May 3 2024 | 25 Nissan 5784
Candlelighting 8:00 p.m. | Havdalah 9:04 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 18 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY
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LOCAL Lenda voloreicomes ciendi to non re nus The governor Beth El
North Side antisemitism caps another week of worry for Jewish community
Josh Shapiro promotes disability awareness Et odictiumqui andae amusam Page 2 quistium LOCAL si de net voloritat L’chaim to Friendship Circle!
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2024 primary yielded some disappointment, some hope for Jewish Pittsburghers
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LOCAL Ovit, ommodi remos ero
Rep. Summer Lee
Photo courtesy of summerlee.house.gov
Organization celebrates 18 years of inclusion
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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LOCAL Fodictiumqui aut entis at andae Anti-Israel protesters Pitt asimuss
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A North Side family awoke to find antisemitic graffiti painted on the sidewalk in front of their home. Photo provided by resident By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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LOCAL Minto volupta ssimim
Schenley Plaza encampment shuts down Page 7
FOOD Whipped feta dip Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
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A versatile appetizer Page 15
eborah” (a pseudonym) knew when she checked the security cameras recording activity in front of her house that there was a problem. “I saw it on a still shot on the camera. You see him holding the spray can. I thought, ‘OK, this is bad.’ I opened my bedroom window, and I could see part of the graffiti,” she said. Painted on the sidewalk outside of the North Side house Deborah shares with her family was the Nazi slogan “For Blood and Soil.” The slogan was used in Nazi Germany to evoke the idea of a pure Aryan race and the territory the Nazis wanted to conquer, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The concept was foundational to Nazi ideology. “Blood” refers to a racially pure Aryan people, and “soil” evokes a special relationship between the people and their land. The glass on Deborah’s front door was also
defaced with photos, presumably of dead children in Gaza killed during Israel’s war with the terrorist group Hamas. The graffiti and photos were just the latest salvo in a series of distressing incidents that the family has endured. On April 2, Deborah’s family received propaganda shoved into their mail slot with pictures of dead children. “The child murders of Gaza” was scrawled on the paper with a marker. Deborah also noticed that their small Israeli flag placed in their flowerbed had been removed. “I later found it in the alley, and it had a footprint on it in mud and had been trampled,” she said. Deborah called the police, filed a report and went about her life. On April 4, the family received two more pieces of anti-Israel propaganda in their mail slot, and their Israeli flag was defaced with the words, “We demand blood.” Deborah understood those words as a death threat.
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he 2024 primary election was a tale of two tapes. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee’s victory over challenger Bhavini Patel in the 12th Congressional District Democratic primary was a disappointment to many in the Pittsburgh Jewish community, while state Rep. Abigail Salisbury’s win over Ashley Comans in the 34th District’s Democratic primary offered some level of comfort to those same people. Despite the heated Lee/Patel race, voter turnout was only about 33% in Allegheny County — the lowest since 2012. Almost 7,500 fewer voters in the district cast a ballot than in 2022. Lee prevailed 61% to 39% despite low favorability ratings. A Mellman Group poll of Democrats taken before the primary showed the incumbent with just a +27 net favorability rating, significantly lower than Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s +49 rating in the same survey, according to the Jewish Insider. Lee retained her seat without the endorsement of the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club. Her performance in the 14th Ward —which includes Squirrel Hill,
Please see Antisemitism, page 11
Please see Election, page 11
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JHF on death and dying
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A community Shabbaton
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