BY RON KAMPEAS

JTA

WASHINGTON — As Egypt convuls-es, pro-Israel groups and U.S. Con-gress members are seized by the an-cient maternal dilemma: If you havenothing nice to say, should you sayanything at all?

The question of whether to stake aclaim in the protests against 30 yearsof President Hosni Mubarak’s autocra-cy is a key one for the pro-Israel lobbyand pro-Israel lawmakers because ofthe role they have played in makingEgypt one of the greatest beneficiariesof U.S. aid.

And in the same way that the out-come in Egypt continues to idle in thegear of “anyone’s guess,” there is lit-tle consensus in the byways of pro-Is-rael Washington over how to treat thenation and its nascent revolution.

The competing claims were evidentin the divergent, and at times contrast-ing, calls issuing from figures knownfor their closeness to the American Is-rael Public Affairs Committee, orAIPAC, the trendsetter in the pro-Is-rael community. In general, reactionsto the unrest in Egypt crossed politicallines, with some liberal and conserva-tive commentators pressing the Oba-ma administration to help topple theregime, and others stressing the needfor stability.

Some AIPAC-related called for as-sistance to Egypt to be contingent onwhether the emerging government re-mained committed to cooperation withIsrael. Others were emphatic in omit-ting Israel as a consideration, saying itwas not the place of Israel or itsfriends to intervene in what appears tobe an organic shucking-off of adictator.

Josh Block, AIPAC’s formerspokesman who is still close to the lob-by, said the commitment of whatevergovernment emerges to peace with

THE JEWISH CHRONICLEfebruary 3, 2011 shevat 29, 5771 Vol. 53, No. 40 $1.50

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Wrapped up with the Steelers

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Jews celebrateSteelers ineducational,creative waysBY JUSTIN JACOBS

Associate Editor

If you’ve left your house or turnedon the television in the last two weeks,you know: Pittsburgh’s going to the Su-per Bowl. But while huge portions ofPittsburghers — and, surely, much ofthe country — will be cheering for aSteeler victory, some members of thecity’s Jewish community are celebrat-ing in creative, and even educationalways.

At Tree of Life/Or L’Simcha Congre-gation Sunday school, students will ac-tually feel some unity with Green Bay,Wis. This Sunday morning, theschool’s 90 students will connect withthe 20 students of Congregation Cness-es Israel, a small Conservative syna-gogue in Green Bay, through Skype.Students at both schools spent the lastfew weeks learning football-relatedvocabulary in Hebrew, which they’llswap with each other and answersports trivia.

“When Pittsburgh was entering theAFC championship, I challenged thekids: on Sunday you come in with anyHebrew words pertaining to football,and anybody who does gets a prize,”said Shelly Schapiro, director of edu-cation. “Sure enough, some studentsthey had their lists. But now, for theSuper Bowl, those papers are piling upon my desk.”

Schapiro knew she could put that en-thusiasm to work, and thought, “It’d becool for the kids to connect with a con-gregation in Green Bay,” she said. “Itwas truly one of those moments when alight went off.”

Schapiro connected with Congrega-tion Cnesses Israel because, “It’s

Please see Egypt, page 14.

Pro-Israel groupsface dilemma: Howto approach Egypt

Photo by Steve Hecht

Rabbi Alex Greenbaum of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills sports hishomemade Terrible Tallis to stir up some excitement for the Super Bowl on Sunday,when the Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Green Bay Packers.

Pittsburgh, PA

Please see Steelers, page 23.

Metro2 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Visit The Jewish Chronicle Websitethejewishchronicle.net

Students become advocatesOver 70 students converge in Pittsburgh for Israel advocacy weekendBY JUSTIN JACOBS

Associate Editor

At Hiram College in northeast Ohio, astudent population of just over 1,000means there aren’t too many Jews comingto the events held by the school’s recentlyre-launched Hillel. But student presidentRobert Weitzner believes that small num-bers don’t necessitate small voices.

“On campus, we have a number of stu-dents with a negative image of Israel,”said Weitzner. “This year, Hillel was re-founded. Before that, we Jews didn’thave a voice showing the positive side ofIsrael.”

So when Weitzner was invited to thefirst ever Israel advocacy training week-end at Pittsburgh’s Hillel JUC, he decid-ed to come, and bring his board along.

From Friday to Sunday this weekend,Hillel JUC will draw over 70 studentsfrom 10 local universities for its advoca-cy training workshop — a three-day pro-gram co-sponsored with Israel educationorganization The David Project to teachstudents how to respond to negative mes-sages about Israel spreading oncampuses. Deputy Consul General of Is-

rael Raslan Abu Rukun, a Druze Israeli,will be the special guest speaker.

Rukun is the first non-Jewish Israeli tobe named Deputy Consul General. While

most Israel advocacy in this countrycomes from Jews, Rukun represents anon-Jewish voice educating others abouthis country.

“I will speak about the challenges Is-rael faces in the Middle East and inter-national arenas,” said Rukun, callingfrom his office in Philadelphia. “Israeladvocacy is very important today. In thelast few years, we see an increasingprocess of the delegitimizing of Israel,and a lot of it is coming from inside col-lege campuses. It is alright to criticizeIsrael — we have a lot of criticisms frominside the country — but it’s not right toboycott or sanction.”

The idea for the weekend originatedback in October, when Hillel JUC’s As-sistant Director of Jewish Student Life,Carly Adelmann, and Israel fellow, Lee-hee Kaane, met with staff of The DavidProject. They wanted to create a week-end to immerse students in advocacytraining when the winter Birthright sea-son had just ended, courting studentswho had just traveled to Israel to attendthe workshop.

“When you get back [from Birthright],you want to do anything and everythingfor Israel,” said Adelmann. “If we don’tengage the students in that time, theylose that spark.”

Raslan Abu Rukun, the Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Israel,will speak at the Hillel JUC this weekend.

Please see Advocates, page 4.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 3

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The Jewish Federation ofGreater Pittsburgh has named Davidand Cynthia Shapira and Edgar andSandy Snyder to co-chair the com-mittee planning the Federation’s2012 centennial celebration.

The Federation has also releasedan image for the centennial year fes-tivities. The centennial will bemarked by a wide range of pro-grams, events and special projects,some of which will take place in2011, to lead up to the anniversaryyear.

Among those activities are:• A 10-day “Mega Mission” to Is-

rael with special tracks tailored tothe needs of families, seasoned Is-rael travelers and first-time visitorsto the Jewish state (June).

• A major donor centennial kick-off celebration, honoring Federationpast presidents and founders of theCentennial Fund for a Jewish Future(fall).

• Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration,highlighting partner agencies andcongregations (spring).

• Communitywide event featuringa dinner and a leading speaker orentertainer.

• History exhibit, showcasing thepast century of the evolution of ourJewish community.

• Building the Centennial Fund fora Jewish Future, which is intendedto ensure a perpetual stream offunding for programs that promoteJewish learning and engagement.

“We hope to involve everyone whowants to take part in this momentouscelebration,” Federation Chair BillRudolph said in a preparedstatement.

David and Cindy Shapira co-chairthe Federation’s Jewish CommunityFoundation and its Centennial Fundfor a Jewish Future EndowmentCampaign. David is a past Federa-tion chair and has held many otherpositions within the community.

Cindy currently sits on the Federa-tion board and executive committeeas well as the boards of the JewishFederations of North America, Jew-ish Agency for Israel, Jewish Com-munity Center and Community DaySchool. She is also a former execu-tive director of National Council ofJewish Women, Pittsburgh Section.

Edgar Snyder currently is on theFederation executive committee,board of directors and funding com-mittee, and he is an executive com-mittee member of the AmericanJewish Joint Distribution committeeand a member of the JFNA board oftrustees and its Israel/overseascommittee.

Sandy has served on the Federa-tion’s board of directors, missionscommittee and communications/marketing committee.

Congregation Dor Hadashwill hold an afternoon celebrationSunday, Feb. 20, to commemorateCheryl Klein’s 25th year as its cantor.

Her parentswere among the48-year-oldcongregation’searliest mem-bers and, in1967, Klein be-came a batmitzva at DorHadash. Kleinhas been themember-ledcongregation’scantor throughseveral moves— from its earliest home at the He-brew Institute, to its current space atthe Tree of Life/Or L’Simcha syna-gogue on Wilkins and Shady avenues.

Klein has worked with hundreds ofstudents at Dor Hadash and othercongregations over the years, trainingthem to become b’nai mitzva. She alsotaught religious school, and held theposition as head of the School of Ad-vanced Jewish Studies.

Contact the Dor Hadash administra-tor at admin@dorhadash.net for moreinformation.

Sara Stock Mayo, the musicalvocalist and soloist at Temple Sinai,will present her fourth Sinai CabaretNight.

During the evening of Broadway,jazz and popular music, Mayo willsing songs of love, loss and life’sexperiences.

Mayo has been the soloist at TempleSinai for seven years. Before then, shewas a musical theater major at Syra-cuse University and has performed atcabarets in New York City.

She is the daughter of thePittsburgh composer David Stock.

Women of Temple Sinai, which issponsoring the cabaret, will featurewines served with selected cheeses tomatch, hors d’oeuvres and desserts. Asilent auction will round out theevening.

There a charge for the evening,which can be paid in advance or at thedoor.

The Zionist Organization ofAmerica-Pittsburgh District is nowaccepting applications for its 2011 Is-rael Scholarship Program.

The late Hy Kimel, executive direc-tor of the ZOA-Pittsburgh District formore than 30 years, established theprogram in 1962 as an investment inthe children of the region. ZOA hasfound these trips important in rein-forcing the commitment of students toJudaism and in giving them an appre-ciation of the centrality of Israel toJewish life.

The first scholarship will assist highschool juniors, seniors and collegefreshman traveling to Israel on struc-tured study trips. Five $250 scholar-ships will be presented from endow-ments established by Drs. Bernardand Esther Klionsky, Dr. Harold andMarla Scheinman and the late ThelmaEsman.

The Ivan J. and Natalie E. NovickIsrael Scholarship Essay Contest wasestablished in their memory by theNovick family, to recognize their manyyears of dedicated service to the Pitts-burgh Jewish Community.

Applicants 15 to 19 years of age willsubmit 500 word essays on the topic,“The Influence of Israel on me as aJew.” A $500 scholarship will be

Briefly

Cheryl Klein

Please see Briefly, page 5.

4 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

METRO

BY NOAH LEVINSON

Chronicle Correspondent

As tension in the Gaza Strip increases,headlines can give a grim representationof events. Yet, behind these stories arereal Israeli people, fighting to defendtheir Jewish homeland.

One of those soldiers from the IsraeliDefense Force spoke to students abouthis time spent in the force and his rela-tionships with his fellow soldiers Mon-day, Jan. 31, at the University of Pitts-burgh, organized by the Pittsburgh Is-rael Public Affairs Committee, Panthersfor Israel, Hillel Jewish University Cen-ter, Chabad and the College Republicans,Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, a heavy machinegunner in the IDF, spoke to a crowd ofPitt students at the William Pitt Union.The sergeant is a speaker for Our Sol-diers Speak, a nonprofit organization notaffiliated with the government of Israel.

He entered the room nearly 45 min-utes late due to an assortment of groupsof protesting Palestinian supporters. Theevent, initially open to the public, wasthen restricted to Pitt students only.

Anthony removed his blue hoodedjacket and prepared to speak, but sever-

al protestors with blue tape over theirmouths and signs written in Arabic ontheir chests confronted him. They satdown quietly, but left about 15 minutesinto the speech.

Anthony asked that maybe if the pro-testors would remove the tape on theirmouths to ask reasonable questions theycould have a civil discussion. The sol-dier, though, didn’t come to speak aboutIsraeli politics.

“I’m here to transport you to the hu-man side of warfare,” said Anthony.

He talked mainly about the men in hissquad that he was personally responsiblefor, and the cruel and difficult decisionsthat are made by them every day.

The sergeant posed a situation to theaudience where a soldier has to decidewhat to do when being fired upon by anenemy using a child as a shield.

He said that his 18-year-old fellow sol-diers are “making that decision whenyou (the university students) are decid-ing what college to attend.”

It is Israeli policy that all Israeli citi-zens over 18 years of age must serve inthe IDF, men for three years and womenfor two.

One senior student attending the

speech, Micah Toll, the business manag-er for Panthers in Israel, plans to moveto Israel and join the IDF after his grad-uation. He intends to work with electricvehicles after his time in the force.

“The IDF isn’t just the Israeli army,it’s the army of the Jewish people,” saidToll.

Anthony commented about the men inhis squad being, “really just boys,charged with an incredible responsibili-ty.”

Yet, he continued to reiterate that itonly takes, “10 minutes for a boy to be-come a man.”

After his speech, the sergeant askedfor questions. One individual asked howhe, as an Israeli citizen, felt about the re-cent mass uprising in Egypt.

“Whoever ends up standing once thedust has settled ... I hope that they reverepeace as well as Israel,” said Anthony.

After answering several more ques-tions about his experience with the IDF,Anthony ended his speech, chattedbriefly with several audience members,and left hoping to beat the imminentsnowstorm.

The event’s organizer, and president ofPanthers in Israel, Samantha Vinokor,

felt the event was an absolute success.“Benjamin is amazing. He gives an

emotional and articulate glimpse ofsomething that I as a Pitt student havenot witnessed firsthand,” said Vinokor.

Major Shawn Gralinski, 36, an ArmyROTC officer at the university, was im-pressed with Anthony, also calling him,“a very articulate individual.”

“It’s obviously nice to hear the experi-ences and thoughts and feelings of a sol-dier,” said Gralinski.

Anthony stressed how important advo-cacy on the behalf of Israel is on a col-lege campus.

“We ask you to defend and protect ournames. You are our ambassadors,” saidAnthony to the students.

Vinokor felt especially proud of thesergeant’s statement, considering howshe plans to work in Israel activism andadvocacy after her graduation.

“Something I say to people all the timeis that the reason why I’m not at the Uni-versity of Tel Aviv is that I want to behere defending Israel to the people whoneed to hear it,” said Vinokor.

(Noah Levinson can be reached atndl10@pitt.edu.)

Israeli Sgt. speaks to Pitt students, draws protestors

The goal was to “provide an education-al foundation for a larger amount of stu-dents,” said Adelmann. “We thought, in-stead of sending our students away toconferences, why not bring more stu-dents here?”

Friday afternoon, students fromCarnegie Mellon University, Ohio State,Penn State, Hiram College, Case West-ern, George Washington University,Community College of Allegheny County,

West Virginia University, the Universityof Cincinnati and the University of Pitts-burgh will meet at Hillel to begin thetraining weekend. The students, many ofwhom are involved in their schools’ Hil-lels, will join the Hillel JUC’s Israel-themed Shabbat dinner. They’ll betrained by representatives from TheDavid Project on how to speak out for Is-rael, including some cultural educationfrom local Israeli students. To breakShabbat, the students will head to a pop-ular Oakland bar for a Tel Aviv-themedparty.

