WHY EAGLES WHY?
OCTOBER 28, 2021 / 22 CHESHVAN 5782
FOLKLORE’S LURE
October is a spooky month and Jewish folklore
contributes some memorable monsters.

PAGE 20
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM — WHAT IT MEANS TO BE JEWISH IN PHILADELPHIA —
$1.00 OF NOTE
LOCAL Paper Considers
COVID’s Impact on
Low Income People
Philadelphia Jews
the focus of Tulane
professor’s work.

Page 4
NATIONAL Keeping Track:
Which Celebs
Support BDS?
And what is the
impact of their
pronouncements? Page 6
ARTS ADVOT Provides
Community Ritualwell program
lets writers connect.

Page 22
Volume 134
Number 29
Published Weekly Since 1887
Tree of Life
Shooting Still Impacts
US Jews
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
WHEN A WHITE SUPREMACIST shot
and killed 11 people at the Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018,
it was “the deadliest attack on the Jewish
community” in United States history,
according to several media outlets.

It also changed the consciousness of the
nation’s Jewish community, Philadelphia
rabbis say.

Before Pittsburgh, the synagogue was a
place of comfort. Post-Pittsburgh, it’s still
a house of worship and connection. But it’s
also a place where anxiety and fear lurk in
the background.

“It opened our eyes to the reality
that antisemitism continues to exist and
will continue to exist,” said Rabbi Abe
Friedman of the Conservative Temple
Beth Zion-Beth Israel in the city.

Friedman grew up in a Jewish U.S.

with a hopeful story: Antisemitism died in
World War II with the Nazis.

Th at doesn’t mean that the rabbi was
ignorant of the long history of antisemitism.

His elders even taught him that the attitudes
See Tree, Page 14
Rabbi Yonah Gross has noticed that his orders of mezuzahs have taken four times as long to ship to
Philadelphia for his online business Mezuzah and More.

Courtesy of Rabbi Yonah Gross
Disrupted Supply Chains
Shake Judaica Businesses
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
FROM TOILET PAPER to dishwashers
to cars, empty shelves and display cases
across the country are emblematic of
broken supply chains exacerbated by the
ongoing pandemic.

Area Judaica stores, though repre-
senting a niche market, are no exception.

Th ey, too, are working to adapt to the
disruptions. Wynnewood Rabbi Yonah Gross of
Congregation Beth Hamedrosh, owner
of online Judaica store Mezuzah and
More, has had to increase his products’
prices. A mezuzah that once sold for $39
was bumped to $59. With most products
coming from Israel, the wait time for a
See Supply, Page 15