| The Havurah’s Religious Services committee did not have to wander through the desert for years to bring back our first Sefer Torah – they only had to return from a small Pennsylvania town with a dwindling Jewish population, just across the state line. |
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| Our Torah Scrolls were purchased from Temple Hadar Israel in New Castle, a congregation formed in 1998 by the merger of the town’s two Jewish religious institutions -- Temple Israel (Reform) and Tifereth Israel Synagogue (Conservative). |
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New Castle Pennsylvania
population 28,000
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Tifereth Israel, the larger and older of the two congregations, was incorporated in 1894, although services had been held in residents homes since 1870. The then Orthodox congregation dedicated its first synagogue building in 1909 on the town’s South Side and remained there for 48 years. As in many larger communities, population shifts occurred, and in 1957 members built a new facility in the Northern section of town where the Jews had moved. The building now serves as home to the merged congregation. |
| Temple Israel was founded in 1926 by 14 families who originally held services in members’ homes and prayed during the High Holy Days at the local Elks Lodge. In 1927 the Reform congegation moved into a new building, a gray brick temple of Moorish design with Flemish glass windows. Among the speakers at the dedication was Cleveland’s Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. |
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| New Castle’s Jewish community thrived for many years. The original settlers were merchants, butchers, blacksmiths and other tradesmen, but their children became doctors, lawyers, dentists, pharmacists, industrialists and rabbis. Jews became active members of the community, many holding elected office and assuming civic leadership roles. By the mid-1950s the Jewish population reached its peak—180 families at Tifereth Israel and 120 at Temple Israel. |
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| However, the Jewish population then began a slow decline. The region offered fewer opportunities for young people, and those who once returned after college began moving to larger cities. There was little to attract new Jewish families to the town. The Jewish population which remained was an aging one. By 1980, the synagogue membership had dropped to 135 families and the temple to only 60, fewer and fewer of them with children, and more and more of them widows and widowers. In recent years, the two congregations operated a joint religious school or bused the few remaining children to nearby towns for their education. |
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| In the 1980s a merger of the two congregations was proposed but did not occur for a variety of reasons. By 1998, it became apparent that survival of Jewish life in New Castle required a unified approach. |
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| The Havurah’s Sefer Torah was one of six scrolls which Temple Israel brought to the new combined congregation. Sadly, however, little is known of its history. As there were fewer people to do the work of the congregation, record keeping became more difficult. When the Torah scrolls were sent for repair and refurbishment several years ago, documentation for the scrolls became confused. |
| We know only that our Torah scroll was once part of a vibrant Jewish community and is now again part of a growing congregation that will treasure it, learn from it and find righteousness and peace in its teachings.
Contributed by Deena Epstein |
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Speaking at the Torah Dedication ceremony on behalf of Congregation Hadar Israel and also on a warm personal level, Janet Mirow expressed pleasure that their Sefer Torah would begin a new life with the Havurah.
Mrs. Mirow has lived in New Castle since 1938 and has been a member of Tifereth Israel Synagogue for all that time. She is the mother of Deena Epstein of the Havurah.
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