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July 17, 2026 | 3 Av 5786

Candlelighting 8:30 p.m. | Havdalah 9:35 p.m. | Vol. 69, No. 29 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Support for Jewish fertility journeys

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CMU’s Fence Israel trip gives Jewish day school educators opportunities Working Group delivers report to learn so they can teach amid renewed tensions

By Octavia Liku | Staff Writer

A halachic partnership LOCAL 10/27 shooter’s appeal process

Itskowitz praised organizers with not only delivering countless insights throughout the Israel-based seminar — and its leadup — but fostering sincere respect for difference. “We went with teachers who are devout Catholics, who are Protestant, who are non-denominational Christian.”

Within the cohort, perspectives on Israel and religion ranged, but when it came time for discussion, “it was never combative or defensive,” she continued. “It was always, ‘I didn’t know that. Tell me more.’ Everybody had something to give.”

Brenda Hayes, a middle school Spanish and ESL teacher at Community Day School, said her desire to join the seminar was fueled by a quest to learn more about Israel.

For the past seven years the non-Jewish CDS staffer has worked with numerous Israeli students and colleagues. Having spent so much time hearing about Israel, she wanted to see the country firsthand.

“It felt like home,” she told the Chronicle after returning to Pittsburgh. “I was just so happy Please see Teachers, page 10

Please see Fence, page 10

p Pittsburgh Jewish day school educators meet with Israeli teachers and superintendents in the Karmiel and Misgav region. Photo courtesy of Classrooms Without Borders

By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

T What comes next Page 3

LOCAL A story of survival

Holocaust Center hosts Daniel Stern

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LOCAL They can take the heat

Local Master Gardeners persist Page 14

eachers and staff from Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools spent 10 days in Israel this summer, exploring the country’s history, culture and educational landscape as part of a Classrooms Without Borders seminar designed to strengthen classroom instruction back home.

The June 30-July 9 seminar was preceded by nearly 18 months of preparation.

Shelly Itskowitz, a middle school Judaics teacher at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, described the seminar as an educational gift, and said its impact was strengthened by several unexpected additional months of study.

After registering for the seminar in 2024, Itskowitz and day school colleagues were slated to spend a year learning from Classrooms Without Borders staff before visiting Israel in summer 2025.

Regional conflict, however, caused organizers to postpone the trip until summer 2026.

As opposed to seeing the delay as a source of frustration, participants and organizers recommitted to the goal, explained CWB Founder and Executive Director Tsipy Gur. “What we learned two years ago is that many teachers — Jewish and non-Jewish in the day schools — have not been to Israel in years,” she said. “They need education and they need to understand history.”

After the summer 2025 trip was delayed, participants spent the following months delving deeper into Jewish history and regional relations with CWB scholar-in-residence Avi Ben Hur. Those sessions delivered “just pure facts and knowledge about Israel and its connection to the Jewish people,” Itskowitz said. “There was no sugarcoating at all.”

Though participants enjoyed an additional period of preparation, concerns remained

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or over a century, Carnegie Mellon University’s Fence has played an everevolving role as a “student-centered” space for expression and community. This past month, a series of anti-Zionist messages painted on The Fence has reignited debate over free speech, student safety and the university’s role in stewarding one of Carnegie Mellon’s oldest traditions.

On June 9, The Fence was painted with the phrases “Free Palestine” and “By any means necessary,” an axiom considered by some community members to be antisemitic and a call to violence against Jewish people.

Although the university did not paint over “By any means necessary,” University President Farnam Jahanian condemned the message as “threatening” in an email to the university community, emphasizing that it is “categorically unacceptable for an anonymous message painted on [CMU] property to incite or imply support for violence.”

Over the past month, The Fence has been repainted several times with a range of statements related to Zionism. The university painted over a message on The Fence, attributed to “a few Jewish students,” that included the verbiage “Death to Zionism” in Yiddish. In an email to the CMU community, Jahanian wrote that “a call for ‘death’” violated the university’s longstanding policy against threats of violence directed at individuals or groups based on their identity.

The latest controversy comes amid the release of the Fence Working Group’s final report. Jahanian convened the FWG in September 2025, following his controversial decision to paint over the unattributed message “No Rapists on Our Campus” and temporarily take The Fence “offline” during President Donald Trump’s participation in the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at CMU last July.

Composed of students, faculty, staff and alumni, the FWG was tasked with providing university administration with

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that the Israel visit could be canceled due to ongoing war. After a mid-June ceasefire took hold between Israel and Hezbollah, however, and CWB board members approved the trip, nine cohort members ventured to the Jewish state, Gur said.

She credited Classrooms Without Borders’ board and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for supporting day school teachers in their efforts to meet the demands of today’s classrooms.

“Teachers need to understand what’s happening in Israel. They need to provide students with real information,” she said. “We have a big responsibility.”

Different pasts, one path

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Headlines New partnership brings halachic oversight for fertility treatments to Pittsburgh — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

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he path to fertility treatment just became easier for observant Jewish families in Pittsburgh. The Jewish Fertility Foundation, UPMC and PUAH — a Brooklyn-based organization that offers guidance on Jewish fertility and halacha — recently announced that hashgacha (a service offering rabbinic oversight of gametes during fertility treatment) is now available at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. Until last month, families seeking such reassurance had to travel to locales such as Philadelphia and New York City.

Hashgacha, explained Dr. Pam Parker, a reproductive endocrinologist at UPMC, is a process that ensures that individuals experiencing fertility treatment receive the “appropriate lineage of the resulting embryos and the resulting offspring.”

Similar to a mashgiach who supervises a site in accordance with the laws of kashrut, trained individuals provide oversight while maintaining adherence to Jewish law, she said.

Shaare Torah Congregation’s Rabbi Yitzi Genack worked with Parker, and representatives of JFF, PUAH and UPMC on the newly established partnerships.

“Jewish lineage is something that’s very important, and genetic lineage should be taken seriously,” he said.

Tamar Poupko Smith, JFF’s program director, told the Chronicle she’s spoken with dozens of women whose desire for halachic oversight during fertility treatments spurred an exodus from western Pennsylvania.

p Healthcare workers analyze samples in a laboratory.

“It was very painful to hear that women had to leave their community, their family, take time off from their jobs, in order to receive their fertility treatments,” Smith said.

“We have incredible hospitals locally, and it was a shame that they weren’t able to utilize them, because of this missing piece.”

The partnerships between JFF, UPMC and PUAH are a boon, she said.

Squirrel Hill resident Rivkee Rudolph has worked with both JFF and PUAH, which trains women to become mashgichot (supervisors).

“Fertility journeys can be very complex and people shouldn’t have to navigate them alone,” she said. “Bringing PUAH here ensures that families that are receiving care here, specifically fertility care, can do it with confidence and know that they’re getting the highest standards of both halacha and medicine.”

Photo by Diego Romero via Pexels

Rudolph said she worked with PUAH to train four women who will serve as mashgichot.

Another eight women are in the pipeline to receive similar designation, she added.

According to PUAH, supervisors are “discreet and dedicated women” trained in relevant Jewish law to “monitor the procedure and storage” of genetic material during treatments, including intrauterine insemination, sperm freezing, fertility preservation, frozen embryo transfers, surgical sperm retrieval and in vitro fertilization. Additionally, before entering a clinic or related-facility, supervisors are “required to sign an explicit confidentiality agreement” ensuring parties’ privacy is maintained.

Navigating the intricacies of halacha, confidentiality, fertility and other concerns make for a “complex process,” Rudolph said.

Recognizing these challenges and welcoming PUAH to Pittsburgh through this partnership is an act of inclusion, “and I know that’s a value at UPMC.” Rudolph praised the nonprofit for “getting on board with this,” and said, “Families in Pittsburgh no longer have to choose between the amazing medical care that they can get here and having that peace of mind for halacha.”

Ensuring better access for community members demonstrates the “dedication that we have at the clinic,” Parker said. “This is our way of showing that we want people to be able to access fertility treatment if they need it, and we want them to not have to struggle to do it. To be able to have a local clinic that gives them support — whether it’s emotionally, financially, Judaically — I think all of those things are equally important, and now we can support, locally, the community for that.”

Genack hopes Pittsburghers recognize that although hashgacha at UPMC marks a critical availability of a “very technical, very important resource,” the move is part of a larger effort to promote necessary awareness. Months ago, Shaare Torah and Beit Kulanu collaborated on welcoming Dr. Aimee Baron, a pediatrician and the founder and executive director of I Was Supposed To Have A Baby, for several weekend discussions concerning infertility, pregnancy loss and reproductive challenges.

“This is another side of fertility,” Genack said. When it comes to building Jewish families, “we want to make sure that people are seen and heard and recognized.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines 10.27 Healing Partnership preparing community for synagogue shooter’s appeal — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer

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early three years ago, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was sentenced to death for the murder of 11 people on Oct. 27, 2018. The mandatory appeal in the case is now pending before U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with briefings nearing completion.

To ready the community for the next steps in the appeal process, the 10.27 Healing Partnership is presenting the educational workshop “Understanding the Legal Appeals Process of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting,” with David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and Superior Court Judge Jill Beck.

Harris said the reason for the workshop is simple.

“Knowledge is power. If we know more, if we understand more, we have the ability to understand what is coming and to understand why it’s happening,” he explained.

“The law is a bit of black box for lay people to understand what’s happening and why.

To understand what to expect gives people a certain amount of comfort.”

Death penalty cases, Harris said, are among the few areas of criminal law — if not the only one — where appeals are mandatory.

“It’s part of how we assure ourselves that we’re doing the right thing as a system and as a society,” he said.

The Third Circuit, which will decide the issues raised in the appeal, oversees federal cases in three states: Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, as well as the Virgin Islands, and is comprised of 24 judges, three of whom are assigned to the case.

Typically, they adjudicate cases in Philadelphia but will hear this case in Pittsburgh.

p Professor David Harris

Harris said that in the appeals process, the judges will consider only legal issues where there could have been a mistake made during the trial.

“This won’t be about the specific facts of what happened,” Harris said. “This will be about, for instance, was the jury selection handled correctly? Was the judge right when he refused to change the venue of the trial?

Those are legal issues.”

The appeals process, he said, is important because the legal system is designed by humans and, as a result, open to the possibility of mistakes. An appeal assures the public that a verdict of guilt was handed down in a “scrupulous and fair way and adheres to legal standards.”

“That’s not about [the defendant]. That’s about us. We want to feel confident when we deliver a verdict of guilt,” Harris said.

The defense, he said, has delivered its brief to the court, listing its arguments. The government has replied. Responsive briefs will be filed by both parties, and then the

Photo via law.pitt.edu

court will schedule a hearing. The hearing will likely last about an hour and allow the judges to hear from both sides, arguing the issues of law raised in the briefs.

Finally, the judges confer and come to a decision. A unanimous decision isn’t required; instead a majority decision wins the day. Opinions are written and the public learns of the court’s decision when those opinions are published.

There is no required timeline for the publishing of an opinion; in fact, Harris said they sometimes “linger for quite a long time.”

“A complex case like this, raising many issues on appeal, we have got to be prepared to wait,” Harris said. “It’ll take as long as it takes.”

Even then, the decision reached by the appellate court might not be the end.

If one of the parties is unhappy with the decision reached by the judges, they can ask for a rehearing “en banc,” meaning that all the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit would hear the case.

And the party losing that appeal has one option left: an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“At each stage of the process, it gets both less common and harder to win an appeal,” Harris explained.

There are a few issues that make this appeal unusual, he said.

The first is a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court — that came after the shooter’s sentencing — which ruled that the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause prohibits a defendant from being convicted twice for a single act in the same trial in a capital case. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was found guilty under two different statues with capital crimes for each of his victims.

“The prosecution has conceded in the appeal process that one of those verdicts cannot stand,” Harris said. “They are arguing that the other still stands, so he’s going to be subject to 11 death counts,” rather than 22.

The defense is also arguing that the charge of “obstruction of free exercise of religion” violates the Constitution.

“The defense is effectively saying, ‘This can’t have anything to do with religion,’” Harris said.

Other issues in the shooter’s appeal are related to jury selection and his change of venue requests.

