Eric Lidji
Eric Lidji
A certificate from Congregation Beth Shalom for the bat mitzvah of Ruth Lieberman in 1925 — part of the first group bat mitzvah ceremony held by the congregation. Without a “bat mitzvah” certificate, the congregation was forced to repurpose the standard “bar mitzvah” certificate. (Image courtesy Rauh Jewish Archives)
May 27, 2025, 8:40 am
Proto-Reconstructionism in Pittsburgh
In the rudimentary days of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s revolution in the early 1920s, Pittsburgh appears to have flirted with some of his ideas.
By Eric Lidji
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 production still from the 2013 production of “The Dybbuk” by the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival, showing Leah watching the burial of Channon. (Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives)
March 9, 2025, 12:26 pm
‘The Dybbuk’ returns
In the last of a three-part series, “The Dybbuk” is revived locally on stage through three community theatre productions in 1984, 1993, and 2013.
By Eric Lidji
Gabe Rubin’s Art Cinema downtown hosted the Pittsburgh premier of the film adaptation of “The Dybbuk” in September 1938. An advertisement in the local Y Weekly described the movie as “a picture that oversteps all boundaries of language.” (Image courtesy of the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project)
February 27, 2025, 9:49 am
‘The Dybbuk’ again and again
In the second of a three-part series, “The Dybbuk” returns to Pittsburgh again and again from the late 1920s to the early 1990s through theater and film.
By Eric Lidji
The original Habima Players production of “The Dybbuk” was everywhere regarded as a stunning theatrical experience where the acting, sets, lighting, perfectly harmonized with the text of the play to create a stunning theatrical experience. The Jewish Criterion printed this production still from the third act to encourage local audiences to attend an upcoming performance in Pittsburgh in June 1927.
February 23, 2025, 7:55 pm
A dybbuk comes to Pittsburgh
In the first of a three-part series, program from a 1927 production of “The Dybbuk” reveals a century-long tradition of Jewish theater in Pittsburgh
By 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
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