Posts
I couldn’t be prouder about how our Federation has demonstrated strong, focused leadership these last few weeks.
This week, the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, and a coalition of four local rabbis filed a legal challenge to a petition filed last week seeking to place a question on the upcoming ballot to amend the Pittsburgh City Home Rule Charter in response to a recently submitted petition for a referendum on the Pittsburgh City ballot.
The proposed referendum seeks to determine whether the city should engage in a boycott of Israel and prohibit investments and public funds from being allocated to “entities that conduct business operations with or in the state of Israel unless and until Israel ends its military action in Gaza.
We are working closely with our university public safety departments as we anticipate anti-Israel protests with the return of students to local college campuses.
On Monday, Chabad of Squirrel Hill, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and two Squirrel Hill residences were targeted with threatening antisemitic graffiti. Local, state and federal law enforcement are actively investigating. Please know that there are no known threats of violence at this time.
Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh would like to thank Mayor Ed Gainey, City Controller Rachael Heisler and City Council for their unwavering support of the Jewish community and their condemnation of vandalism as a form of protest.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is angered and disgusted by the acts of antisemitic graffiti and vandalism on our office building, Chabad of Squirrel Hill and at several Jewish homes this morning.
On Tuesday, July 23, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) security grant opened offering a possibility of $10M in grants to secure houses of worship and nonprofits that are vulnerable to hate crimes and terrorist attacks.
As we approach back to school, student safety is paramount. Please consider joining our free Countering Active Threat and Defensive Tactics Training on Thursday, July 25 from 6-9 PM at the JCC in Squirrel Hill led by Dave Wright from Wright’s Gym. This event is geared towards college and/or high school students but is open to all.
Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is thrilled to announce a $250,000 early childhood security grant from The Tepper Foundation through Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), helping to protect one of our most vulnerable populations during a time when antisemitism is spreading across the nation. Funders intend for grant to help in hiring security personnel to protect pre-schools, day camps and after-school programs, as well as supporting other faith communities’ security needs.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh announced that the community has so far raised an impressive $13.6 million towards the $14.5 million campaign goal, and more than $8 million of these funds will support local and overseas organizations for unrestricted operations in 2024-2025.
At our recent staff picnic, I asked my colleagues to help remind me of what we (our donors, volunteers, partner agencies and staff) accomplished in the face of unbelievable challenges during the fiscal year that ended on June 30th.
Tree of Life Synagogue received an on-line hoax bomb threat on July 2nd. The hoax threat is in line with other hoax threats that we have seen targeting Jewish organizations across the country. FBI and Pittsburgh Police are investigating.
Through state grant funding, we will now be able to install the BluePoint Emergency Alert System in 13 more Jewish locations. The installation will take several months to complete. When finalized, there will be 33 Jewish locations online with BluePoint.
Truthfully, you cannot fully comprehend what has happened since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023 without being in Israel, so I’m not going to attempt to share everything. Instead, here is just one story. The single person’s story formed a thread that traveled with us from the north to the south to central Israel.
Please be aware of road closures due to the Sunday, June 23 Tree of Life, Inc. groundbreaking ceremony at Shady and Wilkins.
With the uptick in graffiti and antisemitic incidents please consider joining the Jewish Federation’s Virtual Block Watch Program. The program is entirely voluntary and is designed to keep our community safe through collaboration.
Instead of a longer, cohesive message, I have a few thoughts to share ahead of the next week.
The defense team in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial has filed its notice to appeal the conviction and sentence.