August 28, 2026 | 15 Elul 5786
Candlelighting 7:40 p.m. | Havdalah 8:39 p.m. | Vol. 69, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL “Invest Like a Woman”
Jewish Women’s Foundation initiative
Tree of Life shares vision for For Israel tourism memorial and new home, official, travel projected to open in 2028 is a path to connection and understanding By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Page 2
F
LOCAL
by gun violence. She also recounted the establishment of the 10.27 Healing Partnership and its vision, as well as the creation of the Memorialization Working Group in early 2021, which was established to honor the victims of the shooting. The MWG, Recht said, is working with the project’s architect, Studio Libeskind, to finalize details of the memorial. Fellow MWG member Diane Rosenthal, the sister of Cecil Rosenthal and David Rosenthal — who were murdered during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting — described some of the questions the MWG has addressed, including: Where should the memorial be placed? Does it belong on the original site? Should it be moved to Fox Chapel or Mt. Lebanon? What language and verbiage should be used at the memorial? The result, Rosenthal said, is the current plan for the memorial at the site of the Tree of Life building in Squirrel Hill. “It’s exciting,” she said. “Our family, for one, is thrilled that it will come to pass. My brothers spent every Friday night and Saturday morning there.” After the pair’s presentation, Feinstein
or Chad Martin, a 1999 BBYO trip to Israel felt like “going home.” Martin is the northeast union director of Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, but in 1999 he was a 16-year-old from Youngstown, Ohio, whose grandfather had recently passed away. Youngstown wasn’t the easiest place for a Jewish kid to be raised, Martin recalled. In fact, he said, it was shortly before his trip to Israel that someone flashed a heil Hitler salute at him from the back of a bus. Martin said a fight ensued. “There’s a lot of pressure on Jewish kids that grow up as ultra-minorities,” he said. “Not because of hate but because they’re different from everyone else. I wasn’t going to put up with it.” Even before the BBYO trip to Israel, Martin said he felt a desire to leave behind the small town where he was raised. After returning from Israel, he finished high school, attended college at The Ohio State University and began to become politically aware. Events like the Camp David Accords, the Second Intifada and 9/11 shaped his worldview, and he became active on campus. “My passion at school took a political bent,” he said. “I majored in political science and Hebrew, studied abroad in Israel and knew I didn’t want to stay in Ohio.” A move to New York was accompanied by Martin changing jobs six times during his first year in the city. It was after an interview he was able to conduct in Hebrew that Martin landed his first job working in Israeli tourism. He spent time in different facets of the industry for several years before meeting Anat Ben
Please see Tree of Life, page 10
Please see Israel, page 10
Meet Ashley Mason
Hillel International student leader
Page 4
LOCAL
Young Pittsburghers return from Israel Page 5
HISTORY What’s in a name?
The missing vowel
p Jo Recht (left) addresses those attending a town hall meeting to learn more about The Tree of Life’s rebuilding project. She’s joined by Diane Rosenthal (center) and 10.27 Healing Partnership Executive Director Maggie Feinstein. Photo by David Rullo By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
M
Building Jewish connections through sports
Page 7
$2
ore than 100 community members attended a town hall meeting presented by The Tree of Life, held in Levinson Hall at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh on Aug. 19. The meeting, facilitated by Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, and Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life, provided an update on development at the building’s site, including plans for its future. Sharing the podium with Feinstein and Zawatsky were Craig Dunham, Dunham reGroup president and owner representative; Memorialization Working Group members Jo Recht and Diane Rosenthal; Luci Creative members (responsible for the museum exhibits housed in the building); and Tree of Life Congregation President Robin Friedman. Recht, a past president of Dor Hadash — one of the three congregations attacked by an antisemitic gunman on Oct. 27, 2018 — recounted the days immediately following the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the process of applying for state and federal grants available to communities victimized
Celebrating 18 Remarkable Difference Makers September 4