BiographyTree of Life Congregation is the second oldest Jewish congregation in Pittsburgh. It was founded in 1864 by former members of Rodef Shalom Congregation who protested liberalizing reforms underway at that congregation. Tree of Life was chartered as Etz Hayim on February 8, 1865 and joined the Conservative movement in 1886. The congregation rented rooms in downtown Pittsburgh until 1882, when it purchased a former Lutheran Church on Fourth and Ross Streets. It dedicated a new synagogue on Craft Avenue in Oakland in 1907. It sold this building in 1946 to the Pittsburgh Playhouse and constructed a new synagogue at the intersection of Shady and Wilkins Avenues in Squirrel Hill. A large sanctuary was added in the 1960s. In the 2010s, Tree of Life merged with the smaller Conservative congregation called Or L’Simcha and began renting space in its building to Dor Hadash Congregation and New Light Congregation.
