Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8-18-23

White supremacist Hardy Lloyd arrested

Pittsburgh synagogue shooter faces harsh conditions on federal death row

By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer

Avowed white supremacist and antisemite Hardy Lloyd has been arrested again.

Lloyd, formerly of Dormont, was taken into custody on Aug. 10 in West Virginia after the FBI filed a complaint against him in the Northern District of West Virginia.

Agents arrested him at his home in Follansbee, West Virginia, on charges of obstruction of justice, interstate threats and witness tampering regarding the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial.

The trial ended on Aug. 3 after two months of testimony when the jury imposed the death penalty on the shooter.

The FBI said Google initially alerted agents to Lloyd’s activities in March, when he began making comments on YouTube about killing “jews and cops” and referring viewers to his website.

Lloyd, who often adds the misnomer “Reverend” to his name, sent mass emails — including to members of the press — threatening Jews and others if the synagogue shooter was found guilty. Once the shooter was convicted, Lloyd threatened community

members and the jury if he was sentenced to death.

U.S. District Judge Robert Colville has sealed the names of jurors permanently.

The FBI said one of Lloyd’s mass emails, titled “Stickering Pgh for Robert Bowers Trial,” stated, in part: “Remember, jurors, we WILL be watching and we WILL be taking pictures of ALL cars and people who leave the courthouse. It’s 100% LEGAL to do this, too!”

Lloyd went further on his website’s “enemies” page. The FBI cited the following message:

“If anyone has the doxing info, legally, for the 70 jurors on the Richard [sic] Bowers trial in Pgh, send to us we can legally post said PUBLIC INFO as a useful guide to keep the trial honest. Oh, and we WILL be filing at country records for their names and home/work addresses to LEGALLY POST after the trial is over. Which is keeping with PA state laws regarding doxing of Jurors post trial via PUBLIC INFO!! Y’all who are on the jury, make sure to vote what you know in your heart is morally correct.

RICHARD [sic] BOWERS, CITY OF

Please see Arrest, page 10

By David Rullo | Senior Sta Writer

Life is about to get much harder for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. Convicted of 22 capital offenses and 41 other charges, the man who murdered 11 members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community as they celebrated Shabbat on Oct. 27, 2018, most likely will be housed at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The prison complex includes low-, medium- and maximum-security units. In 1993, it was designated as the site where federal death row sentences would be carried out and includes the Special Confinement Unit for men on federal death row.

Nicknamed “Guantanamo of the North,” Terre Haute’s death row holds a mixture of terrorists, serial killers, white supremacists and child molesters, according to The Week magazine. It’s where the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed. It is also where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black church

A Mt. Lebanon native’s ode to his hometown

 Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, speaks about white supremacy groups and ideologies during an active shooter training at Congregation Poale Zedeck in Squirrel Hill on April 30.

Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Union Progress

 United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana Photo in pubic domain via Wikimedia Commons

Headlines

JAA to offer non-kosher meal option at Weinberg Terrace, AHAVA Memory Care

By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer

The Jewish Association on Aging has announced plans to offer a nonkosher meal option at Weinberg Terrace and AHAVA Memory Care.

Weinberg Terrace is a personal care community on Bartlett Street. AHAVA is located on JAA’s main campus on JHF Drive.

The changes were first revealed in an Aug. 7 letter sent to residents and their families signed by JAA’s President and CEO Mary Anne Foley, and Board Chair Lou Plung. The pair met with residents at both locations on Aug. 15 to discuss the dietary modifications.

“Change is hard,” Plung told the Chronicle after meeting with residents of Weinberg Terrace, “particularly when you’re living in a residential facility.”

He said the driving force behind the change is cost, and acknowledged the tension of trying to strike a balance between the organization’s mission and being fiduciarily responsible.

Foley said that a May survey of residents indicated that 80% of JAA residents favor a non-kosher meal option.

“We asked individuals to indicate what level of kashrut was important to them,” she said. Those concerned with the dietary laws responded that “strict” kashrut was important, meaning that all food must be kosher and certified by the Vaad Harabonim.

Kosher meals will no longer be prepared

at Weinberg Terrace. Instead, they will be made at the JAA’s main campus under the supervision of the Vaad five days a week.

The kosher meals will be double-sealed and labeled as Vaad-certified. Residents will still be served in Weinberg Terrace’s dining room, but there will now be a designated area for those who wish to eat kosher meals separately from those eating non-kosher meals.

Pork products and shellfish will not be served at any of the JAA’s facilities. Meals will not mix dairy products and meat.

The change, Plung said, will offer options and choice.

The organization’s Jewish identity and faith-based values are still at the heart of JAA’s mission, Plung said. And while some might argue that the JAA is watering down the organization’s Jewish character by changing the culinary options to include non-kosher offerings, Plung disagrees.

“Kosher is an important Jewish value, but so is chesed; so is taking care of our loved ones. So is honoring your mother and father, so is not abandoning people when they simply can’t afford to pay anymore,” he said.

Not everyone agrees with the JAA’s plan. Many took to social media to express their outrage at the proposed changes. Community members posted their opinions on the Facebook group “Jewish Pittsburgh.” Anger was directed at both the JAA and Vaad. Some questioned whether the costcutting measures squared with Judaism; others questioned whether residents could easily open a double-sealed meal, and whether food served in prepackaged containers would remain fresh.

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p Residents of Weinberg Terrace outside the facility Photo by Maureen Busis

Please see Weinberg, page 11

Teen emissaries arrive in Pittsburgh to build connections to Israel

seminars exploring differences between Israeli and Diaspora Jews, which have already proved helpful, he said.

Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

Not even two days after arriving in Pittsburgh, four teenage Israeli emissaries were stopped on a Squirrel Hill street and asked about judicial reform in the Jewish state.

The new Shinshinim told the Chronicle they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is a big part of our job,” Noam Rotshtain, 18, said. “It could be pretty tough sometimes, but I think this is a part of our mission.”

Rotshtain, Roni Bartov, Lidor Lubman and Maya Shafir — all recent high school graduates —deferred military service to spend a year in Pittsburgh bolstering Jewish peoplehood. The teens are passionate, yet not preachy, when articulating their responsibility to discuss Israel, its government and culture.

“We can talk about anything,” Shafir, 18, said. “We are very direct.”

At the same time, though, “We can really listen,” Bartov, 18, said. “It’s not just that we’re coming to explain something to you. You can explain something to us, and we can learn from it.”

The young adults — who are from Karmiel and the Misgav region — arrived in Pittsburgh on Aug. 11. Support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will enable the teens to work with children and the wider community at spaces including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Community Day School and the Joint Jewish Education Program.

Pittsburgh has welcomed Israeli emissaries for decades, but the new Shinshinim’s arrival comes at a strenuous point in the Israeli/Diaspora relationship. Even before the White House called the Knesset’s July 24 vote to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court “unfortunate,” young Americans signaled growing displeasure with the Jewish state.

Fifty-six percent of Americans aged 18-29 hold an “unfavorable opinion of Israel,” according to the Pew Research Center.

When asked by the American Jewish Committee, “How much responsibility, if any, do you feel you personally have to help fellow Jews in the U.S.?” the answer for almost 58% of Israeli millennial Jews was not much, none at all, or “I don’t know.”

A gap year in Pittsburgh is not only a chance to rectify growing fissures within the Jewish people but build on past engagements, the Shinshinim said.

Through their previous participation in the Diller Teen Fellows Program, attendance at Emma Kaufmann Camp and involvement in EKC’s Israel-based Staff in Training (SIT) Leadership Program, Rotshtain, Bartov and Shafir gained some regional knowledge.

Spending an intensive period in Pittsburgh will give the teens deeper insights, Rotshtain explained.

“I really want to learn more about

how strong the connections are in this community, because it feels like a family,” she said. “Everyone knows everybody and there are really good connections between people. I come from a city — it’s not like a big city — but I don’t know all of the people, and I don’t say ‘hi’ to them on the street on a daily basis. I want to know why it’s happening here, and what makes this specific community so special.”

Shafir’s desire to learn about Pittsburgh and Jewish peoplehood began in eighth grade, she said.

At the time, her English teacher was partnering with Community Day School educators on a project to foster friendship. During a Zoom meeting, Shafir heard about the Shinshinim program.

“My mind was blown that you can spend a year abroad with a Jewish community and impact their lives, and they can impact your life,” she said.

Now that she is a Shinshin — the term is an acronym of the Hebrew words sh’nat and sheirut, which means “year of service” — Shafir is eager to meet other Jews and share her love of Israel, drawing, design and sewing.

All the Shinshinim said they can’t wait to begin their service and meet others with similar passions.

Rotshtain played volleyball for six years, has two older sisters in the Israel Defense Forces and enjoys speaking about politics and current events, she said.

Bartov has two older brothers, enjoys painting, drawing and running, has played piano for several years and danced since she was 3, she said.

Lubman, 18, is a former competitive swimmer who enjoys hiking, running and playing guitar.

While preparing for a year in Pittsburgh, he and the other teens participated in several

“Individualism and freedom is way bigger in your state of mind than in ours,” Lubman said. Whether a conversation involves politics or culture, “the point of view, and the way things are referred to

Moran Tuti, Federation’s Shinshinim coordinator, said that as an Israeli living in Pittsburgh, she craves greater ties between the Diaspora and the Jewish state.

“I feel that teenagers, especially, need more connection with Israel,” she said, adding that the Shinshinim program can help solidify those bonds.

“These Israeli kids are the same age as kids here,” she said. “They will be able to talk, whether it’s about the simplest things or the harder parts.”

Time will tell whether the teens spend the year discussing Israel’s judiciary, populism, and democracy or minority rights with similarly aged Pittsburgh youth, but that’s the hope, according to

“We don’t want people to be shy,” he said. “Talk to us about the hard stuff; we are friendly. We are here for only one year, and it will go away in seconds.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Pittsburgh Shinshinim Lidor Lubman, Roni Bartov, Noam Rotshtain and Maya Shafir in Squirrel Hill on Aug. 13

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Pittsburgh newcomer Hazzan Barbara Barnett wants to make prayer more meaningful

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

Hazzan Barbara Barnett is singing a new song. The former Chicagobased cantor is preparing for a new year as a Hebrew and Jewish studies teacher at Community Day School.

Although instructing kindergartners and early childhood students is a departure from leading thousands of worshippers in the Shema, Barnett said she’s eager to share her love of tefillah (prayer) and create new connections in Pittsburgh.

“I want to make liturgy mean something,” the Swissvale resident said. “The heart and soul of being Jewish, and the thing that ties us all together — no matter what movement we are in — is the liturgy and the Torah.”

Barnett moved to Pittsburgh last summer — her daughter and family live in Squirrel Hill — then spent the year teaching at CDS and J-JEP.

She built her skills in the Windy City suburbs. Before serving as hazzan/tefillah educator at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Barnett was cantor at Congregation Beth Am and ritual director at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois.

In each setting, Barnett said she focused on transforming prayer from perfunctory to prudent.

One mechanism, she said, was leading multigenerational services and helping individuals scrutinize liturgical texts.

Another was creating “nonthreatening and nonjudgmental” prayer spaces — places where generations of families could come, ask questions and “become more knowledgeable,” she said.

Praying doesn’t have to be a foreign practice in a staid environment, she said: “Kids or adults, on whatever level it is, can connect to their Judaism in a less obvious but meaningful way.”

Barnett pointed to Kabbalat Shabbat at CDS as an example of how she’s carried her Midwestern efforts east.

“Every Friday last year, we would get the entire preschool in a room and do a 30-minute service where everybody was completely singing,” she said.

With school starting soon, Barnett is excited to share that love of prayer again and expand it throughout the community.

Although working with children is a delight, Barnett said she seeks ways to engage older adults.

“It’s kind of hard to move into a new community,” she said. “I have always served these enormous synagogues, with 1,200 families, with multiple clergy, and here things are much smaller.”

There are 42,800 Jewish adults in Pittsburgh, according to Brandeis University population studies. Chicago has 319,600.

Barnett said she wants to make the most of Pittsburgh. She joined a havurah (friend group) at Congregation Beth Shalom

and continues working on her other passion: writing.

She is the author of “The Apothecary’s Curse,” which was a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and “Alchemy of Glass” — both novels were from Pyr Books and Simon and Schuster — and several other works.

Recently, she has “crossed over into shorter fiction,” she said.

Whether by pen or prayer, Barnett hopes to make new friends, impact her community and disseminate the teaching of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “radical amazement.”

“Children get it. They are not cynical and they are not jaded — they are open to it. And that’s why I love teaching kindergarten students and kids who are younger,” she said.

Her hope, Barnett continued, is to share that passion with the wider community.

