June 14, 2024 | 8 Sivan 5784
Candlelighting 8:34 p.m. | Havdalah 9:42 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 24 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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LOCAL Lendacollege volorei ciendimaking non re waves nus Local student
Zoe Skirboll’s road to Olympic trials Et odictiumqui andae amusam Page 2 quistium LOCAL si de net voloritat From generation to generation
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Initiative pairs Pittsburgh with Gainey, displaced Israeli community Innamorato detail negotiations to end Cathedral of Learning encampment
Ovit, ommodi remos ero
Ilana Symons continues family legacy in the rabbinate Page 3
LOCAL Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss Getting to know: Jason Schiffman
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LOCAL Minto volupta ssimim
Lymphoma Society Pittsburgh Visionary of the Year Page 5
LOCAL Committed to Zionism nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati Lenda ntibus.
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Gila Zarbiv on midwifery and activism
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Kim Salzman, bottom left, visits members of Nir Yitzhak at a hotel in Eilat.
Photo courtesy of Kim Salzman
By Adam Reinherz | Senior Staff Writer
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n Israeli community displaced by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack is getting some help from Pittsburghers, thanks to Communities2Gether, a program organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Building off the Partnership2Gether model, Communities2Gether pairs U.S. and Canadian cities with kibbutzim and communities displaced after Oct. 7. Pittsburgh was matched with Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak in the Gaza Envelope in the western Negev desert. Nir Yitzhak’s 600 residents have experienced extreme hardship since Hamas’ attack, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Adam Hertzman said. “The whole kibbutz is in one hotel in Eilat, and they’ve been there since Oct 8. You can imagine how miserable it is,” Hertzman said. “There’s a lot of large families living in oneor two-bedroom hotel rooms. They have been away from their homes the entire time because it isn’t safe.” As part of the initiative, Pittsburgh’s Federation will contribute $250,000 each
year for the next three years to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. The money will come from various Federation funds. Daniel Lanternari, his wife and their three children, 15, 12 and 9, have been displaced since Oct. 7. Lanternari, 48, told Vatican News about the events of Oct. 7. “We heard the sirens and locked ourselves in the safe room, where we stayed for several hours,” he said. “When things calmed down a bit, I took my oldest son to the bathroom, and from the window, I saw about 15 terrorists entering from the kibbutz’s entrance, not from the direction of the Gaza Strip. No one expected the terrorists to arrive in cars; we thought they would come on foot from the direction of the Strip. Instead, they entered right through the kibbutz gate where my house is located ... I just watched them because I couldn’t believe it was real. Only when they began drilling into our houses and shooting with Kalashnikovs, did I snap out of the movie I was watching.” Multiple casualties occurred, according to
At a June 4 press conference, Mayor Ed Gainey discussed his conversation with a group of protesters trespassing at the University of Pittsburgh. Photo by David Rullo By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
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rotesters trespassing at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning tore down their illegal encampment and left in the early hours of June 4 after a nearly three-hour negotiation with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. During a news conference last week, Gainey said he made it clear to protesters that the meeting was not an endorsement of their demands. Rather, he said, it was about finding a “safe resolution to a situation that had become unstable.” After getting reports about the instability at the camp, Gainey said he gathered with members of his senior leadership team, as well as Innamorato, and contacted the protesters at the encampment “in order to deescalate the situation.”
Please see Kibbutz, page 10
Please see Encampment, page 10
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