June 30, 2024

Vol. 5, No. 26



The Early 1970s:

Israel's 25th Anniversary

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

Resources:

Henry Ellenbogen Papers

Exhibits:

A Woman's Place

Calendar:

July 7: JGS Presents: Zachary Mazur



Community:

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:

Israel at 25

Photographs showing 10-foot Israel-shaped candelabra designed for the Israel Film Festival, on display at the Allegheny County Courthouse to welcome the Freedom Torch—Sept. 28, 1972.

—Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Israel started in Pittsburgh the previous September, when an Israeli delegation came through the city. Local students met the delegation at the Allegheny County Courthouse downtown with a 10-foot candelabrum in the shape of Israel. The inclusion of the Sinai Peninsula is a reminder of the geopolitics of the Middle East in the 1970s.

Celebrations continued for months, culminating in a week of events around Israeli Independence Day in mid-May 1973. Monroeville Mall hosted the “Israel Panorama of Arts and Industry,” Israeli food, Israeli fashion, an archeological display, and a replica of Marc Chagall’s famous stained glass windows for the Abbell Synagogue at Hadassah Ein Kerem. Israeli actor and singer Rivka Raz performed at the Carnegie Music Hall under the auspices of the Pittsburgh Zionist Federation. Israel Bonds hosted an Israeli fashions show. Prime Minister Golda Meir spoke to locals (“especially for the young”) through a special long-distance telephone call. An estimated 3,000 people marched from Beth Shalom to the Y-IKC building in Oakland in the annual Youth Salute to Israel Parade. 

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 historic materials documenting Jewish life in this region, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

Black and white photograph showing students at Hillel Academy—undated.

—Harry Katz Papers [1995.02]

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh was chartered in February 1947 as a Jewish day school, as well as an associated summer day camp. It was a full-day program with religious and secular studies, as well as kosher meals. The program started with classes for kindergarten and first grade students and added grades annually to eventually become a complete K-12 educational program.

Hillel Academy met in the Morrowfield Hotel before relocating to the Ellis School campus on Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside. By the time it broke ground on its Beacon Street building in late 1958, it had 275 students and 26 teachers. 

Resources:

Judge Henry Ellenbogen Papers

Black and white portrait of Rep. Henry Ellenbogen—1934.

—Henry Ellenbogen Photographs [MSP 305]

The Rauh Jewish Archives has launched a new digital archive of correspondence between Henry Ellenbogen and numerous Jewish women and men who were trying to escape Europe during the Nazi era. The new collection on Historic Pittsburgh contains 574 letters between Ellenbogen, Jewish refugees, and various officials. These letters provide a detailed and intimate account of the many challenges these refugees faced as they tried to escape Europe and resettle in America in the late 1930s and early 1940s. 

Henry Ellenbogen was born into a prominent Jewish family in Vienna and came to Pittsburgh in the early 1920s to start a legal practice. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1932 until 1938, when he became an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge. As a result of his high-profile position in American government in the 1930s, and his well-known family name, he received a large volume of correspondence from Jewish people in Germany, Austria, and other parts of Europe who were desperately seeking assistance.

You can read coverage of this project in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and KDKA.

NOW OPEN:

A Woman's Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh

“How Mrs. Enoch Rauh ushered in the year 1913 — on Dec. 31st 1912.”

—from Richard E. Rauh Papers [MSS 301]

From pioneering investigative journalism to leading their country to Olympic gold, Western Pennsylvania women have made an immeasurable impact in America, but too often, their stories have been overlooked.

The Heinz History Center is taking an unprecedented deep dive into the lives of these fierce and unflappable women who helped change the world inside a major new exhibition, A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh.

Take an interactive, thematic journey through Western Pennsylvania women’s history from the early 1800s to modern day that will showcase the stories of entrepreneurs and activists, artists and athletes, scientists and inventors, and changemakers and barrier breakers. Through more than 250 artifacts, immersive experiences, and striking archival images, A Woman’s Place will reveal how women have made Pittsburgh and the world a better place.  

July 7

JGS Pittsburgh Presents:

Rabbis, Innkeepers, Tricksters:

Jewish Life in Poland-Lithuania

What do we know about the home of European Jewry?

Approximately 80 percent of the world’s Jews have a connection to Eastern Europe, and all of them once lived in a unique country called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Join Zachary Mazur to learn about the key question of why Jews settled in Eastern Europe and what their lives looked like there. While discussing the larger historical narrative, he will focus on the stories of those living in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to paint a picture of Jewish life before the Great Migration that began in the 1880s.

The program is on Sunday, July 7 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. 

“Rabbis, Innkeepers, Tricksters: Jewish Life in Poland Lithuania” with Zachary Mazur 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 generous support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Dr. Zachary Mazur earned his PhD at Yale University. His forthcoming book is about Jews, Ukrainians, and Poles in Poland’s economy during the 1920s and 1930s. He is currently Senior Historian at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

Community

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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