In the Jewish experience here in Pittsburgh and throughout western Pennsylvania, synagogues and organizations have come and gone.

Jewish populations have shifted.

Whole communities have ceased to exist.

In some cases, the only visible evidence of the Hill district schule, the fraternal society, or maybe even the entire mining or mill towns, Jewish community is represented in the one element of our Jewish tradition that can't be merged, downsized, sold, closed, or abandoned.

Our Jewish cemeteries are sacred, final resting places, and it's a privilege for the Jewish cemetery and burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh to own and or manage so many of them.

Hello.

My name is Barry Rudel, executive director of the JCBA.

And welcome to our tour of JCBA cemeteries.

Few settings offer a more sense of place than a cemetery.

These museums of memory can speak to a bygone era of Lanzmann shops, of family plots, and of the cohesive nature and tightly woven fabric that is Jewish Pittsburgh and the many towns around it.

Cleveland has 70,000 Jews in 15 cemeteries.

Pittsburgh has 50,000 Jews in 45 cemeteries.

Prior to the late 1980s, there was no dedicated Jewish section in Pittsburgh's largest cemeteries, Allegheny and Homewood.

Overlay that with the polyglot of nationalities, organizations and fraternal societies on the hill and throughout Pittsburgh that all had their own cemeteries.

And one can see the uniqueness of our Jewish landscape.

Couple that with the 30 cemeteries at present in western Pennsylvania, outside of Allegheny County.

All there because of the tremendous natural resources that made these small towns, actually big towns.

And you have a Jewish geography like few others in the country.

But enough narrative.

Let's start the tour.

We are in the Carrick section of the city, just off route 51, tucked into one of the region's many hillsides.

This one can be so difficult to find that one local rabbi has been quoted as saying.

If they ever move that dairy Queen, I will never find the cemetery.

Established in 1883 by the Russian congregation on the Hill, Beth Abraham is the largest of the JCBA cemeteries, with the adjoining Shaare Zedeck Cemetery and the marked Cemetery within it.

There are close to 5000 graves.

Jewish Pittsburgh's third largest.

This is the 1934 arch in front of section ten.

It's on our schedule for restoration, along with the completion of over 500 linear feet of concrete wall and steps repair.

Here are Beth Abraham that we have done over the last two years.

We are grateful to the generous funders who have assisted in adding further dignity to the cemeteries.

We are now in front of the bank of its family graves in section one.

Many notable burials are featured on our website, including this family synonymous with seafood in Pittsburgh.

Section one is our oldest here at Beth Abraham, and sections one, two and three are designed in the European style of very tight rows.

Within the section designed by Auerbach Memorials.

The key partner with the JCBA, the Children's Monument here at Beth Abraham, commemorates the 71 children buried.

Many were in unmarked graves.

And now section four includes this tribute to the largest children's section in Western PA, dedicated by the JCBA with funding from the Newcastle Jewish community.

December 2021.

This is the Shaare Zedeck pedestrian gate adjacent to Beth Abraham off of 51.

In 1895, several Polish Jewish immigrants living in Pittsburghs Hill district organized the Shaare Zedeck congregation.

Property was purchased at 14 Townsend Street, where a new synagogue was built.

Opening in 1907, Rabbi Ashinsky served as the congregation's first rabbi and mayor Ross as the first president.

The congregation continued to grow, serving Jews, mostly from Polish Russian provinces.

A benevolent society was formed and housed at the synagogue.

By the close of World War II.

Many Jewish families had left the hill for Pittsburgh's East End.

By 1948, Shaare Zedeck had moved to a building on Bartlett Street in Squirrel Hill.

In 1974, it merged with Young Israel.

The cemetery was turned over to the JCBA in 2010.

This is a family based cemetery adjacent and within Shaare Zedeck The grounds are surrounded by an early 20th century iron chain.

The Gonberg and Marx families are well-represented.

The marked cemetery became part of the JCCBA in 2010.

Back in Beth Abraham, as these cemeteries are contiguous, we are standing in front of the 1947 gate.

Though the congregation closed, never relocating off of the hill, the Beth Abraham Cemetery Association lived on for decades.

The gate is flanked by a memorial to the Holocaust.

Designed and installed at his expense by long standing and valued JCBA caretaker Jim Gilbert of National Cemetery Services.

The next stop on our tour is a nexus of Jewish cemeteries in Reserve Township.

Half of Pittsburgh's Jewish cemeteries are just north of Millvale, and Etna in either Shaler or Reserve townships.

We are located at Workmen's Circle 975 Cemetery, just off Hoffman Road.

The cemetery is the final resting place for many of Jewish Pittsburgh's Communists and socialists.

Separated by wooden steps.

Recently repaired from 2022 storm damage.

We pride ourselves in the management of cemeteries like this, which had no funds.

Let's take a walk down Hoffman Road.

As theres no less than five cemeteries that come together here in Reserve The Podolier cemetery represents a landsmanshaft, an organization of immigrants from a particular European town that resettled in America.

Podolier societies existed throughout the United States to keep those from the Podolia section of the Ukraine close to each other and in support of one another.