“We want to give the students a per-sonal stake in why they’re advocating for

Israel,” said Adelmann. “When you getback from Birthright, you have newfriends and new experiences. But thatdoesn’t give you much when you talkwith people boycotting Israel, saying itshouldn’t exist. We want to connect thepassion with the facts.”

One session will have students readingPitt’s student paper, The Pitt News, tolook at details of how Israel is portrayedin even student-centric media.

“Instead of just saying how to combatmisreports about Israel in the media,they’re going to look at very specific arti-cles from their paper,” said Adelmann.

Ryan Gianola, the Hillel president at

Penn State, put together a crew of 10Jewish students to attend the trainingweekend. Gianola, a Fox Chapel native,leads a small Hillel, considering hisschool’s Jewish population is upward of6,000. Those few voices, then, must beheard.

“It’s really important to educate peo-ple on the real issues,” said Gianola.“With the whole Israel-Palestinian con-flict, there are rumors. It’s hard to hearthe right information.”

(Justin Jacobs can be reached atjustinj@thejewishchronicle.net.)

Advocates:Continued from page 2.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 5

METRO

awarded for the winning essay.Avraham and Patricia Anouchi estab-

lished the scholarship fund to assist stu-dents traveling to Israel for research.Available to undergraduate and gradu-ate students who have completed atleast one year of college, applicants maysubmit to the ZOA scholarship commit-tee their proposal describing the topic,planned research, interviews to be con-ducted, etc. One proposal will be select-ed and the applicant will present ZOA aminimum 3,000-word report on theirproject. The scholarship award will be a

minimum $500.Applicants must be Jewish and per-

manent residents in Allegheny, Arm-strong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Wash-ington or Westmoreland counties. Ap-plications will be accepted from Feb.1 through March 1. Scholarships willbe paid directly to the Israel studyprogram of the winning applicants.

Contact ZOA-Pittsburgh ExecutiveDirector Stuart Pavilack at (412) 665-4630 or pittsburgh@zoa.org for moreinformation.

The Tikva Group of Hadassahwill meet Sunday, Feb. 13, 1 p.m. in theparty room at 220 N. Dithridge St. SueLinzer, senior manager of overseas op-erations for the Jewish Federation of

Greater Pittsburgh, who just returnedfrom Israel, will give an account of thesituation there and abroad. Linzer is apast president of the Hadassah RishonGroup, a past vice president of the Pitts-burgh Chapter, a life member, and themadricha of the leadership academy.“The VoKols,” a co-ed singing groupfrom the Hillel Jewish University Cen-ter, will perform American and Jewishpop music and a dessert buffet will beserved.

Call Yetta Speiser at (412) 682-2105for reservations and information.

Beth El Congregation of theSouth Hills will hold the 14th AnnualAll-You-Can-Eat Pancake Festival Sun-day, Feb. 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.,

1900 Cochran Road, behind Taco Bell.Participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to alocal food bank.

Call (412) 561-1168 bethelcong.orgfor more information.

“More Than Just Learning”hosts Shirley and Morris Shratter dis-cuss education in Russia and the Unit-ed States with Russian immigrant Jen-ny Milson and Pat Crawford, formerlyin public relations for the PittsburghBoard of Education during the ColdWar years. The two systems will becompared. The program airs everyTuesday in February at 8 p.m., cableTV-Channel 21 in Pittsburgh only.

BrieflyContinued from page 3.

Covenant lawsuit moves toward settlementBY TOBY TABACHNICK

Staff Writer

The class action lawsuit filed lastyear by residents of the formerCovenant at South Hills against B’naiB’rith International and its affiliatesappears to be moving towardresolution.

Attorneys for the parties appearedbefore Judge David S. Cercone in Fed-eral District Court last week to pro-vide an update of the status of the suit.

While no details regarding any pro-posed agreement have been madepublic, a final settlement seemsimminent.

The lawsuit alleges, among otherthings, that the plaintiffs collectivelypaid millions of dollars of entrancefee deposits in order to move into theB’nai B’rith-sponsored senior livingfacility in Mt. Lebanon, and that theywere entitled to recover up to 90 ofthose deposits upon leaving the facili-ty. The suit further alleges that the

plaintiffs relied upon B’nai B’rith toprotect their interests in the facility.

The Covenant, which had beenplagued by financial problems sinceits opening in 2002, filed for bankrupt-cy protection in January 2009, and thefacility was sold by order of the courtnine months later to ConcordiaLutheran Ministries. Under the termsof Concordia’s purchase agreement, itwas not required to refund the resi-dents’ deposits.

The residents do not yet know the

terms of the settlement agreement,according to Maury Deul, formerpresident of the Residents’ Council,but many look at a recovery of anyportion of their funds as found money.

“For many of us, it’s almost likefinding a pot of gold at the end of arainbow, even though there’s only acouple of colors showing,” Deul said.

(Toby Tabachnick can be reachedat tobyt@thejewishchronicle.net.)

“It was a terrible mistake for Obamato make democratization seem like an‘imposition,’ with its imperialist impli-cations, and to conflate it with militaryinvasion. The promotion of democracy isa policy of support for indigenous Egypt-ian, or Arab, or Muslim democrats whoare just as authentic as indigenousEgyptian, or Arab, or Muslim autocratsand theocrats, and certainly more de-serving of American respect.”

— Leon Wieseltier, literary editor ofThe New Republic and like the majorityof American Jews, a liberal.

It would do a lot of good if PresidentObama, Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu and American Jewsheeded Wieseltier’s words.

President Obama ought to heed themessage that democracy promotionmust be part of American foreign policybecause rejecting democracy promotionhas now hurt its potential blossoming.There is little guarantee and even small-er probability that the current upheavalin Egypt will result in a free and democ-ratic republic where individual free-doms and the rule of law are respectedand upheld. But if post-Mubarak Egyptdoes not emerge from the protests as asecular, representative democracy it willcertainly be true that the Obama admin-istration did nothing to promote such anoutcome.

A skilled administration would havespent some part of the last year consid-ering its options regarding Egypt’s fu-ture given Mubarak’s ill health and the

reality that he was going to be exitingthe stage at some point in the near fu-ture. The movement for his ouster(which may have succeeded by the timethis is published), has occurred quickerthan the Obama administration couldhave predicted, but there has been aWorking Group on Egypt meeting formore than a year now, and the expertswho make up the group, both conserva-tive and liberal, couldn’t get anyone atthe State Department or the WhiteHouse to take their calls.

Equally troubling is the analysis byWashington Post reporter Glenn Kessler,who after closely examining the Obamaadministration’s statements regardingEgypt found a complete “failure” to em-phasize — and in some instances evenmention — the need for political reformthere. Working toward an open and freeEgypt — or an open and free Jordan,Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, Syria,Yemen and Tunisia, for that matter —has not been part of the Obama adminis-tration’s policy, period.

Israel too needs to see the forest for thetrees. Officially, Prime Minister Ne-tanyahu worries about a post-MubarakEgypt and how that country might not bethe ally it once was. But such concerns cutboth ways. It isn’t true that the only out-come from these protests will be an Is-lamist state on the Nile. And just becauseEgypt was a stable ally does not mean itcould not have been or could not become abetter one. If a free, democratic and liber-al state were to border Israel along theSinai, rather than a repressive dictator-ship, there would be no reason to worryabout Egypt cancelling its peace agree-ment with the Jewish state. There couldbe trade, development, tourism and cul-tural exchanges, and Israel would nothave to spend money and resources se-curing their border. As Wieseltier pointsout, Egyptians, Muslims and Arabs are noless capable of democracy than Jews orAmericans. Sadly it doesn’t seem as if theIsraeli government has even consideredthis possibility.

Israel and the American Jews who sup-port her have similarly ignored the ques-tion of democracy and freedom among thePalestinians and how such a change mightbe in Israel’s self-interest. How muchstronger and lasting would the long hopedfor peace be if the agreement was signedbetween two free democracies? Also, it isclear now that the protests in Egypt haveexerted some pressure on the Palestinianleadership as it has called for new elec-tions (finally).

But let’s be clear, elections don’t takeplace in a vacuum, they happen within aparticular context, and for a generationof Palestinians that context has beenabout denying Israel’s legitimacy.Weather maps on Palestinian televisiondo not include Israel and neither doPalestinian schoolbooks.

A recent study by the Institute forMonitoring Peace and Cultural Toler-ance in School Education suggests thatthe content taught in school can have areal impact on the growth of democracy.According to the study, for example,Tunisia’s textbooks “preach the impor-tance of negotiating, and of peace andrespect for others” whereas in Egypt“school textbooks … urge tolerance to-wards Copts and call for religious mod-eration and peace,” but “they deny theexistence of the State of Israel and con-tain anti-Jewish material ... The Egypt-ian curriculum emphasizes self-sacrificefor the sake of the homeland and warnarratives, rather than peace.”

Instead of trying to silence GlennBeck, couldn’t Jews spend a little moretime trying to promote free speechamong Egyptians, Jordanians and Pales-tinians? Such a change in emphasiswould put Jewish liberalism to work in aconstructive and meaningful way.

(Abby Wisse Schachter, a Pittsburgh-based columnist, edits the New YorkPost’s Capitol Punishment blog, ny-post.com/blogs/capitol, and can bereached at awschachter@aol.com.)

OpinionOpinion6 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

New Middle East has rough birthNo one knows for sure if Egyptian

President Hosni Mubarak willstay in power until September

(as he hopes) or until tomorrow (as hun-dreds of thousands of demonstrators onthe streets demand).

This much we do know: A new MiddleEast is taking shape, which is not neces-sarily something the Jewish worldshould fear.

But violent forces can still hijack thisrevolution, which for days seemed sur-prisingly peaceful. Pro- and anti-Mubarak forces clashed Wednesday inCairo, with apparently no attempt by thearmy to intervene. Whip-brandishingprotesters rode horses and camels intothe crowds while the two sides peltedeach other with rocks.

Now, Human Rights Watch is report-ing that undercover Egyptian secret po-lice are committing acts of looting andvandalism to foment fear and instability.

Such uncertainty in a country so closeto Israel, one that has kept a cold peacewith the Jewish state, is definitely causefor concern. But if the Egyptian peoplecan keep control of the situation, then

this tide of change sweeping their coun-try — and Tunisia, and Jordan — may ul-timately be good for Israel as well.

Why?First, unlike the Iranian Revolution,

this is not a fundamentalist uprising. It’san economic one. The people in thestreets are young men and women —many of whom are educated and skilled— who see no future in their homelands.

Egypt, for example, had GDP growthof more than $188 billion in 2009 and anot-so-shocking unemployment rate of9.4 percent. But nearly half of all Egyp-tians live at or below the United Nations-set poverty line — $2 a day. Clearly, toomany Egyptians have not shared in thegrowth their country has experiencedfor more than 25 years.

The economic outlook is also dismal inTunisia and, to a lesser extent, Jordan.

Second, for its entire existence, Israelhas had to deal with despotic regimes(with the exception of Jordan, but theking is still a powerful ruler). How dif-ferent could the politics of the regionhave been were they instead democrati-cally elected governments?

Next, we haven’t seen any charismaticimams speaking through bullhorns tothousands of fanatical followers in thestreet scenes beamed to us from Tunis,Cairo, Suez and Amman. Are they there?For sure. Will they win? Well, they can’toffer what the people apparently want —prosperity.

Lastly, do these demonstrators like Is-rael? OK, there’s a lot of pent-up hostili-ty toward the Jewish state; that hasn’tchanged. But these revolts aren’t aboutus. At the end of the day, when the cam-eras stop rolling, and the reporters gohome, the people of Tunisia, Egypt andJordan want the same quality of lifemost Israelis enjoy. Could it be they wanta better life more than they hate us?

It’s not impossible.So, the new Middle East is having a

rough birth. The presence of plain-clothes police among the demonstratorsis reminiscent of Iran during its GreenRevolution, and things could still go ter-ribly wrong. But if they don’t, then thesepopular uprisings in these countries canhave benefits far beyond their borders.

How Jews can put their liberalism to good use

AbbyWisse

Schachter

TheJewish

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HIAS slams columnI am the Director of the HIAS (He-

brew Immigrant Aid Society) Israel of-fice and am intimately involved in the

evolution of the asylum system in Israel.The system is lacking and Israeli lead-ership has been less than receptive tothe phenomenon of receiving non-Jew-ish refugees.

However, there are too many errors inJay Bushinsky’s Jan. 20 column, “Is-rael’s treatment of African immigrantsgives cold shoulder,” to bother com-menting on each of them.

The figure of 40,000 Africans havingentered Israel through Egypt is off by atleast 25 percent; the reception center inthe south is being built for 6,000 to 8,000people, not 25,000; and the Israeli secretpolice scooping up 170 people and

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 7

OPINION

Letters to the editorWe invite you to submit letters for publication. Lettersmust include name, address and daytime phone number;addresses and phone numbers will not be published.Letters may not exceed 400 words and may be editedfor length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, faxor e-mail letters to:

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Please see Letters, next page.

8 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

OPINION

sending them off through Kenya seemsto be a distortion of the assisted volun-tary return flight of 143 Sudanese inDec. 2010 and helping them returnhome.

I suggest you publish an apology andretraction and do better research in thefuture.

Yosef Joel MossTel Aviv

Rooting for our team:Super Bowl Sunday andthe Jews

As I was changing planes in Char-lotte last week, heading back to Pitts-burgh, I noticed the woman in front ofme in the boarding line. She wasdecked out in a Steelers sweatshirtand cap. When I mumbled to myself,“Here we go,” she launched fullthroat into “Here we go Steelers, herewe go.” The US Airways stewardesschecking our boarding passes smiledbroadly and said, “There are a lot ofSteelers fans working here in Char-lotte now.”

That brought to mind an article I hadread pointing out that Steelers fans allover the country, proud of who they are

and where they are from, are looking forIron City beer. I thought to myself, “Ifyou are born in Pittsburgh, you are aSteelers fan no matter where you relo-cate to.” Recent news photos shows ba-bies born in a local hospital swaddled interrible towels. A father is quoted assaying of his newborn, “… she can’tchoose what team she likes.”

We Jews can learn something fromthis. The Jewish people are our team.We are born into the Jews. No matterwhere we go, they are still our team.Sometimes parents say, “I am not goingto raise my child in a religion, he canmake that decision when he gets older.”We can learn from the parents and ba-bies in that hospital: you are on thisteam, the Jewish “team” from birth. Beproud of it!

Just as we see all the buses in townproudly displaying on the front “GoSteelers!” we should be openly proud ofour team and root for them. A friendonce told me, “We all have to wear ourSteelers shirts so the team can win.”When we Jews are proud to “wear ourteam colors,” when we are not afraid tosay what side we are on, when we standtogether and support each other, therest of the world will respect us and wewill respect ourselves. Every Jew’sconnection with the Jewish peoplestrengthens “our team.”

Go black and gold! Go blue andwhite!

Simone (Sheindel) ShapiroSquirrel Hill

Either embrace change in Egypt or stay quiet

WASHINGTON (JTA) — There is theold joke that “denial is not just a river inEgypt.” And indeed it is true.

