ending charming. I hope you do too.
If your family has passed along a recipe like this from generation to generation, please be in touch! I would love to know more about the roots of this recipe and your family’s connection to it.
Tjuv poikar
1 1/8 packages of cakes, yeast, dry or compressed
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 warm, not hot cup of water lukewarm for yeast
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk, scalded 5 cups sifted flour, about 3 eggs, beaten
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Dissolve yeast and the 1 teaspoon sugar in water. Combine the ½ cup butter with the ½ cup sugar and salt. Add scalded milk;
stir until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm, add the dissolved yeast; mix well. Add 2 cups of the flour, beat until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add remaining flour, gradually beating after each addition to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a greased bowl. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double, in bulk, about 1 hour. Divide dough into fourths. Shape each forth on lightly floured surface into a 12 inch roll. Divide each roll into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a 7 inch rope. Dip each into melted butter, then sugar, and chopped nuts. Or use cinnamon. Fold each rope in half. Twist to make a braid. Place on greased baking sheet.
Savoring stories: Tzimmes chicken
By Charles Zvirman
Growing up, my Aunt Tessie made the most delicious tzimmes that forever remains a fond culinary memory. Using her recipe as a base, I drew on my love for Sephardic spices, and with the addition of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, developed this recipe for my family and friends.
Ingredients:
8 to 10 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1½ pounds multicolor carrots, cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 or 2 apples, diced, Granny Smith, Envy or similar
1 large onion, roughly chopped, or 8 ounces pearl onions
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 or 5 medjool dates, seeded and chopped
4 tablespoons spice blend, see below
8 ounces chicken stock
Salt to taste
Trim chicken of excess fat and pat dry with a paper towel.
In a large bowl, add the chicken, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of spice blend.
Work into both sides of the chicken. Cover and let marinate for 1 hour.
Refrigerate or don’t. Prep and combine vegetables and dates; add remaining 1 tablespoon of spice blend. Mix thoroughly. Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cover. Let rise in warm place, about 20 min. Bake at 350 F for 15 to 20 minutes. Yield; 4 dozen pastries —The End. PJC
Rachel Fauber can be reached at fauberrs@ gmail.com.
Do you have a tried-and-true dish that comes with an interesting origin story? If so, we want to hear from you! Submit recipes along with their backstories to newsdesk@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Recipe” in the subject line. Please include a photo of the dish. You may see your submission as part of our new column “Savoring Stories”!
Place roasting pan on burners, on mediumhigh heat.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Working in batches, brown chicken, about 3 minutes per side. Pull out and set aside.
Add vegetables and dates to the hot roasting pan and cook until there’s some browning, 3-4 minutes, stirring as needed. Add chicken stock, mix thoroughly then place browned thighs skin side up on top of the vegetable mixture. Place pan in the oven and roast until thermometer reads 165 F, 30-40 minutes, depending on oven.
Transfer to a serving platter and serve chicken over carrot mixture.
Spice blend:
1 tablespoon green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 star anises
2 cinnamon sticks, coarsely crushed
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 dried Persian limes (optional)
Toast spices in a pan over low-medium heat until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Let cool. Add to spice grinder and pulse until ground. Enjoy! PJC
Do you have a tried-and-true dish that comes with an interesting origin story? If so, we want to hear from you! Submit recipes along with their backstories to newsdesk@pittsburghjewish chronicle.org, and write “Recipe” in the subject line. Please include a photo of the dish. You may see your submission as part of our new column “Savoring Stories”!
p Recipe for tjuv poikar
p Tjuv poikar
Photos by Rachel Fauber
p Tzimmes chicken
Photo by Charles Zvirman
Community
The legend of Silk NJCW Pittsburgh held a program in partnership with the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives. Chaired by Teddi Horvitz, the event celebrated art and activism, honored Louise Silk’s legacy and spotlit NCJW Pittsburgh’s continued dedication to driving social change.
p Louise Silk presents a piece during NCJW Pittsburgh’s spring event.
Photo courtesy of NCJW Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh teens joined hundreds of fellow singers at Carnegie Hall in New York City for a concert featuring a variety of
Food and friends Students enjoy dinner and discussion at Chabad House on Campus.
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Photo courtesy of Chabad House on Campus
Community Day School students marked Yom HaShoah by lighting candles and hearing from Max Gelertner, a CDS alum
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Photo courtesy of Community Day School
As part of a Yom HaShoah commemoration, Squirrel Hill resident Liora Weinberg shared her experiences as a child of Holocaust survivors. The April 24 program was organized by
p Liora Weinberg, right, describes her family’s experience of coming to the United States by boat.
