PSRF Confirmation Class [1958]
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Pittsburgh School for Reform Judaism was an experimental religious school organized by families associated with Rodef Shalom Congregation. The school focused on the ethical teachings of Judaism, specifically the tenets of Classical Reform.
According to mother and teacher Elizabeth Schuster, the Pittsburgh School for Reform Judaism emerged from dissatisfaction by students and parents with the curriculum of the Rodef Shalom religious school. Despite the split, these families remained members of the congregation. The school was chartered in November 1954 for “the establishment and maintenance of a religious school offering without consideration or profit, training in the principles of Reform Judaism as a religious faith as distinguished from an ethnological concept, as well as the study of comparative religions, their philosophy and history, for the better understanding of Reform Judaism.” Signatories were Edward G. Oppenheimer, Joel Spear Jr., James D. Haber, Foster S. Goldman and Eugene B. Schuster.
Generally shunned by the organized Jewish community, the Pittsburgh School for Reform Judaism met in a series of non-Jewish spaces throughout Shadyside and East Liberty, including the University School at 5711 Howe St., the East Liberty YMCA at 122 Whitfield St., and the Shadyside Boys Club at 6 Brownell St. Parents taught most classes, and some even received formal training. Out-of-town clergy including Rabbi Richard E. Singer of Highland Park, Ill. and Rabbi Samuel Baron of Westchester, N.Y generally led confirmation ceremonies. The student body had approximately 30 children at its peak. The school appears to have disbanded sometime around 1960.
