Vol. 4

No. 15

Restaurants:

The Passover Menu

The Jewish Encyclopedia:

American Friends

of Israel War Disabled

Yahrzeit Plaques Project:

Tree of Life (Pittsburgh)

Calendar:

April 5-13: Passover

April 16: Tammy Hepps

May 21: W. Todd Knowles

Community:

"Perseverance"

Under the Dome of Rodef Shalom

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Jewish Daily Forward exhibit

Mystery portraits

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries, Memorial Plaques, Books, Newsletters

Restaurants:

The Delis and Passover (Part 2)

Advertisement for Iz Cohen of Polonsky’s at 2203 Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill. Announcing upcoming closure for Passover.

—from Jewish Criterion, March 20, 1964 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]

Any restaurant that called itself “Jewish” had to reckon with Passover. 

Food is central to the weeklong holiday, specifically abstaining from leavened products. That means no pillowy rye, no chewy pumpernickel. 

For restaurants catering to a Jewish clientele, even those that made no claim to keeping kosher, Passover forced some decisions. The first was whether to acknowledge the holiday at all. The second was how to accommodate it.

Some restaurants simply closed.

The Kosher Restaurant closed for the entire holiday. The Little Hungarian Restaurant stayed open during the 1940s, but began closing in the early 1950s. In the early 1960s, Iz Cohen noted that his restaurant had been closed for Passover each year since 1937, referring to the early days of his predecessor, the Hebrew National Delicatessen. In the same ad, Cohen noted that he would be reopening at noon on the last day of Passover.

Of the restaurants that stayed open, some created Passover menus. Starting in the 1920s, many local ads began, “Plan on having your Passover meals at….”

Few of these advertisements provide details of these Passover menus, but one from Abrams & Friedman in Squirrel Hill suggests that Passover menus had familiar items: “Matzo Ball Soup—Matzo and Potato Latkes—Finest Homemade Borscht—Gefilte Fish—Broiled Steaks or Chops—Roast Chicken—Fried Matzo,” as well as “Passover Wine and Slivovitz.” (Slivovitz is plum brandy—not made from grain and therefore appropriate for Passover.) Some advertisements suggest that these Passover menus were not a complete turnover of the restaurant, just a selection of special items offered for that one week. Over time, many of these dine-in menus evolved into popular catering menus.

Next Week: Back to Business

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting Jewish restaurants in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate a material from a Jewish restaurant, or just reminisce, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania

American Friends of Israel War Disabled

Thank you note to Sylvia Robinson, signed by participants in the American Friends of Israel War Disabled program. Photograph surrounded by handwritten notes, undated.

—from Sylvia and Donald Robinson Papers and Photographs [MSS 1035].

American Friends of Israeli War Disabled Inc. was a hospitality program pairing wounded Israel veterans with local families for a summer retreat in Pittsburgh. 

Sylvia Robinson brought the program to Pittsburgh in 1975, after learning about a similar initiative underway in Europe. In its first year, the program brought 10 veterans to Pittsburgh for two-weeks of social gatherings, day-trips, and community events. Veterans stayed with local families. From the beginning, the project was arranged under the auspices of the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh. The project legally incorporated in 1977.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaque Project update:

1,066 records added

Memorial board from Hailperin Sanctuary of Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh.

The Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques database now contains 1,713 records from five institutions. We recently added 1,066 plaques from 30 memorial boards from Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. The plaques were transcribed by Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Jon Halpern.

We are actively transcribing yahrzeit plaques from congregations from throughout the region. Each month, we’ll use this space in the newsletter to report on additions to the database. We are currently working through a backlog of nearly 20,000 individual records. The more help we have, the quicker we’ll go. We’re currently looking for volunteers who can read and transcribe Hebrew names and Hebrew dates. Work can be completed remotely or in-person at the Archive. To volunteer, email us or call 412-454-6406.

April 5-13:

Passover

A community Passover seder at the Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association, 1958.

