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The October 27 Archive currently contains 839 objects and is regularly being expanded with more material. The archive includes flyers and programs from community gatherings held since the October 27 attack, a comprehensive collection of news coverage about the day of the event, oral history recordings reflecting a diverse array of experiences, and historical documentation about the Jewish experience in Western Pennsylvania.

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Congregational Page

Tree of Life Congregation

The Jewish population of Pittsburgh in the 1860s was small but filled with energy. A community of some 750 recent immigrants from southern Germany, the historic Posen region of Prussia, present-day Lithuania, and the Netherlands had one congregation, two cemeteries, a B'nai B'rith lodge serving its social needs, and an all-purpose charity called the Hebrew Benevolent Society.

Photograph of the 1901 confirmation class of Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Shows four girls and three boys in formal wear.

Tree of Life was founded in June 1864, following six tumultuous months within the small Jewish community of Pittsburgh.

The American Reform leader Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise of Cincinnati had come to the city in December 1863, during the final days of the holiday of Chanukah, to convince members of Rodef Shalom Congregation to adopt new practices. On January 3, 1864, Rodef Shalom made its first reform. It traded its traditional Minhag Ashkenaz prayerbook for a new English edition created by Wise called Minhag America.

A group of traditionalists immediately broke away to form Etz Hayim—Hebrew for Tree of Life. The split fell largely along ethnic lines. Posners, Lithuanians, Dutch and a few German traditionalists joined the new Tree of Life, while the majority of the southern German population remained at Rodef Shalom.

Tree of Life met in home of Gustavus Grafner until 1866, when it rented a hall at Market and Second streets downtown. It obtained a charter in early 1865, purchased cemetery land in the nearby town of Sharpsburg, and hired Rev. Isaac Wolf as an all-purpose religious leader. The congregation elected Grafner to be its first president and adopted Minhag Poland, a related but notably distinct mode of worship to Minhag Ashkenaz.

Alexander Fink was elected president of Tree of Life in 1872 and remained in the position for the next 20 years, until his death. After meeting temporarily at Lafayette Hall at Fourth and Wood streets in downtown Pittsburgh, Tree of Life purchased and greatly renovated a church at Fourth and Ross streets, dedicating the synagogue in 1882. The congregation hired Abraham Goldstein as a sexton and religious school teacher in 1884. He remained in that position more than 50 years and was eventually succeeded after his death by Marcus Rosenthal.

Opposed to what they saw as restrictive membership practices and liberal tendencies, a growing Lithuanian faction within the congregation broke away around 1870 to start B’nai Israel Congregation (later known as Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Congregation). The split allowed the remaining members of Tree of Life to actively pursue a segment of the local Jewish community looking for a modern religious experience situated within the broad boundaries of Jewish tradition. Tree of Life maintained many of the aesthetic conventions of Orthodox worship. such as an affinity for chazzanus, or cantorial music, while strategically modernizing in other ways, such as shortening its services. Joining a larger national movement of congregations adopting similar changes, Tree of Life became one of the first congregations to endorse the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1886—an initial step toward joining what eventually became known as the Conservative movement.

Tree of Life continued to liberalize its ritual practices over the next quarter century, although at a slower pace and in a more restrained fashion than the changes being implemented at Rodef Shalom. Tree of Life instituted a confirmation ceremony, allowed mixed seating for men and women, included a selection of English prayers, and added a sermon. Women became increasingly involved in congregational activities starting in 1899 through the formation of a Ladies Auxiliary, the first within a Jewish congregation in Western Pennsylvania. The Sisterhood, as it now known, was given several key congregational responsibilities, especially fundraising and youth religious education.

After more than 30 years without consistent rabbinic leadership, Tree of Life hired Rabbi Michael Fried in 1898. A recent graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Fried was a young and dynamic figure who engendered respect from diverse segments of the local Jewish community. He was among the first rabbis in Western Pennsylvania to promote Zionism within the community, and he ventured into the surrounding towns in the hopes of convincing emerging Jewish communities to adopt Conservative practices. Tree of Life grew rapidly under his leadership, doubling in less than a decade to include more than 50 families.

Limited by its small synagogue on Ross Street, Tree of Life launched a campaign to relocate the congregation in Oakland. It laid the cornerstone of a Greek Revival synagogue on Craft Avenue in August 1906 and dedicated the building in March 1907. Fried contract typhoid fever before the dedication and was forced on doctor’s orders to resign his post and depart for the fresher air of California.

Rabbi Rudolph I. Coffee was hired in late 1906. He focused on youth activities, social services, and Zionism, as well as managing the ongoing challenge of ritual reforms. The congregation instituted a late Friday evening service in 1909 and hosted former President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. The move to Oakland put Tree of Life at the geographic center of a citywide Jewish community split between the Hill District and the emerging East End and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods. The vestry rooms at Tree of Life became a popular meeting place for Jewish groups looking to transcend the religious and class differences of the day, such the new Young Men’s Hebrew Association. By the time Coffee resigned in 1915 to oversee the social services arm of the International Order of B’nai B’rith, Tree of Life had more than tripled to include some 160 families.