“I grew up in a very secular Reform home. I didn’t know an alef from a bet until I was in my 20s, and following along in services was as impossible as learning Greek. When I made a decision to be a cantor it wasn’t only for the purpose of engaging kids, but to engage and speak to everyone,” she said.

Part of the beauty of Pittsburgh is that the bevy of hills aren’t necessarily obstacles to making liturgy more accessible, she said: “It’s a lovely community.”

Helping people appreciate worship isn’t only about making the ride easier, she said.

It should be “enjoyable and joyful.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Gen Z needs communal support, says campus professional and former Pittsburgher Rabbi Debbie Pine

— NATIONAL

By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer

In nearly 20 years of working with college students, former Pittsburgher Rabbi Debbie Pine has noticed a fundamental shift in Jewish engagement on campus.

“Certainly when I was in college in the ’80s, Hillel was about who showed up, who walked through our doors,” she said. “Now, we are much more focused on how do we reach the 3,000 Jewish students at Tulane, most of whom will not walk through our door, but who we have to go out and reach.”

Hillel’s responsibility to find and involve students isn’t the only change on campus, said Pine — it’s the students themselves.

Her insights stem from decades of Jewish communal work. After serving as an assistant rabbi at Rodef Shalom Congregation between 1992 and 1999, Pine became executive director of Tulane Hillel and later Hopkins Hillel. She is entering her fifth year as campus support director at Hillel International, where she partners with Hillel directors to “build their boards and serve the students the best that they can,” she said.

Pine’s portfolio includes George Washington University, Harvard University, Indiana University, four campuses in Baltimore and the entire state of Florida.

The odd amalgam, she said, is partly due to “geographic” realities; but more importantly, traveling between these campuses has generated major takeaways.

“Those Florida campuses are really important,” she said. “There are 25,000 Jewish students in the state of Florida — more Jewish students than in the state of New York. We used to think — we still think — that University of Maryland and Rutgers have the highest concentration of Jewish students, but actually University of Florida and Central Florida have over 6,000 Jewish students.”

The totality of Jewish students on campus is a critical marker of American Jewish life, Pine explained.

Whereas 62% of U.S. Jews responding to a survey told Pew Research Center they “held or attended a seder last year,” and 46% said they fasted on all or part of Yom Kippur, “85% of American Jews attend a four-year college,” Pine said. “The one uniting factor of the American Jewish community is actually not going to a seder or lighting the menorah, it’s actually going to college.”

Pine said the Jewish community needs to embrace the role of higher education while recognizing the realities of campus life.

“We’ve seen a rise in antisemitism over the past few years, and a real challenge has been to address that. We don’t shy away from it. We work with incredible partners, like the ADL

and our Jewish Federations,” she said. “We do everything we can to empower students to respond within our campus climate and inspire our students to create a meaningful life, which they really do.”

Please see Support, page 10

p Hazzan Barbara Barnett

Photo courtesy of Hazzan Barbara Barnett

p College students enjoy FreshFest at Hillel JUC.

Photo courtesy of Hillel JUC

AIPAC steps up efforts to oust anti-Israel lawmakers

By Matthew Kassel | Jewish Insider

This article was first published on Jewish Insider.

In recent months, AIPAC has stepped up its recruitment efforts to challenge Democratic incumbents who have clashed with the pro-Israel establishment, pushing the activist left into a defensive crouch as it prepares for a potentially bruising primary cycle.

The bipartisan pro-Israel group has been actively courting a slate of House candidates to oppose marquee members of the “Squad,” including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), according to multiple sources familiar with AIPAC’s outreach who spoke with Jewish Insider last week.

The recruitment efforts have come amid a surprise shake-up at a leading progressive group, Justice Democrats, which laid off nearly half of its staff last month. The embattled group has claimed a few major victories over pro-Israel Democrats in previous primaries, but has otherwise struggled to raise money after an expensive election cycle in which several progressive candidates were defeated by establishment Democrats.

While AIPAC quietly opposed Omar last cycle by contributing $350,000 to a separate group created to boost a top Democratic primary challenger, its latest efforts point to a new and potentially more expansive direction for the group, whose affiliated super PAC, launched in late 2021, has largely engaged in open-seat races rather than challenging incumbents.

Now, however, AIPAC appears to be embracing a more aggressive strategy as it seeks to pick off a handful of incumbents who have been unusually hostile to Israel, particularly in recent weeks. Last month, for instance, Bowman and Omar were among a group of House Democrats who boycotted Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress. The two lawmakers also voted against a GOP-led resolution rejecting claims that Israel is a racist state — as Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, recently asserted at a progressive conference in Chicago.

The boycott and the vote have fueled ongoing efforts within the pro-Israel community to find a challenger to Omar, who narrowly won her primary last cycle in a surprisingly weak showing against Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis councilman who lost by just 2,500 votes. Samuels, who after the election expressed frustration that pro-Israel groups hadn’t unified behind his campaign, is now considering a rematch against Omar, according to a Democratic operative in Minnesota familiar with his thinking.

But AIPAC, for its part, is instead eyeing a Minneapolis councilmember, LaTrisha Vetaw, who is actively weighing a bid of her own, according to the operative. “They acknowledged they missed an opportunity

last cycle but have said that, based on their internal assessment, Don has reached his capacity,” said the operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

In recent months, AIPAC has met with Vetaw and engaged in ongoing conversations to convince her to enter the primary, according to the operative. It remains to be seen, however, if Vetaw, a moderate Democrat who represents North Minneapolis, will have the appetite for what is likely to be a bitterly contested primary battle. While she initially indicated that she would run, the operative said that Vetaw has been comparatively “noncommittal” in the last month or so as she campaigns for reelection to the city council this November.

Vetaw and Samuels did not respond to requests for comment from JI last week. A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment.

Tim Peterson, a former National Guard recruiter, is also considering a challenge to Omar, the political operative told JI. “He’s feeling his way around right now,” said the operative, who recently met with Peterson to discuss a potential bid. “He wants to do it but doesn’t want to make a misstep.” (Peterson could not be reached for comment.)

Even as she is more likely to face a credible challenger from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, Omar, whose campaign entered July with $540,000 on hand, is also now fielding opposition from the left. Last month, she drew her first primary opponent, Sarah Gad, a Minneapolis attorney who unsuccessfully ran against Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) in 2020. Omar’s campaign didn’t return a request for comment from JI.

In New York, meanwhile, AIPAC has been courting George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, to challenge Bowman, who will be seeking his third term in 2024. Latimer, a former state legislator, has confirmed that “a number of individuals” are now urging him to run, but he said last month that he has not “made a decision to

seek the seat” and remains “fully focused” on his current job. He told JI on Tuesday that he had “no news” to share “as of yet.”

A source familiar with his thinking, who is involved in local efforts to recruit a challenger to Bowman, suggested that Latimer is likely to “decide in early September, after he sees polling.”

“If George Latimer runs he will be a formidable candidate — even more so if he’s well-funded,” Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist in New York City, said in a text message to JI. “If he doesn’t run, it’s harder. Not impossible but harder. In the last cycle, Bowman was able to convince enough pro-Israel voters that he wasn’t extreme. That’s not the feeling now.”

Coffey said that AIPAC’s involvement “could obviously be decisive, especially if Latimer runs.”

Michael Gerald, a pastor and corrections official in Westchester who briefly entered the race last cycle, filed to run against Bowman last month. And Chance Mullen, the mayor of Pelham, is also weighing a primary bid. “I’m not a fan of primaries because I don’t like attacking Democrats and I try to give our congressman the benefit of the doubt,” Mullen said in an email to JI last month in which he indicated that he had “been approached” about running. “But there’s nothing progressive about his position on Israel.”

While AIPAC has yet to field its preferred challenger to Bowman, whom the group chose not to target in 2022, progressives are already preparing for a proxy war. In a recent fundraising email, Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez (D-NY), whose upset victory in 2018 was backed by Justice Democrats, warned supporters that “AIPAC is at it again.”

“They’re trying to recruit an establishment executive to run against my brother in The Bronx, Jamaal Bowman,” she wrote last week. “We know what comes next. AIPAC won’t wait much longer to start funneling dark money against Jamaal and ramping up attacks against our movement.”

Meanwhile, the pro-Israel community in Pittsburgh is also rallying behind a potential challenger to Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), a freshman incumbent and Justice Democrats endorsee who withstood nearly $4 million in spending from AIPAC’s super PAC in 2022. Bhavini Patel, an Edgewood councilmember who ran a short-lived campaign for the seat before dropping out last cycle, is planning to challenge Lee and has been raising money to mount a bid in the heavily Jewish district, according to two people familiar with her efforts who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

Patel declined to comment on her plans but said in a text message to JI last week that she was “looking forward” to “hearing” and “uplifting the voices and opinions of our local Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh.”

JI was unable to confirm if AIPAC had met with Patel or if it is more broadly engaged in the race. Lee, whose increasingly hostile positions toward Israel have angered her Jewish constituents in Pittsburgh, would likely be among the group’s top targets in 2024, even as it previously failed to defeat her.

Last election, Lee was among a number of progressives to draw backing from Justice Democrats, whose super PAC spent more than $1 million to boost her candidacy. But the group has yet to issue any endorsements for the coming primary season as it has struggled to rebound from a financially taxing election cycle that saw many of its endorsed candidates fall to defeat.

As AIPAC’s latest recruitment efforts have Justice Democrats and its allies scrambling, it remains to be seen if the now-diminished group will engage in open-seat races as in previous cycles. Justice Democrats didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but Alexandra Rojas, its executive director, recently told HuffPost that the group is “still in active candidate recruitment for this cycle.”

Please see AIPAC, page 11

p Signage at an AIPAC conference Photo courtesy of Jewish Insider

Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.

q SUNDAYS, AUG. 20 – DEC. 3

Join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for its Men’s Tefillin Club. Enjoy bagels, lox and tefillin on the first Sunday of the month. 8:30 a.m. chabadpgh.com.

q SUNDAYS, AUG. 20 – DEC. 17

Join a lay-led online parshah study group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q MONDAY, AUG. 21

Join the Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh for its Kandy Ehrenwerth Memorial Lecture

The guest speaker is Dan Pollak, ZOA’s director of legislative affairs, based in Washington, D.C. The title of the lecture is “Christian Senators and Representatives are our Best Allies — Religious Misconceptions and the Future.” 7 p.m. Free.

Registrations required by emailing “Christian Senators & Representatives are Israel’s best

Allies. False Impressions and the Future.” pittsburgh@zoa.org. Beth Shalom Ballroom, 5915 Beacon St.

q MONDAYS, AUG. 21 – DEC. 18

Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q TUESDAY, AUG. 22

Join Rodef Shalom Librarian Sam Siskind for the congregation’s summer book club and discuss Omer Friedlander’s “The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land,” winner of the 2023 Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award. 6:30 p.m. Free. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org.

q WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23

Enjoy a tasty lunch while exploring meaningful messages from the month of Elul at Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Ladies’ Lunch and Learn 12 p.m. $18. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.

q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 23 –DEC. 20

Join AgeWell for an intergenerational family dynamics discussion group, led by intergenerational specialist/presenter and educator Audree Schall. Third Wednesday of each month. Free. 12:30 p.m. South Hills JCC.

ADL teams up with Jewish frat AEPi on initiative to tackle antisemitism on college campuses

By Philissa Cramer | JTA

For its latest effort to combat antisemitism on college campuses, the Anti-Defamation League is turning to a particular brand of college student: frat boys.

The Jewish civil rights group is partnering with Alpha Epsilon Pi, the historically Jewish fraternity, on an initiative to engage members of AEPi’s 150 local chapters starting this fall, the two groups announced Monday. They revealed the new initiative — which will include the creation of something called the Antisemitism Response Center — during AEPi’s international convention in New Orleans over the weekend.

One person will be hired to work with the fraternity’s chapters, training members to spot and respond to antisemitism and to advocate for Israel on their campuses, the organizations said.

“Our members are on the front lines of this battle on college campuses,” Rob Derdiger, AEPi’s CEO, said in the press release. “Since AEPi exists in both the Jewish and interfraternity communities on campus, our leaders have an opportunity to educate others about antisemitism and Israel.”

The partnership reflects the ADL’s recent strategy of expanding its reach by collaborating with other groups. Another new campus partnership, with Hillel International, in 2021 yielded a survey finding that a third of college students reported experiencing antisemitism on campus; many of the students who said they felt excluded because of their Jewish identity cited their real or perceived support for Israel.

The two groups have a shared history: Both are marking 110 years in existence this year, and both were formed in response to antisemitic incidents. For the ADL, the catalyst was the Leo Frank case in Georgia that resulted in the United States’ only antisemitic lynching. AEPi launched at New York University after a founding member was told that his Jewish friends were not welcome in an existing fraternity.

