Metro Briefs October 29

J Linewill hold a conversation for teens about events in Israel with Rabbi Seth Adelson of Congregation Beth Shalom on Thursday, Oct. 29 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Robinson Building of the Jewish Community Center. A Middle Eastern dinner will be provided. The program is open to all teens in the community.

Contact Carolyn Gerecht at cgerecht@jccpgh.org for more information.

“Letters to Sala,”a play by Arlene Hutton and directed by Jena Oberg, is playing at the Little Lake Theatre Company in Canonsburg through Nov. 7. 

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In October 1940, Sala Garncarz was 16 years old and living with her large family in Poland close to the German border. When her older sister was ordered to report to a Nazi forced labor camp for six weeks, young Sala volunteered to take her place. This is a true story of her five years in seven different camps, and she was able to conceal over 350 letters received from family and friends during her imprisonment.

Sala’s letters, donated to the Dorot Jewish Division of The New York Public Library in 2005, are not only a significant addition to Holocaust research, but have also been called, “the greatest find since Anne Frank’s diary.”

Tickets can be purchased at littlelake.org/box-office or at 724-745-6300.

Loaves of Love Community Challah Bake will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Chabad of the South Hills Mt. Lebanon. Participants will mix, knead and shape two challahs, one to take home and one to give to a friend as a mitzvah. The evening will include a speaker and music. Each participant will take home a gift. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door and $36 for a sponsorship.

Reservations are being taken online at chabadsh.com or by calling 412-344- 2424. The event is sponsored by Chabad of the South Hills in partnership with South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh.

Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha is hosting two adult education programs. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Ivan Frank will present “A Journey into Israel’s History,” and on Wednesday, Nov 18, Frank will present “Israeli Current Events; What Does This Mean for Me?”

Both sessions are at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the community. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP with Alex Speck at aspeck88@yahoo.com for 412-521-6788.

Steve Stotsky, senior analyst for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Re-porting in America, will be the guest speaker at the 2015 ZOA Awards Dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

CAMERA is a media monitoring, research organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA fosters rigorous reporting, while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the role of the media.

Stotsky has been working with the ZOA Pittsburgh District reviewing anti-Israel editorials published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He will discuss his observations, as ZOA and CAMERA continue monitoring editorials for false information and misrepresentations.

Contact ZOA executive director Stuart Pavilack at 412-665-4630 for more information and dinner reservations.

Roger Grunwald, a professional performing artist for almost four decades and child of an Auschwitz survivor, will visit the University of Pittsburgh to present ”The Mitzvah Project,” a combination of theater, history lesson and conversation, on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theatre in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning. Through the story of Christoph Rosenberg, a German half-Jew, the one-person drama created with director and co-author Annie McGreevey reveals the history of tens of thousands of German men known as “mischlinge” — the derogatory term the Nazis used to characterize those descended from one or two Jewish grandparents — who served in Hitler’s army. The lecture will be followed by a discussion with the audience.

Contact Kathryn Fike, news representative at the University of Pittsburgh, at kfike@pitt.edu or 412-624-1085 for more information.

Camp Young Judaea Midwest director Noah Gallagher will visit the Pittsburgh area Nov. 6 to 8. Please join him at local events to learn why Midwest is the best. More than 20 campers from the Pittsburgh area spend their summers in Wisconsin at Camp Young Judaea Midwest. Email info@cyjmid.org for call 224-235-4665 for more details.

Keystone Mountain Region BBYO will hold its Global Shabbat Weekend 2015 beginning Friday, Nov. 6 from 5:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation at 5898 Wilkins Ave. The KMR community will celebrate Shabbat with Friday evening services led by teens along with Rabbi Chuck Diamond. Dinner will follow with a special guest from the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

There is a $15 charge. Register at bbyo.org/event/kmrglobalshabbat.

Parents with teens in sixth through 12th grade are encouraged to attend.

Part 2 of the weekend will be the KMR Hunger Games Havdalah on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. All Jewish teens in eighth through 12th grade are invited, even if not a BBYO member, at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, 345 Kane Blvd. Bring at least two canned goods for the food drive.

Prescreening “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Registration begins at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. movie. Bring at least two canned goods for the food drive.

Transportation will be provided from Fox Chapel Area High School and the Squirrel Hill JCC, and will depart at 5 p.m. for the Carmike 10 at South Hills Village.

Register at bbyo.org/event/kmrglobalshabbat. Contact Andrew T. Exler, Keystone Mountain Region BBYO regional director, at 412-446-4781 or visit bbyo.org/region/keystone for more information.