Pittsburgh's Podolier Society was led by the Finesman family, and generations of the Levines carried on the tradition of maintaining this small and well-kept cemetery sandwiched in between Workmen's Circle 975 to the west and Old Kether Torah to the east.

Private Joseph Solomon is buried here.

Killed in action.

August 8th, 1944.

And just over the hill to the north is Machsikei Hadas Cemetery in Cemetery life.

There is no such thing as just one cemetery.

The land attracts others, and thus the five in this part of reserve.

We are now in front of the older section of Kether Torah Cemetery.

These members of the Crown of Torah were assessed $50 each to purchase this ground in 1916.

The congregation on the hill was informally known as the Ragpickers Shul or because of its membership base.

The Linder family Shul.

A noted plot In this family section is the Millers, Kalbs and Segals.

The JCBA took over in 2022 and has transformed this lower section.

Dead trees were removed.

An overgrown bush in the middle was taken out.

Stones were reset and these new railings were placed this spring.

An interesting feature is the Genizah built as storage to receive old prayer books that contain the Word of God.

In Jewish tradition, they cannot be simply discarded, but rather buried.

The congregation outgrew this parcel at the end of Hoffman Road and purchased a nearby hilltop addition on Irwin Lane.

That's our next stop.

This hilltop setting is one of Pittsburgh's most tranquil, still a quite active cemetery, a set of families with loved ones buried both here and down on Hoffman Road assisted in enhancing the Kether Torah cemetery.

The chapel, no longer in use, will remain for now, and the grounds around it have been cleared.

The caretaker lives on the grounds.

Notable burials include the Weinstein family of Pittsburgh deli fame, Calvin Katz, killed in action in World War Two.

Beloved Pittsburgh florists Norman and Gloria Wegner, noted businessman and leader Julius Oleinick and many members of the Rice and Linder families.

Pillars to Kether Torah.

Let's move into Shaler Township and into what is the most densely packed set of Jewish cemeteries in western PA, on the border of Reserve and Shaler is Machsikei Hadas These upholders of faith established this steep hillside cemetery around 1897.

Religious artifacts from the congregation are displayed at the Heinz History Center.

A notable grave here is that of Philip Chosky giving people in need a helping hand, providing for scholarships to enhance culture and funding.

Important priorities within the community were all central to Philip Chosky.

Born in the Hill district in 1925, Philip's brilliant mind took him first to Carnegie Tech for an electrical engineering degree and then on to found Rosedale Technical Institute.

In 1949.

He also founded the Electronics Institutes of Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

This pioneer in technical education shared his good fortune with causes close to him, with an emphasis on theater arts education, science and children's programing.

Philip Chosky had no children, but the legacy he left betters students lives and those in the Pittsburgh region.

He established the Philip Chosky Charitable and Educational Foundation in 1996, and Pittsburgh is far better off because of it.

One of our contractors was very proud that he could spell Machsikei Hadas.

We said to him, spelling it is one thing, pronouncing it is another.

Being a pallbearer is an honor at a funeral.

But is it really an honor here?

By the way, the railings come off for ease.

We demolish the building, no longer in use in 2021.

Let's move further into Shaler, the most densely populated township for Jewish cemeteries.

Not only in western PA, but maybe between Philadelphia and Chicago.

It's unique.

Our first stop in Shaler is at Workmen's Circle number 45.

Get out your GPS or you'll be driving in circles.

The socialist fraternal organization, whose original members were from Eastern Europe, was first organized in New York in 1892 to promote Jewish culture and to support Jewish labor and unions.

At one time, Workmen's Circle had four branches in Pittsburgh and six outlying branches in the Tri-State area.

The organization supported Jewish and non-Jewish labor, including coal miners, to whom they distributed food during strikes.

In 1919, 1921, and 1923, and steelworkers.

By 1955, only two branches were left.

Workmen's circle 45 disbanded in 1983.

Responsibility for the organization's cemetery was assumed by the JCBA in 2009.

We recently removed a stand of dead and dying trees, some which had fallen during the June 2021 storms that brought damage to four JCBA cemeteries.

A notable burial here is that of Bess Topolsky Sober, steadfast and demure was the way Bess was described at Fifth Avenue High, and she lived up to that reputation for her entire life.

Born in the Ukraine, Bess immigrated to America at the age of nine.

Grew up on Dinwiddie Street in the Hill and attended the Miller School.

Her activism with labor causes started at an early age, and one of her first jobs was a field director for the Jewish Labor Committee.

She was a 62 year mainstay at the Pittsburgh office of the Jewish Daily Forward, starting as an office assistant and ending her career as the managing editor.

She coupled her professional career with a lifetime of volunteer positions as secretary of Workmen's Circle, as creator of the Joy of Yiddish Club at the JCC.

She was recognized and honored by the City of Pittsburgh for her work in human rights, and she was quite involved with the continuation of Yiddish culture in Greater Pittsburgh.

Another notable burial is the recent one of beloved Pittsburgh figure Shulamit Bastacky.

A Holocaust survivor.

Shulamit spent decades educating area youth on the horrors of the Shoah.

This cemetery, like so many others, has a dedicated children's section.

