July 4, 2025 | 8 Tammuz 5785
Candlelighting 8:36 p.m. | Havdalah 9:43 p.m. | Vol. 68, No. 27 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
LOCAL Athletes put Maccabiah Israel dreams on hold
Looking to 2026 LOCAL
Reformer in exile: Scholar says Iranian people reject regime’s ideology and terror tactics
University of Pittsburgh student evacuated from Israel during war with Iran
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A century of memories
Jewish students were evacuated to a hostel in Eilat before leaving for Cyprus.
The many-faceted life of Lester Berkowitz
Courtesy photo
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LOCAL Raising awareness, looking for a cure
Pittsburghers lead efforts to address RYR-1
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LOCAL Supporting students, and each other
Pitt's new Jewish alumni group
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By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
L
evi (a pseudonym, for security reasons) recalled an argument in the shelter where he and his peers sought safety on a regular basis when alarms warned that Iranian missiles were entering Israeli air space. “Someone got a nosebleed and needed to use the bathroom,” Levi said. “The madricha who was present did not let her exit at first, which sparked a small argument.” Emotions ran high inside the packed building, which was hot and had very little air flow. “It was usually tense,” Levi remembered. “Everyone was sleep deprived.” Levi, a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in mechanical engineering, had been in the Jewish state since May 12, first with Birthright Israel and then with the Birthright Israel Onward program, an internship opportunity for young adults who spend six to 10 weeks in Israel to live, work and study. The program is administered locally by Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
In the early days of the war, Levi said, tension was exacerbated by the uncertainty of the situation. “The main thing was not knowing what was going to happen,” he said. “A siren would go off at 3 or 4 a.m. We were just waiting for it to happen. It was not fun because we weren’t able to live our lives. We lived in a state of, ‘What’s the next hour going to bring?’” The most amount of time he spent in a safe room was about an hour, he said, calling the experience “stress inducing.” “We sometimes heard explosions overhead,” he said. “One friend who was outside during one of the sirens saw a missile being intercepted. Luckily, none landed very close to us.” Eventually, the group began using a parking garage for shelter, which Levi said was preferable because it was more spacious and better ventilated. “We brought cards and even a soccer ball, so we managed to entertain ourselves,” he said. Levi is now back in the United States. His trip was cut short and the Birthright Israel Onward group was evacuated. Please see Israel, page 10
Julie Paris in conversation with Iranian scholar and journalist Mohamad MachineChian at an event sponsored by StandWithUs in Pittsburgh on June 24
Photo by Gene Tabachnick
By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
M
ohamad Machine-Chian knows firsthand the perils and risks of being a journalist in Iran. Machine-Chian, now a senior researcher at the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh — which is supported by the Pittsburgh Network for Threatened Scholars —is one of the architects of liberal reforms in Iran. A journalist as well as a scholar, his prolific writings challenge the post-revolution economy of the Islamic Republic. While he is not connected to Iran’s reformist political parties, he identifies as a “reformer.” That doesn’t sit well with the government of the Islamic Republic. “Iran is probably one of the worst places to be a journalist or a critic in general,” Please see Iran, page 10
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