Rabbi Morris Mazure was hired in 1915. A 15th-generation rabbi with training in the Reform movement, he focused on the intellectual life of the congregation, creating its first library and improving its religious school. He also bolstered the denominational credentials of the congregation by formally affiliating with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, then called the United Synagogue of America. He led Tree of Life's congregational response to World War I as chairman of the Tree of Life Liberty Bond committee. Concerned about accommodating the ongoing growth of a migrating membership, he promoted a plan in 1919 to relocate Tree of Life to the emerging neighborhoods of Squirrel Hill or East Liberty. The plans stalled, and Tree of Life ultimately remained in Oakland for another generation.

In its first 75 years, Tree of Life produced several lay leaders who contributed to broader Jewish communal causes. Alexander Fink oversaw the Hebrew Benevolent Society for 16 years. Harry Applestein led the effort in 1910 to create the Young Men Hebrew Association. Sol Rosenbloom was one of the chief promoters of Jewish education in Pittsburgh, especially the Hebrew Institute. Marks Browarsky was an important financial backer of the Hebrew Free Loan Association and the Jewish Home for the Aged. Henry Jackson served as president of Montefiore Hospital and the Jewish Home for the Aged. The department store owner Isaac Seder was a backer of Montefiore Hospital and the Young Men’s & Women’s Hebrew Association. Dr. K. I. Sanes was one of the first Jewish surgeons in Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Herman Hailperin was hired to lead Tree of Life in 1922, a few months before graduating from Jewish Theological Seminary. He led the congregation until he retired in 1968 and remained its rabbi emeritus until his death in 1973. He continued to liberalize the congregation by adding organ music to its services, eliminating observance of the second day of Jewish holidays (in direct opposition to the Conservative movement), instituting a bat mitzvah ceremony for girls, and allowing women to be called to the Torah and counted among a minyan (the quorum of 10 people required for holding certain aspects of public Jewish worship). Skilled in both the human and intellectual sides of the rabbinate, Hailperin served as the Jewish chaplain of the local Veterans Administration for 15 years and taught history at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University. Tree of Life grew four-fold during his decades-long tenure, eventually reaching some 725 families.

During those years, Tree of Life also made the move to Squirrel Hill. The congregation opened a short-lived “Squirrel Hill Annex” on Forbes Avenue in the mid-1930s. In the mid-1940s, congregational leader Charles Rosenbloom donated a prominent parcel of land at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues for a synagogue. Ground was broken on the building in 1946 and dedication ceremonies took place in 1952. 

The original section of the building included the Rosenbloom Chapel, later known as the Pervin Sanctuary. The small sanctuary included a stained-glass display based on an idea by Rabbi Hailperin: four windows showing scenes from the religious, philanthropic, civic, and economic experiences of the Jewish people in the United States. The Tree of Life synagogue building was later expanded to include the 1400-seat Hailperin sanctuary in 1964, the Alex and Leona Robinson pavilion in the 1970s, and a religious school wing in the 1990s.

Tree of Life membership grew through the tenure of Rabbi Solomon Kaplan (1968-1982) and into the tenure of Rabbi Alvin Berkun (1982-2006) but declined starting in the 1990s. Under the leadership of Rabbi Stephen Listfield, Tree of Life began renting space in its building to other entities in the city. The new Congregation Or L’Simcha arrived in 2008 and merged with Tree of Life in 2010 to create Tree of Life*Or L'Sincha, with a combined membership of530 family units. Rabbi Chuck Diamond moved from Or L’Simcha to oversee the merged congregation. Tree of Life continued renting space throughout its building in subsequent years, bringing on Dor Hadash Congregation, Na’amat USA Pittsburgh, and New Light Congregation as tenants. Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers was installed as spiritual leader in 2017.

Spiritual leaders of the congregation include Isaac Wolf (1864-), Rev. A. Crone (1874-1881), Rev. A. Bernstein (1881-1891), F. Salinger (1891-1897), Rabbi Michael Fried (1898-1906), Rabbi Rudolph Coffee (1906-1915), Rabbi Morris Mazure (1916-1922), Rabbi Herman Hailperin (1922-1968), Rabbi Solomon Kaplan (1968-1982), Rabbi Alvin Berkun (1982-2000), Rabbi Avi Friedman (2000-2006), Rabbi Stephen Listfield (2006-2010), Rabbi Chuck Diamond (2010-2017), and Jeffrey Myers (2017-present).

In addition to Rabbi Myers, cantors include Isaac Wolf, Joseph Levin (served 1902-1940), Herman A. Marchbein (served 1947-1949), Irving E. Ashery (served c.1954-c.1959), Harry P. Silversmith (served (1957-1987), Josef Germain (served 1987-1990), and Adriane Caplowe (served 1991-c.1994). Tree of Life has also maintained a choir for many years.