Vol. 4

No. 22

Restaurants:

The Dairy Planet

The Jewish Encyclopedia:

Operation Exodus

Family Clubs:

Peris Family Club

Calendar:

through Aug. 13: Green Book

June 11: Alex Calzereth

Community:

"How We Got Here"

Under the Dome of Rodef Shalom

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Mystery portraits

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Newsletters

Restaurants:

The Dairy Planet

Black and white photograph of paving between trolley tracks on Seventh Avenue, looking east from Smithfield Street. The Chamber of Commerce building is on the left.

—from Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection 

University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections 

[715.175229.CP] (online—Historic Pittsburgh)

A few months ago, we looked at The Kosher Restaurant.

When it opened on Murray Avenue in late 1962, The Kosher Restaurant became the first attempt in Western Pennsylvania to create a commercial dining establishment adhering to the strictest standards of kosher supervision—a place where everyone in the Jewish community could theoretically eat.

This week, we jump ahead 25 years to look similar project: The Dairy Planet.

"Dairy Planet’ shooting for the stars,” by Iris Samson. Review of Dairy Planet restaurant at 411 Smithfield St. in downtown Pittsburgh, July 9, 1987.

—from Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

The Dairy Planet also sought a high standard of kosher certification and supervision, but in many other ways it differed from The Kosher Restaurant.

The Kosher Restaurant served meat. The Dairy Planet was a “dairy” restaurant, serving a primarily vegetarian cuisine with some fish items. An essential principle of kosher food is the strict separation of milk and meat. Without an exceptionally complex kitchen, most kosher restaurants choose to be either “fleishig” (meat) or “milchig” (dairy). Some foods like vegetables, grains, eggs, and fish are "pareve," holding a neutral status that is neither meat nor dairy. 

The menu of the Dairy Planet included classic milchig dishes like blintzes, noodles, and cheesecake. But the restaurant also had fleishig-type dishes using soy-based meat. These included vegetarian chili, vegetarian goulash, and protose steak. From the available descriptions, it is unclear whether the protose was purchased commercially or whether it was created from scratch.

Another difference: location.

The Kosher Restaurant was located on the main street of Squirrel Hill, the largest Jewish neighborhood in the region. The Dairy Planet was located in the Chamber of Commerce building downtown. Similarly: The Kosher Restaurant promoted itself as a Jewish establishment. It even created a “bond” program to encourage upfront investment from the Jewish community. The Dairy Planet marketed broadly. It attempted to reach everyone who kept kosher, but it primarily served a general downtown clientele. Even so, it stayed open until 9 p.m. most nights—long past the close of downtown in the late 1980s—to appeal to kosher-keeping families coming from eastern neighborhoods.

Notice announcing Hillel Academy event at the Dairy Planet restaurant, Sept. 24, 1987.

—from Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

The Kosher Restaurant emerged entirely from local concerns, while the Dairy Planet had connections outside the city. Naftalie Feldman had opened the original Dairy Planet in the New York area. He began considering a Pittsburgh location in the mid-1980s, after his son came to town to attend the local Yeshiva Schools. Working with local restaurant manager Rabbi Eli Rothman and Chef William Saunders, they opened the Dairy Planet in mid-1987.

The available record of the Dairy Planet consists of a small selection of articles from the Jewish Chronicle and from city newspapers. In general news coverage, the vegetarianism of the restaurant gets more attention than its kashrut. The biases of the 1960s still hung over the term “vegetarian.” Many reviewers were surprised to find tasty meals, having expected bean sprouts.

Do you have any information about the Dairy Planet? Any memories or memorabilia? If so, please contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Next Week: Penn Avenue

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

Operation Exodus

Flier for the “Exodus ’90” campaign to resettle Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. Text reads, “A unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in Jewish history as it happens.”

—from Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Records [MSS 287].

Operation Exodus was a special fundraising campaign to support the resettlement of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union who had come to the Pittsburgh area. The local $15 million Exodus Campaign began in early 1990 as an outgrowth of a large campaign by the same name organized by the national United Jewish Appeal. The local campaign continued through 1994.

Our entry for Operation Exodus includes campaign materials from the 1990s.

Family Clubs:

The Peris Family Club

Newspaper notice announcing the formation of the Peris Family Club, March 7, 1958.

