Guide to the Records of the Homestead Hebrew Congregation, 1901-1991
Arrangement
Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Records of the Homestead Hebrew Congregation
Creator
Homestead Hebrew Congregation
Collection Number
MSS#107
Extent
9.0 cubic feet(16 boxes)
Date
1901-1991
Abstract
The Homestead Hebrew Congregation was organized in 1894 as an Orthodox congregation to serve what was then a small Jewish community in Homestead (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania. These records include financial ledgers, record books, meeting minutes, bills and receipts, correspondence, and other sundry items. These records provide comprehensive information relating to the Congregation's finances and individual congregants through collection, donation, and cemetery records.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Rachel Balliet on February 18, 1994. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Summer, 2001.
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
History of the Homestead Hebrew Congregation/Rodef Shalom (1894-1992)
The Homestead Hebrew Congregation was organized in 1894 as an Orthodox congregation to serve what was then a small Jewish community in Homestead (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania. Homestead's Jewish population primarily included immigrants from Lithuania and Hungary. Despite the growth in subsequent years of the Jewish community in Homestead, the Homestead Hebrew Congregation remained the only congregation in the area and served as the center of the community's religious and social activities until the early 1950's. During and after the 1950s, the Congregation saw its membership decline as migration away from the declining industrial town drew congregants to suburbs and other new communities. The Congregation eventually disbanded in 1992.
The Homestead Hebrew Congregation started with only 18 chartered members, who in 1896 purchased a plot of land in Homeville (Pa.) to serve as the congregants' cemetery. In 1901 a lot on Ammon Street in Homestead was purchased for the site of the Congregation's first synagogue. Dedicated in 1902, this building served the growing Jewish community of Homestead, Munhall, McKeesport, and other neighboring areas. In this same year the Ladies' Auxiliary was established and in 1906 the first religious school was organized. The Congregation continued to serve newly arriving immigrants and despite dissention in 1907 with the establishment of another synagogue, B'nai Jacob (which only lasted two years), the Homestead Hebrew Congregation remained the only synagogue in the area. In 1911, the synagogue caught fire and burned beyond repair. By this time the Congregation had grown to about 65 families. The loss of the synagogue to fire enabled the Congregation to plan for a larger facility in order to accommodate the growing Jewish community. In March of 1911, a new location on 10th Avenue and McClure Street in Homestead was purchased and construction soon began for a new, larger synagogue which was completed in 1914. The Homestead Hebrew Congregation sponsored several activities and organizations over the next several decades including the B'nai B'rith Lodge #586, youth groups, a United Hebrew Charities, and a Sunday and Hebrew school. The cemetery in Homeville was administered by an active "Chevra Kadisha" (meaning "Holy Friends" or "Sanctified Group", burial society which administrates all aspects of caring for the deceased) which served both members and non-members of the community. The Congregation continued to increase with an estimated membership of 325 families in the 1940's and 1950's. In the late 1950's however, the Congregation's membership declined to 250 families, as many young members began moving out of Homestead and no new families replaced them. Congregants continued to leave Homestead and contiguous areas throughout the 1960's and 1970's, but members often came back to the synagogue for special events and holiday services. By the 1980's, the Congregation had declined significantly and, as a result, daily "minyans" (quorum of ten men) and Saturday services ceased, although Sunday "minyans" continued. By 1992, the Congregation consisted of only a few members and as needed repairs to the synagogue were prohibitively expensive it was decided that the Congregation would disband and the synagogue closed in December. The Beth Shalom Congregation of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh assumed responsibility for the upkeep of the cemetery and the notification of "yahrzeits" (anniversary of loved one's death). Beth Shalom also received the Congregation's Judaica. In January of 1993, the Community of the Crucified One purchased the synagogue.
Scope and Content Notes
These records include financial ledgers, record books, meeting minutes, bills and receipts, correspondence, and other sundry items. These records provide comprehensive information relating to the Congregation's finances and individual congregants through collection, donation, and cemetery records. Various records often overlap or are interfiled both in the early and late periods of the Congregation. Records from the 1940's and 1950's, when the Congregation was at its largest, are separated into specific books and are maintained consistently. The early records have been organized together within the administrative materials and include several early speeches that help document the history of the Congregation. The strengths of this collection are primarily its financial and genealogical records, although the meeting minutes provide a thorough account of the organization and administration of the Congregation over the years. Genealogical information from donation and collection records is primarily limited to the adult male members of each family. Information regarding female congregants can be obtained from cemetery records or materials from the Congregation's Sisterhood. The correspondence primarily includes membership concerns or sympathy notes and provides little information on the operation of the synagogue. The religious school materials are not comprehensive, although some student record cards are included, 1956-1967, with teaching aids and activities used in the classroom. While providing strong primary resources to document the history of the Congregation, these records lack detailed information regarding the Congregation's rabbis or other material documenting Jewish life in Homestead outside of the synagogue.
Arrangement
The Homestead Hebrew Congregation Records are arranged in three series. Series have been designated for administrative materials, cemetery records and materials related to the Congregation's religious school.
The Homestead Hebrew Congregation Records are housed in 16 archival boxes.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in one accession in 1993.
Acc# 1993.0120 Gift of Robert and Clarice Katz.(Records. Mr. and Mrs. Katz were members of the Homestead Hebrew Congregation and donated these records on behalf of the Congregation).
Preferred Citation
Records of the Homestead Hebrew Congregation, 1901-1991, MSS# 107, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Rachel Balliet on February 18, 1994.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on August 16, 2001.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Separated Materials
To the Museum Programs Division, several miscellaneous items have been separately cataloged.
To the Oversized Collection, one folder has been separately arranged as MSO#107. This folder contains blank copies of the Congregation's seating charts. The charts do not include any names.
The seating charts from 1932 (formerly housed in box 3, folder 1) and 1964 (formerly housed in box 3, folder 2) have been stored separately in a flat file drawer.
Subjects
Corporate Names
B'nai B'rith (Homestead, Pa.)
Chevra Kadisha (Homestead, Pa.)
Congregation Poale Zedeck (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Homestead Zionist Association (Homestead, Pa.)
Independent Order of B'nai B'rith (Homestead, Pa.)
Ladies' Aid Society (Homestead, Pa.)
Personal Names
Weiss, Joshua
Geographic Names
Homestead (Pa.) -- Genealogy
Homestead (Pa.) -- Religion
Homestead (Pa.) -- Social life and customs
Other Subjects
Cemeteries -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
Charities -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
Education -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
Hungarian Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
Jewish families -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
Jewish religious education -- Pennsylvania -- Homestead