The lower portion of Workmen's Circle 45 is also active and well maintained.

We recently did a clear out of the right side, much needed.

We've stayed in Shaler Township and now we're on the top of Oakwood Street.

There are three JCBA cemeteries here.

Behind me is the Tiphereth Israel.

To the left is Anshe Lubovitz And down below is the free burial cemetery, New Chesed Shel Emeth.

At the top of Oakwood Street is to Tiphereth Israel Cemetery, one of the finest maintained cemeteries in western PA and recently acquired by the JCBA.

The cemetery dates back to 1912.

Its long standing chair, Harvey Walsh, is serving his second tour of duty as the JCBA president.

Carol Walshs family, the Kochins, represent the congregation's earliest family, and she is a descendant of Rabbi Elihu Kochin.

Noted burials here include former Boston Celtic and Duquesne Duke Moe Becker and Mary Marx, long standing and beloved leader of Pittsburgh's 21st century Yiddish club.

Tiphereth Israel has long tended to the lane here in Shaler in a generous way for its neighboring cemeteries.

Let's step over to Anshe Lubovitz The roots of Anshe Lubovitz are in the Russian town of Schedrin.

This special seat of Jewish learning became a government center and region of commerce.

It thrived for over 100 years with a Jewish population of over 1400.

All were killed during the Holocaust.

Yosef Chaim Weiner arrived on the hill from Chadron in the early 1900s and brought a Torah with him.

He was president of the congregation when they felt the needed to establish their own cemetery.

Other notable burials include Reliable Luggage company founder and patriarch Sam Weiner.

He was a leading member of the New Castle Jewish community And Nathan Liff, Pittsburgh boxer, trainer and manager who passed away in the year 2000.

Also note the number of tree monuments that are here at Anshe Lubovitz Grave markers shaped in the form of trees made from concrete were quite popular in the 1920s, and the sizes are often indicative of the length of life.

When the JCBA acquired the cemetery in 2020, we reset five stones, cleared away the children's section and a set of bushes that were covering the steps and several graves.

A tree line of Deadwood was taken down in 2021.

In between on Anshe Lubovitz and New Chesed Shel Emeth.

The third cemetery along Oakwood Street is New Chesed Shel Emeth, one of two free burial cemeteries in the region.

This 1910 parcel was developed when the 1853 old Chesed Shel Emeth filled up.

Here we see over 600 graves of fellow Pittsburghers who did not have sufficient means to bury themselves.

We also use this ground to bury books with the Word of God, as this is the proper way to dispose of sacred texts.

We are now utilizing what we refer to as the newest section, as even the new section has been filled.

Dead pine trees were cleared out in 2021.

Our last stop in Shaler will be at Old Chesed Shel Emeth on nearby Seavey Road.

This 1853 cemetery was originally Shaare Shamayim Congregations ground, possibly following a dispute over the ownership of the older Beth Solomon Cemetery in Troy Hill.

It is Pittsburgh's second oldest Jewish cemetery.

It became the free burial ground with hundreds of graves, many unmarked, filling this ground, forcing the 1910 purchase of New Chesed Shel Emeth, one mile north.

It is a privilege for the JCBA to care for both of these special cemeteries in the dignified way that we do in 2021.

We restored the front gate arch and pillars, replaced broken metal railings and supports with new wooden railings to both access the upper portion and for safety overall.

It's not too Tiphereth Israel in Shaler, but we are working on it.

An initial group of 16 members met in the home of Gustavus Grabner to form Etz Chaim then called by its Hebrew name.

The Tree of Life was chartered in 1865 and acquired land for use as a cemetery during its first year.

Located on Kittanning Pike northeast of the town of Sharpsburg, Pittsburgh's third oldest Jewish cemetery holds 1350 graves, many from the region's earliest families.

Originally an Orthodox congregation, most of the early members were from Eastern Europe.

Like many Pittsburgh cemeteries, it sits on a steep hillside and is situated just below O'Hare township's Meadow Park.

As the congregation moved from its founding on fourth and Ross to grant to Oaklands Craft Avenue and to Shady and Wilkins in the 1950s and developed a memorial park in Franklin Park.

At that time, the Sharpsburg Cemetery stands as a testimony and tangible connection to the Tree of Life's early and proud history.

It is still an active cemetery.

Features of note include numerous preserved family section markers and monuments.

A 1985 war veteran's memorial, and the largest collection of 19th century Jewish graves in western Pennsylvania.

A recent restoration funded by an exceedingly generous and caring donor, and in cooperation between the Tree of Life-Or LSimcha and the JCBA, took place in 2022 and will continue.

Let's drive north into Hampton Township for our next stop.

Agudath Achim Congregation was founded in 1921, in the Hill District.

This small cemetery is on Wickline Road and became a JCBAcemetery in 2009.

One may ask, why is this cemetery here, miles from town and by itself?

Its not.

Theres no less than three other Jewish cemeteries are adjacent to Agudath Achim.

Torath Chaim Anshe Sfard Congregation was organized in 1927 around the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Jacob Hurvitz Rabbi Hurvitz established Sephardic rituals and traditions amongst the Yiddish speaking Russian immigrants of the East End.

