Kollel Torah

Like the Kollel movement itself, the Squirrel Hill Kollel Center for Jewish Learning’s Torah scroll originates from Lithuania. The history of this Torah scroll, like the history of the Kollel movement, showcases the way that Jewish communities and ideas have migrated throughout the world.

Kehillat Sfarad Torah

As the only Sephardic congregation in Pittsburgh, Kehillat Sfarad was founded by Abraham Anouchi about 30 years ago and only recently acquired a Torah. This Torah came from another synagogue, Beth Israel in Latrobe, as it was shutting down

Youlus Counterfeit Torah

In 2002, a Torah scroll was bought by Congregation Beth El of the South Hills because it was thought to have been a Holocaust-era Torah that had been discovered in Ukraine. This story, however, was fabricated by a man named Menachem Youlus.

Homestead Torahs

After the Beth Shalom fire, firemen collected the remaining pieces of the two gravely damaged Torah Scrolls. Members then gathered those pieces into an unadorned wooden box, held a funeral service in its honor, and lowered its modest remains into the ground.

Poale Zedeck 1991 Torah

Berta Fogel commissioned this Torah for the Poale Zedeck synagogue in Squirrel Hill to honor the memory of her parents and seven siblings who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Kelso Museum Torah

On the ground floor of Long Hall at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary sits the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology. Despite its small size, the museum contains a large variety of artifacts from the Near East, including a 300-year-old Yemenite Torah scroll.

The Poale Zedeck/ Beth Jacob Torah

Though the Jewish community in Duquesne did not survive the breakdown of the steel industry, the Torah continues to serve as a reminder of the history of the Jews of Duquesne.

Raphael Madonna-$6.99

Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol became a household name in the early 1960s as an artist with unmatched celebrity. He was the leader of a new artistic movement called Pop Art that he popularized after moving to New York in 1949. This artistic style challenged traditional perceptions of fine art, focusing on non-glamorous subject material.

The Immaculate Reception Monument

The Immaculate Reception was the result of an unexpected catch by now Steeler legend, Franco Harris. The phrase is a pun in regard to the birth of Virgin Mary, “The Immaculate Conception.”

Adat Shalom/B’Nai Israel Torah Scrolls

The story of the B’nai Israel Torah scrolls which have been adopted by Adat Shalom is representative of a larger narrative about Pittsburgh Jews. In the years after World War II, the suburbs offered middle-class Americans the opportunity to start a new life outside of the nation’s urban centers. Upwardly-mobile American Jews flocked to the suburbs in the middle of the twentieth century and faced the challenge of rebuilding their faith community outside of the urban core. The preservation of the B’nai Israel scrolls (as well as other Judaica) indicates the determination of the community to rebuild, and the dedication to their faith, tradition, and roots.