January 26, 2024 | 16 Shevat 5784
Candlelighting 5:13 p.m. | Havdalah 6:15 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 4 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, some Jewish scholars stress
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Gift of life
Gratitude for a second chance, thanks to a stem cell donor LOCAL
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Chabad of Squirrel Hill gets a face-lift
$2 million renovation begins
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Congregation B’nai Abraham looks to future as spiritual leader Michal Gray-Schaffer announces retirement
Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer shares an aliyah with the youth of B'nai Abraham.
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Photo by David Hoffman
FOOD
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Old-fashioned beef stew The Peace Palace, an international law administrative building in The Hague, the Netherlands Photo courtesy of Velvet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Comfort food for cold days Page 14
LOCAL A daughter's pandemic promise
85 days in a nursing home Page 16
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early 80 years ago, Polish-born lawyer Raphäel Lemkin created the term “genocide” for his book “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.” Lemkin lost much of his family during World War II and the Nazis’ attempt to eliminate the Jewish people. Wanting to create a word that described the mass murder of a nation or ethnic group, he combined the Greek prefix “genos,” meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix for killing, “-cide.” In 1946, genocide was first recognized as a crime under international law by the United Nations General Assembly. Two years later, it was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The official definition includes "any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: a. killing members of the group; b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and, e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." There have been only three recognized genocides that have led to trial under the convention: Rwanda in 1994, Bosnia in 1995 and Cambodia under the 1975-79 Pol Pot regime. Despite the focused brutality of those campaigns — and others not officially recognized as genocide (Saddam Hussein’s Please see Genocide, page 10
Coming Feb. 2 cromary / Adobe Stock
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ongregation B’nai Abraham isn’t yet planning for its final act. Even as its longtime spiritual leader, Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, announced she will retire at the end of June — and demographic trends aren’t pointing in favor of rural congregations like B’nai Abraham — the congregation is looking to the future. Located approximately 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, the Butler congregation is the only surviving synagogue between Cranberry Township and Erie. And while membership has waxed and waned since its founding at the beginning of the 20th century, when 25 Jewish families decided to create a religious school and place of worship, it has remained a vital link across what poet and congregation member Philip Terman affectionally calls “the true diaspora.” Terman, who grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, said B’nai Abraham provides a connection to Judaism in a rural area that Please see Gray-Schaffer, page 10
Headlines A ‘second chance at life’: Bone marrow recipient organizes drive at Beth Shalom — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
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hari Woldenberg was a young mother of two boys, ages 2 and 4, living in a Chicago suburb when, out of the blue, she felt an unusual pain in her spine. “It was the craziest thing,” she recalled. “It took a couple of months, really, to get a diagnosis.” The news was devastating: stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s large B cell lymphoma. And it came around the time of 9/11. “That’s how I remember it,” Woldenberg said. “The whole world was falling apart.” The disease began in her vertebrae, then spread quickly to her brain. She was told she had a 20% chance of survival. That was 22 years ago. Thanks to her “amazing doctor,” Steven Rosen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and a stem cell transplant — thanks to her sister, Beth MacCrindle — Woldenberg is in good health, living in Pittsburgh and hoping to inspire others to consider joining the Gift of Life bone marrow registry. Community members will have the opportunity to do so on Sunday, Jan. 28, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom during its quarterly blood drive. Gift of Life is a national nonprofit registry that facilitates transplants for patients in the U.S. and abroad. Woldenberg manages adult education programming at Beth Shalom as its Derekh coordinator. She organized Sunday’s drive along with the congregation’s Men’s Club and Vitalant, a blood collection nonprofit. The Steel City newcomer — she moved here in 2022 from Rochester, New York, to
p Shari Woldenberg
Photo by Toby Tabachnick
marry Pittsburgher Mark Frisch — knows how fortunate she was to have found a stem cell match in her sister. “She saved my life,” Woldenberg said. MacCrindle, who was living in Cleveland, didn’t think twice about being a donor for her sister. She headed to Northwestern in Chicago for the transplant. The process was simple, she said. “They put something on my jugular vein on my neck,” MacCrindle recalled. “I’m not saying it was comfortable, but all I kept thinking about was, ‘Wow, this is nothing compared to what my sister is going through.’ And they hooked me up to a machine. It took two or three days.” “Donating stem cells is closer to donating blood than it is to donating an organ or something,” MacCrindle explained. “It’s not very invasive at all. I don’t have any kind of scar or anything from it.”
Registering to be a potential donor is not invasive, either. All it takes is a cheek swab. Anyone 18 to 35 years old and in general good health can join the registry for free by either completing a cheek swab at an in-person drive or ordering a kit sent to their home. MacCrindle encourages everyone who qualifies to consider registering. “It’s just a few days of your life to save somebody’s life,” she said. Before coming to Pittsburgh, Woldenberg worked as an attorney and as an endowments associate at Jewish Federation in Chicago and has served on multiple school boards and federation boards. Since her diagnosis and recovery, she has been committed to advocacy and community work, everything from writing grants for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to lobbying Congress to just talking to other patients.
Because tissue type is inherited, a person’s best chance of finding a genetic match is with those of a similar race or ethnicity. That is to say, if a Jew of Ashkenazi descent needs a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, their best likelihood of finding a match is with an Ashkenazi donor. Each year, about 18,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with blood cancers or other life-threatening illnesses for which a stem cell transplant is the best treatment option, according to the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center. About 70% of those patients do not have a family member who is a match and must rely on an unrelated donor. In addition to registering people to be bone marrow donors, another aim of Beth Shalom’s drive Sunday is to help keep the blood supply in Pittsburgh high in case blood needs to be transported to Israel during its war with Hamas. Vitalant’s efforts are part of a tenure Contingency Agreement in place since 2018 between U.S. blood centers and Magen David Adom. Woldenberg, valuing every day as a gift, is focused on giving back. “I’ve always thought that I’ve been a given second chance of life,” Woldenberg said. “And that’s one of the lines that Gift of Life uses. It’s also something that I feel so personally — that I’ve been given a second chance and I value every day, and I’m just full of gratitude for everything. “And here I am in Pittsburgh with a second marriage, and that’s also a second chance of life, and helping the Jewish community through Derekh. Helping strengthen the Jewish community is something that I’ve discovered is my life purpose.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Headlines Classrooms Without Borders’ Avi Ben-Hur on the aftermath of Oct. 7 — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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vi Ben-Hur is quick to say that Hamas’ violence in Israel on Oct. 7 wasn’t a terrorist attack. “It was an invasion,” he said. “It wasn’t a terror attack. And it lasted for three days. It took the Israeli military establishment three full days to clear the terrorists out of Israeli territory before we went on the offensive in the Gaza Strip.” It is believed that nearly 1,200 people in Israel were murdered that day — including children, women and foreigners — and about 240 were taken hostage. More than 130 people are still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Ben-Hur, an Israeli educator specializing in Land of Israel studies, the history of Jerusalem, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Holocaust studies, is Classrooms Without Borders’ scholar-in-residence. He made aliyah from his native Brooklyn, New York, in 1983, and lives in Jerusalem with his wife. He has three children. The events of Oct. 7, he said, have reverberated across the country, both physically and psychologically. “Oct. 7 undermined the personal security of every citizen of Israel, including the 21% of the population that is not Jewish, but Israeli,” he said. “It has not been retrieved. I’m saying that with 1,000% certainty and taking into consideration that we still have around 120,000 internally displaced citizens of Israel. Refugees, essentially. And we had to evacuate 60,000 residents from our northern border because Hezbollah has been shooting anti-tank rockets at people’s homes.” The numbers, he said, present a future challenge to the Israeli government.
Avi Ben-Hur
Photo courtesy of Avi Ben-Hur
“At the end of the day, if these people don’t have a sense of security, if they can’t return to their homes and live there safely, that’s a major failure of the government and it will have to pay the piper,” he said. On top of the distress of having to leave their homes for their safety, Ben-Hur noted, many were traumatized when their family members were murdered or taken hostage by Hamas. “They’ve seen atrocity after atrocity. They are ongoing. They’re not post-traumatic. It’s ongoing trauma,” he said. Israeli citizens in the north, he said, have had homes damaged or destroyed, although they didn’t face the kind of horror those in the south did on Oct. 7 and the immediate days following. The loss of security has led most Israelis to believe that the Gaza war has to be fought until Hamas is no longer a threat, according to Ben-Hur. “We have a monster on our doorstep,” he said. “We were caught asleep. We had horrible things done to us. It’s not a question of payback. We have to retrieve our safety and security so people can go back to their homes and live their lives like normal people. We have to degrade the monster’s offensive capabilities so this can’t
Fetterman, Casey, Cassidy introduce bill to combat discrimination at universities
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— NATIONAL —
ennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), have introduced legislation addressing discrimination on college and university campuses. The Protecting Students on Campus Act “would inform students of their right to file a civil rights complaint with the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education if they experience discrimination based on their race, color, or national origin,” according to a news release. The act would require colleges and universities that receive federal funding to post on their homepage a link to OCR’s website where students can submit complaints and also would require those schools to post materials on how to file OCR complaints in physical locations on campus and online. Additionally, the act would require OCR to brief Congress monthly on the number of complaints OCR receives, how OCR will address those complaints and how long they have been pending. The act would require an audit of the colleges PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
and universities that report the highest number of discrimination complaints relative to their student population and prohibit OCR from dismissing complaints due to resolutions by another civil rights enforcement agency. Fetterman said he was “proud to introduce this bill with my colleagues to empower students facing discrimination to take action and hold universities accountable in protecting students.” “Diversity is our strength as a country,” he said. “No student should face hostility or violence for who they are, what they look like, where they’re from or what they believe.” “Discrimination should never stand in the way of a student’s education,” Casey said. “Our students deserve accountability when they’re made to feel unsafe in the classroom.” The bipartisan legislation comes amid “rising antisemitic, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic activity on college campuses and nationwide following the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas militants and Israel’s ensuing bombardment of Gaza,” the news release states. PJC
happen again.” On top of the immediate impact felt after Oct. 7, Ben-Hur said the ongoing conflict means everyone has felt some sense of loss. In a country as small as Israel, with almost 200 military casualties since the start of the war, everybody knows somebody killed. The more than 130 hostages still being held by Hamas — 25 of whom have been declared dead — present another hardship for Israel. The reality, Ben-Hur said, is that there is no way to know how many people are still alive. The angst, sorrow, pain and rage felt by the families of the hostages, Ben-Hur said, is beginning to boil over. They are terrified their family members will be killed. Complicating issues, he said, is Hezbollah and terrorists to the north. Ben-Hur spoke to the Chronicle the day after a lone wolf attack at a Jerusalem bus station. He said those kinds of incidents are near the top of all Israelis’ minds. “I picked up my daughter (who is serving in the IDF) at the bus station at 9:45 this morning,” he said. “I wasn’t sure I could make it. She wrote and said she would hang around and I was like, ‘Do I want my daughter in uniform waiting around?’ That’s a bizarre thought, but it’s not a bizarre thought because I’m a parent,” he said. And yet, he said, most people focused on Gaza are unaware of the danger Israel faces from the northern border and the West Bank. “The West Bank is boiling over,” he said. “It’s about to explode and most Israelis are not really
aware of that. A series of terror attacks have emanated from the West Bank in the last few days and the link is Oct. 7.” Ben-Hur doesn’t shy away from placing part of the responsibility on the Israeli government for the current tension in the north, saying Hezbollah and other terrorist groups have been encouraged by what they’ve seen from Hamas. He noted, though, that the Israeli government’s unwillingness to turn over taxes collected to the Palestinian Authority or permitting workers to cross from the West Bank into Israel have all negatively impacted the situation. “We have the most right-wing government officials in history,” he said. And while Ben-Hur is quick to note the role of the Israeli government in the conflict, he doesn’t believe calls for new elections will result in a left-leaning governing coalition. Instead, he believes a center-right bloc will most likely emerge, which he doesn’t think would be more willing to discuss a two-state solution than the current administration. “Because the people in Israel would not, right now, be predisposed to that,” he said. The community will have a chance to hear from Ben-Hur in person from Feb. 4-13 when he’ll present various programs to groups in and around the city. A complete list of events can be found at cwbpgh.org. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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Headlines Chabad of Squirrel Hill gets a $2 million makeover — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
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ontractors are hard at work on a $2 million renovation project slated to modernize and provide a muchneeded face-lift to Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Beechwood Boulevard. The project, which began in late 2023, strips much of the inside of the early 1900s-era building down to its studs, said Rabbi Yisroel Altein, co-director of Chabad of Squirrel Hill. The contractor plans to build an entirely new front entrance, expand the social hall, beautify the synagogue and renovate office and classroom space on the brick-faced building’s second and third floors. Key features of the renovated site will include a new ark facing Jerusalem and a dramatic design feature where “rays of light” — essentially parts of the ceiling structure — burst out from a modern chandelier whose LED lights resemble clustered stars. “The idea is to modernize the building, make it a fresh space for Chabad,” Altein said. “After COVID-19 and all, we’re back in full swing — and it’s time to make this space beautiful, useful and inviting,” he said. Once a Squirrel Hill mansion owned by a U.S. Steel executive, the building at 1700 Beechwood Blvd. housed New Light Congregation from 1957 — when that congregation left the Hill District — until 2016 when it moved to a rented space at the Tree of Life building on Wilkins and Shady avenues. Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh bought the site on Dec. 15, 2017, for $700,000, Allegheny
p Rendering of exterior
p Rendering of interior
County property records show. The Orthodox Jewish day school, then facing waiting lists at its early learning center and girls’ high school, planned to use the new building to “expand on our tight spaces,” Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, then the schools’ dean, told the Chronicle in 2017. “We needed space for the short term and the long term,” Rosenfeld said. Then, the pandemic hit and expansion plans were briefly tabled. Chabad of Squirrel Hill, however, began using the space. That group bought the building from Yeshiva Schools on Aug. 25, 2021. Yeshiva Schools focused on growing elsewhere. In June of 2021, it bought a 70,000-square-foot property at the St. Rosalia site in Greenfield. Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, the schools’ CEO, said that the purchase was “linked to the broader strategic plan.” One of the site’s two Greenfield Avenue buildings measures almost 50,000 square feet and lends ample space to educate the roughly 200 boys enrolled in Yeshiva’s elementary and high schools, as well as housing 50 to 60 out-oftown high school students, Rosenblum said.