Torath Chaims Home was at 728 North Negley Avenue, and it remained the home for almost 80 years.

It was the last congregation in the East End.

The congregation cemetery dates back to 1928 and is located along Wickline Road in Hampton Township.

Ledger books recorded through the mid 1960s, housed at the Jewish Archives, are written in Yiddish.

The earliest graves predate the congregation itself, well cared for by a dedicated committee led by Cachoeira Olive, Fife.

The Torath Chaim Cemetery features a monument dedicated to the National Record Mart Shapiro family.

The business dates back to 1937, eventually becoming one of the largest record store chains in the United States.

The company was involved with providing music records to early Israelis Post 1948.

It is thought that Sam Shapiro celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah during the first service at Torath Chaim In 1927.

Carmi Shapiro, the congregation's last reader, kept Torath Chaim going.

Passing away in 1994.

Lieutenant Nathan Baskind, United States Army, was killed in France in 1944 and is memorialized at the cemetery.

Torath Chaim Cemetery began its association with the JCBA in 2022.

JCBA is committed to assuming maintenance costs for cemeteries in the region that have been abandoned.

Every cemetery is unique and every situation different than the next.

Full histories of the grounds here on Rippel Road are posted on our website and available at jcba.org.

The roots of the Rippel Road cemetery go back to a group of non Hungarian Jews that were originally a part of McKeesports Anshe Ungarn, Men of Hungary.

More comfortable within their congregation, they formed a Ahavas Achim in 1892.

They remained separate for approximately 30 years, with the last burial being in 1924.

Eight headstones remain and the cemetery was carefully restored in 2017 by Mark Pulaski, a White Oak Christian faith leader, with the able assistance of Daniel Leah.

Daniel chose the site for his Eagle Scout project.

The Jewish community is appreciative of the efforts of these two men.

Mark has stayed involved with us The JCBA has assumed the maintenance of the Ahavas Achim Cemetery in 2020.

Since that time, Chuck Fuller and Rich Katz have done extensive and fine research on the cemetery and those buried here.

Let's stay in the Mon Valley, but cross over the Youghiogheny river.

We are now in Port View, of Kesher Israel cemetery.

It is adjacent to the Calvary Cemetery, high above the Yough, and sits between Dersam Street and Fern alley.

The ground was purchased in 1907.

The congregation was formerly consecrated in 1910 and located on Mulberry Street in McKeesport.

Rabbi Weinberg was their long standing leader.

Kesher Israel merged with on Anshe Sfard in 1935.

28 graves, some marked only with numbers and many of them children, have been cared for by a dedicated neighbor Since 2004.

JCBA has assumed maintenance and care through that neighbor Beginning in 2020.

Chuck Fuller and Rich Katz are continuing their research on Kesher Israel Cemetery.

The Monongahela Valley grew, as did many of the towns in western Pennsylvania.

At the same time when Jewish emigration was at its peak from Europe, and as a direct result, the by two menace coal fields centered around Pittsburgh grew tremendously from Johnstown to Steubenville to Youngstown in a huge triangle.

With Pittsburgh at its center.

Let's continue south into Brownsville.

The town so big in the early 1800s that it was said that Pittsburgh will not amount to anything, as it's too close to Brownsville.

There are four cemeteries grouped together here, south of the intersection of Broad Street and York Street in Brownsville, along the southern boundary.

Is the section known as Ohave Israel Cemetery.

Eight tombstones mark the graves.

None of those interred live beyond the age of 33, and some were much younger upon death.

Brownsvilles Jewish community was sizable during the interwar period.

Yet most of the burials took place at the Orthodox Gemilas Chesed Cemetery near McKeesport.

Brownsville is somewhat unique in that it had a large Jewish population.

Yet, because of the McKeesport connection, has the smallest number of Jewish graves in a cemetery in western PA.

The synagogue, like many in small towns, became family based as the population diminished, and one of Israel's leading families was the Greenfield's.

Max Greenfield was the last spiritual leader of the congregation.

Charted in 1907, Ohave Israel closed its doors in the late 1970s.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is featured on the area's walking tours.

The synagogue is in mint condition.

Jewish objects were donated to Congregation Beth El in Pittsburgh.

The cemetery land and fund were donated to Saint Peter's Church for perpetual care.

The last chair was Edward Moskowitz.

Those interred, 1917 to 1932 are Joe Barkovitz Dorothy Davis, Annie Herskovitz, Herman Herskovitz, Eleanor Schwartz, Meriam Stein, Adolph Weisk, and one who remains unknown.

The stones were recently and professionally cleaned.

Go west, young man.

Go west.

And the JCBA did.

We are located in the Marian Hills section of New Brighton, Beaver County.

And what is beyond question the most remote Jewish cemetery in western PA.

The dedicated caretaker not only takes care of this small parcel, but the pathways to what was an abandoned Jewish cemetery.

And often these dedicated caretakers are themselves Second, and in some cases, third generation.

we are in front of the Steinfeld Cemetery, or what was originally called Tree of Life Cemetery.