The Nile is the longest river in theworld, along whose shores the Egyptianpeople continue their unprecedentedprotests, demanding an end to theMubarak era. But denial also is the in-creasingly discordant notes sounded bysome elements in the American Jewishcommunity and in Israel seeking to at-tack and discredit the protests and lobby

for a return to the pre-Jan. 25 status quoin Egypt.

On Sunday, for example, MalcolmHonlein, the executive vice president ofthe Conference of Presidents of MajorJewish Organizations, blasted Mo-hammed ElBaradei — one of the fewfaces to emerge as a “leader” in Egypt’songoing protests — as a “stooge forIran.” The same day, Haaretz carried anarticle headlined “Israel urges world tocurb criticism of Egypt’s Mubarak.”

Panic at change in Egypt and what itsimpact will be on Israel simply cannotjustify this kind of response.

Yes, everyone who cares about Israelis concerned about what change willmean for security and stability in the re-gion, especially for Israel. But only a foolcould look at the ongoing developmentsand draw the conclusion that the bestthing for Israel and friends of Israel to

do is bash the protesters or stump forEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whohas been in power for three decades.

Make no mistake, change is coming inEgypt — indeed, it has come already.Few serious observers believe there iseven the remote possibility thatMubarak can hold on to power muchlonger. The longer he tries to hang on,the greater the likelihood that he willhave to resort to more repressive (vio-lent) measures to do so. Many fear aTiananmen Square-style showdown inCairo’s Tahrir Square.

Egypt, however, is not China, and sucha horrific event would not save Mubarak.Rather it would only cement his regime’stotal loss of legitimacy domestically andmake it impossible for even old friendslike the U.S. government to continuespeaking of the current situation — andwhat must come next — in diplomatic,measured tones.

Denying the reality of change in Egyptdoes not help Israel; it only guaranteesthat Israel’s future relationship withEgypt will be more difficult. It sends amessage that Israel wants to hold on tothe title of “the only real democracy inthe Middle East” in perpetuity, even ifthis means directly engaging to frustratethe will of Arab peoples for democracy.

From a purely strategic, cynical, self-interested perspective, this is not a mes-sage that Israel or friends of Israel wantto be sending to the people of a nationthat when the dust settles will still be Is-rael’s most important neighbor and al-most certainly will have a governmentthat will be more populist in itsapproach.

Since Israel’s birth as a state,regimes throughout the region havebeen nondemocratic. This is not Is-rael’s fault. Nor can anyone fault Israelfor developing security and foreignstrategies that capitalized on the over-

whelming authority of these regimes —whether with respect to Israel’s peacetreaties with Egypt or Jordan, or its defacto detente with the Arab world atlarge. But the Middle East is changing,and the attitudes and approaches of Is-rael and friends of Israel must change,too — even if in their hearts many stillbelieve that for Israel’s sake, an auto-cratic but reliable Arab neighbor ispreferable to a democratic but poten-tially unreliable one.

According to reports from the ground,the protests in Egypt in the past weekhave been mostly bereft of anti-Israelsentiment. The protests are genuinelyabout domestic politics — against poorgovernance, corruption, lack of democ-racy, etc. They are not about Egypt’s for-eign policy or Egypt’s peace treaty withIsrael. This should be taken as a promis-ing sign for the future, but it should notbe taken for granted.

If Israel and friends of Israel unwiselyinsist on making what is happening inEgypt about Israel, this could change.They may get their wish and see Egyp-tians begin protesting against Israel, too.

Fears that a post-Mubarak regime willbe less friendly to Israel are understand-able, but some of the people speaking outnow from Israel and the U.S. Jewishcommunity need to be aware of self-ful-filling prophecies. Their fears are onlymore likely to materialize if Israel andfriends of Israel act foolishly during thistransition period.

For Israel and friends of Israel, thereare two smart choices: Either embracethe change that is happening with thesame good will that is being shown bythe rest of the world, or keep quiet.

(Lara Friedman is the director of poli-cy and government relations for Ameri-cans for Peace Now.)

Guest Columnist

LARA FRIEDMAN

Letters:Continued from previous page.

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 9

OPINION

Is Pollard Caspar Weinberger’s revenge on the Jews?

NEW YORK — Why is this man stillin jail? Why was this man forced tospend seven years in solitary? Why ishe still confined, languishing, fester-ing in jail for 25 years?

Solitary confinement is the mostbarbaric of punishments. Few peoplecan withstand this form of torturewithout becoming very ill, both physi-cally and mentally.

Am I talking about the Soviet Gulag?Or about some hellhole in Afghanistanor Iran?

Last year, The New Yorker ran apiece about solitary confinement. Thearticle concludes that this punishmentamounts to torture, that it can even in-duce “acute psychosis with hallucina-tions.” The article describes the casesof two political prisoners or prisoners-of-war: AP’s Middle East correspon-dent, Terry Anderson, who was putinto solitary by Hezbollah in Lebanonfor six years. Anderson “felt himselfdisintegrating”; his mind went blank;he had hallucinations; he started to be-come “neurotically possessive abouthis little space;” he felt his brain was“grinding down.” He also describesSen. John McCain who said, “Solitary

confinement crushes your spirit andweakens your resistance more thanany other form of mistreatment. Andhe said that even though he had hisarms broken and was subjected to oth-er forms of torture.”

Clearly, the New Yorker’s man, AtulGawande, opposes this practice.

He does mention the cases of two un-named inmates: one was convicted offelony-murder and spent five years inisolation. After a few months he begantalking to himself, pacing back andforth, having panic attacks and hallu-cinating. After a year he was hearingvoices on the television speak to him.In another case, Gawande describesanother American man in solitarywhose initial crime was armed rob-bery and aggravated battery but whothen “misbehaved” at a medium secu-rity prison for which he was was put insolitary or in isolation for almost 14years. This man stopped showeringand began throwing his feces aroundhis cell. He became psychotic.

Even he was released after heserved his sentence of 15 years.

Gawande does not mention the man Ihave in mind, a man whose living headis on a pike in the public square for allto see — a message, a warning to us all— is a man who killed no one.

I am talking about Jonathan Pollard.What crime did he commit? Did he

spy against American for the Sovietsor for the Chinese communists? Did hedo so for money, sex, or for ideologicalreasons? American Navy Seaman,Michael Walker, operated a Soviet spy

ring; he was arrested in 1980, pledguilty, was sentenced to 25 years andreleased after 15 years.

What is “different” about Pollard?He is a Jew.

What else is different? Pollard is theonly one who shared secrets with anAmerican ally with whom Americawas not and is not now at war. Pollardshared information with Israel.

What else is “different” about Pol-lard? There is one more thing. Like theRosenbergs, Pollard was the provinggrounds, the scapegoat, for anotherman, also a Jew, but a Jew who did notlike being mistreated as a Jew, as aJew who wanted to prove how toughthe was or how hard he was ready tobe on another Jew and on the Jewishstate.

The Rosenbergs, (who were guilty),had their Jewish judge who chose tohave them electrocuted. Pollard hadSecretary of Defense Caspar W. Wein-berger, whose paternal grandparentswere Jews and whose father was aJewish lawyer.

Weinberger submitted a 40-page af-fidavit in which he insisted that Pol-lard should be harshly sentenced. (Inlater years, he said, “the Pollard mat-ter was comparatively minor.”

One wonders: What did he have overCIA head George Tenet (who threat-ened to resign when President Clintonsuggested pardoning Pollard)?

Where are all the anti-torture ac-tivists on Pollard? How can it be thatour most prominent American politicalprisoner has never made it onto their

honor roll of causes with which tobrowbeat America?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuformally asked President Obama topardon Jonathan Pollard, at long last. Iand all true believers in democracystand with him in this matter.

Update: Based on a recent article byLeo Rennert which critique’s coverageof the Pollard case in The New YorkTimes, “ it is now clear that Pollard, infailing health, has been the victim of aCIA cover-up of a massive intelligencefailure, with the agency blaming Pol-lard for the damage caused by a real“mole” inside the CIA who passed toMoscow the names of more than adozen U.S. informants in the SovietUnion — namely Aldrich Ames, thehead of CIA’s Soviet-Eastern Europedivision, who fingered Pollard to keepthe CIA from discovering his owntreachery.. The CIA did not discoverAmes’ role until well after Pollard wasbehind bars and it still isn’t willing toacknowledge its mistake in blamingPollard for Ames’s crimes.”

(Phyllis Chesler, an emeritus profes-sor of psychology and women’s studiesat City University of New York, is theco-founder of the Association forWomen in Psychology and the NationalWomen’s Health Network. Chesler isoften on international media and is afrequent contributor to INN as well asFOX News and Middle East Quarterly.)

Guest Columnist

PHYLLIS CHESLER

BY HILARY DANINHIRSCH

Chronicle Correspondent

Neal Schorr has been working on therailroad all the livelong day, and evensome nights and weekends, for manyyears.

He is the builder, conductor and engi-neer of a model railroad based on theMiddle Division of the PennsylvaniaRailroad; this layout is displayed in thebasement of his North Hills home.

Schorr, a Wexford-based family physi-cian and member of Temple OhavShalom, has been fascinated with trainsever since receiving a Lionel trainstarter set for Chanuka when he was 5.(Incidentally, the inventor of the Lioneltrain, Joshua Lionel Cowen, was the sonof Jewish immigrants whose originalsurname was Cohen.)

The Lionel brand of model trainreached the zenith of its popularity be-tween the 1930s and 1960s. “It died outin the ’60s and then in the ’70s, slowlybecame more popular,” said the 54-year-old Schorr. “Those kids who played withthese trains are now in their 50s, 60s and70s, and the hobby is booming becausethese people have disposable income.”

The display cases of Lionel trains pep-pered throughout his custom-built homeare the culmination of a lifetime ofcollecting.

“At age 16, I started building train lay-outs, and as the years went by, they gotmore sophisticated and more realistic,”Schorr recalled, basing the genesis of theMiddle Pennsylvania model railroad onhis love of the central Pennsylvaniascenery.

Schorr explained that the Middle Divi-sion of the Pennsylvania Railroad waschartered in 1846 to connect Philadel-phia and Pittsburgh. The section hemodels was the first one actually built bythe Pennsylvania Railroad, which is thesegment between Harrisburg and Al-toona. (The railroad is still in operationbut is now owned by Norfolk Southern.)

“I couldn’t model everything, so Ipicked the most scenically interestingtowns to me.” These include Port Royaland Mifflintown, the latter of which hap-pens to be the home of the EmpireKosher Poultry processing plant.

He calls himself a frustrated civil en-gineer: “I love highways and bridgesand transportation; this is an outlet formy engineering interest.”

In fact, Schorr, who co-authored a bookwith his best friend and fellow collector,Mitchell Dakelman, entitled “The Penn-sylvania Turnpike,” employed someideas in his design for easing the bottle-neck at the Fort Pitt Tunnels, but don’texpect PennDOT to implement them anytime soon.

It was his knowledge of highway con-struction that led Schorr, a Mt. Lebanonnative, to open his medical practice inthe North Hills, predicting a boom in the

area with the building of I-279 in the1980s. July will mark his 25th year ofpractice in the area, making him, to hisknowledge, the longest-practicing physi-cian in Wexford.

In 1990, Schorr purchased land on se-cluded acreage in the North Hills andbuilt a house there in 1996. He designedthe train layout along with the house.

“I designed the house with an attachedgarage so I would not have to use any ofthe basement for the garage,” he said. “Iexcavated out the area under part of thegarage to provide a workshop, again so itdid not have to take up any squarefootage intended for my train layoutroom. The house has two staircases, onein the middle and one at the end of thehouse. Only the one at the far end of thehouse extends into the basement.”

The room designated for the layouttakes up 1,400 of his 2,000 square footbasement. In addition to a lot of extraelectrical circuits, a special HVAC sys-tem was designed to ensure that theroom heats up quickly, making it a com-fortable space even during the coldwinters.

The backdrop was painted by Schorrhimself and was largely based on actualscenes in central Pennsylvania. Hebuilt all the model bridges from scratch,as well as the hills and mountains.“Every bridge I built on there so far is ascale model of the real thing,” he said.Many of the buildings were from kits,though he painted them to look as realis-tic as the buildings they represent.

The track itself runs approximately300 feet and goes from east to west; themodel gradually gets more modern thefurther west it goes around the circuit.

“People tend to think of a model rail-road as multiple circles of track built ona table, but mine is one circuit built on ashelf around the walls of the train room,”he said. “One train follows another andthe signals govern the operation of thetrains — it looks and operates like a realrailroad.”

Schorr and his wife, Kim, have twochildren. Steven, 11, and Caroline, 7, as-sist him in the adjoining basement work-shop, painting and helping with otherprojects. “Fortunately, the kids go downthere with me a lot and we hang out to-

gether. They love it, and that thrills me,”said Schorr.

He said his son is really into it.“Steven goes with me to model train con-ventions and even works on the layoutwhen I’m not home. Caroline likes to runthe trains.”

Schorr sees working on his model rail-road as a 20-year project and already hasput 13 years into it. “I try not to let it be-come a job. It’s more of a creative outlet.Every project has new challenges. I haveto research things, to make things accu-rate. I have to be a historian, artist, elec-trician, engineer and carpenter. It takesa broad range of skills and a lot of ener-gy,” he commented.

“It’s also social for me,” he added, “be-cause I am active with the National Mod-el Railroad Association and I’ve gone tonational conventions almost every yearfor 20 years. I have friends all over theworld; it’s very nice.”

(Hilary Daninhirsch can be reached athilarysd@comcast.net.)

StyleStyle10 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

RRiiddiinn’’ tthhee [[mmooddeell]] rraaiillssOOhhaavv SShhaalloomm mmeemmbbeerr bbuuiillddss

mmooddeell ttrraaiinn rraaiillrrooaadd

Photo by Kimberly Schorr

Steven and Caroline Schorr watch their dad, Neal, set his model train set in motion.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 11

STYLE

Sports writer turns to ritual to make Steelers XLV prediction

Am I the only one seeing this? I can’tbelieve that numerologists haven’t madethe connection before. As if I needed topaint any clearer lines between the Jew-ish people and American sport.

Four quarters of football, four cups ofwine. And we don’t even have to wait un-til Passover to contemplate that. We justcelebrated Tu B’Shevat, with its ownfour-quarters, I mean four-cup, seder.

The first cup is white, for winter, ourcurrent season, and the season everySteelers fan looks forward to. This firstcup corresponds to the world of“assiya,” or action (and the earth). Andwe all hope there’s plenty of it for theBlack & Gold in the first quarter, with the

earth being represented by success withthe running game. The first fruits that goalong with this first cup are supposed tohave inedible peels or tough shells, kindof like the Steelers defense.

Cup No. 2 is white with a drop of red init. This is for “yetzira,” or spiritual for-mation and for the spring (and water).That means the second quarter of Sun-day’s game between the Steelers andPackers should see offensive coordinatorBruce Aryans coming up with some ab-solutely divine formations for the of-fense. From that should bloom a largerlead. The fruits are supposed to haveinedible centers, though I’m not surewhat that means for rookie All-Pro Mau-rkice Pouncey (yes, he’s their center).

