In the News

By DAVID RULLO

September 5, 2023

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

If you have been seeking ways to observe the High Holidays beyond traditional services, you’re in luck.

This year, familiar faces are trying new experiments, volunteer opportunities are plentiful and the prospects for reflection outdoors or with a song are bountiful…

Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife said that Kesher Pittsburgh will have several opportunities for people to connect with the High Holidays and one another.

Rosh Hashanah day services will be held outdoors and include a lot of music.

“There’s latitude in the service to consider what tunes we are using, how much are we singing, how are we engaging with the Torah portion,” Fife noted (read more)

November 23, 2022

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

“We are proud to nominate David Goldstein as Kesher Pittsburgh’s Volunteer of the Year. Since David became involved with Kesher Pittsburgh, he has supported and guided our community in so many ways. Always asking the question “how can I help?”, no task is too great or too small. Whether arranging a piece of music or writing a d’var Torah, whether bringing his wisdom to our leadership team or helping to ensure that we embody our values for countering oppression in everything we do, our community is better and stronger because of David. Not just an all-star, he’s also a mensch and we are grateful for the many ways he blesses us” (read more)

BY DAVID RULLO

October 24, 2022

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgher Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife has joined the Institute of Jewish Spirituality as its first Faculty Fellow.

The fellowship, which runs from 2022-‘24, is designed to identify and nurture exceptional spiritual leaders who can contribute new skills and perspectives to IJS’ teaching and programs, while developing greater expertise in Jewish mindfulness, pedagogy and core practices, according to IJS leaders.

“I feel grateful and honored to be able to learn from and contribute to an organization that’s centering spirituality and Jewish practice,” Fife said. (read more)

BY EMILY LOEB

March 7, 2022

Tablet Magazine

“At my son’s bar mitzvah, carrying on a tradition that honors experimentation and radical change.

When my son is called to the Torah for his bar mitzvah in May, he will not wear the universally recognizable and traditional black-and-white tallit. His prayer shawl will be teal, with rows of gold, red, and orange diamonds, separated by black bands and small yellow triangles. Wearing a colorful tallit is not that uncommon these days, at least among non-Orthodox denominations—thanks to my uncle Everett’s friend Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-2014), who upended the black-and-white tradition in the 1960s.” (read more)

BY KATIE CASSIDY

October 24, 2021

The Pitt News

Kesher Pittsburgh, in collaboration with the 10.27 Healing Partnership and Repair the World Pittsburgh, hosted “Service Setting Stones of Love and Hope,” a commemorative service event designed to bring together members of the community. People gathered to paint stones with messages of kindness and positivity that will be placed across Pittsburgh, wherever its owner sees fit.

This is the second annual “Service Setting Stones of Love and Hope” organized by Kesher to commemorate the Tree of Life massacre….” (read more)

BY DAVID RULLO, CHRIS HEDLIN

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Public SourceFounder

September 3, 2021

Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife of the post-denominational community Kesher Pittsburgh emphasizes the interconnectedness of mental, physical and spiritual health in her Jewish practice.

Her goal, she said, is to help people connect with the Divine. In the process, she creates a space where people can slow down and let themselves feel emotions they may otherwise push away. (read more)

HIAS Press Release

August 31, 2021

Kesher Pittsburgh is proud to join more than 220 Jewish Orgs and Congregations from communities across the United States to “write with urgency about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. We are horrified by the images of people desperately attempting to flee Afghanistan and are deeply concerned that countless Afghans will lose their lives if they are not evacuated. We first ask that you immediately appoint a special presidential envoy for Afghan humanitarian and refugee issues. Doing so would send a strong signal that the humanitarian and protection needs of Afghans are a top priority for your administration We also urge you to commit that efforts will continue until all U.S. allies and their families and other endangered Afghans can safely leave Afghanistan...” (read more)

BY ADAM REINHERZ

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

August, 31 2021

“As the High Holidays approach, Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife, of Kesher Pittsburgh, hopes people focus on God’s creative patterns. Within the Book of Genesis, God deliberately separated each day, one from the next, and paused to see that “it was good.” There is value in similarly pacing one’s self, Fife said.

For example, beyond fasting on Yom Kippur, that day is also about “slowing down to give ourselves time to reflect, to check in with ourselves, to check in with one another so that we can be intentional, and loving and caring in what we create for the year ahead,” she said…..” (read more)

BY GEN XIA YE SLOSBERG

July 29, 2021

Lilith Magazine

“In kindergarten, everyone was asked what they wanted to be when they grew up,” Keshira haLev Fife recalls of her childhood. “And I said I wanted to be a rabbi, even before I understood what it meant.”

She says she has always felt drawn to spiritual leadership, though she “tucked away” this innate yearning, even carrying it with her even when she went to live in Australia after graduate school. It was while recovering after a long illness that she found herself reflecting about her purpose, and what she was on this Earth to do that she hadn’t done. “What came to me repeatedly was this idea of being in service….” (read more)

BY DIONNA DASH

June 24, 2021

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

The goal of the course is to train adults to connect young people to the help they need — to be a bridge between a teen in crisis and a mental health professional.

Learn about Keshira's experience participating in this important training covered by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. (read more)

BY CHRIS HENDLIN

June 10, 2021

Public Source

“Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife, co-founder and leader of the independent Jewish community Kesher Pittsburgh, recalls a wedding ceremony she attended. Although the officiant knew the couple well, the ceremony was formulaic and impersonal. “He officiated as if he had only met them that morning,” said Fife, who uses she and they pronouns. When she became a Kohenet, a Hebrew priestess, she committed to doing things differently — to letting people “show up” in ceremonies or shape the character of rituals….(read more)”

BY ADAM REINHERZ

April 30, 2021

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

Leah Levinstein was a visitor at a shiva house prior to the pandemic when another visitor turned to her and uttered a racist comment. Levinstein, 43, was blindsided. Even more startling to her, Levinstein recalled, was that shortly before attending the shiva, she had completed a training on what to do when encountering bigotry or ignorance, and still she said nothing. (read more)

BY SARA STOCK MAYO

December 2, 2020

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

"It has to get political because we as American Jews must use our voices. We cannot just rage on social media or express concern on pulpits — we have to pray with our feet.

There are those in our community who believe Jewish activists should not bring politics into the public square, particularly given what happened in our community two years ago, when 11 Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life building. But I feel it is possible to simultaneously hold space for individual and collective grief while speaking truth to power. By doing both, we can be a united community and also one that acknowledges there are multiple ways of acting on our Jewish values. This work is complex and can only be built in relationship with one another…” (read more)