The East End
A walking tour of the former synagogues of the East End of Pittsburgh (1.9 miles, 45 minutes, mostly flat).
At the start of the 20th century, Jewish population of Pittsburgh was highly concentrated in the city center: downtown, the lower Hill District, and parts of Allegheny City (now the North Side) with a few small enclaves elsewhere.
The opening of Grant Boulevard (now Bigelow Bouelvard) in 1901 made it possible to quickly commute downtown from the emerging eastern neighborhoods of East Liberty, Bloomfield, Shadyside, and the northern end of Squirrel Hill. Within a few years of the opening of this crosstown thoroughfare, a small Jewish population emerged in the East End. This was the first Jewish suburb in Western Pennsylvania.
Map showing the route of Grant Boulevard [now Bigelow Boulevard] and its impact on Bloomfield, East Liberty, and Shadyside.
B'nai Israel Congregation
The first Jewish families in the East End began meeting as B'nai Israel Congregation as early as 1908. They obtained a charter in 1911 as B'nai Israel, reusing the name of the first Orthodox congregation in the city. Some of the founders of the new B'nai Israel were descendants of the founders of the earlier congregation.
B'nai Israel rented meeting space throughout East Liberty for 15 years before dedicating a synagogue at 327 N. Negley Ave. in 1923. The building was designed by architect Henry Hornbostle with assistance from Sharove and Friedman. The congregation hired Sharove again in the early 1950s to design a new social hall wing.
B'nai Israel began as an Orthodox congregation but gradually became a Conservative congregation in the 1910s and early 1920s. The congregation remained active in the East End until 1995, when it merged with Congregation Beth Jacob in New Kensington to create Adat Shalom in Cheswick, Pa.
Following the merger, the Urban League of Pittsburgh used the former social hall for a new charter school, while the sanctuary remained empty. The social hall was recently converted into affordable housing. A separate group is working to restore the sanctuary into a community arts venue.
The spiritual leaders of B'nai Israel included Rabbi Solomon B. Neches, Rabbi Benjamin Lichter, Rabbi Seymour Cohen, Rabbi Mordecai Chertoff, Rabbi Jack Shechter, and Rabbi Richard Marcovitz. Cantors included Cantor Julius Bloom (1924-1942), Cantor Mordecai Heiser (1942-1989), and Cantor Mordecai Haalman (1960s-1980s).
Adath Jeshurun Congregation
The growth of the Jewish population of the East End inevitably brought variations in Jewish practice.
A faction of B'nai Israel broke away in 1915 to start the Montefiore Hebrew Congregation, promoting itself as younger and more traditional. It rejoined in early 1916 but broke away in 1917 as Adath Jeshurun Congregation.
The name “Adath Jeshurun” was likely a reference to a famous congregation of the same name in Frankfurt, Germany. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch founded the original Adath Jeshurun in the mid-19th century as an Orthodox response to the increasing liberalization of German Jewry. He created a model for Orthodoxy that retained a strict adherence to tradition but attempted to incorporate the spirit of modernity—modern Orthodoxy.
The split in the East End allowed its Jewish community to diversify. By the early 1920s, B’nai Israel had affiliated with the Conservative movement, while Adath Jeshurun retained its affiliation with Orthodoxy.
Adath Jeshurun built a synagogue in 1923 at the corner of Margaretta and St. Clair streets and was colloquially known as "The Margaretta Street Shul." It renovated the building in 1958 and 1971 and added a social hall in 1977.
Spiritual leaders include Rabbi Aaron Ashinsky, Rabbi Morris Alimelech Levin, Rabbi Noah Golinkin, Rabbi Morris Landes, and Rabbi Alan Pruss.
Torath Chaim Congregation
Torath Chaim Congregation was founded in 1927 by relatives of Rabbi Jacob Joseph Hurvitz. The first meeting was the bar mitzvah of Samuel E. Shapiro on September 17, 1927, held in a newly purchased house at 728 N. Negley Ave.
