Gemilas Chesed Synagogue (1)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Gemilas Chesed Congregation was the first Jewish congregation in McKeesport, Pa.
The congregation was founded by a group of Jewish immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire who came to the region in the mid-1880s. They established Gemilas Chesed Austro-Hungarian Hebrew Congregation in late 1886, purchased land for a cemetery on February 25, 1887, acquired a Torah scroll the following month, and then obtained a charter. The by-laws of the congregation were approved in 1890. Gemilas Chesed met in rented halls until purchasing a house on Third Avenue in 1891. The congregation purchased a lot at Third Avenue and Market Street in 1900 for $5,000 and dedicated a new synagogue with a mikveh in 1904. The congregation purchased additional burial property in Elrod Cemetery in 1907 and later purchased a building at 211 Third Ave. to use as a Hebrew school for children. The congregation later contributed $5,000 toward the future Hebrew Institute of McKeesport. The congregation revised its bylaws in 1914 and paid off its Third Avenue synagogue in 1917.
With the suburbanization of McKeesport after World War II, Gemilas Chesed relocated to nearby White Oak in the early 1960s. The original synagogue on Third Avenue was sold for $225,000. A farewell service was held on Oct. 30, 1960, before demolition. Items removed before demolition included the marble ark, usable pews, and chandeliers. Property at Summit and Center streets in White Oak was purchased in 1961 for $35,000. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Jan. 21, 1962 and the cornerstone was dedicated on May 12, 1963. The building was designed by the architectural firm Liff and Justh and built by general contractor Clyde Munnell with woodwork by the Zell Brothers.
Between 1966 and 1976, the lower level of the White Oak synagogue was completed with modern classrooms, a game room, a National Council of Synagogue Youth lounge, a Sisterhood meeting room, the Spitz Library, and the rabbi’s office. The original bima, marble ark, lights, and pews from the Third Street shul were installed in the new daily “beis hamedrash” sanctuary. Gemilas Chesed celebrated the completion of the mortgage on the property in 1972. It established a second cemetery in 1976.
The earliest Jewish women’s organizations in McKeesport were the Hebrew Ladies Beneficial Society and the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, which both started around World War I. The Gemilas Chesed Sisterhood began in 1961. It immediately raised funds for the new synagogue in White Oak and subsequently supported many of the initiatives of the congregation, as well as its own initiatives. The Gemilas Chesed Brotherhood was founded in 1963. It raised funds through an annual sweepstakes raffle and banquet.
Gemilas Chesed Congregation remained operational as of 2024 as one of the few remaining small-town Orthodox Jewish congregations in the United States. It continued to have a minyan, a mikvah, an eruv, a chevra kaddisha, and adult learning programs.
Spiritual leaders include Rabbi Wolf Levine, Reverend Elijah Klein, Rabbi Miller, Reverend Frankel, Rabbi Wolf Levy, Rabbi A. Pollak, Rabbi Chaim Kaplan, M.N. Stiskin, Rabbi Mordecai Shick, Rabbi Irvin Chinn, and Rabbi Moshe Russell.
Rabbi Irvin Chinn (1929-2008) and Rebbetzin Denah Chinn (1929-2011) led Gemilas Chesed Congregation for 50 years. Rabbi Chinn was ordained at Mesivta Torah Vodaath in New York and joined Gemilas Chesed in 1958, after serving the Jewish community of Shenandoah, Pa. Among their many initiatives in McKeesport, the Chinns started Cherish Your Shabbat (CYS), a nursery school, a day camp, and a congregational boy scouts troop, as well as a boys’ Mesivta and adult education program to the synagogue. The Chinns also organized trips to Israel for the McKeesport community starting in 1968 and were later honored by the State of Israel with the Shalom Award for Tourism.
