October 7, 2022 | 12 Tishri 5783
Candlelighting 6:34 p.m. | Havdalah 7:31 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 40 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL New at Temple Sinai Lendafaces volorei ciendi non re nus
Squirrel HIll congregation is Et odictiumqui andae amusam enthusiastic about its new hires quistium si de net voloritat
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Pittsburgh has several communal Judah Samet, sukkahs available for public use survivor of — but you may want to call first Holocaust and Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, has died at 84
LOCAL LOCAL Serving Israel remos from Pittsburgh Ovit, ommodi ero
An elaborately decorated sukkah
Teens from the Jewish state arrive to work with local youth Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss
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LOCAL Minto volupta ssimim writes a new Chabad of Monroeville Sefer Torah
Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati “A shul should have more than one.” ntibus. Page 7
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By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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study of the Jewish holidays can reveal a megillah’s worth of customs, writings and requirements. With Sukkot just days away, one idea worth considering is that according to the Shulchan Aruch, a 16th-century code of Jewish laws, it’s praiseworthy to eat exclusively in a sukkah. Those looking to fulfill the rabbinic precept need not have their own booth. With several public sukkahs nearby, finding a hut has never been so easy. Sukkahs are a common site in many neighborhoods around Pittsburgh, especially Squirrel Hill. For individuals who don’t have a sukkah, there’s one at Chabad of Squirrel Hill, said co-director Rabbi Yisroel Altein: “Everyone is always welcome to open the gate in the back, and use the sukkah.” Rabbi Ron Symons, of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness, offered a similar invitation: “We will have a sukkah outside of Levinson Hall on the patio. We welcome the community to come and use it at their discretion unless there’s a program already
Photo by Avital Pinnick
happening in it.” In Oakland, sukkahs will be erected on the campuses of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as at Chabad at Pitt. Sara Weinstein, co-director of Chabad House on Campus, said the holiday is a reminder of unity. To that end, on both the first night of Sukkot and Shabbat, Chabad and Hillel Jewish University Center are welcoming students for dinner. The gatherings should enable “several hundred students” to enjoy the abodes, said Dan Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC. But apart from those two events, students and others on campus can frequent the sukkahs all week long, Marcus added. Weinstein echoed the sentiment. Students and faculty should feel free to use the sukkahs on the campuses of Chatham University and Duquesne University School of Law, as well as the one at Chabad House in Shadyside, she said. Robert Gleiberman, Congregation Beth Shalom’s executive director, said the Squirrel
Judah Samet
By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
J
udah Samet, a Holocaust survivor whose late arrival at synagogue one Shabbat saved him from the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history, has died. A mainstay at daily minyan and Shabbat services at Tree of Life Congregation, Samet passed away on Sept. 27. He was 84. “What a life he had,” wrote Larry Barasch, Samet’s nephew, in a Facebook post. “Grew up in Hungary, survived the Holocaust, became orphaned upon leaving the camps, moved to Israel and found his mother. Joined the Israeli Defense Forces as a paratrooper and radio man, fought side by side with General Moshe Dayan for Israeli independence. Emigrated to Canada, married Barbara Schiffman, and became a wellknown jeweler in Pittsburgh working for my grandfather, Irving Schiffman.” Abraham Judah Samet was born into an Orthodox Jewish family on Feb. 5, 1938, in Hungary. In April 1944, the Gestapo forced the Samet family into a work yard and later took them to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, Samet said in an interview
Please see Sukkah, page 10
maglara/Adobe Stock
Photo courtesy of the White House
Chag ! h c a e m a S
Please see Samet, page 10