Chabad, in the meantime, got familiar with the old New Light space, holding services and community meals, and working out of its office and kitchen. “We’ve used this space — we know what we need and we know how it’s done,” Altein said. “The planning took longer than I really wanted. But, when the trucks came and they got started, it was exciting.” Certain features of the new building could be eye-popping — from the ceiling fixtures emanating from a chandelier hanging from the synagogue’s 15-foot-tall ceiling to the new entranceway, a bold metal-and-glass enclosure with expanded steps and ramps. Double doors at the new entrance also will provide for improved security, Altein said. The renovation project is being done in two phases, Altein said. After work is complete in the social hall, Chabad will move its operations there and then contractors will work on the synagogue side of the building. The group might erect a tent outside in warmer months if services or events call for additional space.
Image courtesy of Chabad of Squirrel Hill
Getting to know: Jenny Jones — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
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riends often ask Jenny Jones about the awkwardness of fundraising. “Asking for money is like 5% of what I do,” the longtime development professional said. “It’s all about the lead-up to the ask getting people involved in your organization, creating volunteer opportunities for people to actually see what you do and selling the product.” For years, Jones, 42, has helped numerous organizations follow that model. After college, she worked as director of development at the University of Cincinnati’s Hillel on campus. When her husband got a job in Pittsburgh, Jones joined the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh as a campaign associate. She remained at the umbrella organization, and held multiple roles, for nearly a decade before spending almost eight years overseeing development at Community Day School. Then, last May, the Squirrel Hill resident lent her talents nationwide and became director of development at the Jewish Fertility Foundation, an Atlanta-headquartered organization that helps hopeful parents through 4
JANUARY 26, 2024
p Jenny Jones
Photo courtesy of Jenny Jones
financial assistance, emotional support and education about infertility. Jones, who serves JFF while living in Pittsburgh, shared the organization’s accomplishments. Since its 2014 inception, JFF has distributed 214 fertility grants totaling almost $1.7 million toward loans, clinic discounts and other services. Thanks to relationships with 21 partner fertility clinics, JFF counts 135 babies born, 78 babies “on the way” and seven locations nationwide, including one in Pittsburgh, she said. Along with sites in Atlanta and Pittsburgh, JFF operates in Cincinnati, Birmingham,
Image courtesy of Chabad of Squirrel Hill
Tampa, Washington, D.C., and Denver. More than 300 volunteers nationwide assist the organization with programs, including a matching service where a parent who has been “through this process” is paired with “somebody who is just starting their journey,” Jones said. “It’s very confidential. It’s private. We know that these things are sensitive, and we are very cautious.” While the organization has raised $1.4 million this year, she said, “the needs are only growing. People are getting married later. People are having babies later.” “While an estimated one in six Americans experience medical infertility, we know the rates are higher among the Jewish community,” said JFF CEO and founder Elana Frank. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 16.3% of married women, ages 15-49, have “impaired fecundity.” About 300,000 Jews are “experiencing infertility across the nation,” Jones said. Of the countless causes Jones has aided over the years, Jewish fertility is among the most important, she said: “I’m a woman in my 40s. I have two kids. Obviously, I want my kids to have kids, so I just need to make sure that everybody is able to do that, and can afford it because it’s only going to get more expensive.” JFF estimates that the cost of an average
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Altein said he hopes all work will be wrapped up by the High Holidays. Jed Cohen has attended Chabad services with his family in Squirrel Hill for about 12 years. A project manager by day who’s friendly with Altein, Cohen said he couldn’t help but lend a hand on the project. Cohen said he handled the Request for Proposals and helped interview contractors, eventually negotiating the deal with the Pittsburgh firm G6 Builders. Since work started, he’s assisted with permit issues and tracking the construction process. In addition to G6, Chabad of Squirrel Hill has worked on the project with Indovina Associates Architects, a Strip District-based firm that designed the renovation work. Cohen feels the existing building, where he started attending Chabad events near the end of the pandemic, “was very dated.” He’s excited that details like the 1970s- or ’80s-era stained glass windows will be replaced by the sun-ray chandelier, a new ark and a new entrance. “It should be beautiful,” he said. “It will just be a much more user-friendly building.” Cohen feels the timing to expand Chabad’s physical footprint is important. A recent Passover seder hosted by Chabad drew some 200 participants. Growing antisemitism in the U.S. and the events of Oct. 7 in Israel also resonate for Cohen. “For me, it’s important to have a building that will stand for my children and grandchildren,” he said. “Now, more than ever, we need to ensure we have these institutions that are family-affirming and family-enriching.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
IVF cycle in the U.S. is approximately $20,000 (with no guarantee of success), given various factors, including location and insurance. As director of development, dealing with finances is part of her job, but much of Jones’ responsibilities involve meeting with people and sharing stories. The reality and difficulty of infertility are essential to be told, just as people must know about JFF and the services it provides, Jones said. Last year, the organization strengthened its commitment to inclusion by recognizing the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community and creating a program where “same-sex couples can meet other same-sex couples and talk about their struggles.” Jones said she’s thrilled about her work with JFF and that, in many ways, it offers similar responsibilities and rewards as her previous professional endeavors. “I love meeting people. I love building relationships. I love sharing what I do,” she said. “I don’t work in the Jewish community to make the big bucks. I work in the Jewish community because I love it and I care. This is so not a job for me. This is my pleasure.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Headlines A façade of a façade of a façade — HISTORY — By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle
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like old buildings with aging renovations — the more layers the better. The largest synagogues in Pittsburgh all fit this description. Each expansion reflects the energy of a different era. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than B eth Hamedrash Hagodol Congregation downtown, where architect Harry Levine wove two previous iterations of the old synagogue into the current sanctuary — three eras in one small room. Fun examples of this architectural phenomenon can be found all over Pittsburgh. The definitive example locally might be the CVS pharmacy on Fifth Avenue downtown. If you study the facade from the opposite sidewalk, you will find an assemblage of four distinct and totally incongruous components, arranged like the jumbled tiles of a sliding puzzle. There are screaming Gothic mascaron, tall Corinthian columns, slick midcentury tiles, and an expanse of aluminum siding in a depleted brown resembling muddy snow. My current favorite example of layered quality is 618 Clay Ave. in Jeannette. Today the building is home to Colors Birthday Party Place. The façade is a zany, blinking grid of primary colors beneath a blaring marquee. Squint through all those colors, though, and you can instantly tell that the underlying building is from an earlier era in town history. There is a historic photograph of this building from 1990. The basic structure is mostly unchanged but the colors have yet to be added. The windows of the first-floor storefront are pasted over with wrinkled butcher paper. One upstairs window is cracked. Another has no glass at all. Instead, an old door turned sideways has been nailed over the opening. This photograph was created as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey. The National Park Service began this ongoing record of American architecture in 1933 and has since created records of tens of thousands of buildings across the country. The survey includes some of the most renowned structures in the country, as well as thousands of examples of everyday architecture, including many buildings throughout Jeannette. Jeannette was a good example of everyday. It followed a trajectory common throughout industrial America. It was rural until the late 1880s, when prospectors discovered natural gas. The local energy source brought glass production to the town. Jeannette at one point had seven glass factories. With the industry came the railroad. With the railroad came people, who came from all over, seeking work. By the 1990s, though, thousands had left.
p The LaVictoire family briefly lived at 618 Clay Ave. in Jeannette, seen here in 1990. Photo via Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS PA-6105
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If you review the HABS documentation files for this location, you can find a history of the building and its occupants. The building was erected no later than 1895 and went through several owners until 1913, when it was sold to Avigdor and Miriam LaVictoire. The LaVictoires were a Jewish couple who came to Western Pennsylvania
from Bialystok at the turn of the century. They struggled for stability, but their daughter Frieda LaVictoire eventually earned a degree from the Pitt School of Dentistry in 1922. As she was becoming a respected dentist in Pittsburgh, LaVictoire harbored a dream. In a 1968 oral history with the National Council of Jewish Women,
p “Jeannette—and a Jewish chicken,” from Frieda LaVictoire’s 1970 collection of Poetry, “Tsu Zingen un Zogen” Image courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives
the interviewer asked what LaVictoire would do, if she could start over. “I would write,” she said. “And teach.” Dentistry was already an impressive dream for a Jewish immigrant woman from a small town in the early 1920s. But writing seemed beyond that dream, into the realm of fantasy. LaVictoire did write, just not professionally. She published a collection of Yiddish poetry in 1970 called “Tsu Zingen un Zogen,” which she translated as “Who Sing and Spring.” The volume includes two parts. The first is a selection of classic English verse translated into Yiddish — William Cullen Bryant, Lewis Carroll, Ralph Waldo Emerson and others. The second section contains biographical poems, largely chronicling the upheavals of immigration. In “Going On An Errand,” LaVictoire recalls the discomfort she felt as a girl of 12, being sent on a weekly Thursday trolley ride to the Ludwig section of Greensburg — all alone, save for a “smart aleck chicken” bound for the Shabbos table. In the poem, LaVictoire describes her embarrassment as the other passengers snicker at the chicken, her guilt when the shochet slaughters the bird, her somber relief on the ride home with the silent package of meat in her lap, and finally her delight when she arrives in Jeannette to find her friend and neighbor Alice Holland waiting to walk her home. The Hollands were American-born migrants. According to the 1920 census, the parents Clifford and Mary Holland were both from Ohio but their three children at home were born in different states: Illinois in 1900, Indiana in 1903, and Kansas in 1906. The family eventually came to Jeannette, where Clifford worked as a cutter in a local glass factory and lived on Clay Avenue, past Sixth Street, among newly arriving Jewish immigrants. In “Jeannette — and a Jewish Chicken,” LaVictoire recalls a conversation with her friend Alice about the rigors of keeping kosher: “Alice says it’s a shame to go clear to Greensburg just to kill an old chicken ‘her pap could do.’/ Tastes just as good when he chops off the head with an ax. It’s lots of trouble to be a Jew!/ We giggle and compare the pile of trouble it’s to be a Holy Roller Evangelist!/ And then we’re home, across the street from each other, smile-part. For a week, Thursday chicken doesn’t exist.” You could imagine this encounter spinning off toward ugliness, but the tone stays so light — two kids reveling in the oddities of their respective cultures. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but I think a familiarity with change gave each girl some affection toward the other. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at rjarchives@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406. JANUARY 26, 2024
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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, JAN. 26 Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh virtually for its annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Robbie Aitken, professor at Sheffield Hallam University, will discuss the concept of “forgotten victims,” which looks at the experiences of Germany’s Black resident community. Registration is free and donations are optional. Noon. hcofpgh. org/events. q SATURDAY, JAN. 27 Join Chabad of the South Hills for Bourbon Talk and Tasting with the Bourbon Rabbi. Learn about the history of bourbon and the behind-the-scenes details of the industry while enjoying a guided tasting of select bourbons. $36/person. 8 p.m. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com/bourbon. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 28–DEC. 29 Join a lay-led online parshah study group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q SUNDAY, JAN. 28 Join Chabad of the South Hills for Babyccino: A chic meet for moms and tots. Learn about the four holy cities in Israel through music, movement, arts, sensor and heaps of play. 10:30 a.m. $12/class. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com/babyccino. Join the Jewish community for the Bring Them Home Now vigil in support of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Noon. Corner of Darlington Road and Murray Avenue. Chabad of Pittsburgh presents the Jewish Children’s Discovery Center. Girls and boys grades 3-5 will practice cake-decorating skills while learning about the holy temple and what its beautiful golden vessels can teach us today. Girls and boys grades K-2 will create and decorate a wooden mitzvah house while learning about the holy temple and the values it represents. Girls and boys ages 3 and 4 will touch, taste, hear and feel their way through a journey of Jewish values and traditions. With weekly storytelling, crafts, music and games, this class is sure to get out all the morning wiggles. Grades K-5: $60/4-week session; ages 3-4; $10/class. Noon. chabadpgh.com. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 28–DEC. 29 Join a lay-led online parshah study group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 28, JUNE 9, SEPT. 8, DEC. 8 Congregation Beth Shalom will be holding Quarterly Blood Drives in 2024. The first blood drive will also include a Gift of Life bone marrow drive. Registration is required with group code UG0020027. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. bethshalompgh.org/quarterly-blood-drive. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 28, FEB. 4 Join Classrooms Without Borders for “Judaism’s Ancient and Ongoing Roots in Israel with Avi Ben-Hur: A 3-part Course.” Delve into the depths of historical narratives and contested landscapes and explore the rich heritage and complex relationships that have shaped the region. 1 p.m. cwbpgh.org/event/ judaisms-ancient-and-ongoing-roots-in-israel-with-aviben-hur-a-3-part-course. q MONDAYS, JAN. 29, FEB. 5 Join Rabbis Sharyn Henry and Jessica Locketz for Wise Aging Group, a five-session experience designed for Jewish adults 55 and older who are open to
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conversations about what it means not just to get older, but to age wisely. 7 p.m. $72. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/wiseaging.
