September 4, 2026 | 22 Elul 5786
Candlelighting 7:29 p.m. | Havdalah 8:27 p.m. | Vol. 69, No. 36 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Representing Israel in Japan
Local teen competes in lacrosse championship
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Pittsburgher Local NCJW evaluates its future as national organization joins push for Peloton to pushes ‘five-year plan’ address Jewish users’ concerns over antiZionism By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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Up in the air
Evan H. Stein’s flying high
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HOLIDAYS
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Kosher wine recommendations Page 39
LOCAL “Yes, and...”
Improv comes to Hillel Academy
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Please see NCJW, page 10
Please see Peloton, page 10
p Members of NCJW’s transitional board, front row (from left): Eileen Lane, Teddi Horvitz, Molly Braver; second row: Andrea Glickman, Karen Lightman, Judy Cohen, Ellen Olshansky, Leah Kamon; third row: Kate Rothstein, Lynn Snyderman. Missing from photo: Cindy Shapira and Becca Tobe Photo courtesy of Leah Kamon By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Here’s to a sweet new year
NCJW sections have three options, eJewish Philanthropy reported: integrate, affiliate or disaffiliate. The offer to affiliate was only presented to a few sections. To continue using the NCJW name, sections need to align with the national organization’s key focus areas outlined in the five-year plan: demanding reproductive freedom, advancing economic opportunity, safeguarding civil rights and fostering safe communities. By 2030, the goal, according to the plan, is to have influenced state and national policies; build a new field structure and regional staffing model; engage a million “changemakers”; launch the NCJW Center for Leadership; introduce new tools for advocacy; deliver high-impact training and expertise in policy, community building, programming and coalition work; and create blueprints for success. Some local sections have already been impacted by the plan. In May, the national organization cut ties with its Los Angeles section, citing a “strained relationship,” according to the Forward.
ittsburgher Julie Paris considers herself a “die-hard Peloton fan.” “I own every piece of Peloton equipment out there,” she said. Because of that devotion, Paris, along with several other Jewish community members who regularly use the workout equipment (some have even gone as far as creating a Facebook page, the “Official Jewish Peloton Riders”) felt betrayed after an incident involving Adrian Williams. Williams is a high-profile Peloton instructor who collaborated on an Instagram post with Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant chain that has spread anti-Zionist messaging. The post showed Williams displaying a “Discover Palestine” page on the restaurant’s menu, with a map of Israel labeled as “Palestine.” Ayat’s owner has a long history of spreading “anti-Zionist libel,” talking about settler colonialism and genocide, according to Paris, the Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs. The restaurant previously faced backlash for printing on its menu the words “From the river to the sea,” an anti-Zionist phrase calling for the elimination of the state of Israel. Williams deleted his controversial Instagram post and created a new post, which said: “My last dining series post had an unintended, opposite effect, so I removed it.” And while he stopped short of issuing an apology, Williams wrote that he had
ational Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh is in a period of transition, according to co-President Andrea Glickman. “There are external forces that have caused us to really take a look at ourselves internally and figure out who it is that we are and who we want to be,” Glickman told the Chronicle. A transitional board — which includes two former executive directors — was created over the last few months, she said, to take a comprehensive look at the organization and determine how to “best protect our mission from a local perspective.” The evaluation has come at a time of change for national NCJW. In August 2026, the national group released a revised five-year plan (first released in 2025) titled “NCJW Forward.” According to a story in eJewish Philanthropy, in order to continue to use the NCJW name, local chapters — or sections, as they are called in the organization — were told they need to align with the national organization’s shift from community service to advocacy.
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