Friday, November 20, 2009 at 9:11AM 
Nostalgic for the Concordia Club? You can buy a piece of it an upcoming auction.
Stuff coming up in the community in the next few days:
happenings Friday, November 20, 2009 at 7:18AM The Jewish Agency for Israel posted this report from the recent Partnership 2000 steering committees in Pittsburgh, and included this:
"The delegation met a community that is warm and highly committed to its relationship with the Karmiel-Misgav region. However, the delegation also received an intimate view of the many challenges facing their partner community. The current economic situation has certainly left its mark and has proven quite difficult to maintain the participation of Pittsburgh’s 40,000 Jews in its Jewish Day Schools, congregations and community centers. The young people continue to leave the city and assimilation continues to grow on a constant basis."
Thoughts?
Partnership 2000 Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:03PM 
With everyone watching their beef consumption, it makes sense to try out recipes that include beef in controlled quantities, prepared with healthful ingredients to round out the dish.
recipes Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:32AM The recent guidelines recommending women wait until 50 to get breast cancer screening doesn't apply to women with BRAC mutations, which are very common among Ashkenazi women, according to Nadja Spiegelman at the Forward's Sisterhood Blog:
Such changes to breast cancer screening protocols are not recommended for women at high risk for the disease. Those women are encouraged to speak with their physicians about when to begin screening.
“For women at high risk, the guidelines are different than those that apply to women who are 40 and have an ordinary risk of breast cancer,” said Rochelle Shoretz, the executive director of Sharsheret — a New Jersey-based organization that provides genetic counseling and support services to young, Jewish women with breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Here is a story and blog we wrote about the mutation back in October.
heath Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:42AM Pittsburgh pride, non-profits Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:28AM Or 58 assorted ramekins, or a pizelle maker, or a dance floor?
The catalog for the 456 items in the Concordia Club auction this Saturday is online.
Concordia Club Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 9:36AM Lynn Magid Lazar of Temple Sinai was installed as president of Women of Reform Judaism last week, during the 47th assembly, held in Toronto. The WRJ represents more than 65,000 around the world.
Lazar has been on the WRJ Board of Directors since 1993, and previously served as chair of the Youth Committee and as WRJ Treasurer. She has been the vice-president for the Department on Religious Action and for Service to Sisterhoods and Districts, as well as the program chair for WRJ’s 44th assembly in Minnesota.
She has served as first vice president for the past four years.
Born and raised in Cumberland, Md, Lazar graduated from Goucher College and earned a M.Ed. from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked with blind and visually impaired children as an orientation and mobility specialist. She is currently co-owner of an aerobic exercise franchise and teaches classes as a certified instructor. Lazar and her husband, Dale, live in Fox Chapel and are the parents of four children.
In the acceptance speech Lazar gave in Toronto, she said:
"It is actually women, together, who through philanthropy are beginning to facilitate additional changes in our world. In the United States, according to the IRS, there are more women controlling wealth than ever before in our history. But unlike any previous time in our history, these women are more likely to use their wealth deliberately and systematically to aid other women. Globally there are more than 145 funds that exist to improve the lives of women and girls. Now you may not think that 145 funds globally are a lot, but guess how many of those funds existed in 1972? NONE! ZERO! That is quite a societal change in less than forty years."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11:58AM 
The Nice Jewish Guys 2010 Calendar.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 10:50AM A year-long study released Tuesday found "feelings of pessimism, alienation, suspicion, fear, and a lack of trust" between Jews and Arabs in the Galilee, according to Awada Baker, one of the authors of the study.
"If meaningful changes are not implemented by the government with regards to the Arab population, the writing is on the wall," he warned.
Another charged issue is that of a mixed Jewish-Arab community currently being established in the Galilee. According to the study, the Arabs perceive this community as another "settlement", whereas Jews see the mixed community as undermining a Jewish presence in the Galilee.