of Jewish history. 7 p.m. $300 for this 25-session series (book included). jewishpgh.org/series/meltonethics-crossroads.
q MONDAYS, JAN. 29, FEB. 12 Beth El Congregation in the South Hills invites you to the Adult Education Winter Speakers Series. Each evening begins with a reception followed by a lecture. Lecture by Peter DiNardo on Jan. 29 and Bruce Ledewitz on Feb. 12. 7 p.m. Free. 1900 Cochran Road, 15220, and online. RSVPs required. bethelcong.org.
q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 31–DEC. 18 Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful with Rabbi Mark Goodman in this weekly Parashah Discussion: Life & Text. 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh. org/life-text.
q MONDAYS, JAN. 29–MAY 13 H. Arnold and Adrien B. Gefsky Community Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff presents Torah 2. Understanding the Torah and what it asks of us is perhaps one of the most important things that a Jew can learn. In Torah 2, Schiff will explore the second half of Leviticus and all of Numbers and Deuteronomy. 9:30 a.m. $225. Zoom. jewishpgh.org/event/torah-22/2023-10-09. q MONDAYS, JAN. 29–DEC. 28 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q TUESDAYS, JAN. 30–FEB. 20 Join Chabad of the South Hills for Kosher in the Kitchen, a kosher cooking experience for your little chef. Ages 4-11, divided into age-appropriate groups. 5:30 p.m. $18/class; $60/full four-week session. Registration includes signature “kids in the kitchen” apron. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com/kidscooking. q WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31 Join Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Senior Staff Writer David Rullo as he discusses his book “Gen X Pittsburgh: The Beehive and the 90s Scene.” 7 p.m. Mt. Lebanon Public Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. mtlebanon.librarycalendar.com/event/gen-xbook-chat-dave-rullo-1023. q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 31–FEB. 21 Join Rabbi Jonathan Perlman for Fun with Rashi: Torah Insights of a Medieval Scholar, a six-week introduction to the most famous of all medieval Torah commentaries that will become the foundation of much Jewish thought and strategy concerning the reading of sacred sources. Students will develop critical skills learned from greatest of the first wave of commentaries and understand how they influenced Judaism in generations to come. Please bring a Tanakh to class. Register required by emailing janet@newlightcongregation.org. q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 31–FEB. 28 The 10.27 Healing Partnership and Emily Harris, experienced practitioner of Spirited Fun Improv, will be offering "Improv in the Community," a one-hour, once a week improv program aimed at older adults (but open to everyone). Participants will cultivate a supportive, lighthearted space where their creativity and connection will shine. Games and scenes are inspired by participants’ life experiences and leave attendees refreshed and energized. 1 p.m. Squirrel Hill JCC, Room 316. 1027healingpartnership.org/ event/improv-in-community/2024-01-24. q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 31–MARCH 6 Chabad of the South Hills presents a new six-week course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, Advice for Life: The Rebbe’s Advice for Leading a More Purposeful Life. This new multimedia course is a journey through the Rebbe’s practical wisdom on work, family, health and well-being. 7:30 p.m. Chabad of the South Hills, 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com. q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 31–MAY 15 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh virtually presents two Melton courses back-to-back: “Ethics” and Crossroads.” In “Ethics,” learn how Jewish teachings shed light on Jewish issues. “Crossroads” will present an emphasis on reclaiming the richness
Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Daniel Fellman presents a weekly Parshat/Torah portion class on site and online. Call 412-421-9715 for more information and the Zoom link. q THURSDAY, FEB. 1 Facilitated by local clergy from Jewish and Christian backgrounds, the Jewish Christian Dialogue is a monthly discussion that explores topics of similarities and differences. Free. Noon. Zoom. rodefshalom.org. q THURSDAYS, FEB. 1, 8 Bring your lunch and join Cantor Toby Glaser for Lunch Time Liturgy to look at the prayers of Kabbalat Shabbat, the opening psalms and prayers of the Shabbat evening service. $54. 1 p.m. Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/lunch. Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership for Winter Forest Bathing: Meditative Walks in Nature. If you feel disconnected from nature, yourself, or others, consider joining our community and participating in this forest bathing series. Take slow, gentle walks in nature with frequent invitations to meditate or connect. 1 p.m. Frick Environmental Center 2005 Beechwood Blvd. 1027healingpartnership.org/ event/winter-forest-bathing-meditative-time-innature/2024-01-25. q THURSDAYS, FEB. 1–DEC. 5 Join Beth El Congregation of South Hills for Hope & Healing on Zoom the first Thursday of each month, a 30-minute program led by Rabbi Amy Greenbaum. Chant, breathe, pray for healing and seek peace. Call the Beth El office at 412-561-1168 to receive the Zoom link. 5:30 p.m. bethelcong.org. q FRIDAY, FEB. 2 Families with young children are invited to join Rodef Shalom Congregation for Shabbat with You, a pre-Shabbat playdate, service and dinner to celebrate Shabbat together. 4:30 p.m. $5 per family. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/shabbatwithyou. NextGEN Shabbat After Hours is back, and this time it’s bookish! Join Temple Sinai after its Mostly Musical Shabbat Evening Service for a cozy oneg just for NextGEN. There will be snacks, warm drinks and a book swap. Bring a book you’ve read and pick up y our next read. Share recommendations with friends and enjoy browsing what others have loved. 8:15 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/event/shabbat-afterhours-.html#. q SUNDAY, FEB. 4 Be a hero in your community at the Jewish Federation’s annual Super Sunday. Help raise funds with the community alongside your peers and represent your favorite Jewish Pittsburgh agency. Free T-shirts, prizes kosher food and drinks provided. Two sessions available: 9-11 a.m.; noon-2 p.m. 30-minute training sessions take place Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 8:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 31 at noon. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/super-sunday. Enjoy “Jewish Composers: Cantorial to Broadway,” an afternoon of music to benefit the Rotunda Collaborative at the former B’nai Israel synagogue. Performers include Sara Stock Mayo, Doug Levine, Ken Karsh, Phat Man Dee, Janice Coppola, cantors, and singers from Aria 412, plus many members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community. 3 p.m. $18–$72. Rodef Shalom, Levy Hall, 4905 Fifth Ave. rotundapgh.com/projects.
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q MONDAYS, FEB. 4, 19; MARCH 4, 18; APRIL 1 Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership and practitioner Shawn Fertitta on the first and third Monday for Reiki-infused Sound Bathing. Immerse yourself in the soothing tones of crystal and Tibetan singing bowls. His experience is tailored to calm your mind, body and soul, promoting optimal healing. Whether you’re seeking to alleviate stress and concerns in today’s hectic world, this class is designed for anyone ready to embrace tranquility. 10 a.m. South Hills JCC. 1027healingpartnership.org/reiki-infusedsound-bathing. q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7 Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership for Wellness Wednesday: Acupuncture with Peter Braasch, a certified practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. First-come, first-serve basis, and depending on time restraints your spot is not guaranteed. 6:30 p.m. 5739 Forbes Ave. 1027healingpartnership.org/event/wellnesswednesday-acupuncture-3. q FRIDAY, FEB. 9 Join Tree of Life Congregation as they celebrate Super Bowl weekend with a tailgate dinner followed by Friday night services and then oneg. A hot dog dinner will be served to kick off our enthusiastic football crowd before Shabbat begins. Free. 6 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. treeoflifepgh.org. q SATURDAY, FEB. 10 Join Beth Shalom for a fun trivia event, including a raffle, open bar and snacks. Trivia will be played with teams of three to six. Bring your own team or be matched up at the door. Must be 21 or older to participate. Limited to 30 teams, so don’t wait, sign up now. Drinks start at 7:15 p.m. with the trivia game starting at 8:15 p.m. Registration is required. Deadline to sign up is Friday, Feb. 9, at 3 p.m. bethshalompgh. org/clues-and-schmooze-2024. q SUNDAY, FEB. 11 Temple Sinai Brotherhood invites everyone for brunch followed by a discussion related to Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month. 10 a.m. templesinaipgh.org/event/brotherhood-brunch/ jdaim-event.html. q FRIDAY, FEB. 16 Are you looking for an informal, inviting way to teach your little ones about Shabbat and connect with other families? Join Cantor David Reinwald, Rabbi Daniel Fellman and Danie Oberman for a Tot Shabbat Service and Dinner at Temple Sinai. 5 p.m. Contact Daniel Oberman at danie@templesinaipgh.org. q SATURDAY, FEB. 17 Join Beth Shalom Congregation for the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s “Soul to Soul.” The first time in Pittsburgh, from klezmer to jazz to spirituals to show tunes — a rousing concert to celebrate what unites Jewish and African Americans. 7:30 p.m. Kaufman Center, 1825 Centre Ave. bethshalompgh.org/soul. q TUESDAYS, FEB. 20–MAY 14 Understanding and explaining Israel’s current position requires knowledge of history. In the 10-part course, A History of The Arab-Israel-Iran Conflict: All You Need to Know, Rabbi Danny Schiff will provide a full overview of the regional conflict that Israel has experienced over the last century. What pivotal moments brought us to where we now are, and what might that mean about where the conflict is headed? The cost of taking a course is never a barrier to participation. If price is an issue, please contact the organizer of this course so that we can make the cost comfortable for you. $145. 8 p.m. jewishpgh.org/series/ history-of-the-arab-israel-iran-conflict. q SUNDAY, FEB. 25 Everyone has their own special recipe that they think is the best. Prove you have the winning recipe at Temple Sinai’s Kugel Cook Off. 10 a.m. templesinaipgh.org/ event/kugel-cook-off-sponsored-by-wots.html. PJC
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Life & Culture A daughter’s promise: 85 days quarantining in a nursing home — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
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oAnne Klimovich Harrop thought she had one more day. It had been more than six weeks since Jan. 20, 2020, the day the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. By March 11, more than 118,000 cases — and nearly 4,300 deaths — had been reported in 114 countries worldwide. Harrop had visited her ailing mother, Evelyn, every day at Charles M. Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since she entered the Jewish Association on Aging’s Squirrel Hill facility in April 2016. Sometimes, rather than heading back to her Scott Township home, Harrop would spend the night there, sleeping on a padded windowsill in her mother’s private room. Harrop thought that, on March 14, JAA leaders would be weighing the decision over whether to place Charles Morris on lockdown. Then, on March 13, while she was working in a Tarentum newsroom for her reporting job at the Tribune-Review, Harrop got a call from Tinsy Labrie, then JAA’s director of marketing and public relations. “How soon can you get here?” Labrie asked her. Harrop left as quickly as she could, darting down Route 28 toward the city. She entered the building at 5:59 p.m. that day — one minute before the official lockdown began. That Friday afternoon, Harrop started living with her mother in a 250-square-foot nursing home room, a special period of bonding — as well as trepidation about the outside world — that ended with Evelyn’s unfortunate death. Though she expected the lockdown to last about 15 or 20 days, Harrop was a Charles Morris resident for 85 days. “Part of it was, I wasn’t thinking longterm. I was thinking, ‘Oh, it’s going to be two weeks,” that’s what everyone’s saying,” said Harrop, 60, a Trib reporter since 1997 and the youngest of five children raised in Greenfield. “Even being in newspapers — and we were reporting this stuff — I’m not sure any of us knew what was going on.” “But I was used to it, I knew what it was like. It was normal for me,” she added. “I was with my mother so it didn’t matter where we were. And everyone there was so good to us.” Harrop is a natural caretaker — warm and understanding — and a good listener. But she also was dedicated intensely to her mother’s well-being due to a promise she made years earlier, she said. After her father died, right before they closed his casket to bury him, Harrop put a note in his pocket, promising to care for her mother until the end. Harrop is not Jewish. Raised Roman Catholic, she graduated from a Catholic high school. After her father died in 2015, Harrop often took her mother to services — Evelyn liked the 11 a.m. service on Sundays — at 8
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p JoAnne Klimovich Harrop (left) takes a selfie with her mother, Evelyn Klimovich, outside Rivers Casino Pittsburgh in August 2019. Photo courtesy of the Klimovich Family
St. Rosalia’s Church on Greenfield Avenue. During the pandemic, the two watched Catholic mass on TV. In the spring of 2020, Harrop quickly learned the ropes of living in a facility run by a Jewish organization. She discovered that she’d never find good, leavened bread anywhere in the building during Passover. She got the ins and outs of kosher meals, including the color designation of the plates. She found out where she could store her milk- and meat-based leftovers. And she helped distribute paper slips on Shabbat for those whose religious beliefs forbade them from using money between Friday night and Saturday night each week. “But we put up a Christmas tree,” Harrop laughed. “Charles Morris welcomed everyone. I don’t think it was whether you were Jewish or not. They just cared about you as a person. They cared about the residents — that was No. 1.” Debbie Winn-Horvitz, then the JAA’s president and CEO, said she and Harrop ironed out some of the finer details to ensure Harrop’s mother had the support she needed during lockdown. Harrop signed a legal document, for example, before she was allowed to stay at the nursing home for an extended period. “(Harrop) was there all the time with her mom. They had a very, very special bond. JoAnne was literally there every morning,” Winn-Horvitz told the Chronicle. “This was a very unique situation … the bond was so strong, we felt as though we had to offer some kind of consideration.” Harrop ate Charles Morris meals just like the other residents. (She admits it was a treat when her husband, Perry, brought her and her mother take-out a few times each week, even if he had to leave it at the door.) For nearly three months, Harrop largely stayed inside her mother’s room; social distancing and pandemic rules at the nursing home meant people couldn’t wander past their front door. Harrop said she’d get a kick out of seeing her mom and others playing bingo spread across a hallway. Harrop also fell into the rhythm of each week at the nursing home: bingo on
