The Young Mens & Women's Hebrew Association had a slow start in Pittsburgh.
It was founded in October 1910, after five failed attempts locally going back to 1877. In its first 15 years, the Association had at least three homes, as it bounced from place to place around Uptown and the western edge of Oakland.
But with the end of World War I, local support for the Y increased, leading a group of Jewish community leaders to oversee a fundraising campaign for a Y building. The long project reached its culmination in May 1926, when the YM&WHA dedicated a $1.25 million building on Bellefield Avenue in Oakland.
[IMAGE: A page from the May 23, 1926 edition of the Pittsburgh Gazette commemorating the dedication of the YM&WHA building on Bellefield Avenue.]
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With its new home, centrally located between the Hill District and the growing eastern neighborhoods of Oakland, Squirrel Hill, and the East End, the YM&WHA quickly became the place for Jewish youth clubs looking for space.
Soon the new building was packed with thousands of kids involved in club affairs. Clubs were forming, dissolving, merging, splitting, and expanding.
To better manage the situation, the YM&WHA launched the Congress of Clubs.
[IMAGES: Clippings from October 16, 1928 and March 1, 1929 issues of the Y Weekly, describing the activities of the YM&WHA Congress of Clubs.]
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The idea was to create a framework for managing local club activities without impeding on the independence of each individual club. The Congress oversaw inter-club activities, governed use of the Y building, and mediated conflicts.
By the early 1930s, the Congress of Clubs was the hub of Jewish youth club life in the city. The Congress organized a one-act play festival and oversaw a debating contest. It published a newsletter called the "Congress Courier" that reported on all club activities going on at the Y.
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The clubs that met at the YM&WHA were independent, and it was common for clubs to move between the YM&WHA and the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House (and to a lesser extent the Hebrew Institute), as circumstances required. In the next issue of the newsletter, we'll look at the general state of club activities at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House, and then we'll spend several months profiling some of the clubs associated with the two institutions.
Throughout this year, the Rauh Jewish Archives will be highlighting stories of Jewish club life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate records of a local Jewish club, or just chat about clubs, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
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Moishe Oysher: A Legend Comes to Pittsburgh |
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Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, as Yiddish theater was declining in popularity in Pittsburgh, local Jewish groups devoted to the art form continued to book Yiddish theater legends for short-term engagements and special appearances. Rauh Jewish Archives Intern Jenna Teplitzky tells the story of one of those legends, the great chazzan and actor Moishe Oysher.
[IMAGE: An ad for the "B.I.G. Show for Israel" at the Syria Mosque featuring performances by Mimi Benzel, Joey Adams, Moishe Oysher, and Varda Nishry in the November 19, 1954 edition of the American Jewish Outlook.]
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JGS-Pittsburgh Presents: Robin Meltzer |
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Jewish tombstones are an invaluable source of genealogical information. They can provide the deceased’s Jewish religious (“Hebrew”) name(s), original or alternate versions of family surnames, maiden surnames, the names of the deceased’s parents, his or her place of birth, age, profession, rabbinic lineage, community activities, and even the names of living family members.
But there are common problems that make it difficult for researchers to accurately translate and interpret Jewish tombstone inscriptions.
In "How NOT To Read a Jewish Headstone," Robin Meltzer will use examples from actual Jewish tombstones to show how to understand an inscription’s context, determining the accuracy of the information presented, Jewish naming conventions, recognizing Kohain and Levite status and symbols, identifying rabbinic status, interpreting honorifics, and understanding Hebrew calendar dates and abbreviations. The presentation will also suggest best practices for on-site cemetery visits and tombstone photography.
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An attorney and genealogist, Robin Meltzer assists families in obtaining legal records, discovering nontraditional information sources, and interpreting documentary evidence. Robin is an administrator of "Tracing the Tribe: Jewish Genealogy" on Facebook, co-founder of the Jewish Community of the 15th Ward, Syracuse New York Facebook group, Associate Producer of the documentary films “Stories from the Syracuse Jewish Community” and “People and Places of the Syracuse Jewish Community,” and a former vice-president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW).
She lectures on topics in Jewish genealogy and research methodology and has appeared on the cable television program “Tracing Your Family Roots.” Robin has written articles on Jewish genealogy and local history appearing in several publications, including Avotaynu, Mishpacha, The Galitzianer, and the Jewish Observer of Central New York.
This program was made possible through the generous support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund.
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If you like this newsletter, why not forward it to a friend? We want to share the story of local Jewish history with as many of friends and neighbors as possible. |
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The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives was founded on November 1, 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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Plan a Visit
Senator John Heinz History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
412-454-6000
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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.
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