Ohave Zedeck exterior
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Ohave Zedeck Congregation was located in a section of the South Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh west of Bates Street, in a self-contained area sometimes called Oakcliffe.
According to a 1939 survey by the Works Progress Administration, Ohave Zedeck Congregation was founded in 1921, initially meeting in private homes. In a community history from 1959, the congregation listed its founding date as 1917. According to this later account, the congregation used the unfinished social hall of nearby Tree of Life Congregation until 1919, when it began meeting in homes in the area around Craft Avenue and Niagara Street. According to both accounts, the founding families of Ohave Zedeck were residents of the Hill District who had recently relocated to Oakland.
Ohave Zedeck purchased a house at 356 Craft Ave. on the corner of Niagara Street in 1921 and converted it into a synagogue. In these early years, the congregation continued to rent larger spaces throughout Oakland for the High Holidays. In a major renovation in 1936 and 1937, Ohave Zedeck demolished and rebuilt most of the street-level structure of the building to expand its sanctuary and to convert its basement into a social hall.
Following the renovation campaign, Ohave Zedeck started a religious school and a ladies auxiliary. The auxiliary declined for a time and was revived as a Sisterhood in 1953.
In 1932, the congregation purchased cemetery land in Shaler Township and built a chapel on the property. B’nai Emunoh Congregation currently manages the cemetery.
Ohave Zedeck Congregation continued to hold services into the 1970s but appears to have disbanded sometime after 1975, according to available newspaper notices.
Ohave Zedeck Congregation was primarily led by its members but often employed part-time clergy. Spiritual leaders of the congregation include Bell, Strauss, Domb, Mallinger, Gordon, Taub, Jaffee, Goldstein, Finestein, Lapidus, Hershman, Lipshitz, Zelig Rosenberg, and Rabbi Benjamin Krohn.
Surnames known to be associated with the congregation include: Beker, Belsky, Bloom, Bloomfield, Bronstein, Cohen, Copelman, Epstein, Feldstein, Freedlander, Friedman, Frishman, Gartner, Glick, Goldberg, Goldstein, Gordon, Gudinsky, Harris, Harter, Ingram, Katz, Kimball, Kirschbaum, Klein, Korn, Kostov, Leventon, Levine, Loevner, Lubetz, Mallinger, Martin, Meritser, Miller, Rosenstein, Ross, Rubenstein, Sallinger, Saltzman, Schwartz, Silverstein, Snyder, Solomon, Swatt, Tivorofsky, Weinberger, Whitman, and Wilder.