10.27 Healing Partnership Executive Director Maggie Feinstein said the justice process “can be confusing for so many reasons but can also be healing for many reasons.”

“Providing education sessions like this are opportunities for our community to be active participants in the justice process through learning and evaluating together,” she said.

The workshop will be held on Aug. 4 at the JCC in Squirrel Hill. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Daniel Stern shares legacy of survival in new short film — LOCAL —

By Octavia Liku | Staff Writer

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s firsthand accounts of the Holocaust grow rare, Daniel Stern is ensuring his parents’ story of survival endures more than 80 years later through a new short film. Created in collaboration with Seton Hill University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, the 17-minute documentary follows his parents’ journey through seven different countries as they fled Nazi persecution.

Hosted by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the NCCHE, nearly 40 people attended the film’s screening on July 9 at Chatham University. Following the showing, Stern took part in a brief Q&A session, fielding questions from the audience and continuing the conversation about his family’s story.

“This is part of their harrowing trip from place to place, from Portugal to Mozambique, Mozambique to South Africa, South Africa to Palestine, Palestine to Hungary, Hungary to France, each time with one suitcase to their name, and finally, their final stop in the United States of America,” he said. “The fact that my parents survived was a bit of a miracle, and of course I would not be here had they not survived that particular trip.”

The story began with Stern’s mother, Frieda

p Daniel Stern, seated with the Holocaust Center’s Emily Loeb, shares his family’s story of survival during the Holocaust.

Photo by Octavia Liku

Meyer, in Essen, Germany. One of seven children, the majority of Meyer’s family died in the Holocaust. Her parents were sent to Auschwitz, and her four sisters were sent to Treblinka.

The first, and ultimately last, of her family to pursue higher education, Meyer enrolled in a pre-med program at Heidelberg University.

“In her second year of her pre-med program, the notorious Brownshirts that Hitler had got around him broke into the university, broke into her classroom, took her by the hair, threw her out of the classroom, and then kept throwing her onto the gate outside,” Stern said.

“No German student came to her aid.”

Knowing she had to leave, Meyer’s family arranged for her to flee the country with

a German widower who needed help caring for his three children. By bribing several German functionaries, the widower secured travel papers to Portugal, which ultimately remained neutral during the war. There, she was able to get a job in the British Embassy.

“She became a very popular figure with the Nazis with their parties, and her job was to get as much information as she could for them,” he said. “They would drink a lot and speak openly, and she would relay all that information back to the British, and she was helpful in the war effort.”

Daniel Stern’s father, Edward Stern, was a “much different story.” Born in Budapest, Hungary, his father owned a major tannery.

Edward Stern was highly educated, and obtained a doctorate in economics from the University of Budapest, which scarcely admitted Jews.

“The tragedy of my father is that had he been able to stay in Hungary, his future would have been unlimited. Instead, in 1939, he was reading about what the Germans were doing in Germany to Jews, and he felt that Hitler was prone to the war, and Hungary is right next to Germany, not far, and so he said, ‘I’m out of here,’” he recounted. “He also told his parents to leave, but his parents said, ‘Look, we have Christian friends; they’ll protect us.’ And sure enough, they did survive.”

Edward Stern first went to France because he had read about the Maginot Line — a series of concrete fortifications that the French built on the eastern frontier to defend France from German invasion.

“They felt that we’ll be safe — the Germans cannot penetrate that. Well, of course, we now know today that they penetrated it in six weeks, and in six weeks, not only did France fall, but most of Europe,” he recalled.

“Luckily, my father did not stay in France.

He felt very nervous about the Maginot line, and he also decided to go to Portugal, again, because it was neutral.”

In Portugal, Edward Stern got a job at the British Embassy as a translator, where he met Meyer. The two fell in love and were married.

Please see Stern, page 5

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Headlines Local Holocaust educator ‘builds connections’ at JFR Summer Institute — LOCAL —

“Our mission is to connect the horrors of the Holocaust to some of the things that we’re seeing around the world right now with respect to antisemitism on the rise.”

By Octavia Liku | Staff Writer

H

olocaust educator Daniel Singleton was still learning where to park his car when he found out he would be attending the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous’s Summer Institute for Teachers.

“I was maybe a day or two into my job, still figuring out, ‘Where do I park? Where do I go?” Singleton recalled. “She [his boss] told me, ‘I’m going to send you to this seminar in the summer, and it’s going to change your worldview — and she was right.”

As the education and partnerships associate at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Singleton is responsible for connecting with local educators and bringing survivor stories from the Pittsburgh community into classrooms across the region. At the JFR’s Summer Institute, he strengthened his approach to supporting Holocaust education through robust dialogue with leading scholars and fellow educators.

Hosted at the Hilton Newark Airport in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the five-day program traverses the history of antisemitism “through the rise of the Nazi Party, to the killers and their methods, and rescue, to the aftermath of the Holocaust.”

Twenty-four educators from nine states were introduced to the teachings of leading

p Daniel Singleton

Photo courtesy of Daniel Singleton

Holocaust scholars, including Doris Bergen, Lawrence Douglas, Daniel Greene, Peter Hayes and Robert Jan van Pelt. Singleton was one of two educators from Pennsylvania to attend the conference.

“The three primary goals for the JFR’s Summer Institute are to provide teachers with a graduate-level course on antisemitism and the Holocaust; to empower educators to develop pedagogical connections with other teachers; and to equip these teachers with additional resources to bring back to their classrooms,” said JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl.

Participants were also encouraged to collaborate and exchange their individual approaches to navigating the subject. The experience, Singleton said, will play a

–DANIEL SINGLETON pivotal role in shaping some of the teacher training workshops held at the Holocaust Center.

“You learn a lot about what the shared and unique challenges of Holocaust education are, and you learn a lot about the different ways people are trying to address those challenges and make sure that Holocaust education is something that everybody gets at some point in their lives,” he said.

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, now a program of The Tree of Life, was founded in 1980 by Holocaust survivors and their descendants. At its inception, about 360 Holocaust survivors were living in Pittsburgh. Today, about 13 remain.

In this light, Singleton emphasized the

importance of bringing survivors’ testimonies — whether through their writing, artworks or artifacts — into the classroom.

“If you can show students how these faraway events did in fact touch our community here, that can be a really powerful moment,” he said. “[Students] may not remember what precise date a camp was liberated, but they will remember that feeling of connection, even if it’s being done with a story of somebody who is no longer here.”

Singleton emphasized that the most exciting part of his work at the Holocaust Center is “breaking down some of the barriers” that have historically divided communities. His experience working with other educators at the institute, he said, reinforced his conviction to forge connections between people of all backgrounds.

“Our mission is to connect the horrors of the Holocaust to some of the things that we’re seeing around the world right now with respect to antisemitism on the rise,” he said. “The reality is people want to connect, they want to learn from people who are not like them. They want to have relationships with neighbors who may have different traditions or different beliefs … The more that we can do to invite connections to happen between people … the better we’ll all be.” PJC Octavia Liku can be reached at oliku@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Federation approves Community Campaign allocations, boosts security investment

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— LOCAL —

he Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s board of directors announced its 2026-2027 allocations on July 9. The more than $7.4 million allocated is intended to “expand community security and sustain Jewish life, human services and humanitarian partnerships around the world,” according to Federation officials.

The allocations from the Community Campaign include an increase of $150,00 in funding for community security, bringing the Campaign’s annual security investment

Stern: Continued from page 4

Their journey continued through Mozambique, South Africa, and Palestine, where Daniel Stern was born in 1945.

Afterward, they returned to his father’s homeland in Hungary, then France, before spending seven years waiting for immigration papers to the United States — “their final mecca.”

“My first recollection of America is my father and mother waking me up at about PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

to $350,000. The increase will help fund the costs of expanded staffing and training “to meet rising demand for threat assessment.”

The Federation’s community security staffing has grown to four full-time staff members.

“This year’s allocations reflect the reality of the moment,” said Jeffrey Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Federation, in a prepared statement. “Thanks to our donors’ generosity, we’re investing where it’s needed most, from expanding community security here in Pittsburgh to strengthening our partners around the world.”

Other Community Campaign allocations include:

Nearly $1.1 million to fund Jewish day schools, early childhood education and teen learning programs; Nearly $1.4 million to support older adults and vulnerable community members through Jewish Family and Community Services, the Jewish Association on Aging, The Branch and other partner organizations; More than $1.2 million to strengthen Jewish communal life, including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish campus organizations and communitywide initiatives; More than $2.6 million will support Israel and Jewish communities worldwide while

strengthening Pittsburghers’ connection to Israel through travel and immersive experiences.

“These allocations are the product of a year of careful listening, observing and deliberate, thoughtful planning,” said Judi Kanal, chair of the Federation’s Planning and Impact Leadership Committee, in a prepared statement. “Every recommendation reflects priorities our community helped shape, and every dollar is aimed where it can, G-d willing, do the most good.” PJC

5 in the morning and taking me up to the ship’s deck, and they said we’re going to cross the Statue of Liberty, and we want you to see that,” he recalled. “Eventually, the Statue of Liberty was right in front of us, and I saw my mother crying. She was very emotional about it. This was to be their last stop.”

Daniel Stern’s family lived in Brooklyn for some time, before moving to Eastern Pennsylvania. He later attended the University of Pittsburgh on a full scholarship.

The film was conceptualized half a century later, when he was downsizing his home.

“I found a box that I really had never paid attention to, and the box is filled with photographs that appear to be 80 years old or more. And those photographs were of my parents, their siblings, [and] other family members.”

He shared these findings with a colleague, Tom Benick, a self-proclaimed “amateur World War II historian.”

“He said, “Let’s take these pictures and make a story out of them and cover some ground,” he recalled.

Together, they made a two-part PowerPoint presentation — one traversing his parent’s

story of survival, and another telling his wife, Danielle Stern’s, story. After viewing the presentation, the NCCHE invited him to turn the PowerPoint into a short film.

The program closed with a brief Q&A session. The audience’s questions traversed his family’s history, politics, and spirituality.

Daniel Stern, however, left the audience with a simple message.

“Never forget.” PJC

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— Toby Tabachnick

Octavia Liku can be reached at oliku@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

JULY 17, 2026

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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.

Join a lay-led online Parashah study group to discuss the weekly 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/online-parashah.

q FRIDAY, JULY 17; SATURDAY, JULY 18 The Tree of Life Congregation is bidding farewell to Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers and his wife, Janice, as he retires. There will be a Friday night dinner (reservations are closed) plus service, followed by an Oneg Shabbat at Beit Kulanu.

Saturday morning services, with kiddush luncheon to follow. Please inform the office if you are coming to Saturday’s Shabbat service/kiddush and have not already made a reservation. For more information, including times, visit treeoflifepgh. org/calendar.

q MONDAY, JULY 20 Chabad of the South Hills presents “Where I Belong,” an evening with Holocaust survivor Ellen Tissenbaum. 7 p.m. Free. Address provided upon registration. chabadsh.com/lecture

q SUNDAYS, JULY 19, 26 Chabad of the South Hills presents Mommy and Me, music and movement with Hindy Rosenblum for children aged 0-3. A project of the South Hills Jewish Preschool, featuring sensory play and friends. 10:30 a.m. $5 per week. chabadsh.com/baby q SUNDAYS, JULY 19–DEC. 20 Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Men’s Tefillin Club. Services and tefillin are followed by a delicious breakfast and engaging discussions on current events. 8:30 a.m. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com

q TUESDAY, JULY 21 Chabad of South Hills presents its Senior Carnival.

Enjoy a picnic-style lunch, laugh yoga and interactive games. Hear about home care vs. home healthcare.

1 p.m. $5 suggested donation. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com Discover the art of quilling — turning delicate paper strips into stunning flowers, patterns, and art pieces — with Yamit Presman at Chabad of Greenfield’s Jewish Women’s Circle Quilling Workshop, featuring a homemade ice cream and sorbet bar.

7:15 p.m. $18. ChabadofGreenfield.com/JWC q TUESDAYS, JULY 21–DEC. 22 Join Beth El’s Rabbi Alex Greenbaum and his Bible/ Talmud Adult Education class for a thoughtprovoking weekly session of Bible and Talmudic study. This program is available both in person and virtually. Call the office at 412-561-1168 to receive the Zoom link or to make an in-person reservation.