“ADL and AEPi were both founded in 1913 in response to antisemitism that had deep impacts on the day-to-day lives of Jews,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “This partnership unites our two historic organizations who share a vision: to confront hatred, combat antisemitism, and promote understanding across our campuses and communities.” PJC

q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 23 – DEC. 27

Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful with Rabbi Mark Goodman in this weekly Parashah Discussion: Life & Text. 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/life-text.

Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Daniel Fellman presents a weekly Parshat/Torah portion class on site and online. Call 412-421-9715 for more information and the Zoom link.

q SUNDAY, AUG. 27

Join Chabad of the South Hills for Babyccino, a chic meet for moms and tots. Explore the High Holidays in pint-size proportions music, movement, sensory stimulants and expressive arts. 10:30 a.m. $12 per class. chabadsh.com/babyccino.

q THURSDAY, SEPT. 7

Women are invited to join Chabad of Squirrel Hill for Loaves of Love. Bake festive Rosh Hashanah Challahs. 7 p.m. $12. Chabad of Squirrel Hill, 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.

q SUNDAY, SEPT. 10

Take part in Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Women’s Mini Retreat, a pre-High Holiday program of inspiration, connection and rejuvenation. 11 a.m. $54. 1700 Beechwood Blvd. chabadpgh.com.

q MONDAY, SEPT. 11

Join Chabad of the South Hills for New Beginnings: Ladies Night Out. Guest speaker Devorah Rubin will talk about seeing G-d’s blessings while navigating an unexpected medical challenge. Enjoy a delicious buffet of Rosh Hashanah salads and side dishes. 7:30 p.m. $18. chabadsh.com/ladies.

q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13

Join Chabad of the South Hills for its pre-High Holiday seniors’ lunch. Learn home safety tips from Comfort Keepers while enjoying lunch and honey cake. Wheelchair accessible. Pre-registration strongly suggested. 1 p.m. $5 suggested donation. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com.

q MONDAY, SEPT. 18

Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh First Person and Generations Speakers Series: A Talk by Holocaust survivor Oscar Singer with his daughter Lee Fischbach. 6 p.m. Free. hcofpgh.org/events.

q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh welcomes back to Pittsburgh Tony McAleer, the subject of the documentary “The Cure for Hate” and a reformed white nationalist, for an enlightening conversation on how conspiracy theories begin, take root and how we can stop them. 6 p.m. Free. Chatham University. Woodland Rd. hcofpgh.org/events. PJC

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join the Chronicle Book Club for its Aug. 27 discussion of “The Secret Chord” by Geraldine Brooks.

From Amazon.com: “With more than two million copies of her novels sold, New York Times bestselling author Geraldine Brooks has achieved both popular and critical acclaim. Now, Brooks takes on one of literature’s richest and most enigmatic figures: a man who shimmers between history and legend. Peeling away the myth to bring [King] David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.”

Your Hosts:

Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle

David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer

How and When:

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Aug. 27, at noon.

What To Do

Buy: “The Secret Chord.” It is available from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and through the Carnegie Library system.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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 Toby Tabachnick

In rare move, security forces evacuate illegal West Bank outpost

permits, often on private Palestinian land.

By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff | The Times of Israel

Security forces evacuated an illegal West Bank outpost early Monday morning, in a rare move for a hardline government that includes some of the staunchest settlement proponents.

Officials from the Civil Administration, backed by police, destroyed or evacuated five buildings in the Aira Shahar outpost near the settlement of Kochav Hashahar.

Right-wing activists and residents of the outpost tried to oppose the evacuation by burning tires and scattering spikes on the road leading to the outpost. Minor scuffles also broke out at the scene.

The order to evacuate and destroy the outpost was approved by leader of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, despite his pro-settlement stance and advocacy for the annexation of the West Bank.

A source close to Smotrich, who also serves as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian issues in the West Bank, said the land on which Aira Shahar was built was definitively private Palestinian l and, meaning it would have been completely impossible to legalize the outpost.

The source added that there had also been “a demand from the defense establishment and legal professionals for enforcement” against the structures at the outpost.

the IDF Central Command, not Smotrich, for the evacuation.

“I’ve seen the destruction and devastation they have wrought here on the orders of the defense minister and the [Central] Command general, who time after time are cruel to, and abuse, settlers,” said the MK, an ardent proponent of the settlement movement.

S on Har-Melech said the buildings destroyed on Monday were new structures, although the Civil Administration, a department of the Defense Ministry, maintains they had been in place for some time.

“Anyone who thinks they will silence us and destroy and abuse the settlements without a response is making a big mistake,” warned the ultranationalist MK. “We will continue to fight for the settlements around the entire Land of Israel.”

But following her visit, she expressed

outpost on the order of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, sparking a clash with Smotrich. Under coalition agreements, Smotrich, the finance minister, was also appointed a minister within the Defense Ministry with oversight of civilian affairs in the West Bank.

Outpost residents said that Smotrich and his aides had been unreachable since the start of the evacuation.

While the international community considers all settlements illegal, Israel differentiates between settlement homes built and permitted by the Defense Ministry on land owned by the state and illegal outposts built without necessary

However, outposts are sometimes erected with the state’s tacit approval, and successive governments have sought to legalize at least some of the unrecognized neighborhoods as a result.

Recent months have also seen a rise in settler violence, with the United Nations on Friday reporting there have been nearly 600 attacks on Palestinians and their property over the past six months.

T he Israeli defense establishment recorded similar numbers during that period.

This has included several violent rampages through Palestinian towns and the killing two weeks ago of a Palestinian man near Ramallah.

Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said last week that violence by settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians was spurring more Palestinians to carry out acts of terror.

“Let there be no doubt, these things spur the civilian [Palestinian] population to terror. The nationalist crime and nationalist terror… push civilians in the Palestinian Authority who are not involved in terror — to terror,” he said.

“ This phenomenon needs to be addressed. As soon as this phenomenon is avoided, there will be less terrorism in general,” Hagari added. PJC

“To our great regret, we were not able to reach a solution to transfer them [the buildings] to nearby state land in order to legalize them as we have done in other places, for example in Homesh,” the source added, referencing the recent transfer of an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank to state land, a move that Smotrich allegedly assisted with.

“On our watch, we are building and legalizing in the settlements at an unprecedented scale, and doing it wisely, with authorization, and with permission,” the source added.

There was no immediate comment from the military on the evacuation.

MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party visited the site of the destroyed outpost on Monday morning, and initially blamed Gallant and the head of

anger with the response issued by the source close to Smotrich, arguing that Aira Shahar should not have been destroyed by the government.

“I can in no way accept the comment by ‘close associates of Smotrich’ about destroying buildings in the Land of Israel,” she said derisively on Twitter of the manner in which the finance minister’s office had explained the evacuation of the outpost. “Even if right now it is impossible to legalize this specific settlement, it is forbidden to destroy it.”

The evacuation of Aira Shahar was the second time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has evacuated a settlement outpost.

In January, in the first weeks of the government’s tenure, forces evacuated the Or Chaim

p Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech (right) stands at the site of the Aira Shahar illegal West Bank outpost alongside a resident of the outpost, after it was evacuated and razed by Israeli security forces early Monday morning, Aug. 14.

Photo courtesy of the Office of MK Limor Son Har-Melech

While the international community considers all settlements illegal, Israel differentiates between settlement homes built and permitted by the Defense Ministry on land owned by the state and illegal outposts built without necessary permits, often on private Palestinian land.

Ghislaine Maxwell identifies as Jewish in prison, tapping into resources for incarcerated Jews

Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex abuse ring, is receiving services from a nonprofit that supports Jewish prisoners, JTA.org reported.

Maxwell, whose father was Jewish, did not publicly identify as Jewish previously and is not considered Jewish under traditional Jewish law. The news was first reported by The Sun, a British newspaper, which said that Maxwell “has been rewarded with better food and more time off work.”

U.S. prisons are obligated to honor inmates’ religious obligations in most cases — meaning that Jews are often given access to kosher food, prayer supplies and changes in work schedules to account for Shabbat and holidays.

Maxwell’s claim to a Jewish identity runs through her father, a media magnate and possible spy who fled the Nazis as a child and was buried in Jerusalem after dying under mysterious circumstances in 1991.

Maxwell reportedly made use of her Jewish ancestry a few years ago, when she was alleged to have taken refuge in Israel while under investigation for her role in Epstein’s sex abuse scheme. She was arrested in 2020, convicted in 2021 and sentenced last year on five charges related to sex trafficking of minors as part of a scheme with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019.

Australia to refer to West Bank as ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’

Australia will resume referring to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” an unofficial policy change after the term fell out of favor over the past decade, JTA.org reported.

At the Labor Party’s caucus briefing on Aug. 8, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government was strengthening its opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank by “affirming they are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace.” The West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza were occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Most Australian ministers have avoided using the words “occupied” and “occupation” since 2014, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. In a Senate hearing that year, thenAttorney General George Brandis, a member of the center-right Liberal Party, said the phrase “‘occupied’ East Jerusalem” was “freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful.”

Wong’s announcement was criticized by members of the parliamentary opposition, who questioned her timing just before the Labor Party’s national conference next week.

The decision drew ire from the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which issued a joint statement calling the language change “inaccurate, ahistorical and counterproductive.”

“Describing East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza as ‘occupied Palestinian territories’ effectively denies any Jewish claim to the West Bank and Jerusalem,” the groups said.

Aug. 21, 1969 — Arson at Al-Aqsa

Man allegedly brandishes machete while driving by Jewish camp funded by Kars4Kids

The charity Kars4Kids is citing an incident outside its Jewish camp in upstate New York in pressing its case to arm staff, JTA.org reported.

In the July 23 incident, a man allegedly brandished a machete when approached by a staffer at The Zone, the Orthodox Jewish camp that Kars4Kids operates in Gilboa, New York, through Oorah, its Jewish education charity arm.

Robert O’Malley, a facility manager at The Zone, said he was directing buses out of the camp that morning when a man driving a green Jeep Cherokee wearing a Coast Guard veteran cap began yelling at him to “get the f— off the road,” according to O’Malley’s sworn July 30 statement.

After O’Malley waved the man over, the man brandished a large knife, according to the statement filed with the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Office. In a photograph attached to the complaint, a man is holding up a machete through the open window of his car.

The CEO of Oorah and Kars4Kids, Eliohu Mintz, and a camp staff member are challenging New York State’s concealed carry law in court, claiming that its restrictions leave staff and children vulnerable to antisemitic attacks. The law prohibits private citizens from carrying guns in places where religious activities are conducted.

200 Israelis, Jews rescued from Northern Ethiopia

More than 200 Israelis and Ethiopian Jews were rescued from northern Ethiopia on Aug. 10 amid ongoing violence, the Prime Minister’s Office and Israeli Foreign Ministry

in Jerusalem announced in a joint statement. JNS.org reported.

A total of 174 Israeli citizens and Jews eligible for aliyah visas were evacuated from the besieged city of Gondar, while 30 others were rescued from the city of Bahir Dar, the statement noted.

“In the last few days, citizens of Israel and [persons] entitled to make aliyah from Ethiopia entered into distress in the battle zones. I ordered them to be taken out of there,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The state of Israel takes care of its citizens wherever they are.”

The Prime Minister’s Office organized the rescue flights in collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Orthodox Jewish mayor of Florida

town receives

Neo-Nazi death threats

Shlomo Danzinger, the Orthodox Jewish mayor of Surfside, Florida, is reportedly under police protection following a neo-Nazi death threat against him and his family, JNS.org reported.

Danzinger received a threatening email on Aug. 4 from someone who purported to be part of the Fourth Reich, “a reference to a potential resurrection of a Nazi party, with the unknown sender suggesting the possibility of coming to Danzinger’s house to ‘teach his family a lesson,’” VIN News reported.

The publication added that authorities saw it as a credible threat.

Danzinger, his wife and their children (9, 14, 15 and 20) have remained in their home, and the couple’s 21-year-old son, who is serving in the Israel Defense Forces, offered to come help protect the family. The family declined, per VIN News. PJC

— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb

Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

Aug. 18, 2000 — Archaeologist Claire Epstein dies

Archaeologist Claire Epstein, a London native who discovered the culture of the Chalcolithic Period (4500 to 3300 B.C.E.), dies at 88 at Kibbutz Ginossar. She began her archaeological work at Susita during the War of Independence.

Aug. 19, 2003 — 23 are killed in Jerusalem blast

A suicide bomber kills 23 people and injures more than 130 others by detonating an explosive packed with ball bearings on a bus in the ultraOrthodox central Jerusalem neighborhood of Shmuel Hanavi.

Aug. 20, 1967 — Author Etgar Keret is born Etgar Keret, one of Israel’s most popular writers, is born in Ramat Gan. Keret’s quirky work, mainly short stories and graphic novels, wins critical acclaim and sales. He also writes screenplays.

