BY RON KAPLAN Chronicle Correspondent A fixture in Jewish Pittsburgh for more than 150 years, Rodef Shalom Con- gregation has a storied past. But, according to its clerical and lay leadership, it must make serious changes to secure its future. At a Jan. 19 town meeting, Rodef Shalom’s senior rabbi, Aaron Bisno, and its president, Don Simon, laid out the chal- lenges facing the largest congregation in western Pennsylvania, and their strate- gies for addressing them. Bisno said that Rodef Shalom must con- sider changes to nearly every aspect of its operation. This must be done, he said, by pooling resources with neighboring con- gregations for youth education, religious services and administrative functions. “We can’t go it alone. We have an obliga- tion to pursue [collaboration],” Bisno said. Bisno, who traveled across the country last winter while on sabbatical, visited many congregations and learned firsthand that Rodef Shalom’s problems aren’t unique. His sabbatical also exposed him to many creative approaches to deal with these vexing challenges. “We need to re-examine everything we do,” he said. “We have a unique op- portunity to do something creative and courageous.” Recently, Rodef Shalom has reached out to Temple Sinai and Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill to consider part- nerships in education. Bisno hopes to pres- ent a proposal for such initiatives to the board of trustees by March, at the latest. These initiatives must not undermine the congregation’s identity and turn it into “a one-stop behemoth,” he cau- tioned. “We need to figure out what we need to accomplish.” JANUARY 26, 2012 SHEVAT 2, 5772 Vol. 55, No. 37 $1.50 Times To Remember Pittsburgh, PA B USINESS 12 /C LASSIFIED 11 /C OMMUNITY 10 O BITUARIES 14 /O PINION 6 /R EAL E STATE 13 /S IMCHAS 8 KINDLE SABBATH CANDLES: 5:13 p.m. EST. SABBATH ENDS: 6:15 p.m. EST. Byman: Israeli counterterrorism a series of adjustments BY LEE CHOTTINER Executive Editor Daniel Byman believes Israel must defend itself from terrorism, but it must also learn from its mistakes. And there have been mistakes. “I believe terrorism is horrible — not just wrong, but horrible. And I believe Israel has not only a right but an obliga- tion to fight back,” Byman, an expert in counterterrorism, said in a Chronicle interview. “But that doesn’t mean Israel always does the right thing. “Israel is a government. Like any oth- er government, it is subject to political pressure; it is human beings making mistakes. Israeli intelligence is superb … but it’s fallible as well,” he continued. “Israel, I think, is actually often not so good on the strategic level. It’s very good in making day-to-day decisions but often some of its long-term decisions have backfired.” A professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings In- stitution, Byman is out with his new book, “A High Price: The Triumphs & Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism.” In it, he tracks the evolution of terrorism in the Arab-Israeli conflict since the British mandate, with an emphasis on the 1990s to the present. He analyzes what has worked and what hasn’t. He spoke here last week as a guest of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. In his book, Byman prefers to address day-to-day acts of terrorism, such as bombings and rocket attacks, and the counter-measures employed by Israel. These types of terrorism are harder for Israel to deal with than the high-profile hijackings and hostage takings of the Please see Rodef Shalom, page 15. Please see Byman, page 15. Rodef Shalom ponders tough issues at town meeting Metro Preservation Central PA center to house memories of Jewish life there Page 4 Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), seen here on the campaign trail with her husband, U.S. Navy Capt. Mark E. Kelly, resigned from Congress this week after a final appearance on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday for President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Giffords was shot in the head Jan. 8, 2011, at a public appearance in Tucson. She says she needs to resign to focus on her recovery. Giffords resigns from Congress
Transcript
BY RON KAPLANChronicle Correspondent
A fixture in Jewish Pittsburgh formore than 150 years, Rodef Shalom Con-gregation has a storied past.But, according to its clerical and lay
leadership, it must make seriouschanges to secure its future.At a Jan. 19 town meeting, Rodef
Shalom’s senior rabbi, Aaron Bisno, andits president, Don Simon, laid out the chal-lenges facing the largest congregation inwestern Pennsylvania, and their strate-gies for addressing them.Bisno said that Rodef Shalom must con-
sider changes to nearly every aspect of itsoperation. This must be done, he said, bypooling resources with neighboring con-gregations for youth education, religiousservices and administrative functions.“We can’t go it alone. We have an obliga-
tion to pursue [collaboration],” Bisno said.Bisno, who traveled across the
country last winter while on sabbatical,visited many congregations and learnedfirsthand that Rodef Shalom’s problemsaren’t unique.His sabbatical also exposed him to
many creative approaches to deal withthese vexing challenges.“We need to re-examine everything
we do,” he said. “We have a unique op-portunity to do something creative andcourageous.”Recently, Rodef Shalom has reached out
to Temple Sinai and Congregation BethShalom in Squirrel Hill to consider part-nerships in education. Bisno hopes to pres-ent a proposal for such initiatives to theboard of trustees by March, at the latest.These initiatives must not undermine
the congregation’s identity and turn itinto “a one-stop behemoth,” he cau-tioned. “We need to figure out what weneed to accomplish.”
KINDLE SABBATH CANDLES:5:13 p.m. EST.SABBATH ENDS: 6:15 p.m. EST.
Byman: Israelicounterterrorisma series ofadjustmentsBY LEE CHOTTINER
Executive Editor
Daniel Byman believes Israel mustdefend itself from terrorism, but it mustalso learn from its mistakes.And there have been mistakes.“I believe terrorism is horrible — not
just wrong, but horrible. And I believeIsrael has not only a right but an obliga-tion to fight back,” Byman, an expert incounterterrorism, said in a Chronicleinterview. “But that doesn’t mean Israelalways does the right thing.“Israel is a government. Like any oth-
er government, it is subject to politicalpressure; it is human beings makingmistakes. Israeli intelligence is superb… but it’s fallible as well,” he continued.“Israel, I think, is actually often not sogood on the strategic level. It’s verygood in making day-to-day decisions butoften some of its long-term decisionshave backfired.”A professor in the School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University and asenior fellow at the Saban Center forMiddle East Policy at the Brookings In-stitution, Byman is out with his newbook, “A High Price: The Triumphs &Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism.” Init, he tracks the evolution of terrorismin the Arab-Israeli conflict since theBritish mandate, with an emphasis onthe 1990s to the present. He analyzeswhat has worked and what hasn’t.He spoke here last week as a guest of
the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.In his book, Byman prefers to address
day-to-day acts of terrorism, such asbombings and rocket attacks, and thecounter-measures employed by Israel.These types of terrorism are harder forIsrael to deal with than the high-profilehijackings and hostage takings of the
Please see Rodef Shalom, page 15. Please see Byman, page 15.
Rodef Shalom ponders tough issues at town meeting
Metro
Preservation
Central PA center to housememories of Jewish life there
Page 4
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), seen here on the campaign trail with her husband, U.S. Navy Capt. Mark E. Kelly, resignedfrom Congress this week after a final appearance on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday for President Obama’sState of the Union Address. Giffords was shot in the head Jan. 8, 2011, at a public appearance in Tucson. She says she needs toresign to focus on her recovery.
Giffords resigns from Congress
(Editor’s Note: Retro News is a columnthat will appear every week as part ofthe celebration of the Chronicle’s 50thanniversary. Each week, Retro Newswill look at a past issue of the Chronicle,encapsulating the news reported thatweek.)
