August 1, 2025 | 7 Av 5785
Candlelighting 8:16 p.m. | Havdalah 9:19 p.m. | Vol. 68, No. 31 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Foreign funds on college campuses
ZOA Pittsburgh speaker weighs in LOCAL
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Jewish Federation announces Bygone days preserved, more than $7.6 million in bound together, allocations during photo album workshop in Squirrel Hill
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Designing with meaning
Allocations will support efforts in Pittsburgh, Israel and around the world.
Students innovate to help community
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LOCAL Maccabi is coming!
Meet a few members of Team Pittsburgh
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LOCAL The power of Tisha B'Av
Is there a silver lining?
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Photo by Joshua Franzos
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
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ittsburgh and Israeli organizations, as well as initiatives worldwide, will receive allocations totaling more than $7.6 million from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Last week’s announcement followed a process guided by Federation’s Planning and Impact Committee, according to Federation’s Associate Vice President of Marketing David Heyman. The committee ensures donations, which primarily come from benefactors in the Pittsburgh area, go “right back into the community,” Heyman said. Of the more than $7 million allocated, “a good amount of the money goes for aging and human needs.” With around 3.4 million older adults, Pennsylvania has the fifth-largest senior population in the country, the commonwealth reports. Although human services and aging programs typically receive funding from state and federal agencies, the Federation gave these areas extra attention this year because of the current political climate. “Many federal grants have been paused, reduced or eliminated,” Federation President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein said
in a prepared statement. “These allocations represent our deep commitment to strengthening Jewish life in all its dimensions, from meeting urgent human needs and securing our community to engaging the next generation and fighting antisemitism.” This year’s key disbursements include nearly $1.5 million — including support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation — to fund aging and human needs through Jewish Family and Community Services, Jewish Association On Aging and The Branch; $1.3 million to support Pittsburgh Jewish communal life, including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish campus organizations and communitywide initiatives; and $1.2 million to fund early childhood education, teen learning programs and the city’s three Jewish day schools. Each of Pittsburgh’s Jewish day schools saw changes from last year’s allocations: Community Day School will receive $241,162 (a $7,394 decrease); Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh will receive $267,972 (a $2,478 decrease); and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh will receive $273,754 (a $9,872 increase). Please see Federation, page 10
Back to School
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Shabwawe Quinn proudly shares images of her family. Photo by Adam Reinherz By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
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ome memories are best held with glue. Printed, trimmed and labeled, photographs depicting living loved ones, deceased spouses, cats and beach scenes helped participants of a photo album-making program reminisce and create new ties. Seated around a table inside the 10.27 Healing Partnership in Squirrel Hill, program participants interspersed stories with requests to pass a pair of scissors or adhesive. Margaret Laske, 86, applied glue tape to the back of a photograph before pressing the image of her 15-year-old cat against a handmade ribbon-bound paper booklet. On an adjacent page she included a photo of her late husband. “Holidays are the hardest when you’re alone,” she said. Fellow Squirrel Hill resident Shabwawe Quinn, 69, peered down at decades-old pictures of her children dancing. “A lot has changed,” she said. “You start looking at the past and you start reviewing it.” Please see Workshop, page 10