An Australian immigrant, Denis Michael Rohan, sets fire to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by pouring kerosene through a keyhole and throwing in a match. He enters an insanity plea and is deported.

By

Aug. 22, 1891 — Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz is born Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, whose “The Tree of Life” stands outside Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, is born in Lithuania. In his later years he draws inspiration from Judaism for his work.

Aug. 23, 1903 — Sixth Zionist Congress

opens

The Sixth Zionist Congress, the last presided over by Theodor Herzl, convenes in Basel, Switzerland, with approximately 600 delegates. It debates a proposal for a Jewish homeland in East Africa.

By

Aug.

24,

1954 — Bank of Israel is established

The Knesset passes the Bank of Israel Law on a 55-0 vote. The law, which goes into effect Dec. 1, 1954, sets up the Bank of Israel as the central financial authority with 10 million pounds in initial capital. PJC

p Jacques Lipchitz’s “Tree of Life” stands at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus.

zeevveez, CC BY 2.0

p Etgar Keret is known for quirky stories with surprise twists.

Moti Kakayon via Wikimedia Commons

Headlines

Arrest:

Continued from page 1

PITTSBURGH, OR ELSE THERE WILL BE ‘LEGAL’ CONSEQUENCES !!!”

In another post, Lloyd wrote, “Robert Bowers Did Pgh A Favour. Any juror who finds him guilty is guilty of anti-White racism!!”

The federal complaint against Lloyd includes a photograph he posted of individuals entering the courthouse for the synagogue shooter’s trial, as well as a collage of several victims and witnesses.

After the shooter was convicted, Lloyd posted on his website: “Taylor Swift concert. Wouldn’t it be nice if some LW [lone wolf] shot it up???”

The federal complaint against Lloyd also includes GPS and license plate information showing that Lloyd’s car was in Pittsburgh on May 29 and 30, when antisemitic and racist flyers were distributed here.

After the jury found the synagogue shooter eligible for the death penalty, Lloyd wrote, “Start shooting up synagogues!”

On Aug. 3, the FBI said, Lloyd posted again that “We warned you Pgh” and called on other “lone wolves” in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio to “target the hell” out of Jews in Pittsburgh.

Then, on Aug. 8, Lloyd issued a new post in which he called for killing Black people in Alabama and outlined plans for targeting random Jews in Pittsburgh and Austin, Texas, where he had lived before moving to West Virginia.

Lloyd has an extensive criminal history. He was arrested in 2004, charged with killing his girlfriend in Squirrel Hill. He was

Conditions:

Continued from page 1

parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, are housed.

There were 38 inmates confined there as of January, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.

Inmates spend nearly all of their time in small cells with little allowances for outside exercise, according to media reports. In 2021, the prison had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the federal prison system.

In 2008, the ACLU sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons calling conditions in Terre Haute’s Special Confinement Unit “grossly inadequate.” Prisoners housed there, the ACLU said, were denied access to basic medical care, mental health services, and timely and adequate dental care.

Inmates, the letter said, were subjected to

Support:

acquitted of the murder but found guilty of illegal firearm possession and sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Lloyd took to the internet after his release to brag about the murder.

In 2017, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison and nine months of supervised release for using public computers at libraries in Mt. Lebanon and Dormont to order martial arts weapons and to watch videos of women being abused. He was also recorded giving the Nazi salute at a Mt. Lebanon protest and distributing

promising to carry a firearm onto the Texas State Capitol grounds.

He will be held in custody, at least until his Aug. 30 detention hearing pending his trial, according to Shawn Brokos, community security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Brad Orsini, the national security advisor for the Secure Community Network, a national nonprofit dedicated to the safety and security of the American Jewish community, said Lloyd has been on the SCN’s radar for years.

Pittsburgh’s Federation, said working with SCN has made Pittsburgh safer.

“ Today’s outcome is the result of longstanding, close cooperation between law enforcement and our community over many years; the work of SCN and the Federation, and our work together, shows the strength of a coordinated, community-based approach,” Finkelstein said. “We appreciate the FBI’s ongoing commitment to our community, and the dedication shown each day by the members of law enforcement in their service to our country.”

Brokos said the Federation is grateful for the cooperation of federal law enforcement and the United States attorney’s office.

S he also credited Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

flyers in the city’s East End.

Lloyd was last released from federal prison on Oct. 6, 2020, after serving a 24-month sentence for violating his probation, which prohibited him from accessing social media or communicating with anyone to promote terrorism. At the time, Lloyd posted a blog message about a free speech ban in Europe and another condemning a Pittsburgh assault weapons ban.

Lloyd moved to Austin when he was released. In 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Lloyd’s arrest after he posted a series of threatening comments online

incessant noise, causing sleep deprivation and psychological and physiological stress.

In 2015, Business Insider cited Sister Rita Clare Gerardot’s interview in Terre Haute’s Tribune Star, where she said that prisoners are isolated for most of their time there.

Gerardot was a spiritual adviser to death row inmates at the facility. She said that meals are pushed through a slot in a cell’s door and inmates have no recreational opportunities, although they are allowed out of their cells and into cages three times a week.

The conditions outlined by Gerardot were some of the reasons the ACLU of Indiana, along with the law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, filed suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons in January.

The class action complaint was filed on behalf of Jurijus Kadamovas and 37 other death row inmates, alleging that the prisoners

Orsini served as the Pittsburgh’s Federation’s security director at the time of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

He said that SCN collaborated with local Jewish federations and law enforcement in following Lloyd’s posts, emails and activities.

“The information,” Orsini said, “goes up, down and sideways. The intelligence gathering is a robust system to let every key stakeholder know and gives them the utmost situational awareness.”

Lloyd’s recent threats were unique, he said, in that they “actually doxed and targeted specific members of the community.”

Jeff Finkelstein, president and CEO of

are subjected to unrelenting solitary confinement that is severely isolating and falls below the minimum standard prescribed by international human rights treaties for the punishment of prisoners, and violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The lawsuit claims that death row inmates are automatically assigned to the Special Confinement Unit in solitary conditions and are housed in cells that measure 12 feet, 7 inches by 7 feet, with small, slit-like windows. The cells contain a table, stool, sink/toilet unit and shower, further reducing the amount of space available in the cells, where, the lawsuit alleges, prisoners are likely to remain in solitary confinement for decades.

And the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter might, indeed, spend decades at the prison.

“I want to thank the community for being so vigilant and continually reporting suspicious or concerning information to us and to law enforcement,” she said. “We received hundreds of reports relative to Hardy Lloyd over the past several months, each being a critical piece of the case that was brought before him.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Torsten Ove of the Pittsburgh Union Progress contributed to this report.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and the Pittsburgh Union Progress in a collaboration supported by funding from the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.

Sentenced to death on Thursday, Aug. 3, for the murders of Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger, the killer is most likely at the beginning of a long appeals process. And Attorney General Merrick Garland has imposed a moratorium on federal executions while the Justice Department continues a review of the death penalty. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and the Pittsburgh Union Progress in a collaboration supported by funding from the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.

Continued from page 4

Those interested in seeing a vibrant and expanding Jewish community must awaken to students’ needs, said the campus professional.

Generation Z — comprised of those born between 1997 and 2012 — is the first group of students on campus to grow up “with a cell phone, and not remember a time without the internet,” Pine said.

Those students also have been affected by the pandemic and other challenges.

Twenty-seven percent — a figure “significantly” surpassing any other generation — of Gen Zers told the American Psychological Association their mental health is “fair or poor.” Factors contributing to generational

depression and anxiety, include school shootings, student debt, unemployment, a deluge of negative news, fear of missing out and “shame in falling short of a social media-worthy standard,” according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Pine said conversations with campus directors have indicated numerous difficulties Gen Zers face.

“We at Hillel are obviously not trained mental health professionals, but we’re doing everything we can to equip our Hillels to respond to these challenges that students are bringing to us,” she said.

If the larger Jewish community wishes to see a robust and thriving Jewish

future, Pine said, then it cannot shirk its responsibility to today’s college students.

“Our challenge collectively is to think about how do we continue to partner — to not only inspire our students to want to be Jewish on campus in the many diverse, exciting and interesting ways they do — but how do we work together to empower this generation to keep the American Jewish community vibrant and fulfilling after they step off of our campuses and enter our synagogues and JCCs and Federations.” PJC

“Today’s outcome is the result of longstanding, close cooperation between law enforcement and our community over many years.”

– JEFF FINKELSTEIN

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p College of DuPage celebrates its 55th annual commencement.

Photo by COD Newsroom via Flickr at https://rb.gy/m40eo

Headlines

AIPAC:

Continued from page 5

In interviews with JI last week, several Democratic campaign operatives speculated that even as Justice Democrats is preparing to defend its incumbents, the group could be expected to engage in some races where progressive insurgents are now challenging entrenched incumbents.

Multiple people, for instance, suggested that Justice Democrats would back Kina Collins, a gun violence activist who lost a primary against Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) in 2022 and recently filed to run again. “It definitely seems that they will get involved,” said a Democratic operative in Chicago who has spoken with people connected to Justice Democrats as well as one of its board members. Collins was endorsed by Justice Democrats last cycle.

Another challenger in Chicago, Qasim Rashid, who is running to unseat Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), is also a possible contender for an endorsement, which in the past has helped raise candidates’ profiles while providing access to a national grassroots fundraising network. Rashid, who previously

Weinberg:

Continued from page 2

Karen Gusky offered to organize a group to discuss what could be done to protest the planned changes.

A nurse at UPMC Shadyside Hospital and longtime community member, Gusky said she prefers to stay behind the scenes, helping where she can, but was motivated to act after speaking to an acquaintance who urged her to do something.

She posted in the Facebook group because she felt it was important to be an advocate.

“When you say you’re a kosher Jewish place, then you should be Jewish for everybody,” she said. “There are a lot of people that don’t eat kosher but respect it.”

Gusky said that her concerns don’t stop at the JAA. She worries that, in light of other changes at various Jewish institutions, the community is losing its “Yiddishkeit.”

In the end, she said, she fears a loss of shared identity.

“You are taking everything Jewish out,” she said. “How are we supposed to be a Jewish community? We’re already down to just one [kosher grocery] store. What’s going to bring people in to have a nice community?”

Plung stressed that the JAA is infused with Yiddishkeit.

“There are a lot of values that are important,” he said. “What we’re trying to do — and it’s imperfect at best — is trying to balance all of our Jewish values with economic considerations.”

Weinberg Terrace resident Arthur Weinrach said the discussion should go beyond the number of residents who keep kosher.

“What’s enough?” he asked. “Is 20%

ran for Congress in Virginia, is “definitely on the list,” said a Democratic organizer who has spoken directly with his campaign.

“They indicated that they had backing from national groups and he is friends with the Squad members,” the organizer told JI.

who are opposed to continuing unconditional U.S. aid to Israel. “I would be shocked if they don’t endorse Pervez Agwan,” said a Democratic organizer who has worked for candidates endorsed by Justice Democrats.

Speaking more broadly, the organizer

fundraising capabilities and resources than they have in the past, this might be a blip.”

“However, given their history,” the organizer added, “I doubt that is the path they want to go down.”

Meanwhile, some operatives expressed frustration with Justice Democrats’ approach to primary campaigns as it has continued to wield U.S. policy toward Israel as one of its key litmus tests for backing candidates in House races that have drawn the most spending from pro-Israel groups.

Ben Goldberg, a spokesperson for Rashid, told JI last week, however, that the campaign hasn’t “had any endorsement conversations with Justice Democrats.”

In Houston, Pervez Agwan, a challenger to Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) who has made his opposition to AIPAC a cornerstone of his campaign messaging, is perhaps most directly aligned with Justice Democrats, which has typically endorsed candidates

suggested that the recent layoffs at Justice Democrats could simply be a momentary setback if its leadership uses the restructuring to reevaluate its priorities. “They have always basically been a communications shop with a shockingly impressive email list grafted on,” the organizer told JI. “If they have trimmed the fat on comms and made sure to invest in more

Irene Lin, a Democratic strategist in Ohio — where Justice Democrats has waged some of its fiercest battles — said she believed the group has “played a valuable role in keeping Democrats honest” and that “no incumbent should ever feel entitled to their seat.”

“Certainly it’s a shame to see their clout diminished,” she told JI last week. But, she clarified, “I definitely have concerns that they are naive and blind to antisemitism and their views on Israel-Palestine are too extreme for a lot of us who want to see peace in the Middle East.” PJC

working on the food, and acknowledged that some of the recipes have turned out better than others. She said the JAA is committed to getting it right, including fresh fruit and vegetable options.