p JoAnne Klimovich Harrop as a child with her mother, Evelyn Klimovich Photo courtesy of the Klimovich Family
Mondays, french fries — sometimes piping hot — on Wednesdays, ice cream on Fridays. On April 2, just two weeks into her stay, Harrop celebrated Opening Day for the Pittsburgh Pirates by filming her mom and other residents singing “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” in their doorways. Rose Wyner, who moved out of Charles Morris when it closed in 2021 and today lives in Weinberg Terrace, stayed three doors down from Harrop during her 85 days in Squirrel Hill. Wyner, who grew up in the Hill District and turns 100 on Feb. 7, has become an “adoptive mother” to Harrop, both said. Harrop affectionately calls the piano-playing near-centenarian “Rosie.” “Her mother and me and Jo, we had our meals together,” said Wyner, who is Jewish, as she sat in her third-floor room at Weinberg Terrace with Harrop this month. “JoAnne was there every day. Every. Single. Day.” Wyner taught Harrop to play card games. The elder was particularly good at gin rummy, she said. “I used to win,” she laughed. “No money, though. No money!” “During COVID,” Wyner said, pausing as if reflecting, “we became very close, very close.” Harrop met certified nursing assistant Monique Hurt the week her mother entered Charles Morris in 2016. Hurt wasn’t surprised when she found out Harrop had moved in. “She was there all the time looking after her Mom,” said Hurt, a lifelong Pittsburgher who has worked for the JAA for about 10 years. “And she was always very helpful with her mom.” Hurt also was impressed with how engrossed Harrop became in the experience. She talked with many residents — several called her “JoJo” — and joked often with the staff, Hurt said. And the stay resonated for Hurt after Harrop left, too. “I’ve never, ever seen a facility let a loved one move in,” Hurt said. “Then again, it was COVID, and that never happened, either.” “It made me see my job in a whole different aspect — my bosses, the board, the whole
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upper management,” she added. “It made me see them in a different light.” Harrop had always been a caretaker for her parents and, after her mother suffered a stroke in 2004, Harrop cared for her more regularly. When Evelyn Klimovich broke her hip in 2016 and required surgery, her daughter was there. When Evelyn was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer — a typically fast-moving strain with a dire prognosis — her daughter was there. On June 5, 2020, Evelyn Klimovich died. She was 93. Harrop stayed one more night in her mother’s room — alone, this time — then moved out on June 6. She stayed in quarantine for 21 more days before returning to work. Harrop took the death hard, she said. Her mother and father were buried five years apart, to the day, and Evelyn’s passing made her ache for both parents all over again. So, she pulled together what she learned and wrote a book on the subject — “a daughter’s promise,” which the TribuneReview’s publishing arm released in October. Since Harrop has spent decades writing short-form nonfiction — feature articles for a newspaper — she admitted the book “was definitely a different process.” She also had to get used to being the subject of the news for once. “I’m more empathetic as a journalist because now I know what that feels like,” Harrop said. “I was used to being the one doing the interviews … but it’s good to be on both sides. You appreciate both sides of it.” Despite the struggle of the loss — and the circumstances that surrounded it — Harrop remains thankful for her time in the nursing home, especially for Winn-Horvitz’s role in ensuring it all went as smoothly as possible. “Debbie gave me the best gift ever — there was no better gift than time,” she said. “She didn’t know what was going to happen. But she did that.” “And,” Harrop added. “If I could, I’d do it all over again.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Headlines — WORLD — A New Mexico home architect is selling ‘The Anne,’ a floor plan named ‘in honor of’ Anne Frank
A team of home designers outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, has changed its marketing materials after drawing criticism on social media for offering a home plan it calls “The Anne,” which the company said was meant as a tribute to Anne Frank, JTA.org reported. A co-founder of Abrazo Homes told The New York Times that the title, alongside another floor plan named after Harriet Tubman, was meant “to pay homage to some of the most remarkable women in history.” The ad copy on Abrazo’s website was altered on Jan. 16 to remove references to Anne Frank, but the floor plan for the 1,750-squarefoot single-family home remains listed on the site as “The Anne.” It includes an openconcept kitchen and an option for three to four bedrooms. “In her diary, Anne Frank discussed her view of the seasonally changing tree,” the original ad copy read. “In honor of her, we have designed our Anne plan to maximize the view, we feel would be suitable for Anne herself.” “We recognize that the language used in the plan description is insufficient and understand how it might come across as insensitive and lacking awareness,” company co-founder Brian McCarthy said in a statement.
Ben & Jerry’s board calls for cease-fire in Gaza
The board of Ben & Jerry’s is calling for a
cease-fire in Gaza, board chair Anuradha Mittal said on Jan. 16 in a statement, JTA.org reported. “Peace is a core value of Ben & Jerry’s,” Mittal said in a statement to the Financial Times. “From Iraq to Ukraine [Ben & Jerry’s] has consistently stood up for these principles. Today is no different as we call for peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire.” Mittal, who previously advocated boycotting Israel, said the board’s cease-fire call was made independently of the company itself, which is owned by Unilever. But she said the statement was “consistent with the history and values of our company.” The statement did not mention Hamas or the hostages the terror group has held in Gaza. The cease-fire call comes after Ben & Jerry’s announced in 2021 that it would no longer sell ice cream in what it termed “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” That announcement sparked heated debate and made Unilever subject to divestment in states across the country that prohibit public investment in companies that boycott Israel. The following year, the saga ended when Unilever announced that it had sold the company’s rights in Israel to its Israeli licensee — allowing Ben & Jerry’s to remain on Israeli supermarket shelves.
International Hockey Federation reverses ban on Israel ahead of youth world championships
The International Ice Hockey Federation reversed its decision to ban Israel from a world championship in Bulgaria, JTA.org reported. In a statement on Jan. 17, the federation
Today in Israeli History — ISRAEL — Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
Jan. 26, 2006 — Hamas wins parliamentary elections
Hamas wins 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council during elections in which 77% of eligible voters cast ballots. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, wins 43 seats.
Jan. 27, 2001 — Taba summit ends
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Taba, Egypt, conclude after a week of progress based on the Clinton Parameters, but Ariel Sharon rejects the discussions when he is elected prime minister over incumbent Ehud Barak 10 days later.
Jan. 28, 1790 — France grants citizenship to Sephardi Jews
p An 1806 painting depicts Napoleon emancipating the Jews across his empire.
The Nat iona l Assembly of revolutionary France decides to give citizenship to Sephardi Jews after debating Jewish rights in December. The majority Ashkenazim are not emancipated until September 1791.
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Jan. 29, 2004 — Israel swaps prisoners for man, 3 bodies
Israel frees more than 430 Arab prisoners to win the release of an Israeli businessman abducted in Dubai in October 2000 and the bodies of three soldiers captured that month by Hezbollah and killed.
Jan. 30, 1933 — Youth Aliyah program is established
Recha Freier founds the Committee for the Assistance of Jewish Youth on the day Adolf Hitler is appointed the chancellor of Germany. Later renamed Youth Aliyah, the program rescues more than 11,000 Jews.
Jan. 31, 1922 — Hebrew ‘Dybbuk’ opens in Moscow
The Hebrew version of “The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” begins a successful run at Moscow’s Habimah p Actress Hanna Rovina stars in the Theater. Translated premiere of “The from Yiddish by Dybbuk” in Moscow. Hayim Nachman Bialik, the play stars Hanna Rovina as a woman possessed.
Feb. 1, 1979 — Khomeini returns to Iran
Two weeks after the shah fled, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exile. He guides Iran’s transformation into an Islamic republic and ends decades of close military and economic ties with Israel. PJC
announced that it will have “the safety and security support needed” to allow Israel to take part in the tournament, which brings together the under-20 teams of six countries and began on Jan. 22. The ban was not the first time Jewish or Israeli athletes had been penalized as fallout from the Israel-Hamas war — and it sparked international backlash. Israel won the silver medal in its division at last year’s tournament and was originally supposed to host a portion of the competition this year. But following Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war, the games were moved to Bulgaria.
Israeli soccer player detained in Turkey over message marking 100th day since Oct. 7
An Israeli who plays for a Turkish soccer team was detained by police and suspended from his squad after displaying a message marking the passage of 100 days since Oct. 7, JTA.org reported. Sagiv Jehezkel, 28, who plays for the top-tier Antalyaspor club, wrote “100 days” and “7.10” on a bandage on his left wrist at a game on Jan. 14, accompanied by a Star of David, referring to the day when Hamas invaded Israel, killing and wounding thousands and taking hundreds of hostages. He showed the message to the camera after he scored a goal. Pro-Palestinian sentiment is widespread in Turkey, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to Hamas as a “liberation group” following Oct. 7. After the game,
Jehezkel was detained by Turkish authorities for “instigating hatred and enmity among the public,” the country’s justice minister said. He was held for 10 hours and released after questioning from police and court officials. Antalyaspor’s president said Jehezkel “insulted the values of Turkey,” and the team has said it will release him from his contract.
Israel gives world’s first regulatory approval to cultivated beef
Israel’s Health Ministry gave regulatory approval to the world’s first cultivated beef steaks on Jan. 17, which a leading culinary expert said places Israel at the forefront of food technology, JNS.org reported. The approval was given to Aleph Farms, a Rehovot-based startup. Aleph Farms also received the blessing of Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau. He issued a religious ruling recognizing the cultured beef as “parve” which means food not considered either meat or dairy. Observant Jews do not mix meat and dairy and wait a period between eating the two. Cultured meat, also known as lab-grown meat, is produced through a process called cellular agriculture or cell-based meat production. Israel has one of the highest rates of vegetarianism and veganism in the world. An estimated 13% of Israel’s population is vegetarian. Around 5% of Israelis are vegans. PJC — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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Headlines Genocide: Continued from page 1
murder of the Kurds or Sudan’s crimes in Darfur, for example) — there is now a campaign to label Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza as a genocide. Across college campuses and at protests in front of government buildings, Israel has been accused of the crime. In fact, only 16 days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the liberation of AuschwitzBirkenau and a day set aside by the United Nations to remember the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust — the first genocide — South Africa accused Israel of the crime at the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, the body’s top court at The Hague in the Netherlands. Speaking from Jerusalem, Rabbi Danny Schiff, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Gefsky Community Scholar, said it’s important to focus on the definition of genocide when making claims against Israel’s actions, especially the phrase “with intent.” A genocide, he said, is not measured simply by the number of people that happen to die in a particular conflict. “And yet, it seems that many people are now deciding to invent their own definition of genocide,” Schiff said. “Since the start
of this particular war, people have decided they want to use the word genocide in very subjective ways. Almost always, it seems to me, those definitions they are conjuring up are there to undermine the state of Israel and its standing.”
“This is not about semantics,” he said, “There is a legal definition of what constitutes genocide and what’s happening here doesn’t meet that definition.” Ben-Hur said he’s certain that any other democratic country would respond as
“If that becomes the normative language then the word has lost all substance in terms of trying to point to the unique crime that genocide really represents.” – RABBI DANNY SCHIFF Schiff wasn’t surprised by the South African government’s actions, saying that since the days of Nelson Mandela, the African National Party has seen its historic struggle closely aligned with Palestinians. “It’s no secret that South Africa has embraced the cause of Hamas,” he said. “They hosted some from the Hamas delegation even after Oct. 7. So, their sympathy for the Palestinian cause is historically documented.” Classrooms Without Borders Scholarin-Residence Avi Ben-Hur, too, pointed to the United Nations’ legal definition of the crime.
