Shaaray Tefilah synagogue (Miller Street)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Beth David Congregation was founded in 1905 by a group of Jewish immigrants from present-day Moldova and Belarus who may have broken away from Beth Zedeck Congregation. Some of the founders were survivors of recent pogroms in Kishinev, Gomel, and other locations throughout the Russian Empire. The congregation immediately began construction of a synagogue on Miller Street in the Hill District. From photographs, the building appears to have been a near-exact replica of the New Light Congregation synagogue dedicated on nearby Roberts Street in 1903. During the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the synagogue in August 1905, a platform collapsed over the construction site, wounded several including Rabbi Aaron Mordechai Ashinsky. Before the synagogue was dedicated, Beth David merged with Beth Zedeck to create the new Shaaray Tefillah Congregation, which subsequently used the Miller Street building.
Beth David obtained a charter in late 1905 with Samuel Blitstein, Harry Gersman, Louis Gratz, Nathan Nathanson, and Morris Ostrovsky were listed as charter members. The congregation hired Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz as its part-time spiritual leader.
