June 26, 2026 | 11 Tammuz 5786
Candlelighting 8:36 p.m. | Havdalah 9:45 p.m. | Vol. 69, No. 26 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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‘Beginning of a dream’: Torah CMU Fence Walk celebrates unification of painted with Temple Sinai, Rodef Shalom anti-Zionist into Beit Kulanu messages, call for violence
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p Community members carry Torah scrolls from Temple Sinai to the Rodef Shalom Congregation building, where the newly formed Beit Kulanu is housed.
Photo by Octavia Liku
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undreds of members of Temple Sinai and Rodef Shalom Congregation took to the streets on June 21 for a celebratory Torah Walk, marking the historic unification of the two Reform congregations as Beit Kulanu. Along Forbes Avenue, members of the former Temple Sinai cautiously carried the congregation’s Torah scrolls for more than a mile on foot. Other congregants walked beside the procession or followed in convertibles, before joining members of the former Rodef Shalom outside Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business for a brief program. “This is the beginning of a dream. This is the culmination of a whole lot of work and dreaming and building, but it’s also the beginning of a whole new process of imagining and reimagining and creating — listening, loving,” Rabbi Daniel Fellman, senior rabbi of Beit Kulanu and formerly senior rabbi of Temple Sinai, told the Chronicle. “It’s a really exciting, powerful time, and it’s also a time of real holiness.” The merger comes after years of debate, deliberation and discussion.
Temple Sinai was founded in 1946 by members of Rodef Shalom to help serve the needs of Pittsburgh’s growing Jewish community. The two congregations began to discuss unification in 2023, following a decline in both congregations’ membership over the past two decades. In 2025, the congregations announced plans to unify. Now, Beit Kulanu represents nearly 1,300 households — one of the largest Reform congregations in Pennsylvania. “There’s so much work to do in engaging people in Jewish life,” Jeff Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told the Chronicle. “I think the force multiplier of being together will end up with great results.” Community members from all walks of life have come to recognize the significance of the two Reform congregations merging as a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Sarah May-Stein, a member of the former Temple Sinai. “This unification has been kind of talked about — not in a real serious way — for a long time,” said Anne Molloy, a member of the former Rodef Shalom. “We had the right
p The phrase, “By any means necessary,” seen by many as a call for violence, was included with anti-Israel messages painted on CMU’s Fence. Photo by David Rullo By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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arnegie Mellon University was again embroiled in controversy over anti-Israel messages painted on The Fence — a space on campus where students share news about events and express opinions. This time at least one of the spray painted messages had more ominous tones. Those walking on campus June 11 were greeted to a Palestinian flag painted across The Fence, on the side facing Forbes Avenue. The opposing side had five separate anti-Israel messages: “75 years of apartheid,” “56 years of occupation,” “16 years of blockade,” “ICJ case against Israel, 2023” and “Free Palestine.” More disturbing was a message scrawled atop one of The Fence’s poles: “By any means necessary,” painted in white lettering. The Instagram page “cmufence” — a social media account not associated with the university, according to university spokesperson Chuck Carney — catalogs the various messages
Please see Torah Walk, page 10
Please see Fence, page 10
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