Front pageIt’s not every week that the front page
of the Chronicle has a story under thebyline of the prime minister of Israel.But that’s what happened on July 8, 1976,
just four days after Israeli commandosswept down on the international airport inEntebbe, Uganda, to rescue 102 hostagesfrom Air France Flight 139, which terror-ists hijacked over Greece on June 27. The price of the operation was high. In
addition to the seven hijackers and threehostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers whowere killed, the operation claimed thelife of commando leader Yoni Ne-tanyahu, brother of current IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,and today an iconic figure in Israel.In his front-page statement, then-Is-
raeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabincalled the rescue mission “a bold, re-sourceful and sophisticated effort,” buthe did not overlook the loss of life to Is-
rael and the hostages’ families.“Together with the families who have
lost their dear ones, we mourn our dead,”Rabin wrote, “uniformed and civilian,victims of the vile Arab terrorism.”He used the forum to trumpet another
example of Israel’s refusal to deal withterrorists, saying the mission was “wor-thy of Jewish and Israeli pride and ofworldwide acclaim.”Operation UMI (Uganda, Mission In-
credible) is how the Chronicle labeledthe mission, but its real code name wasOperation Thunderbolt.The rescue effort was dubbed, domi-
nated the front page of the Chronicle,which had a map showing the 5,000-mileroute the commandos’ plane took to En-tebbe, and how they refueled in Kenyabefore returning to Israel.Also published on page 1 was a grisly
wire story about Dora Bloch, a 75-year-old Jewish hostage who was in an En-tebbe hospital when the rescue tookplace. According to the story, she wasdragged from her hospital shortly afterthe rescue. She was never seen or heardfrom again; U.S. State Departmentsources said the Ugandans killed her.At the upper left-hand corner of the
page was a federation appeal on theheels of the successful rescue effort.
Oddly, there also was wire story abouta Presbyterian minister who warned of anew effort that summer by Christianmissionaries to convert Jews.
OpinionIn his weekly “People & Issues” col-
umn, which took up almost an entirepage that week, the Chronicle’s execu-tive editor, Albert W. Bloom, used therescue at Entebbe to note the seventhbracha of the morning Shacharit serv-ice, which gives thanks to the Guardianof Israel “who settest the captives free.”“The words seemed to reflect some
primitive bygone century when men andnations were less ‘civilized,’ ” Bloomwrote. “No more!”He noted that the Entebbe rescue oc-
curred in the same country thatTheodore Herzl once considered for anew homeland for the Jews.“History repeats itself,” he wrote, “but
never in the same way.”
CommunityAlso this week, the Chronicle reported
that Ivan Novick was elected presidentof the Tri-State Zionist Organization atits annual conference … Louis Zeiden ofBeaver Falls was named to the board ofthe Tri-State Israel Bonds Cabinet …Irene Smolover became the fundraising
2 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
Please see Retro News, page 15.
Rabin addressed readers following Entebbe rescue
The July 8, 1976, front page.
This week’s issue: July 8, 1976
The Johnstown Area Her-itage Association and BethSholom Congregation are coop-erating on the Jewish Community Her-itage Project, a series of three museumexhibits and other programming for2012-2013 to mark 125 years of organ-ized Jewish life in Johnstown.The University of Pittsburgh at John-
stown is cooperating with the project,which will coincide with a campus lec-ture by Michael Walzer, a PrincetonUniversity professor emeritus at the In-stitute for Advanced Studies — and aJohnstown native —Thursday, Sept. 27.The first exhibit will open at the Dis-covery Center Friday, Sept. 28. Among the other exhibits are:• The Jonah Drawings, by David
Wander, which explore the Book of Jon-ah and the writings of the prophets. TheJonah Drawings consist of 13 paperpanels in dark shades of grey, blue andblack. They follow the text exactly, butvisually interpret the scenes for a mod-ern audience. The 50-foot-long frieze isaccompanied by additional paintings in-terpreting the written word. • Cinema Judaica: The War Years, an
exhibition of iconic Hollywood film postersfrom 1939 to 1949 that illustrates how themotion picture industry countered Ameri-ca’s isolationism, advocated going to waragainst the Nazis, influenced post-war per-ceptions of the Jewish people and thefounding of the State of Israel, and shapedthe face of contemporary Jewish life.
• Letters to Sala, a traveling exhibi-tion based on the Sala GarncarzKirschner Collection in the Dorot Jew-ish Division of the New York Public Li-brary, a new collection of letters, photo-graphs and documents that were mailedor smuggled into Nazi labor camps. Jews have been in Johnstown since at
least the 1850s. The earliest Jews in John-stown were German, followed by manymore from Russia, Poland and other partsof Eastern Europe during the great waveof immigration from about 1880-1920. Thearea’s first Jewish burial ground was es-tablished at Grandview Cemetery in 1888.The temporary exhibit on John-
stown’s Jewish history will be displayedat Beth Sholom Congregation after theproject concludes in 2013. The exhibit’sthemes will include the early settle-ment of German and Eastern EuropeanJews in the Johnstown area, how Jewsdeveloped an economic niche, estab-lishment of a mature community, anddiscrimination and integration.The project is funded by the Abe and
Janet Beerman Fund at the CommunityFoundation for the Alleghenies, theWilliam L. Glosser Family Fund, the Sauland Eva Glosser Memorial Fund and theUnited Johnstown Jewish Federation. Call Beth Sholom at (814) 536-6440 or
Barry Rudel at (412) 215-9157 for moreinformation. Rudel can also be reachedat [email protected].
Every Body Day, a program ofthe Jewish Community Center ofGreater Pittsburgh’s annual Youth and
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012 — 3
METRO
Briefly
Please see Briefly, page 5.
BY TOBY TABACHNICKStaff Writer
The Jewish population of centralPennsylvania may be dwindling, but itsstories and records will be kept alive,thanks to the stewardship of Jewishleaders in Huntingdon, as well as agroup of non-Jewish Northern Cambriahigh school students and a dedicatedhistory teacher. “There was the realization that there
was a lot of Jewish life in central Penn-sylvania, and that nobody knew thatmuch about it,” said Stanford Lembeck,president of Agudath Achim in Hunting-don. “It all came to mind last year thattime is passing quickly, and we are los-ing these stories (of the local Jewishfamilies). We are trying to intervene tomake this important history continue tolive.”To that end, Lembeck, along with Hol-
ly Mollo, spiritual leader of AgudathAchim, have established the Center forthe Study of Jewish Life in central Penn-sylvania, a cooperative effort amongAgudath Achim, Juniata College, Junia-ta College Hillel and the Jacob RaderMarcus Center of the American JewishArchives in Cincinnati.The Center in Huntingdon will collect
artifacts and oral histories to provide re-sources for scholarship and familiesseeking to learn about their forbearsfrom Sunbury to Lock Haven, fromLewistown to Punxsutawney.“We had been aware for some time of
the attrition of these communities,” saidMollo. “There were congregations thatwere going away, and they needed hos-pice care. What happens to the artifacts,
the books, the yahrtzeit boards, theTorahs — all the trappings of a syna-gogue? There was no place where peoplecould preserve this stuff.”The archives will be housed at Juniata
College, which also served as the loca-tion of the Center’s first annual Shabba-ton last October. Parts of the Shabbatonwere also held at Agudath Achim. The planning for the Shabbaton was
well under way when Lembeck and Mol-lo read an article in The Jewish Chroni-cle published last July about the stu-dents in Northern Cambria, and theirwork to preserve their own town’sJewish history, as well as the 85-year-old Barnesboro synagogue building.Barnesboro merged with the nearbytown of Spangler several years ago toform Northern Cambria.“We had already developed our
prospectus for the Center when we cameacross the article [in the Chronicle],”Lembeck recalled. “That was in theworks. The Barnesboro story came as akind of special treat and surprise.”At the invitation of Lembeck, about 10
students from Northern Cambria HighSchool, and their teacher, Karen Bow-man, attended the Shabbaton. The groupdid a presentation about their own workin chronicling Jewish history, and lis-tened to the information presented byothers throughout the day. Hearing vari-ous presentations about the Jewish fami-lies of central Pennsylvania, as well astouring Agudath Achim, helped bring his-tory to life for her students, Bowman said. “It was a wonderful day, chock full of
information about what everyone wantedto know about the Jews of central
4 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
METRO
Huntingdon Co. center to preservecentral PA Jewish history
Agudath Achim synagogue in Huntingdon was struggling to survive in the 1980s.Today, it has 100 members and drew 40 to 60 worshippers for the most recent HighHoly Days.
