Metro Briefs August 29
A fundraising campaign has been established in honor of one of the survivors of the June 29 lightning strike at URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) in Zionsville, Ind.
Ethan Kadish in Cincinnati was one of three campers left unresponsive on an athletic field. They were saved with the help of (GUCI) staff, including Pittsburghers, and were taken to nearby hospitals for recovery. He remains in critical, but stable condition in a Cincinnati hospital.
Ethan was to celebrate his bar mitzva last week, but he is still recovering. According to the URJ, he undergoes several hours of intense physical therapy every day.
The fund being established will assist Ethan’s family with uninsured therapies, home modifications and other injury-related expenses.
The fundraising campaign is established through HelpHOPELive, a nonprofit organization that has been assisting the transplant community for 30 years. In 2000, HelpHOPELive expanded their mission to include those who have sustained a catastrophic injury.
Contributions are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Great Lakes Catastrophic Injury Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for injury-related expenses only.
To make a contribution by credit card, visit Ethan’s page on the HelpHOPELive website or call 800-642-8399.
Several local congregations will join together for an evening of learning with spiritual leaders Danny Schiff, Jonathan Perlman, Yaier Lehrer and Michael Werbow for Selichot, on Saturday, Aug. 31, 8:30 p.m., at Congregation Beth Shalom.
The evening will include a talk by Schiff, followed by small groups of learning, chevruta style, with community rabbis helping to guide the discussions.
Participants in the evening of study will join together at approximately 10 p.m. for prayer, led in conjunction by rabbis.
The community evening of learning for Selichot builds upon Jewish Pittsburgh’s tradition of joining together to study on Shavuot, an initiative developed several years ago by Schiff and the Agency for Jewish Learning.
Participating congregations include Adat Shalom, Beth Shalom, Ohav Shalom, New Light and Dor Hadash. The program is open to the public.
Scott E. Tobe of Pittsburgh is one of 10 individuals selected from across the United States to participate in the Frank Family Institute Young Leadership Program, an initiative of the national Jewish Council for Public Affairs. He represents the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in the inaugural class of this prestigious program.
Tobe is currently co-chair of the Israel and World Jewry Commission of the Federation and a member of its Overseas Funding Committee and its Foundation Grant-making Committee. He has traveled to Moldova to become educated on issues pertaining to Jewry in the former Soviet Union, and to Israel almost every year to maintain oversight on overseas funding decisions.
He also represents the local Jewish Federation on the National Young Leadership Cabinet of The Jewish Federations of North America.
“Scott is one of a cadre of caring and committed young leaders that is setting the Federation’s course for the coming decades,” Federation President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein said in a prepared statement. “His creativity, his energy and passion, his determination to change our world for the better — these are the marks of an outstanding leader who will achieve great things and inspire others to do the same.”
The Frank Family Leadership Institute educates participants for leadership work in the Jewish community in general and for the Jewish community relations field in particular. Its curriculum addresses the Jewish community’s place and role in America; how the community can reach out to make friends and influence people; and how it can reach consensus on important policy issues.
“My goal has always been to strengthen Jewish continuity and build community, and I feel JCPA is a great outlet to help,” Tobe said in a prepared statement. “A robust and vibrant Jewish community depends on the existence of a free and democratic government in the United States, and Jewish continuity is significantly easier to achieve when our institutions and organizations interact with other like-minded community groups.”
Tobe is President and Managing Partner of Signature Financial Planning and a senior member of its board of advisors and the Signature Investment Selection Committee. He is an alumnus of the NFP Representative Council and currently works with a number of other industry and trade organizations.
The Volunteer Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will partner with United Way of Allegheny County for its 2013 Days of Caring. The event is part of United Way’s Month of Living Generously — a time for Pittsburghers to show that we are the most generous community.
Volunteers area needed for:
• Thursday, August 29 for Kindergarten Celebration: Welcome students and parents to their first day of school;
• Wednesday, Sept. 4, to help with activities for seniors and adults with disabilities, evaluating seniors, homes for common fall and fire hazards; and
• Thursday, Sept 12, to sort food at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Contact the Volunteer Center of the Federation at jjones@jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5209 for times and venues.
The Women of Temple Sinai Gift Shop is hosting an Israeli Shuk-style Marketplace in the temple’s auditorium, Sunday, Sept. 8, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It is open to the community.
In addition to High Holy Day items, there will be a clearance sale Judaica and non-Judaica gift items. The gift shop is a volunteer-run gift shop located on the main floor of Temple Sinai. Proceeds from its sales support many Temple Sinai and community causes, including scholarships for students and teachers who wish to travel and/or study in Israel.
Call the shop at 412-421-6787 for more information.
Richard Glazier, a world-renowned pianist, will perform a musical program, “Gershwin: Remembrance and Discovery” Sunday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Emanuel of South Hills.
The Diskin Music Fund of Temple Emanuel is sponsoring the event. Glazier’s program will include a tribute to Pittsburgh’s pianist Oscar Levant.
Glazier, who began studying piano when he was 6, earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Cleveland Institute of Music. A student of early 20th century American culture, he has created programs celebrating the era’s music, composers, performers, Broadway shows and movie musicals, including his concert program on Gershwin.
He will play rare arrangements of Gershwin songs and the complete solo piano version of “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Levant, the subject Glazier’s tribute that evening, who was an accomplished piano player from an Orthodox Jewish Russian Family growing up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. After Gershwin’s death in 1937, Levant was immediately became the leading interpreter of the famed composer’s music and a virtuoso performer of it
Admission is $5 in advance or at the door. Contact Temple Emanuel at 412-279-7600 for more information.
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