10:30 a.m. 1900 Cochran Road. bethelcong.org

Are you interested in a High School program for your teen?

But your teen is so busy? Wish they could add a bit more Jewish community? sigh Hey, what if they could design their own track?

Come learn about a completely new approach.

Short core classes and choose your own path.

Field trips together and make your own schedule.

Here are some examples:

For more information,

Rabbi & Cantor led classes join one of these sessions.

Books & Podcasts of Jewish content For parents* July 8, 7:00 PM Torah study classes Fifth & Morewood Jewish summer camp learning Madrichim Religious School aide program For parents* July 23, 8:00 PM Synagogue teen trips Zoom Field trips to Schugars, Murray Avenue Kosher, For teens August 25, 8:00 PM Rauh Jewish Archives, etc.

Fifth & Morewood Modern Hebrew *Teens welcome if they are in town Jewish Film Festival Religious Services (including the sermon) Visits to Jewish museums anywhere in the world Questions? Contact Organized trip to Israel RabbiFreedman@BeitKulanu.org And more

q SUNDAY, AUG. 2 Join Chabad of the South Hills for the 2nd Annual South Hills Jewish Festival, celebrating Jewish life and culture. Live concert with Chassidic singer Berel Faiden, cultural crafts, kosher wine tasting and food, fun zone, petting zoo. 1 p.m. Free. 1700 Bower Hill Road. chabadsh.com q TUESDAY, AUG. 4 Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for Holocaust 101: The Fundamentals of Holocaust Education, the first program in its 2026–2027 series of teacher trainings. The training is designed for teachers across grade levels and subject areas, whether you are new to teaching the Holocaust and antisemitism or looking to deepen your existing practice. Each session will offer practical guidance, classroom-ready resources and time to think through common challenges with other educators. Act 48 credits available. 9 a.m.

Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 East Waterfront Drive. eventbrite.com/e/holocaust101-the-fundamentals-of-holocaust-educationtickets-1990912143816 q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 5, SEPT. 2 Join Beit Kulanu for Biblical Garden Open Door Tours: Free, docent-led tours of the congregation’s Biblical Botanical Garden the first Wednesday of the month. 12:15 p.m. Free. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org/garden q THURSDAY, AUG. 6 Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to discover the story behind the Holocaust Memorial Garden at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. The garden is a living memorial inspired by the vision of local Holocaust survivor Marga Silbermann Randall

(z”l) and brought to life in partnership with master gardener Lynn Rubin, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. There will be a screening of a WQED documentary about the creation of the garden, followed by a discussion with Rubin. A guided tour of the garden will follow the program, weather permitting. 6 p.m. Free.

1250 Bower Hill Road. eventbrite.com/e/ cultivating-memory-a-holocaust-survivorslegacy-in-bloom-tickets-1991203762054 q THURSDAY, AUG. 13 Join Chabad Young Professionals for its Summer Soirée, an unforgettable evening on the rooftop featuring handcrafted cocktails, delicious cuisine, great music and the opportunity to connect with hundreds of young Jewish professionals from across the city. Slip into your favorite summer chic look, gather your friends, and join CYP for one of Pittsburgh’s signature nights. 7 p.m. $30. Rooftop Bar in Lawrenceville. cyppittsburgh.com/summer q THURSDAYS, AUG. 20, SEPT. 3 Rendezvous in Beit Kulanu’s Biblical Botanical Garden with drinks and hors d’oeuvres for free live musical performances. Apps start at 6:30 p.m. and music at 7 p.m. The concert is free but registration is required. 4905 Fifth Ave. BeitKulanu.org q SUNDAY, AUG. 30 Join Chabad of South Hills for a trip to Jewish New York. Visit the Rebbe’s resting place and Chabad world headquarters; take part in a Crown Heights tour. Enjoy shopping and a meal at a delicious kosher restaurant. Fly roundtrip to New York City. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. $125. chabadsh. com/jny PJC

Join the Chronicle Book Club!

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Aug. 30 discussion of “As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us – A Defiant Memoir of Heritage, Identity, and Antisemitism,” by Sarah Hurwitz.

A New York Times bestseller, “As a Jew” is an “urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity and how Jews can reclaim their tradition, by the celebrated White House speechwriter and author of the critically acclaimed ‘Here All Along,’” according to Amazon.com.

“In As a Jew, Hurwitz documents her quest to take back her Jewish identity, how she stripped away the layers of antisemitic lies that made her recoil from her own birthright and unearthed the treasures of Jewish tradition. With antisemitism raging worldwide, Hurwitz’s defiant account of reclaiming the Jewish story and learning to live as a Jew, without apology, has never been timelier or more necessary.”

What to do

Buy: “As a Jew.” It is available from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and in some area Barnes & Noble stores. It is also available through the Carnegie Library system.

Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting.

Happy reading! PJC

Your hosts Organized by the Religious School of Congregation Beth Shalom & Beit Kulanu and open to all.

Toby Tabachnick, Chronicle editor David Rullo, Chronicle senior staff writer

How it works

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 1 p.m.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 6

JULY 17, 2026

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Headlines Lindsey Graham, stalwart Senate backer of Israel and bipartisan interventionism, dies suddenly at 71 — NATONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

S

en. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who was one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress, has died at 71.

Graham’s office announced his death in a statement early Sunday morning, saying that he had died late Saturday after “a brief and sudden illness.” Graham had returned from Ukraine, where he met with Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky, the day before.

Graham was a paragon of an era when support for Israel and for robust U.S. intervention overseas were emblems of bipartisanship and engineered one of the last displays of bipartisan solidarity with Israel.

In the days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he cobbled together a joint Republican-Democratic trip to Israel and said it typified how Americans viewed and supported the country.

“Ten percent of the United States Senate is in Israel,” Graham said at a Tel Aviv press conference on Oct. 22. “Ten percent of the United States Senate is in Israel because we care. Five Republicans and five Democrats. If I had a bigger plane, we probably would have brought the entire Senate.”

Three years later, no one could convene such a show of solidarity, and Graham’s death means the Senate and Republican Party have lost one of its most durable pro-Israel voices at a time when anti-Israel sentiment is on the rise in both places.

In his more than three decades in Congress, first in the House and then in the Senate since 2003, Graham aggressively backed U.S. aid to Israel, advanced a hawkish line on Iran and met repeatedly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in both Israel and the United States.

“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable. He devoted his life to defending America, strengthening our alliance and standing up for the free world,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday. “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”

Graham’s most recent visit to Israel was in February, ahead of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, which he later took credit for urging. “They’ll tell me things our own government won’t tell me,” he said of Israeli officials at the time.

Iranian media celebrated his death, which came a week after pro-regime Iranians held up placards with a target superimposed on a portrait of Graham at the funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was slain in the initial joint U.S.-Israel attacks.

Graham was a vocal backer of Israel’s military responses to attacks by Hamas, including during the 2014 and after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza and augured a period of declining support for Israel. On Oct. 8, he issued a statement calling for Israel to defeat Hamas “by any and all means necessary” and PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Sen. Lindsey Graham (L) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu (R) in Jerusalem on April 17, 2023.

Photo courtesy of GPO/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

in the subsequent weeks drew attention for calling on Israel to “flatten the place.”

Graham continued to promote a two-state solution as it receded as a U.S. priority, but he also adjusted to reflect the mounting isolationist and anti-Israel streaks in his party. Last year, he made news for embracing Netanyahu’s announcement of a plan to “taper” U.S. aid to Israel, saying it should be done sooner than Netanyahu’s 10-year timeline. This spring, he publicly urged Israel to refrain from bombing Iran’s oil refineries.

In doing so, Graham was threading the needle between two allies in Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, who was feeling heat over rising gas prices. The senator had initially opposed Trump’s rise, even running against him in 2015 ahead of the Republican primaries that year, but later became one of his closest confidants and supporters.

Graham represented the kind of Republican who appealed to Jews who were not among the majority who vote for Democrats, and even among some of those who did: a moderate who sought comity with Democrats, proposing compromise on abortion and immigration. Graham and other Republican moderates became relics with the ascent of Trump.

In recent years, he became an agent of reassurance to Republican Jews rattled by rising antisemitism in their own party and appalled at the apparent leaps and gains of the far right.

“I’m in the ‘Hitler sucks’ wing of the Republican Party,” he said last year at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference, to cheers.

“We will beat you politically,” he said, directing his comments to anti-Israel Republicans. “I want the world to know: Antisemitism, anti-Israel rhetoric, anti-Israel thought is not the road to being elected a Republican. You will lose.”

Graham initially excoriated Trump as disastrous for the party, even after his 2016 nomination was assured. “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it,” he said in a May 2016 tweet, even as a major Graham backer, the pro-Israel philanthropist Sheldon Adelson was set to advise Republicans to rally behind Trump.

He soon embraced Trump, becoming a

close adviser and a perpetual golf buddy. “It’s evolved because he is president of the United States, he beat me like a drum and I want to help him where I can because there’s a lot on this man’s plate,” Graham said in 2018 on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Still, there were lines Graham would not cross: He continued to support robust U.S. backing for Ukraine in its war to repel Russia’s 2022 invasion, against Trump’s preference for the Putin regime. Just hours before

his death, Graham was in Kyiv coordinating congressional sanctions against Russia.

Graham, who never married and had no children, was up for reelection in November. His outlook on Israel fit into a broad portfolio that included helming the Senate Budget Committee, pushing for a stronger U.S. response to Russia and broadly advancing an interventionist foreign policy.

In the early 2000s, Graham joined with Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Jewish Democrat, in the early 2000s to promote a robust interventionist foreign policy. Dubbing themselves the “Three Amigos,” the trio traveled to war zones and tried to pitch U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts as bipartisan at a time that Democrats — and much of the country — were souring on them. Graham was the last survivor of the group, following McCain’s death in 2018 and Lieberman’s in 2024.

The men were “an inseparable trio, and the best friends Israel and lovers of freedom ever had in the U.S.Senate,” the Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement responding to Graham’s death. “We are sure they are welcoming him at Heaven’s gate — but like all of us, thinking it tragic to join them now when he had so much more to accomplish here on earth.” PJC

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Headlines — WORLD — Israel reportedly tells US about new Iranian plot to assassinate Trump

Israel has shared intelligence with the United States that Iran had developed a new plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, according to media accounts, JTA reported.

Citing an article by The Wall Street Journal last week and two people familiar with the matter, CNN reported that the intelligence revealed there was a “new” and “specific” threat. The details were not disclosed. However, the story added that U.S. intelligence agencies had not independently identified the threat or vetted it.

Israeli officials reportedly passed the intelligence to Washington in recent days or weeks.

CNN reported that U.S. officials have monitored ongoing threats against Trump since the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani.

Trump told reporters last week, “They want to take out the U.S. leader — me. I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long.”

During Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral on July 5, Reuters reported that demonstrators set fire to U.S. and British flags and held placards in English with the words “KILL TRUMP.”

Ireland advances ban on imported goods from Israeli settlements

Ireland’s parliament advanced legislation banning imported goods from Israeli settlements, one of Europe’s most expansive trade

measures against Israel, JTA reported.

The bill approved last week by the parliament’s lower chamber and drafted by Ireland’s center-right coalition government prohibits imports of goods from “certain Israeli settlements.” The legislation cites an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in 2024 that said Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza was illegal under international law.

Ireland is one of the most vocal critics of Israel in Europe, and a leader on the continent in excoriating Israel’s conduct in Gaza since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, launched the war. The Irish government formally recognized a Palestinian state in 2024, prompting Israel to close its embassy in Dublin, and last month barred far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country.

Ireland’s legislation passed without a vote in the Dáil, the principal chamber of parliament, meaning that no lawmaker sought to challenge it. It heads now to the Seanad, parliament’s upper house, where it will be debated and potentially signed into law.

Lawmakers in the left-wing opposition parties argued repeatedly for an amendment to ban imported services, such as technological services, in addition to physical goods, such as fruit and vegetables. The amendment was voted down. Paul Murphy, a politician in the People Before Profit—Solidarity party, was among those who argued that the measure did not go far enough.

