"The Story of the Jews of Pittsburgh" (1918)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Alexander Fink (d.1892) was a Jewish merchant and philanthropist in Pittsburgh in the second half of the 19th century. Alexander and his wife Eva Fink left their home in present-day Lithuania in the mid-1840s and settled in Philadelphia by 1847. They came to Pittsburgh sometime before 1850, and Fink opened a dry goods store on Penn Avenue downtown in partnership with Jacob Silverman.[1]Fahnestock’s Pittsburgh directory for 1850, p30 (online—Historic Pittsburgh). After some time in New York, he returned to Pittsburgh around 1872.
During his first stint in Pittsburgh, Fink was a member of Shaare Shamayim Congregation. He was elected president in 1852, after a faction of Poseners from present-day Poland and Lithuania broke-away to form the short-lived Beth Israel Congregation.[2]“News Items: Pittsburg,” The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, September 1852, p317 (online—National Library of Israel). Following his return to Pittsburgh in the early 1870s, Fink assumed a new level of prominence in communal affairs. He was elected president of Tree of Life Congregation in 1872. During his presidency, the congregation undertook several major initiatives. After nearly 20 years renting meeting places throughout downtown Pittsburgh, the congregation purchased and greatly renovated a church at Fourth and Ross streets, dedicating the building in 1882 as its first permanent synagogue. The congregation hired Abraham Goldstein as a sexton and teacher in 1884, leading to long-term improvements to its religious school and its daily management. In 1886, Tree of Life became one of the first congregations to endorse the Jewish Theological Seminary, an initial step toward joining what eventually became known as Conservative Judaism. Fink’s influence on the congregation was so positive that Tree of Life was colloquially known as “Fink’s Shul.”
Fink was appointed head of the Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1876. He held the position until shortly before his death and was succeeded by Abraham Lippman. Fink oversaw the charitable organization during the 1880s, when thousands of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire arrived in the Pittsburgh area.[3]“Hundreds to Help,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, July 27, 1890 (online—Newspapers.com). He also led the society through its merger with the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society in 1880 to create the United Hebrew Relief Association. Fink was an inaugural board member of the J. M. Gusky Hebrew Orphanage in 1890.
Alexander Fink and his wife Eva Fink (d.1895) had six children.
References
| ↑1 | Fahnestock’s Pittsburgh directory for 1850, p30 (online—Historic Pittsburgh). |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | “News Items: Pittsburg,” The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, September 1852, p317 (online—National Library of Israel). |
| ↑3 | “Hundreds to Help,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, July 27, 1890 (online—Newspapers.com). |
