Book looks at advent of Jews in Steel City

And here is another new book about immigrants, these are the Jewish immigrants in 1840-1915 Pittsburgh. DP

By Rege Behe, TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Squirrel Hill is the center of Jewish culture in Western Pennsylvania. But long before Murray Avenue and the surrounding streets bustled with families going to and from synagogue on Saturdays, before there were specialty shops and restaurants catering to Jewish clientele, there were Jews in Pittsburgh.

Even if they initially resisted coming to Western Pennsylvania.

According to Barbara Burstin, author of "Steel City Jews: A History of Pittsburgh and its Jewish Community, 1840-1915," Cincinnati was a more enticing destination than Western Pennsylvania for one very practical reason.

"You couldn't get here very easily from the East," says Burstin, a historian who teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. "There was no train connection from the East, so (Jews) went to other cities much further west."

Burstin, a Long Island native who moved to Squirrel Hill from Connecticut more than 30 years ago, embraced the challenge of putting together an early history of Jews in Pittsburgh.

"I enjoyed talking to people," she says. "I enjoyed the research. It was like being a detective and ferreting out clues, trying to understand the path these people took."

In the 1840s, a few Jewish peddlers started selling wares on Pittsburgh streets. Still, the influx of Jews was slower than in most areas. It wasn't until 1846 that the first Jewish communal institution -- the Troy Hill Cemetery founded by William Frank, David Strassberger and Emmanuel Reis -- was established,

"In Jewish tradition, if there's a death, you're obligated to bury that person according to Jewish rites, and so they needed a cemetery, even before a synagogue," Burstin says.

The Troy Hill Cemetery was, unfortunately, established in the nick of time. Two young children -- including Frank's infant son -- were buried there within six months.

In 1848, the first synagogue, Shaare Shamayim (The Gates of Heaven), was established Downtown at the corner of Penn Avenue and Sixth Street.
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