“We know that on average, 70% of trade is in services rather than goods and that 70% is now being removed,” Smith said during a parliamentary debate before the bill passed.

The import ban would inflict minimal economic impact. Goods imported from

Today in Israeli History — ISRAEL — Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

July 17, 1906 — Kibbutz pioneer Yitzchak Ben-Aharon is born

Yitzchak Ben-Aharon, a pioneer of the kibbutz movement, is born in Romania.

He makes it to Palestine in 1928 by walking and riding a donkey. He helps found Kibbutz Givat Haim between Haifa and Tel Aviv.

July 18, 1290 — England expels its Jews

King Edward I orders the expulsion of England’s 4,000 Jews, who had settled there in significant numbers only in the 11th century. Most move p King Edward to France or Germany. I was known as Jews are not allowed “Longshanks” for his 6-foot-2 height. back until 1656.

July 19, 1940 — 1st JNF chairman Max Bodenheimer dies

Max Bodenheimer, the first Jewish National Fund chairman, dies five years after immigrating to Jerusalem. Born in Germany in 1865, he attended the First Zionist Congress and became close to Theodor Herzl.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

July 20, 1951 — Jordan’s King Abdullah is assassinated

Palestinian nationalists assassinate Jordan’s first king, Abdullah I, at the entrance to al-Aqsa Mosque. Abdullah discussed peace before Israel declared independence but instead fought and captured the West Bank.

Jewish settlements in disputed areas to Ireland were valued at about 200,000 euros in 2024.

NYC’s first lady attends Corsica retreat honoring Mary as ‘Palestinian woman’ under ‘occupation’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, reportedly honored Mary, mother of Jesus, as a “Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation” while co-hosting a women-only Muslim retreat in Corsica, France, that began on July 2.

Duwaji, 29, departed the United States for Spain before the July 4 holiday to attend the retreat organized by The Women Sanctuary.

According to the group’s website, participants would explore “the legacy of Mary, the most honored woman in the Qur’an” through lectures, workshops and prayer. Duwaji was listed as the retreat’s artist-in-residence, and was scheduled to lead an illustration workshop.

“To state the obvious: Jesus was Jewish and born in the land of Judea to his Jewish mother, Mary,” a spokesperson for the Israeli Consulate in New York stated. “Any attempt to portray him as being born to a ‘Palestinian’ mother,’ or allude to him being Muslim, is a historical distortion and a cynical and gross attempt to exploit his story and use it to serve contemporary political goals.

“Jesus lived centuries before the founding of Islam,” the spokesperson said, “and applying contemporary political identities to him distorts the historical record.”

Israeli-American Orthodox Jew signs professional baseball contract

Israeli-American baseball player Zev Moore

July 22, 1939 — Actress Gila Almagor is born

Gila Almagor, the “queen of the Israeli cinema and theater,” is born in Haifa. She makes her debut for Habima at age 17 and establishes herself as a leading lady at Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre beginning in 1958.

July 23, 2002 — Knesset enacts Tal Law on Haredi draft

On a 51-41 vote, the Knesset approves the Tal Law to address the issue of Haredi yeshiva students receiving exemptions from military service. The Supreme Court rules the law unconstitutional in 2012. PJC

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In Lillehammer, Norway, a Mossad team targeting the terrorists behind the 1972 Munich Olympics p Mike Harari, shown as a young massacre fatally shoots agent, was one a Moroccan waiter, of the Mossad Ahmed Bouchiki, leaders in charge mistaking him for PLO of the botched official Ali Hassan Lillehammer operation in 1973 Salameh.

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July 21, 1973 — Mossad kills wrong man in Norway

signed a professional contract last week with the Trenton Thunder of Major League Baseball’s Draft League, JNS reported.

According to Moore’s publicist, he became the second practicing Orthodox Jew to play professional baseball, while also becoming the second player raised in Israel to sign a contract allowing him to compete at that level.

The 25-year-old outfielder will join the Thunder from July through early September, adding another chapter to a baseball career that has taken him from New Jersey to Israel, through a successful college career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and now to the professional ranks.

Moore and his family moved from New Jersey to Israel when he was a child. He grew up playing baseball in a local Israeli league before joining the Israeli national team. After serving three years in the Israel Defense Forces, he continued to compete internationally through Israel’s national baseball program.

Moore acknowledged that arriving at games surrounding the Sabbath on foot would be a challenge, but said he was used to it from his days at MIT. “I don’t compromise. My religion comes first,” he said.

The Trenton Thunder competes in a splitseason amateur-professional format as part of a six-team MLB Draft League. The league’s amateur side features draft-eligible players seeking additional exposure and development, while the professional side includes paid players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility.

Moore has joined the latter as a professional player. PJC

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Headlines Teachers: Continued from page 1

with everything: the weather, the food, the friendly people.”

Vaughn Peterson, director of security at CDS, said he’d previously visited other Middle Eastern countries during his time as a Marine.

When Classrooms Without Borders offered Jewish day school staff an opportunity to learn about Israel and visit the Jewish state, Peterson said he couldn’t pass up the chance.

“It was in my heart to go, and I just feel like it’s an important thing for people to actually understand,” he said.

History and now

While participants spent more than a year studying various periods of Jewish history, the trip enabled educators to see Israeli life post-Oct. 7, Gur said.

Especially memorable, Itskowitz said, was a conversation with a Kibbutz Be’eri resident who recalled Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and its aftermath.

“He was emotional, obviously, when he

was talking about his experiences,” she said.

“They know that it can happen again — they tell themselves that they don’t want to pretend like it can’t, because that’s why they were in the situation they were in, thinking that everything was fine — but their lives are moving on.”

Vaughn said the Be’eri visit, as well as a stop at the Nova music festival site, made clear that it’s difficult imagining the horrors of Oct. 7, “until you get there and you speak to the people that were in the area, who had to react to the situation.”

“These people are so resilient — they’re being threatened on a daily basis, and they still are able to go on with their lives — and it’s important to them to keep the state of Israel,” he said. “Basically, if that goes, then it’s a whole different ball game.”

Home again

Rabbi Dovid Rothman, a middle school Judaics teacher at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, called the seminar “an opportunity of a lifetime” and credited it with challenging long-held beliefs.

“I’m an American through and through,

and I just cannot believe how comfortable I felt. It was home the moment I got there. It really shocked me,” he said.

Rothman, a former New Englander, told the Chronicle his family, leading back to his great-grandparents, had been in the Bostonarea since the late 1800s.

“I’m a Bostonian — Sam Adams — I’m very patriotic,” he said. Still, “being in Israel — and about half the Jewish population is there right now — it just felt right to be there.”

Prior to the seminar, the Yeshiva Schools educator had never visited Israel. Touring the Jewish state, seeing historic sites and learning from fellow teachers — both cohort members and Israeli educators — will deeply impact his classroom, he said.

A theme often referenced by CWB staff was “when there’s upheaval and difficulty, that’s a catalyst of change,” Rothman said. Whether regarding the destruction of the Temple, exile or Oct. 7, in every period “there was some upheaval, there was some difficulty, and the periods changed because of that catalyst.”

Rothman said tour guides and experts often communicated the trope through storytelling.

Taking a narrative approach, he continued,

Fence: Continued from page 1

recommendations on how to steward The Fence going forward while “ensuring clarity, accountability and respect for its roles, and the boundaries of its roles” within the CMU community.

The 45-page report features six key recommendations rooted in the principle of “bilateral restraint” — the notion that the university has a responsibility to protect free speech even if it makes some community members uncomfortable. Likewise, community members should not exercise their right to freedom of expression to the “maximum permissible limits.”

Among its recommendations, the report encouraged administrators to continue to “celebrate” The Fence as a student-centered space, while avoiding language that suggests it is “student-owned.” It also suggested that university administration and student government collaborate to establish clearer processes for managing The Fence, communicate that the messages on The Fence represent the perspectives of individual painters and develop traditions during major campus events.

The FWG also suggests that the administration should only paint over The Fence in “rare, extreme cases,” especially when the message might be perceived as “invoking the institution of Carnegie Mellon.” Through this lens, the university’s main interest in painting over messages is in “removing its liability, not in punishing the speaker.”

For some Jewish students, the recent Fence paintings have raised concerns about their sense of belonging and safety on CMU’s campus.

Three students who spoke to the Chronicle expressed that while the messages make them feel unwelcome, they largely view the controversies surrounding The Fence from a distance.

“I have periodically gotten emails from President Jahanian regarding events at The Fence. I would say that, you know, the majority of my experience with this was immediately proceeding Oct. 7,” said Ben Koby, a Jewish student at CMU. “From my limited interaction with how things are going, it appears that the administration is taking a much more proactive role as far as this issue is concerned, especially compared to three years ago.”

Other students emphasized that while the messages may be concerning and should be addressed by the university, as the FWG’s report suggests, they likely do not reflect the shared 10

JULY 17, 2026

p A series of anti-Zionist messages painted on the Fence has reignited debate over free speech, student safety and the university’s role in stewarding one of Carnegie Mellon’s oldest traditions.

Graphic by Octavia Liku

perspective of students at large.

“When I see something like that, the question is always: ‘Is it a small group that just did it overnight, and now everyone’s talking about it, or is it a big, concerted effort within students?” said Raphael Katz, a Jewish student at CMU. “It’s a very technical school … everyone’s in their computers and code, and you know, it’s definitely a very nonpolitical [program].”

As it stands, the restrictions regarding The Fence largely govern “process” but not “content.”

Under CMU’s Graffiti and Poster Policy, the only formal content restrictions prohibit obscenities and incitements to violence. Moreover, while Jahanian has repeatedly underscored the “anonymous” nature of these messages, there is no formal rule that requires students to take responsibility for their paintings.

The FWG’s report suggests that while anonymous speech is not “precluded,” it may increase the university’s “liability,” and as such, increase likelihood of removal.

“The anonymity that social media, and what have you, has enabled people in that [they] no longer feel responsible for their actions, or believe that they can do things and get away with things that in previous times would have been

considered absolutely unacceptable and would have had serious consequences,” Koby said. “So, unfortunately, there isn’t a policy that allows everything to be hunky-dory — it requires responsibility on the part of the community.”

Going forward, Koby hopes the student body can “maintain the level of decorum” necessary to have access to “unrestricted free speech in a private setting.”

However, some student groups have expressed concern with the FWG’s recommendations and the university’s recent responses to The Fence. CMU’s chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, which has spent the last year urging the university to enshrine rules governing The Fence into official policy, criticized the administration’s actions.

“We condemn the administration for censoring students who exercised their free speech rights on The Fence within the bounds of what has traditionally been considered acceptable,” wrote the Young Americans for Liberty in a statement on June 30. “We also believe it’s important to emphasize that while we fight for a University which upholds robust freedom of speech, we must commit ourselves to dialogue which respects the dignity of others and seeks to constructively engage with ideas,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

offers a “glimpse into the life of a person.”

“It’s just a different feeling — it really connects you to the people.”

The Jewish day school teacher mentioned upcoming curricula involving the Shulchan Aruch, a 16th-century code of Jewish law, and said that by relating the experiences of its author, Rabbi Joseph Karo — or digging into the Mishnah and not only conveying halachic teachings but the personalities of the rabbis mentioned in the text — he can help Pittsburgh’s Jewish students achieve new connections to familiar material. “I am pretty excited about this,” he said. “It’s going to change my class.”

Upon conclusion of the seminar, Gur told the Chronicle that along with providing professional development in Pittsburgh, CWB has enabled more than 1,000 educators to travel to Israel and across Europe since the organization’s 2011 inception.

The charge then, as it is now, is to empower educators and deliver opportunities and resources to meaningfully impact the future, she said. “We need our teachers to understand.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. especially those which are more controversial. The way that those who painted The Fence expressed their position was deeply objectionable and irresponsible, even though they were within the bounds of acceptable speech at The Fence.”

Bruce Ledewitz, an emeritus professor at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law, told the Chronicle that he believes a court would likely view the phrase “Death to Zionism” as protected political speech rather than a true threat. However, he noted that as a private institution, CMU has broader discretion to regulate speech it believes comes too close to inciting violence.

