January 17, 2025 | 17 Tevet 5785
Candlelighting 5:03 p.m. | Havdalah 6:06 p.m. | Vol. 68, No. 3 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL “The City without Jews”
A silent film with live klezmer music LOCAL
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Getting to know: Kate Louik
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Pittsburgh’s Mayor Gainey’s ‘Building Evan Wolfson Bridges’ event marred by distribution of anti-Israel flyers awarded presidential medal for advancing same-sex marriage rights By Deborah Weisberg | Special to the Chronicle
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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LOCAL Serving the generations
Meet the Gorkins Page 4
LOCAL An accessible opera at Temple Sinai
“The Sparks Fly Upward”
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effiyeh-wearing members of the Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition distributed anti-Israel flyers at a Jan. 12 event attended by more than 100 people and organized by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office that featured Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon. The event, held at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater and dubbed “Building Bridges,” was intended “to create an opportunity to find common ground and make meaningful progress as a community,” according to Gainey’s Press Secretary Olga George. But the flyer distributed by PPC, and titled “A Roadmap to Peace,” called for an immediate end to Israel’s war against the terrorist organization Hamas, an arms embargo on Israel and the release of Palestinian prisoners, among other demands. It made no mention of the 98 hostages still held in Gaza nor did it acknowledge that Hamas started the current war when it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. For many attendees, the distribution of flyers after the conversation between Abu Sarah and Inon was a black eye on the event and contrary to the point of the discussion on stage. Stephanie Gagne, management analyst for the City of Pittsburgh, said that she was contacted before the event by someone
Please see Event, page 10
Please see Medal, page 10
Photo by Jim Busis
Senior Living coming January 24th
Rawpixel.com/Adobe Stock
who works for the University of Pittsburgh’s Global Studies Center, asking for permission to staff a table at the event for an organization called Americans for Palestinian Orphans. Gagne said she responded by saying there would be no tabling at the event, “but if she would like to have QR codes for donation information, she’d be more than welcome to hand that out at the end of the event.” “We did not approve those flyers,” Gagne said, explaining that she felt “a little bit deceived” by what transpired. Nevertheless, no one stopped the distribution of the flyers. Elaine Linn, an academic advisor with Pitt’s Global Studies program, was reportedly seen at the event wearing a keffiyeh and handing out the flyers in support of the PPC. When contacted by the Chronicle, Linn denied duplicitous dealings with Gagne but said she was unable to talk while at work. Attempts to reach Linn again, through both her Pitt email and a phone number she provided, were unsuccessful. Linn’s Instagram page is filled with staunch anti-Israel and anti-Zionist posts. Along with a photo of her wearing a keffiyeh and claims like “Jesus was Palestinian,” there are photos of a wall
Mayor Ed Gainey (center), with Aziz Abu Sarah (right) and Maoz Inon
Recognized for inclusion work
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ittsburgh native Evan Wolfson recently was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal during a ceremony at the White House for his pioneering work in the marriage equality movement. Wolfson, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and now lives in New York City, was feted by President Joe Biden on Jan. 2 for decades of advocacy that culminated in the 2015 U. S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. Wolfson was one of 20 individuals chosen for the medal for having “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House said. Other awardees included attorney/activist Mary Bonauto, who argued the pivotal marriage equality case before the Supreme Court; former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who spoke out against President-elect Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol; and Jewish photographer and international philanthropist Bobby Sager. Wolfson was lauded by the White House for “helping millions of people in all 50 states win the fundamental right to love, marry and be themselves, and for his singular focus and untiring optimism to change not just the law but society — pioneering a political playbook for change and sharing its lessons, even now, with countless causes worldwide.” Wolfson’s family, including his husband of 23 years, Cheng He, and his brother, David Wolfson, a pediatrician who lives and works