Israel did following Oct. 7. On the other hand, genocide was committed in October, when Hamas brutally attacked the Jewish state, murdering an estimated 1,200 people, Schiff said. He pointed to the Hamas charter, which he said articulates genocidal intent. “That was quite clearly what they set out to do on Oct. 7,” Schiff said. “If we play forward what they would have done, if they met no resistance, to every Jewish Israeli they met, and a number of non-Jewish Israelis, as well. They would have happily continued their murderous spree throughout the entire country, as articulated in the charter.”
Gray-Schaffer: Continued from page 1
doesn’t have its own Jewish Community Center or Jewish Federation. “As a writer and poet, it brings me so much inspiration,” he said. Gray-Schaffer has been responsible for much of that inspiration during her 13 years at the congregation. The Squirrel Hill resident travels to the synagogue several times a week and on Shabbat. A midlife change of career — and an ad in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle — led her to B’nai Abraham. After earning a certificate from Hebrew Union College’s Debbie Friedman’s School of Sacred Music, Gray-Schaffer did chaplaincy work and, as a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation, served on a search committee that unsuccessfully sought a new cantor. “The rabbi at the time, Mark Staitman, kind of turned to me and said, ‘Could you do the things that a cantor does?’” GraySchaffer recalled. “And I said, ‘I will try.’ I found that those things were such a good match for me that I really felt that I wanted to pursue the cantorate because I felt it was what I was meant to do,” she said. The on-ramp to become a spiritual leader was a long one for Gray-Schaffer, who converted to Judaism after marrying her husband, Eric, nearly 40 years ago. The couple moved to Pittsburgh in the 1980s. She is a Syracuse University graduate with a degree in fashion design and theater costume design. She sang in choirs and performed in musical theater, studied operetta and classical voice, and restarted Rodef Shalom’s volunteer choir. Now, she readies for another act: retirement and hobbies that include travel, 10
JANUARY 26, 2024
p Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer leads services at B’nai Abraham in Butler
Photo by David Miller
gardening, social justice work and maybe even birding. She also plans to spend more time at her Charlottesville, Virginia, home, something she looks forward to during winter months and inclement weather. Reflecting, she said that she and B’nai Abraham were an excellent pairing. “We’ve been a good fit for each other,” Gray-Schaffer said. “I love the congregation dearly.” Longtime B’nai Abraham member Larry Berg said the cantor was a good fit for the congregation for a few reasons. “She’s from the region, and there’s something different about this part of the country than anywhere else,” he said. “She’s remarkable. She became part of the Butler community.” Gray-Schaffer, Berg said, worked to build a sense of community with other, non-Jewish organizations in the area. “She became part of the Butler Country
Ministerial Association and some wonderful things happened,” he said. Choking up at the memory, Berg recalled when 700 people came to B’nai Abraham after the Oct. 27 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. “It was unbelievable,” he said. “There were more people than we ever had. They were lined up outside looking through windows.” B’nai Abraham, Berg explained, beat the odds and outlasted many of the other synagogues located on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. He attributes that to an endowment fund started by the families of Jewish merchants who came to Butler because Pittsburgh’s industrial giants wouldn’t hire Jews to work in mills or the railroads. “If it wasn’t for that, we’d be in the same boat as all those synagogues that have already closed,” he said. Gray-Schaffer sees the opportunity for growth ahead.
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He pointed out that expanding the definition of genocide to prosecute countries defending themselves in war would open the door for many other cases, recent and historical. The United States would fall under that umbrella for using the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ben-Hur noted that after al Qaeda’s attack against Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. invaded two countries. He also pointed to Russia’s experience with the Chechens. “Those countries did not experience what Israel is,” he said. In the end, Schiff said that the crime of genocide, created to recognize the mass murder of Jews because they were Jewish by the Nazis, has to remain untainted by popular opinion or attempts to alter it. “If that becomes the normative language then the word has lost all substance in terms of trying to point to the unique crime that genocide really represents,” he said. “I think that we have to insist that genocide maintains its legal and original definition because that’s the nature of trying to point to the unique crime that genocide really represents. We have to insist the civilized world understands that that is something Israel has sought to prevent whenever possible.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. “We’ve had a kind of renaissance in the last couple of years,” she said. “We’ve gotten new members. That being said, we’re a very small synagogue, so one or two new members is a big deal to us, but it seems that people are moving back to Butler. We’re getting Slippery Rock students. It’s skewing a little young.” Terman said B’nai Abraham is also seeing the return of some congregants. “Folks that used to come and tapered off are coming back,” he said. “I think they’ve been coming back because of the cantor. … They’re reigniting their interest.” Congregation President Christine Hood said that people are still willing to drive 40 minutes or more to attend services, especially on High Holidays. “We have a lot of loyal people who attend even though it’s a distance,” she said. The congregation remains optimistic for the future, she said, investing in the building and ensuring the sanctuary and the social hall are up to standard. “We just put in new ductwork,” she said. “These are all symbols that we’re ongoing.” The congregation is also beginning to ponder life without the spiritual leader who has been an integral part of its existence for more than a decade. A search has begun for the next person to take the bimah. “There are a lot of options,” Terman said. “We have a lot of deep and capable folks in our congregation, as well.” For the cantor, managing her transition has just begun. “I don’t think I’ve been processing the emotional part of it,” she said. “I know it’s going to be very, very hard. They will always be in my heart.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Headlines Top House Democratic leaders endorse Summer Lee — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
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ongresswoman Summer Lee, who represents Squirrel Hill, was endorsed in her bid for reelection by House Democratic leaders including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California. Other Lee endorsements came from Pennsylvania’s U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, County Controller Corey O’Connor and Pittsburgh Councilwoman for District 8 Erika Strassburger. It’s not unusual for party leaders to support incumbents in their party. In a recent email to potential donors, Lee confirmed she is a member of the “Squad,” a group of progressive Democrats that has consistently voted against resolutions and bills supporting Israel. Lee, along with Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, all have challengers in the upcoming primary. Lee is being challenged by Edgewood Borough Councilmember Bhavini Patel, who has been critical of Lee’s stance
p Rep. Summer Lee
Photo courtesy of summerlee.house.gov
on Israel. Laurie MacDonald, president and CEO of the Center for Victims, has also entered the race for the Democratic nomination. Lee, Patel and MacDonald will debate on Jan. 28 at Carnegie Mellon University’s McConomy Auditorium at 2 p.m. Lee began calling for a “cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine” shortly
after Israel began its military operations in Gaza. She was one of only 10 lawmakers to vote against a resolution condemning the deadly invasion of Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7. And she was one of only 22 Democrats who voted against a resolution that condemned the support of terrorist organizations and antisemitism on college campuses, saying that the
Lee began calling for a “cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine” shortly after Israel began its military operations in Gaza. She was one of only 10 lawmakers to vote against a resolution condemning the deadly invasion of Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7. resolution “misrepresents the events and responses on college students and seeks to restrict Constitutionally-protected free speech.” Lee did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for an interview. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Prosecutors rebuke synagogue shooter’s request for new trial — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
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ederal prosecutors in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting case filed a 124-page brief opposing the convicted killer’s motion seeking a new trial. The man who murdered 11 worshippers on Oct. 27, 2018, in the Tree of Life building, was convicted in June on 63 counts — including 11 for the obstruction of the free exercise of religion. He was sentenced to death in August. In November, he asked U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial, claiming among other things that there was not enough evidence presented to show that he intended to obstruct each of the victims in their free exercise of religion. Instead, he claims that his attack was motivated because of his opposition to the work of HIAS, a Jewish agency that helps to resettle refugees. Motions for acquittal and a new trial are common after a conviction. Prosecutors responded to the defendant’s motion by noting that the jury considered
p Memorial outside the Tree of Life building, October 2018
the defendant’s argument at the close of the trial’s guilt phase and “squarely rejected it.” “The jury’s decision was both rational and supported by overwhelming evidence —including over 600 exhibits and the testimony of scores of survivors,
Photo by Toby Tabachnick
experts, and law enforcement officers — all of which established beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant killed every Jewish worshipper at a specific time and place where they were actively practicing their faith because he disagreed with their adherence to the religious
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tenets of Judaism,” the prosecution’s opposition brief argues. “The defendant repeatedly cited Biblical passages to promote violence and hatred against Jews, including calling Jews the ‘children of Satan’ and worshippers in the ‘synagogue of Satan’ in his social media account on Gab,” the prosecution’s brief continues. “And he openly admitted to law enforcement officers that he committed the attack because, in his view, ‘Jews are the children of Satan.’ It was more than reasonable for the jury to consider this direct and uncontroverted evidence and to take the defendant at his word — he killed and shot at every worshipper because of their religious beliefs.” Prosecutors urged the court to deny the defendant’s motion in its entirety. The defendant killed Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. They were members of the Tree of Life * Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations. PJC
Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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JANUARY 26, 2024
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Opinion Returning to campus from Israel with pride Guest Columnist Jacob Wecht
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n Oct. 10, I opened my law school email account to a message from my student bar association president cheering on the horrific acts of Hamas terrorists and blaming Israel for the unprovoked slaughter of 1,200 of its own people, mostly civilians. On Jan. 7, I danced with IDF soldiers on a southern Israel military base who had been fighting in Gaza since before that email was sent. In the 94 days that passed between that email arriving in my inbox and my visit to the IDF base, I had countless conversations with Jewish friends sharing feelings of grief, anger and fear. Since returning from Israel, my grief has not subsided. My anger remains. My fear, however, is replaced by pride and faith — pride in my ever-strengthened Zionism and faith in the strength and resilience of the Israeli people and Jews across the Diaspora. I left for Israel shortly after a semester full of uneasiness. Across our country, Zionists
were made to feel unwelcome and unsafe on university campuses. I, like many others, struggled with the choice of suppressing my unwavering love and support for Israel or facing alienation from a blindly incensed and self-righteous student body. I spent hours each day reading news articles sharing the names and stories of terror victims and the gruesome details of Hamas’ atrocities, all while avoiding anti-Zionist protests while walking to class.
While my visit to Israel was not without moments of joy and laughter, those moments were accompanied by tears and mourning. I, along with 20 other volunteers from across the world, spent my days working on a moshav from where the workforce had fled or been forced to leave following Oct. 7. Each day, we were joined by Israeli volunteers who, like us, wanted to do whatever they could to help. We heard from survivors of Oct. 7, from people who lost family
Although the grief we felt and still feel is heavy, the strength of the Israeli people is heavier. Through every tearful testimony we were reassured: We will prevail. As my frustration grew, my connection to Israel grew stronger. As I witnessed the outpouring of hate and violence facing the Jewish people, I was drawn to reconnect with our shared heritage. I embarked on a volunteer trip to Israel, bringing with me not only the deep desire to help, but also to find reassurance that our people can and will persevere.
members, from people who could not return to their homes because there was nothing — and no one — left. We visited memorials and exhibitions detailing the horrifying events of Oct. 7. Amid tragedy, there is always room for grief, and we joined the nation of Israel in grieving. Although the grief we felt and still feel is heavy, the strength of the Israeli people
is heavier. Through every tearful testimony we were reassured: We will prevail. I returned to America, to my campus rife with anti-Zionist zealots, with my head high. As Jews, hatred and persecution is not new to us. Nor is undying perseverance. While the Israeli brothers and sisters I danced with are called back to combat, we are called to support them. I will remember the tragedies I bore witness to, but I will also remember, as Justice Louis Brandeis proclaimed, “Zionism finds in it, for the Jews, a reason to raise their heads, and, taking their stand upon the past, to gaze straightforwardly into the future.” In times like this, it can be easy to lose hope, to succumb to feelings of helplessness. I write now to urge you, as I urged myself: Do not lose hope, we are not helpless. As Elie Wiesel wrote, “Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.” I was gifted profound hope during my time in Israel, and this gift is one I will never stop sharing. I call on my fellow Jews: Share in my hope, share in my pride, share in my faith. The people of Israel live — am Yisrael chai — and we must always stand with them. PJC Jacob Wecht of Fox Chapel is a student at New York University School of Law.