The third cup is split evenly betweenred and white. It’s good to have a thirdcup ready to erase the memories of whatwill certainly be another insipid halftimeact (this time courtesy of the Black-EyedPeas). You can pour half of an Iron Cityand half of a Yuengling into one cup tomatch the symbolism. This is for“beriya,” or creation, for the season ofsummer and the element of air. This

must mean Ben Rothliesberger will usethe passing game to great effect in thisquarter. Fruits to be eaten are ones thatcan be eaten whole. Does a black-eyedpea qualify? (Please note: Nothingagainst the group in general, it’s just thatno one, and I mean no one, does a goodSuper Bowl halftime show.)

The fourth and final cup is red with adrop of white. This represents “atzilut,”or nobility. It’s hard not to consider theSteelers nobility after they win their un-precedented seventh Super Bowl. Theseason that corresponds is the fall, when

we will all begin watching the Steelersgo for Super Bowl number eight. The el-ement associated with this final cup isfire, which is what we’ll want to do to theNFL and the Players Association ifthere’s a lockout keeping us from watch-ing all of that occur.

OK, so maybe all of that is a stretch.But combine it with the importance ofthe number seven in numerology — ittook seven days for the world to becreated, the seventh day is Shabbat, etc.The Hebrew letter for seven is zayin,which can be translated to mean“weapon.” It also comes from a root thatmeans “sustenance” or “nourishment.”Just think how sustained we all will be ifthe Steelers can use all their weapons towin championship No. 7.

Seven, some have said, is the divinenumber of completion. And that prettymuch says it all, doesn’t it?

(Jonathan Mayo, the Chronicle’ssports columnist and a staff writer forMLB.com, can be reached at mlb-mayo@aol.com.)

JONATHANMAYO

The Chosen 1s

12 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

DINING GUIDE

3/2/11

(Editor’s note: In “Retro Reviews,”Chronicle Correspondent Hilary Danin-hirsch begins a yearlong series in whichshe will review Jewish-themed booksthat have been out of print for decades,or perhaps remain in print but are diffi-cult to find [except in your public li-brary]. Some titles may be recognizable;others may be obscure. But if they ap-pear here, then you canbet they still have some-thing to offer the Jewishreader.)

Sometimes, when Ithink of my past in a su-perficial, casual way, themetamorphosis I havegone through strikes meas nothing short of a mir-acle. I was born andreared in the lowestdepths of poverty and Iarrived in America — in1885 — with four cents inmy pocket. I am nowworth more than twomillion dollars…

And yet when I take alook at my inner identityit impresses me as beingprecisely the same as itwas thirty or forty yearsago. My present station,power and the amount ofworldly happiness at mycommand, and the restof it, seem to be devoid ofsignificance.

Thus begins the com-pelling first paragraphs of “The Rise ofDavid Levinsky” by Abraham Cahan.This novel, written in 1917, is one of theearliest and one of the most notablepieces of Jewish immigrant fiction.

David Levinsky narrates his own tale,starting with his childhood in Antomir,Russia, as a Talmudic scholar who isphysically abused by his teachers.When his beloved mother dies as a re-sult of a violent attack, he commits tosailing to America.

In David’s words, Cahan eloquentlydescribes the immigrant’s feelings uponreaching American land:

When the discoverers of America sawland at last they fell on their knees anda hymn of thanksgiving burst from theirsouls. The scene, which is one of themost thrilling in history, repeats itself inthe heart of every immigrant as hecomes in sight of the American shores.

David pounds the pavement lookingfor work, living from day to day, oftengoing hungry and living in substandardhousing. He hates being referred to as a“greenhorn,” and makes every effort tolearn to write and speak English.

Despite the initial hardships, every-thing about America fascinates him, ex-pressed in one of my favorite lines in thebook:

It takes a country like America to pro-duce butchers who look and speaklike noblemen.

David ultimately finds work in asweatshop. He faces a turning pointwhen he is about to enroll in college andlearn a profession, but due to an acci-dent of fate, ends up following the roadhe never thought he would take:establishing his own garmentbusiness.

While it doesn’t happen overnight, theingenuity David exhibits in trying to es-tablish his business makes for absorb-ing reading. He resorts to whatevermeans he can to succeed, including ly-ing, cheating and stealing. Despite hisflaws, he is a likeable character and thereader roots for him to come through.

David’s success has a cost, though.Not only does he turn away from Ju-daism, but the money is never enough.There is always that elusive next levelof success:

I was now worth more than onehundred thousand dollars, and the sumdid not seem to be anything to rejoiceover. My fortune was not climbingrapidly enough. I was almost temptedto stamp my foot and snarlingly urge iton.

In addition, he is lonely. Love eludeshim throughout his life, other than pass-ing fancies and affairs with women hecannot have.

The author writes with such familiar-ity with the immigrant experience andthe garment industry that I had to stopand remind myself that this was a noveland not a memoir. While Cahan was in-deed a Russian immigrant, he made hisliving not in the garment industry but asa founder and first editor of the For-ward, the first Yiddish daily newspaperfor Americans (Forverts in Yiddish),which became the voice of Jewish immi-grants and the precursor to today’s Jew-ish American newspapers.

This novel, with its eloquent and ex-pressive phrasing, was written by onewhose English was a second language,making this book even more of anachievement. This is the quintessentialrags-to-riches story that will resonate inyour mind long after you’ve read thelast word.

(Hilary Daninhirsch can be reachedat hilarysd@comcast.net.)

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 13

STYLE

B o o k RRe v i e w

BY HILARY DANINHIRSCH

Chronicle Correspondant

Retro Reviews:‘The Rise of David Levinsky’

14 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

GLOBE

Israel should be a critical element inconsidering whether to continue the $1.5billion Egypt receives in aid, much of itin defense assistance.

“Given what’s taking place, it’s appro-priate for the U.S. government to be re-viewing U.S. aid to Egypt,” said Block,now a senior fellow at the centrist Pro-gressive Policy Institute and principal atthe consulting firm Davis-Block. “Nomatter what happens, clearly one of thetop criteria Congress is likely to use isEgypt’s approach to its peace treatyobligations with Israel.”

That seemed to be the tack adopted byU.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the rank-ing Democrat on the foreign operationssubcommittee of the U.S. House of Rep-resentatives Appropriations Committee.She framed her statement in the contextof the 1979 Camp David peace accordswith Israel, which is the basis for Egypt’sstatus as one of the top recipients ofU.S. aid.

“Ever since the historic Camp Davidpeace accords more than 30 years ago,Egypt and the United States have beenpartners in seeking a just resolution tothe Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said.“It is in the interest of the United Statesand regional stability that this period ofturmoil and uncertainty be resolvedpeacefully and that Egypt remain astrong ally.”

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the chairwoman of the House For-eign Affairs Committee, took that pos-ture further, saying in a statement thatU.S. assistance should be contingent onan election that allows only parties thatrecognize Egypt’s “peace agreementwith the Jewish State of Israel.”

Such cautions are fueled by fears ofthe role the Islamist Muslim Brother-hood might play in a new Egypt. Otherpro-Israel lawmakers notably omittedreference to the peace with Israel intheir statements.

U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.),the ranking Democrat on the House Mid-dle East subcommittee, called for a sus-pension of assistance to Egypt untilMubarak left — and then its renewalonce a transitional government was inplace, whatever its makeup.

“I believe the United States must sus-pend its assistance to Egypt until thistransition is under way,” said the state-ment from Ackerman, who is Jewish anda pro-Israel stalwart.

In an interview, Ackerman said theomission of an Israel reference wasdeliberate.

“I understand the angst and anxietythat exists in Israel, but we’re not goingto pick the next leader of Egypt,” he said.

Instead, Ackerman said, the UnitedStates should use what he said was aclosing window of opportunity, and sidepronouncedly with the people andagainst Mubarak.

“If we sign the people of Egypt up aslobbyists, they will do the right thing,”he said.

U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.),who is also Jewish and the ranking mem-ber on the Foreign Affairs committeeand the author of last year’s sweepingIran sanctions law, also kept Israel out ofhis statement. Unlike Ackerman, howev-er, he said assistance should continue asa means of stabilizing the Egyptianmilitary.

“So long as the Egyptian military playsa constructive role in bringing about ademocratic transition, the United Statesshould also remain committed to our on-going assistance programs for Egypt,

both military and civilian,” he said.Betting on the military was perhaps

the only certainty in the current chaos,said David Schenker, an Egypt expert atthe pro-Israel Washington Institute forNear East Policy think tank. The Egypt-ian army is popular among Egyptiansand, unlike the hated police, has takensteps during the uprising not to alienatethe street.

“The arbitrator of this may be the mil-itary,” Schenker said. “It doesn’t want tocede power to a civilian power that’s Is-lamist. The army has entrenched inter-ests with this regime and likes verymuch its relations with the U.S.military.”

Egypt’s potential collapse triggered anintense “who’s to blame” debate inWashington over which party or grouphad done more to prop up Mubarak’sregime. One emerging theme was thatmore should have been done to use aid asleverage to nudge Mubarak towarddemocratization.

Pro-Israel congressional insiders saidthere had always been talk throughoutthe years of shifting funds from defenseaid to democratization assistance, attimes from unlikely bedfellows: Ros-Lehtinen and the Zionist Organization ofAmerica had backed such a shift, but sohad the former Appropriations chair-man, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), a fre-quent Israel critic.

Such initiatives were abandoned, theinsiders said, both in Congress and in theBush White House after Hamas wonelections in the Gaza Strip.

In a hearing on Egypt assistance inMay 2006, just after the Hamas victory,Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), the law-maker who is perhaps closest to Israel,made this aside: “I am wondering if Ineed a change in the way I think aboutthe Middle East and about democratiz-ing nations that are no more ready fordemocracy than the man on the moon.”

The remark made headlines in Egypt.Now some pro-Israel voices are saying

that not pushing for democracy has dis-astrous consequences — including crit-

ics of the regime. For example, the ZOA,which has frequently accused the Egypt-ian government of undermining peaceand pressed for a reduction in U.S. mili-tary aid, now is calling for the Obama ad-ministration to do everything it can tokeep the regime in place, with Mubarakor one of his associates in charge.

Obama “should be showing some loy-alty to a regime with which we have hadgood relations for 30 years,” ZOA Presi-dent Mort Klein said. “If we have elec-tions in the near future, you’re going tohave a result like in Gaza. Of course Iwant democracy, but I don’t want democ-racy when the results support Islamictakeover.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice-president of the Conference of Presi-dents of Major American Jewish Organi-zations, told the Yeshiva World News thatthe United States should have beenworking more proactively to ensure anorderly transition to democracy.

“This is something that we knew wascoming — we should have been workingat it all along,” Hoenlein said, addingthat the Bush administration had paid lipservice to the notion of building democ-ratic institutions and the Obama admin-istration not even that.

Hoenlein warned against the emer-gence in Egypt of possible transitionleader Mohammed ElBaradei, saying hecovered up Iran’s true nuclearweaponization capacities while he di-rected the International Atomic EnergyAgency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

“He is a stooge of Iran, and I don’t usethe term lightly,” Hoenlein said. “Hefronted for them, he distorted thereports.”

ElBaradei, who directed the IAEAfrom 1997 to 2009, returned to Egypt fol-lowing his third term. Soon he was tout-ed as a possible challenger to Mubarak’sautocractic reign and has emergedduring the protests as a consensusfigure.

During his term as IAEA chief, ElBa-radei said Iran was further away from anuclear weapon than many in the West

claimed and castigated Western powers,including Israel, for suggesting that amilitary option against Iran was increas-ingly possible. He made it clear in thosestatements that his posture stemmedfrom the U.S. failure to heed warningsfrom him and other weapons expertsthat Iraq did not have a nuclear weaponscapacity.

ElBaradei also has been cool to Israel,however, and has infuriated Israel’s mil-itary establishment by saying that Is-rael’s alleged nuclear arsenal undercutsefforts to keep Iran and other countriesfrom going nuclear.

In an interview with The WashingtonPost just before he retired, he said Iran-ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejaddid not want to get rid of Israel, but to re-place it with a non-Jewish state — twoconcepts Israelis and pro-Israel groupssee as synonymous.

Hoenlein was not alone. Reporterswere bombarded this week by e-mailfrom pro-Israel groups with ElBaradeiquotes that appeared hostile to the Unit-ed States. In some cases, however, thequotes were taken out of context andquestionably sourced.

Keith Weissman, a former AIPAC lob-byist and analyst who witnessed theIranian Revolution unfold and who haslived in Egypt, said the warnings aboutElBaradei were overheated.

“From what I see in Cairo there is noevidence he is on an Iranian agenda,” hesaid

Weissman said the inclusion of theMuslim Brotherhood in the oppositionalliance ElBaradei is leading should notbe a cause for concern.

“In a post-Mubarak Egypt, you’d wantthe Brotherhood close,” he said.

In any case, meddling is counterpro-ductive, said Lara Friedman, the legisla-tive director for Americans for PeaceNow, writing in an op-ed for JTA.

“Denying the reality of change inEgypt does not help Israel; it only guar-antees that Israel’s future relationshipwith Egypt will be more difficult,” shesaid.

Continued from page 1.

JTA photo by Muhammed Ghafar

Protestors gather in Cairo on Jan. 25, calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Mubarak announced Feb. 1 thathe will not seek re-election.

Jewish leaders debate what Egypt uprising means for Israel

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011— 15

Weddings

Rischall/Schulhof: Drs. FloraSoumekh and David Rischall of Mendo-ta Heights, Minn., and Dr. Jay and RoniSchulhof of Mt. Lebanon announce themarriage of their children, Michal SaraRischall and Dr. Keith Douglas Schul-hof, June 20, 2010, at Beth Jacob Con-gregation, Mendota Heights. A recep-tion followed at the Marriott City Cen-tre, Minneapolis.

Michal’s grandparents are RuthRischall of Minneapolis and the lateMaurice Rischall, and Malka Soumekhof San Diego and the late EliahuSoumekh.

Keith’s grandparents are the late Lil-lian and Leonard Schulhof and the lateBeatrice and Harry Cantor.

Michal’s attendants included thegroom’s sister, Melissa Rosenberg; JulieSchulhof, the groom’s sister-in-law; andfriends Brooke Haro, Rachael Pius,Bracha Szleifer and Sara Dudgeon.Sherri DeVito was maid of honor.

Keith’s groomsmen were JonathanRischall and Ari Rischall, brothers ofthe bride; brother-in-law Adam Rosen-berg; and friends Dr. Adam Friedman,Jason Haag and Adam Harrison. Bestman was the groom’s brother, ScottSchulhof.

Michal graduated from the University

of Wisconsin, Madison and is pursuing adoctorate in clinical psychology atNorthwestern University in Chicago.