However, the study did have some positive findings. Arabs and Jews in the Galilee reportedly support cooperation in the fields of education, business development and environment.
coexistence Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 9:14AM When people question whether local-level divestment is worth the effort, proponents often talk in the abstract about the cumulative impact of many state and local governments yanking investments in a certain country.
But now we can actually quantify the impact of Pennsylvania divesting funds of Iran or Sudan.
HB 1821, the bill to divest several state funds of companies that do business in Iran and Sudan, would require the state to divest $692 million in holdings from three public funds, according to a fiscal note released Tuesday.
The cost to the state of dropping those holdings and reinvesting the money is more than $4.5 million initially, with an additional $150,000 to $200,000 in ongoing monitoring costs to make sure funds comply with the bill.
Those figures are important because the current version of the bill working through the House would require the state to reimburse public funds for the cost of complying with the legislation.
The proposed bill covers the Public School Employee Retirement Fund, the State Employee Retirement Fund, the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement Fund and the Treasury, which oversees the state General Fund.
The Treasury, which already considers geopolitics to some degree when managing the General Fund, believes the bill could actually lead to a gain of $340,000 to the General Fund.
It's almost impossible to say whether divestment would be good or bad for the state financially. Because divestment requires fund managers to reinvest holdings, whether the state benefits depends largely on whether new investments do better than old investments, a measurement that of course changes over time.
That's important because the current bill would also require the state to reimburse public funds for any net loss incur as a result of the change in investment strategy — so taxpayers pick up any loss caused by divestment.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 7:50AM From the Trib:
Nonprofits will not have to pay new fees after Allegheny County Council backed off its essential services fee proposal Tuesday.
Council voted unanimously not to override County Executive Dan Onorato's veto of the plan, despite the fact members had passed it without opposition Nov. 4. Citing anger over UPMC's decision to close its Braddock hospital, they had agreed to collect about $13 million annually from large nonprofit property owners for the public safety and works services they receive.
The bill is essentially a tax and therefore illegal by state law to levy on nonprofits, council solicitor Jack Cambest told council before its vote. Several council members said they plan to keep searching, possibly with Pittsburgh officials, for a legal way to get money from the region's growing nonprofit community.
Were any of the Jewish non-profits out there following this issue?
non-profits Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 7:46AM From the PG:
"Natural foods retailer Whole Foods Market has settled on a location to build a second store in the Pittsburgh region, this time at the Wexford Plaza shopping center on Route 19 in McCandless.
"The site choice was confirmed yesterday by an executive with the Austin, Texas, company. 'We are excited to open our second Whole Foods Market store in the Pittsburgh area which will be at the Wexford Plaza,' said Ken Meyer, regional president, in an e-mailed response to a query. 'We hope to open our doors in the second half of 2011.'"
North Hills Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 1:48PM State Rep. Josh Shapiro just issued this press release. It has implications for our community:
Shapiro’s bill to strengthen hate crimes protections approved by Committee
HARRISBURG, Nov. 17 –State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, today secured committee approval for his bill to strengthen Pennsylvania’s Hate Crimes Law, by a bi-partisan vote of 18-8. House Bill 745 would expand the law to include crimes motivated by malicious intent toward an individual’s or group’s actual or perceived ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. The bill is now pending before the full House.
Shapiro’s bill (H.B. 745) would reinstate the protections provided to Pennsylvanians under the law that went into effect in December 2002 and was subsequently overturned by the state Supreme Court on a technicality unrelated to the substance of the bill.
“Today’s bi-partisan vote was a significant step forward for Pennsylvania to ensure that hate violence perpetrated against our people and communities is not tolerated,” said Shapiro.
Shapiro’s bill parallels the federal hate crimes bill, known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in October. Both bills are needed to ensure these protections at all levels of government.
Shapiro represents the 153rd Legislative District in Montgomery County. For more information, visit www.pahouse.com/Shapiro.
politics Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 9:29AM JTA is reporting on a series of anti-Semitic attacks in Calgary:
Over the weekend, anti-Jewish slogans were spray-painted on several Jewish facilities and a Holocaust monument in the western Canadian city. A Jewish family also was targeted.