“I know for some residents it’s really important,” she said, “We’re going to figure out how we are going to be able to continue to provide those things. If that means a salad every day, we have to figure out how to make that happen.”

Weinrach sees the changes as “an invasion of privacy,” he said, and that serving some residents kosher meals and other residents non-kosher meals segregates them and relegates those keeping kosher to “secondclass” dining.

He said he hopes the JAA will reverse course.

That won’t happen, Plung said, but added that the organization will meet with residents one-on-one to address their concerns. The JAA also will be working with the Vaad, making changes to its kitchen at the main campus to ensure the highest level of kashrut is observed.

enough? Is 50% enough? It’s not a vote. If it was zero, it doesn’t change the fact that if it’s going to be — in my opinion — the JAA, then it has to be kosher. That’s an integral part of Judaism, regardless of what your personal practices might be.”

Weinrach and his wife sold their home in Lehigh County and moved to Pittsburgh in 2022 to be near some of their family. He said at the time they were told that Weinberg Terrace was a kosher facility.

The Weinberg Terrace page on the JAA website, he said, continues to state that three kosher meals are served a day.

“A kosher option,” he said, “is not the same as kosher for a plethora of reasons.”

Meal quality is a concern for Weinrach, as well. He noted that the dining service now includes china and silverware, something that won’t continue when the culinary options change.

“They’re going to be packed in what I call ‘a TV dinner format.’ It’s more like a hospital,” he said.

Weinrach said that residents were given a few samples of the food and he admitted that some options, like salmon and vegetables, reheated well and tasted fine. Others, like pizza, left something to be desired. The availability of fresh fruit and vegetables and creative menu options also worries him.

Foley said that JAA leaders are still

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Foley said that residents have expressed concern about the changes but she believes the Aug. 15 meeting helped.

“I think overall they say we are respecting the fact that this is an important issue and that we have to get it right on Day 1,” Foley said. “I said, ‘We’re not going to get it right 100%, but we’re going to continue to try and it is truly that partnership that we need to strive for.’”

The new culinary policy won’t take place for at least 30 days.

A statement from the Vaad was unavailable at press time. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

AIPAC appears to be embracing a more aggressive strategy as it seeks to pick off a handful of incumbents who have been unusually hostile to Israel, particularly in recent weeks.

p The Jewish Association on Aging, main campus Photo courtesy of the Jewish Association on Aging

Foley said that JAA leaders are still working on the food, and acknowledged that some of the recipes have turned out better than others. She said the JAA is committed to getting it right, including fresh fruit and vegetable options.

Antisemitism from the left

For the sake of balance, or maybe convenience, antisemitism from the left and right are often treated as mirror images of each other. But a new study by the Anti-Defamation League suggests that, in Europe at least, they are very different in origin, development and manifestation.

And the report warns that, by emphasizing both as being essentially the same, we are in danger of broad-brushing out the seriousness of the phenomenon.

Released last week, the survey focused on France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Compiled with local partners of ADL, the study concluded that “expressions of anti-Israel bias from left-leaning political organizations … have devolved into antisemitism and even violent attacks against local Jewish communities.” While each country has a different profile — and the left is a complex mix of ideologies rather than a uniform progression of social theory — the anecdotal evidence is worth noting.

According to the report, the road to

antisemitic venom from the left most often begins with comment on Israel and its relationship with the Palestinians. The progression then develops from taking a pro-Palestinian stance to the use of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric, and then devolves into outright antisemitic hate.

were unwelcome.”

In France, left-wing antisemitism includes both anti-Zionism and traditional antisemitism. The pattern is “to engage in antisemitic rhetoric, to deny that antisemitism exists on the left, to excuse the antisemitism of those assumed to be political allies, and

the same thing in Spain,” while the right is “almost entirely pro-Israel and guards against antisemitism.”

In anti-Israel contexts, the report found, “antisemitic themes included (1) accusations that Jewish cabals control politics and media and prevent either criticism of Israel or support for Palestine; (2) Holocaust trivialization as a means of arguing that Palestinians are no less victims today than Jews were during the Holocaust; (3) equating Israel with the Nazi regime, thus demonizing Israel; (4) accusations of antisemitism are in bad faith and employed to silence criticism of Israel.”

Former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is the best-known example of this phenomenon. According to the report, antisemitism “increased markedly” during Corbyn’s five years leading the party, which was traditionally the political home of Britain’s Jews. Corbyn was ousted and his successor reversed course, instituting new guidelines to combat antisemitism in the party and signaling “to thousands of members, mainly from the far left of the party,” the report stated, “that their views

then to claim that they are the real champions in the fight against antisemitism.”

In Germany, traditional expressions of antisemitism are denounced, while antiZionism is being normalized. And “the discourse surrounding Israel, antisemitism and growing support for BDS is now causing anti-racist alliances to fall apart.”

And in Spain, the report says, some members of the government “openly defend the dissolution of the state of Israel.” And “the BDS movement and the extreme left are

The report argues that these findings in Western Europe could be a bellwether of what’s to come in the United States. To the extent that may be true, the Jewish community needs to take note.

We understand that the United States is not Europe. We recognize that the American left bears little resemblance to many of the European varieties. And we acknowledge that it is a mistake to generalize on a sensitive issue like antisemitism. Nonetheless, the ADL report raises cause for concern. PJC

Biden and Bibi both need a big win. Is a deal with the Saudis their answer?

Guest Columnist

Michael

Oren

Often the hardest task in diplomacy is seeing through the fog. And the current brume is especially thick.

The press is rife with reports of an impending treaty, brokered by Washington, between Riyadh and Jerusalem, of arms transfers, security pacts and nuclear programs on the one hand and, on the other, of peaceful gestures toward the Palestinians.

Israeli streets, meanwhile, continue to roil with anti-government protests and coalition ministers daily engage in outrages against the country’s Arab citizens and senior security officers while supporting radical right-wing vigilantes.

Guest Columnist

Howard M. Rieger

Eighty-four years ago, the S.S. St. Louis was turned away from Cuba and sought to dock in Miami, with 900 Jews on board, hoping to escape the Nazi grip on Europe. Many of them ultimately

What to make of all this? Can a coherent picture emerge? The answer, perhaps, is yes, but only by connecting the puzzle pieces.

Trouble at home for Biden

President Joe Biden is facing a steep uphill battle for reelection in 2024 and is burdened with a low approval rating. He has no foreign policy achievements and little to show for his massive financial investment in the battlefields of Ukraine.

Having witnessed the Saudis spin out of America’s sphere of influence and into China’s, the White House desperately needs a win. How else to explain how, after refusing to utter the term “Abraham Accords” throughout most of his term, the president now sees expanding those agreements as a vital American interest? Why else would Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan rush

to Riyadh and court a crown prince formerly deemed a pariah?

The Saudis’ impossible ask

The next piece of the puzzle is the Saudis themselves. They want the generous arms packages authorized by President Trump but frozen by his successor and American security guarantees against Iran. They are also purportedly seeking U.S. approval for a civil nuclear program which the oil-soaked kingdom cannot reasonably need. In return for all of this — again, purportedly — the Saudis are willing to “normalize” relations with Israel. But, they insist, something else is needed. Israel must make a meaningful gesture toward the Palestinians.

Such a concession, however, is hardly conceivable under Israel’s current coalition. The same ministers who this week tried to stop the transfer of millions of governmentapproved shekels to Arab municipalities

and East Jerusalem students, who labeled as heroes the settlers suspected of killing a Palestinian villager, and who denounced Israeli security chiefs as traitors, are unlikely to sanction a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria or permit Palestinian building in formerly off-limits areas.

Bibi needs a big win

The final piece in the puzzle is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He, maybe even more than Biden, needs this treaty. By offering game-changing benefits — access to the vast Saudi market, relations with Indonesia, Pakistan and Kuwait — the agreement may persuade prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against him. That could rescue his legacy from the depths to which the government’s ill-conceived judicial overhaul program has cast it and restore a semblance of unity to the Israeli

Please see Oren, page 13

perished in the death camps.

To this day we admonish FDR, the Jews who served in the Roosevelt administration and the collective Jewish community for doing nothing; and we say if the Jewish homeland had existed then, it would have been different.

Unfortunately, when it comes to 12,000 Ethiopian Jews languishing in Addis Ababa and Gondar, Ethiopia — with an on-again, off-again civil war spinning out of control, a famine, malnutrition, an economy in ruins,

minimal health care services, constant gunfire and the airport closed — the best that Israel was prepared to do was bring home only about 150 Israeli citizens who were in the country, and fewer than 50 Ethiopian Jews eligible to make aliyah.

By the time this “rescue” took place, the Fana militia who controlled the area had withdrawn from Gondar, preparing to fight another day, government forces had taken over and the airport was reopened.

In retrospect, all of this should have

seemed inevitable, since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than following these events minute by minute in the situation room, was on vacation with his wife at a resort and spa in the Golan Heights.

I first became aware of the plight of Ethiopian Jewry while I was director of community relations at the Cleveland Jewish Federation in the mid-1970s. During that time, I worked closely with the consul

Please see Rieger, page 13

While thousands of Ethiopian Jews were threatened by a civil war, Israel ‘rescued’ fewer than 50

The ADL report argues that these findings in Western Europe could be a bellwether of what’s to come in the United States.

Chronicle poll results: Identification with Jewish movements

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Which Jewish movement do you most identify with?” Of the 428 people who responded, 39% said Reform; 31% said Conservative; 12% said Orthodox; 8% said Reconstructionist; 6% said Other; and 4% said None. Comments were submitted by 69 people. A few follow.

I have been part of the Conservative movement my whole life and plan to continue to be in the years to come.

Having been married to a non-Jewish woman for over 40 years, I don’t feel as if I am welcome anywhere.

Conservative but also Chabad.

Oren:

Continued from page 12

public. With the ink on an Israel-Saudi treaty scarcely dry, Netanyahu could take a preeminent place in Israeli history.

First, though, he must secure that concession. That necessity may explain his decision to press forward with a law prohibiting the Supreme Court to void ministerial appointments on the basis of “unreasonableness.”

Why, of the hundred pieces of legislation in the judicial overhaul platform, prioritize this one? Because it would overturn the Supreme Court’s finding of “extremely unreasonable” Netanyahu’s attempt to include Shas-party head Aryeh Deri in the government.

That ruling resulted from Deri’s multiple criminal convictions but overlooked his diplomatic profile as a moderate who once supported the two-state solution. With the

Rieger:

Continued from page 12

general of Israel for our region, Asher Naim, who was born and raised in Libya. Naim shared stories about the people of this community, many of whom trekked long distances to fulfill their lifelong dream of living in Israel. Many died along the way.

The first major exodus of Ethiopian Jews, Operation Moses, took place about a decade later, when I was president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, at which time more than 8,000 were airlifted to Israel between November 1984 and January 1985. It was a galvanizing moment for our Pittsburgh community.

Little did I know that the next major

Which Jewish movement do you most identify with?

I’m mostly secular but still identify with the Orthodox.

Orthodox-leaning member of a Reform congregation. It’s complicated.

I follow no organized part of Judaism. I am a Jew — full stop.

Politically, with the Orthodox. Socially, with the Conservative. Theologically, with the Reform.

Just another M.O.T. surviving l’dor v’dor on my own level of “following the Golden Rule.”

For me, it’s a toss-up between Conservadox and Reform and a little Chabad thrown in on occasion.

I was raised in a Reform Jewish home, had a bat mitzvah and was confirmed. Today, I consider myself an unaffiliated cultural Jew.

I get more satisfaction out of services with the Center for Loving Kindness. I am bored with rote prayers that offer no contemporary meaning or guidance. Reform Judaism from a religious aspect, not from a political one.

A Jew is a Jew. Labels are for clothes! PJC Compiled by Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle weekly poll question: Do you have safety concerns when you go downtown? Go to pittsburghjewishchronicle. org to respond. PJC

court out of his way and Deri in his coalition, Netanyahu just might be able to counterbalance the radicals and perhaps convince moderate leaders, chief among them Benny Gantz, to replace them. The Saudis will get their concessions.

That, at least, is the message emanating from Jerusalem this week. Netanyahu will make that gesture, no matter what.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen further suggested, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, that an American commitment to Saudi defense would eliminate the kingdom’s need for a nuclear program that Israel has always opposed.

One by one, it seems, the puzzle pieces are falling into place. The fog is dissipating, and a picture of peace becomes clear. Or does it?

No sooner did reports of an imminent breakthrough appear in the American press than the State Department hurried to qualify them, indicating that a treaty

effort to resettle thousands would take place in 1991, led by my friend Asher Naim, who was then Israel’s ambassador to Ethiopia. Naim was a key figure in advocating for the airlift of more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel on May 24-25, a heroic effort dubbed Operation Solomon.

