March 15, 2024 | 5 Adar II 5784
Candlelighting 7:09 p.m. | Havdalah 8:09 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 11 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY
S
LOCAL Lenda volorei ciendi noneld re nus A new yeshiva in Greenfi
Allegheny County Council rejects cease-fire motion
$2
Yeshiva schools raise more than $600,000 for security in shadow of recent antisemitic incidents
Pittsburgh Zal, for young men Et odictiumqui andae amusam Page 2 LOCAL si de net voloritat quistium
X AgeWell Pittsburgh celebrates 20Page years Charlene Tissenbaum addresses Allegheny County Council during a March 5 meeting. Council rejected a motion calling for a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
LOCAL Ovit, ommodi remos ero
Photo by David Rullo
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
Enriching the lives of older adults Page 3
LOCAL Why is this night different? Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss
Page X
LOCAL Minto volupta ssimim
Passover fun with Legos Page 4
LOCAL “A marvelous example” Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
Page X
Temple Sinai and Rodef Shalom: A look back Page 7
A
llegheny County Council voted overwhelmingly against a motion calling for a cease-fire in Israel’s war against the terrorist organization Hamas. The vote — 9 to 3, with two council members abstaining and one not present — came at a March 5 meeting after almost five hours of public comments by more than 200 county residents. In the end, the only councilmembers to support the motion were Bethany Hallam, who introduced the motion, and its co-sponsors Dan Grzybek and Anita Prizio. Jack Betkowski, Samuel DeMarco III, Suzanne Filiaggi, Nicholas Futules, Patrick Catena, Paul Klein, Robert Macey, John Palmiere and Robert Palmosina voted against the resolution. David Bonaroti and Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis abstained. The motion urged “the United States Federal Government to work cooperatively towards an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and Palestine as well as the release of all hostages held in Palestine and Israel.” About 140 people spoke in favor of the motion, with 72 speaking against it. At times, the atmosphere of the meeting became contentious when several people, all in favor of the resolution, were removed from the meeting for various reasons. Many of the same falsehoods and antisemitic tropes heard by the council two weeks ago, when it first took public comments about
a possible cease-fire motion, were repeated. Dozens of speakers, many wearing keffiyehs, accused Israel of being a murderous, apartheid, colonist state that indiscriminately bombs innocent women and children in furtherance of a genocide, and of trying to push Palestinians out of Gaza, ethnically cleansing it. While the purpose of the public comments was ostensibly to discuss Hallam’s cease-fire motion, many used the forum as an opportunity to rail against Israel, its right to exist and what they alleged were historical crimes committed by the state. Many of those who spoke in favor of the motion said Israel was purposely targeting hospitals in Gaza. The first in a line of speakers from Jewish Voice for Peace, all with coordinated T-shirts, took issue with President Joe Biden’s recent assertion that but for the state of Israel, no Jew in the world would be safe. “This statement is extremely dangerous and misguided,” she said. Several speakers equated the actions of Israel with those of Hitler, attempting to create false equivalencies between Israel’s defensive military mission and those of the Nazi regime during which more than 6 million Jews were murdered. Others said that a cease-fire motion was just the first step in what they expected from the council, and that they would be urging the council to divest from Israel next. Please see Council, page 14
Home ImprovementIssue
Coming in the March 22
nd
Andy Dean / Adobe Stock
Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh
Photo by Lauren Rosenblatt
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
D
uring the March 5 Allegheny County Council meeting, Mor Greenberg recounted how her 12-year-old son was harassed on his way home from school while wearing a yarmulka and told of his experience being sworn at while running a lemonade stand. “As a Jewish mother and wife, my heart skips a beat at the sound of every siren,” she said. Greenberg told the Chronicle that her children attend Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh and, like other Jewish community members, many of the children who attend the school have been targeted with antisemitism since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. “Honestly, there’s a whole host of children that have been harassed, and we don’t necessarily report it because sometimes it’s just someone driving by in a car and we don’t even have the license plate,” she said. “There were a group of teenagers that were walking from shul over the Greenfield Bridge, and they were dressed in black suits, Please see Yeshiva, page 14