Israel’s trees and indigeneity Guest Columnist Alon Tal
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very year during Tu Bishvat, Israeli schoolchildren are told the curious story of Honi the Circle Maker. This idiosyncratic rabbi from the days of the Mishna got his unusual name by drawing a circle in the sand during a drought, insisting that he would not move from it until the Almighty provided rain … and succeeding. Some rabbis saw his audacity as sacrilegious, but the Talmudic majority reckons that Honi simply had a unique relationship with his creator. Honi is probably most famous as a Rip Van Winkle figure in the well-known midrash (Taanit 23A) where he chanced upon a man planting a carob tree. He asks him how many years it will be before it produces fruit, and is told it would take 70. In a lapse into cynicism, Honi then mocks: “Really?! You really think you’re going to live 70 years and eat from it?” And the man responds: “I found a world with carob trees. Just as my fathers planted for me, I need to plant for my children.” The legend continues with Honi sitting down to eat and falling into a deep sleep. Seventy years elapse. When he wakes up Honi sees someone picking carobs from a full-grown tree at the same spot: “Are you the man who planted this tree?” he 12
JANUARY 19, 2024
asks and is stunned to hear: “No, I’m his son’s son.” The message is clear: When you are an indigenous people, posterity matters. Intergenerational commitments matter. Collectively, we are in it for the long run. There is no more concrete manifestation of the Zionist impulse, as the national movement of an indigenous people, than Israel’s forests. Seventy years ago — when the country was an impoverished, developing nation, the founders set about
in America to teach for a while at Stanford University and speak on campuses across the U.S. in support of Israel and its right to exist and defend itself. It does not take long to meet up with Israel’s adversaries on local campuses. They are well-organized with ubiquitous vigils, marches, posters and information booths. In Stanford’s case, it takes the form of a mock Palestinian refugee camp set up in the heart of the student union plaza. At first, I tried to keep discussions
Israeli democracy still has a way to grow and we need to nurture it. But it has very deep roots. returning the woodlands to a decimated land — a land where 97% of the original vegetation had been extirpated. That’s not Zionist propaganda. Empirical evidence from aerial reconnaissance photography of the British army in World War I confirms the absolute bareness of Palestine following 2,000 years of Jewish exile. Since then, almost 2 million dunams of woodlands have been planted. There is something deeply meaningful about this profound act of national, ecological revival during these troubled times. I have begun thinking about Jewish national indigeneity a great deal recently. That’s because it’s under attack. I just arrived
with the local Palestinian advocates and their polemics about Israeli genocide and imperialism contained as an intellectual exercise. But the combination of ignorance and self-righteousness is a toxic cocktail that is hard to stomach with equanimity. As an Israeli, nothing bothers me more than their cancellation of my people’s indigenous identity, assigning us the degenerate status of “settler colonialists”. I have always known that notwithstanding its challenges, my life as an Israeli is completely enriched by its profound connection with the past. When applying any objective definition of “indigeneity,”
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being Israeli emerges as an extreme case of having an age-old, organic identity: We speak a language that has been around for thousands of years, allowing us to have a conversation with our ancestors, if we could somehow turn back the hands of time; we read the same ancient “Book of Books” in our houses of worship and make our children pass examinations after high school to ensure the biblical literacy of future generations; we celebrate our holidays according to the calendar of old; we marvel at the same landscapes as the ancients; enjoy the same seasonal wildflowers; welcome the rains at the same time of year. Living in Modiin, every year during Chanukah I walk the land of the Maccabees. It’s this connection that gives us the temerity to fight to protect our homeland, not just in the tunnels of Han Yunis but also in hundreds of environmental campaigns throughout the decades since the founding of the state of Israel that preserve the country’s environmental integrity. I think it’s very unwise, and perhaps unethical, to play the moral superiority card of Jewish indigeneity relative to that of the Palestinians. They have their national narrative and I respect it. Over the years, I was always annoyed that Palestinian leadership never respected the authenticity of my Israeli identity and Jews’ historic connection to their homeland. But invariably I let it go. Many Jews working on co-existence even avoided openly defining Please see Tal, page 13
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Opinion Chronicle poll results: Volunteering for Jewish organizations
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ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Do you volunteer for a Jewish organization?” Of the 198 people who responded, 64% said yes and 36% said no. Comments were submitted by 54 people. A few follow.
Do you volunteer for a Jewish organization?
beautiful community. Volunteering can do more for the volunteer than even the recipient organization.
In the past, I did. Don’t see the point any longer. Let the younger generation do some of the heavy lifting.
If our community and organizations wish to remain vibrant, then members, and those who see the actual importance of its continuity, need to become active and participatory. Roll up your sleeves, volunteer on a board, donate, participate in a useful way. The organizations need interaction, from sweeping the floors and taking out garbage to greeting people and running a board. There are house committees, cemeteries, fundraising, safety, tzedakah, social presence, neatening up and a multiple of other items that require attention for operation. Help make it work, and keep us thriving.
I’m retired and I volunteer at two Jewish organizations. Keeps me busy and connected to others.
I am a member and founder of a small synagogue in central Mexico, which has become the focus of my life here.
The future of the Jewish nation depends on keeping our organizations well staffed. I volunteered when I was younger. I’m over 80 now and happy that I can still take care of myself.
I believe volunteer service to Jewish not-for-profit organizations in our community is an effective way to “give back” to our community and to support the advocacy and direct service efforts
Tal: Continued from page 12
themselves as “Zionists,” lest they create unnecessary antagonism. The main thing was to get on with the “peacemaking.” In retrospect, this was a mistake. Oct. 7 confirms the perils of ignoring a fundamental, hostile axiom among our enemies that negates who we are and denies the moral legitimacy of an Israeli identity. I can see now that internationally it was also a mistake to allow, uncontested, so many academics to spout mantras that vilify Zionism. The antisemitism is implicit: Nationalism is just fine … unless it’s Jewish. A vast number of seemingly intelligent, “progressive” young people today
36% No 64% Yes
of those agencies. Always important, and never more so than in the current climate of rising antisemitism.
We see now from the situation in Israel how much volunteerism makes a
We’ve all needed help at some point and it is our duty to pay it forward. I am heavily involved with a Jewish organization that provided me with a lifeline 45 years ago when my young family needed it.
actually believe that Jews only arrived in Palestine at the start of the 20th century with the goal of usurping and exploiting indigenous Arabs. It’s simply unfathomable. Two thousand years ago, the Mishnah codified the four new years that are built into our national calendar. Tu Bishvat, the 15th day of Shvat is, of course, the new year for the trees. The fact that Israel has revived this arboreal birthday and turned tree planting and tree preservation into a national holiday is a sign of just how much our heritage informs our present-day lives. It is symbolic that the Knesset — our imperfect legislative expression of Israeli democracy — was founded on Tu Bishvat. Israeli democracy still has a way to grow
and we need to nurture it. But it has very deep roots. The present conflict in Gaza and the resulting tsunami of antisemitism has been a wake-up call for Jews around the world. At Stanford, Jewish students (American and Israeli) supported by local community members have set up their own “Blue and White Tent.” It is filled around the clock with volunteers, who engage the curious passersby and hold events that tell the truth about Israel’s history. It is dramatically changing the local dynamics. I am profoundly moved by the courage of these young people. Of course, we need to stand up and defend our right to live in our ancient homeland. One of the best ways to do this is to celebrate the forests that Zionism
I’m on two committees at my synagogue.
I only volunteer for organizations that recruit for volunteer help. So far, only the Jewish Federation has openly recruited. I would love to see some other organizations do so. I’m retired and I have the time to spend. I get a lot of pleasure out of tutoring English to refugees through my synagogue. Volunteering is important. And not only for Jewish organizations; it is also important to volunteer in other sorts of organizations. Can’t think of a time in my life I wasn’t volunteering — even while working full time and raising kids. And even assisting with individuals — not formally through an organization — is important. It is what we do. I volunteer for multiple, worthy organizations in the Pittsburgh area. None currently happen to be Jewish. PJC — Compiled by Toby Tabachnick
Chronicle weekly poll question:
Do you want Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in office when the latest Israel-Hamas war is over? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC
coaxed back to life from oblivion. It’s often not clear where to begin in making Israel’s case as an indigenous nation when confronting such profound and pervasive disinformation. How do you explain that Jewish nationalism has absolutely nothing to do with the settler colonialist paradigm that is so superficially bandied about by leftist intellectuals? Planting trees so that in 70 years grandchildren will enjoy their fruit and their shade is something indigenous people do. It’s a good place to start. PJC Alon Tal is a professor of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University. In 2021 and 2022, he was chair of the Knesset’s Environment, Climate & Health subcommittee. This article first appeared on The Times of Israel.
— LETTERS — Two Democratic challengers to Summer Lee are likely to ‘split the opposition’
It is now obvious to me that over the objections of many within our community, Summer Lee will again win the Democratic nomination to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District in the U. S. House of Representatives. Why do I say this? It is always a challenge to take on an incumbent. The challenge to Lee offered by candidate Bhavini Patel, however, looked promising — that is, until Laurie MacDonald, a second contender, entered the race (“Laurie MacDonald wants to serve Pennsylvania as a moderate Democrat,” Jan. 19). Both Ms. Patel and Ms. MacDonald appear to be fine and accomplished human beings whose hearts are in the right place. I suspect that either of them could be a successful member of the U.S. House who would represent their constituents well.
Two challengers to Summer Lee, however, are all but certain to split the opposition and enable Lee to sail through the middle and on to a second term in which she can continue to be belligerent and unable to recognize the importance of Israel as an ally and friend of the United States. We saw the same phenomenon when the seemingly impossible happened in 2016: Donald Trump faced many GOP challengers, splitting the opposition and enabling him to garner the presidential nomination and ultimately win in November. We have seen how that turned out. Oren Spiegler Peters Township
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JANUARY 19, 2024
13
Life & Culture Old-fashioned beef stew — FOOD — By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle
W
hen the weather turns cold and blustery, I appreciate a warm and comforting homemade meal, and a nice bowl of beef stew fits the bill. My recipe uses simple ingredients. The more I get into homestyle cooking, the more I realize that simple foods can be the most luxurious — and meat and potatoes are always pleasing to a crowd. The key to an amazing stew is technique and lots of time. You can’t just throw everything in the pot at once and expect a delicious result. Browning the meat and onions is the most time-consuming part of the process — after that, it’s just letting the pot simmer and checking it occasionally for taste. I’m also sharing tips on how to fix a stew that is too thin or thick, and how to improve flavor if the broth tastes weak. You can apply these tips to any stew or soup. This recipe fits into the “Sunday dinner” category because it needs to simmer for a few hours, and most of us are not able to start this kind of meal after work. This recipe makes several servings, but leftovers always fly from my fridge This also freezes well, so if you have any extra, freeze it to use when you need a homemade meal and don’t have the time or energy to cook.
p Beef stew
Photo by Jessica Grann
The more I get into homestyle cooking, the more I realize that simple foods can be the most luxurious — and meat and potatoes are always pleasing to a crowd.
Ingredients:
About the meat: I prefer buying a whole chuck roast and cutting it into cubes myself. The meat usually has a melt-in-yourmouth texture after hours on the stove and there is also a little more fat on a chuck roast. If your roast has a bone attached, it’s even better because that will improve the flavor of your broth. If you typically buy what is labeled “stew meat,” and are happy with the results, go ahead and use that.
