April 7, 2023 | 16 Nissan 5783
Candlelighting 7:31 p.m. | Havdalah 8:31 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 14 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Transitions ahead at non Community Lenda volorei ciendi re nus Day School
Local Holocaust survivor’s story retold by Holocaust Center/Prime Stage Theatre for Genocide Awareness Month
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Rep. Summer Lee signs letter urging shift in US policy toward Israel
Avi Baran Munro, longtime head of Et odictiumqui andae amusam school, to retire next year quistium si de net voloritat
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LOCAL LOCAL No joke: This Jewish comedian just Ovit, ommodi remos ero bought his second church
p During the primary for the Democratic nomination, Summer Lee (left) spoke at a forum organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council. Photo by David Rullo
Steve Hoftsetter to share more laughs Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss with Pittsburgh LOCAL FOOD Minto volupta ssimim Bringing mina to the masses
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By Toby Tabachnick | Editor
p Melvin Goldman (right) with his wife, Mildred, at their Squirrel Hill store
Photo courtesy of Lee Goldman Kikel
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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A Sephardic matzah and meat pie for Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati Passover ntibus. Page 14 Page X
laywright L.E. McCullough is quick to note that he doesn’t have Jewish ancestry. He is just as quick to explain that he has Jewish blood. “When my mother was ready to deliver me, she was critically ill,” McCullough said, “and the only thing that kept her from dying and allowed me to be born was that a friend of my father in dental school, Gerald Epstein, had the correct blood type.” Epstein’s gift of his blood “saved my life,” McCullough said. His connection to Judaism has remained strong throughout his career. He has written two books of Jewish plays— “Plays of Ancient Israel” and “Plays of Israel Reborn”— and also adapted the book “Perseverance: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America” for the stage. Prime Stage Theatre and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh are partnering to produce
“Perseverance” on April 15 and 16 at the New Hazlett Theater in recognition of Genocide Awareness Month. This is the third year the two organizations have partnered to present a play for Genocide Awareness Month. In 2021, they produced “Miracle In Rwanda” and last year “The White Rose” was staged. This year, McCullough said, the two commissioned “Perseverance” because they wanted to have a local focus. “This is very local,” he said. “It starts, obviously, in World War II, but then it’s really about how the Pittsburgh community embraced this one Holocaust survivor’s journey from Poland to Pittsburgh — and that was Melvin Goldman.” Goldman immigrated to Squirrel Hill after surviving both the Łódź Jewish ghetto and Auschwitz. He founded the G&S Jewelry Store on the corner of Darlington Road and Murray Avenue.
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ennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee joined other progressive lawmakers in signing a letter last week urging President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken to alter U.S. policy toward Israel in light of recent violence and in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition. The letter, initiated by Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Bernie Sanders, argues that the U.S. should “undertake a shift in U.S. policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights. Only by protecting democracy, human rights, and self-determination for all Palestinians and Israelis can we achieve a lasting peace.” In addition to Lee, the letter was signed by Reps. Cori Bush, Andre Carson, Betty McCollum, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. Endorsing organizations include ardently anti-Israel groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace Action, IfNotNow Movement, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and the
Please see Perseverance, page 10
Happy
Passover!
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Please see Lee, page 10