Three chief rabbis of Israel have ruled that Ethiopian Jews should be resettled in Israel. Thousands of those waiting have first-degree relatives in the country; up to 2,000 of them were in the process of being approved by Israel for reunification before the government removed funding for this purpose in its budget for 2023-2024. Meanwhile, everything has ground to a halt, except the threats posed by the realities on the ground.

may be an entire year away. That is a very long time in Israeli politics. Many analysts predict that the current coalition is unlikely to last the winter.

As for the concession to the Palestinians, Netanyahu will not only have to overcome resistance within his coalition but also inside his own party, much of which has gravitated to the extreme right. Biden, too, will have his nay-sayers — Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Tim Kaine asserted that it will be extremely difficult for Congress to ratify a treaty that fails to substantively address the Palestinian problem.

Other commentators have wondered why the Saudis, post Afghanistan, would trust the current U.S. administration, and why Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, after cold-shouldering Biden before, would want to assist him now?

What would the custodians of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina really gain from formal recognition of the

Israel’s refusal to recognize that this Diaspora community has the same rights as Diaspora Jewish communities worldwide is a sad reality.

Many of us decry the fragmentation of our democracy in the U.S. In Israel there is a similar devolution, with ongoing divisions related to the process of adopting judicial reforms. No one knows how all of this will play out in the days ahead.

While there was the possibility of a galvanizing rescue of Ethiopian Jews, mirroring the bold actions of Israel’s government during Operations Moses and Solomon in 1984 and 1991, respectively, Israel chose to do virtually nothing.

When I reflect on this tragic situation, all I can think about is what the Jewish

Jewish state?

Finally, there are the demonstrators. Having fervidly implored Biden to save Israel from Bibi, they will not sit silently while Biden saves Netanyahu from them. Israel survived 75 years without peace with the Saudis, they say, but may not survive another year with this government.

Fog is a perennial problem in diplomacy and seeing through it a constant challenge. A peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia may yet be glimpsed. But right now, only intermittently and through persistently dense clouds. PJC

Michael Oren, formerly Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Knesset member and deputy minister in the prime minister’s office, is the author of “Israel 2048: The Rejuvenated State.” This story originally appeared in the Forward. To get the Forward’s free emailed newsletters delivered to your inbox, go to forward.com/newletter-signup.

people’s guidepost is supposed to be: “Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy fellow, witnessing his death, you being able to rescue him, if, for instance, he is drowning in the river, or if a wild beast or a robber is attacking him.” (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 8; Sanhedrin 73a)

Have we truly arrived at the goal of the founders of Israel, to become a nation like other nations, this time tragically modeling the inaction of those other nations that sat idly by while our brothers and sisters perished during the Holocaust? PJC

Howard M. Rieger was president/CEO Jewish Federations of North America, 20042009, and is a volunteer with Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry.

Life & Culture

Turkish rice pudding

the secret ingredient in most Sephardicstyle desserts. Nobody will really taste

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

Ithink of myself as a rice pudding aficionado. Every culture has a version, and I’ve tried them all.

The Turkish version, sutlach (pronounced soot-lahsh), which is very common among Turkish Jews, is my absolute favorite.

Rice pudding is a comforting food that brings back lovely childhood memories. My recipe is simple to follow, and it will give you two serving options. You can serve it as “soft” rice pudding, which is how people generally think of rice pudding. You can also take the cooked pudding, put some of it in small ramekins and bake it longer for the “firm” version.

I often divide my cooked batch in half, keeping part in the fridge for those who prefer it soft, and baking the rest for those who appreciate a firm rice pudding. When baked, the top of the pudding turns a beautiful brown color.

The recipe is flexible, so if you’re not sure what you’d prefer, bake one or two ramekins of pudding to compare.

Don’t use regular white rice in this recipe. Choose basmati or jasmine rice, or use baldo or arborio rice, which are plump and short-grained.

This recipe calls for rosewater, which is

1 tablespoon of rosewater, but it will add to the overall flavor. If you love rosewater, you can add more so that the flavor permeates the pudding.

I usually serve rice pudding for Shabbat breakfast, after-school snacks and also as a mild dish to eat after a fast.

Sutlach

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

2½ cups water, to cook the rice

4½ cups whole milk, divided

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons rice flour or cornstarch

1-2 tablespoons rosewater

Cinnamon to garnish (for the soft pudding version)

While rice should generally be rinsed and soaked before cooking, that isn’t the case when making rice pudding because the starch in the rice is necessary to help thicken the pudding. Old-school recipes usually call for cooking the rice in milk from the start, but this process takes much longer and the result is not very different. I use water instead to save time.

Choose a pot that is large enough to hold all of the milk and that will allow

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the rice to expand, so you only have one pot to clean.

Measure the milk and place it on the counter an hour before cooking. If you start with cold milk, it will take a little longer to come to a boil.

Bring 2½ cups of water with 1 cup of rice to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to simmer and cook the rice for about 15 minutes. The rice will look slightly creamy even though it was cooked only with water. If you taste the rice and the center of the grain is still firm, that’s OK because the rice will be cooked more with the milk.

Stir 4 cups of whole milk and 1 cup of sugar into the pot of rice, bring it to a soft boil again over medium heat, stirring constantly, and then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. You want to see soft bubbles. It’s important to stay close to the stove and to keep stirring so that the milk does not scald or burn.

Make a slurry with the remaining half-cup of milk. A slurry is a mix of flour or starch and liquid that is used to thicken puddings and sauces. Add the rice flour or cornstarch to a bowl with the milk and whisk it well until combined.

When the rice and milk have simmered for 15 minutes, slowly mix the slurry into the pot. Give the slurry a good stir right before you drizzle it into the pot because the starch will settle to the bottom of the milk. Use a silicone spatula to scrape any remaining bit from the slurry bowl. Stir well and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring

regularly to avoid a burned bottom. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the rosewater.

This is a finished rice pudding. Allow it to cool and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it.

If you serve it soft, a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top adds to the flavor.

If you want to make this recipe pareve, coconut and oat milk have more fat content and will cook better than almond milk. It won’t taste the same as the dairy version; keep in mind that you may need to add another tablespoon or two of rice flour or cornstarch to the slurry to help thicken the pudding.

If making the firm baked version, ladle some pudding into small ramekins, leaving about half an inch of space between the pudding and the rim of the ramekin.

Sprinkle a tiny amount of sugar over the top and bake it at 500 F for about 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown. It’s OK if you see some really dark brown spots on the pudding. This should be firm but still creamy in the middle. If you overbake it, it will dry out and be hard to enjoy.

As with all recipes, you have to experiment and make it to your preference.

I hope that this recipe brings smiles to those who eat it.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Rice pudding is a comforting food that brings back lovely childhood memories.

p Sutlach

Photo by Jessica Grann

Pittsburgh showcased in Mt. Lebanon native’s new film

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

Brian Silverman got the acting itch young.

But it wasn’t until he collected a few ZIP codes under his belt that he decided to ply the trade as a career.

B orn in Cleveland, Silverman moved to Pittsburgh at 2, and his family eventually settled in Mt. Lebanon. He never starred in a school play. After graduating high school in 1986, he went to college in Massachusetts. Still, no auditions.

After college, he joined the Peace Corps, which took him to Haiti and Guatemala.

It wasn’t until around 2000 that Silverman flexed his acting muscles when he moved to California after briefly flirting with improv theater.

“I kind of avoided [acting] while I was in Pittsburgh, even though I was drawn to it. Finally, I just couldn’t avoid it anymore,” Silverman, who is Jewish, told the Chronicle. “So, I moved to California, studied acting and I tried to do what everyone does: build a career.”

Silverman scored his first IMDb credit in 2004 when he appeared in an episode of “The Guardian.” Roles followed in indie films, as well as TV series like “24,” “Monk” and “Ray Donovan.”

But a recent passion project brought the Pittsburgher back home.

During a lull in the pandemic, Silverman wrote and directed “Two Lives in Pittsburgh,” a shoestring-budget indie feature that follows a traditional blue-collar guy stumbling between who he has always been and who his child needs him to be, as he confronts his mother’s illness and his child’s exploration of gender.

to be authentic. So, he shot it in Allegheny County for 20 days in June 2021, soaking the film in all of the regional details of his childhood and making sure every aspect of the production was hyperlocal.

“I just always loved Pittsburgh — the sports traditions and the sense of community, the understanding I have of what a childhood there could be like,” he said.

In addition to casting a few Pittsburghers who were working as actors in Los Angeles, Silverman left about half the roles open so they could be filled by Pittsburgh residents. When he sought his makeup team, he sought Pittsburghers. When he looked for someone to do production design, he looked for Pittsburghers.

The crew shot 100% of the film in Allegheny County, basing most of it in Carnegie, Green Tree, Dormont and Silverman’s native Mt. Lebanon.

The film’s soundtrack features Pittsburgh artists such as Evan Mulgrave, Shamar and

Restaurants

Pittsburgh’s aesthetic.

The team worked with local landlords to rent short-term housing instead of staying in corporate-owned motels, Silverman said. When the crew needed to meet outside of the shooting schedule, they did so at Carnegie Coffee Co.

When they were looking for a Pittsburgh classroom, they shot in Temple Emanuel of South Hills. No, Silverman didn’t grow up attending Temple Emanuel; he said his dad was a former president at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. But an actor in California originally from Pittsburgh did recognize his temple in the film, Silverman said.

“Every little dollar we spent — from shopping runs to Giant Eagle to pizza from Mineo’s — went to Pittsburgh,” Silverman said. “The COVID testing was all local. All that money went back to the community — and that was really fulfilling to me. It meant a lot to me.”

Sky Elobar grew up in Bloomfield and moved to New York City before relocating to Los

Angeles in 2003. A 1983 Peabody High School alumnus, he’s acted for some 17 years; he joined the Screen Actors Guild in 2006.

Elobar, who is not Jewish, but has Jewish family members, saw Silverman’s casting notice in an actors’ forum in L.A.

“I was like, ‘Man, I would love to be in this!” he laughed. “I had to get this thing.”

Silverman cast Elobar as Jim, who Elobar describes as a bit of a racist and homophobic character. He stayed in Pittsburgh for two weeks during the 2021 shoot.

“It was weird,” Elobar said. “I’ve been in Carnegie, I know Pittsburgh well from growing up there — it was surreal.”

Actor Mark McClain Wilson, an L.A. resident by way of Upper St. Clair, didn’t feel strange about shooting in Mt. Lebanon, 10 minutes away from his childhood home. In Silverman’s film, he plays Will Garcia, who teaches the gender-fluid son of Silverman’s character. He said the whole production and his time

Please see Film, page 18

p Shot from “Two Lives in Pittsburgh”

Image courtesy of Fresh PR Los Angeles

DAVID D. SUFRIN Chair of the Board

JEFFREY H. FINKELSTEIN President & CEO

STEFANIE SMALL Doris & Leonard H. Rudolph Jewish Communal Professional Award

MARLENE SILVERMAN Emanuel Spector Memorial Award

Engagement

Joyfully, Lindsey and Jonathan Isaacson of Squirrel Hill announce the engagement of their son, Gabriel, to Lily Makaeva, of Ulyanovsk, Russia. The two met while receiving their MBAs at Carnegie Mellon University. Both are associate partners at McKinsey & Company. They reside in Lawrenceville with their dog, Bonzo. Lily is the daughter of Zulfia Makaeva and the late Shamil Makaev. Gabe’s grandparents are Joy Polito of Florida, the late Dottie and Alan Silberman of Steubenville, Ohio, and the late Gerald Isaacson of Pittsburgh. Gabe graduated from Georgetown and received a JD from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA at Carnegie Mellon University. Lily graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and received an MBA at Carnegie Mellon University.

As Elul begins, it’s time to prepare for Rosh Hashanah

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt”l, the Alter of Slabodka, would repeat the following parable every year at the beginning of Elul to prepare for the Yemei Hadin , the Days of Judgment of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

to become when he grows up, he is likely to respond in accordance with his environment. If he is surrounded by Torah scholars, he will say he wants to be a talmid chacham. Even if he does not understand what this means, he will say, “This is what adults do!” If he is surrounded by slanderers and scoffers, he will think that this is the ideal. If he is surrounded by those who put money above all else, this is what he will aspire to.

With great pleasure, Robin and Jerome Friedman of Point Breeze announce the marriage of their daughter Lauren Gail Friedman to Joseph Brendan Graham, son of Maureen and Edward Graham of Metuchen, New Jersey. The ceremony and reception took place Sunday, July 2, 2023, at the William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh with Rabbi Arthur Donsky officiating. Lauren’s grandparents, Trudi and William Feldman, participated in the ceremony, escorted by Lauren’s brother and groomsman Jared Friedman. Lauren is also the granddaughter of the late Arthur Bloom and the late Freda and Leonard Friedman. Joseph is the grandson of Ellen Patricia Walsh, the late Stephen Walsh and the late Joan Graham and the late Edward Graham. The couple met while attending the Penn State University. Following a honeymoon to Greece and Italy the newlyweds will continue to reside in New York City where Lauren is an elementary school teacher with the New York City Schools and Joseph is a regional sales manager at Crowdstrike.