Raphael Steinfeld, The first burial here at Tree of Life Cemetery, was the pioneer Jewish resident of New Brighton, and his descendants were always active in the town's business welfare.

In 1864, Rafael and others established the Tree of Life Synagogue in Beaver Falls.

Later moving to New Brighton, he also donated the land for Tree of Life Cemetery.

The majority of the burials are members of the Steinfeld family, and the burials occurred between 1888 and 1919.

By the late 1980s, the Steinfeld Cemetery had fallen into disrepair, and a group from Beaver Falls, working with the Committee of the United Jewish Federation in Pittsburgh, assumed responsibility for maintaining.

The names were taken from the damaged stones and placed on a new monument designed by Rome monument.

The land was cleared and seeded with grass.

This ten foot tall fence with a lock gate was placed around the four monuments on both sides of the new monument.

Are the well preserved stones that belong to the Steinfeld family.

In 1997, the JCBA acquired the cemetery through the board leadership of William Stark and Louis Zeide The cemetery is difficult to locate in the woods, where it is easy to get lost.

It is surrounded by private land with no right of way.

It is included in the History of Beaver County by Joseph Bausman.

Let's go close by into Patterson and White townships to visit the only active Jewish cemetery in Beaver County.

We were at a Agudath Achim Cemetery.

It lovingly holds the remains of those from Midland, Aliquippa, Rochester, Beaver Falls, New Brighton, West Aliquippa and Ellwood City.

All towns with former Jewish communities in the 1900s.

Adjacent to the Agudath Achim Cemetery, is a family cemetery formerly owned by the Solomon/ Salmon family.

That cemetery was deeded to Agudath Achim in 1992 with the assistance of Barris Siegel, Esquire.

The Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives houses the original incorporation documents.

Notable burials include three spiritual leaders Rabbi Shlomo Amsterdamsky who died at age 30 in 1929 while serving the community.

Former Beaver Falls rabbi Myer Asper, who passed away in 2007, and Rabbi David Shapiro, who had a 50 year rabbinic career, passing away in 2004.

Judge J. Quint Solomon, former senior judge of Beaver County, lies at rest here as well, passing away at the age of 101 in 2009.

Howard Strauss of Monaca enlisted in the Marines in Pittsburgh on December 30th, 1964, serving in Vietnam with company, second Battalion.

This unit was on patrol in the mountains west of Huong Hoa in October of 1966.

PFC Howard Strauss of Monaca was killed by mortar fire, and he's buried nearby.

The Beaver Falls Cemetery will become a JCBA owned cemetery in 2022.

We recently had the Holocaust Memorial cleaned and the bushes trimmed back.

Let's go even further west.

Wait a second.

You can't go further west and still be in Pennsylvania.

We won't leave the Ohio Valley, but let's head to Steubenville.

When the economy changed in the Ohio Valley, so too did its Jewish community.

Jews settled in Steubenville and in Weirton, West Virginia, in the mid-19th century on the Ohio River.

These towns became thriving centers of the steel industry within the region.

A robust Jewish community flourished as well on both sides of the Ohio.

Jews from Weirton have long been involved with the Steubenville Jewish Cemetery.

Bnai Israel contains burials from Weirton and East Liverpool, and from the large conservative shul in Steubenville.

Temple Beth Israel was central to a community that numbered over 400 Jewish families.

As the area's population declined, the Jewish communities population declined even more.

Its stores closed in 2013.

A book with burial information is available at the Steubenville and Jefferson County Public Library, and the records are part of JCBA's electronic database of all maps and over 15,000 burial records in the JCBA system.

This cemetery remains as a tribute to the Jewish communities of Weirton and Steubenville, located here on Sunset Boulevard.

Bnai Israel became part of the JCBA in 2015.

Recent work includes a new wall that was built in 2020, and new concrete work in 2022.

Let's come back into the Keystone State and take a swing up north to Newcastle in neighboring Lawrence County.

We are inside Tipfereth Israel Cemetery, located in the northwest section of Newcastle at the end of Maple Drive off of Wilmington Road.

Route 18.

The cemetery borders Jameson Memorial Hospital.

A chapel stood on the grounds up until approximately 2000.

Many cemeteries had buildings that doubled as space to prepare the bodies for burial, worship, space, and even storage.

In 1897, a Chevra Kadisha or holy society dedicated to upholding traditional burial customs was organized.

They petitioned for the establishment of this Jewish cemetery.

Sadly, in July 1902, Jacob Bennet, who had drowned in the Shenango River, was the first burial.

On June 27th, 1948, this memorial was dedicated to eight local Jewish servicemen killed during or just after World War Two.

Four were eventually interred in the cemetery.

The eight men are Max Aronson, Nathan Baskind, Hyman Buntman, Emanuel Fell, Doctor Meyer Frank, Joshua Kaplan, Stanley Luxemburg, and Herbert Silverman.

The memorial consisted of a white wall with eight small markers with the names of the eight men.

Long time local jeweler and Jewish community leader Jack Gerson helped unveil the memorial, while newly appointed Rabbi Jules Lipschutz officiated.

It was dedicated during a ceremony on September 9th, 2012.