—from Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Samuel and Anna Peris raised eight children in the Hill District in the early 20th century: Belle Rice, Bernard Peris, Gertrude Wax, Herman Peris, Ida Achs, Irving Peris, Meyer Peris, and Molly Brotsky. As the children married and started families in the emerging eastern neighborhoods of the city, they formed the Peris Family Club. According to newspaper notices, the club began in March 1958. The last known meeting notice was published in May 1959.

Known surnames in the club include Acks/Achs, Brotsky, Peris, Rice, and Vogel.

The Peris Family Club usually met at homes in Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, East End, and Stanton Heights. Known meeting places include 5533 Phillips Ave. (Bernard Peris residence); Darlington Rd. (Herman Peris residence); Chislett St. (Irving Peris residence); 5823 Nicholson St. (Ben Brotsky residence); 5854 Maeburn Rd. (Meyer Peris residence); Nicholson St. (Erwin Rice residence); McCaslin Street (Erwin Vogel residence); Herman Peris residence; and Sommerville Street (Jerry Acks residence). The club also held occasional special events at the Syria Mosque, the New Arena, and the Holiday House.

No known archival records exist for the club. If you have information about the club or its members, please email the archive or call 412-454-6406.

through August 13:

The Negro Motorist Green Book

“The Negro Motorist Green Book” was a travel guide listing restaurants, gas stations, department stores, and other businesses that welcomed Black travelers. In an era of Jim Crow laws and “sundown towns,” the Green Book offered critical, life-saving information and sanctuary for Black individuals and families traveling the country. Harlem postman Victor Green started the publication in 1936, based in part on a similar volume published in Yiddish for Jewish travelers. The Green Book continued annually through 1967.

The new exhibit “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” on display in the McGuinn Gallery of the Heinz History Center through Aug. 13, tells the story of this landmark publication and its impact on the nation’s rising Black middle class in the middle 20th century. The exhibit also reveals the world of the Green Book in Pittsburgh with artifacts from hotels, jazz clubs, restaurants, and more than 30 local businesses listed in the Green Book, including the Terrace Hall Hotel, Harlem Casino Dance Hall, and Palace Hotel. The exhibit features images from the Melvin Seidenberg Photographs at the Rauh Jewish Archives and the Charles “Teenie” Harris Archive at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

June 11:

JGS-Pittsburgh presents:

"Mapping Your Family History"

with Alex Calzereth

Create maps with your own data on Google MyMaps.

This presentation will teach you how to create a custom map, import location data associated with family history events or source records and then customize the appearance of that data on the map. Custom maps can be used in many ways, including visually conveying family migration patterns, showing the location of regional cemeteries, or which towns hold certain vital records. Resulting maps can also be imported into Google Earth.

The program is Sunday, June 11 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET. This is a virtual program, occurring exclusively online. The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members.

“Mapping Your Family History with Alex Calzereth” 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 is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Alex Calzareth is a genealogist focusing on Southwest Germany, the Czech Republic and Southern Italy who began researching his family roots twenty-five years ago. He is a board member for Reclaim The Records and the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island, serving as JGSLI’s webmaster. Alex is also the JewishGen Research Director for Germany. He lives in New York City and works as a CPA.

Community

From the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh

"How We Got Here"

Each family is unique. 

Each family has its own traditions, its own spirit, and its own dynamics. 

Despite all these differences, every Jewish family in Western Pennsylvania has at least one thing in common: They all have a story about how they got here.

Perhaps your family sailed in steerage across the Atlanti in the 19th century.

Or perhaps your family drove the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a station wagon in the 1960s to work for the universities and hospitals during Renaissance.

Or perhaps your arrival into one of the many Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania involves marriage, or conversion, or a surprising DNA discovery.

Each of these stories is special, and each contributes to the larger story of our community. To collect and honor these origin stories, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh is launching a new initiative called “How We Got Here.” To participate, just write a short account explaining how you or your ancestors came to settle in Western Pennsylvania. All stories are welcome.

Stories will be eligible for inclusion in the JGS-Pittsburgh’s monthly newsletter Z’chor and also for preservation in the Rauh Jewish Archives. For more information about this initiative, or to contribute, contact Eric Lidji.

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 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.

Jewish Population Estimates

Looking to figure out how many Jews lived in a certain part of Western Pennsylvania at a certain moment in time? This bibliography includes more than 30 estimates of the Jewish population of Pittsburgh and small-towns throughout the region, conducted between 1852 and 2017.

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.