“Something written on The Fence that’s an actual threat, of course, would undoubtedly not be protected by the First Amendment, and it also would be a violation, undoubtedly, of university policy,” Ledewitz said. “But you know, there have not really been credible threats; people are mostly objecting to what is protected speech.”

Ledewitz emphasized that while he doubts the university would ultimately face legal consequences for allowing such messages to stand, administrators have legitimate reason to be concerned in today’s political climate.

“Every threat of violence creates a hostile environment by definition,” Ledewitz said, “so if the university permits expressions of violence against Jewish students — or against really any group,” they might face legal action.

“They would not be held liable, you understand, under current law — everything is protected by the First Amendment,” he said.

“But if the university were to say, ‘Look, we know we would prevail, [but] we don’t want to be sued’ … I mean, it’s unfortunate, but the Trump administration, or figures in the Trump administration, have sued in legally dubious contexts just to cause expense and worry to defendants.”

Whether the university will adopt the recommendations listed in the FWG’s report remains to be seen. In a June 12 email to the CMU community, Jahanian wrote that he will review the report and “discuss its recommendations and observations with university leadership, the working group, and student government leaders,” before more fully addressing its suggestions come fall. PJC Octavia Liku can be reached at oliku@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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JULY 17, 2026

11

Opinion What survives the move Editor's Desk Toby Tabachnick

I

’ve been throwing away memories.

Today it was the silver-plated candle holders, heavily tarnished, engraved with an inscription from my mother’s Israeli cousin: “To Toby From Zahava, 9.4.88.” The date of my wedding.

Zahava was dear to me. While on a teen trip to Israel in 1978, I came down with strep throat. She took care of me, took me to a doctor, let me stay in her Haifa apartment for several days while I fought a pretty high fever. She passed away in the 1990s.

Her wedding gift is now in the trash.

I know.

But I never once used those candle holders, and even forgot I had them. They were tucked away in a cabinet in my dining room, wedged between a ceramic pitcher made by my daughter when she was in elementary school and a bevy of menorahs, coated with wax, some that hadn’t been touched in decades.

The menorahs are being donated. The pitcher is in the trash.

Am I betraying my 12-year-old self by disposing of the scrapbook I put together in seventh grade, containing ticket stubs from King’s Island and Disney World, and a middle school theatrical program? Am I dishonoring my late father by selling his roll-top desk that has sat unused in our basement for years?

As I go through the items I have collected throughout my life, downsizing and preparing for my upcoming move to

Stamford, Connecticut — looking forward to living closer to three of our children and our grandchildren — I find that I am way more ruthless in getting rid of things than I would have imagined. I am swayed by the logic: If I don’t use these things, if I haven’t even looked at them in years, I certainly can do without them.

Still, the whole process evokes a host of emotions.

my home as a young mother starting out in Pittsburgh’s South Hills in 1993, but I must have envisioned a life not at all like the life that actually transpired. Did I think I was going to throw dainty little tea parties? What was I imagining?

There are other relics of this imaginary life that never materialized. The silver serving pieces. My aunt Alice’s white mink stole.

Seriously. Some of these things are easy to

Serving this community has been an honor, as well as a big part of my story — and it is one thing that won’t change in the immediate future.

A few years ago, the author Anne Patchett wrote a piece for The New Yorker titled “How to Practice,” about her quest to declutter. The article went viral, and resonated with a lot of people, including me.

Patchett chronicled her pursuit of a home filled just with things she needed and used, sorting through the items she had accumulated over a lifetime.

The part of the essay that really got to me was her discovery in a cabinet of a “dozen etched crystal champagne flutes.”

“Had I imagined that, at some point, twelve people would be in my house wanting champagne?” she wrote.

I can relate. I am struck with a similar feeling as I ponder what to do with the china tea set that has been in my breakfront for 32 years.

It was my mother’s set. There is a small teapot, six tiny cups, a sugar bowl and a creamer. I have never used these things.

I recall eagerly bringing these items to

dispose of. Others not so much, although it’s hard to make a convincing argument for holding on to them.

Most of the items I am sorting through, though, evidence a life that actually did transpire.

There is a porcelain jar on my dresser, for example, containing dozens of small wads of tissues, each wad holding a decomposing baby tooth. They are the teeth of our four now-adult children.

I have kept this jar of teeth for decades.

But now it is one of those things that will be chucked — along with three boxes filled with my college notebooks and my certificate of admission to practice law in the federal courts of California.

Dara Horn, in an interview about her novel “A Guide for the Perplexed,” said, “Recording everything is the same as recording nothing, because it makes memories meaningless. It’s the act of choosing what’s worth saving that turns a lifetime’s

worth of memories into a story.”

After 32 years in Pittsburgh — truly wonderful years — I am curating my life, “choosing what’s worth saving” to tell my story, to my future self and to any descendant who might be interested.

It’s challenging.

And moving, of course, involves more than just leaving material things behind. I am preparing to leave behind Pittsburgh.

The skyline that takes my breath away every single time I emerge from the Fort Pitt tunnel. The view from Mount Washington.

The Public Theater. The people.

It’s the people that are the hardest to leave behind.

Friends. Colleagues. Neighbors.

You say good-bye and promise to keep in touch. That will be true for some, but it won’t be true for all. And that makes me sad.

I am comforted, though, by knowing that I will continue to be part of Pittsburgh — especially Jewish Pittsburgh — through my work as editor of the Chronicle. Of course I will be working remotely, as our staff has been doing since COVID. I’ll just be working somewhat more remotely, from Stamford rather than Mt. Lebanon.

You will not be seeing me around as much at various events, although I plan to come back for some. But my passion and love for this community remains steadfast, and I am committed to maintaining the quality of this newspaper. Serving this community has been an honor, as well as a big part of my story — and it is one thing that won’t change in the immediate future. I am grateful for that.

Thanks, Pittsburgh. It’s been an amazing three decades. L’hitraot. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

A New York Times map tells America’s immigration story.

So where are the Jews?

Guest Columnist Andrew Silow-Carroll

“T

he City Without Jews” is the title shared by a 1922 satirical novel by Hugo Bettauer and a forthcoming history of Nazi Vienna by Douglas Smith.

It could also be the title of a recent map feature published by the New York Times, posted on the eve of the July 4 holiday.

“How a Nation of Immigrants Traces Its Roots” is a lovely multimedia feature mapping Americans by their ethnic and immigrant origins. A celebration of diversity, it includes 200 “unique identities” represented across all 50 states: Scandinavians in the upper Midwest, African-Americans clustered in the South and beyond, MexicanAmericans in the Southwest, Portuguese 12

JULY 17, 2026

along the coast of New England, Yemeni immigrants and their descendants in Detroit, and Native Americans living across a country that was once theirs.

“Much of what we see is a history of immigration,” explain the authors, Albert Sun, Jeff Adelson and Larry Buchanan. The story accompanying the map goes on to describe the ebbs and flows of the migrant tide, including the surge at the turn of the 20th century and the current crackdown on refugees, asylum seekers and even naturalized citizens.

But zoom in on the map, and there’s a notable omission: Jews. Hover over Manhattan, home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, and you’ll find pockets where 20% or more of the residents are Chinese, Puerto Rican, African American, Dominican, German and Italian. Conspicuously, there is no heading for “Jewish.”

Readers noticed, and the comments section included a number of complaints.

“This analysis completely hides descendants

of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe,” wrote “AKJersey.”

“I am a Jew descended from immigrants from Germany and what is now Belarus,” wrote “Hannah Banana.” “I think that Jews as a group should be so defined, and not as immigrants from one or another political identity.”

In response, Adelson noted that the map is based on data from the Census Bureau, “which is legally prohibited from asking questions about religion.”

He’s right, of course. As the Pew Research Center explained, “Heads of Jewish organizations in the U.S. in the decades after the Holocaust, expressed unease about the prospect of official counts of religious groups, fearing it could lead to antisemitism and allow for government tracking.”

Adelson also anticipated readers who might have asked why they simply didn’t augment the map with another data set.

“While there are private surveys that do ask about religion,” he wrote, “those unfortunately do not provide the level of

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detail we needed for this project.”

If Jews do show up on the Times map, it is according to identities in addition to their Jewishness — you see pockets of Iranians on Long Island and in Los Angeles that no doubt include the large Persian-Jewish diaspora, and the Uzbeks in Queens must be Bucharian Jews. “Israeli” is a Census category, and the map shows a surprisingly large number of Israeli clusters from New York to Florida to California and all sorts of places in between.

By omission, the map project reflects versions of Jewish identity that often confound demographers, and even the Jews themselves. Although millions of Jews emigrated from what was then the Russian Empire (the Times article refers to “pogroms” without identifying their victims), most were more likely to identify themselves as Jews than as Russian — or Polish, or Romanian, or Lithuanian. As Charles Liebman and other Jewish sociologists have explained, Please see Silow-Carroll, page 13

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Opinion Chronicle poll results: Issue that will impact Jews most in the next 5 years

L

ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an online poll the following question: “Which issue do you think will have the biggest impact on American Jews over the next five years?” Of the 246 people who responded, 42% said “antisemitism”; 24% said “Israel, including U.S-Israel relations”; 20% said “political polarization and radicalization”; 6% said “Jewish continuity and engagement”; 1% said “economic and/or social challenges”; and 7% said “something else.” Comments were submitted by 53 people. A few follow.

You can’t separate antisemitism and Israel/ U.S. relations.

The radical extremists on both the left and the right are crushing the sane people who just want to live our lives in peace. This affects all Americans — not just Jews — but a lot of it specifically targets Jews, as well as immigrants and women.

Our priority should be to provide Jewish education and religious services to the Jewish community.

Silow-Carroll:

Continued from page 12

a Jew may be Russian or Polish by nationality, but Jewish identity is a parallel, enduring membership in a global people that is not bounded by the nation-state.

Part of that is self-understanding, and part of that is imposed by nation-states that never fully accepted Jews as citizens, or at least citizens with full, inalienable rights.

Jews in the Pale of Settlement, the Russian region where Jewish subjects were required to live for over a century, “were simultaneously subjects of the tsar and members of a corporate body defined by law, residence, and custom,” wrote Benjamin Nathans in his 2010 book, “Beyond the Pale.”

The idea that “Jew” is an identity that persists across states, languages and borders has always been a source of confusion — and even a cause of persecution. It was used to justify the oppression and disenfranchisement of Jews, and became a vicious circle: Denied full citizenship, Jews embraced their Otherness; in turn, their Otherness was used as a pretext to exclude them.

The confusion persists to this day. When New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declares that he can’t support "any state that privileges one religion over the other,” his Jewish critics see a category error.

“Judaism is both a religion and a nation,”

Which issue do you think will have the biggest impact on American Jews over the next five years?

1%

7%

Economic and/or social challenges

Something else

6%

Jewish continuity and engagement

20%

42%

Political polarization and radicalization

Antisemitism

24%

Israel, including U.S.-Israel relations

Radicalization! What’s going on? How did we come to so many political figures openly expressing hatred for Jews and the Jewish state, and they are getting so much public support! What are we thinking (or are we thinking)? the Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal wrote in response. “This distinction matters because reducing Judaism to a religion strips Jews of collective rights.”

Israel has already had a direct effect on inciting antisemitism from the left wing here and in other countries. As our parents used to tell us, if a few Jews do something negative, it reflects badly on all of us.

I, as a lifelong Democrat, am concerned about what is being referred to as the progressive wing of the party — AOC, Platner, our congresswoman, just to name a few. Yet I can hardly cast a vote for a party helmed by Trump. I don’t want to be disenfranchised.

We are still not above pre-Holocaust population levels worldwide, so that needs to be a priority.

I see climate change (already) having a major impact on our world. Regarding my specific Jewish identity, I think the general atmosphere of hate and intolerance being fostered by the Trump administration will continue to harm American Jews.

Anti-Israelism is the umbrella for antisemitism. Attacks on Jews are going this version of Jewishness as a faith only worked until it didn’t. The flood of Eastern European Jewish immigrants felt that “the idea of living as fully accepted Americans

Polling data suggests that most American Jews are comfortable with this sort of blended identity: Jewish in their hearts if not their faith, fully at home in America, and emotionally attached to Israel.

