July 21, 2024

Vol. 5, No. 29



The Early 1970s:

Meals-on-Wheels

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Cooperative Conservative Congregations Hebrew School

Family Clubs:

Ida Family Club

Save the Date:

A Patchwork Life Stitching Circle

Exhibits:

A Woman's Place

Calendar:

Aug. 4: JGS Presents: Family Stories



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:

Meals-on-Wheels

The Older Americans Act of 1965 created a national network of federal, state, and local agencies to fund services for the elderly. An expansion of the law in 1972 created its Senior Nutrition Program, including grants for meal deliveries to the elderly.

Lutheran Service Society launched its first Meals-On-Wheels program in the Pittsburgh area in 1968. The program quickly spread throughout the region. With the Senior Nutrition Program, the society was able to apply for federal aid, as were other groups.

In the months following the passage of the law, the local Jewish community helped launch two new Meals-On-Wheels programs. 

Black and white photograph of a Kosher Meals on Wheels volunteer delivering a meal to a client of the program. Photograph by Lou Malkin of Vinard Studios—1972.

—Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Records [MSS 287]

The first was Kosher Meals-On-Wheels. 

The idea may have come from a trip that Jewish Home for the Aged Executive Director Leon Kalson took to Israel in early 1971. Kalson toured several Homes for the Aged overseen by Malben, a social service agency created in 1949 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the United Jewish Appeal and later absorbed into the Israeli government. Among its many projects, Malben ran several meals on wheels programs out of Homes for the Aged. 

By the following year, in early 1972, B’nai B’rith Hillel in Pittsburgh was recruiting college students to volunteer as local Meals on Wheels drivers.

Kosher Meals-On-Wheels began that spring through a partnership of three local Jewish organizations. Jewish Family & Children’s Service arranged the program. The Jewish Home for the Aged prepared the kosher meals. B’nai B’rith Women oversaw the corps of volunteer delivery drivers. The program continues today as Mollie’s Meals, named for longtime volunteer Mollie Dugan.

Flier advertising sixth anniversary volunteer appreciation luncheon for Squirrel Hill-Greenfield Meals-on-Wheels at Temple Sinai with guest speaker Mayor Richard Caliguiri—Sept. 11, 1978.

—Squirrel Hill-Greenfield Meals-on-Wheels Records [2018.0164]

As this project was developing, a second Meals-on-Wheels was underway. A group of interfaith clergy from Squirrel Hill met in March 1972 with an advisor from Lutheran Service Society to create a neighborhood Meals-on-Wheels. The group was advised to find a kitchen, to raise funds, and to start publicizing.

The project stalled for three months until two members of Temple Sinai made a surprise announcement: Minnie Litman had raised almost $1,000, and Jackie Unger said that the Temple Sinai Sisterhood would open its kitchen to the group.

The Squirrel Hill-Greenfield Meals-On-Wheels officially began making deliveries on July 31, 1972 and later expanded to nearby Shadyside, Point Breeze, and Oakland. “We are not trying to compete with kosher Meals-On-Wheels in any way,” Litman said at the time. “Meals-On-Wheels is non-sectarian and non-kosher, open to any person in need of the service.”

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:

Cooperative Conservative Congregations Hebrew School

Black and white photograph of Cooperative Conservative Congregations Hebrew School students Steven Kitay, Steven Kuller, Marc Garfinkel, Carl Charapp, Susan Schneirov, Becky Berg, and Marcie Birnberg—1975.

—Fox Chapel Hebrew School Records [2016.0220]

Congregation Beth Shalom, B’nai Israel Congregation, and Tree of Life Congregation formed the Committee for Cooperation Among Conservative Congregations in the mid-1970s to discuss issues relevant to all three congregations. One major issue was a decline in synagogue membership associated with suburbanization, especially to the emerging North Hills. 

By the mid-1970s, the Fox Chapel borough and neighboring O’Hara Township had a small but growing number of Jewish families, mostly unaffiliated with any existing congregations. To reach these families, the committee formed the Cooperative Conservative Congregations Hebrew School on Sept. 30, 1975. 