Please see Synagogue, page 13.
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012 — 5
METRO
Family Wellness Fair, will be held Sun-day, Jan. 29, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., atthe JCC in Squirrel Hill.The program will include: group exer-
cise classes, �new cardio equipment,family gym, youth and family wellnessfair, boys hip-hop, adult hip-hop, chil-dren’s hip-hop, and special camp dis-countsVisit JCCPGH.org or call 412-521-
8010 for more information.
The Pittsburgh Area JewishCommittee’s Christian-JewishDialogue will meet Thursday, Feb. 2,at noon at Congregation Beth Shalom,5915 Beacon St. The topic will be “Im-migration,” presented by Rabbi PaulTuchman and Father Dan Valentine.Jewish and Christian texts (Leviticus19:33-34; Hebrews 13:2) will be studied.The monthly conveners are Rabbi
James Gibson, Rev. Cynthia Bronson-Sweigert, Valentine and Rabbi MichaelWerbow. The program is free to thepublic. Contact the PAJC office at 412-605-0816 or at [email protected] for moreinformation.
Jewish Family & Children’sService’s Career DevelopmentCenter will offer job seekers 15 work-shops in February. Some of the workshopsinclude: Job Search Strategies, Feb. 1;Marcellus Shale Presentation and Q&A,
Feb. 7; The Art of Networking, Feb. 13; andTransitioning to Success, Feb. 28. MonthlyLinkedIn for Beginners, LinkedIn Ad-vanced, AARP WorkSearch 40+, Network-ing Club and Job Seeker Support groupworkshops will be held also. Visit careerdevelopmentcenter.org
to register. Call the Career Develop-ment Center at 412-422-5627 for moreinformation.
Pittsburgh Conference ofJewish Women’s Organiza-tions and Beth Shalom Sister-hood will hold an afternoon game par-ty at Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915Beacon St., Monday, Feb. 6, at 12:30p.m. Women from any Jewish organiza-tion or Sisterhood are invited for an af-ternoon of fun and friendship. Bringyour friends and your favorite games.There is a charge. R.S.V.P. to Lynne Ja-cobson at 412-521-8288 [email protected]; or RuthGarfinkel at 412-687-3077, [email protected]. Contact Dena Chot-tiner at [email protected] orcall 412-672-3979.
Congregation Beth Shalomand Rodef Shalom Sisterhoodare holding a winter film festival opento the community. Sunday, Jan. 29, thecomedy film “Nora’s Will” will bescreened at 7 p.m. in Congregation BethShalom’s Samuel and Minnie HymanBallroom, 5915 Beacon St.There is no charge but there is a suggest-
ed fee. Light refreshments will be served.Call 412-421-2288 for more information.
BrieflyContinued from page 3.
Join fellow members of the
GREATER PITTSBURGHAIPAC DELEGATION for the
three most important days affecting
ISRAEL’S FUTURE!
THE 2012 AIPAC POLICYCONFERENCE
March 4-6 , 2012
The Washington Convention CenterWashington, DC
To register go to WWW.AIPAC.ORG/PCor contact The AIPAC Mid-Atlantic Regional Office at
410-223-4190.
THE 2012 GREATER PITTSBURGH POLICY CONFERENCE DELEGATION
David AinsmanMeryl Ainsman
David BakerJames BusisJeff Cohan
Helen EatonJoseph EatonPeter GordonRobin GordonMarc HoffmanRhonda HorvitzScott Horvitz
Sue LinzerDiane ModerCheryl MoorePearl MooreJack MostowJanet MostowMelody MostowJennifer Olbum
Marc RiceLarry RosenSandy RosenNico Satryan
Tony SatryanAlan ScheimerDeb ScheimerBarbara Shear
Herb ShearAlexander Tal
Leyat TalMatan TalOrna Tal
Aaron WeilAmy WeissLou Weiss
More and more frequently, I am con-fronted with alarming examples of thegrowing chasm between Israeli Jewsand American Jews. Sometimes it is theIsraeli misperception of American Jew-ish life that rankles me. On other occa-sions, I am dumbfounded by the lack ofunderstanding of Israeli realities andsensibilities on the part of AmericanJews.I would put an opinion piece by
Joshua Bloom, director of Israel Pro-grams for Rabbis for Human RightsNorth America published recently in theHuffington Post into the latter category.In his article, Blum criticizes Gadna ex-periences for North American teens vis-iting Israel. Gadna (an acronym forg’dudei noar ivri) is the Israel DefenseForces pre-military program for pre-army age teens. Gadna is staffed by IDFsoldiers, and a minimum weeklong Gad-na stint has, in recent years, become atypical component (sometimes optional,sometimes mandatory) of many youthgroup Israel adventures.Bloom seems to think that there is no
justifiable reason for a week of Gadna onthese trips. For him, American Jewishyouth learning about life in the army,visiting different kinds of military bases,engaging in physical challenges, learn-ing orienteering and survival skills, get-ting briefed on IDF history and trainingto shoot a weapon amount to “the promo-tion of violent institutions.”I beg to differ. I personally did Gadna
for three summers in a row when I was ateenager back in the mid 1980s, well be-fore it was a common thing to do. And Ididn’t just do one-week stints — Itoughed it out for six weeks at a time.Those 18 weeks were probably the mostformative ones of my life. Looking backnearly 30 years later, I can say unequiv-ocally that I emerged from those sum-mers not only more physically fit, butalso a different, more aware person. Andlet me assure you, I did not turn out to bea promoter of violent institutions.I gained a clearer understanding of
the importance of the IDF. By getting toknow the army through Gadna, I devel-oped a deep respect and admiration forit as an institution. At that same time, Imanaged not to get brainwashed in theway Blum seems to fear, in that, while Isupport the IDF, I can still take peacefulstands and take issue with certain ques-tionable military policies or deplorableacts by individual soldiers.Equally important, Gadna gave me
insights into Israeli society that Iwould never have gained otherwise.Being 24/7 with Israeli teens — both asmy fellow chanichim (course partici-pants) and as my madrichim (soldiercounselors) — gave me a better idea ofwhat it is like to grow up Israeli (whichincludes knowing that you will one dayhave to serve in the army) than couldany other experience. Not to mentionthat having orders barked at me at 5 inthe morning really improved my He-brew language abilities.I learned about the Israeli (Jewish)
society and psyche not from lectures,but by spending time with my fellowGadna-niks. I observed how Aviva, atough and proud officer and the only girlin a large, poor Moroccan immigrantfamily living in Dimona, approached herarmy service as a ticket out of the work-ing class. I got to know Eitan, who was
assigned to the noncombat Gadna corpsfor his military service because he wasan only child, his father having died inthe Six Day War while Eitan’s motherwas pregnant. I became best buddieswith Rachel, a slightly wacky firebrand.She taught me the fine points of reliev-ing oneself in the field, and I saved hermore than once from getting dangerous-ly lost in the desert by reading topo-graphical maps for her. We are still closetoday.Finally, Blum suggests that “putting
M-16s in the hands of 15-year-olds, glo-rifying violence, and playing war gamesminimizes the real consequences andsuffering associated with combat.” I cantell you from firsthand experience thatnothing will teach you to have a true ap-preciation for the destruction that canbe done with an M-16 better than beingmade to handle one. I had to practiceperforming safety checks on my gun somany times that I could probably still doone in my sleep.Feeling the painful kickback as you
shoot a real semiautomatic weapon isnothing like pressing a button on a videogame controller. Seeing your bullet ripthrough a practice target is a real wake-up call you can’t get from playing “Callof Duty,” which I would argue is farmore of a glorifier of violence.I agree with Bloom that we should
expose our youth to “Israel’s heroicpeacemakers and pursuers of justice,”and that we could be doing a better jobof encouraging critical thinking and ex-plaining the difficult moral complexi-ties of war. I just think that Gadna canand should be an essential piece of thateffort.
