Tablecloth
Object number2015.89.1
Datec. 1961
OriginAliquippa, PA
MediumFabric/Thread/Metal
Credit LineGift of Allan Gastfriend
DescriptionRectangular white tablecloth with blue embroidered names. Tablecloth is divided into thirty-seven (37) squares; each square is demarcated with a border of holes with eyelet stitching. Entire tablecloth has a border of holes with eyelet stitching. One of the squares is large, at center, and has a large Star of David embroidered in blue at center. The remaining thirty-six (36) squares are similar to each other in size and have a small blue embroidered Star of David at the center; 27 of the 36 have embroidered names radiating from center, and 9 of the 36 have no names, just the star. Blue embroidered dedication in one corner.DimensionsLength x Width: 174 × 65.5 in. (442 × 166.4 cm)InscriptionsTwenty-seven (27) of the squares have embroidered names in blue thread. See 2015.89 object file for list of names.
Blue embroidered text in one corner "Presented in Memory of Louis Chotiner".
Fabric drycleaning(?) tag in one corner has black handwritten text "A-B".
Historical NotesTablecloth is from Beth Samuel JC, Aliquippa, which evolved from minyans held in members’ homes and stores. In 1914, the charter of Beth Schmuil Congregation was entered in the records of the Beaver County Courts, giving birth to a legal body dedicated to "Public Worship of the Almighty." The first shul was housed in the old Ambridge Library on Maplewood Avenue. During the Great Depression, this site was given up and the Torahs were kept in the home of Sam and Mollie Iwler, who provided a room for Hebrew classes. The congregation rented various rooms for Sunday School and High Holiday Services...the Elks Club, the Prince Movie Theater building, and the third floor of the building at the corner of 6th and Merchant Streets. In 1941, the congregation dedicated its first permanent synagogue in a building purchased for $3,000 at 463 Maplewood Avenue. By 1959, the congregation had outgrown this facility. Ground was purchased at Latimer Avenue near Eighth Street, and in 1963, The Beth Samuel Synagogue and Community Center was dedicated. The donor, Dr. Allan Gastfriend, is a dentist who was born in Pittsburgh on January 20, 1929. His parents, Simon and Celia Gastfriend, had come from Poland. They had a grocery store in Aliquippa. Allan Gastfriend married Marilyn Sussman. The Sussmans had a shoe store in Aliquippa. The Gastfriends had two children, Robert and Karen. Dr. Allan Gastfriend had a dental practice in Aliquippa.
Previous owner
Aliquippa Jewish Community Center
(founded 1959)
On View
Not on view
1952-1954
1960
Beth Israel Congregation
1943-1944
Mount Washington Woman’s Club