Keith graduated from the Universityof Indiana, Bloomington and the Univer-sity of Pittsburgh School of Dental Med-icine. He completed his residency atAkron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio. Heis in private practice in Chicago.

BirthsBloch: Yacov and Edye Berman

Glausiusz and Menachem and ChanaBloch of Israel, announce the birth oftheir granddaughter, Roni Alta, daugh-ter of Shoshana and Shalom Bloch of Ri-vava, Israel. Great-grandparents are:Joanne and the late Jack Berman ofSquirrel Hill, Irene and Gershon Glau-siusz of England, Yonna and the late Es-ther Bloch, the late Shalom Ulrich andYitzchok and Zippora Nir.

Roni Alta is named in loving memoryof her great-great-maternal grandmoth-er, Alice Belinky.

Itskowitz: Rina and Marc Itskowitzannounce the birth of their son, ZacharySteven (Zecharya Yitzchak), Jan. 14.Grandparents are Leslie and Alan It-skowitz of Pittsburgh and Chaya Farkasof Brooklyn, N.Y. Zach is the brother ofYael, Shira, Aviva and Talia.

Zachary Steven is named in loving mem-ory of Sam Farkas and Steven Itskowitz.

Neiss: Jessica and Jason Neiss an-nounce the birth of their son, Joshua Ian(Yitzhak Reuven), Dec. 20, 2010.Grandparents are Dee and Jeff Wein-berg of Squirrel Hill and Gerry and MelNeiss of Chads Ford, Pa. Great-grand-parents are Sarah and Leon Steckel ofPompano Beach, Fla. Big sisters areEllia Simone and Moriah Rachel.

Joshua Ian is named in loving memo-ry of his great-grandfathers, IsadorSheir and Robert Mittman.

Schulhof: Julie and Scott Schulhofof Chicago announce the birth of theirson, Justin Daniel (Shimon Herschel)Schulhof. Grandparents are Sharon andRobert Schwartz of Arlington Heights,Ill., and Dr. Jay and Roni Schulhof ofMt. Lebanon. Great-grandparents areBell Schwartz of Chicago and the late

Harold Schwartz, the late Shirley andHarry Hartman, the late Lillian andLeonard Schulhof and Beatrice andHarry Cantor.

Justin Daniel is named in lovingmemory of his maternal great-grand-mother, Shirley Hartman; and his pater-nal great-grandfather, Harry Cantor.

B’nai MitzvaSammyBernstein, daugh-ter of Amy andMichael Bernstein,will become a batmitzva Saturday,Feb. 5, at 10:30 a.m.at Temple Sinai.Grandparents areSandy and Larry

Rosen and Karen and Tommy Bern-stein, and great-grandfather is DanDanovitz, all of Pittsburgh.

RabbiMordecaiRosenbergCertified Mohel(412) 521-4637

Simchas

Community16 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

A

CLOSER

LOOK

A still from the film “The Infidel,” which will be shown at the 18th Annual Opening Night of theJFilm Festival.

Ready for the big game

Community Day School photo

Community Day School students aregetting ready for the big game.

Steeler fansJewish Association on Aging photo

The Jewish Association on Agingshowed their colors at their Steelerfestivities. Pictured are CarolDanhires, Carol Akrie, Rita Klein,Daryl Marks, Marcellina Hoskowicz,Ron DeVaughn, Sue Bryan, JosephRudick, Aron Reznick, EleanorLimperos, Mollie Morris, Mary Smith,Jen McCay, Delia Rivera and SharonHostein.

Opening night should bring lots of laughsW hat happens when you find out you aren’t who

you think you are? “The Infidel,” in its Pittsburghpremiere, will answer that question at the 18th

Annual Opening Night of the JFilm Festival, Thursday,March 24, 7 p.m. at SouthSide Works Cinema.

In the film, Mahmud Nasir, a nice Muslim family guy,discovers he’s adopted after his mother dies. Adopted, OK,but the son of a Jewish mother and father? Mahmud triesto explore his Jewish roots in this satire that pokes fun atthe serious subject of Muslim-Jewish relations.

A tough Jewish taxi driver (Richard Schiff from the“West Wing”) serves as his guide into the world of matzoball soup, dancing the hora and the proper pronunciationof chutzpa. But will his Muslim family accept his newidentity?

A reception will follow the film with light hors d’oeuvresand dessert.

Tickets go on sale March 3 and can be purchased bycontacting (412) 992-5203 Monday through Friday from 1to 3 p.m. or visiting JFilmPgh.org.

JFilm, a program of the Jewish Federation of GreaterPittsburgh, will run its Festival from March 24 throughApril 10.

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 17

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MAGAZINEJewish Pittsburgh Living

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Friends of Magen DavidAdom is reeling from the resigna-tion of its five-member executivecommittee in a dispute over oversightissues.

The resignation, first reported inThe New York Jewish Week, resultedfrom a dispute between the Israeliemergency medical group and itsAmerican supporters, which was de-manding greater financial oversight.

“We tried to negotiate a new cooper-ation agreement with them, but wehad a difficult time because of theirsenior leadership,” Lewis Krinsky,former national chairman of theAmerican Friends of Magen DavidAdom, said of the Israeli group.“They were making demands that inthe opinion of the executive commit-tee would compromise our ability toact as an independent organization.”

The dispute between Magen DavidAdom, essentially the Israeli version

of the American Red Cross, and itsAmerican supporters has been goingon for some time. In March, the Is-raelis threatened to cancel the Ameri-can Friends of Magen David Adom’scontract as Magen David Adom’s ex-clusive representative in the UnitedStates. An investigative series in theIsraeli daily Yisrael Hayom allegedmisuse of Magen David Adom funds.

American Friends of Magen DavidAdom raises $20 million to $30 millionannually for the Israeli charity.

U.S. House of Representa-tives leaders urged President Obamato veto a proposed U.N. SecurityCouncil resolution that slams Israelon settlements and urges a return todirect Israeli-Palestinian talks.

“We are deeply concerned about thePalestinian leadership’s decision toreject the difficult but vital responsi-bility of making peace with Israelthrough direct negotiations, and in-stead to advocate for anti-Israel mea-sures by the United Nations SecurityCouncil and other international fo-rums,” says the letter sent Jan. 26.

The letter was initiated by Rep.Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), thechairwoman of the House Foreign Af-fairs Committee, and signed by Reps.Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majorityleader; Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the mi-nority leader; and Howard Berman(D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat onRos-Lehtinen’s committee, as well asthe lead congressman on its MiddleEast subcommittee.

Rabbi David Nesenoff, whoseimpromptu interview with journalistHelen Thomas led to her resignationfrom the Hearst Corp., has beennamed the publisher and editor of TheJewish Star.

The weekly newspaper, based onLong Island in suburban New York,made the announcement late lastweek on behalf of its owners, Cliffordand Stuart Richner.

Nesenoff is an independent film-maker and runs a blog called Rab-biLive.com.

The Reform movement’s can-torial school has been named for the

late Debbie Friedman.Rabbi David Ellenson, president of

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Insti-tute of Religion, made the announce-ment Jan. 27 in New York at a memor-ial tribute to Friedman, who died Jan.9 at 59.

Friends of the late singer-song-writer have made possible an endow-ment to the school, which will beknown as The Debbie FriedmanSchool of Sacred Music, Ellensonsaid.

Friedman transformed Jewish wor-ship in North American liberal syna-gogues with her sing-along style offolk-inspired music. Since her start asa song leader in Reform summercamps in the early 1970s, she released20 albums and was a much sought-af-ter performer on the Jewish circuit.

Her most well-known composition,“Mi Shebeirach,” a Hebrew-Englishversion of the Jewish prayer for heal-ing, is now part of the Reform liturgy.She was named to the School of Sa-cred Music faculty in 2007.

HUC’s cantorial school in New Yorkwas established in 1948 and has in-vested 462 cantors.

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SEEKING PESACH apart-ment in Sq. Hill during Pe-sach, April 17 to 27, 2011.We have our own Pesachdikpots, pans, dishes & silver-ware. We will come in &kasher your kitchen & use itfor Sedarim and other meals.Rent open for discussion.Call Rabbi & Mrs. Perlman412-904-3601.

HEBREW, ENGLISH & Span-ish translator looking formore clients. 412-918-1836or 412-853-5109.

ESTATE NOTICES

Letters have been grantedon the estate of each of thefollowing decedents to thepersonal representativenamed, who requests all per-sons having claims againstthe estate of the decedent tomake known the same inwriting to him or his attor-ney, and all persons indebt-ed to the decedent to makepayment to him without de-lay:

WACHTEL, Sandra, de-ceased, of Pittsburgh, PA, Al-legheny County; No. 02-10-07644 or to: Joel Pfefffer,Esq., Meyer, Unkovic & ScottLLP, 535 Smithfield St., Suite1300, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

3Th 338, 331, 324

NICE JEWISH Boy, offeringthe full range of computerservices, from advising andteaching to repair and sup-port. I will come to yourhouse or apartment, fix anyproblem you’re having &teach you what you need toknow to use it. I have 14years’ experience workingwith people of all ages. . Nojob is too large or small,and nobody is too comput-er illiterate. (Really) CALLJASON 412-401-1204 , orvisit my web www.comput-erwizard.us., referencesavailable.

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NO JOB TOO SMALL or ahoney to do list! Call Daveat Maids & More 412-824-3540.

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THE HOT MATZOHS, Pitts-burgh’s #1 Klezmer Band, isavailable for your Wedding,Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Corporateor other special event! Thedynamic band, featuring vi-olinist Barbara Lowenstein(founder), offers manystyles of music in additionto Klezmer, e,g, classical,jazz, swing and folk. Call412-344-3338 or 412-303-0746. Or e-mail:barbsvio-lin@gmail.com.

ACE CERTIFIED willing tocome to your home to helpyou get in shape. Able totrain in boxing skills, verywell in training children. CallMike 412-408-3205.

“Do you ever have doubts about God?”One of my confirmation students

asked me this question recently. I tookher question seriously. I wanted to giveher not merely a quick answer, but agood one. I then replied, “More than I’mconcerned with my doubts about God,I’m concerned with God’s doubts aboutme.”

But I’ve given her question furtherconsideration, and now I realize that mybest answer is, “Much more than I’mconcerned with my doubts about God,and even more than I’m concerned withGod’s doubts about me, I’m concernedwith God’s doubts about us, with God’sdoubts about humankind altogether.”

Look at the world. How much faithshould God have in us? As in the daysleading up to the flood story in theTorah, our world blazes with Hamas,“Violence,” running the gamut from ver-bal violence to bloodshed. The only waythat the world could be saved from vio-lence in the Torah was for Noah to buildan ark. So it is in our world. To alleviatehuman suffering and evil, to traverse thetorrents of violence churning our world,we too have something to build.

Asu li mikdash, v’shachanti b’tocham,are the central words of our Torah por-tion Teruma: “Make me a sanctuary andI will dwell in their midst.” As Noah hadto build an ark for salvation, and as thepeople of Israel had to build themishkan for God’s presence to journeywith them from Mt. Sinai, we have tomake sanctuaries for God to dwell in ourmidst, not merely physical sanctuaries,

but sanctuaries of morality, men-schlichkeit and certainly for the Jewishpeople, Yiddishkeit.

From every vantage, seemingly smallas well as the enormously obvious statedabove, how much faith should God havein us? The Shabbat after my confirma-tion student asked me this question, I at-tended the morning service at a congre-gation in another city. I relish my rareopportunities to attend other syna-gogues, and on this particular Shabbat, Ienjoyed the comments and quips by therabbi and the sweet singing of the can-tor. Yet otherwise, my view from thepews was disconcerting. Few peopleprayed. Some people did not even openthe prayer book. There was great praiseof the bar mitzva boy. There was littlepraise to God, or for the gifts of keepingShabbat and studying Torah. Hundredsof people were seated in that sanctuary,yet few people were making it a sanctu-ary for God to dwell in.

For generations now, the story hasbeen told of the student who asked hisrabbi, “Where can I find God?” The rab-bi replied, “Wherever you let God in.”This parable reiterates the central les-son of Teruma, when God commandsMoses at Mt. Sinai, “Make for me a sanc-tuary that I may dwell in their midst.”For God to dwell in our midst, we mustbuild sanctuaries of study and obser-vance, morality and ritual,menschlichkeit, Yiddishkeit and com-munity. With every mitzva we keep, wecan cement another block in the founda-tion, hammer another plank, secure an-other beam, or nail another shingle inbuilding God’s sanctuary in our midst.If we build it, God will come. And if wedon’t, how can God come, let alone whyshould God come? If we don’t, Godwon’t.

(This column is a service of the GreaterPittsburgh Rabbinic Association.)

— THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 201120

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TORAHIf you build it, God will come;if you don’t, God won’t

Portion of the Week

RABBI MARK JOELMAHLER

TEMPLE EMANUEL OFSOUTH HILLS

Terumah, Exodus

25:1-27:19

TRANSLATOR

HOME REPAIRS

MEDIS

MUSICALENTERTAINMENT

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 21

Dear EarthTalk: Global populationnumbers continue to rise, as does thepoverty, suffering and environmentaldegradation that goes with it. Has theU.S., under President Obama, increasedor at least restored its family planningaid to developing countries that was cutwhen the Bush Administration first tookoffice?

T. Healy, via e-mail

The short answer is yes. PresidentObama is much more interested in fam-ily planning around the world than hispredecessor ever was. One of Obama’sfirst acts upon assuming office in 2009was the restoration of funding for theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNF-PA). George W. Bush had withheld some$244 million in aid to the UNFPA overthe previous seven years. UNFPA workswith developing countries around theworld to “reduce poverty and to ensurethat every pregnancy is wanted, everybirth is safe, every young person is freeof HIV/AIDS, and every girl and womanis treated with dignity and respect.”

Reinstated U.S. funding will help theagency pursue its goals of universal ac-cess to reproductive health services,universal primary education and clos-ing of the gender gap in education, re-ducing maternal and infant mortality,increasing life expectancy and decreas-ing HIV infection rates.

Along with restoring UNFPA funding,Obama also overturned the so-called“Global Gag Rule” that prohibitedgroups funded by the U.S. Agency in In-ternational Development from usingany government or nongovernmentfunds for “providing advice, counselingor information regarding abortion, or

lobbying a foreign government to legal-ize or make abortion available.” Foreignnonprofits were already not allowed touse U.S. funds to pay for abortions, butthe Global Gag Rule—first instituted asthe “Mexico City Policy” in 1984 by theReagan White House, then overturnedby Clinton and later reinstated byGeorge W. Bush — went further by re-stricting the free speech rights of gov-ernment grantees and stifling public de-bate on the contentious topic. ForeignNGOs that accept U.S. funding still can-not perform abortions, but can discussthe options openly with the families theyserve.

“For too long, international familyplanning assistance has been used as apolitical wedge issue, the subject of aback and forth debate that has servedonly to divide us,” said Obama uponoverturning the policy as one of his firstacts in office. “It is time that we end thepoliticization of this issue.”

