Jewish Synagogues

Jews have been present in the territory that would eventually become the city of Pittsburgh almost since the beginning. The first recognizable settled Jews being David Franks, Levi A. Levy, and William Trent who manned a permanent trading post in the settlement at the forks of the Ohio River in 1760. From these early roots, the Jewish presence in Pittsburgh gradually grew, becoming an integral part of the city's evolving cultural and social fabric.

Ever since, the Jewish population of Pittsburgh has been a small but steady presence in the city’s history. While mostly associated with Squirrel Hill today, the Hill District was once another center of Jewish Life in Pittsburgh. In fact, the Jewish community of the Hill was an even older community than the current Jewish community of Squirrel Hill. This transformation in Jewish settlement patterns becomes particularly striking when examining the once-thriving Jewish community of the Hill District.

While the Hill District is often more associated with the African-American population of Pittsburgh, 20 Synagogues stood within its limits between 1890 and 1925. The Majority of the Hill’s Jewish population consisted of Eastern European Jews who migrated to the United States in the latter half of the 19th Century, starting in the 1870s and continuing till just after the First World War. As the center of Jewish spiritual and community life, Synagogues soon sprouted up. The proliferation of synagogues in the Hill District serves as a testament to the centrality of religious and community life for these Jewish immigrants.

Building off of practices established in Germany and Eastern Europe, many of these Synagogues were simple and temporary affairs established in the backs of houses and businesses, however a few larger brick and mortar synagogues would be established. One of the more noteworthy being Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob Congregation. Founded under a different name by Lithuanian Jewish Immigrants in 1869, it would later move locations and rename itself in 1892. Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob was an Orthodox Synagogue (a Traditionalist Branch of Judaism) and was the self-proclaimed center of Orthodox Judaism in Greater Pittsburgh. Despite their modest beginnings, some of these synagogues evolved into enduring institutions that played pivotal roles in shaping Pittsburgh's Jewish identity.

Another notable Synagogue was Kether Torah, another Orthodox Congregation established around the same time as Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob. Kether Torah was a smaller congregation and at the time sponsored a Jewish Cemetery in the Hill District. While they separated in the 1960s as Pittsburgh’s Jews moved into the suburbs and wealthier neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill thanks to both growing financial capabilities of Pittsburgh Jews and the repeals of many red line laws for Jews after World War II and Jewish religious law requiring Synagogues to be close to the Jewish places of living, both the Congregation and the original structure have survived though the building that once housed the Kether Torah Synagogue is now a Christian Church. Kether Torah’s story offers another perspective on the religious and cultural adaptation of the Hill District's Jewish community, paralleling the narrative of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob.

The Story of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob Synagogue is similar in that they also moved as a congregation out of the Hill in the 1960s and after a series of moves ended up at its current location on 5th Avenue. Like countless other businesses, homes, and religious structures, the Original Synagogue was purchased under eminent domain and demolished along with much of the Hill with the Urban Renewal Projects of the 60s. Yet, the story of these synagogues also underscores the broader social and economic shifts that led to the gradual decline of the Hill District as a center of Jewish life.

The Jews of the Hill District largely left the Hill during this period and resettled in Squirrel Hill and Oakland starting in the 50s and have largely abandoned the Hill despite its significance as the former center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh however in the institutional memory of many Pittsburgh Synagogues and in some buildings still standing in the Hill, that history can still be seen. While the Jewish presence in the Hill District has diminished, the area remains a poignant reminder of its historical significance to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

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