Rosh Hashana
Rabbi Goodman A. Rose was the first spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom. He was energetic, eloquent, and beloved by the congregation.

He was also a rising star within the growing Conservative movement. In 1926, he wrote a prayerbook titled "Childrens' Services for Rosh Hashonoh and Yom Kippur." It was published by the United Synagogue of America (now known as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism).

In the late teens and early 1920s, Beth Shalom was the only Jewish congregation in Squirrel Hill. It served the function of a community center, as well as a synagogue. It was known locally as "The Community House."
A few weeks after the prayerbook was published, Amelia Zugsmith of the Southwestern District of Pennsylvania Jewish Religious Schools program took out a notice in the local Jewish Criterion, encouraging Jewish families in neighborhoods and small towns throughout Western Pennsylvania to purchase copies as a way to teach religious values to their children.

"Our children have not been very gen­erally provided for in the observance of the High Holydays, and there­fore this book fills a real need," she wrote in September 1926.

The childrens' High Holiday services at Beth Shalom were popular and quickly outgrew the available space. The year after the prayerbook was released, Beth Shalom began holding childrens' High Holiday services at the Manor Theatre.

Rosh Hashana begins this year on the evening of September 18. The Rauh Jewish Archives wishes everyone a happy and healthy New Year.
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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