(Renee Ghert-Zand is a regular con-tributor to The Forward, which previous-ly published this column.)
David GrubmanThomas HollanderEvan IndianerDavid LevineAri LightmanMitchell Pakler
Amy PlattBenjamin Rosenthal
Charles SaulAdam Shear
Jonathan WanderLou Weiss
Published every Thursday by thePittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation5915 Beacon St., 3rd FloorPittsburgh, PA 15217Phone: 412-687-1000FAX: 412-521-0154
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OpinionOpinion6 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
Slings and arrows
In defense of 15-year-olds shooting M-16s
Guest Columnist
RENEE GHERT-ZAND
The essay by Winchester Thurstonjunior Jesse Lieberfeld, whichdecries Judaism as a once-won-
derful religion while lopsidedly trashingIsrael as the oppressor in its standoffwith the Palestinians, has regrettablygone viral since its Jan. 15 publication inthe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Since appearing in the P-G, Jesse’s es-
say, “Fighting a Forbidden Battle: How IStopped Covering Up for a HiddenWrong,” which tied for first place inCarnegie Mellon University’s 2012 Mar-tin Luther King Jr. Day Writing Awards,has been referenced, critiqued orreprinted in more than 7,000 blogs andwebsites. It has been held up as a profileof courage by pro-Palestinian forumsand attacked for its shocking lack ofdepth and understanding by pro-Israelforums.Whatever this young man’s reasons
for walking away from his faith andturning on the Jewish state, he’s not thefirst, and he won’t be the last.But that doesn’t mean he’s right. As any Jew who has been to Israel
knows, it’s an eclectic land — a place
where Arabs live alongside Jews in theGalilee and have representation in theKnesset.It’s a place that sent an Arab football
team to represent it in the EuropeanCup, a place where an Arab statesmanjoined the Cabinet of former Prime Min-ister Ehud Olmert.Compare that to the Arab world
where 800,000 Jews were driven fromtheir homes before and after Israel’sindependence.It’s a place where Israeli cemeteries
are filled with the victims of Palestinianterrorism — including women and chil-dren. Don’t they deserve at least a men-tion in this essay?As any Jew who is active in congrega-
tional life knows, Jewish teachings andvalues — the very foundation of Westerncivilization — are taught every week insynagogues of all Jewish denominations— through Torah and Talmud classes,rabbis’ sermons, religious school lessonsand many other modes.Synagogues are places where Jews
volunteer for any number of social ac-tion and community service projects,
from supporting food banks to visitingthe sick and elderly, to planting theirown community gardens. That soundslike a still-great religion to us.And as any Jew who reads this news-
paper knows, we print opinions fromacross the political spectrum — fromthose who laud Israel to those who criti-cize it. No one knows better than we dothat Israel isn’t a perfect land (no nationis), and we don’t use these pages to pre-tend that it is.But it is a great land nevertheless, and
the debate our columns foster make Is-raeli and Diaspora Jews a stronger,more understanding people — not arace.In the 21st century, it’s easy to make
a written piece go viral, but the truthwill always be the truth. What a shamethis controversy arose; its fallout willlikely be felt for some time. But longafter it is forgotten, Jews will continueto practice their faith, and Israel willcontinue to be a successful democracy.Such are the hallmarks of a great reli-gion and state: They can endure theslings and arrows.
Presidential politics rappedLet me see: Republican candidate for
president, Rick Santorum, is proposing thatif he is elected president he will push to givetax credits to parents to have more babies.At the same time, Republican Gov. Tom
Corbett is pursuing massive tax cuts onstate aid to schools because, he says, thestate cannot afford such aid. While Santo-rum is heralding a baby boom to increasethe population, most congressional Repub-licans are determined to send 12 millionimmigrants back to their home countries. Then, while Corbett is against most taxes
having to do with energy production fromthe Marsellus Shale fields in Pennsylvania,Santorum wants to end all taxes on manu-facturing, which he argues has nothing todo with energy production. Republicancongressional legislators want to solve taxand debt problems by doing what they seeas right: Not increasing taxes on anybody.Gov. Rick Perry says if he were presi-
dent and Iran closed the Strait of Hor-muz, the United States would attackIran. Republican congressman Ron Paulwould reduce foreign aid to zero. Hisnew slogan is: What me worry!I can hardly wait to see what the De-
mocrats are proposing to re-elect theircandidate.
Richard M. CarpeSquirrel Hill
It takes all of usAn essay written by a Jewish high
school student, which was recently pub-lished by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, de-scribed the student’s alienation from Is-rael, Jews and Judaism. This demonstratesa serious issue relating to the future of ourJewish community. How do we educateand inspire our children to instill Jewishvalues and a positive Jewish identity?Our community offers many opportuni-
ties for our teens to learn about their her-itage, such as post bar/bat mitzva, syna-gogue study programs, day schools, youthgroups, summer camps and AJL’s J-SITEprogram. We all seek to instill pride andlove for Israel, Jews and Judaism.
We cannot, however, accomplish thisgoal on our own. It takes all of us — com-munity, educational institutions, syna-gogues, family — to raise a Jewish childwith such values. This task and duty areespecially difficult as we face the chal-lenges of mass media, peer pressure andother cultural influences.For its part, the community must contin-
ue to provide quality Jewish educationaland experiential opportunities for childrenand adults. Parents must ensure that theirchildren, as well as they, are engaged inmeaningful Jewish learning and living.Synagogues must provide the spiritual in-spiration for our children and a warm, wel-coming home away from home.Let’s all learn more, do more and encour-
age others to do the same. Working togeth-er, we can change the culture of our com-munity to place greater value on Jewishlearning and living. This is the type of envi-ronment that is necessary to instill in ourchildren a positive Jewish identity, to createmeaningful life experiences, and to ensureour children’s future participation in athriving Jewish community.
Ed Frim andCharles H. SaulSquirrel Hill
(The authors are respectively the execu-tive director and president of the Agency forJewish Learning.)
Repression in GazacondemnedAs chairperson of the International Coun-
cil of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), Iwould like to express the solidarity of our or-ganization with Mahmoud Abu Rahma, ahuman and civil rights activist, who was re-cently stabbed in Gaza, as reported by Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based nongovernmental or-ganization that employs Mr. Abu Rahma.The attack was connected to the release
of an article written by Abu Rahma in De-cember, in which he sharply criticized thePalestinian armed groups in Gaza, as wellas Gazan and West Bank leadership, for re-peated human and civil rights violations,banning the freedoms of expression andpeaceful assembly, and the use of tortureand illegal detentions, which resulted in thedeath of several individuals.In his article, Abu Rahma also con-
demned the unfortunate common prac-tice by terrorist groups to act in “dense-ly-populated areas,” displaying a “con-tinuous negligence of the resistancegroups who show little or no care forpeople’s life and well being.”
The abuse of human rights in Gaza hassteadily increased since Hamas’ coup in2007. Political opponents, women, homo-sexuals, religious minorities are reported tobe under a growing threat. There has alsobeen mounting intolerance toward Gaza’ssmall Shiite minority, which has lately ex-perienced harassment and mass arrestswhile celebrating a Shiite holiday.The ICJP, an organization committed to
uphold the principles of democracy, furtherthe cause of human rights and promote therule of law, firmly condemns the ongoingrepression in Gaza. We praise the courage
of Mahmoud Abu Rahma and we call on theinternational community to open its eyesand act to shine a light on Gaza’s humanrights situation, first and foremost by sup-porting political objectors, so that their ex-posure will not be in vain.
Fiamma NirensteinRome, Italy
(In addition to chairing the ICJP, theauthor is a member of the Italian Cham-ber of Deputies.)