Torath Chaim renovated the building in 1931 and again in 1948. The later renovation expanded the sanctuary to include seating for 700 people on two levels, a mural painted by Samuel Savage, and a dramatic façade featuring a large menorah.
In its final years, Torath Chaim Congregation increasingly relied upon students from Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh to lead services during the year and especially on the High Holidays. With the decline in the Jewish population of the East End, the congregation became the last formal Jewish institution in the neighborhood, closing in 2004.
Spiritual leaders of Torath Chaim Congregation include Rabbi Jacob Joseph Hurvitz, Rabbi Mordecai Glatstein, Rabbi Bernard Meth, and Rabbi Irving Grumer.
Machsikei Hadas
Machsikei Hadas Congregation was founded in Pittsburgh around 1896 by Jewish immigrants from the historic Galicia region of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Several early members were from the city of Belz and followed the Belz Chasidic Dynasty. The name “Machsikei Hadas” (Defenders of the Faith) was almost certainly a reference to the Jewish political party and newspaper of the same name that emerged from Galicia around the same time.
Machsikei Hadas met in a rented storefront at 65 Crawford Street in the Hill District until 1911, when it laid the cornerstone on a newly built synagogue at the corner of Wylie Avenue and Granville Street. With the migration of the Jewish population to the east, Machsikei Hadas relocated to a renovated house at 814 N. Negley Avenue in the East End in 1953.
piritual leaders included Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz, Rabbi Samuel Zahler, and Rabbi Wolf Leiter, who led the congregation from 1921 until his death in 1974.
Upon closing in the mid-1980s, Machsikei Hadas donated all its sanctuary furnishings to the newly formed Rauh Jewish Archives.
Cneseth Israel Congregation
Cneseth Israel Congregation was founded in December 1903 by a contingent from Ohel Jacob Congregation, which later became New Light Congregation. Like those congregations, Cneseth Israel was initially associated with Jewish immigrants from Romania. Its synagogue was colloquially known for a time as “the little Romanian shul.” Cneseth Israel rented meeting space at various locations throughout the Hill District until 1910, when it purchased a former Mormon church on Miller Street for $5,600 and converted the building into a synagogue. The congregation was initially led in a part-time capacity by Rabbi Eliyahu Kochin but was mostly lay-led throughout its existence.
Cneseth Israel dedicated a new synagogue in 1946 at a converted house at 1112 N. Negley Ave. in the Highland Park section of the East End. The congregation remained in the building until 1978, when it merged with nearby Adath Jeshurun Congregation. The merged congregation relocated to Monroeville in 1996 and eventually closed in 2002.
Beth Mogen David
Congregation Beth Mogen David began in the Hill District of Pittsburgh by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. It obtained a charter in 1934 as Congregation Kehilleth Isaac and initially met at 11 Miller St., in the home of member George Stern. Kehilleth Isaac formally changed its name in 1936 to Beth Mogen David and rededicated a former synagogue at 21 Miller St. that had originally been used by Moogen David Congregation.
Beth Mogen David partnered with Shaare Zedeck Congregation in 1937 to bring Rabbi Abraham B. Zilberberg to Pittsburgh to lead both congregations. In the 1940s, Zilberberg oversaw the relocation of Beth Mogen David to 825Highview St. in the East End. The congregation informally closed sometime after Rabbi Zilberberg’s death in 1962.
IMAGES: [1] Percentage of Jewish Households by Census Tract, 1938. [2] Percentage of Jewish Households by Census Tract, 1963 [3] Distribution of Jewish population by region 1976 and 1984
In addition to these congregations, the East End became home to a branch of the Hebrew Institute and later to a branch of the Y-IKC, as well as amenities like a kosher butcher shop [Kronzek], a Jewish grocery store [Roth's], Jewish charities [East Liberty Ladies Free Loan Association], and Jewish restaurants [Delma's].
The Jewish population of the East End remained somewhat stable through the 1960s, although a segment gradually migrated to the nearby Stanton Heights neighborhood.
The Jewish population of the East End began to decline in the 1970s, following redevelopment efforts in East Liberty and a regional consolidation of the Jewish population into the neighborhoods of Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and Greenfield.