Hate messages were painted on the Calgary Jewish Centre, the Holocaust war memorial and at least one synagogue, all in the city's southwest region. The graffiti also were found on fences, bus stops and mailboxes down the street.
The messages included swastikas and epithets such as "Kill Jews" and "6 million more."
This is of interest to Pittsburgh Jews because Calgary is the new home of Rabbi Yisroel Miller. Miller took over at Congregation House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel in Calgary earlier this year after 24 years with Congregation Poale Zedeck in Squirrel Hill.
anti-Semitism Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 7:37AM The Post-Gazette has an exit interview with Mary Beth Buchanan that, of course, veers into some questions about Dr. Cyril Wecht:
Still, she won't apologize for bringing the case.
"The U.S. attorney should do what he or she knows is the right thing to do, regardless of how it impacts them personally," she said. "I've never wavered from that, and I sleep well at night."
Ms. Buchanan said that it's unfair for anyone to judge her.
"There are some people who want to make the Wecht case so much more than it was," she said. "I never made it personal, and I never will. That's one defendant out of 5,079."
politics Monday, November 16, 2009 at 1:37PM 
courtesy of the Jewish Federations of North AmericaJews are moving around more than ever, and when they move across the country, they don't end up at traditional Jewish institutions, according to a new report from the Jewish Federations of North America.
Around a third of American Jews moved to a new community within the past decade, and half of those moved within the past four years, according to "Moving: The Impact of Geographic Mobility of the Jewish Community."
The study found, unsurprisingly, that the most mobile Jews are typically young, single and unaffiliated with a specific denomination, and that Jews who have been in a new community for shorter periods of time typically participate less in Federation activities (including fundraising) and synagogue life than more established Jews.
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:37AM I have not made Thanksgiving dinner at my house for many years, so I thought it would be fun to invite friends over this year. Little did I know that I would start cluttering my brain with important questions that keep going around in my head (when I’m not working, of course).
What kinds of questions?
holidays Monday, November 16, 2009 at 10:54AM I've added three more studies to the "Facts and Figures" page: a quick glance of Pittsburgh Jewry from 1938, a more involved look at the regional community from 1963 and a Squirrel Hill specific look from 1993. Enjoy.
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 6:49AM Ha'aretz reports that Mitzpeh Aviv recently changed its bylaws to include new "goals and powers" such as "settlement; Zionism; the heritage of Israel; the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, in the spirit of the vision of the State of Israel's Declaration of Independence; tolerance; and human dignity" and that new residents to the community must share those values.
From the article:
This change was adopted by a large majority of Mitzpeh Aviv members who bothered voting - though in fact, the majority did not vote at all.
One resident, who said he opposed the change but did not bother to vote, said the new bylaws were mild compared to those originally proposed in Yuvalim and Manof. Nevertheless, he added, he disapproved of a change "whose goal, ultimately, is solely to prevent Arab citizens from living here."
That allegation was indignantly rejected by the town's administration. Nir Yarkoni, a member of Mitzpeh Aviv's executive, said the change was necessitated by changes in lifestyle of the residents themselves.
"The original bylaws related to the members as farmers, but most of us no longer work in agriculture," he explained. Moreover, he said, whereas the local vetting committee used to have sole control, there are now also regional vetting committees, making it necessary to redefine the local committees' goals and powers. They therefore decided to introduce a definition that constitutes "as broad a common denominator as possible and characterizes the community."
However, he insisted, the definition adopted last week is broad enough to accommodate any member of a Zionist party - and these parties "have more than a few Arab members."
A similar change to bylaws in the Galilee towns of Manof and Yuvalim caused a stink earlier in the year, although both of those communities ultimately pulled back to reconsider the move. At the time, regional leaders said the change in bylaws was meant to preserve the "social fabric and ethos" of each town.
The issue came onto the Pittsburgh radar because Misgav is one of our Partnership 2000 regions, and because the Galilee is seen by some to be a testing ground for improving co-existence in mixed race areas.
Partnership 2000 