It is located near the original entrance at West Leasure Avenue.

This marker commemorates the location of books and congregational artifacts buried when Temple Hadar Israel, closed on December 31st, 2017.

A small park at the entrance to the cemetery was dedicated by Frieda Rosenblum.

The notable burial is that of Rabbi Alexander Gelberman.

Tifereth Israel Cemetery became part of the JCBA in 2020.

The light was recently installed to better protect the area at night, and the roadways were blacktoped in 2021 as a way to further plan for the future.

Lets drive up to the Shannon Township to The Temple Israel Memorial Park.

In 1926, a group of Jewish religious leaders of the Feform movement founded a small congregation in Newcastle in 1927.

They officially chartered themselves as the Temple Israel of New Castle and built an impressive building on Highland Avenue here on Sunrise Drive.

Temple Israel Memorial Park was dedicated in 1955.

The memorial park became part of the JCBA in 2020.

Among the notable burials at Temple Israel Memorial Park are Jack Gerson, the Lithuanian born jeweler and civic leader who was very involved in the establishment of the Little Arlington Monument, and Doctor Alfred Devon.

World War II two Bronze Star awardee and long standing area chiropractor.

Dead bushes were removed in 2021, and the dead tree line was removed in 2022, both to enhance the cemetery's appearance.

Let's head up by 79 to Meadville.

We are leapfrogging Mercer County in Sharon, PA, yet know the Youngstown Jewish community has assumed responsibility for the Sharon and Farrell cemeteries.

The Meadville Hebrew Cemetery is the second oldest Jewish cemetery in western Pennsylvania, established in 1848.

Meadville Jewish community grew as a result of the early canal and railroad days of mid 19th century in Northwestern PA.

Pioneering families included the Ohlmans, Blum's, Hillbronner's, and Sterns names, and make up those interred in the small cemetery adjacent to other Meadville cemeteries along Jefferson Street, just west of town.

It was the German Jews that first came to Meadville, starting a Sabbath school in 1814.

The earliest interment is SS Longwood, who died in 1848 at age 17.

The interwar period was good to Meadville.

New Jewish families arrived, almost all from Eastern Europe.

In 1935, the re nourished community began regular worship, founded a Bnai Brith Lodge and chartered Temple Israel, and rented quarters until building its own building in 1955.

Meadville Jewish Community Center is a lovely multi-purpose facility and has long hosted the active Hillel from nearby Allegheny College.

Of note are the towns around Meadville.

It also had a Jewish population.

Conneautville developed around the Beaver and Erie Canal junction at Conneaut Lake.

Cambridge Springs, a resort area known for its mineral baths and kosher hotels through the 1940s.

High Holy Day services were held at the hotels.

Three Jews served on council in the early days of Meadvilles growth, and the longest continuously serving mayor in Meadville in history was Richard Friedberg.

Richard is the chair of the Hebrew Cemetery Association.

Two burials of note include Louis Ohlman president of Meadville Common Council in the early 1900s, and Marty Goldberg.

Allegheny College soccer and track and field coach and USA track and field master official.

The cemetery remains active, has 85 graves, and became associated with the JCBA in 2021.

The JCBA feels a responsibility of assuming maintenance, adding further dignity and sustaining a Jewish connection where none exists.

Let's go into Venango County and into the heart of the oil region.

These towns could not have become large without our people, The merchant class.

Taking the old Erie to Harrisburg Turnpike, now route 322.

We'll head east into Franklin.

Franklin was settled in the 1740s and named for Benjamin Franklin.

One of the first Jewish settlers, Abraham Burgauer immigrated to Franklin from Bavaria in 1838 and ran a grocery store.

Moses Kkoch came to Franklin in 1839, later moving to Erie and becoming an important leader there.

Early families here in Franklin, where the Ulmans and Reizensteins.

With the discovery of oil, The population of Franklin increased dramatically.

A group of mostly German immigrants chartered Congregation Emanuel in 1865, the first Jewish congregation in western PA outside of Pittsburgh.

Congregation Emanuel dedicated a synagogue in 1865 with Judge Josiah Cohen of Pittsburgh delivering the keynote address.

The community established its own Bnai Brith Lodge in 1870.

Mount Zion Hebrew Burial Association of Franklin purchased this one acre piece of property in nearby Sugar Creek Township.

The earliest dates found are a pair of burials from 1871.

There are a total of 100 graves.

The group of 12 men chartered the site in 1895.

The charter states that the purpose was to provide a burial location for those of the Jewish faith.

Names like Marx, Brown and Braunschweiger are found throughout the cemetery, with the latter no doubt connected to the Braunschweiger Building on Liberty Street in downtown Franklin.

Most burials were well prior to 1940, yet there was a burial of cremains as recent as 2001.

The Jewish population of Franklin peaked in 1873 at 175 people, according to 1970s historian Jacob Feldman.

The need to transport oil from fields in northwestern P.A.

to refineries in Pittsburgh created heavy river traffic in the region, and allowed many Franklin businessmen to regularly move between the oil region and Pittsburgh.

