Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.)

Congregation Beth Israel of Allegheny Pa. was located in the Deutschtown neighborhood of the current North Side. Jewish immigrants began settling in the area in the late 1880s, when the area was an independent municipality called Allegheny City. A group began meeting for regular prayer services in 1890. Early members included B. Patz, M. Odel, Mr. Keptner, S. Horn, J. Bennett, H. Jacob, H. Hartman, L. Chaitkin, S. Chaitkin, M. Wolfe, and M. Marks as members. The group initially met at an unidentified hall on Third Street (now Tripoli Street) and later at Mendel’s Hall on East Ohio Street.

Through a series of meetings in early 1907, the group adopted the named Beth Israel, obtained a charter, and acquired the former First German Regular Baptist Church at 801 East Street. The newly formed Beth Israel Ladies Auxiliary acquired a Torah scroll and also oversaw the creation and maintenance of a congregational religious school.

Congregation Beth Israel hired Rabbi Henry Tolochko as its first spiritual leader soon after its incorporation. He remained with the congregation until the early 1920s, when he became the cantor of Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill. Rev. Adolph Levin was hired in 1932 and remained with the congregation until his retirement in the 1940s.

With the growth of Jewish communal infrastructure in Squirrel Hill in the 1930s and 1940s, the Jewish population of the entire North Side declined, as did membership at Beth Israel. By the mid-1960s, Beth Israel had 15 families and was only opened for Jewish holidays. Beth Israel dissolved in 1969 and sold its synagogue, donating the proceeds to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. It sent two Torah scrolls to the North Hills Jewish Community Center, two scrolls to Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Va., and one scroll to an unidentified group in Israel. Some dedicatory plaques from the Beth Israel synagogue went to Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Bibliography

Rauh Jewish Archives

• Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.) Records [2013.0102] (catalog record).
• Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.) Records [2014.0106] (catalog record).
• Beth Israel Congregation Ladies’ Auxiliary (Allegheny, Pa.) Records [2018.0230] (catalog record).
• Beth Israel Congregation Ladies’ Auxiliary (Allegheny, Pa.) Records [MFF 4850] (catalog record).
• “Constitution and by-laws of the Beth Israel Congregation of Allegheny, Pa.” [BM225 .P692 B4 1908 d] (catalog record).
• “Beth Israel (Allegheny),” Pittsburgh Jewish Community Book, 1921 (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
• “Beth Israel (Allegheny),” Pittsburgh Jewish Community Book, 1924 (catalog record).
• “35th Anniversary Celebration,” Congregation Beth Israel (Allegheny) [BM225 .P692 B4 1942] (catalog record).
• Feldman, Jacob. “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1986 (catalog record).

University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections

• Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.) synagogue (1907), “Allegheny Center, East Allegheny. Plate 4,” G.M. Hopkins Co. (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
• Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.) synagogue (1910), “North Shore, Allegheny West, Allegheny Center, East Allegheny, Central Northside. Plate 35,” G.M. Hopkins Co. (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
• Beth Israel Congregation (Allegheny, Pa.) synagogue (1939), “East Allegheny. Plate 4 B, Revision,” G.M. Hopkins Co. (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
• “A community profile of East North Side,” 1974 (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
• “An atlas of the North Side: East North Side Area neighborhood of Pittsburgh,” 1977 (online—Historic Pittsburgh).

Newspapers.com

• Beth Israel Congregation of Allegheny, Pa. notice of application of charter, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 28, 1907 (online—Newspapers.com).
• “Two Synagogues, Newly Built, Thrown Open,” Pittsburgh Post, Sept. 2, 1907 (online—Newspapers.com).
• “Pittsburgh Jews Dedicate Two Handsome Temples,” Pittsburgh Gazette, Sept. 2, 1907 (online—Newspapers.com).
• “North Side Synagogue and Minister,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Feb. 7, 1923 (online—Newspapers.com).
• Rimmel, William M. “Landmark,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 5, 1966 (online—Newspapers.com).

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

• Rudin, Rabbi James. “Memories of Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, June 24, 2020 (online—Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle).
• Tabachnick, Toby. “North Sider striving to keep memory alive of 19th-century Jewish woman,” Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 16, 2020 (online—Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle).
• Vellucci, Justin. “Historical marker unveiled for Pittsburgh founder of NCJW” Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 30, 2020 (online—Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle).

Exhibit history

• Author: Eric Lidji
• Original: September 4, 2022
• Current: September 4, 2022