History of the Jews in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was an antisemitic terrorist attack in the form of a mass shooting, which took place at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, which also worshipped in the building, was attacked during Shabbat morning services on October 27, 2018. The perpetrator killed eleven people and wounded six, including several Holocaust survivors. It was the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the United States.A lone suspect, identified as 46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers, was shot multiple times by police and arrested at the scene. Bowers had earlier posted antisemitic comments against HIAS (formerly, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) on the online alt-tech social network Gab. Dor Hadash had participated in HIAS's National Refugee Shabbat the previous week. Referring to Central American migrant caravans and immigrants, Bowers posted a message on Gab in which he wrote that "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in." He has been charged with 63 federal crimes, some of which are capital crimes. He has pleaded not guilty. He separately faces 36 charges in Pennsylvania state court.

Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation (Hebrew: עֵץ חַיִּים – אוֹר לְשִׂמְחָה) is a Conservative Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The congregation moved into its present synagogue building in 1953. It merged with Congregation Or L'Simcha in 2010, bringing its membership to 530 families. Originally founded as an Orthodox Jewish congregation in 1864, Tree of Life Congregation gradually moved closer to Conservative Judaism. In 1886, it affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary Association (JTS), at the time an Orthodox institution, but which developed the Conservative ideology in the early 1900s. Tree of Life joined with JTS offshoot United Synagogue of America about 1916, formally connecting to the nascent Conservative movement. In 2018, the synagogue was the target of a mass shooting in which eleven people were killed and seven injured. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States.

The Abrams House is an architecturally notable residence in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1979–82 and is considered Pittsburgh's earliest example of Postmodern architecture. The house was designed by postmodernist pioneer Robert Venturi, who called the design "one of the best that has come out of our office".The house was commissioned by retirees Betty and Irving Abrams, who were inspired by the nearby Frank House to commission an architecturally bold residence. It was constructed on a subdivided lot directly behind another notable house, the Giovannitti House, with which it shares a driveway. Construction of the Giovannitti House was partially funded by the sale of land for the Abrams House. The house sits on a private drive called Woodland Road which runs adjacent to Chatham University and contains a number of notable residences.When Betty Abrams died in 2018, the house was purchased by the owners of the neighboring Giovannitti House, who planned to demolish it. In order to block the demolition, the Abrams House was nominated as a Pittsburgh historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in December 2018, but the nomination was rejected by the Pittsburgh City Council due to the poor condition of the house and its location in an area inaccessible to the general public.The house is of frame and masonry construction with a distinctive wavelike roof. The front elevation features a large, irregular window wrapping around and over the main entrance which combines stepped rectangular forms with radiating spokes that continue in a painted green and white sunburst pattern over much of the wall surface. A high ribbon window wraps around the other sides of the house. The interior is painted in white and primary colors and is decorated with a large mural by Roy Lichtenstein.

Liberty Township was a short-lived township of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the east of what is now Pittsburgh. It was formed on December 3, 1864, from a portion of Peebles Township. Its territory lay south of Penn Avenue and included the present-day neighborhoods of Shadyside, Point Breeze and Friendship, and parts of East Liberty, Squirrel Hill, Bloomfield, and Regent Square. On June 30, 1868, Liberty Township and its neighboring municipalities of Peebles, Collins, Pitt, Oakland, and Lawrenceville were annexed to Pittsburgh.Residents of Liberty included steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, general James S. Negley, railroad executive Robert Pitcairn, congressman Thomas M. Howe, and politician and judge William Wilkins.

Chatham University Arboretum (32 acres) is an arboretum located on the campus of Chatham University at Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is open to the public daily without charge.The arboretum was originally Andrew Mellon's estate, with portions designed by the Olmsted Brothers, landscape architects in the 1930s. It was designated an arboretum on November 9, 1998, and now contains approximate 100 types of trees, including Japanese flowering crabapple, river birch, and Kentucky coffee tree. The Arboretum provides an outdoor classroom for students in Chatham's Landscape Architecture and Landscape Studies programs, as well as a place for walking and meditating.

The Linden Avenue School in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a building from 1903. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.The building now houses a preK-5 elementary school with a Mandarin Chinese emphasis, a city magnet school.

Wightman School is a building in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that was built in 1897. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.Originally an elementary school named Colfax No. 5, the building was subsequently renamed Wightman School in honor of Thomas Wightman, owner of the Thomas Wightman Glass Company. The school operated from its opening in 1897 until it was closed by the Pittsburgh Public Schools in June 1980. Since 1981, the 40,000-square-foot space has been a community building comprising several small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood.

D-Scribe Digital Publishing is an open access electronic publishing program of the University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh. It comprises over 100 thematic collections that together contain over 100,000 digital objects. This content, most of which is available through open access, includes both digitized versions of materials from the collections of the University of Pittsburgh and other local institutions as well as original 'born-electronic' content actively contributed by scholars worldwide. D-Scribe includes such items as photographs, maps, books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, and technical reports, along with over 745 previously out-of-print titles published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The digital publishing efforts of the University Library System began in 1998 and have won praise for their innovation from the leadership at the Association of Research Libraries and peer institutions.

The Alan I W Frank House is a private residence in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designed by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and partner Marcel Breuer, two of the pioneering masters of 20th-century architecture and design. This spacious, multi-level residence, its furnishings and landscaping were all created by Gropius and Breuer as a 'Total Work of Art.' In size and completeness, it is unrivaled. It was their most important residential commission, and it is virtually the same today as when it was built in 1939–40, original and authentic.

The American Jewish Museum, or AJM, is a contemporary Jewish art museum located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A department of the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Pittsburgh, the museum is located in the Squirrel Hill JCC at the corner Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue, in the heart of Pittsburgh's historically Jewish neighborhood. The museum was founded in 1998, and though it does not have a permanent collection, it hosts several original and traveling exhibitions each year. The AJM aims to explore contemporary Jewish issues through art and related programs that facilitate intercultural dialogue.

Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students and 1,108 graduate students. The university grants certificates and degrees including bachelor, master, first-professional, and doctorate degrees in the School of Arts, Science & Business, the School of Health Sciences, and the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment.