March 10, 2024

Vol. 5, No. 10



The Early 1970s:

Florence Reizenstein

Jewish Encyclopedia:

South Oakland tour

Resource:

Squirrel Hill study (1963)

Display:

Abrams House

Calendar:

TODAY: Treasures in the Archives

closing March 18: "The Sofer"

April 14: JGS: The Future of Genealogy

Community:

Fine Fellowship

URA photographs

SHHS archives

"How We Got Here"

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive,

Shul Records America

The Early 1970s:

Florence Reizenstein (1901-1970)

Black and white photograph of Florence Reizenstein and sister Sadie Alter—c1960.

—from Reizenstein Family Photographs [MSP 73]

When the University of Pittsburgh's Community Laboratory visited Squirrel Hill in 1963, the surveyors asked everyone they interviewed to name the leaders of the local Jewish community. They received a whirlwind of answers, reflecting a diversity of affiliations and associations, but a few names were repeated again and again. Only one was a woman: Florence Reizenstein.

Following her accidental death in June 1970, Pittsburgh mourned a public figure with a rare skill for community relations. Almost a decade later, during a moment of tension in local Black-Jewish relations, NEED (Negro Emergency Education Drive) Executive Director Dr. Herbert Reid Jr. told the Jewish Chronicle, “It is too bad for us all that Florence Reizenstein is not still alive. Florence is the one person in this town who knew how to get inter-community communication going, and to keep it going to achieve results.”

[LEFT] Black and white photograph of Samuel Silberstein’s store in Homewood—undated. [RIGHT] Black and white photograph of Herschel and Florence Silberstein. —c1906.

—from Reizenstein Family Photographs [MSP 73]

Florence Silberstein Reizenstein was raised in Homewood in the early 20th century, geographically isolated from the Jewish community but active in its institutions. This “outside-inside” perspective characterized her later work.

Reizenstein came of age during the Progressive Era before World War I. She attended Rodef Shalom Congregation during the tenure of Dr. J. Leonard Levy, and she volunteered with the National Council of Jewish Women-Pittsburgh Section during the presidency of Bertha Rauh. She watched those two leaders, and other likeminded figures in the local Jewish community, develop a new model for communal activity: broadly applying Jewish notions of “charity,” “justice,” and “acts of kindness” toward society at large. While this idea of “tikkun olam” (repairing the world) has since become ubiquitous within much of the Jewish world, its contours were still being drawn at that time. 

Reizenstein always maintained a strong presence within Jewish communal affairs. She was the first chair of the United Jewish Federations’ Women’s Division. In that role, she mentored a generation of women. (Janice Friedman, who we profiled a few weeks ago, often listed Reizenstein as a mentor). Reizenstein was also an active advocate for the State of Israel. But her legacy in Pittsburgh resides in her decades-long campaign to strengthen relations between the Jewish community and other communities in the region.

Black and white photograph of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (seated center) with Pennsylvania Governor David L. Lawrence (seated right) and a local delegation including Florence and Louis Reizenstein—c1965.

—from Reizenstein Family Photographs [MSP 73]

During the societal turmoil of the Great Depression, Reizenstein increasingly focused on expanding rights within the existing political system. She founded the Pittsburgh Community Forum in 1934 to discuss legislative strategies for advancing equal rights. Mayor David Lawrence appointed her to the first city Human Relations Commission in 1955 and brought her along to the state Human Relations Commission in 1959, after he was elected governor.

In a paper delivered in 1993 at the Rauh Jewish Archives' program, “Trailblazers: Jewish Women’s Contributions to the Quality of Our Lives,” family friend Joan Brest Friedberg said that Reizenstein represented “a generation of Americans who believed passionately that injustice could be overcome, that legislation could be enacted that would reflect the true spirit of democracy, that those who are stronger and more fortunate must work actively to open opportunities to others less favored by fate and circumstance.”

Through her work with the Urban League of Pittsburgh, Reizenstein was part of a group of Black and Jewish leaders in 1963 who created the Negro Emergency Education Drive, better known as NEED. NEED provided financial aid to local Black students who had been accepted to colleges and universities but could not afford the tuition. In the 61 years since, the program has provided nearly $48 million in grants to more than 43,000 young people.

Pittsburgh Public Schools opened Florence Reizenstein Middle School on Penn Avenue near Fifth Avenue in the mid-1970s. The large and modern school building was designed to draw students from Squirrel Hill, Homewood, and the East End, and so it was fitting to honor the memory of a recently departed leader who had devoted her life toward improving community relations.

When the school closed in the mid-2000s, the Post-Gazette’s Sally Kalson considered the school’s 30-year history in light of its namesake’s legacy.

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania in the early 1970s. If you would like to donate a material from this time period, or any historically relevant materials documenting Jewish life in this region, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

South Oakland

Advertisement announcing upcoming High Holiday services for the Jewish residents of Oakland to be held at the Carnegie Museum—September 8, 1922.

—from Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Oakland has the longest record of Jewish settlement of any part of Western Pennsylvania. The first Jewish family in this region was operating a distillery and tavern by 1775 near the current site of the Cathedral of Learning. 

They only stayed in the area for a few months, and subsequent waves of Jewish settlement stayed much closer to the downtown core. When the opening of Bigelow Boulevard facilitated easy outmigration from the city center in the early 20th century, Oakland again became a convenient meeting place for a Jewish community spread across many parts of the city. 

Rodef Shalom and Tree of Life both relocated to Oakland in 1906-1907. By early 1940s, Oakland had become a practical place for communitywide institutions like the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association, the new Montefiore Hospital, the Jewish Home for Babies and Children, the community mikveh (ritual bathhouse), and early day schools. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh was based in Oakland from 1958 to 2019. 

South Oakland also developed a local Jewish population starting in the late 1910s. Between the mid-1930s and mid-1940s, the two enclaves south of the Boulevard of the Allies had at least four local synagogues: Adath Israel, Ohave Zedeck, Anshe Lubovitz, and Kahal Chassidim.

We’ve created a new walking tour of these former South Oakland synagogues. The 20-minute tour includes five stops with historic images for each. We plan to expand the tour in the future to include more locations.

The growth of the Jewish community of Squirrel Hill after World War II came at the expense of neighborhoods like Oakland. The local Jewish population of Oakland shrank, and the communitywide institutions gradually moved. 

And yet, Jewish communal life has persisted in Oakland, thanks to various factors. Rodef Shalom remained on Fifth Avenue. The construction of condominiums in North Oakland allowed many empty nesters to downsize their Squirrel Hill homes without leaving the area. The cluster of college campuses in Oakland has ensured a large, stable Jewish student population served by organizations such as Hillel-JUC and Chabad House on Campus.

Article:

“A visit to Squirrel Hill, 1963"

The 2000 block of Murray Avenue, showing Pinsker’s, M. Fogel Meats, Murray News Stand, Stern’s Café, Kablin’s Market, and other shops—November 3, 1965.

from—Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs

Detre Library & Archives

University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Professors Eleanor Cockerill and Claire Lustman developed the “Community Laboratory” in the early 1960s to help emerging caseworkers confront their preconceptions of a new community.

Students were assigned to neighborhoods all over the city, including a group sent to Squirrel Hill. “In many ways they were like a group of travelers abroad who become increasingly absorbed with the characteristics of the country they are visiting, its people, its customs, its values,” Lustman later wrote.

Display

Abrams House

Color photograph of the Abrams House on Woodland Rd.—undated.

—from Abrams Family Papers [MSS 1288]

In conjunction with Treasures in the Archives (see below), archivist Catelyn Cocuzzi has curated a display of photographs and documents from the Abrams Family Papers [MSS 1288] looking at the conception and construction of the former Abrams House, a post-modern residence on Woodland Road in Squirrel Hill, designed by architect Robert Venturi. The next time you visit the Heinz History Center, please stop up on the sixth floor to see the display.

TODAY

Treasures in the Archives

Join the Detre Library & Archives on TODAY, March 10 at 1 p.m. to explore highlights from one of the largest collections of historic materials in the region.

The popular annual program delves into captivating stories preserved in the History Center collection and gives you a unique glimpse into Western Pennsylvania’s past through one-of-a-kind documents and photographs. From popular narratives and people to lesser-known stories and histories, Treasures in the Archives deep dives into topics carefully chosen by our dedicated archivists.

This year’s topics include:

• An exploration into the plans and predictions for Pittsburgh’s “future” through the eyes of historic Pittsburghers. Combining corporate records, design proposals, and the imaginative writings of everyday citizens, you’ll see “what could have been” (like a sports stadium suspended over the Monongahela River);
• A historic presentation on amateur films (many that have never been seen publicly until now) that document different Pittsburgh area locations and events from the 1920s to the 1960s;
• A story of empowerment that unveils how Pittsburgh’s ‘Crip Camp’ helped disabled teens shatter societal limitations and grow into disability rights activists;
• An investigation into the records of nearly 130 local Jewish family clubs, where ordinary family gatherings became formal associations with minutes, members, and dues.

For one-day only, a special selection of archival materials related to these four topics will be on view for attendees. Deepen your understanding of Pittsburgh’s history and learn more about these one-of-a-kind stories during this signature event on the Detre Library & Archives calendar.

Admission is free. Advance registration is required.

The program will take place in the Detre Library & Archives located on the sixth floor of the Heinz History Center.

April 14

JGS Pittsburgh Presents:

"The Future of Genealogy"

What impact will technology have on genealogy?

Jarrett Ross will discuss the emerging tools and technology that may have a big impact on the future of genealogy and genetic genealogy, including AI, Facial Recognition Software, low SNP artifact testing, and much more.

The program is on Sunday, April 14 from 1-3 p.m. ET. This is an online program, occurring exclusively on Zoom. The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members. 

"The Future of Genealogy" is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives. Please register online. This program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and to 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.

Jarrett Ross, also known as the Genea Vlogger, began seriously researching his own family history in 2009 while finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Since then he has successfully connected with thousands of relatives all over the World, helped build hundreds of trees for people of varying ancestral backgrounds, and has worked on hundreds of genealogical projects of varying types.

Jarrett has found a specialty in Genetic Genealogy and Sephardic Jewish research with an emphasis on the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam. Jarrett’s other main focuses of research are in Jewish Agricultural Societies of Southern New Jersey, Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry in the Pale of Settlement, Jews in America, and Jews in Ukraine.

Along with his areas of focus, Jarrett also has extensive experience with research in a variety of ancestral backgrounds from all over the World, including an array of experience in genetic genealogy. Jarrett spent just under 5 years working as the Lead Forensic Genealogist at DNA Labs International, helping create investigative leads to identify unknown human remains and perpetrators of violent crimes. In October 2023, Jarrett left the Forensic industry to pursue a content creation and genealogy education full-time.

through March 18:

Rodef Shalom Congregation Presents:

"The Sofer: A Tribute To My Zayde"

The Sofer is a multi-generational narrative about Pittsburgh artist Rosabel Rosalind's relationship with Zayde, her grandfather, a retired Orthodox rabbi with whom she lived for the first twelve years of her life. (He spent part of his career in Western Pennsylvania, leading Beth Samuel Jewish Center in Ambridge.) Fragmented by time and memory, the story recounts details from the years Zayde and Rosalind lived as roommates, interspersed with historical reimaginings and stark cultural observations that span past and present. 

The book follows Zayde and Rosalind, as she came of age in a Conservative Jewish household and as she continues to come to terms with her Jewishness. The Sofer is about the haunting of memory, history, and tradition in the face of a resurgence of anti-Semitism, through an intimate and inherited perspective. 

The original manuscript of The Sofer is 185 pages and is entirely hand-painted with beet juice, citing Zayde's affinity for Manischewitz brand borscht and the complexities of diasporic Jewishness. Sofer, translates to a Jewish scribe of ancient texts, and it is also Rosalind's maternal name; her Zayde’s last name. Thus she transcribed the familial, ancestral, and historical, using an untraditional hand-made ink, per scribal ritual, with a combination of painting and comic techniques and specific Sofer lettering of Rosalind's design.

Community

The Fine Fellowship

Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center announce the inaugural Fine Fellowship for the study of the October 27 attack. This $4000 fellowship will provide funding for a scholar to travel to Pittsburgh and work with local materials related to the attack and its aftermath and to engage with the local community.

A committee of representatives from the Jewish studies faculty of University of Pittsburgh, the Rauh Jewish Archives, and the 10.27 Healing Partnership will consider the applications. They will offer the award to an outstanding scholar whose research promises to make excellent use of local materials, stands to gain from thoughtful conversations with the people of Pittsburgh, and will prove instructive to local community-members seeking to better understand the contexts and repercussions of the October 27 attack.

Applications due March 15, 2024. For more information, click link below.

Urban Redevelopment Authority Archives

The City of Pittsburgh Archives has launched a new digital archive containing thousands of photographs and documents spanning more than two centuries. Of particular interest to local Jewish history is a collection of more than 2,000 photographs of properties in the lower Hill District taken by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in the late 1950s prior to demolitions in the area. 

Squirrel Hill Historical Society Archives

Squirrel Hill Historical Society has added a collection of 60 historic images of Squirrel Hill to the Historic Pittsburgh website. The collection contains selected images from three organizations: the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Squirrel Hill Urban  Coalition, and Mary S. Brown Memorial-Ames United Methodist Church. The photographs document many aspects of life in Squirrel Hill, including many beloved businesses from the 1990s that no longer exist.

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 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. 

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 more than 2,700 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.

Synagogues

A database of buildings throughout Western Pennsylvania known to have hosted Jewish worship services. Includes links to photographs and citations with original source material. Database currently includes 90 locations from 2 institutions

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.

Shul Records America

Online finding aid from JewishGen listing congregational archival collections held at publicly accessible repositories across the United States. Includes 63 listings from the Rauh Jewish Archives, as well as other repositories with Western Pennsylvania congregational records.

The Rauh Jewish Archives was founded on November 1, 1988 to collect and preserve the documentary history of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania and to make it available to the world through research assistance, programing, exhibits, publications, and partnerships.

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