November 28, 2025 | 8 Kislev 5786
Candlelighting 4:37 p.m. | Havdalah 5:39 p.m. | Vol. 68, No. 48 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Pro-Palestinian group ‘demands’ Pitt student government force university to divest from Israel
Incoming mayor’s top cop pick is a familiar face to Jewish Pittsburghers
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Camaraderie on campus
Challah for Change LOCAL
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By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Jewish life in Finland
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Small but mighty Page 4
LOCAL Salk's stock in Wexford
p Jason Lando has been nominated by incoming Mayor Corey O’Connor to serve as Pittsburgh's police chief. Photo courtesy of Jason Lando By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
The history of Shalom Farms
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LOCAL Planning for the future, preserving the past
Jewish Community Legacy Project Page 20
ason Lando — Pittsburgh’s presumptive new chief of police — always knew he wanted to work in public safety. More specifically, Lando wanted to be a police officer. He had to wait a little while, though, until his age caught up with his ambition. Although Lando grew up in a family of business professionals, he was fascinated by the police. As a child, he loved to play cops and robbers with several friends, who all made a pact to fight crime when they grew up. “I’m the only one that made anything of myself,” he joked. “The others are surgeons.” And while it was his dream to be a police officer, the Squirrel Hill native knew when he graduated from Shady Side Academy that he’d have to wait until he was a little older to join the boys in blue. So, Lando became a volunteer EMT and paramedic while attending the University of Pittsburgh, working toward a degree in its
new emergency medicine program. Once he graduated, Lando’s dream came true when he became a Pittsburgh police officer in 2000, one of only three Jewish members of the more than 1,000member force; he served as both a police officer and paramedic. He spent the first five years of his career working out of the Zone Two police station in the Hill District. His excitement at being assigned to what was then considered the “lead zone” quickly faded when he learned his initial beat was in “the parked car,” meaning he would have to sit throughout his shift in a car in Point State Park. “My first assignment was to drive this ridiculous baby car around the park,” he said. “People would point and laugh. It felt like a play car not a police car. I couldn’t wait to get on the street.” Please see Lando, page 14
he group Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Pittsburgh has demanded the university’s Student Government Board pressure the school to divest from weapons manufacturers connected to Israel, disclose the contents of its investment portfolio and undergo an annual public auditing process. Those demands were culled from two referendums advocated for and promoted by SJP during last year’s student government elections and were part of a lengthy screed voiced by several students wearing keffiyehs at a November SGB meeting. The first question, which asked if the university should divest from weapons manufacturers connected to Israel, was approved by 60% of the total voters — 2,220 students of the approximate 3,700 undergraduates who voted in the election. The second question, calling for Pitt to disclose its investment portfolio, was approved by 80% of the total voters — approximately 2,960 students of the approximate 3,700 undergraduates who voted. About 20,000 students were eligible to vote, meaning the first referendum passed with the approval of approximately 11% of those eligible to vote; the second by approximately 14%. SJP has been ramping up its advocacy against Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state and Israel’s response. The group promoted and helped organize the encampment outside of the Cathedral of Learning on university property in 2024, which, at times, included violent clashes with law enforcement, leading to several arrests. SJP was suspended for six months last year after a protest at the Hillman Library. Please see Group, page 14
Volunteers of the Year Viktoriia/Adobe Stock
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