From Our Spiritual Leader Coming Events Cantor Henry

November/December 2015 Cheshvan Kislev/Tevet 5776 Volume 19, Issue 9

From Our Spiritual Leader Cantor Henry Shapiro

What’s In A (Synagogue) Name ? In the book of Genesis, B’reisheis, we are introduced to many characters and places. I’ve been intending to write something about their names and their meanings but I’m taking a little detour because of a phrase I read in this week’s Parshat Vayeizei. In the later part of the story, Jacob leaves his father-in-law Laban without telling him in advance and vayirdof acharav, and he pursued him. Now the root of the

verb to pursue is פ.ד.ר. and the present tense of that is rodef.

So naturally I thought of Temple Rodef Shalom in Oakland and it’s meaning - pursuing peace. Synagogue names seems like a good topic so I’ll write a little about that. Obviously the Hebrew word shalom, peace, is pretty popular and I can think of three other synagogues in the Pittsburgh area that include that in their name - Beth Shalom (house of), Ohav Shalom (lover of), and Adat Shalom (congregation of). Israel is another Hebrew word commonly used and is included with Beth (house), B’nai (children), and Kesher (connection to). Some names may be a straight translation of a Hebrew phrase such as Eitz Chaim being called it’s English meaning, Tree of Life.

Coming Events

Friday Night Shabbat Services - 6:00 PM Saturday Morning Shabbat Services - 9:30 AM November 22nd Sisterhood-Rishon Haddasah vendor sale 2:00 - 5:00 PM Pre-Chanukah dinner 6 PM November 24th Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium @ United Methodist Church 7PM December 11th & 12th Birthday Shabbat December 12th PJC Theatre Factory-Trafford 8:00 See calendars for Candle Lighting times

Parkway Jewish Center

November/December 2015 – Cheshvan/Kislev/Tevet 5776

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Now some names may be associated with certain denominations. For example, I grew up in Temple Israel in Wilkes-Barre, PA and interned at Temple Israel, Natick, MA. Both of those are conservative synagogues. Just like they publish the most common baby names every year, some shul names were popular earlier in the 19th and 20th century. I’ve come across a number of older synagogues named Agudas Achim (association of Brothers), or Anshei Chesed (People of Kindness). You would hardly think of Parkway Jewish Center as being part of a larger Jewish movement but in fact the ‘synagogue center’ was a popular synagogue concept and term around the 1920’s and beyond. Combining social and prayer spaces into a larger complex became a trend. There’s even a scholarly work about the phenomena published by Brandeis University Press called, Shul with a Pool: The "synagogue-center" in American Jewish History, by David Kauffman 1999 Names can reflect some local feature. There are at least two synagogues named Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea), that I know of next to or near the seashore in the New England area. Names not only reflect who you are and where you come from, but also who you hope to attract. Shalom Carlebach founded his synagogue in San Francisco in 1968 at the height of the Summer of Love and the hippy movement. When asked why he called his bay area synagogue House of Love and Prayer, Shlomo Carlebach answered if I called it Beth Jacob no one would come. FYI, I used as reference, a recently published book in our PJC library, The Synagogues of Central and Western PA, A Visual Journey, by Julian Preisler. Cantor Henry Shapiro



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From the President’s Desk………………………….Robert E. Korfin Let me begin with a note concerning the recent holiday of Thanksgiving. We hear that the idea of giving thanks started with the pilgrims shortly after they arrived in America but it really started thousands of years before them. Jews have been giving thanks from the very beginning and we still do it every single day. אנחנו לך We thankfully acknowledge You our God…This line appears in the daily service and each מודיםShabbat. So we started it; the pilgrims continued the tradition; Hallmark and Butterball embellished it. Whatever….I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. With the beginning of December and the winter season, some of our members will be leaving Pittsburgh for the warmth and sun of Florida. We wish them safe travel and good health while away from us. We will miss them but especially at Shabbat. Maybe you and your family will try to attend Shabbat Services as much as possible. We are used to winter in Pittsburgh, but let’s be honest….we’re not kids anymore. None of us needs to be out and about when the weather turns our roads to sheets of ice. We will watch the conditions each Shabbat and will get the word out via email if there are any weather-related announcements. As we get into December, it’s a good time to take advantage in time for tax season. We hope you consider honoring your financial commitment to Parkway on schedule. And it’s never too late to make your Kol Nidre Pledges or fulfill them. Keeping the synagogue running is not seasonal; it requires the support of all of our members all year long. We are the “Chosen Ones,” maybe that’s why we celebrate New Years twice; during the fall and again at the end of December. May you and your family stay safe during 2015, and may you be of good health, happiness and peace. I will look forward to seeing you in shul as often as possible in the New Year. And I also hope you will choose a great movie for Christmas Day, and if you see me in one of the Chinese eateries, pass me a fortune cookie. Be well and then we will talk again…



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Kiddush & Oneg Shabbat Sponsors PJC Sisterhood Gail Levine Susie and Bruce Feldman Marvin Tell Ruth Daniels Myrna Korfin Mike Jacob Linda Tashbook Diane Bloomfield Kiddush Oneg Sponsorships Sisterhood invites you to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other Simchas by sponsoring an Oneg Shabbat or Saturday Morning Kiddush. You can also sponsor in memory of a loved one’s Yahrzeit. For more information, call Syma Levine at: 412-823-7677.