2-3 pounds chuck roast or stew meat 4-5 cups of onions, sliced into chunks 1 cup all-purpose flour Coarse kosher salt Black pepper, freshly ground if possible 3 tablespoons cooking oil for browning the meat 10-12 cups of water, divided 4-6 potatoes, peeled and sliced into large chunks 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced Half a pound of frozen peas Beef consommé cubes or powder, if needed for flavor
Directions: If using stew meat, pat it with paper towels first, which will help the flour adhere better to the meat. If using a roast, trim any tough pieces; if there is a bone, cut it away, then cut the meat into cubes, about 2 inches in length. Pat the cubes dry with a paper towel. Place the cubed pieces on the cutting board, sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper, and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Place 1 cup of flour in a plate or bowl and dredge the meat cubes in the flour, covering both sides. There will be a lot of flour left to reserve for later use. Cooking stews in a Dutch oven yields the
Serves 8
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JANUARY 26, 2024
p Beef stew, step by step
best result, but you can use a large stainless soup pot if you don’t have a Dutch oven, being mindful of the heat level so that the bottom doesn’t scorch. Place the pot on the stove burner and turn the heat to medium. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil to the pot and allow it to warm for a few minutes, then add the stew meat and brown on each side for 3-4 minutes. You will probably need to do this in 2-3 batches. After each batch, scoop the browned meat into a separate dish to add in later. The flour absorbs the oil so you may need to add a little more oil with every batch. Some of the flour will stick to the bottom of the pot and this will help to make the base for the broth. If the flour on the bottom of the pot gets too dark, reduce the heat a little. After all the meat is browned, add the onion to the pot and stir it well so that it gets coated in any leftover oil. Cook the onion for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat, just enough for the onion to start to soften and release flavor. After 10 minutes, add ½ cup of flour to the onions, stirring as well as possible, and cook it for about 2 minutes. Stir about 6 cups of water into the pot and allow it to come to a soft boil. If you have a bone from the meat, add it to the pot now. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot so that the flour and flavor get mixed in well. Add the meat chunks to the pot. If the liquid does not cover the meat, add more water, one cup at a time until the meat is covered with water, then bring the stew to a soft boil again. Cover with a tight lid and reduce the heat to simmer. Simmer for about an hour, then check it for flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. Be mindful of the heat because the flour will burn and stick to the bottom of the pot if it’s too hot. Stir the stew well and add the potatoes and carrots. Add as much water as needed to just cover the vegetables, and allow the stew
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
Photo by Jessica Grann
to come again to a simmer before covering with a lid. Simmer covered for an additional 1½ to 2 hours — the longer the better. Keep the flame low and slow, and stir it a few times per hour. After the suggested cooking time, check the flavor again and add more salt or pepper if needed. If the broth tastes weak, consommé will save the day. Add 1 tablespoon of consommé powder or 1 cube to taste, allow it to cook for 20 minutes and retaste. If it needs more flavor, add one more portion of consommé. If the soup seems watery, you can thicken it. I usually make this stew with a thinner consistency, which you can see from the photo. Some people prefer it thicker, with the base more like a potato soup. The only difference is the amount of flour used. I don’t add too much flour in the beginning because the potatoes release quite a bit of starch when cooking. Also, different potatoes can also affect the consistency of the soup because some are starchier than others. To thicken the stew, add 2 tablespoons of flour to ½ cup of cold water and stir it as well as possible with a fork before adding it to the pot. Turn the heat up to medium until the pot is bubbling, then reduce and simmer covered for an additional 20 minutes to get the base to thicken. If your soup is too thick, add ½ cup of water at a time until it’s at the desired taste and consistency. When you’re happy with the consistency, add ½ bag (about a half-pound) of frozen peas, cover the pot and turn the heat off. Allow the pot to sit for 10 minutes before serving so that the peas cook completely in the stew. Adding the peas last keeps them bright green and firm and it looks much better in your bowl. Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
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JANUARY 26, 2024
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Life & Culture A new, old iteration of ‘My Fair Lady’ opens at Benedum on Jan. 30 — THEATER — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
T
he last time Nick Berke came to Pittsburgh, the Jewish community here was still reeling from the most violent antisemitic attack in U.S. history, which happened just three weeks earlier. It was the third week of November 2018, and Berke was performing in the touring production of “Fiddler on the Roof ” at the Benedum Center. About two-thirds of the cast was Jewish, including Berke. “That was an experience that I think none of us will ever forget,” said Berke, who will return to Pittsburgh with the touring production of “My Fair Lady,” which runs at the Benedum Jan. 30-Feb. 4. “The moment we found out that [the synagogue shooting] happened, we were like, ‘What can we do? How can we involve ourselves?’” The company decided to offer all its complimentary tickets and house seats to those affected by the massacre. “That week, that community could come see our show,” Berke said. While he doesn’t necessarily want that experience to define his relationship with Pittsburgh, he said, recalling that time
p Anette Barrios-Torres as Eliza Doolittle and the company of the National Tour of “My Fair Lady” Photo by Joan Marcus
p Nick Berke
“makes me very excited to come back to what was a very, very special and meaningful, tragic week.” Berke, who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, graduated from New York University in 2015 and has been on the road with touring productions since 2017, including four years with “Fiddler” and some time with “A Chorus Line,” including in Japan. He’s been touring with “My Fair Lady,” Lerner and Loewe’s musical version
in London that is on par with progressive society today in the U.S. in terms of social issues and equality,” Berke said. “And so saying it’s relevant to the 21st century is very true, but there’s a pretty direct parallel to what is progressive today and what is the norm today, and what this sect of British society believed in back in 1912.” Other aspects of “Pygmalion” missing from the “My Fair Lady” film also become more apparent in this production, Berke said, pointing to the character of Eliza’s father, Alfred Doolittle, who can be seen as a surrogate for the playwright. “He is like the proxy for George Bernard Shaw in the show,” Berke said. “At first, Bernard Shaw was a character and was putting his full point of view and his full worldview forward into the play. He is the character of Eliza’s father and like that whole moral compass.” The producers of the film, Berke said, leaned heavily into the romantic aspect of the story “because they knew that was what would sell,” rather than going back to the intent of the piece, including its commentary on class distinctions. In this production, one “interesting moral question” that comes to light — including through the character of Alfred Doolittle — is: Are the lower classes “actually the most morally sound because of the actions and things that middle- and upper-middle-class folks do and perpetrate onto the ‘undeserving poor?” he said. “If these people in the upper classes or middle classes are actually not very good people. and doing not great things, isn’t it more morally sound to be of the poor? And why would they want to leave that class if that class is actually the good people?” While the show is “pretty close to the original Broadway production,” Berke said, if the audience notices any changes, they are “essentially taken straight out of ‘Pygmalion.’” PJC
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of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” since September 2022, serving as dance captain, assistant choreographer and swing performer. Berke attended Hebrew school and had a bar mitzvah at his family’s Reform synagogue in California, but afterward, “like a lot of folks,” he said, became a bit disconnected from his Jewish identity. It was reignited, though, when he went on tour with “Fiddler,” during which the cast lit Chanukah candles and attended High Holiday services together. It was a sense of family, he said. “I kind of found this reinvigorating of my own Jewish identity,” Berke said. “And it was not something I ever in a million years expected that could happen from a musical, but ironically, the first musical I ever did in my entire life was ‘Fiddler,’ back in high school, so it was like kind of a fullcircle moment. … It made me remember how I was raised and confront beliefs and stuff that I thought about growing up. And my Jewish identity, I attribute it today to that experience.” “My Fair Lady,” another classic musical, also celebrates themes of identity, especially in its current iteration, a revival that premiered at Lincoln Center in 2018. While the script and songs are largely intact, the staging was tweaked to align more closely with Shaw’s 1912 version — counterintuitively making the show more relevant to 21st-century feminist sensibilities. “We’ve actually restored the original intended ending of George Bernard Shaw,” Berke said. “And so, not only is it relevant now, but it actually is truer to the basis of the story and where it came from.” For Hollywood to greenlight the 1964 film with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, Berke said, “It essentially had to be romanticized well beyond what was ever intended. And so what we’ve restored is kind of the original intent.” “George Bernard Shaw was a huge feminist and super-progressive, especially for his time, and he belonged to a sect of society
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Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
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Celebrations
Torah
Birth Announcements
The possibility of a ‘Jewish spark’
With love and happiness, Max Frischman and Inbar Shuv-Ami of Herzliya, Israel, announce the birth of their baby girl and first child, Leni, on Nov. 20, 2023. Proud grandparents are Lester and Leslie Frischman of Squirrel Hill, and Gadi and Orly Shuv-Ami of Netanya, Israel. Great-grandparents are the late Leo and Pauline Kroll, the late Milton and Rosalyn Frischman, Nehama Mazor of Netanya and the late Yousef Mazor and Sarah Shuv-Ami of Netanya, and the late Aaron Shuv-Ami. Tova and Ben Kohane of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, announce the birth of their baby boy, Aaron Judah. Grandparents are the late Dr. Leon and Miriam Kohane of Squirrel Hill. Kenny Denmark of Anaheim Hills, California, and Linda Silberberg Denmark, formerly of Squirrel Hill, proudly announce the birth of their first grandchild. Calvin Burton Denmark was born on Sept.19, 2023, at UC San Francisco due to a heart issue. He was six weeks in the hospital and is now 4 months old and doing well. Parents are Joel and Amber Denmark of Mt. Shasta, California, and Calvin Burton’s 11-year-old brother is Logan. PJC
Join the Chronicle Book Club!
T
he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Feb. 25 discussion of “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” by Gabrielle Zevin. From Amazon.com: “Sam and Sadie — two college friends, often in love, but never lovers — become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have read before.” Your Hosts: Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle David Rullo, Chronicle senior staff writer
How and When: We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Feb. 25, at noon. What To Do Buy: “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.” It is available at area Barnes & Noble stores and from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is also available through the Carnegie Library system.
Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting. Registration closes on Feb. 22. Happy reading! PJC — Toby Tabachnick
Rabbi Daniel Yolkut Parshat Beshalach Exodus 13:17 – 17:16
M
embers of President Richard Nixon’s inner circle have shared vivid images of the last weeks of his presidency. Crushed by a disaster of his own making, the most powerful man in the world was reduced to wandering the halls of the White House intoxicated, rambling to the portraits of his predecessors that decorated the wall. I have often pictured the Torah’s strange description of Pharaoh in the days following the Exodus in a similar vein: devastated by the series of plagues that through his own obstinacy had ravaged his kingdom and betrayed him as powerless. And Pharaoh will say (lit. l’venei Yisrael) to the children of Israel, “They are trapped in the land. The desert has closed in upon them.” (Shemot 14: 3)
plagues, the night of Pesach and the Exodus, quislings — collaborators — remained from the Jewish people, who threw in their lot with Pharaoh, and continued to be present in his court as a fawning audience for his genocidal threats. Further, it identifies these traitors as none other than Dathan and Aviram, who a year later will lead a rebellion against Moshe (Bamidbar 16), and according to Rabbinic tradition, foils of Moshe and instigators of many other episodes of unrest. A precedent, perhaps, for similar Jews throughout the generations who would throw their lot in with our oppressors. This, of course, leaves one question unanswered: When did Dathan and Aviram rejoin the Jewish people? R’ Chaim of Chernowitz (1760-1816), in his classic Chassidic commentary “Be’er Mayim Chaim,” quotes an otherwise unknown tradition that at the Red Sea itself, the pair who had arrived as part of Pharaoh’s entourage, had an eleventh-hour moment of regret, and that after the Jews crossed the sea, it opened again specifically for Dathan and Aviram!
Today, it is so painful to see examples of Jews slandering Israel at her moment of need. I can imagine the half-mad tyrant raving at Jews present only in his mind’s eye (or perhaps at wall paintings and hieroglyphics) that he can still trap them by the shores of the Red Sea. There are other suggestions as to how to read the verse without recourse to this analogy. Rashi, following the classic translation of Onkelos, suggests that the verse above should be translated as “Pharaoh will say about the Children of Israel,” and provides a number of other examples where the prefix commonly translated as “to” can mean “about” or “concerning.” Perhaps the most striking reading of the verse, which maintains the translation of “to,” is that of the ancient Midrashic expanded translation known as Targum Yonatan, which posits an actual Jewish audience for Pharoah’s tirade: And Pharaoh will say to Dathan and Aviram, sons of Israel, who had remained in Egypt, “The people of the house of Israel are trapped in the land.” What a remarkable concept! This Midrashic reading suggests that even after 10
In every generation, we are told, our adversaries rise against us to destroy us, and often, there are sadly Jews at their sides. A Jew, Tiberius Julius Alexander, marched as Titus’ chief of staff to the destruction of Jerusalem. An apostate from Judaism, Nicholas Donin, instigated the burning of the Talmud in France in 1242. The path to the expulsion from Spain was paved by former Jews like Paul of Burgos and Geronimo de Santa Fe. Today, it is so painful to see examples of Jews slandering Israel at her moment of need. And yet. While acknowledging the painful phenomenon, the Midrash entertains the possibility of a “Jewish spark” buried even within the likes of Dathan and Aviram that leaves open a possibility of repentance and contains within the potential for miracle. PJC Rabbi Daniel Yolkut is the rabbi of Congregation Poale Zedeck. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.
