Although she came to Pittsburgh to hone her fluency in English, Mukadef Gund will return to her native Germany having gained so much more.
Living the past two months in Squirrel Hill and volunteering with the Jewish Association on Aging inspired Gund, 22, to tap into her Jewish roots in a way not possible back home in tiny Marenbach — a village “with more cows than people,” Gund said.
“I live in the countryside, where there’s no chance to be part of a Jewish community. Even in the cities, Jewish life is not as open as it is here. You rarely see a person wearing a kippah or a Star of David. That made Jewish life in Squirrel Hill very special to me.”
Working toward a master’s degree in English and history at the University of Bonn requires Gund to spend extensive time in an English-speaking country. She decided to come to Pittsburgh because an aunt and uncle reside in Squirrel Hill and she had visited them in 2022. Although she is not religious, Gund’s paternal great-grandparents were Jewish, and her family is into ancestry research, so the prospect of immersing herself in a Jewish environment “really spoke to me,” she said.
“It’s about wanting to feel the tradition and culture of my ancestors. I feel like so much got lost over time because of the Diaspora; I want to take back a little of that.”
In exploring volunteer opportunities online, Gund discovered JAA and reached out to Sharyn Rubin, the agency’s director of Jewish communal services.
“Sharyn was so nice to me; I knew I wanted to go there,” said Gund, who had experience in child care and felt her interpersonal skills — especially patience and active listening — could adapt to any age group.
“I initially wanted to volunteer at a school, but getting clearance is a complex process. I felt that working with older adults would be a new and enriching experience.”
Rubin recalls screening Gund, which began with an application and background check and culminated with a phone call.
“Everything, including references, came out positive,” Rubin said. “Talking with Muki sealed the deal. She captivated us within 30 seconds.”
Gund divides her time between seniors with dementia at Anathan Adult Day Care Memory Care Services, and Weinberg Terrace assisted living.
“Weinberg is a little tougher crowd,” Rubin said. “They can be feisty and their filters aren’t always working well. But Muki bonded with the residents quickly.”
Gund also delivers Mollie’s Meals to seniors in their homes.
“She’s energetic and she loves hearing people’s stories,” Rubin said. “It’s really a match made in heaven — a love story.”
Older adults have been eager to share tips about aging well and are an inspiration, Gund said. “They have lived such long lives. Even the people with dementia — they remember things from their childhood. They remember with emotion.”
She also was moved, she said, by the caring culture at JAA, which reflects Jewish values.
“That’s something I will take back home — how the staff treats the residents with such dignity, like when they need to be helped with eating. And the staff treats each other well. It’s a very friendly atmosphere.”
Gund participated in a seder for the first time and was a regular at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, particularly the pool.
Because she is focusing on Eastern European and Holocaust studies in her master’s program, Gund was especially interested in visiting the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. It surprises her that Holocaust teaching is not a mandatory part of the curricula in Pennsylvania’s public schools. “In Germany, we learn a lot about it, focusing on both the perpetrators and the victims,” she said.
The Holocaust has come up in discussions at Weinberg Terrace, and with two survivors she met while delivering Mollie’s Meals. “People have told me about their relatives. One woman told me she can’t look at chimneys,” said Gund, whose great-grandparents lived through the Holocaust while more distant ancestors perished.
She and her family have participated in the Stolpersteine Project, a decentralized memorial that involves placing small concrete cubes inscribed with the names of Holocaust victims at the last place they willingly lived.
“We placed 19 stolpersteine in Berlin, at the homes of distant ancestors,” Gund said.
Before returning to Germany April 10, Gund planned to visit the site of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Sne was in Germany when it occurred and remembers feeling shocked and speaking frequently with her Squirrel Hill relatives. At Weinberg Terrace, meeting the survivor of two victims was “truly heartbreaking,” she said.
Gund planned to return home with a small mezuzah for her door, and with many stories for her father, who is on his own heritage journey.
“He reads the German Jewish newspaper and is trying to learn Hebrew,” she said. “I believe if he practiced any religion, it would be Jewish.”
Gund will return to Pittsburgh for five weeks next spring to complete her internship.
In the meantime, she said she is hoping to connect with Jews in Germany, despite the logistical challenges of living in a rural area.
“Muki will be a great ambassador for the Pittsburgh Jewish community,” Rubin said. PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.