Of course, advocates for increasedfamily planning are pressuring the Oba-ma administration to step up its effortsaboard even more. The Institute of Med-icine, one of four government-affiliatednonprofit “academies” of experts, rec-ommended last spring that the U.S. in-crease its spending on global health bysome 50 percent over the $63 billionpledged by the Obama White Houseover the next six years.

Groups providing family planningservices domestically would also like tosee the Obama administration step upfunding for their programs, not only toimprove the quality of life for Americanfamilies but to save money and reduceabortions as well: A 2009 report by thenonprofit Guttmacher Institute conclud-ed that publicly funded family planningservices at both hospitals and non-profitclinics saves taxpayers $4 for every $1spent by preventing nearly two millionpregnancies and 810,000 abortions peryear.

(Send your environmental questions to:EarthTalk®, c/o E – The EnvironmentalMagazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E isa nonprofit publication. Subscribe:emagazine.com/subscribe.)

Reducing global population pressures

ENVIRONMENTDignity and respect needed

Earth TalkBByy tthhee EEddiittoorrss ooff

EE//TThhee EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaall MMaaggaazziinnee

MORNING SERVICES - 9:30 A.M.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6: HARRY ADLER, ESTHER ALPERN, RIKA F. BARKUS, LOUIS BLOCH,LOUIS BORCHARDT, SAM BRENNER, ETHEL BURKE, HENRIETTA CAPLAN, IDA DANENBERG,MARY ELENBAUM, JACK A. FEINGOLD, MORRIS FINKELSTEIN, CHARLES FRIEDBERG, ABE I.FRIEDMAN, ROSE GOLDENBERG, MARY GOULD, HERMAN GREEN, MILTON GREENFIELD, CARLGUSSIN, JACHIEL HAUS, JOSEPH HOREWITZ, HEIMIN S. JACOBSON, ISADOR JAEGER, SADYEJUDD, JACOB KRAMER, ALLAN KRAUSS, JACK LEFF, LENA LEFKOWITZ, DAVID LEVEN, LIBBIELEVY, ABRAHAM A. LINDER, DORA MALLIN, AARON MALLINGER, BELLA W. MARKS, SAMMILLER, SAMUEL G. MILLER, REGINA NEUGASS, SOLOMON NEUSTEIN, BETTY F. PAULL,EMANUEL PERLOW, MAX RAND, MINNIE ROTH, IDA SCHWARTZ, NATHAN SCHWARTZ, ALICESHAPIRO, LILLIAN SIEGMAN, MIRIAM SILBERMAN, DORIS L. SILVERMAN, JULIUS SILVERMAN,RUTH SLOTEKEVICH, IRVING LEWIS STUTZ, MD, JANINA WINKLER.MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7: LOUIS AZORSKY, ESTHER BENKOVITZ, WILLIAM BERGER,ELAINE BERKOVITZ, MAX BERKOVITZ, SARAH LOUISE BERNSTEIN, JACK E. BRODY, RENABURKE, REBECCA DRESNER, JACOB FEIGENBAUM, BELLE F. FINN, ANNA R. FOSTER, DOROTHYFRANKEL, ELIZABETH GREEN, ROSA HERSKOVITZ, ALEX HERTZ, EPHRAIM HURWITZ, LOUISHYTOWITZ, HERBERT D. JONES, RALPH KALSON, GIZELLA KOVACS, ALVIN LAIBMAN, MARYLEVIN, ROSE S. LEVINE, SAMUEL H. LEVINE, ORIN J. LEVY, TILLIE LIPSON, MAX A. LOEVNER, RE-BECCA LOVE, JANE MARGOWSKY, LUCILLE R. MERMELSTEIN, LENA NESVISKY, DORA OBERLIN,MENDEL PERIL, MEYER RABINOVITZ, PEARL R. ROSENBERG, ROSE L. ROSENTHAL, IDA R.ROTH, JOSEPH ROTH, SIDNEY S. SAPPER, MAX H. SCHINDLER, EDWARD SCHLESSINGER,SADIE SCHWARTZ, FANNIE SHULLMAN, ALBERT SIGAL, NAOMI CONN SILVERMAN, NATHANSILVERMAN, MAX SOLOMON, ROSE SPANDAU, BESSIE SWARTZ, NACHMAN TABACHNICK,BENJAMIN TEPLITZ, SAMUEL WALKOW, HENRY WEINBERGER, MOLLIE WEISMAN, LENA ELIZA-BETH WIZENBERG, ABRAHAM YORKIN, PHILLIP ZAKOWITZ.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8: SAMUEL H. BEGLER, HELEN BUCK, DAVID CANTER, LEONARDCHOTINER, MINNIE COHEN, YETTA COHEN, LENA COOPER, BARBARA FINK, GOLDIE FRANK,GOLDIE FRANK, NETTA FRUHLINGER, SAMUEL GESCHEIDT, DANIEL GLICK, ROSI GOLDBLATT,ESTHER D. GOLDMAN, CHARLES GOLDSTEIN, HAYA K. HARRIS, SAUL I. HELLER, HARRYHIRSCH, HYMAN J. JACOBSON, LENA KITMAN, LILLIAN KLEIN, GUS KLINE, SIMON KRAUS,JEANNETTE G. KURTZ, JACOB LADERMAN, HARRY LANDAW, ABRAHAM LEEBOVE, LOUIS L.LENCHNER, MORRIS LEVINE, MAURICE LEVINSON, ROSE LEVY, WILLIAM LIFF, LYNETTE A. LON-DON, FRED H. LUDIN, SAMUEL MANDEL, SAMUEL MANDELL, ETHEL MARETZKY, ROSE MEND-LOW, SOLOMON J. METLIN, EDYTHE MOSS, YITZCHAK AARON NADLER, MILTON D. PATZ, FAN-NIE PERIS, BENJAMIN PERLMAN, ROSEMOND PLANT, DAVID C. POLLOCK, SADIE RESNICK,LENA ROBIN, ABRAHAM ROSEN, PINCUS P. ROSENTHAL, MURRAY RUBENSTEIN, SARAH RU-BINSTEIN, MINNIE O. SAUL, IRWIN SCHATZ, EDWARD SCHUGAR, JACK I. SEGAL, JOSEPH SE-GAL, MOLLIE SEIGER, MOLLIE SIEGER, IKE SKIRBLE, JACK STEINFELD, FANNIE SUGGARS,ANNA TARSHIS, ABRAHAM VENZERUL, SAMUEL WASSERMAN, BELLE G. WEINER, DONNA MAEZIMRING, NATHAN ZUCKER.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9: SOPHIE ANISMAN, FANNIE BALFER, LOUISE BEHR, ABE P.BENNETT, SANFORD R. BERMAN, SAM BOCHNER, THEODORE CHERTOFF, ELSIE B. COHEN,JOSEPH COHEN, ABE I. DANIELS, SAMUEL ENDICH, LIBBY ETTA GOLDSTON, WOLF GORDON,JULIA WISE GORMAN, FANNIE HERMAN, HAHUM HERSCHELN, DR. LEON HIRSCH, DR. HARRYKALET, FRANK A. KAMINS, JACK M. KANE, JACOB KLEINMAN, MARY LANDO, LOUIS R. LEVITH,ELLA LEVY, DR. YALE S. LEWINE, BERTHA LOMASK, LOUIS LUTERMAN, ALYCE H. MANDEL-BLATT, BENJAMIN D. MILLER, SADIE MILLER, ALEX MOSCOV, ESTHER NAUHAUS, BENJAMINPOLLACK, MARWIN D. RUBENSTEIN, ESTHER RUDKIN, HARRY W. SAMOLSKY, IKESCHLESINGER, MORRIS SCHMIDT, JACOB SCHOEN, DAVID SCHWARTZ, FRANCES B. SIGAL,ISAAC W. SOLOMON, HELEN O. TUNNARELLO, SAMUEL VEINEGAR, MORRIS S. WERTHEIMER,ANNA S. WILKOFF, HARRY ZALEVSKY, MOLLIE ZEIDMAN.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10: MARY ALPERT, DORA G. BERNSTEIN, MICHEAL CAN-TOROVICH, DORA DAVIS CAPLAN, ALEC W. CHINN, GERTRUDE CHIZECK, GOLDIE CHUSSETT,NOAH COHEN, SARA F. COHEN, SAMUEL ENDICH, FLORENCE FARKAS, BAER FRIEDLANDER,MIRIAM J. GLICK, ANNA GOLDBERG, RUTH GOULD, ISIDOR HOLLANDER, MARVIN KLEIN,SOPHIA KRASIK, SOPHIE LEBOWITZ, BUDDY LEVENSON, LEON LEWIS, REGINA LITTLE,NATHAN MANN, ADA MORRIS, LOUIS RAYMOND, FANNIE ROSEN, LOUIS B. ROSENBERG,JEROME ROSENBLOOM, ISAAC L. ROSENFELD, JOSEPH SANDERS, CHARLES SCHWARTZ,SARAH L. SHAPIRO, SYLVIA D. SHRIVER, JACOB SNOW, JACOB OWEN SPECTER, MD, SIDNEYSTARK, DAVID STERN, HENRIETTA STRENG, RAYE SUPOWITZ, HELEN WEINBERGER.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11: BESSIE BARINGOLTZ, SAM BENKOVITZ, BERNARD BERKMAN,HENRIETTA BUCK, ISAAC CAPLAN, ROSE CHERKOSKY, JULIUS CLOSKY, JACOB DAVIS, ALBERTFARBER, SAMUEL FARBSTEIN, FRANCES A. FEINBERG, DR. ABRAHAM FINEGOLD, FANNYFINKELSTEIN, ISRAEL FIREMAN, DOROTHY FISHER, ETTIE K. FRANK, HARRIS FRIEDMAN, ABRA-HAM GREEN, ROSE GRUMMER, LOUIS M. HARRIS, JACOB HERMAN, IRA KLEIN, CHARLES KO-ROBKIN, ABRAHAM Z. LAVINE, MORRIS S. LEVINE, TILLIE LIPPOCK, ELI LIVINSTON, ANNA LYT-TON, IDA MEYERS, JOSEPH MILLER, HARRY B. ORRINGER, M.D., ABRAHAM PEREIRA, HAROLDB. POLLACK, REVA M. RATNER, LILLIAN S. ROMANOFF, FANNIE R. ROSENFIELD, IRWIN I. SARON,BETTY B. SHER, ETTA SILVERBLATT, DAVID SOLOF, DORA STADTFELD, ANNA STERN, JOSEPHSUNSHINE, RACHEL TALENFELD, MAX L. WECHSLER, ALBERT WEINBERGER, PHILLIP WEIN-BERGER, BENJAMIN WOLK.SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12: ELLA ALPERN, GERTRUDE ATLAS, RASHEL BROWARSKY,SAMUEL J. BURKE, RUTH CHELL, JULIUS COHEN, BERNARD COTTLER, GERTRUDE CRIEP, JA-COB FIBUS, FRANK FINKELSTEIN, ANNA FISHER, ISADORE FLEEGLER, EMIL GLICK, DORA GOLD-FARB, EVA GOLDSTEIN, EDWARD GREEN, CELIA GRINBERG, MEYER HART, RUTH G. HERMAN,ROSELLA B. HORVITZ, HAROLD LEVINE, BESSIE R. LEVINSON, DINAH MARTIN, JAY CALVINMILLER, ALBERT MORGAN, BELLA OPPENHEIM, GOLDA POLESETSKY, JOSEPH PORTER, ABERADER, SAMUEL REZNICK, STANLEY E. ROSENBLOOM, MD, ABRAHAM RUTSTEIN, CLARASCHLEIFER, BELLE SELKOVITS, YETTA SHAPIRO, ETHEL SIEGAL, CHAIA SPECTOR, BESSIESTEIN, ROSE STEINBERGER, JOSEPH STEINER, ALICE STRAHL, SAMUEL TYSON, REBECCAWELTMAN, ESTHER WERTHEIMER, JENNIE WHITMAN, MAX WIKES, ROSE ZIFF.

Call (412) 687-1000to place your ad in

The Jewish Chronicle

Photo courtesyCIMMYT/Flickr

The Obamaadministration’sreinstatement offunding to theUnited NationsPopulation Fundhelps the agency’sefforts around theworld to reducepoverty and toensure that everypregnancy iswanted, every birthis safe, every youngperson is free ofHIV/AIDS, and everygirl and woman istreated with dignityand respect.

10,000 Eyes willsee your ad inthe Classifieds

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 21

Dear EarthTalk: Global populationnumbers continue to rise, as does thepoverty, suffering and environmentaldegradation that goes with it. Has theU.S., under President Obama, increasedor at least restored its family planningaid to developing countries that was cutwhen the Bush Administration first tookoffice?

T. Healy, via e-mail

The short answer is yes. PresidentObama is much more interested in fam-ily planning around the world than hispredecessor ever was. One of Obama’sfirst acts upon assuming office in 2009was the restoration of funding for theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNF-PA). George W. Bush had withheld some$244 million in aid to the UNFPA overthe previous seven years. UNFPA workswith developing countries around theworld to “reduce poverty and to ensurethat every pregnancy is wanted, everybirth is safe, every young person is freeof HIV/AIDS, and every girl and womanis treated with dignity and respect.”

Reinstated U.S. funding will help theagency pursue its goals of universal ac-cess to reproductive health services,universal primary education and clos-ing of the gender gap in education, re-ducing maternal and infant mortality,increasing life expectancy and decreas-ing HIV infection rates.

Along with restoring UNFPA funding,Obama also overturned the so-called“Global Gag Rule” that prohibitedgroups funded by the U.S. Agency in In-ternational Development from usingany government or nongovernmentfunds for “providing advice, counselingor information regarding abortion, or

lobbying a foreign government to legal-ize or make abortion available.” Foreignnonprofits were already not allowed touse U.S. funds to pay for abortions, butthe Global Gag Rule—first instituted asthe “Mexico City Policy” in 1984 by theReagan White House, then overturnedby Clinton and later reinstated byGeorge W. Bush — went further by re-stricting the free speech rights of gov-ernment grantees and stifling public de-bate on the contentious topic. ForeignNGOs that accept U.S. funding still can-not perform abortions, but can discussthe options openly with the families theyserve.

“For too long, international familyplanning assistance has been used as apolitical wedge issue, the subject of aback and forth debate that has servedonly to divide us,” said Obama uponoverturning the policy as one of his firstacts in office. “It is time that we end thepoliticization of this issue.”

Of course, advocates for increasedfamily planning are pressuring the Oba-ma administration to step up its effortsaboard even more. The Institute of Med-icine, one of four government-affiliatednonprofit “academies” of experts, rec-ommended last spring that the U.S. in-crease its spending on global health bysome 50 percent over the $63 billionpledged by the Obama White Houseover the next six years.

Groups providing family planningservices domestically would also like tosee the Obama administration step upfunding for their programs, not only toimprove the quality of life for Americanfamilies but to save money and reduceabortions as well: A 2009 report by thenonprofit Guttmacher Institute conclud-ed that publicly funded family planningservices at both hospitals and non-profitclinics saves taxpayers $4 for every $1spent by preventing nearly two millionpregnancies and 810,000 abortions peryear.