The first two presidents of Congregation Emanuel here in Franklin, Charles Zeugsmith and Abraham Klinordlinger both moved to Pittsburgh about 1870 and became members of Rodef Shalom As oil fields in northwestern PA were depleted in the 1880s, the economy of the region stalled and many Jewish merchants left the area.

The Bnai Brith Lodge merged with the lodge in Corry as the borough of Sugar Creek grew.

Its municipal office was built directly across Fox Street from Mount Zion Cemetery.

The cemetery has been wonderfully and beautifully cared for by the borough for over 30 years.

We are assisting with an annual contribution and just shared with them in replacing these pillars.

Next year's project is the restoration of the iron fence on the left side of the cemetery.

The JCBA is appreciative and supportive of the borough of Sugarcreek.

Mount Zion records can be searched through Find a Grave and through the Jewish Archives.

Western PA Jewish Cemetery serving our pre high Holy day.

Your site prayers are said here and at all.

JCBA cemeteries.

Next stop the valley that changed the world.

Titusville represents an area in Pennsylvania with the largest number of graves over 600, with almost the impossibility of gathering a million.

Even if our mention wanted to.

The 1859 oil boom in northwestern PA attracted a small number of Jews to parts of Crawford and Venango counties.

27 German Jews, mostly from Pittsburgh, organized the Jewish Reform Society in 1863 and purchased this ground here in Cherry Tree Township, just south of Titusville.

The first burial was in 1878.

More Jews would come, making Titusville by 1880 the fourth largest Jewish population, 500, in Pennsylvania.

A second congregation formed almost immediately, Bnai Gemiluth Chesed which established its own cemetery in 1868 adjacent to Bnai Zion.

In 1925, both Titusville congregations built a concrete road for better access to the cemeteries.

The synagogues have long since closed.

One building was razed.

The other is a local print shop, and this artifact comes from the Conservative Synagogue.

Oil city was one of the nearby towns that developed almost overnight.

As the oil boom continued, the Tree of Life congregation was founded in 1892.

They rented rooms on Center Street and dedicated their own building on Plummers Street.

The congregation grew in its early years and established its own cemetery in 1921.

Adjacent to Titusville is Bnai Zions Cemetery right here.

Its still an active cemetery with a number of expected interments.

Tree of life dedicated a new Shul Center on West First Street in 1957.

It closed in 2019 as they were down to only a handful of members.

The cemeteries include several notable burials.

The Weil family owned and operated Hotel deWeil in Titusville and are buried in Bnai Zion.

Not all Jews were merchants.

Solomon Katz's grave here is marked with the following inscription.

Cause of death, Explosion of the boiler on the oil well he was operating.

Phil Wein, former Clarion County District Attorney and part of the large Clarion Wein family, is buried in the oil City Tree of Life section.

In 1892, flood and fire on Oil Creek resulted in the death of four Jewish residents.

All buried in the Titusville Jewish cemeteries.

Recent projects include removing a stand of dead trees in the back of the Oil City section.

Cleaning up the center cemetery and removing two trees from Bnai Zion.

Preventative maintenance, if you will.

As we had some trees go down in the 2021 storms.

We were also cleaning up the front gate area.

The three cemeteries on Old Route eight south of Titusville are a testimony to the area's pioneering history.

Let's head south along the Oil Creek.

Why?

Our next stop is Oil City.

Given the at times non harmonious nature of some of our early Jewish American synagogue leaders, we even had splinter congregations and breakaways in the small towns around 1900.

The small group broke away from Tree of Life to form Sharith Israel Congregation, dedicating their own cemetery on Lines Lane in Oil City.

The congregation was short lived, but the cemetery is a reminder of how big the oil region really was at one time.

Here we are at Sharith Israel Oil City.

Recent tree work was done.

Kudos to long standing and former chair Barry Lang.

The oil region's history lives on through a toll road, which took a circuitous route from Europe to Titusville to Oil City, and now to the Hillel at Haverford College.

The oil region's Jewish cemeteries became affiliated with the JCBA in 2020 through the Bridge Builders Community Foundations.

It serves Venango, Clarion Forest and Jefferson counties.

Let's head east into Clearfield County.

Located in the heart of Dubois, Sons of Israel Hillside Cemetery dates back to a 1919 purchase from the Dubois Land Company.

Jews had been in the region since the mid 1890s.

The earliest graves are recorded in 1922, including World War One veteran David Smargonsky A lovely private setting adjacent to Saint Catherine Cemetery.

Sons of Israel has 110 graves and like many Jewish cemeteries in small towns, plenty of ground that will go unused.

The Shakespeare family, long standing in the scrap metals, established a fund to care for the grounds, and it is the final resting place for nine family members.

Additional burials of note include Marv Bloom, career journalist, regional sports maven and general manager of the Dubois Courier.

Louis Steinberg, noted local photographer who cataloged local buildings and Ed Levine valued religious leader to Sons of Israel for over 40 years.

The Dubois Synagogue, a wonderfully spirited congregation, is the only one left in an area of Pennsylvania where coal was king, and it serves a large geographic area.

Sons of Israel Cemetery began in association with the JCBA in 2022.

Our last stop during our northern swing is Clearfield.