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012 — 7
OPINION
Letters to the editorWe invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters mustinclude name, address and daytime phone number; addressesand phone numbers will not be published. Letters may notexceed 400 words and may be edited for length and clarity;they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or e-mail letters to:via e-mail : [email protected]
via fax: (412) 521-0154
Mailing address: The Jewish Chronicle5915 3rd Flr.,Beacon St.Pittsburgh, PA 15217
8 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
SimchasBirths
Weiner: Amanda and Jared Weinerof Boca Raton, Fla., announce the birthof their daughter, Zoe Madison, Jan. 12.Grandparents are Roberta and JeffLetwin of Pittsburgh and Carla andBruce Weiner of Boca Raton. Great-grandparents are Buddy and PhyllisLetwin of Pittsburgh, Eleanor and PaulWeiner and Helen Krane of Del RayBeach, Fla. Big brother is Jonah.Zoe is named in loving memory of her
paternal great-uncle, Mark Unatin.
B’nai MitzvaJeremyAndrewFarbman, son ofLouise and StevenFarbman, will be-come a bar mitzvaSaturday, Jan. 28, at10:30 a.m. at Tem-ple Sinai.Grandparents are
Rose and ThomasGuerrieri and Gerald Farbman, all ofPittsburgh, and the late ShirleyFarbman.
Hanna RoseStolzer, daughterof Julie and DanStolzer, will be-come a bat mitzvaSaturday, Jan. 28,at TempleEmanuel. Grand-parents are ShirleyStolzer and Dr.Bertrand Stolzer
and Carol and Charles Krueger.
Check out the blogs at
www.thejewishchroncle.net
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012 — 9
ACLOSER
LOOK
Community10 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
CDS celebrates Winter Gala Roaring ’20s style
BY BRANDT GELMAN
Chronicle Correspondent
The roaring ’20s were a time of economic pros-perity for Americans who believed the sky was thelimit when discussing the future of the country.As the Jewish Healthcare Foundation enters its
20th year of existence, and Community DaySchool continues to thrive, the theme for thisyear’s Community Day School Winter Galaseemed obvious — a trip back to those headytimes.Influential figures in Jewish Pittsburgh gath-
ered for this year’s event at the Omni WilliamPenn Hotel, Downtown, donning fedoras and flap-per attire to celebrate CDS and its role in thePittsburgh Jewish community. “It is great to share this event with the Jewish
Healthcare Foundation,” said Head of School AviBaran Munro. “It’s wonderful to have them seewhat we do at CDS, and to see the role the schoolplays in our neighborhood.”Despite the dancing and festive atmosphere
within the grand ballroom of the William Penn,Munro took the time to praise the strides CDShas made to make the school more visible withinthe community. “Our students become leaders, valedictorians,
national merit finalists, it is true,” Munro said.
“Most importantly, they become people who arecompelled to make a difference in the world.”She cited various projects CDS students have
recently undertaken, including b’nai mitzva agepupils who are taking trips to local synagogues tohelp make morning minyans. One synagogue thathas received these CDS students is Tree ofLife*Or L’Simcha. Munro said students whomade minyans there were treated to French toastbreakfasts and returned to school promptly be-fore first period. One initiative that Munro is most proud of is
the tuition assistance program CDS has. “Finances should not be a barrier for someone
to apply to CDS,” she said. In fact, fundraising initiatives such as the Win-
ter Gala dinner are one of the main reasons thetuition assistance program has been able to grow.Munro said currently more than 40 percent offamilies enrolled at CDS receive tuition assis-tance. Just recently, CDS (along with Pittsburgh’sother Jewish day schools) initiated a new pro-gram in which students starting school in thethird grade and up can be granted their first yeartuition free. Munro hopes this initiative will con-tinue to bring in families that normally would notturn to CDS as a first choice in schooling. “People who did not see themselves as day
school families are turning toward us,” Munro
said. “My dream is to see a line of families out-side our door waiting to enroll their children.That line would represent a secure Jewish futurefor our city and for our people.”Another shining moment of the night was the
recognition of Stuart Kaplan as the Volunteerof the Year honoree. Kaplan, a CDS parent andtrustee, was given the prestigious award for histireless work with the school and within thecommunity. “Stu is committed to our school, to our stu-
dents, and to our future, and we thank him foreverything he does,” Munro said. As Kaplan stepped off the podium upon receiv-
ing his award, the rest of the night’s festivitieswere under way. Tim Richart, who Munro creditswith the vision to create great events such as theWinter Gala, said the event, in a word, was out-standing. Between the dancing, the food and theambiance, the 2012 Winter Gala was the perfectway to recognize the achievements of the JewishHealthcare Foundation, and CDS. “Our partnership is deep and it goes back a
long time,” Munro said. “We are honored to sharethe celebration with you.”
Pictured from left are Head of School Avi Baran Munro, Winter Gala chairs Stefani Pashman and Jeremy Feinstein and Leadership Award recipient KarenFeinstein.
There are two points to be shared inthis week’s portion, Bo:First is in the very beginning of the
passage, “Come to Pharaoh for I havemade his heart, and the heart of his ser-vants hard, so my signs can be madeknown to him.” This raises an obviousquestion — Judaism teaches that G-ddoes not interfere with the personal ac-tions of individuals. Here, as can clearlybe interpreted, G-d is doing exactly thatwith Pharaoh.While the wording indeed seems to in-
dicate G-d is interfering with Pharaoh’sactions, it certainly is not the case.Every time Pharaoh refused the com-mand of G-d to let the Jewish people goand serve him, Pharaoh’s heart hard-ened to the point making it less possiblefor Pharaoh to agree. All together,Pharaoh’s heart being hardened is men-tioned 19 times here.But Pharaoh would not allow himself
to be swayed; each time his stancewould be stronger and more stubborn.Even the idea of G-d in Pharaoh’s think-ing would harden his heart. Pharaohcould not conceive that there was anyforce more powerful than himself. Inthat respect, G-d hardened Pharaoh’sheart — or rather the idea of G-d.The second point is in verse 10 of
Chapter 10, where there is a passage in
which Pharaoh says to Moses, “The evilintent is opposite your faces.” The He-brew word rawahw, (evil) is interpretedby certain midrashim (Jewish folklore)as the name of a star. And this star is re-ferred to as “the star of blood.” Somebelieve it is the planet Mars. Mars isred. Pharaoh, being into magic and as-trology, believed that this star was tomeet the Jewish people in the desertand take them away from further serv-ice to him and wipe out Egypt. Moses always asked Pharaoh before
each plague, “Let my people go, so thatthey may serve their G-d in the wilder-ness.” but conveyed to Pharaoh theywould return to serve him as slaves. Ofcourse Moses never intended for thepeople to return, and in this particularcase Pharaoh lets him know that he iscertainly aware of this and declinesMoses’ request. This demonstrates how lost and sick
Pharaoh was. Moses’ request was verysimple, and yet Pharaoh became enam-ored with all kinds of concepts andimaginings.Both of these points together really
explain what is meant by the passages“Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” andG-d mentioning, “I have hardened hisheart.” When someone is so caught upwith notions beyond even their own con-trol, there is no room or open space fornegotiation or reasoning of any kind. AllMoses asked for was the exit of the peo-ple — nothing more, nothing less. It wasPharaoh who took the concept to wildextremes.
(This column is a service of the GreaterPittsburgh Rabbinic Association.)