Lynn and Arthur Smith are thrilled to announce the marriage of their son Todd William to Rose Elizabeth Reid, daughter of Gail and Mathew Reid of Decatur, Georgia. The wedding took place on April 29, 2023, in St. Simons Island, Georgia. The maid of honor was the bride’s sister, Samantha Reid Avina. The best woman was the groom’s sister, Bryna Unger Smith. The bride and groom were accompanied respectively down the aisle by their parents. The ceremony was officiated by Federal District Judge Amy Totenberg. Judge Amy is a longtime family friend of the Reids, and a very special friend to Rose and Todd. All of the family and friends that came from near and far enjoyed a four-day celebration honoring Rose and Todd. After a honeymoon in Italy, the couple will continue to reside in Brooklyn, New York. PJC

Film: Continued from page 16

back in western Pennsylvania brought “waves and waves and waves of good feelings.”

“It was so nostalgic,” said Wilson, a 1988 Upper St. Clair High School alumnus who has lived and worked in California for about 22 years. “There’s a lot that has changed (about Pittsburgh), but so much of it has remained the same. And I enjoyed seeing both elements.”

Wilson has been down this road before, having shot a part in “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” in his native Steel City around 2010.

Wilson’s brother still lives in Warrendale in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, but he admits the film shoot was his first extended time back in his hometown since high school.

The experience meant a lot to him, as it did to Silverman and Elobar.

“Every time I drive through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, I drive Downtown and go over that bridge and the city just explodes in front

A merchant plans to smuggle some goods across the border. He hires a wagon driver and hides the goods beneath a pile of hay. As they see the border in the distance, the smuggler starts to fret. He is worried that the customs officers at the border will catch him. The wagon driver is thinking about the road and is unconcerned about the prospect of being caught. After all, the goods are not his own; he is but an accomplice. When they reach the border and the driver sees the border officers up close, though, he also begins to worry. As for the horse, he trots right through!

There are three types of people when it comes to approaching of the Yemei Hadin: Those who worry ahead of time, as they see the holy days coming; those who are startled by the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah; and the horses — those who don’t even realize what the shofar is all about.

The goal is to see Rosh Hashanah up ahead and to prepare. There are two requirements. First, one must understand what he needs to prepare for. If the smuggler does not know what the border officer is doing, why does he need to worry? If we don’t understand Rosh Hashanah, why worry ahead of time? We need to comprehend the purpose of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We need to think about the joy of Sukkos following them. We need to realize that the rest of the year depends on attaining a good judgment.

Second, we need to prepare. We need to be ready to deal with border control! We need to get our affairs in order before the shofar takes us by surprise.

If one asks a child what he would like

We need to surround ourselves in speech and in deed with the subjects of the Yamim Noraim, studying the laws, the prayers, the awesome thoughts of the Days of Awe. Just as the merchant in the parable does not stop worrying, we must keep our attention focused on this.

The Days of Awe are not just an end unto themselves. They are the beginning of a new year. Everything depends on the beginning. We need to prepare for the entire year. We don’t want to be like the traveler who forgot to pack food and water. Or who remembered, but did not pack enough for the length of his trip.

Rav Yeruchem Levovitz, zt”l , of Mir would relate the following parable: The old coal-powered trains would stop in the stations and load up on coal. After the allotted time, they gave a whistle or blew the horn and left the station. If the engineers were lazy about loading coal, they would have to leave — no matter what — with an insufficient supply.

Rosh Hashanah does not wait. It cannot be rescheduled and one cannot make any excuses. The court date is planned way ahead of time; in fact, last Rosh Hashanah we already knew when the holiday would fall this year. Maybe we will be ready for this Rosh Hashanah, to prepare for next Rosh Hashanah!

We have a month. Elul. We can do this in an orderly fashion. But we must start now. PJC

Rabbi Shimon Silver is the spiritual leader of Young Israel of Greater Pittsburgh. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

Silverman’s Pittsburgh-shot and Pittsburghinspired film has been screened primarily at festivals, and recently won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the Dances With Films and Best Narrative Feature at Indie Spirit, Silverman said.

It was chosen as one of four Centerpiece Selections for the OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival and is a First Five Film for aGLIFF.

If you can make it to California, you can catch a screening of “Two Lives in Pittsburgh” at Cinequest Film & VR Festival in San Jose until Aug. 30.

Closer to the Atlantic, “Two Lives In Pittsburgh” will play at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival in Williamsville, New York, from Aug. 18-24. PJC

of you,” Wilson said.

“It’s a feeling in the center of your chest that never leaves.”

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Shimon Silver Parshat Shoftim Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9

p Brian Silverman Photo courtesy of Fresh PR Los Angeles

“I just always loved Pittsburgh — the sports traditions and the sense of community, the understanding I have of what a childhood there could be like.”

–BRIAN SILVERMAN

Obituaries

GOLDSTEIN: Gary Goldstein, loving son of Lillian and Reuben Goldstein and brother of Stanley, left this life on July 4. Gary was born in Pittsburgh and owned and operated Chocolates and Chances in the PPG Building and Center Hour Cleaners in Oakland. He relocated to South Beach, Florida, after caring for his parents generously during their end of life. In Florida he was a successful renovator of properties, bought and sold. He had many loving Pittsburgh cousins to whom he left many memorable experiences. Gary will be missed by those cousins: Karen (LaVerne Conley) and Jay (Barb Villa) Reifer, Tracy (Steve Burton) and Keith Seewald. He was predeceased by cousins Robert (Andrea) and Mark (Deborah) Seewald. In his honor, donations may be made to michaeljfox.org/ppmi.

GROBMAN: Gary M. Grobman, age 70, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully on Aug. 11, 2023, with his loving family by his side. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he was the son of Leon and Freda Grobman, who predeceased him. Gary lived in the Harrisburg area from 1982 until his death. He was a former executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition. Gary was a graduate of Northeast High School (Philadelphia), Drexel University (S.S., 1975), Harvard University (M.P.A., 1982), and Penn State University (Ph.D., 2002). At Drexel University, he met the Drexel Protestant chaplain, Robert W. Edgar, a progressive Democrat and anti-war activist. When Edgar decided in 1974 to pursue a congressional seat in Delaware County in a district held by Republicans since 1858, he asked Gary to serve as his campaign staff writer. After a surprise victory, the newly elected congressman hired Gary to work in his Washington office as a speech writer and letter answerer. Within five months, Gary was promoted to senior policy professional staffer, where, according to the Congressional Research Service, he was the youngest legislative director at the time. In the MPA program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Gary took courses from luminaries such as former governor and Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, Carter Domestic Policy Advisor Stuart Eisenstat, and Nixon speechwriter Stephen Hess. After Harvard, Gary became the first executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition (PJC), the Harrisburg-based advocacy organization for Jewish federations and their agencies. During his 13 years at the PJC, Gary was the principal author of the state’s Holocaust education curriculum; served as the chair of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Human Services; and founded and chaired the Nonprofit Advocacy Network. He later joined his wife Linda’s book publishing and consulting business, White Hat Communications. While there, Gary authored more than a dozen books. Gary served as a graduate school adjunct professor for more than a decade, teaching nonprofit management for Gratz College (Philadelphia), Marylhurst University (Oregon), Bay Path University (Longmeadow, Massachusetts), and Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Ph.D. program. Gary was a three-time male Runner of the Year of the Harrisburg Area Road Runners Club (HARRC) and competed in nine Boston Marathons. He was an accomplished flutist and piccolo player and was the principal piccoloist of the Greater Harrisburg Concert Band for more than a quarter-century. He was a member of many other musical organizations over the years, including the Old World Folk Band and several community bands and orchestras. Gary and his wife of 33 years, Linda, enjoyed traveling on cruise ships and playing flute duets together. He was a proud and loving father to Adam. Gary is survived by his wife, Linda; son, Adam (Connor); and sister Judith Grobman. To send condolences or share memories with the family please go to hetrickbitnerfuneralhome.com. Donations in Gary’s memory may be made to Temple Ohev Sholom of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or a charity of your choice. PJC

Letters of Testamentary

Letters of Testamestary on the Estate of Mark H. Loevner, aka Mark Howard Loevner, deceased, were granted to Catherine Loevner, who requests that all persons having claims against the Estate of this Decedent make known the same in writing to her or her attorney, Frederick N. Frank, 707 Grant Street, Suite 3300, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, and all persons indebted to this Decedent make payment to the same.

NOTICE OF HEARING

IN RE: PETITION OF CONGREGATION SHAARE TORAH, A PENNSYLVANIA NON-PROFIT CORPORATION TO APPROVE A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE; Case No. 022304685 in the Orphan’s Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Notice is hereby given that the Court has set a hearing on the Petition of Congregation Shaare Torah to approve a Fundamental Change in the form of the transfer of ownership and management of its cemeteries and the transfer of certain assets to the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh. The hearing will be held in the Orphans’ Court Division, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 437 Grant Street, 17th floor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 7, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in before the Honorable Lawrence O’Toole. Any interested person is invited to attend. Information may be obtained from Philip E. Milch Esq., Campbell & Levine, LLC, 310 Grant Street, Suite 1700, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219, phone (412) 467-8797; Attorney for Petitioner.

Mark & Ellen Diamond

Bernard Dickter

Bernard Dickter

Bernard Dickter

Christine Dobrushin

Natalie & Stanley Z”L Faleder

Sherwin Glasser

Merrianne Leff

Merrianne Leff

Elliot Lemelman

Lawrence F Leventon

Joan Privman

Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler

Glasser

Diamond

E Dickter

Weitz

Kurtz

S Moss

Stein

Leventon

Margolis

Elikan

Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler .Barbara Goldstein

Jeff Rosenthal Donald Rosenthal

Herbert Shapiro Ben Shapiro

Eileen E . Snider & Family Howard S Snider

Sharon Snider Howard S Snider

Dr Susan Snider & Family Howard S Snider

Mitchell & Elly Toig Morris Toig

Edris C Weis .Mildred Tannenbaum

Edris C Weis Saul Weis

Contact the Development department at 412-586-2690 or development@jaapgh.org for more information.

Sunday August 20: Sarah Americus, Alan Herbert Azen, Annie Berezin, Samuel Berger, Isadore A. Bernstein, Susan Dickter, Rebecca L. Guttman, Anne Harris, Mary Garson Mazer, Marie G. Mundel, Louis Rosenbloom, Eli Spokane, Morris Toig, Louis Whiteman

Monday August 21: William Americus, Tillie Bennett, Samuel W. Berk, Zelda Glantz Chasick, Alex Glantz, Howard W. Jacobson, Mollie Kurtz, Sara Melnick, Sharon Lee Morton, Milton Moskovitz, David Pearlstein, Rose Rom, Alex Ruben, Fannie Shapiro, Leo Spiegle, Harry Treelisky, Louise Ziskind

Tuesday August 22: Lillian Bergad, Florence Bertenthal, Fannie Cohen, Patty Danovitz, Lena Darling, Rose Gold, Dora F. Greene, Bernard J Harris, Jeanette Miller Horowitz, Leah Katz, Pearl Laufe, Selma G. Leventon, Natalie Myra Lewis, Harry Malkin, Laura Marcuson, Rabbi Pincus F. Miller, Stefanie Ann Miller, Sylvia Monsein, Harry L. Richman, Max Roth, Gwen Amy Shakespeare, Howard S. Snider, Oscar Wilson, Isadore Sidney Wolfson

Wednesday August 23: Anna Friedman Calig, Rose Calig, George H. Danzinger, Ella Friedman, Edith Goldstein, Liuba Horvitz, William M. Katz, Marcel Lucja, Frank Miller, Frances Rosen, Benjamin David Schwartz, Becky Weiner, Annie Wirtzman, Nathan Zapler

Thursday August 24: Harry Z. Davidson, Rabbi Henry Friedman, Helen Handlesman, Samuel E. Jacobson, Mimi Lawrence, Pauline Racusin Leventon, Jennie D. Miller, Rachel Mintz, Jennie Papernick, Ernst Perlstein, Dora Shaffer, Sarah Snyder, Mildred Tannenbaum, Sophie Tauber, Saul Weis

Friday August 25: Joseph Baker, Belle Berman, Harry Dickter, Jacob Dobkin, Marilyn Elikan, Nathan Fisher, Rose Goodstein, Rita Hertz, David Kravitz, Thomas Lewis, Simon Lieberman, Lillian London, Yehudi Marbach, Sadie Margolis, Leon Pattak, Freda Rubin, Alice D. Safier, Rebecca Siegal, Lena Thomashefsky, Sarah Zweig

Saturday August 26: Leon Alan Berger, Jean Serbin Burckin, Honey Sue Fink, Esther Kochin, Bert Lasnik, Eva Zawitz Mannheimer, Fannie L. Morris, Rebecca Rockman, Sadie Simon Sieff, Harry Siegal, Harry Zeff, Margaret Zelman

D’Alessandro Funeral Home and Crematory Ltd.