Photo by Sima Reinherz
Hillel JUC marked the end of Passover by welcoming University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University students to a Mimouna celebration. The post-Passover festival is celebrated by Moroccan Jewish communities and often features music, dancing and lots of delicious food.
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Photo courtesy of Hillel JUC
Corey O’Connor has delivered real progress for Pittsburgh, creating the City’s Paid Sick Days Act and bringing in funds for early childhood education. With a strong record of success in local government, Corey O’Connor is ready to help our city grow, thrive, and expand opportunities for every resident.
Voter registration must be finalized by May 5. Scan to check your voter registration.
Corey O’Connor is endorsed by:
• Allegheny County Democratic Committee
• 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club
• Young Democrats of Allegheny County
• College Democrats at Pitt
• Pittsburgh Paramedics and EMTs
• Labor Unions: Teamsters, Ironworkers, Laborers, Plumbers, Steamfitters, Building Trade Councils and others
• A majority of the Pittsburgh City Council including Erika Strassburger
• State Representatives Dan Frankel and Abigail Salisbury
• State Senator Wayne Fontana
Please join us in voting for Corey O’Connor for Mayor in the Democratic Primary on May 20th. Pittsburgh deserves better!
Steve Abo, Stewart Anderson, Deb Anderson, David Baker, Karen Balk, Marshall Balk, Stewart Barmen, Raymond Baum, Chip Berger, Sue Berman Kress, Zsolt Bessko, Jason Binder, Gideon Blitstein, Dana Blitstein, Harold Blumenfeld, Sam Braver, Stacy Browdie Cohen, Stephanie Brown, Peter Brown, Gail Childs, Norman Childs, Michele Clark, Gerry Delon, Sharon Dilworth, Craig Dunham, Linda Ehrenreich, Stanford Ehrenreich, Lindsey Ehrenwerth, Elyse Eichner, Marty Eichner, Andrea Eller, Andrew Eller, Carol Ellstein, Nicole Evoy, Kander Family, Drew Feiner, Michele Ferrier, Rodney Fink, Rachel Firestone, Debby Firestone, Nate Firestone, Laura Forth, Peggy Fried, Doug Frisbee, Karen Gal-Or, Eshter Gal-Or, Mordechai Gal-Or, Alan Garfinkel, Ruth Garfinkel, David Gefsky, JulieGelman, Ed Gelman, Larry Gerson, Barbara Gerson, Andrea Glickman, David Glickman, Bob Gold, Amy Gold, Karen Gold, Mel Gold, Cathy Gold, Michael Goldstein, Peter Gordon, Robin Gordon, Carole Gottlieb, Mark Gottlieb, Michael Gottlieb, Laurie Gottlieb, Sherry Greenberg, John Greenberg, Mor Greenberg, Ellen Gross, Susie Gusky Zeidner, Steve Halpern, Linda Halpern, Everett Herman, Tom Holber, Jessica Holber, Andrea Holber, Teddi Horvitz, David Horvitz, Michael Kamon, Janet Kamon, Ellen Teri Kaplan Goldstein, Ellen Katzen, Bob Katzen, Rona Kaufman, Doug Kress, Marcy Kronzek, Harvey Kronzek, Reid Kronzek, Eileen Lane, Robin Lebovitz, Jeff Lebovitz, Roberta Letwin, Richard Levine, Ellie Levine,ShellyLevine,CliffLevine,RosanneLevine,JasonLichtenstein, Julie Lichtenstein, Adele Markovitz, Robbie Markovitz, Leah Milch, Philip Milch, Elaine Miller, Todd Miller, Laurie Moser, Roz Neiman, Parker Neiman, Jessica Neiss, Emily O’Connor, Gavin O’Connor, Gregg Perelman, Susie Perelman, Danielle Perelman, Sara Perelman, Emma Perelman, Sharon Perelman, Eric Perelman, David S. Pollock, Howard Reck, Todd Reidbord, Ruth Reidbord, Cathy Reifer, Sheryl Riddle, Bruce Rollman, Jane Rollman, Judi Rosen, Steve Rosen, Linda Safyan, Cathy Samuels, Michael Samuels, Kathy Short, Greg Short, Barb Siegel, Ed Siegel, Pat Siger, Alan Siger, Leonard Silk, Benjamin Sitter, Derek Smith, Maxine Solomon, Amy Spear, David Steinbach, Carol Steinbach, Andrew Stewart, Paul Supowitz, Marcy Supowitz, Juliet Supowitz, Will Supowitz, Holly Swartz, Cheryl Weisberg, David Weisberg, Arlene Weisman, Richard Weisman, Casey Weiss, Fred Whalan, Rachel Whelan, Rick Wice, Adriana Zeevi, Orit Zeevi, Daniel Zeidner, Myrna Zelenitz
