Everywhere is Pittsburgh

Nearly a century ago, on 1 September 1923, a violent earthquake struck Japan, devastating Tokyo, Yokohama, and the surrounding cities. 100,000 people lost their lives, and many had their lives turned upside down.

The news reached as far as the town of Radin, Poland, where the venerable sage Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan's talmudic seminary resided. When the 85-year-old leader of European Jewry heard the news, his students watched him turn pale with horror.

The young men were confused. Why was their rabbi so distraught over the death of strangers on the other side of the globe?

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Also published by the St. Louis Jewish Light.