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(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Keshira haLev Fife is well known in the Jewish community of her native Pittsburgh, where she conducts Shabbat services and Hebrew school classes.
Don’t call them ‘fringe’: Innovative Jewish groups seek respect from the mainstream February 18, 2021 12:56 pm Keshira haLev Fife, a kohenet (Hebrew priestess), is the founder and leader of Kesher Pittsburgh, an independent, post-denominational Jewish community. (Courtesy of Fife)
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(New York Jewish Week via JTA) Keshira haLev Fife is well known in the Jewish community of her native Pittsburgh, where she conducts Shabbat services and Hebrew school classes. But she’s not your average prayer leader or educator.
As a self-described “proud Jewish woman of color,” she said she “sprinkles sparkles, disrupts expectations and offers blessings in the service of the Divine.”
Photo: courtesy Pa. House Democrats Rep. Dan Frankel speaks at a joint session to honor the Tree of Life victims. In October 2019, a year after Robert Bowers allegedly went on a hate-fueled, killing spree at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh told the Capital-Star that he couldn’t turn a blind eye to any sign of hate, the price was too dear. Days later, with much fanfare, lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, surrounded by stakeholders from a constellation of advocacy groups, would roll out a hate crimes bill, saying they hoped for swift action on the legislation.
The man who stormed the Tree of Life synagogue building on Oct. 27, 2018, murdering 11 congregants in the midst of Shabbat prayer, was an active user of the social