New Light Torah scroll relocation
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Elovitz brothers were restaurateurs and restaurant workers in Pittsburgh. Harry and Anna Sarah Elovitz immigrated to the United States with their eldest daughter Hattie around 1903. They lived for a time in New York, where they had three more children, Meyer, Hyman, and Charles. The fifth child, Gilbert, was born in Pennsylvania.
Meyer and Charles Elovitz opened Cheesy’s restaurant at 6497 Washington Blvd. as early as 1934 and appear to have rebranded it as Cheesy’s Moonlight Garden the following year. They opened Meyer’s De Luxe Delicatessen at 1928 Murray Ave. in 1939. They relocated to 5882 Forbes Ave. in 1942. With brother Gill, they opened Meyer’s New Haddon Hall dining room in Haddon Hall at 4730 Center Ave. in 1952. Their father Harry Elovitz had worked for the railroad for many years but increasingly joined the family business, becoming an assistant manager at the restaurant for a time.
The Elovitz family was closely associated with New Light Congregation. Charles Elovitz was part of a group that helped reorganize the congregation in the mid-1950s and served a term as president in the 1970s. The entire family is buried in the New Light Cemetery.