(Send your environmental questions to:EarthTalk®, c/o E – The EnvironmentalMagazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E isa nonprofit publication. Subscribe:emagazine.com/subscribe.)

Reducing global population pressures

ENVIRONMENTDignity and respect needed

Earth TalkBByy tthhee EEddiittoorrss ooff

EE//TThhee EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaall MMaaggaazziinnee

MORNING SERVICES - 9:30 A.M.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6: HARRY ADLER, ESTHER ALPERN, RIKA F. BARKUS, LOUIS BLOCH,LOUIS BORCHARDT, SAM BRENNER, ETHEL BURKE, HENRIETTA CAPLAN, IDA DANENBERG,MARY ELENBAUM, JACK A. FEINGOLD, MORRIS FINKELSTEIN, CHARLES FRIEDBERG, ABE I.FRIEDMAN, ROSE GOLDENBERG, MARY GOULD, HERMAN GREEN, MILTON GREENFIELD, CARLGUSSIN, JACHIEL HAUS, JOSEPH HOREWITZ, HEIMIN S. JACOBSON, ISADOR JAEGER, SADYEJUDD, JACOB KRAMER, ALLAN KRAUSS, JACK LEFF, LENA LEFKOWITZ, DAVID LEVEN, LIBBIELEVY, ABRAHAM A. LINDER, DORA MALLIN, AARON MALLINGER, BELLA W. MARKS, SAMMILLER, SAMUEL G. MILLER, REGINA NEUGASS, SOLOMON NEUSTEIN, BETTY F. PAULL,EMANUEL PERLOW, MAX RAND, MINNIE ROTH, IDA SCHWARTZ, NATHAN SCHWARTZ, ALICESHAPIRO, LILLIAN SIEGMAN, MIRIAM SILBERMAN, DORIS L. SILVERMAN, JULIUS SILVERMAN,RUTH SLOTEKEVICH, IRVING LEWIS STUTZ, MD, JANINA WINKLER.MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7: LOUIS AZORSKY, ESTHER BENKOVITZ, WILLIAM BERGER,ELAINE BERKOVITZ, MAX BERKOVITZ, SARAH LOUISE BERNSTEIN, JACK E. BRODY, RENABURKE, REBECCA DRESNER, JACOB FEIGENBAUM, BELLE F. FINN, ANNA R. FOSTER, DOROTHYFRANKEL, ELIZABETH GREEN, ROSA HERSKOVITZ, ALEX HERTZ, EPHRAIM HURWITZ, LOUISHYTOWITZ, HERBERT D. JONES, RALPH KALSON, GIZELLA KOVACS, ALVIN LAIBMAN, MARYLEVIN, ROSE S. LEVINE, SAMUEL H. LEVINE, ORIN J. LEVY, TILLIE LIPSON, MAX A. LOEVNER, RE-BECCA LOVE, JANE MARGOWSKY, LUCILLE R. MERMELSTEIN, LENA NESVISKY, DORA OBERLIN,MENDEL PERIL, MEYER RABINOVITZ, PEARL R. ROSENBERG, ROSE L. ROSENTHAL, IDA R.ROTH, JOSEPH ROTH, SIDNEY S. SAPPER, MAX H. SCHINDLER, EDWARD SCHLESSINGER,SADIE SCHWARTZ, FANNIE SHULLMAN, ALBERT SIGAL, NAOMI CONN SILVERMAN, NATHANSILVERMAN, MAX SOLOMON, ROSE SPANDAU, BESSIE SWARTZ, NACHMAN TABACHNICK,BENJAMIN TEPLITZ, SAMUEL WALKOW, HENRY WEINBERGER, MOLLIE WEISMAN, LENA ELIZA-BETH WIZENBERG, ABRAHAM YORKIN, PHILLIP ZAKOWITZ.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8: SAMUEL H. BEGLER, HELEN BUCK, DAVID CANTER, LEONARDCHOTINER, MINNIE COHEN, YETTA COHEN, LENA COOPER, BARBARA FINK, GOLDIE FRANK,GOLDIE FRANK, NETTA FRUHLINGER, SAMUEL GESCHEIDT, DANIEL GLICK, ROSI GOLDBLATT,ESTHER D. GOLDMAN, CHARLES GOLDSTEIN, HAYA K. HARRIS, SAUL I. HELLER, HARRYHIRSCH, HYMAN J. JACOBSON, LENA KITMAN, LILLIAN KLEIN, GUS KLINE, SIMON KRAUS,JEANNETTE G. KURTZ, JACOB LADERMAN, HARRY LANDAW, ABRAHAM LEEBOVE, LOUIS L.LENCHNER, MORRIS LEVINE, MAURICE LEVINSON, ROSE LEVY, WILLIAM LIFF, LYNETTE A. LON-DON, FRED H. LUDIN, SAMUEL MANDEL, SAMUEL MANDELL, ETHEL MARETZKY, ROSE MEND-LOW, SOLOMON J. METLIN, EDYTHE MOSS, YITZCHAK AARON NADLER, MILTON D. PATZ, FAN-NIE PERIS, BENJAMIN PERLMAN, ROSEMOND PLANT, DAVID C. POLLOCK, SADIE RESNICK,LENA ROBIN, ABRAHAM ROSEN, PINCUS P. ROSENTHAL, MURRAY RUBENSTEIN, SARAH RU-BINSTEIN, MINNIE O. SAUL, IRWIN SCHATZ, EDWARD SCHUGAR, JACK I. SEGAL, JOSEPH SE-GAL, MOLLIE SEIGER, MOLLIE SIEGER, IKE SKIRBLE, JACK STEINFELD, FANNIE SUGGARS,ANNA TARSHIS, ABRAHAM VENZERUL, SAMUEL WASSERMAN, BELLE G. WEINER, DONNA MAEZIMRING, NATHAN ZUCKER.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9: SOPHIE ANISMAN, FANNIE BALFER, LOUISE BEHR, ABE P.BENNETT, SANFORD R. BERMAN, SAM BOCHNER, THEODORE CHERTOFF, ELSIE B. COHEN,JOSEPH COHEN, ABE I. DANIELS, SAMUEL ENDICH, LIBBY ETTA GOLDSTON, WOLF GORDON,JULIA WISE GORMAN, FANNIE HERMAN, HAHUM HERSCHELN, DR. LEON HIRSCH, DR. HARRYKALET, FRANK A. KAMINS, JACK M. KANE, JACOB KLEINMAN, MARY LANDO, LOUIS R. LEVITH,ELLA LEVY, DR. YALE S. LEWINE, BERTHA LOMASK, LOUIS LUTERMAN, ALYCE H. MANDEL-BLATT, BENJAMIN D. MILLER, SADIE MILLER, ALEX MOSCOV, ESTHER NAUHAUS, BENJAMINPOLLACK, MARWIN D. RUBENSTEIN, ESTHER RUDKIN, HARRY W. SAMOLSKY, IKESCHLESINGER, MORRIS SCHMIDT, JACOB SCHOEN, DAVID SCHWARTZ, FRANCES B. SIGAL,ISAAC W. SOLOMON, HELEN O. TUNNARELLO, SAMUEL VEINEGAR, MORRIS S. WERTHEIMER,ANNA S. WILKOFF, HARRY ZALEVSKY, MOLLIE ZEIDMAN.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10: MARY ALPERT, DORA G. BERNSTEIN, MICHEAL CAN-TOROVICH, DORA DAVIS CAPLAN, ALEC W. CHINN, GERTRUDE CHIZECK, GOLDIE CHUSSETT,NOAH COHEN, SARA F. COHEN, SAMUEL ENDICH, FLORENCE FARKAS, BAER FRIEDLANDER,MIRIAM J. GLICK, ANNA GOLDBERG, RUTH GOULD, ISIDOR HOLLANDER, MARVIN KLEIN,SOPHIA KRASIK, SOPHIE LEBOWITZ, BUDDY LEVENSON, LEON LEWIS, REGINA LITTLE,NATHAN MANN, ADA MORRIS, LOUIS RAYMOND, FANNIE ROSEN, LOUIS B. ROSENBERG,JEROME ROSENBLOOM, ISAAC L. ROSENFELD, JOSEPH SANDERS, CHARLES SCHWARTZ,SARAH L. SHAPIRO, SYLVIA D. SHRIVER, JACOB SNOW, JACOB OWEN SPECTER, MD, SIDNEYSTARK, DAVID STERN, HENRIETTA STRENG, RAYE SUPOWITZ, HELEN WEINBERGER.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11: BESSIE BARINGOLTZ, SAM BENKOVITZ, BERNARD BERKMAN,HENRIETTA BUCK, ISAAC CAPLAN, ROSE CHERKOSKY, JULIUS CLOSKY, JACOB DAVIS, ALBERTFARBER, SAMUEL FARBSTEIN, FRANCES A. FEINBERG, DR. ABRAHAM FINEGOLD, FANNYFINKELSTEIN, ISRAEL FIREMAN, DOROTHY FISHER, ETTIE K. FRANK, HARRIS FRIEDMAN, ABRA-HAM GREEN, ROSE GRUMMER, LOUIS M. HARRIS, JACOB HERMAN, IRA KLEIN, CHARLES KO-ROBKIN, ABRAHAM Z. LAVINE, MORRIS S. LEVINE, TILLIE LIPPOCK, ELI LIVINSTON, ANNA LYT-TON, IDA MEYERS, JOSEPH MILLER, HARRY B. ORRINGER, M.D., ABRAHAM PEREIRA, HAROLDB. POLLACK, REVA M. RATNER, LILLIAN S. ROMANOFF, FANNIE R. ROSENFIELD, IRWIN I. SARON,BETTY B. SHER, ETTA SILVERBLATT, DAVID SOLOF, DORA STADTFELD, ANNA STERN, JOSEPHSUNSHINE, RACHEL TALENFELD, MAX L. WECHSLER, ALBERT WEINBERGER, PHILLIP WEIN-BERGER, BENJAMIN WOLK.SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12: ELLA ALPERN, GERTRUDE ATLAS, RASHEL BROWARSKY,SAMUEL J. BURKE, RUTH CHELL, JULIUS COHEN, BERNARD COTTLER, GERTRUDE CRIEP, JA-COB FIBUS, FRANK FINKELSTEIN, ANNA FISHER, ISADORE FLEEGLER, EMIL GLICK, DORA GOLD-FARB, EVA GOLDSTEIN, EDWARD GREEN, CELIA GRINBERG, MEYER HART, RUTH G. HERMAN,ROSELLA B. HORVITZ, HAROLD LEVINE, BESSIE R. LEVINSON, DINAH MARTIN, JAY CALVINMILLER, ALBERT MORGAN, BELLA OPPENHEIM, GOLDA POLESETSKY, JOSEPH PORTER, ABERADER, SAMUEL REZNICK, STANLEY E. ROSENBLOOM, MD, ABRAHAM RUTSTEIN, CLARASCHLEIFER, BELLE SELKOVITS, YETTA SHAPIRO, ETHEL SIEGAL, CHAIA SPECTOR, BESSIESTEIN, ROSE STEINBERGER, JOSEPH STEINER, ALICE STRAHL, SAMUEL TYSON, REBECCAWELTMAN, ESTHER WERTHEIMER, JENNIE WHITMAN, MAX WIKES, ROSE ZIFF.

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The Obamaadministration’sreinstatement offunding to theUnited NationsPopulation Fundhelps the agency’sefforts around theworld to reducepoverty and toensure that everypregnancy iswanted, every birthis safe, every youngperson is free ofHIV/AIDS, and everygirl and woman istreated with dignityand respect.

ACKERMAN: On Monday, January24, 2011, Bertha Ackerman; belovedwife of the late Morris J. Ackerman;beloved mother of Toby (late Stanley)Perilman and Martin (Sue) Ackerman;sister of Irene Louik; grandmother ofSteven (Amy) Perilman, Scott Perilman,Bradley (Amanda) Ackerman and thelate Traci Perilman; Great-grandmotherof Spencer, Allison and Maxwell Peril-man and Samantha Ackerman. Serviceswere held at Ralph Schugar Chapel,Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shadyside. Inter-ment Ohav Shalom Cemetery, Donora,PA. Contributions may be made to Car-ing Committee Fund, Congregation BethIsrael, 6100 Pleasant Run Road., Col-leyville, TX 76034.

FREEDEL: On Friday, January 28,2011, Rochelle Freedel; beloved wife ofPaul Freedel; beloved mother ofMichelle (David) Barkdoll and Gerri(Victor) Primak; sister of Marvin Rubin,Natalie Brodsky and Lois Holbrook;grandmother of David, Adam, Kayla,Ethan and Ava. Services were held atRalph Schugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Cen-tre Ave., Shadyside. IntermentPliskover Cemetery. Contributions maybe made to New Light Congregation,1700 Beechwood Boulevard, Pittsburgh,PA 15217.

GOLDSTEIN: On Tuesday, January25, 2011, Harold W. Goldstein of Mon-roeville, formerly of Titusville, PA;beloved husband of Marilyn Verk Gold-stein; stepfather of Rita and Stuart Zolotof Mt. Lebanon and Robert and LynnVerk of Edgewood, MD. Brother of thelate Sylvia and Ruth Goldstein of Ti-tusville and the late Janet Beerman ofJohnstown. Also survived by fourgrandchildren. Services were held atTemple David in Monroeville. Privateinterment Temple Sinai Memorial Park.Contributions may be made to SquirrelHill Community Food Pantry, c/oJF&CS, 5743 Bartlett Street, Pittsburgh,PA 15217 or Temple David, 4415 North-ern Pike, Monroeville, PA 15146.Arrangements by Ralph SchugarChapel, Inc.

GROSS: On Tuesday, January 25,2011, Robert E. Gross; beloved husbandof the late Bernice Grotstein Gross;beloved father of Barry (Myra) Gross,Karen Christensen and Glenn Gross;

brother of Daniel Gross, DorothyJosephson, the late Michael Gross,Eleanor Cohen and William Gross;grandfather of Bernard (Julie) Chris-tensen, Kim (Kevin) Mills and Davidand Sabrina Gross; great-grandfather ofEmily and Amy Christensen andMeghan and Rachel Mills. Serviceswere held at Ralph Schugar Chapel,Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shadyside. In-terment Temple Sinai Memorial Park.Contributions may be made to JewishFamily & Children’s Service, 5743Bartlett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

HELLER: On Monday, January 24,2011, Dorothy (Feldman) Heller;beloved wife of the late Bernard Heller;devoted mother of Stephen Heller (Nan-cy Marx) and Elly Heller Toig (MitchellToig); daughter of the late Max andSadye Feldman of McKeesport; grand-mother of Andrew (Andrea) Heller,Julie (Mark) Corbin, Jonathan Heller,and Molly Heller Toig; great-grand-mother of Leilana Blawat; sister of thelate Alan Feldman; sister-in-law of LilaFeldman, Daniel Heller, Saul Rubin andthe late Charlotte and Leo Shapiro, thelate Alex and Lillian Heller, the lateZola and Bernice Heller, the late MarianHeller, the late Saul Heller, and the lateEthel Rubin; also survived by belovednieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Services were held at RalphSchugar Chapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave.,Shadyside. Interment B’nai IsraelCemetery. Contributions may be madeto Alzheimer’s Alliance of Westen PA,5180 Campbell’s Run Road, Pittsburgh,PA 15205.

