December 29, 2024

Vol. 5, No. 52



The Early 1970s:

Jewish Perspectives '74

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Jewish Children's Aid Society

Lechem Aniyum Society

Mulbish Arumim Society

Articles:

Noah's Ark

Exhibits:

A Woman's Place

Calendar:

Jan. 9: "Teach Them to Your Children"



Community:

URA photographs

SHHS archives

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive,

Shul Records America

The Early 1970s:

23rd District

Selection from advertisement for Jewish Perspectives '74—Feb. 28, 1974.

—Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

We started this yearlong look at the early 1970s in the local Jewish community with “Identicom,” an annual symposium on issues facing American Jewry. The theme of the first Identicom was “The Jewish Family.” It considered ways to improve communication between generations at a time of great social change.

We end with “Jewish Perspectives ’74.”

Congregation Beth Shalom hosted the five-week series in February 1974 to “gain insights into ourselves.” Speakers included journalist Peter Lisagor, political scientist Dr. Hans Morgenthau, author Meyer Levin, Jewish Studies professor Dr. Nahum M. Sarna, and Radical Jewish Humanist Mike Tabor. 

The speakers discussed their concerns about Jewish continuity at home and about threats abroad to the State of Israel. Based on the surviving coverage of “Jewish Perspectives ’74” in the Jewish Chronicle, many of the speakers could be described as cautiously pessimistic. They seemed inclined to believe things were getting worse but were also able to see the various pathways that might lead to a better outcome. With the benefit of 50 years hindsight, you can decide for yourself whether their pessimism was justified. And you can also ask: will the pessimism of the present seem justified half a century from now?

The early 1970s were years when America was deciding how to respond to the dramatic upheavals of the 1960s. The local Jewish community found itself responding to emerging issues involving age, gender, race, disability, class, and geopolitics, as well as deeper questions about the spiritual values animating daily life. As community leaders made major decisions, the teens and twenty-somethings of that era were watching and would spend the next 50 years shaping the contours of Jewish communal life in response.

We are living now through another era when America is responding to a wave of social upheavals. The debates can be intense. As in earlier eras, the decisions being made in the Jewish community today will shape how current teens and twenty-somethings will view the world for the next 50 years. Understanding this process—how the decisions of one generation influence the opinions of the next generation—is important for making good decisions. 

We will announce the 2025 theme for the newsletter next week.

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:

Jewish Children's Aid Society

Lechem Aniyum Society

Mulbish Arumim Society

Photograph showing four women and two men standing among dozens of baskets of food deliveries at the Lechem Aniyum Society distribution center, most likely at Beth Jacob Congregation. Label reads, “In appreciation of your services during the past year. With your assistance this organization was able to carry on. Lechum Aniyum Society, “Bread for the Poor,” Chas. B. Sable, Chairman, Distributing Committee, Dec. 27, 1936.”

—Lechem Aniyum Society Photograph [1988.0034]

The Jewish population of Pittsburgh doubled in the 1910s, from around 25,000 in 1907 to 43,000-60,000 by 1919, according to various accounts. These newly arriving Jewish immigrants faced many challenges, and Jewish women created a new organizations to address specific needs in the community. 

The Malbish Arumim Society (Cloth the Naked Society) began in the early 1900s as the Mother’s Club of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement. It held social events to collect funds and necessities for distribution locally and overseas. 

The Jewish Children’s Aid Society began in 1917 to raise funds for existing charities throughout Pittsburgh, including the Jewish Home for Babies and Children, the Gusky Orphanage, the League for the Hard of Hearing, the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the Home for Crippled Children, and Montefiore Hospital, as well as national Jewish organizations such as the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver and the Youth Aliyah. It became the Children’s Aid Society of Jewish Women to reflect a broader mission.

The Lechem Aniyum Society (Bread for the Poor Society) began informally in the Hill District around 1917 and greatly expanded with the economic turmoil of the late 1920s and early 1930s. It delivered weekly baskets of bread and produce to local Jewish families in advance of Shabbat.

Article

Who Made the Scroll at Noah's Ark?

The text message read, “Idea for a future Chronicle article: deep historical dive on this rare piece of Pittsburgh Judaica from the Noah’s Ark ride at Kennywood.”

Attached was a photograph. It showed a scene from the ride: Noah’s wife, ghastly pale, standing over her equally ghastly husband. Her left hand holds a scroll of Hebrew text. Translated, the text lists some of the pairs of animals bound for the Biblical ark: donkey and jenny, sheep and ewe, bear and sow, wolf and she-wolf, bull and cow, and so on.

Perhaps the deep dive was a joke, but it seemed like a fun challenge…

Thank you for joining us last night for the Chanukah program of our series “Gut Yontif: A Patchwork Holiday Experience" with Rosabel Rosalind.

The next installments of our Gut Yontif! series will be Thursday, Feb. 13 with an intimate Tu B’shvat seder from Lydia Rosenberg, and Wednesday, March 12 with an all-embracing Purim party from Olivia Devorah Tucker. 

The “Gut Yontif!” series is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the SteelTree Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Exhibit:

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.  

Jan. 9:

"Teach Them To Your Children"

Since the times of the Talmud, Jewish education has been a communal responsibility. How has Western Pennsylvania met this challenge? 

In a fast-paced and engaging monthly series “Teach Them To Your Children,” Rauh Jewish Archives Director Eric Lidji will cover 150 years of Jewish educational initiatives in Western Pennsylvania, showing how our community has perpetuated Jewish knowledge from generation to generation. 

This series will take place monthly in the Community Day School library (2743 Beechwood Blvd.) on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.

The series begins Thursday, Jan. 9 with a look at educational initiatives created between 1850 and 1890. A small local Jewish population faced numerous challenges, including internal divisions, the lack of good Jewish libraries and trained religious school teachers, the beginnings of Eastern European immigration, the rise of public schools, and a wave of Christian evangelism. And yet it managed to close the century with several enduring Jewish schools.

The schedule for the rest of the year includes:



Feb. 6—The 1910s

March 6—The 1920s

April 10—The 1930s

May 8—The 1940s

June 12—The 1950s

July 10—The 1960s

Aug. 14—The 1970s

Sept. 11—The 1980s

Oct. 9—The 1990s

Nov. 13—The 2000s

Dec. 11—The Future

"Teach Them To Your Children" is presented by Community Day School, Hillel

Academy of Pittsburgh, and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

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 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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