—from Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Photographs [MSP 389]

The Rauh Jewish Archives phone and email will be down on April 12 and 13 in observance of the final days of the Passover holiday. The Library & Archives reading room will be open during its usual hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10-5.

April 16:

JGS-Pittsburgh presents:

"When Henry Silverstein Got Cold: How Terrible Enumerators Help Us Do Better Census Research"

with Tammy Hepps

IMAGES (clockwise from upper left): Tammy Hepps; Google Map showing households included in Enumeration District 144 of Homestead's Third Ward in the 1920 Census; Section of page 11A, Homestead Ward 3, ED 144 of the 1920 Census. Handwritten text reads, "Here Ends Enumeration of District 144 Homestead Borough Henry Silverstein."

On Jan. 2, 1920, Henry Silverstein began his first day as a census enumerator by turning left instead of right. Things went downhill from there, and within days he became so overwhelmed that he resorted to an illegal scheme to finish the job. Through this shocking story and the painstaking detective work that uncovered it, you’ll come to see the census—and your ancestors’ presence or absence in it—in a whole new light. You’ll laugh at Henry’s misdeeds, and you’ll grow your census research skills.

The program is Sunday, April 16 from 11-1:30 p.m. ET. This is a hybrid program. It is designed for in-person attendance but will have a virtual option.

“When Henry Silverstein Got Cold: How Terrible Enumerators Help Us Do Better Census Research” is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. Please register online. The program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and receive a free membership code for this program, please visit its website.

This program will be recorded and made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members. Those who attend in person are encouraged to stick around after the program for refreshments and a meet-and-greet with JGS members.

This program is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Tammy Hepps is a historian of the Jewish experience in Western Pennsylvania. She combines in-depth historical research with techniques from technology and genealogy to reconstruct overlooked stories from the past in an engaging way. She has presented her findings around the world, including the Library of Congress and the International Jewish Genealogy Conference in Jerusalem. Her best-known research is into the history of the Jewish community in the former steel-making center of Homestead, PA (HomesteadHebrews.com). Tammy earned her AB in computer science from Harvard and is a Wexner Heritage Fellow.

May 21:

JGS-Pittsburgh presents:

"Using FamilySearch for Jewish Research"

with W. Todd Knowles

Billions of family records. Where do you start?

FamilySearch is an international, nonprofit dedicated to helping all people discover their family story. It is one of the largest genealogical websites online and grows larger every day. Learn how to make the most of the FamilySearch collection, with a special focus on locating Jewish ancestors among the records.

The program is Sunday, May 21 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET. This is a virutal program, occurring only online. “Using FamilySearch for Jewish Research with W. Todd Knowles” is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. Please register online. The program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and receive a free membership code for this program, please visit its website.

This program will be recorded and made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members. Those who attend in person are encouraged to stick around after the program for refreshments and a meet-and-greet with JGS members.

This program is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

W. Todd Knowles, AG, is a Deputy Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch, where he has been for almost 25 years. Soon after being introduce to family history at the age of 12, he discovered his Jewish roots. The journey to find these Polish Jews led to the Knowles Collection, six databases containing the records of almost 1.5 million people. His blog about the collection can be found at knowlescollection.blogspot.com.

Community

From the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh

and Prime Stage Theatre

"Perseverance"

The world premiere of "Perseverance" at the Prime Stage Theatre brings to the stage a powerful memoir of healing and renewal. Few visitors to the G&S Jewelry Store in Squirrel Hill during the 1960s and ’70s were aware that the cheerful proprietor, Melvin Goldman, had spent his teens enduring the horrors of Auschwitz before arriving as a penniless refugee in postwar Pittsburgh intent on reshaping his family’s destiny and replacing Darkness with Light, one shop patron at a time. Based on the Book "Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America" by Melvin Goldman and Lee Goldman Kikel.

From NEXT Pittsburgh

"What's Under the Dome at Rodef Shalom?"