LITTLE: On Saturday, January 15,Sylvan Little of Boca Raton, FL; belovedfather of Marjorie Little of Richmond,CA, and Arnold Little of Sparta, NJ;grandfather of Jessica Chasse andSteven Little. Donations can be madeto Hospice by the Sea, 1531 W. PalmettoPark Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486.

ROTENSTEIN: On Friday, January21, Rose Rotenstein, 91, born in Chen-stochowa, Poland; Holocaust survivor;beloved wife of Chaim Rotenstein for 68years; beloved mother of Susan (David)Goldhirsch and Dr. Deborah Rotenstein(Dr. Noah Bass); grandmother of Lorin,Kimberly, Sue, Aaron, Renee, Avi andNechama; great-grandmother of Emily,

Max, and Ayla. Interment at Beth DavidCemetary on Long Island. Donationscan be made to Magen David Adom Is-rael, amfda.org; Yad Sarah, friendso-fyadsarah.org; or Young Israel of Pitts-burgh, 5831 Bartlett St., Pittsburgh, PA15217.

SCHWARTZ: On Sunday, January30, 2011, Verna M. Schwartz; belovedwife of the late Stanley G. Schwartz;beloved mother of Dr. David L. (Elaine)Schwartz of Oklahoma City, OK and thelate Ellen Sue Schwartz; sister ofClaryne Miggantz of Fox Chapel; grand-mother of Shelby and Piper Schwartz;also survived by nieces and nephews.Services were held at Ralph SchugarChapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shady-side. Interment West View Cemetery ofRodef Shalom Congregation. Contribu-

tions may be made to The Ellen SueSchwartz Memorial Fund, c/o Children’sInstitute, 1405 Shady Avenue, Pitts-burgh, PA 15217.

WESTERMAN: On Thursday, Jan-uary 27, 2011, Marcia K. Westerman;beloved wife of Dr. Maxwell Westerman;daughter of the late Jack and GertrudeKahn; sister of Freda Lindblom andMarian Temkin; sister-in-law of RuthWesterman and Wilma Kubrin; aunt ofJay Pochapin, Sandra Kachajian, LeePochapin, Jeff Westerman, Mark West-erman, Diane Reichblum, Jana Dichter,Kristy Kubrin, Jed Kubrin, JacquelineTemkin, Louis Temkin and Neil Temkin.Services were held at Ralph SchugarChapel, Inc., 5509 Centre Ave., Shady-side. Interment West View Cemetery ofRodef Shalom Congregation.

22 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011

OBITUARIES

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Saves MMoneyCCaallll nnooww ffoorr rraatteess

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Please refer to wwwwww..tthheejjeewwiisshhcchhrroonniiccllee..nneettfor regularly updated obituary information.

JTA

JERUSALEM — Four Israeli journal-ists were arrested in Cairo as anti-gov-ernment protests in Egypt turned vio-lent.

Violence in Tahrir Square in down-town Cairo escalated Wedensday after-noon with Molotov cocktails burningsurrounding buildings and protestersattacking each other with metal rods.Egyptian police entered the square withwater cannons to disperse the crowdsand put out the fires. Some 500 protest-ers are reported injured in the streetviolence.

The journalists were arrestedWednesday for violating the curfew inthe capital city and for entering the cityon tourist visas, according to reports. Is-rael’s Foreign Ministry said in a state-ment that it is working on the release ofthe reporters — three from Israel’sChannel 2 and one from Nazareth.

“We call on all Israeli reporters arriv-ing in Cairo to remain alert, act respon-sibly and honor the place’s rules,” theministry said in its statement.

Earlier Wednesday, anti- and pro-Egyptian government demonstratorsthe square clashed, throwing rocks ateach other and tearing down protestbanners. The army used tear gas to con-trol the crowds, according to reports.

It was the first time that PresidentHosni Mubarak’s supporters have takento the streets in large numbers since thedemonstrations began nine days ago.

In an address to the Egyptian peopleTuesday night, Mubarak said he wouldnot run in the next elections, scheduledfor September, and said he would leadan orderly transition of power.

The army on Wednesday took to statetelevision to urge protesters to leave thestreets and return to everyday life.

“Your message has arrived, your de-mands became known,” militaryspokesman Ismail Etman said in an ad-dress. “You are capable of bringing nor-mal life to Egypt.”

Also Wednesday, Yemen’s PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh said he would stepdown at the end of his presidential term,ending three decades in office. Saleh’sterm expires in 2013. Saleh alsopromised not to pass on his leadershipposition to his son.

“I present these concessions in the in-terests of the country. The interests ofthe country come before our personalinterests,” Saleh said Wednesday in anaddress to his parliament. “No exten-sion, no inheritance, no resetting theclock.”

Saleh made the announcement theday before a planned “Day of Rage”planned by the opposition and inspiredby anti-government rallies in Tunisiaand Egypt.

Last week, thousands of demonstra-tors gathered in Sanaa at the city’s uni-versity and downtown following severaldays of smaller protests by students andopposition groups calling for Saleh tostep down.

(Gideon Markowicz/JTA)

Arabs and Jews demonstrating in front of the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv againstthe regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jan. 28, 2011.

Demonstrations spread

Israeli journalists arrested in Cairo

exciting for our students to connect withother Jewish kids,” she said. “They knowNew York and Miami, but to think thereare the kids the same age in somewherelike Green Bay learning about Judaismis special.”

Both congregations will donate theweekend’s tzedaka to the local charity ofthe winning team’s school — a Steelersvictory means Green Bay money will go tothe Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry.

“It’s a way of showing we’re not justhaving fun,” said Schapiro. “We’re alsohelping out.”

At Community Day School, an end-of-day pep rally will have students cheeringto win a pajama day.

“We have a friendly wager with theMilwaukee Jewish Day School,” saidCDS Principal Avi Baran Munro. “Thehead of school there and I have agreed towear the winning team’s T-shirt and beready to shame ourselves.”

While local students lived through justa few Steelers Super Bowls, it’s likelymany residents of the Jewish Associationon Aging remember quite a few more.

This Friday, patients and residents ofJAA will celebrate the Super Bowl with apep rally, waving their homemade, sten-ciled Terrible Towels. The entire Squir-rel Hill building is decorated with Steel-ers posters and pictures of Art Rooneyand Myron Cope, said JAA Director ofMarketing Kathy Fuller.

“We’ve got an 8-foot tall blow-up Steel-er,” said Fuller. “We’re all about it here.”

The excitement of a Steelers victorycarries an important weight at JAA.

“When you work in a nursing home,you need things, especially during flu

season, to encourage everyone to feellike there’s a reason to go on with thewinter,” said Fuller. “The Steelers aredoing that for us.”

At Beth El Congregation of the SouthHills, congregants are finding a craftierway to support the Steelers — by makingthe, ahem, Terrible Tallis. Transformingthe Steelers symbol into a symbol of Ju-daism is many years in the making.

“Back at Camp Ramah when I was 13,we’d make anything into a tallis,” saidRabbi Alex Greenbaum. “What makes itholy is not the material, but the fringes.”

When Greenbaum saw a beach towelversion of the classic hand towel about 3years ago, “It seemed like a good idea,though it’s not for everyone,” he said.

He created his Terrible Tallis and thisyear “used it as a teaching moment formy congregation,” he said. “I explainedthe laws of tallit and tzitzit.”

On Feb. 3, Greenbaum said he’ll hold aworkshop for congregants to make theirown Terrible Tallit. The excitement haseven brought out congregants who rarelycome to services, said Greenbaum.

“I find it fascinating — some people willshow up to services just because they canwear their jersey,” he said. But praying in aTerrible Towel and actually praying for aSteeler victory are different things.

“My congregation asked if we could doa prayer. I said we really don’t want to godown that path — the Jets probably havemore rabbis than the Steelers, and Idon’t want a holy war,” said Greenbaum.“I don’t think God loves the Steelersmore, but time has shown that the Steel-ers know what they’re doing. Luck, coin-cidence or God — someone is on theSteelers’ side.”

(Justin Jacobs can be reached atjustinj@thejewishchronicle.net.)

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011 — 23

DONOR IN MEMORY OF DONOR IN MEMORY OF

RACHEL LETTY AMERICUS . . . .LEO M. & BESSIETABACK AMERICUS

ELTON BAILISS . . . . . . . . . . .LUCILLE BAILISS-POLLOCK

GARRETT H. BARNES . . . .EMANUEL PERLOWSHIRLEY AND MILTONBILDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HERMAN MEYERSALLAN H. COHEN . . . . . . . . .FRANK R COHEN

MORTON COHEN . . . . . . . . . . .FRANK COHENLOIS LEVINE FISHMAN . . . . .MINNIE SOKOLEHARRIET FRANKLIN . . . . . . . .EDWARD LEWISMR. AND MRS. RONALDFRIEDKEN . . . . . . . . . . . .DOROTHY FRIEDKENNORRIS GLANTZ . . . . . . . . . . . .JACK GLANTZNORRIS GLANTZ . . . . . . . . . .IVAN WOLINSKYSHIRLEY G. GOLDMAN . . . . . . .HARRY GREENSHIRLEY G. GOLDMAN . . . . . . .LEONA GREENMARTHA S. GREEN . . . . . . . . . .DAVID STERNSARA AND HOWARDHARRIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JOSEPH HARRISHELEN KANAREK . . . .LEONARD L. SCHUGARHELEN P. KLINE . . . . . . . .EDGAR MARKOWITZHELEN P. KLINE . . . . . . . . . . .ABE MARKOWITZHELEN P. KLINE . . . . . . . . MOLLIE GREENFIELDLESLIE LEWINTER-SUSKIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JOSEPH LEWINTERIDA JEAN AND ROBERTMCCORMLEY . . . . . . . . . .MIRIAM SILBERMANJOYCE OFFERMAN . . . . . . . . .MOLLIE & LOUIS

FRIEDMANCHARLES PORTER ANDHILARY TYSON . . . . . . .GERALDINE A. TYSON

SHIRLEY E. PRENY . . . . . . . .MAX MALLINGERSHIRLEY E. PRENY . . . . . .JACK I. MALLINGERSHIRLEY E. PRENY . . . . .ESTHER MALLINGEREVELYN K. REBB . . . . . . .ANNA KUPERSTOCKLINDA AND JEFF REISNER &FAMILY . . . . . . . . .JOANNE BRODELL ALPERNMARION AND MORRISRIEMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ESTHER COVELMARION AND MORRISRIEMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MOLLIE GANELINSAMUEL B. ROGERS . . . .ETHEL BODEK ROGERSANNE D. ROSENBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MINNIE

ROSENBERGMYRON ROSENBERG . . . . .SAM ROSENBERGRUTH ROSENBLOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . .STANLEY

ROSENBLOOMRUTH ROSENBLOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . .JEROME

ROSENBLOOMRUTH ROSENBLOOM . . . . . .JOSEPH PORTERMORTON AND ZELDASCHREIBER . . . . . . . . . . . . .SIMON SCHREIBERMORTON AND ZELDASCHREIBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IRWIN SCHATZJACK SINGER . . . . . . . . . . . . .MORRIS SINGERCHERYL SOBER . . . . . . . . .RAY SHUKLANSKYRABBI AND MRS. SAMUEL M. STAHL

MARKUS SHERMANSELMA STEIN . . . . . . . .DOROTHY FRIEDMANLYNDA LEE STERN . . . . . .EDWARD H. STERNLYNDA LEE STERN . . . . . . . . .SYLVIA F. STERNEUGENE WEINBERGER . . . .HELEN WEINBERGERMELVA D. WEISBERGER . . . . .WILLIAM DAVISSUSAN S WOLFF . . . .FRANCES L. SHAEFFER

Steelers:Continued from page 1.

METRO

JTA photo; Edmond J. Rodman

For Super Bowl XLV (that’s mem, hay in Hebrew) an array of Jewish institutions isoffering parties, as well as opportuhnities to do mitzvot.

Supr Bowl “Mem, hay”

BY RON KAPLAN

New Jersey Jewish News

WHIPPANY, N.J. — For ex-PittsburghSteelers tight end Randy Grossman, be-ing nicknamed “The Rabbi” wasinevitable.

“The fellow who pretty much nick-named everyone was Dwight White,who recently passed away,” Grossmansaid of the outstanding lineman from theSteel Curtain defense of the 1970s. “Heand I were locker neighbors and, yeah,what are you gonna call a white kidfrom Philadelphia who’s Jewish?Sparky?”

“The Rabbi” would ascend the cham-pionship bima four times in his eightyears playing for the Steelers’ dynasty.His four Super Bowl rings are the mostamong any Jewish player.

As his old club prepared to take on theGreen Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLVin Dallas on Sunday, Grossman remi-nisced about his time with the Steelersand talked about his Jewishness and theabsence of anti-Semitism he encoun-tered in his career.

Among his on-field memories is catch-ing a short touchdown pass from Hall ofFame quarterback Terry Bradshaw inthe 21-17 victory over the Cowboys inSuper Bowl X 36 years ago.

“It’s exciting, but one of the things Itry to make people realize is that what-ever level you’re at when you’re playingin a championship game — whether it’sin high school or college or professional-ly — it is the most exciting thing thatcould happen,” Grossman, 59, said in a

telephone interview from his home inPittsburgh. “Doing something great inhigh school wasn’t any less excitingthan doing something as a professional.”

Grossman had come to the Steelersas an undrafted free agent following astellar career at his hometown Tem-ple University, where he made third-team All-America from The Associat-ed Press.

Grossman caught 119 passes in 118regular season games for 1,514 yards —a 12.7 yard-per-reception average —and five touchdowns.

He won four Super Bowl rings — in1974, ’75, ’78 and ’79.

Grossman, who was inducted into thePhiladelphia Jewish Sports Hall ofFame in 1999, described himself as a“Manischewitz Jew.”

“The rabbi at my bar mitzva com-mented about me that I wasn’t alwaysinside [the synagogue],” he said, “butthey always knew where to find me —outside playing football.”

Unlike today’s multimillionaire stars,Grossman played in an era when havingan off-season job was a given.

“Once you were finished playing foot-ball, as [ex-Steelers head coach] ChuckKnoll used to say, you got on with yourlife’s work,” Grossman said. “For a lot ofus, our reputations as adults were start-ed here, so a lot of people stayed hereand found jobs, went into business, didwhat they did next.”

Asked to pick the winner of Sunday’sgame, Grossman could hardly answerthrough his laughter.

“The Steelers!” he said.

The ring’s the thing: Ex-Steeler Randy‘The Rabbi’ Grossman recalls glory days

24 — THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 3, 2011