Johnstown's Synagogues

The Fourth and Fifth Synagogues:

    The "new" Rodef Sholom and the "new" Beth Zion

    The Westmont Synagogues
        1950 - current date
 
Background Context: A Short-Lived Jewish Community Center
    Jews who moved to Westmont and Southmont increasingly felt the need for a synagogue to be located within the two boroughs, closer and easier to access than the downtown sites.  There had been calls for building a synagogue in Westmont as long ago as 1919 to accommodate the migrating population. For several years in the 1940s, while the downtown synagogues continued to function with decreasing populations, services and religious school classes for Jews living in Westmont and Southmont were held in an 18-room house at 427 Tioga Street. This building had been purchased by Joseph Goldstein and was remodeled to serve for four years as a much-needed Jewish Community Center.  In 1952, this building was sold to Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church and was converted to a convent.
The "new" Rodef Sholom and Beth Zion:
    In the 1940s, when both Beth Zion and Rodef Sholom Congregations decided to plan for new buildings in Westmont Borough, they both engaged the well-known architect, Alexander Sharove of Pittsburgh to design their respective synagogues. While there were clear differences between the two buildings, they share many architectural similarities.

     Rodef Sholom Congregation built its new building on four acres of land at 100 Dartmouth Avenue. Beth Zion Congregation built its building at 700 Indiana Street, the site of Beth Sholom Congregation, Johnstown's only remaining synagogue. A picture of this building appears on the home page of this web site. The stained glass windows in this building depict the Jewish holidays and are artistically significant. They were designed by A. Raymond Katz, a well-known artist.
 

The Merger: Beth Sholom Congregation is Born
       By the early 1970s, the Jewish population began to seriously consider somehow merging their two remaining congregations. Rodef Sholom and Beth Zion Congregations merged their Sunday schools in 1972.  In 1976, the Boards of Directors agreed to merge the congregations altogether.  The new congregation was named Beth Sholom Congregation, a mixture of the two previous names.  Since they agreed they could not afford to maintain two separate large buildings, they agreed to sell one of the buildings.  In 1978, the Westmont Rodef Sholom building was purchased by the Ferndale School District, and was converted into a much-needed elementary school.  The Beth Zion building on Indiana Street then became the sole home for the newly blended Beth Sholom Congregation. Nearly all of Johnstown Jews are members of the merged congregation.

    Beth Sholom Congregation practices a mixture of Reform and Conservative Judaism.  In respect for several Orthodox families as well as for our Orthodox Jewish heritage, the merged congregation has agreed to maintain a strict kosher kitchen, and to abide by a comfortable mixture of ritual traditions. Friday night services are based more on the Reform Judaism, while Saturday morning services are based more on a Conservative (and slightly Orthodox) tradition of Judaism.

    The merger has gone remarkably well, in large measure because of the excellent leadership of Rabbi Rav Soloff (the Rabbi between 1976 and 1990) and local Jewish community leaders (then and since), augmented by the high levels of dedication and mutual respect among the congregation's membership.