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Obituaries

Nechama Tec, survivor whose book about the Bielski partisans inspired the Daniel Craig film ‘Defiance,’ dies at 92

— NEWS OBITUARY

—

By Andrew Silow-Carroll, Ben Harris | JTA

Nechama Tec, a Holocaust survivor and historian whose book about a group of Jews in Belarus who successfully defied the Nazis was made into the 2008 film “Defiance, “ died Aug. 3 in New York City, following an illness. She was 92.

Tec, a member of one of only three Jewish families from Lublin, Poland, to survive the Holocaust intact from a prewar population of some 40,000, was for decades on the sociology faculty at the University of Connecticut in Stamford. Her books included “Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust” (2003) and “When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland” (1986).

Prior to the film adaptation of her 1993 book, “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” Tec was best known within the academic world and the tight-knit community of American Holocaust survivors.

The film version of “Defiance” was directed by Edward Zwick and starred Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber as the Bielski brothers, Tuvia and Zus. Under the brothers’ leadership, Jewish partisans rescued Jews from extermination and fought the German occupiers and their collaborators in what is now western Belarus.

Historians had long known of uprisings at the Auschwitz and Treblinka camps, in addition to the better-known rebellion in the Warsaw Ghetto led by Mordecai Anielewicz, but the story of the Bielskis differed fundamentally in that it was successful.

When Tec set out to write a book about the Bielski brothers, she sought to fill in omissions and correct distortions created by their almost-total excision from historical accounts of the Holocaust.

“The omission is the conspicuous silence about Jews who, while themselves threatened by death, were saving others,” Tec wrote in the opening to “Defiance.” “The distortion is the common description of European Jews as victims who went passively to their death.”

In her five-decade career at the University

of Connecticut, Tec explored overlooked or under-reported aspects of resistance during the Holocaust, including the role of Christian rescuers and the gender dynamics among and between Jewish survivors.

She received numerous awards for her publications, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination for “Resilience and Courage.” She was awarded the 1994 International Anne Frank Special Recognition prize for ”Defiance.” She was a member of the advisory council of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. In 2002, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Born May 15, 1931, to Roman Bawnik and Esther (Hachamoff) Bawnik, Tec was 8 years old when the Germans arrived in Lublin. She and her sister survived three years by posing as the nieces of a Catholic family; her parents also survived the war by hiding in homes and evading German detection.

“An extra layer of secretiveness, combined

helping you plan for what matters the most

with a fear of discovery, became part of my being,” she wrote of those years in her 1982 memoir, “Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood.” “All my life revolved around hiding; hiding thoughts, hiding feelings, hiding my activities, hiding information.”

After the war, Tec immigrated to Israel, where she married Leon Tec, a noted child psychiatrist. Later they moved to the United States, where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at Columbia University and served on the faculty there for a decade. She began teaching at Connecticut in 1974.

The couple had two children, one of whom — son Roland — co-produced the “Defiance” film. Her daughter, Leora Tec, is the founder and director of Bridge To Poland, an organization that aims to improve relations between Jews and non-Jewish Poles. Her husband died in 2013; both children survive her.

Tec met Tuvia Bielski only once, in Brooklyn, New York, just weeks before his death in 1987. In a 2009 interview with JTA, she recalled that Bielski’s legendary charisma was apparent,

even though he was old and frail.

“He was whispering,” she recalled. “I thought that my tape recorder won’t get anything. And I was trying to have the information flow. And as he got into his past, he sort of just, before my eyes, he became the person that he was, this charismatic leader, that has this absolute power in the unit.”

She added, “When he came into the room, he filled it with himself.”

While Tec was gratified that the film offered a counterpoint to allegations of Jewish passivity during the Holocaust, she also resisted what she called an impulse to blame the victim.

“Antisemitism is with us; it is like a perpetual, chronic addiction of humanity,” she told JTA. “You cannot learn about antisemitism by examining what the antisemites tell us because this is not based on fact. It is based on their need to blame somebody for something that they have not done.”

A memorial service for Tec at Manhattan’s Plaza Memorial Chapel is planned for Oct. 1. PJC

p University of Connecticut sociologist and historian Nechama Tec’s 1993 book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” was adapted for a 2008 film directed by Edward Zwick. Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Archive

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Life & Culture

Netflix’s ‘Painkiller’ is mesmerizing drama about Sackler role in ongoing opioid crisis

— FILM —

By Renee Ghert-Zand | The Times of Israel

“All of human behavior is comprised of two things. Run from pain. Run toward pleasure. Pain, pleasure. Pain, pleasure. If we place ourselves right there between pain and pleasure, we will never have to worry about money again.”

This is what Dr. Richard Sackler (played by Matthew Broderick) tells his uncles in Netflix’s new six-episode limited series, “Painkiller,” which focuses on the prescription opioid crisis in the United States that has thus far led to the overdose deaths of at least 1 million people. The series began streaming on Aug. 10.

In the first episode, Richard Sackler makes this haunting and prescient statement after the family patriarch, Dr. Arthur Sackler — noted psychiatrist, drug marketer and art collector — dies in 1987 and the family must decide which companies in their portfolio will keep them profitable. Richard persuades his uncles that they should bet on the small pharmaceutical company Purdue-Frederick, which they rename Purdue Pharma.

In 1996, Purdue released OxyContin, a slow-release version of oxycodone. Oxycodone is a synthetic opioid used for decades mainly to treat cancer and terminally ill patients. OxyContin is essentially heroin in pill form and is highly addictive — unlike what Purdue had claimed.

“Painkiller” illustrates how the Sacklers did not have evidence that the drug was safe and how they got approval for it by putting an FDA official in their pocket.

OxyContin would make the Sacklers one of America’s wealthiest families thanks to Purdue’s aggressive marketing of the medication for common and chronic pain conditions. Court filings show the Sacklers made $10 billion in profits from OxyContin.

Since the late 1990s, the United States — mostly its Middle America heartland — has been ravaged by opioid addiction, kicked off by the introduction of OxyContin. (Other countries have also been affected, including Israel, which has the highest per capita number of opioid prescriptions in the world.)

Written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, and directed by Peter Berg, “Painkiller” is based on “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic” by Barry Meier and “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe.

The Netflix series is not the first narrative iteration of the opioid crisis. There have been documentaries, other dramatic series, books, and countless investigative articles. With 100,000 Americans still dying every year from opioid overdoses, “Painkiller” will surely not be the last version of the story.

The binge-worthy “Painkiller” constantly switches tones, moving abruptly between highs and lows. The soundtrack is often pumped up, and cartoon images sometimes pop up to break up the visual style. Surreal at times, the overall effect presumably attempts

to mimic the sharp ups and downs felt while using and becoming addicted to OxyContin.

The show’s plot weaves several compelling narrative strands to cover as many bases as possible in explaining how prescription opioids ended up killing so many people and destroying so many families and communities.

Some of the characters, such as the Sackler family members and their employees, and United States Attorney John L. Brownlee for the Western District of Virginia, are real. Others are either composites or fictional, but their roles are essential.

U.S. Attorney’s Office investigator Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba) serves as narrator, anchoring the various and complex aspects of the story. She reluctantly comes to Washington, D.C., after civil prosecutors ask her to help them prepare a case against Purdue. Having worked tirelessly with Brownlee to ready a case against the drug company in 2007, she had her hopes dashed when at the last minute the Justice Department puts pressure on Brownlee to settle the case, with Purdue copping only to a count of mislabeling.

However, once the tough Flowers sees that the prosecutors have a taped deposition of Purdue president Richard Sackler from 2015 (it was published by ProPublica in 2019), she is willing to cooperate.

She starts at the beginning, telling how she by sheer chance became aware of OxyContin and how people in western Virginia were becoming addicted to it. Motivated by the destruction of her own family by the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, she begins digging into the astronomical number of OxyContin prescriptions and refills being prescribed by doctors and dispensed at pharmacies in the area.

“How can something legally prescribed be killing so many people?” the bewildered Flowers asks.

Upselling addiction

Purdue sales reps Britt Hufford (Dina Shihabi) and Shannon Schaeffer (West Duchovny), dressed in short, tight dresses and high heels, woo doctors into not only prescribing OxyContin but also upping patients’ dosages when the medication seems to be wearing off too soon. These “OxyContin kittens” — none of whom have a medical background — convince the doctors that the drug is safe and that it will benefit their bottom lines.

“OxyContin is the one to start with and the one to stay with. The more you prescribe, the more you’ll help,” says Schaeffer, a young woman seeking a way out of poverty who lets the bling afforded her by her newfound earnings blind her to the questionable ethics of her behavior.

The final interwoven strand in the narrative is that of Glen Kryger (Taylor Kitsch) and his family. After Kryger, a car mechanic, has a major accident at his garage, his doctor puts him on OxyContin to handle the pain during his recovery. When Kryger’s initial dose wears off in less than the supposed 12 hours, his doctor increases his dosage. Kryger keeps building a tolerance to the drug, and without more of it and at more frequent intervals, he starts having withdrawal symptoms.

Within a short time, Kryger is addicted and getting OxyContin wherever and however he can. He also begins snorting it, as young teenagers in the community are doing with deadly consequences.

Throughout the series, the ghost of Arthur Sackler haunts his nephew Richard. Arthur goads Richard to be both ruthless and careful and mostly warns him to not ruin the Sackler name, which is on many prestigious institutions of medicine, science, and art.

On May 30, 2023, a New York court of appeals issued a ruling granting the Sackler family immunity from current and future lawsuits over their role in Purdue Pharma’s

opioid business. In return, the Sackler family agreed to pay up to $6 billion to fight the ongoing opioid epidemic.

As part of a deal reached in March 2022 with eight states and the District of Columbia, the Sackler family agreed to allow organizations and institutions in the United States to remove the family name from buildings, programs, and scholarships, providing that the family is notified and public statements announcing the name removal do not “disparage” the family.

Even before the deal was reached, some universities and institutions in the U.S. decided to put an end to the Sacklers’ philanthropic reputation laundering.

Many international institutions also decided to place distance between themselves and the Sacklers. Oxford University removed the family’s name from a library, galleries, and programs. Museums such as the Louvre in Paris and the Tate museums, the National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum in London also disassociated themselves from the Sackler family.

In June, Tel Aviv University decided to drop Sackler from the name of its medical school. It issued a statement saying that the decision was mutual, but it wasn’t hard to read between the lines.

“For the last 50 years, the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University has proudly borne the Sackler family name,” said a university statement.

“In a continuing desire and commitment to assist the University and the Faculty to raise funds for medical research, the Sackler family has kindly agreed to remove their name from the faculty of medicine. With this move, they will enable the university to offer naming opportunities for the faculty of medicine and school of medicine to new donors.”

As the Sackler name continues to disappear from buildings, the accomplished and disturbing “Painkiller” serves as the latest horrifying reminder of why. PJC

p From left: Uzo Aduba as Edie and Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler in episode 5 of “Painkiller”

Photo by Keri Anderson/Netflix © 2023, via The Times of Israel

Community

Check out these wheels

Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse acquired a new 15-passenger van thanks to a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Place of Tomorrow seen clearly

Pittsburgh campers are enjoying their summer at Young Judaea Midwest in Waupaca, Wisconsin.

Olive outdoor Torah study

sweet and refreshing

Macher and Shaker

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Senior Staff Writer David Rullo’s book “Gen X Pittsburgh: The Beehive and the 90s Scene” was No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in the Coffee & Tea category. Rullo’s book, which will be released on Oct. 30, covers a bygone Pittsburgh haunt and the cultural growth it engendered.

p Increased accessibility is the destination.

Photo courtesy of The Branch

p So many stairs

Photo courtesy of Camp Gan Israel

A colorful crew Campers and staff from Camp Gan Israel enjoyed a group photo in Squirrel Hill.

p So much green: Where’s the Chain O’Lakes?

Photo courtesy of Merav Amos

p They barley notice the heat.

Photo courtesy of Temple David

Temple David congregants visited the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden.

p Drink to a good cause.

Photo courtesy of Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

So

Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh members held an annual community lemonade stand.

p Beehive book cover Image courtesy of David Rullo

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