Donation Contacts: Donations to the Marilyn Markowitz/Phyllis Stein Memorial Library Fund can be made by calling the shul office or by mailing checks, payable to PJC Sisterhood, to the shul office.

Mazel Tov Susan and Michael Tell, on their Son, L.J. passing the Bar Exam Marvin Tell, on his Grandson, L.J. passing the Bar Exam Efrem Schwartz, on his Haftorah reading on the 75th Anniversary of his Bar Mitzvah

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NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES

4 Ava and Tom Cain 6 Shirley H. and Allan Schwartz

19 Susan and Ira Mazer 27 Debi and Charlie Drummond

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

2 Michael Malkin

6 Jessi Korfin Malkin 9 Martin Cooper 10 Adam Caplan 11 Joanie Jacob 12 Leslie Rubin 16 Zachary Cain Melanie Heyman

Jenna Iszauk 21 Lindsey Mazer Monahan

26 Michelle Bloomfield 27 Jordan Jacob

30 Stephanie Greenberg Contraras Eileen Kraska

DECEMEBER ANNIVERSARIES

20 Pauline and Charles Davis 23 Tammy and Neil Blumenfeld 24 Vera and Lesley Greenberg

30 Micki and Jack Kessler

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

1 Robert Zukerman 5 Gary Moidel

6 Bill Hershman 8 John Kosko

9 Heather Caplan 12 Harold Bloomfield

17 Marvin Tell 21 Karen Mayer 23 Josh Brown

24 L.J. Tell



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November Yahrzeits Week of October 30, 2015 - 17 Cheshvan Shirley Forman, Paul Kaye, Joseph Feldman, Samuel Kirshner, Joe Kaplitz, Gary Tell, Max Berkowitz, Rai Faron, Steward Handwerk, Jack Fiedler, Seymour Daniels, Dorothy Brill, Rosalyn Zilber Week of November 6, 2015 - 24 Cheshvan Sigmund Spiegel, Milton Heyman, Mildred Zuckerman, Freida Sussman, Simon Rosenberg, Morris Silberman, Rosalie Brody, Barbara Lynn Rosenbaum, Sylvia Greenberg, Benjamin Klawansky, Hilda Moss Lenchner, Jack Serbin, Irving Goldstein, Reuben Lucker, Katie Levy Bell, Dr. Louis H. Schwartzman, Jacob Silverblatt, Betty Holtzman, Jennie Simon, Ilene R. DeFazio, Anita Mazer Week of November 13, 2015 - 1 Kislev Alvin “Boomie” Marks, Herman Stern, Harold Markovitz, Joanne Zukerman Lebovitz, Sarah Ross, Selma Tacker, Jerry Tashbook, Walter Sigel, Manuel Zang, Solomon Weinstein, Donald David Landay, Gerald Fischman, Florence Rosenberg, Milton Marks, Lee Rosenberg, Reeva Alexis Kelly, Gussie Mayer Week of November 20, 2015 - 8 Kislev Lena Applebaum, Mark Rosenberg, David Alexander Weiss, Leah Drosnes, Isadore Schwartz, Rose Bazerman, Burton Zilber, Israel Levine, Dora Zang Shalachman, Lillian Freehof, Leon Abrams, David Hirsch Fischman, David Podolsky, Sam Steinberg, Samuel Bloom, Leona Mandel Week of November 27, 2015 - 15 Kislev Beatrice Nelson, Abraham Edward Lipsitz, Zelda Cooper Edelstein, Joseph Reisz, Joseph H. Meyer, Henry H. Peritz, Nathan Merenstein, Milton Richman, Martin Rebb, Mary Anolik, Sassi Hagege, Emanuel Lieberman, Bertha Zeligson, James Ackerman, Arthur Howard Simon, Rose Weiner, Hyman Solidar, George Rebb



