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June 12: Two Cities, One Story
"Two Cities, One Story" is a new online series where we partner with a Jewish archive in another city to tell one story from American Jewish history.

The first installment will take place on Friday, June 12, at 10 a.m. Told in collaboration with Jeremy Katz of the Cuba Family Archives at the Breman Museum in Atlanta, it will look at the life of Rabbi Jacob Rothschild.

"Jack," as he was known locally, was a Pittsburgh boy who grew up at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside. After joining The Temple on Peachtree Street in Atlanta in 1943, he became a leading Jewish figure in the Civil Rights Movement, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others. He fiercely advocated for Civil Rights from the pulpit, leading to an infamous bombing of his synagogue in 1958. Although there were thankfully no fatalities, it was one of the worst acts of antisemitic violence in American history, up to that point. 

Using materials from the archives in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, we will follow the path of Rabbi Rothschild’s education, apprenticeship, and legendary career.
[IMAGE: Jack "Racky" Rothschild's entry in his senior yearbook at Schenley High School, June 1927.]
The Cornerstone Ep. 5: YMHA
The Rauh Jewish Archives has launched its first podcast.  The Cornerstone connects Jewish places throughout our region to materials in the archive. 

Each episode digs into the history of one place in Western Pennsylvania. The fifth and final episode of the first season looks at the former Young Men's Hebrew Association building on Fifth Avenue. How did a small group of young men manage to purchase such a grand building? And what happened next? 

Be sure to check out the exclusive  StoryMap , where you can see cool photographs, documents, and newspaper articles featured in the episode.

You can subscribe to the Cornerstone on the  Heinz History Center website .

We are hard at work on the second season of The Cornerstone and expect to release the next batch of episodes sometime later this year.

[IMAGE: (Left) The former YMHA building at 1942 Fifth Avenue, as seen in 2019, and (Right) the building as it appeared in a Jewish Criterion article in 1916, shortly before the Young Men's Hebrew Association acquired it.]
The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives was founded in 1988 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the documentary history of Jews and Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania. You can help the RJHPA continue its work by making a donation that will directly support the work being done in Western Pa.
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The Senator John Heinz History Center is currently closed to the public, however we have you covered with an array of virtual history offerings. 
A proud affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the  Senator John Heinz History Center  is the largest history museum in Pennsylvania and presents American history with a Western Pennsylvania connection.