December 23, 2022 | 29 Kislev 5783
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A Hall of Fameciendi friendship Lenda volorei non re nus
Candlelighting 4:40 p.m. | Havdalah 5:44 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 51 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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Shine A Light campaign seeks to ‘stop people in their tracks’
Groundbreaking rabbi now calls Pittsburgh home
A Shine A Light billboard on Banksville Road on Dec. 8
Rabbi Rachel Adler
Et odictiumqui andae amusam The tale of the Clementes and the quistium si de net voloritat Kantrowitzes LOCAL
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LOCAL From Poway to Pittsburgh Ovit, ommodi remos ero
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
Daughter of shooting victim Lori GilbertFodictiumqui aut entis andae Kaye finds support in the Steel asimuss City LOCAL
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LOCAL A new chief in the South Hills Minto volupta ssimim
Lenda nus dolorum re pro mi, cuptati Jason ntibus.Haberman takes the reins at the Mt. Lebanon Police Department Page X
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aybe you’ve seen the electronic billboards and their jarring messages displayed around the city and surrounding areas. “You’re not like other Jews,” one states in black bold letters against a yellow background. Another reads, “I would’ve never guessed you’re Jewish. You’re so cool.” A third plays on familiar antisemitic tropes asking, “Did you see the diamond on her finger? It’s huge! But what do you expect? She has a Jewish fiancé.” It takes an exercise in concentration — not recommended for driving — to read the second, smaller line in green below all three messages clarifying the billboard’s intention: “There’s nothing casual about antisemitism.” Eventually, the meaning becomes clearer as a multislide campaign is revealed. Later displays on the billboards read: “If you don’t think the Holocaust happened, maybe Jews aren’t your issue. Maybe history class is,” and “Antisemitism is bad for everybody. It starts with the Jews … but it never ends there.” Unless you’re stuck in rush hour traffic, though, the likelihood of reading through the entire cycle of messages is slim. The concern of some Pittsburghers who have seen only one of the messages is that they could reinforce antisemitic tropes and stereotypes. The billboards are part of a new campaign,
Photo by David Rullo
which also includes public service announcements airing during some of television’s most popular programs including “Today” and “Saturday Night Live.” The television messages are more straightforward: “Hate doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” a voiceover says. “One form of hate leads to another. And there is one form of hatred on the rise in the U.S. often passed off as legitimate discourse or is just ignored: antisemitism.” All of the messages include the logo of the campaign Shine A Light. Shine A Light is a “convening platform,” according to Carly Maisel, from the Shine A Light Coalition. “Basically,” she said, “it’s an opportunity for over 100 organizations to come together in a coordinated way and use the month of Chanukah, December, as a springboard to come together to advocate, engage and educate around antisemitism.”
Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rachel Adler
By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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Shine A Light was created last year by the Kirsh Foundation, eJewish Philanthropy reported. It works with its partners to proclaim allyship with Jewish people, as well as anyone who is targeted based on their identity. The media campaign is just one part of the
n the span of her career, Rabbi Rachel Adler has gone from a self-identifying Orthodox Jew to a Reform rabbi teaching at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She’s swung from being a rabbi who once argued the value of family purity rituals to speaking against them. The author and teacher is now working to erase the gendered practices that are a part of Judaism while finding a home at a Conservative congregation in the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh. Adler garnered national attention in 1971, while still identifying as an Orthodox Jew, when she published the article “The Jew Who Wasn’t There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman.” Fifty-one years later, the piece is acknowledged to be the first work of Jewish feminist theology/ethics. Adler earned a Ph.D. in religion and social ethics from the University of Southern California with a conjoint certificate in Judaica from Hebrew College and a master’s in English literature from Northwestern University, and a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota. In 2012, Adler was ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College, a Reform
Please see Billboard, page 15
Please see Adler, page 15
Partnership against hate
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