August 21, 2026 | 8 Elul 5786
Candlelighting 7:51 p.m. | Havdalah 8:50 p.m. | Vol. 69, No. 34 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
LOCAL The voices of survivors
Advice for attack victims
ADL launches new initiative to help universities address antisemitism
Shoresh kickoff gives taste of Greenfield-based community learning
NOTEWORTHY
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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REGIONAL
you go to do something, but there aren’t a lot of Seinfeldian — kind of talk about nothing, just go to meet up with a friend — spaces in the community,” Goodman said. “We want to offer that.” Despite lacking kitchen equipment, seating and even coffee, Shoresh is already brewing up excitement. Classes covering Talmud, Chassidut and Hebrew language are currently offered inside the former bank. Last week’s program enabled Shoresh-goers and potential patrons to sample representative educational offerings. Positioned behind teller windows, Goodman taught a class on Shoresh’s etymology. “When you come up with the name of an organization, you might ask the question, ‘Why did you pick that name?’ So, my class is just going to be on what the word ‘shoresh’ means and why I picked it,” he said. (“Shoresh” translates to “roots” in Hebrew.) In a small room downstairs, Pittsburgh Jewish educator David Harris-Gershon examined the slogan “No justice, no peace,” and its connections to the weekly Torah reading, which includes the words, “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” On the building’s main level, Cantor Julie Newman similarly referenced Parsha Shoftim and integrated its teachings while leading a yoga class.
s students were returning to campuses across the country last week, the Anti-Defamation League announced a new initiative, “When Antisemitism comes to Class,” designed to help colleges and universities address antisemitism. The initiative includes the Campus Classroom Reporting mechanism, a portal serving as a support channel for students, staff and faculty who have “concerns about antisemitism or biased content related to Jews or Israel in classroom experiences, instructional framing, assignments or faculty conduct,” according to the ADL. It also includes two new reports: “Antisemitism Among Faculty and in the Classroom: Trends, Patterns and Institutional Dynamics,” and “The Faculty Factor: Inside the Networks Driving Anti-Israel and AntiZionist Activism on Campus.” In a statement announcing the new initiative, Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, said that antisemitism doesn’t just occur through student protest chants or anti-Israel encampments, but can also be present in syllabi, lectures or even casual remarks by professors. “Because classrooms and faculty organizing spaces are largely invisible to those outside the institution, this problem has been allowed to fester with far less scrutiny than it warrants,” Greenblatt said. “Universities cannot claim to be addressing antisemitism seriously if they ignore what happens behind the classroom door and inside faculty governance.” The Campus Classroom Reporting Mechanism will allow students, faculty and staff to report concerns about perceived antisemitic or biased content; ask whether a specific classroom dynamic, course requirement or interaction may raise antisemitism concerns; talk through a situation involving Jews, Jewish identity or Israel before deciding whether to make a formal complaint; and get help understanding what support options are available.
Please see Shoresh, page 14
Please see ADL, page 14
Antisemitism in West Virignia
p Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman teaches a class about Shoresh’s origins on Aug. 12.
Photo by Adam Reinherz
Synagogue vandalized
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ISRAEL A lasting reminder
Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square
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LOCAL Fall Arts Preview
Dance, comedy, theater
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Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
T
he first drips of a new coffee shop delivered more than a caffeine rush. As co-founders, supporters and community members happily danced to live klezmer music inside Shoresh, a sense of enthusiasm and optimism about the Greenfield-based venture was palpable. “We are so excited for this coffee shop opening up,” Greenfield resident Erin Sussman told the Chronicle during Shoresh’s Aug. 12 kickoff. “I feel like Squirrel Hill has a lot of community spaces. We’re really excited to have one just down the street.” “I do not live in Greenfield, but I do live within walking distance of six different coffee shops, and can personally testify to the role that they play in building community — that’s how I’ve met so many different people in my neighborhood of Garfield, just by going to the same coffee shop over and over again,” attendee Alexis Obernauer said. Attended by about 45 people, “Taste of Shoresh” featured snacks, learning and music. “This is just an opportunity for people to see what we’re building here at Shoresh,” co-founder Frances Lasday said. Lasday and co-founder Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman hope that Shoresh becomes a gathering site and Jewish communal educational center in Greenfield. “There are a lot of Jewish institutions where
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