To: bovik@cs
Subject: info on synagogues
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 13:12:24 EDT
Message-ID: <29838.617389944@CAD.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Rick Kazman <Rick.Kazman@CAD.CS.CMU.EDU>


Here is some information on synagogues which I collected various people 
who responded to my bboard post.

rick

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Dor Hadash meets in the Hebrew Institute on Forbes.
They're very friendly, but very small.
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Temple Sinai (up Forbes Ave from CMU, between Schenley Park and Murray
Avenue) meets your description except for brand name.  We've had two
female presidents (one good, one bad), a female rabbi (good, but the
union considered her too junior to permit her to take on a congregation
our size permanently), etc.
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We go to Beth Shalom on Shady & Beacon.  It is quite traditional (the
services are nearly Orthodox), but also quite un-egalitarian.  Only in
the last few months has the congregation adopted a resolution "giving"
women full ritual rights.  However, the resolution won't take effect
until early July.  Also, given the closeness of the vote, I wouldn't
be surprised if they really dragged their feet about it.  As you can
probably tell by now, most of the Beth Shalom membership is pretty
old: rumor has it that a few of them know what manna tastes like....
We found this age difference to be a bit problematic: the congregation
is nice, but we didn't feel like we had that much in common with them.

>From what I've heard, Tree of Life (Conservative) is much more
egalitarian, although somewhat less traditional in its approach.
Also, there is a Reconstructionist group (Dor Hadash) that meets at
the Hebrew Institute once or twice a month.  They are very
egalitarian, and seem to be largely CMU and Pitt people.  But, since
they're more a havura than a synagogue, they lack the benefits of a
regular synagogue.

Of course, BEWARE of any Orthodox synagogue around here.  Pittsburgh
Orthodoxy ranges from very Orthodox to ultra-Orthodox: neo-Orthodoxy
is unheard-of.  I have had some very nasty fights with Orthodox types
who insist that feminism has no place in Judaism (at least not in
Orthodox Judaism, which is "of course the only true Torah Judaism").
Some Orthodox places to watch out for are Poale Zedeck, Shaare Torah,
B'nai Emmunah (sp?), Achei Tmimim (Hassidic), and Young Israel.  All
of these places are noted for their intolerance of other forms of
Jewish expression.  BTW, a good way to get info about the local Jewish
community is to pick up the Jewish Chronicle, a weekly newspaper
published on Thursdays.  You can get it at the two newstands on
Murray: one is next to Rosenblooms, the other is at the corner of
Forbes and Murray.
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Pittsburgh has one Reconstructionist congregation: Dor Hadash.  It
doesn't have a building or a rabbi, and is what you might call a "do it
yourself" congregation.   Dues are low ($150 per single, and I think
there's a 50% discount for students).  Our cantor (a woman) is the only
employee.  Congregants lead services, give talks, and read from the
Torah in addition to what congregants usually do.  Dor Hadash is always
in need of ritually competent people, especially since most of our
service is in Hebrew.

And we rent space in the Hebrew Institute (at the corner of Forbes and
Denniston) for services and functions.  Although Dor Hadash sponsors no
education program, the Hebrew Institute offers a wide range of Jewish
evening classes.  

Friday evening services are held every other week, but there is a
service on June 23rd at 8:30pm in the Wolk Chapel (at the Hebrew
Institute).  Our newsletter is a little strange, but if you are
interested, I'll dig up the latest one since it does have a service
schedule.  I, personally, am ambivalent about organized forms of
worship, but I do love the people at Dor Hadash.  No one is there to
impress anyone else.
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This is neither a recommendation nor a warning - just some info.
Beth Shalom on Beacon and Shady is the synagogue we belong to.
It has many, many ongoing programs, including an adult education
program.  Women are active participants in the congregation, from
being presidents of the congregation to receiving aliyot and reading
directly from the Torah.  (This last part is just a recent development,
voted upon by the congregation and encouraged by the rabbi.)
Tree of Life, on Shady and Wilkins is another conservative one, but
more on the reform side of conservatism.

We chose Beth Shalom because it has a good children's religious school
and it is convenient and we wanted something on the orthodox side of
conservatism.  Beth Shalom keeps moving away from the more orthodox
tradition, a fact which saddens me, but I will not join the local
orthodox synagogue because it has no religious school, in addition
to other reasons.

There is another conservative synagogye in East Liberty; I believe it
is also more on the orthodox side.

I have no personal info on either of the two reform congregations - Temple
Sinai and Rodef Shalom - other than that I have friends who are contented
members of both.  I'm sure you'll get responses about them.

There are other, small congregations in Squirrel Hill, most are
orthodox, there is a conservative one called New Light.  I know
little about this one because they have no children's religious
school so it was not a viable option.

One more thing, Beth Shalom is a very large congregation - around
1000 families, I think.  I was expecting this to be a big
problem; I would have preferred a smaller congregation.  However,
I found like with any other group of people there is
1) a core group that is involved with just about every aspect
2) groups that are consistently involved with certain aspects

For instance, I am the mother of 2 elementary school kids; I therefore
am involved with the synagogue's child related activities and meet
the same group of people in all these activities.
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I highly recommend Beth-El of the South Hills.  It is a (somewhat)
progressive Conservative synagouge with a nice mix of young couples
and older members with kids.  The rabbi (Michael Gold) is real "hamish",
and we have felt welcomed into the community since we came to
Pittsburgh a year ago.  It is a bit of a "shlep" if you live near CMU,
but there are a number of Squirrel Hill people who go there rather than
attending any of the closer synagouges.
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We belong to Rodef Shalom (on Moorwood and 5th) which is very reform so
maybe it doesn't interest you.  I write because Rodef has an active
"young adult" group (for people 20-40 years old), which is very friendly
and has lots of activities.
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