August 19, 2022 | 22 Av 5782
Candlelighting 7:54 p.m. | Havdalah 8:53 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 33 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Allderdice grad begins life in MLB
St. Louis Cardinals draft Tanner Jacobson.
New leadership takes the reins as NCJW Pittsburgh prepares for the future
Theodore Stern, whose life was an ‘only-inAmerica’ story, dies at 92 By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
T
Page 2
LOCAL Getting to Know: Etty Reut
NCJW Pittsburgh’s MomsWork ice cream social in June
Photo provided by National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh
A ‘heart-centered approach’ to help heal
$1.50
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
Page 5
LOCAL Local nonprofit worker wants to be ‘a light unto the nations’ Jonathan Fischer and PCs for People
Page 7
F
or more than 125 years the National Council of Jewish Women has advocated on behalf of women, children and families. Last month, the nonprofit took another step forward, naming Marissa Fogel its executive director and Megan Rose its senior director of community engagement. Both Fogel and Rose have a passion for NCJW, as well as for strengthening their community through nonprofit work. Before coming to NCJW, Fogel developed 412 Food Rescue’s Good Food Project and Rose spent time at the United Way. In fact, it was through her work with the United Way that NCJW first appeared on Rose’s radar. “The Center for Women project (now known as MomsWork, which helps women obtain financial wellbeing) was part of a larger grant I oversaw through the United for Women initiative,” Rose said. “It was then I learned about the free financial coaching for women.” Rose, who has a background in family law and working with survivors of intimate
partner violence, said she was intrigued by the program. “I know how important financial independence is for women,” she said. For Fogel, the opportunity to take the helm of NCJW was a return to her family roots. “I came from a family of Jewish women who were involved in social action,” she said. “In a lot of ways, I was brought up in this culture of participation and collaboration and contribution of time, care and compassion. It’s in my blood.”
Engaging young leaders
Fogel’s goals, she said, include taking the organization out of siloed work into a more collaborative space. She’s also interested in engaging young leaders. “I think there’s a wonderful opportunity to get more folks from the community involved with the work we’re doing,” she said. “I think it speaks to a lot of people, especially the millennial and Gen Z generation.” Please see NCJW, page 12
heodore “Ted” Stern was many things: a caring husband, brother and father; a nuclear power executive; a 9-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany; a Jew raised in an Orthodox household; and, in one of his final acts, an investor with a knack for turning around fledgling companies. Stern, a Je w i s h Pittsburgher for seven decades who spent his last 16 years living in an Oakland apartment, died Ted Stern, 2021 Photo courtesy of July 29 after a brief hospitalAndy Stern ization. He was 92. “We were way ahead of the low cholesterol trend in our house, but [Stern] still needed bypass surgery in his 50s — he didn’t expect to live that long,” said Andrew “Andy” Stern, of Baltimore, his eldest son. “He was, in many respects, a very traditional father of that time … He was very dedicated to family. When he was home, he was home. But he loved his work. And he was always a driven guy — if something was broken, he had to fix it.” Stern came to New York City via London, settling in Washington Heights, in 1938. His father was arrested by the Gestapo in Hamburg during Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, and the family quickly fled Nazi Germany. “To me, this is a classic immigrant story,” his son said, “a refugee story, an onlyin-America story.” The second youngest of four sons, Stern became the first in the family to go to college, studying at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn after Please see Stern, page 12
Fall Arts Preview
August 26