Eric Lidji
Eric Lidji
Dr. Barbara K. Shore (at podium) with (seated, left to right) Dr. Leonard A. Cohen, Norman Krochmal, and Arthur Abelson, presenting the findings of the Stanton Heights Self-Study Committee at a community meeting at Sunnyside Elementary School on April 25, 1956. (American Jewish Outlook, Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project.)
January 16, 2025, 9:01 am
The shul that wasn’t there
Stanton Heights was one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in Pittsburgh after World War II but never built institutions of its own.
By Eric Lidji
Noah’s wife holding a scroll of Hebrew text listing the pairs of animals bound for travel on the ark (Photo by Seth Glick)
December 19, 2024, 10:33 am
Who made the scroll in Noah’s Ark?
The beloved Kennywood Park amusement ride features a scroll with Hebrew text. Using the available records, is it possible to determine who made it?
By Eric Lidji
Jones & Laughlin Steel Company commissioned a new headquarters at 200 Ross St. and left in the early 1950s to join the new Gateway Center development (Photo courtesy of the Detre Library & Archives at the Heinz History Center)
November 17, 2024, 8:05 pm
The brief, consequential Jewish history of 200 Ross St.
The 11th floor of the historic downtown office building played an important role in the development of Jewish communal affairs in the 1950s.
By Eric Lidji
Rabbi Jacob with wife, Irene, in Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden. (Photo provided by Rodef Shalom)
October 28, 2024, 11:36 am
Rabbi Walter Jacob dies at 94
The long-serving rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation leaves behind a global legacy of scholarship and kindness.
By Eric Lidji
Dr. Hedwig O. Pregler (seated) was honored by a group of her former students in 1995, including Marga Silberman Randall, M. (Fuss) Chisick, Sidney Rosen, “David,” Soralie (Levin) Goldfarb, Ellen (Baskind) Langue, Lois Gershuny, and Anita “Nicky” Gordon. Dr. Pregler died the following year. (Photo courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives)
October 16, 2024, 11:51 am
The Colfax Plan
Eighty years ago, the principal of Colfax implemented a new idea for educating gifted students.
By Eric Lidji
Starting in the mid-1960s, the Israel Aliyah Center posted regular advertisements in this newspaper encouraging locals to make aliyah. (Image from the Jewish Chronicle, Feb. 3, 1967, via the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project)
September 23, 2024, 9:24 am
A firsthand view of war
Pittsburgh learned about the Yom Kippur War from a handful of Pittsburghers — including a small group of passionate teenagers and 20-somethings.
By Eric Lidji
“The Aqueduct, Pittsburgh,” by Russell Smith, c. 1832, (from the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art) shows the Pennsylvania Canal’s entrance in Pittsburgh.
August 26, 2024, 9:11 am
Going west
The Pennsylvania Canal and the founding of a Jewish community.
By Eric Lidji
Ida Cohen Selavan Schwarcz (Photo courtesy of her family)
July 22, 2024, 2:08 pm
Ida (Chaya Sara) Cohen Selavan Schwarcz, z”l
Through a long and expansive career, Schwarcz built a foundation of scholarship that continues to shape our knowledge about the Jewish history of Western Pennsylvania.
By Eric Lidji
The 2000 block of Murray, showing Pinsker’s, M. Fogel Meats, Murray News Stand, Stern’s Café, and Kablin’s Market— Nov. 3, 1965. (Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs, Detre Library & Archives)
June 6, 2024, 1:02 pm
Squirrel Hill gets parking garages
In the third of a three-part series, the city tries to accommodate a huge influx of traffic without upsetting the delicate balance between residents and businesses.
By Eric Lidji
Workers painting a storefront in the 2100 block of Murray Avenue, just up from the corner of Murray and Douglas, June 25, 1951 (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections)
June 4, 2024, 7:51 pm
Squirrel Hill gets parking lots
In the second of a three-part series, the city negotiates the construction of the first parking lots in Squirrel Hill. Giant Eagle works on building a third.
By Eric Lidji
Shoppers on Murray Avenue facing north toward Bartlett Street, near the current Giant Eagle, July 10, 1947. The city metered the street in 1940. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections)
May 24, 2024, 8:24 am
Squirrel Hill gets parking meters
In the first of a three-part series, Squirrel Hill business owners ask for meters to bring order to the commercial district. Fights ensue.
By Eric Lidji
Photograph from the Feb. 21, 1964, edition of the Jewish Chronicle, showing the aftermath of the fire that damaged The Kosher Restaurant. (Courtesy: Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project)
April 10, 2024, 2:14 pm
The fleishig whirligig
Between the mid-1940s and the early 1960s, a persistent group of Orthodox men tried three times to create a kosher meat restaurant in Pittsburgh.
By Eric Lidji
Dr. Solomon B. Freehof of Rodef Shalom Congregation watches Leon Falk Jr. give an address in the new Falk Auditorium of Temple Sinai during the dedication of an addition to the synagogue complex in May 1958—photograph by Hans Jonas. (Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives)
February 29, 2024, 10:25 am
Rodef Shalom, Temple Sinai and “A Marvelous Example”
Facing over-capacity in the mid-1940s, Rodef Shalom decided to try something new for Jewish Pittsburgh: starting a new congregation.
By Martha Berg and Eric Lidji
The 2000 block of Murray Avenue, showing Pinsker’s, M. Fogel Meats, Murray News Stand, Stern’s Café, Kablin’s Market, and other shops — Nov. 3, 1965. (Photo courtesy of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs, Detre Library & Archives)
February 15, 2024, 11:55 am
A visit to Squirrel Hill, 1963
Graduate students for the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work visited Squirrel Hill in the early 1960s to study its Jewish community.
By Eric Lidji
"Jeannette — and a Jewish chicken,” from Frieda LaVictoire’s 1970 collection of Poetry, “Tsu Zingen un Zogen” (Image courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives)
January 22, 2024, 7:47 pm
A façade of a façade of a façade
A building, a photograph, a dream, a poem, a friendship
By Eric Lidji
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