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December Yahrzeits

Week of November 27, 2015 - 15 Kislev Beatrice Nelson, Abraham Edward Lipsitz, Zelda Cooper Edelstein, Joseph Reisz, Joseph H. Meyer, Henry H. Peritz, Nathan Merenstein, Milton Richman, Martin Rebb, Mary Anolik, Sassi Hagege, Emanuel Lieberman, Bertha Zeligson, James Ackerman, Arthur Howard Simon, Rose Weiner, Hyman Solidar, George Rebb Week of December 4, 2015 - 22 Kislev Mike Miller, Erna Suess, Sadie Sandler, Flora Sloan,Ben Magdovitz, Molly Markovitz, Nathan Savitz, Freda Abrams,Edith Lucker, Esther Freilachoff, Lawrence Louis Green Week of December 11, 2015 - 29 Kislev Melvyn Bernard Cohen, Pauline S. Berman, Leonard Caplan, Isadore Bliwas, David Hausman, Leonard Quint, Lawrence (Larry) J. Klein, Benjamin Hoffman, Samuel Markovitz, Albert Brawer, Jeannette Freehof, Max Marcus, Anita Kaye Margulis, Sadie Edelman, Jerry Merenstein, Rose Tannenbaum Malhmood Week of December 18, 2015 - 6 Tevet Alfie Felser, Madeline Klein, Abraham Wolfson, Ethel Klein, Max Moskovitz, Joseph Mervis, Norman David Brawer, Joseph Cohen, Rose Grossman, Milton Caplan, Helen Shussett, Shirley Feldman, Ludwig Winkler, Eva Feder, Irvin Millin Week of December 25, 2015 - 13 Tevet Harvey Rosenzweig, Morris Weinberger, Joseph Kline, Phillip Solomon, Ernie Friedman, Herschel Merenstein, Rebecca Robbins, Ronald Klein, Helen Schonberg, Mollie Fox Goldberg, Harvey Lipsitz, Louis Kessler, Leah Z. Kraft

Condolences To: Rhoda Feinberg, on the passing of her Husband, Irwin Feinberg Roz Markovitz, on the passing of her Husband, Stan Markovitz



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A Torah Repair Fund donation was made by Shirley Holtzman Schwartz for the following reason: "In honor of our 10th Wedding Anniversary and to honor, my Husband, Allan Schwartz for helping me turn a new page...scrolling into my remaining years being loved and cherished."



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CENTRAL SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REFERRAL SERVICE of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Administered by: Jewish Family & Children’s Service

5743 Bartlett Street · Pittsburgh, PA 15217 · (412) 422-5627 · Fax (412) 428-8200 The Central Scholarship and Loan Referral Service (CSLRS) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh provides need-based scholarships to qualified students in the Greater Pittsburgh area. This program is administered by Jewish Family & Children's Service. These funds are made available through the generosity of families who have established endowments through the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Women International of Pittsburgh (formerly B'nai B'rith Women), National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Home for Babies and Children, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Rodef Shalom Congregation. All scholarships are distributed on the basis of demonstrated financial need. Depending on the scholarship fund, factors such as academic achievement, field of study, school attending, and Jewish and general community involvement will also be considered. In addition, the applicant must be Jewish, reside in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Beaver, Butler or Washington County, and need financial assistance to attend an accredited institution of higher education as either an undergraduate or graduate student. The 2016-2017 CSLRS on-line application is available at http://www.centralscholarship.org. All applications are due February 11, 2016. We would appreciate your assistance in aiding local students by publishing an announcement about the work of the Central Scholarship committee. For your convenience, a sample release, suitable for your congregation bulletin, is enclosed. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Alayne Lowenberger at (412) 422-5627 or e-mail her at [email protected].

http://www.centralscholarship.org/



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Parkway Jewish Center 300 Princeton Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15235

DATED MATERIAL PLEASE DO NOT DELAY

Or Current Resident Congregation Sha’ar HaShamayim 412-823-4338 www.parkwayjewishcenter.org

Cantor Henry Shapiro, Spiritual Leader ([email protected] or [email protected])

Officers President Bob Korfin

Board Members Marvin Heyman Mike Jacob Ira Mazer Harold Bloomfield Donna Wolfson Committee Chair Persons

House Chair Alan Levine Ritual Chair Hal Lederman Cemetery Chair Arnie Levine & Syma Levine

Office Administrator Gail Levine

Sisterhood Officers President Laurie Barnett Levine Vice Presidents

Membership Susan Mazer Program Vera Greenberg Fundraising Vacant Catering Leslie Rubin & Diane Bloomfield

Corresponding Secretary Vacant Financial Secretary Amy Mayer Treasurer Lynda Heyman Auditor Lynda Heyman

Scribe Staff Editor Harold Bloomfield

PUBLISHED MONTHLY VOLUME 19, ISSUE 9

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 [email protected]

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S.POSTAGE PAID PITTSBURGH, PA PERMIT NO. 3000

http://www.parkwayjewishcenter.com/

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From Our Spiritual Leader Coming Events Cantor Henry