Shadyside's Rodef Shalom synagogue earns historic designation

The Rodef Shalom synagogue in Shadyside has been granted historic designation.

“It is truly a huge communal asset,” said Barb Feige, interim executive director at Rodef Shalom, said Monday. “The building is beautiful, it is stately, but it is also a community center. It serves as the location for numerous community activities.”

Pittsburgh’s Historic Review Commission and Planning Commission both recommended the historic designation, which City Council made official with a unanimous vote in favor Tuesday.

“I was surprised it was not already designated historic, because it is such a magnificent structure and so important to Pittsburgh’s history,” Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said.

The synagogue has housed the Dor Hadash and Tree of Life congregations since the 2018 shooting at the Squirrel Hill building, she said.

Rodef Shalom congregation traces its roots to 1847, when 12 Jewish immigrants to Pittsburgh’s North Side joined together to establish a Jewish cemetery in Troy Hill.

“We are the first Jewish congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains,” said Matthew Falcone, president of the board of trustees.

The Rodef Shalom synagogue now standing in Shadyside was completed in 1907, with an associated religious school later constructed 30 years later.

It is the first Jewish temple to be put on the city’s register of historic places, Falcone said.

“While we are tremendously proud of our building, it is the accomplishments of members of our congregation that are always at the forefront of our mind,” Falcone said, explaining that members of the congregation have been to space, helped create a polio vaccine and founded community organizations including the Jewish Community Council.

“It is one of the tenants of our faith that we are able to help others and to engage in civic life, to make the world a better place for all of us,” he said.

Councilwoman Erika Strassburger — whose husband’s family has been tied to the congregation for six generations, dating back to the Civil War — called the synagogue “a gem in the city of Pittsburgh.”