Dec 3, 2023 By Jon Andreassi 5 min read

Rabbi Mendel Wolowik sets up a menorah outside of the Washington County Courthouse. The Chabad of the South Hills will hold a Hanukkah party and menorah lighting at 5 p.m. Dec. 11.

Though the Jewish population of Washington County has grown smaller over time, there remains an active community preparing to celebrate Hanukkah.

The eight days of Hanukkah will commence Thursday evening and continue through the following Friday. The holiday is marked by the lighting of one of the eight candles on a menorah as each day passes.

“By celebrating the miracle of Hanukkah, we encourage other people to recognize the beautiful miracles God bestows upon us in our everyday life,” said David Novitsky, the former rabbi of Washington’s Beth Israel congregation.

Beth Israel’s synagogue on North Avenue was placed up for sale in 2021, 20 years after Novitsky began as rabbi. Over that time, he saw the congregation’s numbers dwindle.

Novitsky said many of the people who were there when he started have passed on. The younger generations moved away for new opportunities, or drifted away from the faith.

“Sometimes I get up in the morning and I cry. I still have a lot of close friends here, and that’s why I’m here. There are so many Christians in Washington who are concerned about Jews here and in Israel. I am blessed to have met those people,” Novitsky said.

That is not to say Beth Israel does not remain an active congregation. Marilyn Posner, current secretary of Beth Israel’s board and its former president, said they still hold weekly services over Zoom.

By worshiping virtually, it gives an opportunity to those who no longer live in the area to be a part of the services.

“We have former members and relatives who live out of state who Zoom into our services,” Posner said, adding that this includes people living in Texas and North Carolina.

Looming over this year’s Hanukkah celebration will be the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The war began following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that claimed the lives of about 1,200 Israelis. Gaza’s Ministry of Health claims that more than 14,000 Palestinians have died since then.

The effects of all this reverberate far outside of the warzone, with reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents spiking in the United States and globally.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, between Oct. 7 and 23 there were reports of 312 antisemitic incidents. There were 64 during the same time period last year. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says that it received 1,283 reports of Islamophobic incidents in the month after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while it typically averages about 406 complaints per month.

Posner has relatives in Israel, and said that this Hanukkah they will be hoping for peace.

“Not just our relatives. Not just Jewish people. Also in Gaza and in the West Bank. We want peace. We pray for peace every week. We don’t pray for war. We don’t pray for harm. We pray for peace. I hope the rest of the world would be doing the same thing,” Posner said.

While Beth Israel’s congregation will gather together to celebrate Hanukkah, a more public display will take place in front of the Washington County Courthouse at 5 p.m. Dec. 11. That’s when the Chabad of the South Hills will host a Hanukkah party and menorah lighting. The Mt. Lebanon synagogue held the first iteration of the event last year.

Rabbi Mendel Wolowik explained that since Beth Israel lost its synagogue, they have been making outreach efforts into Washington County and that the event is a chance for the existing Jewish community to gather.

“So far the goal is to maintain what is left of the old community,” Wolowik said. “People are definitely excited to know they aren’t the only Jews left.”

Washington is not the only place that has lost a sizable portion of its Jewish community. In Fayette County, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Uniontown closed in July 2015.

Tree of Life was the final synagogue in the county, and lacked the membership to continue.

The dwindling Jewish population makes it even more important for the local faithful to publicly celebrate their holidays.

“It’s more imperative that the small number of persons left let others in the community know we are still here, we are still vibrant and so forth,” said Washington County Judge Gary Gilman.

Gilman is the current president of Beth Israel’s board. He said he has been “thrilled” that Chabad has increased presence in the county.

“It is very nice that their influence has come down here from the South Hills … I know they’ve been doing a fair amount of outreach here, too. They’ve become a welcoming addition,” Gilman said.

Gilman hopes rising antisemitism will not deter anyone from celebrating, and said that public celebrations are an effective way to educate people about the Jewish faith and debunk harmful stereotypes.

Novitsky said last year’s menorah lighting was enjoyed by Christians as well, and that he has found Washington County to be a welcoming place.

“I’ve lived in Washington for 20 something years, and I only experienced antisemitism in a minimal way one or two times,” Novitsky said. “I don’t care about the rest of the world, I care about Washington County. I see very little antisemitism.”