To be sure, many Jews have resisted this notion of Jewish nationhood: For decades, German-Jewish immigrants held fiercely to their Germanness and later their Americanness. They preferred to present Judaism as a religion, a set of beliefs and behaviors akin to Protestantism, and rejected movements — especially Zionism — that suggested Jews were a people in any way apart, and not first and foremost citizens of the country in which they lived.

But as the journalist Nicholas Lemann, author of a new memoir about his assimilated German-Jewish family, explains,

adhering to universal values was a fantasy that only prosperous German Jews could entertain.” The rise of Nazism demonstrated, definitively and obscenely, the limits of Jewish belonging, and the creation of Israel, as Lemann wrote last week in a New York Times op-ed, “touched a deep collective yearning for self-determination, for self-protection, for freedom from perpetual outsider status.”

America, meanwhile, offered Jews a welcome that they found in few other places, without asking that they renounce what Louis D. Brandeis called their “distinctive

to get worse, and our leadership, which is sorely lacking, needs to come out strong.

This means you, rabbis.

I think that American Jews will be confronting the horrors that Netanyahu has perpetrated and the shame he has brought on our people while we declined to speak out.

With political polarization and radicalism continuing, Jews will experience antisemitism from both political parties. This will, in turn, affect our relations with Israel and present social challenges.

I chose Israel because I feel it encompasses all of the topics. PJC — Compiled by Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question:

How do you typically observe Tisha B’Av? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org to respond. PJC nationality.” “Having known the weight of persecution and exclusion, Jews recognized in America’s founding ideals something rare in human history: the possibility of belonging without surrendering our identity,” according to an open letter written to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and signed by prominent American Jewish leaders.

They may have left Russia as Jews, but they arrived at Ellis Island as Americans.

Polling data suggests that most American Jews are comfortable with this sort of blended identity: Jewish in their hearts if not their faith, fully at home in America, and emotionally attached to Israel.

The Times is right that the census data don’t capture these nuances of identity, and that Jews themselves are not sure they want that data readily available.

Still, the map’s blank spots — whether on Manhattan’s Upper West Side or in the condo communities of South Florida — are disconcerting. The Times describes the feature as one that “tells the story of immigration in America.” The distinct contributions of Jews to America’s social, cultural, intellectual and economic life are an indisputable part of that story — even if they resist neat boundaries. PJC Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, where this first appeared.

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

Send letters to:letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org or Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.

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JULY 17, 2026

13

Life & Culture Summer heat is no sweat for local Master Gardeners — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

W

hile summer temperatures are driving some Pittsburghers indoors, local Jewish Master Gardeners are taking the heat rather coolly.

Squirrel Hill resident Boaz Frankel happily spends his days outside. The author and journalist, whose Rootbound Substack has more than 2,000 subscribers, said the only thing he’s watering these days are his vegetables.

“I’ve got a rain barrel so I don’t have to run the hose,” he said. “Over the last few years I’ve been planting native perennials, and after two or three years they’ve grown deep enough roots that they can handle a dry spell.”

Last week’s scorcher boasted temperatures reaching the low-to-mid 90s. Heat index values, which measure what the temperature actually feels like, clocked in around 100.

Gibsonia resident Elaine Liberati responded to the summer sizzle by “watering a lot,” she said.

But how much, and what’s required, is a bit of a neighborhood jest.

When she goes on a vacation, she said,

p Lauren Mallinger stands during the 2023 dedication of Rose's Garden at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

neighbors silence their phones because watering her garden means using a 150-foot hose, she told the Chronicle. “Nobody wants to carry that around.”

Squirrel Hill resident Lauren Mallinger is no stranger to the heat. The Jewish Master Gardener spent nearly four years living on Israeli kibbutzes. When it comes to dealing

p Elaine Liberati's garden in bloom

with southwestern Pennsylvania soil, however, Mallinger’s approach is universal.

“The one thing about gardening is you have to know your plants,” she said. “You have to know what’s going to last.” Watering is certainly necessary, as is fertilizing, but the key is to really understand each plant’s likes, dislikes, and “which ones thrive in heat.”

Mallinger pointed to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and rudbeckia as solid choices for summer sun. Impatiens and begonias, however, “really need partial shade or they’re just going to dry up.”

The Master Gardeners — all of whom completed dozens of hours of training, passed a certifying exam and regularly aid communal gardening projects — said summer isn’t necessarily the easiest time to cultivate a garden, but if there’s a desire to do so, then dig.

“It’s definitely easier to plant in the spring and fall but it’s never a bad time to start gardening,” Frankel said. “You can still plant some veggies now that you can harvest in the fall.”

Liberati suggested including containers and native plants.

Using larger containers is helpful this time of year, she said. “If you have small containers, it’s labor intensive to water every single day.”

Given the heat, it isn’t the easiest time to begin an outdoor project, “but as long as you can clear your little space and start very simple,” summer gardens can bloom, Mallinger said.

“Make sure you know your soil, make sure you amend your soil — even if you have a little patch, throw some compost on, throw some mulch on, to maintain the soil.”

What grows from that exercise isn’t only a beautiful flower or delicious salad item, she explained.

In recent years, the Squirrel Hill green thumb has worked on Rose’s Garden at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill and Kavod Garden in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the Flight 93 tribute site.

Working in those spaces has created meaningful connections because gardening is a “group activity,” she said. “It’s something that is shared with many people.”

Liberati mentioned a Talmudic passage

Photo courtesy of Elaine Liberati

regarding the planting of a carob tree: A gardener involved was asked why he would plant something that only bears fruit long after his existence ends; the anonymous gardener replies, “Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.”

That statement, Liberati said, is a reminder to look ahead and support future generations.

“We plant trees, not because we’re going to be able to enjoy the fruit or shade, but that our children and grandchildren will.”

Along with creating communal and generational bonds, gardening ties one to faith and culture, Frankel explained.

“Look at our major holidays. Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot don’t just commemorate moments in our people’s history, they tell the story of the agricultural year,” he said. “Pesach coincides with the barley harvest. Shavuot with the wheat harvest and Sukkot marks the end of the fruit harvest. Of course this timing works better in Israel than in Pittsburgh, but I think of this Jewish cycle every time I harvest my first and last piece of produce in the garden.”

Liberati agreed and said that closeness to nature reminds gardeners about “the cycles of life.”

Putting one’s hands in the dirt is not only a nod to history, but an act of defiance and a summer soother, Mallinger explained.

“Our people — especially when we were kicked out of places — couldn’t build on the land,” she said. Hardship, experienced on all soils, requires “making do with what you can.”

Even in a Pittsburgh summer, the gift of going outdoors, putting one’s fingers in the dirt and creating “is so gratifying,” she added.

Stepping on soil, barefoot, “it centers you.”

The lesson is easy to harvest, Frankel said.

“If you’ve thought about starting a garden, do it. Start small but plant something this year.

Gardening is therapy. It’s a way to get fresh produce. It’s an excuse to get outside. And it connects you to the seasons and passage of time in an inherently Jewish way.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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15

Life & Culture Digital book revisits controversial Qumran discovery linked to Temple incense — BOOKS —

By Steve Linde | JNS

M

ore than three decades after an extraordinary archaeological discovery near Qumran sparked worldwide attention and fierce debate, a new research project is seeking to determine whether a mysterious reddish-brown substance unearthed in a sealed cave could be remnants of Ketoret, the sacred incense burned twice daily in the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

In early July, Project Qumran — a nonprofit Israeli research initiative dedicated to documenting and scientifically investigating the discovery — released “The Ketoret: A SourceBased Historical Account of the Qumran Incense Discovery,” a free digital publication that reconstructs the history of the controversial 1992 excavation and outlines a new effort to subject surviving samples to modern scientific testing.

The book, written by Israeli journalist Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz under the research and editorial direction of M. Rhonda Attar, compiles eyewitness interviews, laboratory reports, excavation records, archival documents and photographs into what the organization describes as the first comprehensive documentary account of the discovery.

Rather than arguing that the material has

p Qumran: Cave of the Column, also known as “Ma’arat Teumim” (The Twin Caves), July 2026 Photo courtesy of Project Qumran via JNS

been conclusively identified as Temple incense, the authors present the available evidence and invite readers to evaluate it for themselves.

A remarkable discovery

The story begins in May 1992, when archaeologist Vendyl Jones led excavations at a cave south of the ancient Qumran settlement near the Dead Sea. Jones, a former Baptist minister from Texas who later embraced the Noahide faith, spent decades searching for treasures described in the Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

During excavations at what he called the Cave of the Column, his team uncovered a sealed recess beneath a flat stone containing hundreds of kilograms of fragrant reddishbrown organic material.

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Volunteers recalled that the aroma lingered on their clothing for days after handling the substance.

The discovery attracted immediate international media attention after Jones held a press conference before formally reporting the find to Israeli authorities.

Soon afterward, the excavation permit was revoked, work at the site ceased and the material passed into private custody.

According to Project Qumran, much of the original cache later disappeared, while one of its final known custodians was murdered.

The whereabouts of the bulk of the material remain unknown.

Renewed investigation

Project Qumran says it has now assembled several surviving samples from the original discovery, including a mason jar of the reddish-brown powder donated by Anita Shay Jones, Vendyl Jones’s widow, who asked that it be returned to Israel.

“Please bring this back home to Israel where it rightfully belongs,” she told a visiting researcher as she handed over the jar, according to the project.

The organization also says it has recovered additional remnants from private collections, including dust believed to be from the original cache, which was found in a bomb shelter in Samaria.

Scientific clues

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Two independent scientific analyses conducted in 1992 produced intriguing results.

Rabbi Dr. Marvin Antelman, a chemist affiliated with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, analyzed a sample using mass spectrometry and atomic analysis. According to Project Qumran, he identified eight of the 11 principal ingredients listed in rabbinic sources describing the Temple incense, including myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon, saffron and costus.

A separate study by palynologist Dr. Terry Hutter identified plant fragments corresponding to at least nine of the 11 traditional ingredients. Hutter also described the fragrance released when the sample container was opened as “profuse and almost immediate.”

Both scientists cautioned at the time that definitive identification would require more advanced testing than was available in the early 1990s.

Perry Antelman, son of the late Marvin Antelman and a board member of Project Qumran, is overseeing plans for a new round of scientific analysis using technologies unavailable three decades ago.

“Scientific testing has changed dramatically since the 1990s,” Antelman said. “Those early tests gave us a solid chemical foundation; now

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

p “The Ketoret: A Source-Based Historical Account of the Qumran Incense Discovery” is available as a free download at projectqumran.org.

Photo courtesy of Project Qumran via JNS

we’re layering on independent lines of evidence.

And we’re doing it blind: The analysts don’t know what this material is suspected to be.”

Researchers plan to conduct radiocarbon dating, elemental analysis, organic carbon testing and phytochemical studies before comparing the results with ancient descriptions of the Temple incense.

“We cannot recover the tremendous amount of material that was lost,” Antelman said. “But we can still honor the discovery by testing what remains with the greatest care possible.

After all the claims, all the memories and all the controversy, we owe it to history, the Jewish people and ourselves to bring this question as close to resolution as the evidence will allow.”

Questions remain

“The Ketoret: A Source-Based Historical Account” also revisits two longstanding controversies.

One concerns the quantity of material originally discovered. Early reports estimated the cache at about 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds), while some eyewitnesses later suggested it may have been closer to 300 kilograms (660 pounds).

The other involves the identity of the Qumran community itself.

The prevailing scholarly view associates Qumran with the Essenes, a Jewish sect generally believed to have distanced itself from Temple worship. Other researchers have argued that the site served as a refuge for Temple priests who may have hidden sacred objects there before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Project Qumran does not attempt to resolve either debate. Instead, it argues that the surviving documentary record and the remaining physical samples justify a final round of scientific testing.

“The sourcebook [the Source-Based Historical Account] explicitly states that the material Jones discovered in 1992 has not been definitively identified as the Ketoret,” Berkowitz said. “Its claim is that the evidence gathered over 33 years is sufficient to demand proper scientific follow-up.”