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Obituaries GREENWALD: Sheira (Cheryl) Greenwald died on March 22, 2023, in Naples, Florida. She was 68 years old. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, she graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1971. She graduated from Princeton University in 1975 and then from Harvard Business School in 1979. After graduating college, Ms. Greenwald worked in Washington, D.C. managing the Bicentennial Exhibition of what was then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Subsequently she was an assistant to the secretary of commerce. Upon receiving her MBA she worked in the office of special projects at WGBH, Boston’s public television station. In 1982, Ms. Greenwald moved to New Jersey to work for a tech company, Anacomp, designing home banking systems. In 1983, she accepted a job at AT&T working on personal computers and later other communications technologies including online home and business information/transaction services — fields that she helped to pioneer. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, she left AT&T in 1990, though Ms. Greenwald continued working as an independent business consultant. She was also active in several community endeavors in Morris County, New Jersey, where she and her husband lived. These included serving as public affairs chair of the West Morris Section of the National Council of Jewish Women. She also served for six years on the board of Head Start of Morris County, including two years as board president. From Head Start, Ms. Greenwald was appointed to New Jersey’s State Commission on Early Childhood Education. She also served on the board of what was then the Red Cross of Northern New Jersey. Ms. Greenwald was an active member of the Junior League of Morristown. She also served on several task forces of the United Way of Northern New Jersey. In 1989 she married Elihu Davison. They lived in Morristown, New Jersey, until moving to Naples, Florida, in 2000. Ms. Greenwald was predeceased by her father, the late I. Leonard Greenwald. She is survived by her husband, Elihu Davison, of Naples, Florida; her mother, Roselie G. Greenwald of Delray Beach, Florida; two sisters, Randi Greenwald (Allen Silver) of Jerusalem, Israel, and Devra Cohen (Robert) of Parkland, Florida; nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews; and many cousins. Interment was at the Eretz Hachaim Cemetery in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Donations in Ms. Greenwald’s memory may be made to the National Council of Jewish Women or to Head Start of Morris County, New Jersey. HERRUP: Sara “Sally” Herrup, on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. Beloved wife of the late Richard Herrup. Beloved mother of Paul (Joy) Herrup, Mark (Theresa) Herrup and the late David Herrup (Nicole). Daughter of the late Abraham and Fannie Parker. Grandmother of Rachel Herrup. Sara was a lifelong Pittsburgh resident. She was active in civic and social affairs throughout her lifetime. Sara was much beloved by family, friends and neighbors. Graveside service and interment were held at Adath Jeshurun Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Mt. Lebanon Public Library, 16 Castle Shannon Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com
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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS —
Sunday January 28: Myer Borovetz, Saul Frank, Marcus Gropper, Max Halle, Irving Hochhauser, Lillian Y . Horwitz, Samuel M . Krause, Ernest Metzger, Mildred Pechersky, Jennie Pink, Elsie L . Plesset, Freda Z . Rosen, Rose Rosenfeld, Irving Ross, Alexander Roth, Mark J . Serbin, Philip Solomon, Leon Stein, Mabel Z . Swartz, Lois C . Waldman Monday January 29: Bertha Ackerman, William Barnett, Newman Cohen, Esther Goodman, Ethel Greenberg, Myer Grossman, Selma B . Katz, Sally Marcovsky, Rose Schlessinger Tuesday January 30: Fannye P . Balkman, Edith Cohen, Reuben A . Cohen, Hattie Debroff, Hannah R . Eliashof, Rose Fireman, Celia Glantz, Herman Glass, Robert Kane, Rose Klein, Haim Lazarus, Dr . William B . Lieberman, Mathilda Marcus, William D . Orr, Rena Pollock, William Racusin, Sara Rubenstein, Philip Schmeiser, Frank Stark, Joseph Stein, Geraldine Tyson, Ruth Weinberger, Arthur Weiner Wednesday January 31: Rose Avner, Jacob E . Canter, Gerald Lee Goldman, Lena Gutkind, Aaron Hirschman, Irving Krasnopoler, Samuel Pasekoff, Edward Schultz, Bella M . Sherman, Isaac Wolovitz, Oscar Zeidenstein Thursday February 1: Mary Americus, Phillip Caplan, David Cohen, A . L . Davidson, Sara R . Kitay, Miriam F . Kopelson, William M . Lowenstein, Melvin Morgan, Esther Phillips, Abraham Ripp, Sylvia Rosen, Pauline Salkovitz, Milton Sapir, Benjamin Silberman, Abraham Silverberg, Frances Simon, Jacob I . Slotsky, Norman Stern, Wilma J . Tumpson, Herman Weisberger, Harry A . Wilkofsky, Rose Zwick Friday February 2: Irwin Alper, Dorothy Buckdrucker Lewinter, Harry N . Cohen, Jacob Gerber, Harry Glick, Belle Green, Joseph Hirsh, Benjamin Horvitz, Vivian S . Hyman, Hyman Koss, Sarah Liebman, Eli London, Abe Markowitz, Esther Rice, Sophie Rosen, Cele Rosman, Jack Weber, Anna Witt Saturday February 3: Ida S . Barron Hochberg, Morris Marvin Berger, Max Coffee, Frieda Feinberg, Reuben Goldstein, Rose Goldstein, George Kalb, Rae G . Labovitz, Bertha Lieber, Meyer Maglin, Anna Myers, Lillian W . Rothman, Benjamin Sachs, Sara Stuart, Jacob D . Titlebaum, Tillie T . Udman, Eli G . Weinthal, Fannie Williams
KEILLY: Janice Keilly (Sivitz) was born March 7, 1931, and died January 21, 2024. She was the wife of Arnold (z’l) and mother of Robert (z’l). She is survived by her beloved children, Cynthia and Jack Bouer, Michael Keilly and Cathy Frye, and David and Sharon Alexander Keilly, and was Bubbe to her adored grandchildren, Ben, Rachel, Sam, Anna and Sadie. She is also survived by great-grandchildren Jackson and Eliana and many favorite nieces and nephews, wonderful cousins, and very, very special friends. Her goal in life was to live a good life, to be a friend to all, and to help those she loved to find happiness and fulfillment. Services were held at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. Interment Temple Sinai Memorial Park with her beloved husband and son. Contributions can be made to Temple Emanuel or Animal Friends, 562 Camp Horn Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com LEVINE: Marvin Levine, 85, of New York City, passed away on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. He was born in Pittsburgh to the late Morris and Clara Gelman Levine. He had a beautiful older sister, the late Roberta “Birdie” Levine. Marvin grew up in the East End, and graduated from Peabody High School, where he played on the Peabody Highlanders basketball team. He then attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played the guard position on the men’s basketball team, the Pittsburgh Panthers. Marvin graduated from Pitt with a B.A. in history, and then served six months active duty in the U.S. Army Reserve. Professionally, he began his career as a case worker for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and then moved to New York City, where he worked as a probation officer for over 30 years. Marvin was a very active and intellectually engaged person. He enjoyed film and theater performances, played singles and doubles tennis at courts all over Manhattan and Brooklyn, traveled the world to over 30 countries, and gave tours of New York City for the 92nd Street Y. He also walked extensively throughout the various neighborhoods of New York, and attended minyanim at possibly over 100 different synagogues throughout his life. Marvin loved living in New
In memory of...
Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .William D . Orr Dava Berkman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther Berkman Faye Bleiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Diane Friedman Faye Bleiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esther Mallinger Faye Bleiberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Mallinger Mary Jatlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Celia Glantz Dena Taylor, Mitchell Krasnopoler, Bonita Krasnopoler, & Aron Krasnopoler . . . . . . . . Irving Krasnopoler Linda Levine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rose Rosenfeld Mike & Andee Lowenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William M . Lowenstein Jean Metzger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erna Metzger Jean Metzger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Metzger Maxine & Larry Myer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oscar Zeidenstein Paul & Diane Pechersky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mildred Pechersky Marcia & Joel Platt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Madelyn Platt Ross Rosen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sylvia Rosen Gloria Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irwin Shapiro Joyce Unitan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rose Zwick Nancy Waldman Yuskovitz & Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lois C . Waldman Nancy Waldman Yuskovitz & Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Newman Cohen
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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19
York, but remained loyal to his hometown, Pittsburgh, where he enjoyed going on local tours when in town visiting family and friends. Marvin will be greatly missed. He is survived by cousins and many friends. Interment will be private at Beth Abraham Cemetery, and a memorial service will be planned in the future. Contributions in Marvin’s honor may be made to the American Friends of Sheba Medical Center (Tel HaShomer), 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 615, Los Angeles, California 90048. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com LUTZ: Annette S. (Shapiro) Lutz passed away serenely on Jan. 16, 2024. Wife of Daniel, mother of Alvin (Leslie Lutz), Roslyn, and Irwin (Regina Lutz); grandmother to Sam (Gretchen), Justin (Rita), and Jennifer; mother-in-law to Randy Sarner; pillar of her Beth El community, Annette was more than loved; she was celebrated. Annette Lutz led a big life, filled with family and community. She had an inner strength, sharp intellect and quick humor that made her a true matriarch to her family. At 97, she still insisted on seeing her children to the door and waving them goodbye. Annette was the sort of woman you wanted holding your hand through anything and everything in life; her family was blessed to hold her hand as she left this one. A lifetime lover of yoga, she was practicing namaste, even in her final moments. Along with her family, her love of the arts, and a life filled with travel, Annette’s Jewish faith was the foundation of her life. As a young woman, she enjoyed her work at the Jewish Forum. A committed member of Beth El, Annette was a champion of women’s rights and was active in the Beth El Sisterhood, Pioneer Women and Hadassah. Some would say she practically built the synagogue. She loved her community and could often be found sharing a drink with close friends, Leslie Clifford and Maury Duel. Annette’s love of the arts and her excitement of life took her around the world and made her a fixture at Pittsburgh’s theaters, operas and symphonies. Sharing her joy of life with her family, Annette kept clippings from Gilbert Loves Day Trips, and regularly took them on weekend adventures. She gave her family plenty of valuable advice and as they think of her at this time, they remember the smile on her face when she said, “If you have the chance to go somewhere, go.” Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Shaare Torah Cemetery. schugar.com ROTH: Sheldon Roth peacefully passed away on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Beloved husband of Nancy (Makrauer) Roth. Loving father of Gordon (Samantha) Roth and Blaine Roth. Cherished grandparent of Reese Roth. Brother of Debra Roth. Also survived by best friend Mark Rubenstein. Sheldon was the president of American Sanitary Supply Company. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Center for Brain Injury Rehabilitation at UPMC, Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, 3600 Forbes Ave. at Meyran Avenue, Suite 8084, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (designate Center for Brain Injury Rehabilitation in the check memo). schugar.com
SIROWITZ: Julie Faith Sirowitz, May 3, 1972 – Jan. 16, 2024, age 51, of Scott Township, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Loving wife of Nicole Reinhart. Loving mother of Blake and Riley Sirowitz. Loving step-mother of Colton Reinhart. Beloved daughter of Anne (Bronstein) and the late Herbert Sirowitz. Loving sister of the late Randi Joy and Robert Sirowitz. Cherished cousin of Janet (the late Robert), Melissa (Aris), Andrew, Diana (Jake) and Phillip. A funeral service was held at Beth El Congregation, 1900 Cochran Road, Pittsburgh 15220, on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Burial in Mount Lebanon Cemetery/Beth El section. Memorials may be made to: NOCC (ovarian. org) or Beth El Congregation. Arrangements entrusted to William Slater II Funeral Service (412-563-2800). WAGNER: John R. Wagner passed away on Jan. 17, 2024. He was born in his grandmother’s home on Oct. 19, 1929, in Mutual, Pennsylvania, the youngest child of Harry G.E. and Mary (Gecelosky) Wagner. After graduating Greensburg High School 1948, he attended Grove City College, graduating in 1950 with a B.S. in German and mathematics. He obtained a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in education. He served in the U.S. Army as a Hungarian language translator in the European theater during the Korean War, 1953-1956. He began his career as a math teacher at Munhall High School and then Baldwin High School. He then became a math teacher and assistant track coach at Mt. Lebanon High School. He went on to become the principal of Mellon Junior High School for 26 years, retiring in 1993. His devotion to education contributed to Mellon Junior High School winning a National School of Excellence award in 1990. Throughout his life, John enjoyed many hobbies including woodworking, playing bridge, solving crosswords and all types of puzzles, and doing all manner of home repairs for himself and other family members. He was a deep thinker about politics and the Constitution and had many ideas about how to solve the country’s problems. John described himself as a “people person” and greatly enjoyed his friends, including his dear friends in his condominium and at the weekly JCC political discussion group, with whom he liked to “stir the pot.” He was an enthusiastic sports fan, an avid reader and a great conversationalist. He enjoyed a good joke and told many. Most of all, he was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and he was beloved by his family. He frequently reminded us of these two secrets to life: always keep your sense of humor and everything in moderation, except love — love in excess! In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother Harry Wagner, his first wife of 26 years, Barbara L. Wagner, his daughter Debra Ann (Wagner) Mirt, and his second wife of 24 years, Arlene Serbin Wagner. He is survived by his son, Robert J. Wagner (Leslie Brown Wagner), his son in-law, Joseph “Jimmie” Mirt, and his step-son Richard Lesser (Gabrielle Lesser) and step-daughter Susan Carey (John Carey). He is further survived by eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, his niece and cousins. The family extends our sincere gratitude to his primary care doctor, Dr. Lyn Weinberg, and AHN hospice team. Per his wishes, a celebration of life will be held at a future time. To honor John’s memory, donations may be made to the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com PJC
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Community Meeting the mayor
Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh seventh graders spent an afternoon with Mayor Ed Gainey. During the visit, Gainey spoke with each student individually about the responsibilities of leading a city and fielded questions about politics, education and Pittsburgh.
p Another day in democracy
Photo courtesy of David Knoll
Celebration demands attention
Organizers of the Bring Them Home rally welcomed more than 100 community members to a ceremonial birthday party in honor of Kfir Bibas. The 1-year-old has remained a prisoner in Gaza since being abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7. Organizers of the Jan. 21 event invited children to paint, color and write greeting cards while calling attention to Kfir, the youngest of an estimated 132 hostages still being held by Hamas.
p Rona Kaufman, mother of an IDF soldier, speaks during the Jan. 21 event.
Photo by Jonathan Dvir
Tri-ing times
More than 50 athletes escaped the snow and cold when competing in the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual indoor triathlon. The Jan. 21 challenge featured a friendly swimming, biking and running competition inside the Squirrel Hill center.
p The wide world of sports indoors
Photo courtesy of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
Welcoming a new week
Temple David members made spice sacks for a Havdalah service. The sweet-smelling items are used when marking the end of Shabbat and beginning of a new week.
p Ensuring light, joy, gladness and honor
Photo courtesy of Rabbi Barbara Symons
Serving community
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the holiday weekend, Repair the World Pittsburgh held a Shabbat dinner and racial justice panel, sorted books with Pittsburgh Prison Book Project, prepared Richard’s Place for new residents with Za’kiyah House, donated to a supply drive, sorted a hygiene and supply closet for students at Sterrett Classical Academy, and joined in the annual MLK Day celebration at Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
p Volunteers take trash to the street.
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p Another sparkling result
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Photos courtesy of Jason Edelstein
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