The Jewish Hill District

Rabbi Aaron Mordechai Ashinsky founded the Beth Moshab Zakainim—or Jewish Home of the Aged—in 1905, after a regional fundraising campaign. The Home provided a place to live for the indigent elderly, especially those who were religious.

The Jewish Home for the Aged moved to Squirrel Hill in the 1930s and remains active today as the Jewish Association on Aging.

Although never Jewish-owned, the Merchants Savings and Trust Company was one of the first banks in Pittsburgh to market directly to the Jewish community.

The bank advertised in the local Jewish newspaper, provided financing for local synagogues, donated to local Jewish charities, and was patronized by Jewish customers throughout the Hill District and other parts of the city.

Local branches of the international Jewish fraternal organization the Workmen’s Circle dedicated the Labor Lyceum in 1917 as a home for Jewish labor activity in the Hill District.

The three-story building had offices, a lecture hall, a public library, and community spaces. It was a meeting place for at least 15 Jewish labor, fraternal, political, cultural, and philanthropic organizations.

The Labor Lyceum also had a dramatic club, a choir, and a Yiddish secular school. It closed in 1930, but the building remained an important meeting space for African American groups.

Known as the Chief Rabbi of Greater Pittsburgh, Rabbi Aaron Mordechai Ashinski came to Pittsburgh in 1901 to oversee Beth Hamedrash Hagodol and eventually assumed advisory roles at several other congregations in the Hill District.

A brilliant organizer, Rabbi Aaron Mordechai Ashinski helped found several of the most prominent Jewish social services and educational institutions in the neighborhood.

Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz was one of the earliest Orthodox rabbis in Pittsburgh and an important force in maintaining religious continuity as Jewish immigrants arrived in the Hill District from Europe.

He founded the first yeshiva in the city and oversaw one of its large synagogues, Shaare Torah Congregation. He was a highly regarded scholar and published numerous religious works.

The Yehoash Folk School was one of at least eight Yiddish secular schools in Pittsburgh. These schools were designed to promote a sense of Jewish identity outside of a religious framework, focusing on language, history, and culture.

The Yehoash Folk School occupied numerous locations throughout the Hill District before relocating to Squirrel Hill. It closed in the mid-1930s.

Eager for a place where young Jews could congregate on their own terms, a small group founded the Young Men's Hebrew Association in 1911.

The group moved around for years before purchasing a former Elk's Lodge in 1916. The building remained the home of the group for a decade, until it built new facilities on Bellefield Street in Oakland.

The Zionist Institute was established in 1903 as a response to concerns among traditionally minded Jews about the Americanization activities at the Columbian Council.

Located on the same block as the the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, the two organizations offered many of the same amenities.

As the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House gained the trust of the Jewish community, the Zionist Institute's influence waned. It eventually sold its property to the Lando Theater.

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol is the oldest Orthodox congregation in Pittsburgh and the only congregation to still maintain a synagogue in the greater Hill District area.

Founded in 1869 by Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, it became a major religious center in the neighborhood until it was damaged in a fire and demolished as part of urban renewal activity in the neighborhood.

The Forward was the largest Yiddish newspaper in the world. At its height, it maintained regional offices in major Jewish communities throughout the country, including the Hill District of Pittsburgh.

The local offices handled advertisements and small news items. The Pittsburgh office was run for many years by Bess Topolsky, seen here seated at the desk in the center of the room.

Stogie making was a common profession among recent Jewish immigrants to the Hill District.

As "piece work," where workers were paid by the unit rather than the hour, it offered flexibility not found in industrial work, allowing religious Jews to observe the Sabbath.

But the working conditions in stogie sweatshops were dangerous and uncomfortable, and the pay was meager, and child labor was rampant, leading to a pair of strikes in 1912 and 1913.

Fifth Avenue High School was built in 1894 for children living in the lower and middle Hill District, making it an important educational center for Jewish teenagers in the neighborhood in the early 20th century.

In addition to daytime classes for youths, the school was home to popular English language evening classes for adults.

Montefiore Hospital opened in 1908, following ten years of fundraising conducted by Jewish women in the Hill District.

The hospital addressed two areas of discrimination: against Jewish medical students who struggled to secure residencies early in their careers and against Jewish patients who had specific language and cultural needs.

Jewish in character, the hospital served patients of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It relocated to Oakland in 1928.

Built in 1916 after years of fundraising, the Hebrew Institute modernized Jewish education in Pittsburgh. It introduced modern curricula and language training, and it included young girls and children from remote neighborhoods.

It remained in the Hill District until 1943, when it relocated to Squirrel Hill.

The Irene Kaufmann Settlement House was the center of Jewish social life in the Hill District.

Founded as a small schoolhouse, it expanded into a six-story settlement house in 1911, thanks to a gift from the family behind Kaufmann's Department Store. The IKS offered health care, language and job training workshops, cultural programming, and athletic events.

As the demographics of the neighborhood changed, the building was given to the African American community and the institution relocated to Squirrel Hill.