“The Ketoret: A Source-Based Historical Account of the Qumran Incense Discovery” is available as a free download from Project Qumran, with a hardcover edition expected to be released later this year. PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Life &The Culture Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle announces its inaugural class of

Mazel tov, and thank you, to our 2026 18 Difference Makers, who embody the doctrine of tikkun olam!

Lifetime Achievement Award, Karen Wolk Feinstein

Outgoing president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation Rabbi Yisroel and Chani Altein Co-directors of Chabad of Squirrel Hill

a a a a

Dean Aseef Shaliach at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Michael Bernstein The Tree of Life board chair Nina Butler Director of Bikur Cholim Pittsburgh Debra L. Caplan Jewish Healthcare Foundation, board of trustees and volunteer, and WHAMglobal (Women’s Health Activist Movement Global), founding chair

Rebecca Elhassid Community volunteer

Eric Lidji Director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center

Meyer “Skip” Grinberg Community volunteer

Fraidy and Dovie Nadoff Community volunteers

Tsipy Gur Classrooms Without Borders, founder and executive director

Julie Paris Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs

Rachael Heisler Pittsburgh City Controller

Rabbi Chezky and Bassie Rosenfeld Co-directors of Our Giving Kitchen

Avi Cohen Community volunteer

a a a a a a a

Jeff Herzog Community volunteer The Rev. Jonathon Jensen Calvary Episcopal Church Rona Kaufman Associate professor at Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University

a a a a

Kelly Schwimer Executive director of the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association

Look for a special section on Sept. 4 celebrating the honorees!

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To inquire about individual or corporate sponsorship packages, placing congratulatory ads or for any other questions, please contact Amy Weiss at 412-613-0697, or aweiss@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

The well within us

Drs. Chana Hines and Stephen A. Mendelson are delighted to announce their engagement. The couple found one another through their shared commitment to family, faith, medicine, lifelong Jewish learning and community service to others. They look forward to building their home together in Pittsburgh and celebrating their upcoming simcha surrounded by family and closest friends in an intimate ceremony later this summer. They are especially grateful to celebrate alongside their children: Aytana and Elan Anthony; Molly Wyner and her husband, Josh Wyner; and Matthew and Michael Mendelson. They will share this joyous occasion with their parents, Lois and Mordechai Richard Mendelson of Niskayuna, New York, and Chana’s mother, Edith bat Esther and Jakov ben Herbert (z”l) of Florida. The families joyfully anticipate celebrating the wedding together and wish Chana and Stephen a lifetime of shalom bayit with love, good health, happiness and abundant blessings as they begin this new chapter. Baruch Hashem. Mazel tov! PJC

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Rabbi Jessica Locketz Parshat Devarim Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22

H

ow many times do we have to hear something before it sinks in?

Conventional wisdom is that we have to be given information — verbally or in written form — an average of seven times before we are able to commit it to memory or feel compelled to act on it. Seven times. That is a lot, especially when the story just seems to be repeated over and over.

At first glance, that appears to be what happens in the book of Deuteronomy — the fifth and final book of the Torah that we begin this Shabbat. The name “Deuteronomy” means “second telling,” and that is essentially what this is — a retelling of all the events that have transpired between the Exodus and the biblical now, as the people camp at the edge of the Jordan, preparing to cross into the Promised Land. It is repetitive and the people have heard it all before.

Speech after speech … fitting for this book that in Hebrew is known as Devarim (words).

But the telling is different this time. Why? It’s not in the details — the story basically remains the same, although a few minor details may have changed as is wont to happen when left to the human mind to be remembered. This telling is different, and it’s not because of the listeners; many of those present have heard it all before or even lived through it. Why then is this telling different? Because of the speaker.

Finally, we hear Moses’ voice.

But haven’t we been hearing Moses’ voice all along? Yes and no.

Up to this point, when Moses addressed the people Israel, it was God speaking through Moses. Moses was merely repeating what he was told to say. His words were not actually his own. But here, in the book of Deuteronomy, in this telling, it seems that it is not God but Moses himself speaking directly to the people.

Without a doubt, Moses as a main character in the story has come a long way since we first met him, in his encounter with God at the burning bush. He was the reluctant prophet needing serious convincing that he was the right man for the job. Only after being armed with his brother, Aaron, as both spokesperson and confidence booster, did Moses hesitantly set out to lead the people out of Egypt.

Fast forward 40 years and Moses is a changed person. In our tradition, the wilderness is thought of as the place of Israel’s adolescence.

They needed to “grow up,” to grow into peoplehood. Moses also experienced this period of

internal growth. For him, it was an opportunity to grow and develop from someone who did not trust in his own voice, to one who was able to deliver speech after speech to his community.

It really is an incredible transformation.

In essence, Moses is no longer the man who was “never good with words.” He is now the prophet who seizes the moment and speaks directly to the people and to God. Moses has finally found his voice.

There is evidence of this in our Torah portion: “B’ever ha’Yarden b’eretz Moav ho’il Moshe be’er et hatorah hazot …” (Deut. 1:5) It is usually translated as “On the far side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this Torah.” But there may be another way to understand it.

The verb be’er in our verse means “explain, expound, elucidate.” But be’er can also be used as a noun, meaning “a well.” Thus, we could understand it as, “On the far side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, this Torah welled up in Moses.”

Words of Torah welled up in Moses — he becomes the wellspring of divine wisdom and inspiration. The teachings flow out from his lips, and he is no longer at a loss for words.

We learn a lot from Moses and his journey through the wilderness. He struggled— as so many of us have — to overcome an obstacle in his path. He successfully turned his weakness with words into a strength that was deep and lasting. And he proved that it is never too late to find one’s voice, to speak up and speak out.

Moses was nearly 120 years old when “Torah welled up within him.” It is my guess that if he could do it at his advanced age, we too can grow and develop at our age — whatever it may be.

As we look back at the trajectory of Moses’ life we see how he grew to overcome his fear of words. Perhaps we too can remember and identify ways we have grown, and weaknesses that we’ve turned to strengths. Perhaps we can pinpoint those moments when everything clicked and “Torah welled up” within us This week as we begin the book of Deuteronomy, we find the retelling of our people’s story in Moses’ words. It can also be the retelling of our own story in our own words. This week and every week, may we remember that we all have a voice. May we use it to speak out about what is important to us, to lend strength and confidence to our words. May we use the Torah that wells up inside us to let our voices tell our story. PJC Rabbi Jessica Locketz is the lifelong learning coordinator at Congregation Ohev Beth Shalom in Youngstown, Ohio, and lives in Pittsburgh. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.

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Obituaries BERMAN: Carole Berman, on July 8, 2026. Beloved wife of Barry Berman, devoted mother of the late Robyn Savini and stepmother of Betsy Pirchesky.

Loving grandmother of Quincy (Chase Hawthorne), Jude and Donovan Savini; and great-grandmother of Hyperion Sage Hawthorne. She was the sister of the late Rochelle Posin and the late Mimi Spirer, and caring aunt to her nieces and nephews: Monte and Nancy Schwartz, Samuel and Joel Posin, and Tamara Sheinman. Carole was born in Pittsburgh and attended Taylor Allderdice High School. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Ohio State University, and her certification in special education from Hunter College. She followed her passion for teaching and was a dedicated special education teacher at Community Day School for over 25 years, where she was known for going above and beyond for her students. Carole was married to Barry for 38 years and they enjoyed playing tennis and bridge together. She had many close friends and was kind and generous to everyone she met. Most of all she was fiercely dedicated to her family. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom. Contributions in Carole’s memory can be made to the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh or other charities for the benefit of children and education.

Linda (late David) Hunt, sister-in-law Mary Ann (Ronnie) Kappeler, sister-in-law Carol Leff, and sister-in-law Rachel Leff, along with his cherished nieces, Tricia Hunt, Hannah Leff Trygar, Heather Leff Conklin, Shana Leff Comberiati, Heidi Leff Schloer, Jennifer Kaufman, Rebecca Leff Johnston, Rhonda Kappeler, Mary Ann Kappeler, Allison Kappeler and Tina Hunt. Nephews, Heath Leff, Chris Kappeler and Ron Kappeler. Great-nieces, Molly Goss, Mya Schloer, Megan Schloer, Brittany Eller, Remi Johnston, Aria Comberiati, Ella Trygar and Abbey Leff. Greatnephews, Gavin Leff, Luke Trygar, Zack Trygar, Matthew Goss, Max Goss, Jesse Kaufman and RJ Johnston, extended family, and many friends who will miss him dearly. His warmth, generosity, love of music and gentle spirit will be remembered always. Graveside services and interment were held at Shaare Torah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, kidney.org, or Bethel Woods Center for the Arts-Woodstock Museum, bethelwoodscenter.org. schugar.com PITTSBURGH: Bunny S. (Sherman) Pittsburgh (née Goldman) passed on July 13, 2026, at 100. She is survived by daughters Jody Sherman (Goldman) and Leslie Peterson (Tom). Predeceased by her “shvesters,” Ruth (Cootsie), Zelda (ZeeZee), and Madelyn (Meshie), whom she loved dearly. Loved by so many, she lived her life fully and in color. She danced the night away in every supper club with “the boys” who were off to war. Her 1945 yearbook said she was the gorgeous curvy redhead that everyone loved. A very accomplished self-taught abstract painter, her thirst for knowledge of other mediums led to etchings, lithographs, and eventually the ancient art of papermaking. A crowning achievement was her one-woman show at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

LEFF: Fred Leff, of Regent Square, passed away peacefully on July 8, 2026, surrounded by his loved ones. Fred was a beloved son of the late Hymen and Hilda Leff. A lifelong music enthusiast and avid guitar player, he found great joy in playing music and sharing stories of his experiences.

He often spoke about attending Woodstock and was interviewed on several occasions about his memories of that historic event. Fred enjoyed a successful career in real estate, specializing in the Regent Square area, the community he proudly called home. He shared his life with his beloved partner, the late Patti Hunt. A kind, gentle and sensitive man, Fred loved deeply and valued the relationships he shared with family and friends. He had an especially close and loving bond with his nieces and nephews, as well as his great-nieces and great-nephews, who brought him immense pride and happiness. In his later years, Fred was lovingly cared for by his niece, Jennifer Kaufman, whose unwavering devotion, compassion and endless love brought him comfort and joy. Her care and dedication will remain a lasting testament to the special bond they shared. A very special friend, Tom Critchfield, was always there for Fred and Fred’s family, if forever grateful for his kindness and fellowship. Fred is survived by his brothers, Marc, Gary and Scot Leff, sister-in-law

Please see Obituaries, page 20

Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following:

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Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathan Fishman Regina Bardin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joseph Wells Karen & Allison Broudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacob Stein Dorisgayle Gladstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meyer Charapp Edward M . Goldston Z"L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bluma Shaindel Labovitz Sharon Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esther Klee Edythe Greenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Perr Sylvia & Norman Elias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alvin J . Moldovan Harold & Cindy Lebenson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacob Stein Irwin Lederstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hyman & Sara Lederstein Toby Perilman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gertrude Stalinsky Robert Rosenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Silverstein Freda Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leon Greenberg Jack Standel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Janice Leah Levenson Standel

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Sunday July 19: Rose Cramer, Bessie Rini Glass, Dr . Abraham D . Goldblum, Sophia Goldstein, Morris L . Kaufman, Helen S . Luptak, Gertrude Mitchel, Alvin J . Moldovan, Benjamin Olender, Eli Racusin, Harry Rapoport, Rae Rosenthal, Rose Smith, Philip Wekselman Monday July 20: Harry Adler, Mollie R . Bennett, Marvin B . Bernstein, Hannah Bromberg, Ida Cantor, Robert Congress, Dorothy Crutch, Sophia Freedman, Helen Handelsman, Dora Kaufman, Sarah Kleinerman, Gizella Krause, David Levine, Anna G . Rosenthal, John Schwartz, Leonard Skirboll, Irene Weitzman Tuesday July 21: Lt . Richard Stanley Ackerman, Jack Neville Berkman, Ben Cowen, Albert Edelstein, James J . Gluck, Rebecca Goisner, Leonard Klevan, Samuel Maysels, Jacob Melnick, Rose Paul, Ethel R . Perer, Bernard A . Price, Molly Schwartz, Leah Shapiro, Max L . Siegle Wednesday July 22:Lillian Brody, Sarah Cohen, Pauline Davis, Nathan Fishman, Lawrence M .

