November 8, 2024 | 7 Cheshvan 5785
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Lenda volorei ciendiEmanuel non re nus Changes at Temple
Candlelighting 4:50 p.m. | Havdalah 5:50 p.m. | Vol. 67, No. 45 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
$2
Police arrest two Holocaust Center of in connection Pittsburgh seeds Crocus Project in memory of children with antisemitic graffiti killed in the Shoah
Membership redefined Et odictiumqui andae amusam Page 2 quistium LOCAL si de net voloritat Page X
A puppet show for Palestine LOCAL Ovit, ommodi remos ero
A large group of Shaler Area High School students planted yellow crocuses at Rainbow Raccoon Park in Millvale. Photo courtesy of Abbey Nilson
Falk Lab School apologizes
Page 3
LOCAL Fodictiumqui aut entis andae asimuss Getting to know: Moshe Marvit
Page X
LOCAL Minto volupta ssimim
Local attorney gets “dream job”
Page 6
LOCAL “Last Glimpse” Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati ntibus.
Page X
Poems by Valerie Bacharach
Page 16
By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
O
ne might say that it was the luck of the Irish that led to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s latest project. As Emily Loeb, the HCOP’s director of programs and education, recounts, the center’s Marketing and Education Associate Julia Gaetano was doing research for a post about St. Patrick’s Day and Holocaust remembrance when she discovered the Holocaust Education Ireland and its Crocus Project, an initiative to have 1.5 million students, aged 10 and over, plant yellow crocus bulbs in memory of the children who died during the Shoah. Loeb originally thought the project might be a good activity for area Girl Scout troops — the center was working to develop a Holocaust education patch — and this seemed like a good fit. When Nick Haberman, founder of the LIGHT Education Initiative, mentioned the project independent of the research Gaetano had done, Loeb knew it was something the Holocaust Center needed to pursue. “You know how things can sometimes come together?” Loeb asked. “This was one of those things.”
A transatlantic meeting was soon arranged between Loeb and HEI trustee Lynn Jackson. Jackson told Loeb that while a few teachers have participated in the program in the United States, no organization had yet shown an interest. “They had not had any formal participation,” Loeb said, “so, we’re the first Holocaust center in America to formally participate. We are piloting it.” The HCOP purchased nearly 600 bulbs and is working with educators from 15 area schools. “We have some that have put the bulbs in the ground and are done, others are planting in community gardens, some that are doing crocus bulbs in terra cotta pots in their classroom, some that are actually doing installations like on a football field, the scoreboard, and some that are doing yellow Jewish stars on their grounds,” Loeb said. “It’s wonderful to see the creativity going into it.” Scott Vensel is an eighth grade literacy teacher at Fox Chapel Area School District’s Dorseyville Middle School. The bulbs, he said, are planted in a recently renovated school courtyard. Please see Crocus, page 13
David Knoll discusses graffiti painted on the Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s building with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Rabbi Yisroel Altein in July Photo by David Rullo By David Rullo | Senior Staff Writer
T
wo people have been arrested, and are facing federal hate crime charges, in connection to graffiti painted at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in July. Mohamad Hamad, 23, of Coraopolis and Talya A. Lubit, 24, of Pittsburgh have been charged with damaging religious property and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Hamad was a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, assigned to the 171st Maintenance Squadron in Moon Township, until September 2024, when he was barred from the facility. Lubit is an Oakland resident. The 20-page complaint is replete with information about the pair, the investigation conducted by the FBI and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, the planning of the crime and text conversations between Hamad and Lubit. The criminal complaint alleges that on the early morning of July 29, an individual spray painted the words “Jews 4 Palestine” and an inverted red triangle at Chabad of Squirrel Hill. The inverted red triangle has been used
Party Planning
Please see Graffiti, page 13 Eric Limon/Adobe Stock
Special Section begins on Page 7