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METRO
Pennsylvania,” Bowman said. “We wereable to see from the Juniata synagoguewhat ours might have been like when itwas in operation. We have a shell, butthey have an active worship life. It totallyturned the tables for us, and made us re-alize they have what we don’t in our story,and what we’ve been searching for. Theyhave pre-empted circumstances.” In fact, despite the flight of Jews from
central Pennsylvania, Agudath Achim’scongregation is actually growing, mostlythrough the absorption of members of con-gregations in surrounding areas that haveclosed. Although it was barely survivingthroughout the 1970s and 1980s, AgudathAchim now boasts about 100 members,and drew between 40 and 60 people for theHigh Holy Days this past year. While it is true that the resurgence of
Agudath Achim is unusual in the region,it is not alone. “One of the most interesting devel-
opments, in Sunbury, is they just builta new synagogue in the last two to fouryears,” Lembeck said. “They replacedthe previous synagogue, which hadfallen into disrepair. And the new syn-agogue was designed by Robert Ven-turi, a world-class architect. It’sextraordinary.”But despite the relative success of
Agudath Achim, and the re-birth of Con-gregation Beth El in Sunbury, most
congregations in central Pennsylvaniaare struggling. Lembeck believes that by combining,
and sharing resources, the congrega-tions of central Pennsylvania may beable to better survive. He hopes the es-tablishment of the Center may help tounite the various small communitiesscattered throughout the region.“We would like to see synagogues
work with each other,” Lembeck said.“They are now all independent, and wethink that through the Center, we mightbe able to provide an initiative for themto work together.” The Center has already begun to col-
lect historical objects from area syna-gogues that have closed, like OhevShalom in Lewistown, from which theCenter is preserving personalized metalplaques that adorned the seats of someof its members.Because he anticipates collecting a
vast array of artifacts and oral histories,Lembeck hopes to recruit additional vol-unteers to help archive the informationgathered, as well as develop a coherentsystem of archiving. He also hopes to in-volve Juniata students in the work, andto locate memorabilia from synagoguesthat no longer exist. “There was a synagogue in Punx-
atawney that no longer exists,” Lembecksaid. “We are looking for its remnants.So far, we have only found a small blackand white woodcut.”
In a rematch of the first game of theGreater Pittsburgh Independent Basket-ball League (GPIBL) season, the JCCBoys’ Basketball Team routed Propel bya 68-36 score.Jesse Goleman and Ben Katz once
again led the JCC, scoring 23 and 22points respectively.In a pregame team meeting, JCC head
coach Andy Pakler made sure his play-ers knew what he wanted them to ac-complish.“I said that we wanted to come out and
play four quarters of complete JCC bas-ketball,” Pakler said.His squad outrebounded Propel 40-17
— a key factor in the game.The JCC set the tempo for the game in
the first quarter as Katz skied for nu-merous offensive rebounds, setting upmultiple chances for the JCC to score.The team also recorded four blocks andled 20-8 in the quarter.Propel tried checking the JCC’s mo-
mentum in the second quarter by substi-tuting the five players they had on thefloor two separate times, but Pakler rec-ognized Propel’s uncharacteristic strat-egy and his team continued open a widelead going into halftime.“Different coaches do different things
to motivate their team,” Pakler said. “Iknow I’ve been on the losing end beforeand I know what it’s like to be down a lot
of points and try to have the team digdeep and pull out some sort of energy.”With the JCC up 31-16 going into the
third quarter, the team picked up thepace and netted some easy baskets. Thisset up the exclamation point in the gamewhen Justin Cicco came off of the benchand scored a layup on the run and drewa foul, firing up the JCC bench. Ciccofailed to convert the free throw, but theJCC clearly had the lead for good.“That was great,” Pakler said. “We know
Cicco can finish and that he put himself inthe right situation to do things.”With the JCC totally in control 52-25
going into the fourth quarter, Paklerwanted to be sure that his team wouldfinish up strong.“It’s a very important part of the
game,” he said. “When you are up dou-ble figures and are able to keep thatlead, it allows you to keep working andnot to become complacent. Every quar-ter starts out with a 0-0 score and I tellthe guys to go win each quarter.”The team was to visit Urban Impact, a
team that the JCC lost to when they encoun-tered them on the road last season, howeverthe game was postponed due to snow and amakeup date has not been announced.Up next for the JCC was a home game
Tuesday, Jan. 24, against NUP and aroad game Wednesday, Jan. 25, againstProject Destiny.
ALEXANDER: On Sunday, Jan. 22,2012, Edward Nathan Alexander;beloved husband of the late JeanneAlexander; beloved father of LeeAlexander of Potomac, Md., and the lateLynn Alexander; beloved grandfather ofJodi and Jeremy Alexander. Servicesand interment were held at BethShalom Cemetery. Contributions may bemade to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Can-cer Center, to the attention of LaurenCooler, The Rosanne L. AlexanderOvarian Cancer Research Fund,MSKCC Development Office, 633 ThirdAve., 28th Floor, New York, NY 10017.Arrangements by Ralph SchugarChapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Pitts-burgh, PA 15232. www.schugar.com
BRICKENSTEIN: On Sunday, Jan.22, 2012, Yael Brickenstein; beloveddaughter of the late Zeev and MollyBrickenstein; step daughter of SarahCohen Brickenstein; sister of Hadar(Yonatan) Bechor and David Bricken-stein; aunt of Dana and Eric Bricken-stein, Elan Bechor and the late AmirBechor. Services and interment wereheld at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery/Beth ElSection. Contributions may be made toAnimal Friends, 562 Camp Horne Road,Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Arrangements by
Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Cen-tre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232.www.schugar.com
COFFEY: On Tuesday Jan. 17, 2012,Dr. David Alan Coffey of Los Angeles;beloved father of Olivia Iris Coffey fromhis marriage to Zara Gerber; son of Dr.Charles and Barbara Coffey; brother ofSybil and Jennifer Coffey; and brother-in-law of the late Roger Cox; also sur-vived by a large extended family andmany friends. David was born in Pitts-burgh on April 8, 1959. He graduatedfrom the University of Pennsylvania, theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical School,the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute,and the New Center for Psychoanalysis.He lived life with passion and convic-tion, was loved and respected, and willbe greatly missed. Contributions can bemade to New Center for Psychoanalysis,2014 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA90025, Psychiatric Clinical Faculty Asso-ciation; UCLA Semel Institute, 760 West-wood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024; orNational Alliance on Mental Illness, 3803N. Fairfax Drive, Ste. 100, Arlington, VA22203. Services were held Sunday, Jan.22, at Eden Memorial Park, 11500 Sepul-veda Blvd., Mission Hills, CA 91345.www.edenmempark.com