Also known as the Fox Chapel Hebrew School, the school met twice weekly at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church with a third weekly class at a local Conservative congregation selected by each family. After the first year, families had to become members of one of these three sponsoring congregations.

The Cooperative Conservative Congregations Hebrew School appears to have been short-lived. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Beth Shalom and Tree of Life each made independent efforts to launch a Hebrew school in Fox Chapel. Through a merger with Beth Jacob Congregation of New Kensington in 1995, B’nai Israel ultimately relocated to the area and became the new Adat Shalom.

Family Clubs:

Ida Family Club

Notice announcing the first meeting of the Ida Family Club—Jan. 30, 1959.

—Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Ida and Joseph CASARSKY had at least five children: Esther CERMINARO, Bessie SAKOLSKY, Manuel CASAR, Ben Casar, and Saul CASE.

The various Pittsburgh branches of the family started the Ida Family Club in honor of their matriarch in January 1959. The club was still meeting as late as December 1962, according to newspaper notices in the Jewish Chronicle.

Known surnames in the club include Casar, Cerminaro, Charapp, and Sakolsky.

The Ida Family Club met at homes in Uptown, Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Morningside, and Monroeville. Known meeting places include Van Braam St. (Esther and Sam Cerminaro residence); 6354 Waldron St. (Harry Sakolsky residence); 939 Flemington St. (Manny Casar residence); 1004 Jancey St. (Ben Casar residence); 620 Pine Frost Dr., Monroeville (Joseph and Gail Sakolsky residence); 4278 Glen Lytle Rd. (Bernard Charapp residence); 1161 Morningside Ave. (Ben Casar residence); and the Holiday House.

No known archival materials exist for the Ida Family Club. If you have information about the club or its members, please contact the archive.

Aug. 18:

The Patchwork Life Stitching Circle

[LEFT] Color photograph showing a pair of hands framing a patch from The Witness Quilt reading, “Do a mitzvah.” [RIGHT] Patchwork Life Stitching Circle sewing kit.

On Sunday, September 1, the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center will open a new exhibition titled, “Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life,” a retrospective of the 50-year career of local quilter and fiber artist Louise Silk.  

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a new work called “The Witness Quilt,” a collection of 1,152 folk wisdoms embroidered onto recycled fabric from Silk’s personal fabric collection. Throughout the run of the exhibit, Silk will work in the gallery space with volunteer community stitchers to expand the Witness Quilt. Once complete, the patches will be given away to museum visitors. 

On Sunday, August 18 from 1-4 p.m., Silk will host a special training session at the Detre Library & Archives of the Heinz History Center for anyone who would like to participate. No expertise or materials are required, just a desire to join a community of stitchers who will assist with this special project.  

All participants will receive a special sewing kit created by Silk and will leave with an embroidery project already underway. If you are unable to attend the workshop but would still like to participate, please contact the archive.

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.  

Aug. 4

JGS Pittsburgh Presents:

From Documents to Sentences to Stories:

Rebuilding Family Stories

Turning your genealogy research discoveries into meaningful stories can be challenging. Follow the re-creation of one family’s story using hands-on, step-by-step, try-this-now story-building strategies. Turn a single record discovery into a simple paragraph, then a paragraph into a story by looking for the “plot” and other interesting elements that make up the most interesting stories.

Teaser: in the story you’ll follow, one of the heroes is a dog, Sunny's son’s favorite “ancestor.”

The program is Sunday, August 4 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. 

“From Documents to Sentences to Stories: Rebuilding Family Stories” with Sunny Morton 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.

Sunny Jane Morton is a Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine and Director of Content at YourDNAGuide.com, where she teaches storytelling strategies and puts them into practice. She is author of Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy, now in its 2nd edition, and co-author of the NGS award-winning book, How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records. She is past Editor of Ohio Genealogy News.

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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