Clearfield was settled in the early 19th century and incorporated as a borough in 1840.

The region became a center of lumber and coal activity as industrial operations began moving materials along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

Bnai Levi-House of Jacob was organized in 1917.

The congregation acquired and renovated an old Pennsylvania Telephone Company building and obtained a charter.

The group changed its name to Temple Beth Shalom in 1965.

The congregation established Temple Beth Shalom Cemetery within Crown Crest Memorial Park between Curwensville and Hyde.

Like many Jewish cemeteries in smaller towns, the original purchase far exceeded the need.

That's the rather large section which holds only 19 graves.

The earliest burial date in the cemetery is 1964.

Temple Beth Shalom closed in 2010 and sold its building to the Clearfield Art studio.

It merged with Congregation Brit Shalom in State College, and its records are housed at the Jewish Archives in Pittsburgh.

Our association began when a former Clearfield member said, quote, don't forget about Clearfield, unquote.

We haven't and we won't.

The cemetery began in association with the JCBA in 2022.

We are involved with assisting with tree trimming, marker edging and overall maintenance.

Let's now head south on route 219 toward Pittsburgh.

But with one last city to visit the flood city, the Cradle of Iron and steel that is Johnstown and at one time its size can be seen in what is the largest number of Jewish graves in Western PA outside of Allegheny County.

The six different Jewish cemeteries and sections that make up the Johnstown Jewish cemeteries are our last stops on this story.

We are standing in front of what may be the second most hallowed ground in all of Pennsylvania, the first being Gettysburg.

This is the unknown plot of victims from the 1889 Johnstown Flood.

800 souls bearing Arlington style.

All unknown here in Grandview cemeteries.

Unknown plot.

Why is this on our tour, you may ask?

This ground was placed directly next to the Jewish Burial Association cemetery in 1888.

It represents the early German Jewish community and Johnstowns first families.

Hyman Kaminski, Johnstown's first rabbi, is buried here as are flood victims.

Solomon Holzman, the key figure in the early Jewish community, is here, along with Nelson Elsasser, former Chamber of Commerce president and community leader.

The Israel Isaiah Burial Society was formed in the 1920s and was given a large section in Grandviews Edgewood five.

The Glosser Plot, representing Johnston's largest and most prominent family, sits here at its center.

Brothers Lewis and Moses Glosser each were patriarchs to significant branches.

David A Glosser was central to Johnstown.

W Lewis Coppersmiths grave, former Pennsylvania State Senator, is within this section.

Daniel Glosser, a Titan of Pennsylvania industry and key to the formation of both the David A. Glosser Foundation and the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, lies nearby, as does William L Glosser, the longest serving Jewish Federation president, in this most generous UJA community.

Joe Goldstein, Philadelphia garment manufacturer and community leader is another notable burial, as is Saul Spiegel, the former newspaper assistant editor and local Jewish historian.

Jess Fridman, Barnesboro businessman and banker, And manufacturer, lies at rest here as well.

Beth Zion One's section.

It's adjacent to this parcel representing the area's Reform congregation.

Doctor Meyer Bloom, former president of the Conemaugh Hospital Medical Society and Key Israel Bonds and UJA leader, is buried within this section, as is Sam Rappaport, Penn furniture owner and quintessential UJA chairman.

Here we are in Beth Zion section two, the second section of Beth Zion at Grand Views extensive grounds.

Here lies the remains of Leah Rodstein Miller, a decorated World War II veteran, and Louis Goldhaber, one of the seven Johnstown Jews who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War Two.

In addition, here lies the remains of the infant child of Rabbi Mrs.

Perelmuter Now let's head up to the East Hills of Johnstown to two other cemeteries.

Rodef Shalom Cemetery in Geistown, just east of the city, was formed in 1906 as part of the first synagogue built in Johnstown.

It is the final resting place for Robert Levinson, Spanish-American War veteran.

Abe Beerman, one of the American Jewish communities leading benefactors is another notable burial.

Rabbi Daniel Lowey, long standing Wheeling spiritual leader, is here as well, having married into a Johnstown family.

11 influenza victims from 1918 to 1919 are buried here, many of them children.

The Rabinowitz family plot is of note for its size.

In the cemetery is the final resting place for Johnstown Jewish community scholar and leader Isadore Suchman.

Cantor Horowitz is buried here as well.

Longstanding and valued Johnstown Cantor from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Our last stop is the Ahavath Achim Cemetery in Geistown, formed in 1924 for a congregation of 55 families.

Many produce hucksters in the Hornerstown section of Johnstown.

Notable burials include David and Betsy Kline, cemetery founders.

Doctor Jerome Cohen, United mine worker area physician, and Harry Morrow, longstanding local community leader.

It holds plots for indigent burials.

All records are kept within the area's remaining congregation that show them in Westmont.

The Johnstown Jewish Cemeteries became part of the JCBA in 2021.

That concludes our tour of JCBA cemeteries.

We hope you enjoyed the ride.

Our website is chock full of histories, sections of burials of interest, and notable monuments.

Feel free to send your photos of JCBA cemeteries to www.jcbapgh.org.

Shalom.