synagogues
A security camera hangs across the street from the Park East Synagogue, in New York City. Jewish institutions are tightening security amid rising threats. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
February 5, 2026, 10:52 am
Jewish leaders concerned about unclear political conditions on federal security grants
After months of inquiries from Jewish groups and lawmakers, the federal government has yet to clarify whether immigration and DEI policies could affect synagogue security funding.
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
Temple Hadar Israel religious chairman Art Epstein, left, and President Sam Bernstine prepare to ship a Torah to Houston when the synagogue closes in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Sam Bernstine)
November 21, 2025, 10:40 am
JCLP guides congregations through sustainability, mergers and last chapters
Several congregations in western Pennsylvania are in transition. The Jewish Community Legacy Project is there to lend a hand.
By Deborah Weisberg
Nik Jakobs blew the shofar at a unique Rosh Hashanah service held in a field in northwestern Illinois. (Photo by Benyamin Cohen)
November 10, 2025, 11:46 am
This Jewish farmer is harvesting corn — and planting a synagogue — in the Illinois prairie
Amid the harvest, descendants of Holocaust survivors paused their farmwork to pray in a tent beside the fields — the first step toward a new synagogue in the American heartland.
By Benyamin Cohen
Rabbi Pinchas N. Gross (left) and Harry Katz (right) at a Dec. 25, 1954, meeting to select a new name for the former Eastmont Hebrew Congregation, now known as Parkway Jewish Center Shaar Ha-shamayim. (Image provided by Rauh Jewish Archives)
April 17, 2025, 12:05 pm
The name game
Western Pennsylvania has had a lot of synagogues over the years, and so many of the most popular names for synagogue have been reused here many times.
By Eric Lidji
A worker installs a solar panel. (Photo by Los Muertos Crew via Pexels)
December 29, 2024, 9:19 am
Jewish tradition meets sustainability: Pittsburgh synagogues go solar
'Make certain that you do not ruin and destroy My world, for if you destroy it, there will be no one to mend it after you'
By Adam Reinherz
A 14th-century synagogue Utrera was unearthed by archeologists in Spain. (Courtesy Utrera City council)
February 9, 2023, 3:40 pm
A hospital-turned-church-turned-bar in Spain revealed as medieval synagogue
The synagogue complex in Utrera, in the province of Seville, is believed to be among the largest ever found on the Iberian Peninsula from the medieval era.
By Orge Castellano
Jeff Rubin believes synagogues should work harder at being welcoming. Photo by Krissy Venosdale, courtesy of flickr.com.
September 29, 2022, 11:42 am
For the sin we have sinned by making people feel unwelcome at synagogues
The Pew study revealed that 7% of American Jews do not attend synagogue regularly because they “don’t feel welcome.”
By Jeff Rubin
Photo taken by Jorge Novominsky for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism via Flickr
April 4, 2022, 12:12 pm
After two years of lonely seders, Pittsburghers ready to open their homes
Sitting together is a reminder that the seder isn't a performance, 'it's something you do.'
By Adam Reinherz
A Passover Seder for 1,500 people is held in the decorated sports hall at Kibbutz Na'an in 1971. Photo by Fritz Cohen courtesy of Government Press Office via Flickr
April 1, 2022, 4:47 pm
Passover 2022 brings the return of communal seders in Pittsburgh
At synagogues and spaces throughout the area, groups plan holiday celebrations
By Adam Reinherz
Uh, oh, look who showed up for Purim in 2018. Photo by Barry Werber
March 3, 2022, 4:37 pm
Jewish Pittsburgh returns to ‘normal’ Purim
After a prolonged period at home, the community is grabbing its graggers and getting ready to celebrate
By Adam Reinherz
The exterior of the synagogue in Vidin features the outlines of windows in the shape of the Ten Commandments. It was designed by the famed Austrian architect Friedrich Grünanger. (Jonah Goldman Kay/JTA)
August 11, 2021, 9:25 am
A dilapidated Bulgarian synagogue to become a cultural center
The renovated space will be a lifeline for a dwindling population
By Jonah Goldman Kay
An Orthodox Jewish man wearing a mask prays at an outdoor Yom Kippur service on New York City's Upper West amid the coronavirus pandemic, Sept. 28, 2020. Edieal Pinker believes we should be investing resources in the Orthodox community. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images via JTA)
December 3, 2020, 11:08 am
Repeal of synagogue restrictions won’t change things for shuls like mine
"By insisting on protocols that meet and exceed the expectations of public health officials, we can model responsible civic conduct."
By Rabbi Yosie Levine
May 28, 2020, 9:17 am
With High Holidays on the horizon, high anxiety for synagogues
Safety must come first in the age of the pandemic
By David Suissa
(Photo from Flash90)
June 19, 2019, 10:14 am
Keeping synagogue relevant
By Andrew Neft
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