Machsikei Hadas Congregation

Machsikei Hadas was a Jewish congregation based in the Hill District and later in the East End of Pittsburgh. The congregation was founded in the late 1890s by Jewish immigrants from the Galicia region of present-day Poland and chartered in July 1900. Machsikei Hadas was unique among Jewish congregations in Pittsburgh at the time for following Sephardic traditions and liturgies rather than the Ashkenazic customs prevalent among Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Machsikei Hadas built a three-story brick and stone synagogue at 1849 Wylie Avenue in 1909 and remained in the building until 1953, when it followed its membership to the East End of the city and renovated a house at 814 North Negley Avenue. Among the notable spiritual leaders of the congregation during its early decades were Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz, Rabbi Samuel Zahler and Rabbi Wolf Leiter. Machsikei Hadas officially disbanded in 1989, following several years of declining membership, and sold its synagogue in 1993.