March 3, 2023 | 10 Adar 5783
Candlelighting 5:56 p.m. | Havdalah 6:55 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 9 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Friendship Circle takes Lenda volorei ciendi nonthe re nus initiative on teen mental health
Local agencies prepare community for trial of Pittsburgh synagogue shooter
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Cremation vs. burial, a modern halachic issue By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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time for people to process the trauma — and discover where they might find joy in the community — it hasn’t erased the anticipation and anxiety of the trial. “There’s the old adage, ‘You control what you can and then you plan around what you can’t control,’” Feinstein said. “This is one of those things we can’t control.” Nothing the 10.27 Healing Partnership or its community partners do, she stressed, has any impact on the legal proceedings. Instead, they endeavor to ensure the community is resilient in the face of the event. “We are working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on things as mundane as how do we get water into the courthouse, how can we help with transportation — that’s the sort of logistical work we’re doing behind the scenes,” Feinstein said. The Partnership is also working on building spiritual resilience, she said. Its staff has talked to leaders of different houses of worship about how they can continue their practices and find joy in what they are doing. Accompanying the spiritual needs of the community are its emotional needs, and it
e are in the midst of a cremation crisis, according to the website shabbosvayechi.org: Every 16 minutes, a Jewish person is cremated. The site attempts to change the hearts and minds of Jewish community members considering cremation rather than a traditional Jewish burial. The organization works with 630 shuls in 135 communities, including the Pittsburgh Shul (B’nai Emunoh Chabad), Congregation Poale Zedeck, Shaare Torah Congregation and Young Israel of Greater Pittsburgh. The number of Jews who opt for cremation might be surprising, but it isn’t out of line with what is happening across the United States generally — 57.5% of those who died in 2021 chose cremation over traditional burial options, according to the Cremation Association of North America. In Canada, nearly three-quarters of those who died were cremated. No matter where you fall on the issue, there is no question that cremation rubs against halachah, or traditional Jewish law. “The body is holy,” said Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, the executive director of the Aleph Institute-Northeast Region and a spiritual adviser to Gesher HaChaim, a burial society in Pittsburgh. “We sanctify it after it’s been used; we bury it.” For Vogel, the argument can be illustrated simply: When animal hides are used to create tefillin they are elevated and can no longer be thrown away — they must be buried. How much more so for the human body that has performed hundreds of mitzvot throughout its life? The Talmud, Vogel said, goes to great lengths to discuss the importance of burial and the responsibility of everyone to see that each person receives a proper burial, even if that person isn’t Jewish. The rabbi is unwavering in his belief that Judaism prohibits cremation.
Please see Trial, page 10
Please see Cremation, page 10
Programs, policies and a new space for wellness andae amusam Et odictiumqui Page 2 quistium si de net voloritat LOCAL
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Squirrel LOCAL Hill resident takes the ride of a lifetime Ovit, ommodi remos ero
The Tree of Life building, days after the Oct. 27, 2018, attack
Clifford Levine prevents bus disaster after Shapiro/Davis inauguration Page 4 Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss LOCAL LOCAL A Persian Purim treat
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Baklava: A tasty alternative to hamantaschen Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
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By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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or the last two years, the 10.27 Healing Partnership has helped prepare the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the impact of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial, scheduled to begin on April 24. The organization has worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jewish Family and Community Services, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and others to anticipate the effect of the trial on the community, Director Maggie Feinstein said. The Partnership, she said, also has reached out to Charleston, South Carolina, where nine Black congregants were murdered at Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015. The church has shared a lot about its members’ experiences but, Feinstein noted, every legal encounter is different. “There is a distinct similarity of a religious group that experienced both the primary and vicarious trauma of the event and having a whole city and community impacted by something so horrific,” she said. While the intervening years between the massacre and the trial have allowed some
Photo by Adam Reinherz
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