Anshes Svard Galicia (McKeesport) charter
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Congregation Sfard Anshe Galicia was founded in McKeesport in 1897 by Jewish immigrants from the Galicia region of Austria-occupied Poland and was chartered in February 1898. Charter members include David Krell, H. Hecht, Chas. H. Burstein, Adolph Glass, David Buck, J. Kimmelman, and David Savage. The congregation met in rented rooms until 1908, when it dedicated a synagogue on Seventh Street in McKeesport. The name “Sfard” indicates use of the Nusach Sfard prayer book that was common among certain Ashkenazic communities in Europe and later North America.
A group broke away from Congregation Sfard in 1908 to form Kasher Israel Anshe Sfard. The two congregations merged in 1935 as Congregation Sfard. Sfard merged with Tree of Life Congregation of McKeesport in 1973 to create Tree of Life-Sfard Congregation. The new congregation dedicated a synagogue in White Oak. According to community memory, the eternal light and some of the pews from Anshe Sfard or Tree of Life may have been transferred to Young Israel Congregation in Pittsburgh. Congregation Tree of Life-Sfard closed in 2000 and sold its synagogue building to Temple B’nai Israel.