KING: On Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012,Dorothy Pervin; beloved wife of the lateRobert J. King; beloved mother ofDavid J. King and his wife Judy Smithof Austin, Texas, and Richard P. Kingand his wife Susan Briskin of Scarsdale,N.Y.; sister of William J. Pervin; grand-mother of Stephen Smith King; also sur-vived by nieces and nephews. Serviceswere held at Tree of Life/ Or L'SimchaCongregation; interment Tree of LifeMemorial Park. Arrangements by RalphSchugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave.,Pittsburgh, PA 15232.www.schugar.com
MARKS: On Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012,Ethel Marks, 99, of Squirrel Hill;beloved wife of the late Robert Marks;loving mother of Andi Fischhoff; grand-mother of Maya, Ilya and Noam; sisterof Sybil and the late Sol, Leah, Rosieand Henry. Services were held atHomewood cemetery. Contributionsmay be made to Riverview Towers orCongregation Dor Hadash. Arrange-ments by D'Alessandro Funeral Home,Ltd., 4522 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA15201. www.dalessandroltd.com
MILLIGRAM: On Tuesday, Jan. 17,2012, Emerson “Neil” Milligram, 80, ofShadyside; son of the late Alvin andMargaret Milligram; beloved brother ofRuth Solomon; loving uncle of Jeffrey(Aileen) Solomon and Michele (KenFryncko) Solomon Fryncko; great-uncleof Olivia and Alexa Baer. Special thanksto his caregivers Concha and Tomeka.Neil was a U.S. Army veteran of the Ko-
rean War and a past concertmaster ofthe University of Pittsburgh SymphonyOrchestra. He received his Bachelor’sDegree from the University of Pitts-burgh, his master’s degree from LoyolaUniversity in Baltimore and his doctor-ate from the University of Pittsburgh in1972. Milligram was the founder andchairman of the Business Departmentat Carlow University. Upon his retire-ment from Carlow University in 2002,the college established the Dr. EmersonNeil Milligram Exemplary LeadershipAward, now given at commencement toa graduating senior. He was a formerdirector of the Daughters and Sons ofAbraham. Services were held at Home-wood Cemetery Chapel. Contributionmay be made to Young People’s Syna-gogue, 6404 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh PA15217 or Adat Shalom Congregation,368 Guys Run Road., Cheswick, PA15024. Arrangements by D’AlessandroFuneral Home, Ltd., 4522 Butler St.,Pittsburgh, PA 15201. www.dalessan-droltd.com
SIEGEL: On Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012,Bernard Louis Siegel; beloved father ofJonathan Siegel and Sharon (Dr.Daniel) Sinder; brother of Dr. William(Marian) Siegel and Richard (RabbiLaura Geller) Siegel; grandfather ofTalia and Jillian Sinder. Services andinterment were held at Beth ShalomCemetery. Arrangements by RalphSchugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave.,Pittsburgh, PA 15232.www.schugar.com
14 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE JANUARY 26, 2012
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1970s, he said.They also have amore profoundeffect on life inIsrael.According toByman, therehave been fewdramatic acts ofterrorism sincethe Second In-tifada.“It was a slowbut steady grindthat in the endwas exceptionally successful from theIsraeli point of view,” he said. “By 2005,Israel had decimated various terroristorganizations. Israel had a superb intel-ligence gathering apparatus; the num-ber of attacks was way down and Israelhad done this without making politicalconcessions. In 2005 the Palestiniangroups largely called it quits becausethey had been overwhelmed.“But at the same time there were someheavy costs for Israel as well,” he contin-ued, “and I felt most of the discussionabout Israel, most of the discussion aboutcounterterrorism, missed most of this.”The 2005 withdrawal from Gaza wasone such cost. Done unilaterally by Is-rael, Byman said, it should have beendone, at least ostensibly, in conjunctionwith the Palestinian Authority to givethe P.A. government a way to claim
credit for it. Instead, the government ap-peared weak and Hamas took control ofthe Strip in 2007.Another example was Lebanon, whichIsrael invaded in 1982 and successfullydrove out the PLO. But the IDF gotbogged down in a protracted guerillawar there, and the experience paved theway for the rise of Hezbollah.There have been some not-so-wellknown acts of cooperation as well.For instance, Israel gets Palestiniancooperation to stop terrorist attacks. “When I talk to Israeli securityofficials now they say on the West BankPalestinian security forces are doing theoverwhelming majority of the day-to-day [work] in stopping things like sui-cide bombings, but terrorist groupsadapt and rockets are a great example.”He equated the rocket attacks fromGaza to the Fedayin border raids of the1950s — not as deadly as suicide bomb-ings, but a sign that terrorist groups areadapting to Israel’s ability to stop sui-cide bombers. And Israeli counterintel-ligence must adapt as well.“By some estimates Israel was ar-resting 90 percent of the suicidebombers at their doorstep as theywere leaving the house — really trulypinpoint in intelligence.”In his book, Byman equates Israel to alaboratory, in which new types of coun-terterrorism measures are experimentedwith, and other countries — namely, theUnited States — can learn from them.
CAROL G. BERK .....................NETTIE G. BARONMILTON CHARAPP ................MILTON CHARAPPELAINE G. CHOTTINER........HARRY & REBECCA
STEINERMORTON & SONIA COHEN .....LEAH KANELOIS E.COHEN ....................................ISRAEL FINEMANLOIS E. COHEN...................SARAH R. FINEMANFRANK & BARBARA DELUCE ....ALBERT SHAERARNOLD GLANTZ.............BENNIE ROSENBERGCAROL & NORRIS GLANTZ .........JACK GLANTZCAROL & NORRIS GLANTZ......IVAN WOLINSKYGLORIA Y. GOLDEN ......................TYBIE (TILLIE)
KROCHMALCORRINE DENMARK, LUCILLE GORDON &DOROTHY WOLOVITZ............IRVING E. COHENDOROTHY A. GRINBERG ....SAMUEL J. AMDURMARJORIE A. HALPERN .....................LEONARD
CHASICKMAX HEFLAND ....................MENDAL HELFANDCAROLE F. KAUFMAN...............ANN R. HENDELELAINE & CARL KRASIK ..........JULIUS A. BELLEEVELYN B. LEVIN.....................MORRIS BERGERSALLY & TIM LITMAN...................LEAH & LOUIS
ROSENFIELDMICHAEL E. LOWENSTEIN..............WILLIAM M.
LOWENSTEINJANICE MILES ..........................WILLIAM D. ORRNESSA MINES.................................MAX GREEN
NORMAN ORR..........................WILLIAM D. ORRPAUL & DIANEPECHERSKY ....................MILDRED PECHERSKYLOUISE PERLSTEIN ......HERMAN WEISBERGERMS. LISA POLLACK....................ALEX POLLACKSHIRLEY E. PRENY ...........ESTHER MALLINGERSHIRLEY E. PRENY.................MAX MALLINGERSHIRLEY E. PRENY .............JACK I. MALLINGERANNE D. ROSENBERG.......JACOB ROSENBERGKARL SACHSBEN.........................JAMIN SACHSALLEN J. SAMOWICH.......................FLORENCE
SAMOWICHMIRIAM G. SCHAFFEL ..........EDGAR SCHAFFELMURRAY & HARRIETSHAPIRO....................................CLARA DEUTCHJAY N. SILBERBLATT.............................PAULINE
SILBERBLATTBERNICE SPOKANE .....................LOUIS COHENPATRICIA STEINBERG..........................HARRY L.
