June 9, 2023 | 20 Sivan 5783
Candlelighting 8:31 p.m. | Havdalah 9:40 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 23 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Lenda volorei ciendi nonjourney re nus A Torah’s cross-Atlantic
Testimony continues in the synagogue massacre trial
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A new generation of Jewish spiritual leaders confronts gender, identity
Temple Sinai donates in Milan odictiumqui andae scroll amusam Et quistium si de net voloritat Page 2 LOCAL
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A new start for a sacred site LOCAL Ovit, ommodi remos ero
Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Smidga, left, was one of the first to respond to the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life buidling. Barry Werber is a survivor of the attack. They were among the many witnesses to testify in the first few days of the trial.
Image by Peggy Marco via Pixabay
Photo by Adam Reinherz
B’nai Israel transitions to mixed-income housing Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss LOCAL
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Celebrating 50 years of women in LOCAL the rabbinate Minto volupta ssimim
Interfaith clergy eat, pray and learn Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
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By Bob Batz Jr. and Torsten Ove | Contributing Writers
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our-and-a-half years after a man stormed the Tree of Life building, killing 11 people from three congregations — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life * Or L’Simcha — his trial finally commenced with jury selection on April 24. On May 30, witnesses began testifying. Killed were Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband Sylvan Simon, 86; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; David Rosenthal, 54, and his brother, Cecil, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Irving Younger, 69; Melvin Wax, 87; Richard Gottfried, 65; and Rose Mallinger, 97. The U.S. government is seeking the federal death penalty for the accused shooter, who told police he attacked because he hates Jews. He faces 63 charges, including the obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill. The Chronicle published a recap of the testimony presented on Day 1 in its June 2 issue. Here is a recap of Days 2 through 5. For more extensive and up-to-date coverage, go to pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Day 2: At the federal courthouse, Downtown on May 31, one of the witnesses
the government called was Carol Black, 71. She described being present at a worship service when the attack started and seeing one worshipper get shot while she hid behind a door in a dark room. She testified that, in a “rededicating” to the Jewish faith in which she was raised, she years earlier had joined the New Light congregation and became involved with her brother, Richard Gottfried. At New Light’s regular Saturday morning services in a rented basement sanctuary in the Tree of Life building, she would join him in serving in the important role of gabbai, standing on both sides of the person reading the Torah to make sure the scripture is read correctly. On the morning of Oct. 27, she recounted, she was greeted at the building by Tree of Life member Cecil Rosenthal. She was a few minutes late, so she descended the stairs and took her usual seat in the New Light sanctuary with a few other worshippers, while her brother and another member, Dan Stein, talked in the neighboring kitchen. She was pulling from her bag her yarmulke and tallit when she heard loud sounds that appeared to be coming from the first floor.
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
This is the second part of a two-part series.
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f marriage and assimilation were prime issues of struggle and concern for Jewish spiritual leaders in the last half of the 20th century, gender and identity might mark the next proving ground for a new generation of Pittsburgh’s Jewish leaders. “We’re always looking at inclusivity in the way that we use our language,” Temple Sinai Cantor David Reinwald said, referring to the changes spiritual leaders have begun addressing in the Reform movement over the last half-century or so. Reinwald said that when he celebrated his bar mitzvah, the Avot v’Imahot (opening blessing) at his synagogue didn’t include the matriarchs. By the time his sister became a bat mitzvah just a few years later, that had changed. In the Conservative movement, the female names were included in the last decade of the 20th century. “Inclusivity,” Reinwald said, “is on a spectrum that I think is beyond whatever we imagined, and sometimes the language
Please see Trial, page 10
Please see Leaders, page 11
keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL
Time for camp
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Defending “the worst of the worst”
FOOD
Dilled potato salad with pickles