Grossman, Anne Levine, Ethel Linder, Ida Mandel, Maurice L . Moritz, Bernard Murstein, Judith Ashinsky Rosen, Martha Schwortz, Jacob Sheffler, Jack Sherman, Sidney Siegman, Harold Leighton Winkler Thursday July 23: Fryma Maete Berenstein, Herbert Cohen, Beatrice Galler, Julius Hemmelstein, Bluma Shaindel Labovitz, Irwin Levinson, Eva Corn Makler, Sophia Weinerman Sands, Eleanor J . Slinger, Harry Weisberg Friday July 24: Harry Blumenthal, Israel I . Brody, Sarah Fish Hassel, Esther Klee, Isaac Latterman, Ruth Mazefsky, Joseph Ostrow, Morris Rubin, Isaac Schor, Malcolm Slifkin, Sadye Steinman Saturday July 25: Robert Chamovitz, Miriam "Mitzie" Feinberg, Julius Field, Anna Rose Frieman, Nathan Gilles, Esther Glick, Sarah Geller Goisner, Saul Greenberg, Leonard Herbert Hochhauser, Annette Kranich, Mildred Golanty Krauss, Herman Labowitz, Minnie Landay, Benjamin Lazier, Sarah Sattler, Harry Silverstein, Clemens Simon, Dr . Morris Benjamin Weber, Hymen J . Wedner

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Obituaries Obituaries:

SEGAL: Harold Segal, on Sunday, July 12, 2026.

Beloved husband of the late Seretta H. Segal. Loving father of Lloyd M. Segal of Los Angeles, California, Marla (late Nathan) Mayle of Fort Myers, Florida, Gary (Kelly) Segal of Chandler, Arizona, Neal (Ellie) Segal of Pembroke, Florida, and the late Murray Segal. Brother of Irv (late Estelle) Segal, the late David and Paul Segal. Grandfather of Ryan Mayle, Cortney (Ethan) Frantz, Haley Segal and step-grandfather to Nathan. Great-grandfather of Karl and Ariella Frantz. Services and interment were held at Tree of Life Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Tree of Life Congregation, P.O. Box 5273 Pittsburgh, PA 15206. schugar.com

Continued from page 19

Sadly, dementia resulted in a complete loss of creativity with no memory of her amazing contributions to the art world in Pittsburgh and beyond. Her works live on in many homes, coast to coast. She was well known for renovating old homes and filling them with stunning antiques.

Impeccable taste, sense of how to use color and design came naturally. With several recognitions in the Post-Gazette, many were given a glimpse of her exceptional taste and talent. Ironically, the large gothic black stone home that sits across from the entrance to Homewood Cemetery was one such masterpiece. Her final resting place is in that very cemetery. In recovery, she loved her community and touched the lives of so many. Services and interment were private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

Lee & Lisa Oleinick

Real Estate

WEISS: Joel Herman Weiss, 73, of Pittsburgh passed away peacefully on July 11, 2026.

Born on March 24, 1953, Joel was a proud lifelong Pittsburgher, whose life was defined by his unwavering devotion to his family, his dedication to his work and the enduring friendships he built throughout his life. He was a devoted father, a proud grandfather, a loving brother and a loyal friend whose quiet strength, generosity and steadfast character left a lasting impression on everyone who knew him. He took immense pride in the lives his children built, and nothing brought him greater happiness than spending time with his grandchildren.

Joel is survived by his loving children, Lauren Weiss Winston, Aaron Weiss, and Stevey Weiss and her husband, Jason Rothfeld; his cherished grandchildren, Sarey, Benji, Joey, Chloe, and Remy; and his loving sister, Shelly. Joel devoted almost his entire professional career to Equiparts, where he served as president and helped transform the family business into one of the most respected companies in the industry. Through his vision, integrity and relentless work ethic, he built far more than a successful business. He built a community. Joel believed that the people who worked alongside him were not simply employees. They were family.

That belief was reflected in every aspect of his leadership and ultimately in his decision to transition the company to employee ownership, ensuring that the people who helped build Equiparts would share in his future. For Joel, Equiparts was never just a career. It was a lifelong passion that gave him purpose, fulfillment and countless lifelong friendships. A proud Pittsburgher through and through, Joel never lost his love for his hometown or its teams. He was a devoted supporter of the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins, and remained an enthusiastic fan through every season. Sports were more than entertainment for him. They were a source of tradition, connection and countless memories shared with family, friends and coworkers.

His love of competition also extended into his own life. In his younger years, Joel embraced an active lifestyle and completed numerous marathons, demonstrating the determination and perseverance that became hallmarks of both his personal and professional life. Above all else, Joel’s greatest source of pride was his family. He celebrated the accomplishments of his children as though they were his own and found immeasurable joy in watching his grandchildren grow. His love was steady, his loyalty unwavering and his presence a constant source of strength for those closest to him. The family extends its heartfelt gratitude to the many caregivers whose compassion, kindness and dedication brought comfort to Joel throughout his journey. Your care meant more than words can express, and your support will always be remembered with deep gratitude. Joel’s legacy lives on in the family he loved, the friendships he treasured, the company that became his life’s work, and the countless people whose lives he touched. He will be remembered for his integrity, humility, quiet determination and unwavering loyalty. He will be deeply missed, lovingly remembered and forever remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved him. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel.

Interment Agudath Achim Cemetery in Forest Hills. Contributions may be made to the American Heart Association (heart.org/donate). schugar.com PJC

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Life & Culture

Europe’s smallest Jewish community gets a home of its own — complete with geothermal mikvah — WORLD—

By Jenna Gottlieb | JTA

R

EYKJAVIK, Iceland — Until recently, this city located near the Arctic Circle was one of the few places in Europe where organized Jewish life did not exist — no synagogue, no ritual bath, no communal building. That changed this week, as the Jewish community in Iceland opened the Beit Shvidler Jewish Center of Iceland, the country’s first-ever Jewish center.

The center is housed in a renovated, roughly 9,000-square-foot building in downtown Reykjavik that once operated as a bar and, before that, as the headquarters of a political party. It sits just minutes from where the husband-and-wife team of Rabbi Avraham and Mushky Feldman have lived and worked since arriving on the island in 2018. The project has been funded largely through community donations.

The center includes a synagogue, a seminar room seating nearly 80 people, a kosher shop, a community kitchen, a youth center,

p A 9,000-square-foot Chabad center has opened in a former nightclub in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland.

Photo courtesy of Beit Shvidler Jewish Center of Iceland

a library lounge and a security center, amenities the community has never had access to in one place.

The Jewish community will soon also get a

3473 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 412.586.4347 sentirestaurant.com Free off street parking after 6:00PM

mikvah, or ritual bath, that is heated geothermally, using the underground volcanic heat that provides much of the country’s power.

“Jews here were yearning for a synagogue, for a rabbi, for some sort of a community,” Avraham Feldman said of the years before the couple’s arrival, “and it has been amazing to fill that need.”

Community members agree.

“Iceland has a highly diverse, dispersed and diffused Jewish community; given that we’re an isolated island, we all kind of washed up here,” said Michael Klein, an American Jew living in Iceland since 2020.

“The Feldmans managed to pull together the resources, the building and the work to turn a disused political party headquarters and restaurant into a Jewish center that can serve not only our small community but the far larger group of visitors from all over the Jewish world who come for our natural beauty and peaceful isolation,” added Klein.

Jewish life in Iceland has always been sparse and intermittent. Jewish traders are known to have passed through as early as the 1600s. Still, the organized Jewish presence dates to the late 1800s, and the first practicing Jew believed to have settled permanently was Fritz Natan, a businessman who, in 1917, built Iceland’s first five-story building.

For decades afterward, Jewish life in Iceland survived on the efforts of a handful of dedicated volunteers who coordinated informal gatherings, often meeting in rented spaces or in the basement of Hallgrímskirkja, the country’s most recognizable church. The U.S. Navy base in the town of Keflavík, near the international airport, occasionally provided Jewish chaplains until it closed in 2006. But there was still no permanent institution, no resident rabbi, and no dedicated building, a gap that led some to call Reykjavik the only European capital without a synagogue.

That began to change in 2018, when the Feldmans relocated from the United States

to Reykjavik to establish a Chabad-Lubavitch presence, becoming Iceland’s first permanently stationed rabbi and his wife in the country’s documented history of a thousand years.

The couple started small, hosting Shabbat dinners and holiday services out of their living room. Estimates of the community’s size hover around 300 self-identified Jews, out of Iceland’s total population of about 400,000.

Momentum built quickly. In 2020, the Jewish community celebrated its first native Torah scroll, commissioned by a donor in Switzerland and completed with the help of the Icelandic congregation. A year later, the Icelandic government formally recognized Judaism as an official religion, opening the door to officially recognized Jewish weddings and allowing residents to direct part of their religious tax to the community. How many have done so is not public information.

By 2024, the community had outgrown its rented rooms and church basements and purchased the building that became the new Jewish center, roughly tying one in Fairbanks, Alaska, as the northernmost Chabad houses in the world. The building sits in Reykjavik’s compact downtown, just blocks from the iconic Rainbow Street and Harpa Opera House that make the city one of the most Instagram-friendly sites in the world.

In a city that caters to tourists, and for a community built largely from immigrants, longtime Icelandic Jewish families, and people who married into Icelandic life, the new center represents something rare: a shared physical home.

“It’s been clear for a long time that we need a home for our community,” said one Jewish resident in Iceland, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because not all of his colleagues know he is Jewish. (Iceland’s relatively small number of Jews means that there is little record of antisemitism; anti-Israel sentiment is strong, with the country one of five to boycott the Eurovision song contest this year over Israel’s participation.)

“It’s not like we’ve been hiding or aren’t a strong community; we celebrate holidays together, and there are Shabbat dinners,” he continued. “But I think it’s important that we have this center. Seeing it opened is very moving and important.”

Like many Jewish institutions in Europe, the center will ensure security by being open only to members of the community or visitors who reach out in advance.

Avraham Feldman said the space will hold a display case with three small prayer books donated by early Jewish residents, the only known surviving physical remnants of Jewish life in Iceland before his arrival, a reminder of how recent, and how hard-won, this permanence has been.

“The result of this center is a combination of home, family, and permanence that was unimaginable when I started visiting 14 years ago and was only a mere dream when I moved here in 2020,” Klein said. PJC

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JULY 17, 2026

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Community Summer study abroad

Classrooms Without Borders hosted “Germany and the Jews: An Antisemitism Advanced Seminar.” The June 30-July 8 program explored Germany’s relationship with German, European and global Jewry, as well as the country’s response to contemporary antisemitism and Holocaust inversion. Participants visited Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, state archives and national museums.

p CWB seminar participants stand near Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Photo courtesy of Classrooms Without Borders

When I met you in the summer

Campers socialized and enjoyed the summer sun at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s James & Rachel Levinson Day Camp.

p Strike a pose.

Take me out to the ballgame

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Hues having fun

Chabad Young Professionals Pittsburgh and Chabad of Monroeville welcomed nearly 100 friends at PNC Park. The Camp Gan Israel Chabad Squirrel Hill hosted a color run. The summer July 8 event included a pre-game tailgate and tefillin wrap. activity enabled tie-dye clad campers to enjoy even more brightness.

p Pittsburghers support the Pirates in a parking lot.

Good with dough

Camp Lion, a summer program of Community Day School, hosted bagel making.

p Lord of the rings

Photo courtesy of Camp Lion

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Photo courtesy of Chabad Young Professionals Pittsburgh

p Color is in the air.

Photo courtesy of Camp Gan Israel Chabad Squirrel Hill

Potato salad party

Temple David of Monroeville welcomed Cantor Kalix Jacobson, its new spiritual leader, with a pre-Shabbat cookout. The program, which also celebrated the semiquincentennial, was held on July 3.

p Cantor Kalix Jacobson joins Temple David

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Photo courtesy of Temple David

JULY 17, 2026

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JULY 17, 2026

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