PLESSETPHILLIP L. WEIN.........................IDA JANE WEINDOROTHY WEINBERG .............CERNIE CAPLANHAROLD C. WEISS .................MOLLIE B. WEISSROBERT H. WOLF ........................GUSSIE WOLF
We acknowledge with grateful appreciation contributions from the following:Donor In MeMory of Donor In MeMory of
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29: MARK ALEXANDER, JACOB AUERBACH, HARRY BEGLER, THOMAS CALIG, IRV-ING E. COHEN, BENJAMIN FELDSTEIN, NETTIE GALANTY, LEWIS GIRSON, RACHEL GOLDSTEIN, ESHIKA GOOT-MACHER, PHILLIP HARRIS, ISAAC LANDIS, EDITH LAZEAR, MORRIS LEVENTON, ELIZABETH LEVINE, SAMUELN. LEVINE, ADOLPH LOEWY, RHEBA MARKLEY, E.HARRY MAZERVO, ETHEL J. MENDLOWITZ, GERTRUDE MEYER,MEYER PERILMAN, MAX PINKUS, FAIGIE M RAPPORT, OSCAR ROBBINS, REBECCA ROSENFELD, DORA ROSEN-THAL, ISADORE ROTH, GERTRUDE SCHUGAR, NETTIE SHER, PAULINE SILBERBLATT, NACHAME SMITH, FREDASPATZ STEINBERG, ISAAC SURLOFF, ABRAHAM ULANOFF, SAMUEL WEINBERGER, MORRIS WEISS, SAMUELWYNETT.MONDAY, JANUARY 30: ELI AGRENOVITZ, CELIA S ALEXANDER, WILLIAM M AXELROD, SAMUEL BELL-MAN, HERMAN J BRODY, BELLA F. BROIDA, REBECCA BROUDY, RUBIN DAVIDSON, RUBEN EDELSTEIN, LOUISEPSTEIN, LEONARD A FLEEGLER, RAYMOND GOLDSTEIN, JACOB GRAFF, ANNA GROSSMAN, SARAHHAIMOVITZ, TINA KAMINSKY, ANNA KART, ROSE KLEIN, SAMUEL B. KOIDANOV, SIDNEY LEFF, BESSIE LIPPARD,ANNA LIVINGTON, ANNE BILDER MALLINGER, BENJAMIN B. MARKOWITZ, DAVID S. OSGOOD, DAVID RASKIN,ADOLPH ROSEN, MEYER ROSEN, ALEX S. ROSENBERG, JOSEPH CLIFF RUBEN, ISAAC SAMUELS, JESSSCHWARTZ, IDA SEMINOFSKY, JACK C. SIEGEL, WILLIAM H. SIEGEL, MORRIS SUNDMAN, ISAAC SYMONS,HERMAN SZOBEL, SARAH TIZON, SIDNEY W. TOBIN, DORIS ROSENFELD WELTMAN, AL W. WOLF, JACOBWOLFE, ROSE BLATTNER ZIONTS.TUESDAY, JANUARY 31: ABE ABRAMSON, JOSEPH BALTER, BETTY BLOOM, THEODORE R. CRYSTAL,CLARA DEUTCH, THEODORE H. ENGELMAN, MYER FELDMAN, ISADORE F. FRANK, EVA GREENBERG, BENJAMINHARRIS, STELIA P. HOLMAN, CELIA LANDO, EUNICE J. LANDO, BESS M. LEVENSON, TILLIE LEVINE, ALBERTDALE MALYN, EMIL MANDLER, EDITH W. METZ, FRANK MILLER, REBECCA MOSCOVITZ, SIMON A. MYERS, SO-PHIE PARANSKY, ROBERT J. PARIS, ESTHER RABINOWITZ, EMMA AMY ROSEMAN RAPHAEL, MAX ROSENFELD,HARRY SCHLESINGER, MENDEL SILBERMAN, FALK SMITH, LEON STEIN, SAMUEL A. TISHERMAN, SARAHWEINTHAL, MAX ZIFF.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1: SIDNEY J. ALPERN, SAMUEL J. AMDUR, JULIUS BELLE, RAE BERNNARD,ANNA K. COHEN, LESTER L. COHEN, BEVERLY RENEE GERMAN, ESSIE GOLDBERG, BESSIE HURWITZ, HARRYKALSON, LOUIS KRAUSS, TILLIE KROCHMAL, MARY LANGER, RHEA LAUFE, CHARLOTTE MARCHBEIN LAZAR,JOSEPH H. LEVIN, MOLLIE B. LEVY, BENJAMIN LUBIN, JEREMY MARCUS, SAMUEL MILLER, DAVID NUMEROSKY,JANICE H. PRINTZ, ABRAHAM REICHBAUM, REBECCA ROSENBERG, MAX RUBEN, JAKE RUBIN, IDA SCHORIN,MAX SEIFER, IDA B. SHAFFER, SARAH SHAPIRO, JACOB SKIRBOLL, SIMON SOLOF, BESSIE STEINBERG, ESTHERSWARTZ, EDITH NAYHOUSE THORPE, NATHAN WANETICK, MINNIE WELLER.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2: ANNA COHEN, CELIA COHEN, MORRIS COHEN, EDYTHE B. DICKERMAN,ISADORE EISENSTEIN, JULIA P. FARBSTEIN, KATIE FIREMAN, JENNIE GOLD, ADELINE V. GOLDSTEIN, SARAHGOLDSTEIN, RUTH W. GUSKY, LOUIS HINKES, SAMUEL HORELICK, MAX JEREMIAS, HARRY KAPLAN, ANNE E.KATSEFF, LEWIS EDWARD KLINE, AARON H. LEVENSON, ESTHER LEVY, MARIAN PAPERNICK LINDENBAUM,MORRIS LIPKIND, ALICE LIPP, DAVID MEYER, HARRY MILLER, JENNIE ORRINGER, MAX M. RUTTENBERG, ANNASCHWARTZ, ROSE SCHWARTZ, WILLIAM SCOTT, BARNEY B. SEGEL, JESSE SHY SHENSON, DAVID S. SHERMER,ALBERT SHERRY, LOUIS WILLIAM SIFF, CLARICE SILVERBERG, JACOB SILVERBERG, RUTH K. SLOTSKY, FANNIESOLOF, SIMON SPARKS, KATIE WEISS, DAVID WETSTEIN, DAVID LOUIS WILKOFF.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3: HARRY M. ARONSON, JENNIE BLUESTONE, CHARLES FISHKIN, ISRAEL HAHN,GERTRUDE HURWITZ, GUSKY KAHN, ELLA P. KAMIN, IDA KARP, SAM LASSE, JACOB LEIBER, FREDA LENCHNER,ANNIE LEVENTON, JACOB LIBER, BENJAMIN MANN, KATIE MIDDLEMAN, JACOB MIMELESS, LOUIS MOIDEL,LILLIAN MYERS, ANNA ORRINGER, ALEX Z. OSGOOD, HERMAN PERLMAN, LOUIS ROSENFIELD, BELLA ROT-STEIN, IGNATZ SCHNEIDER, REBECCA SCHUTTE, MEYER HERBERT SIEGAL, GOLDIE SLOTOLOW, MAURICESMITH, HARRY L. STEINBERG, MILTON S. STEINSAPIR, ABRAHAM TOPILOWSKY, JAMES D WALD, ROSLYNWEINBERG, ISAAC WORMSER.SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4: JOSEPH BAKER, REBECCA BELKIN, ANNA BERNSTEIN, HELEN CITRON, MAXELINOFF, LOUIS GOODSTEIN, JENNIE GREENBERGER, RACHEL GRINBERG, CLARA M. KAMINSKY, MINNIE S.KOPMAN, DAVID LEVY, SARAH R. MAGLIN, SAMUEL MALAMUD, SYLVAN A. MENDLOVITZ, CIRIL PERER, MILTONPERIL, MANUEL REGENSTIEN, JACOB ROSENBERG, JACOB ROSENZWEIG, LIBBIE ELKAH SAVILLE`, PEARLSHECKTER, MORRIS SINGER, JACOB SLONE, HERMAN SMITH, MAX SPIEGEL, DAVID H (JUDGE) WEINER,RACHEL WOLK, ESTHER WORMSER.
Members of the congregation used theforum to suggest ways to retain youngcongregants, including merging withTemple Sinai and to moving Sundayschool to Saturdays.Alan Ackerman advocated the mergeridea, calling it a benefit to both congre-gations. Ackerman noted that operatingtwo Reform temples only a mile apart iswasteful and “can’t go on forever.”Bisno, who opposes such a merger,warned that one congregation risks sub-merging its identity to the other in suchcases.“Something will be lost,” he said.However, he acknowledged “anenormous amount of duplication in re-ligious education” between the twocongregations. Simon also opposes merging withTemple Sinai. “We’re not a business.… It’s very difficult to merge two dif-ferent congregations,” he said. “We
should view [Rodef Shalom] as a holycommunity.”Dan Freedman of Murrysville ex-pressed concern that Rodef Shalom paystoo much attention to social action.“There’s a great emphasis on socialaction,” Freedman said. “It waters downthe brand. It’s something that membersshould seek elsewhere.”He also suggested that Rodef Shalommove Sunday school to Saturdays as away of improving attendance at Shabbatservices.Bisno thought Freedman had a validpoint about overemphasizing politicsand noted that a congregation shouldn’tstray from its core mission in teachingTorah and Jewish values. He also saidthat he would consider Freedman’s Sat-urday school suggestion.“I was very gratified and encouragedby the amount of enthusiasm,” Bisnosaid after the meeting. “There is a clearrecognition of the challenges. … Wehave the wherewithal to address them.”
vice president of the Pittsburgh Councilof Pioneer Women … and Gertrude Brogand Rabbi Benjamin Nadoff, membersof the Hillel Academy staff and adminis-tration, were honored for more than 25years of service at the school’s 15th an-nual senior high school commencement.
Misc.In a somber moment, the Chronicle alsocarried a full-page ad from the federation
recalling the victims of the massacre at the1972 Munich Olympics. The ad showed asingle memorial candle flickering in frontof a black backdrop with the words,draped above and below the picture:
“Olympic flame: 1972Remembering is not enough”
— COMPILED BY LEE CHOTTINER
(For a more comprehensive look at theJuly 8, 1976, Chronicle, visit the jew-ishchronicle.net and click on “archives”at the top of the page. Back issues of theChronicle are archived by the PittsburghJewish Newspaper Project.)