NEXT Pittsburgh's Boaz Frankel visits with archivist Martha Berg to discover the secrets of Rodef Shalom Congregation's historic Fifth Avenue synagogue.

From the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association

"Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania"

The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh has released a new documentary showcasing Jewish cemeteries in Western Pennsylvania.

“Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania” is a one-hour tour of the many cemetery properties overseen by the JCBA, as well as an overview of the organization’s ongoing work to care for these sacred burial grounds. The video is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these special Jewish cultural sites in our region. The video includes many historic photographs and documents from the collections of the Rauh Jewish Archives. 

From the Jewish Studies Program

PRESSED: Images from the Jewish Daily Forward

Detail from front page of Jewish Daily Forward, including photograph showing President and First Lady Kennedy, 1960.

Founded in 1897 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the Jewish Daily Forward became the most widely read Jewish news source anywhere. By the 1920s, this Yiddish-language daily had more readers than the New York Times. With rigorous reporting, incisive editorials and powerful commentary, the Forward chronicled the events that affected immigrants eager to earn their place in American life. This was the paper read by congregants from its neighborhood’s many synagogues, by families squeezing into tenement apartments, by sweatshop workers and pushcart vendors. Its articles were debated on park benches and at local haunts like the Garden Cafeteria and the Royal Café, its discarded pages then used to wrap fish for Friday night Sabbath eve dinners. The Forward’s ideals have been held dear for generations of readers, not just on the Lower East Side but across the country and around the world.

The new exhibit Pressed at Hillman Library on the University of Pittsburgh campus looks into the vast Forward archive to present a selection of metal plates used to print photographs in the paper from the 1920s to the 1960s. These plates are accompanied by prints made just for this exhibition. These prints have rendered the images with greater clarity than they had as dotted, halftone prints in the newspaper. The Forward pages on which some of these images appeared are also displayed. These pages are enlarged and reproduced from microfilm and photographs because printed copies of the newspaper have not been preserved at the Forward or in any other archive, although they occasionally pop up at auction or in private collections. Together these images of strikes and activists, Yiddish theater stars and baseball players, daily life and historic moments, present the depth and breadth of this singular publication, its audience and Jewish life in America and around the world.

Pressed is organized by the Forward in collaboration with the Museum at Eldridge Street, and hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Library System and the Jewish Studies program. It will remain on display through April 2023.

As part of the exhibit, the Rauh Jewish Archives has created a display surveying the history of local Yiddish newspapers in Pittsburgh. The display includes enlarged reproductions of pages and advertisements from The Volksfreund, the Jewish Indicator, and the regional office of the Forward.

From Rodef Shalom Congregation

A mystery in primary colors

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reports on an effort by Rodef Shalom Congregation to identify two people from a pair of mid-19th century portraits in the congregation's holdings. Do you recognize these two people?

Research Tools

The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project contains digitized, searchable copies of four local English-language Jewish newspapers between 1895 and 2010. It is a valuable tool for researching almost any topic about Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. For a primer on using the website, watch our video.

Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project in 1998 to preserve burial records from Jewish cemeteries across the region. Over a period of fifteen years, the information was compiled into a searchable, online database containing approximately 50,000 burial records from 78 Jewish cemeteries throughout the region.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project in 2020. The goal was to create a comprehensive collection of burial records from memorial boards at synagogues across the region. Volunteers are currently transcribing these boards and records are being added monthly to our online database. The database currently contains almost 400 listings.

Rauh Jewish Archives Bibliography

University of Pittsburgh librarian and Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Laurie Cohen created this comprehensive bibliography of the Rauh Jewish Archives library holdings from 1988 through 2018. It lists nearly 350 volumes arranged by type and then by subject. This a great tool to use early in your research process, as you’re surveying available resources on a given subject.

Rauh Jewish Archives Newsletter

The Rauh Jewish Archives has been publishing a weekly newsletter since 2020. The newsletter contains a variety of articles about local Jewish history, including much original research not found anywhere else. You can find and read every issue—more than 150!— in our new index.