Headlines A meeting of Jewish minds in WWI-era Pittsburgh — LOCAL — By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle
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ven if you don’t know a word of Hebrew, this book of sermons provides plenty of leads to follow to learn about local Jewish history. The few lines of English at the bottom of this title page contain two good starting points for research: author and printer. The author, “Rabbi S. M. Neches,” is Rabbi Solomon Michael Neches (1891-1954). He was born in Jerusalem and ordained at its Yeshivas Etz Chaim. He came to Pittsburgh in 1912 or 1913 after two years in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was the first rabbi of B’nai Israel Congregation in East Liberty. The congregation had been formally chartered only a few years earlier and was meeting at the old Masonic Temple on Collins Avenue. If the weekly listings in the Jewish Criterion are any indication, Neches was an active orator during his stay in Pittsburgh. He usually delivered two sermons each Shabbos — a drash on the Torah portion in English (and sometimes Hebrew, too) during morning services and a talk in Yiddish during afternoon services. He also gave an in-depth scholarly lecture on Sundays and often delivered special sermons just for children.
He was also a teacher. He was superin- such as “State Department,” “homeopathy” tendent of the B’nai Israel religious school, and “neo-Platonism.” Neches hired a local printer for his oversaw the beginnings of the congregational library and led a short-lived Jewish history and book. “Glick Print” is Joseph Selig Glick Hebrew society created by 20 young Jewish (1852-1922), who came to Pittsburgh in 1889 from Lithuania (also by men living in East Liberty. way of Brooklyn) and ran a Neches left Pittsburgh in publishing house at various early 1918 to assume the storefronts in the lower Hill pulpit at Agudath Achim in District. He is best known Columbus, Ohio. He moved for two periodicals: a Yiddish west a few years later and literary journal with an occaspent the rest of his life in sional Hebrew supplement Los Angeles, where he led the called Der Volksfreund and a Breed Street synagogue and local Yiddish newspaper called was dean of a yeshiva called Di Iddishe Post. the Western Jewish Institute. Back in Pittsburgh, B’nai Thanks to Dr. Ida Selavan Israel hired Rabbi Benjamin Schwartz, copies of both Lichter in 1920, affiliated newspapers are available on Rabbi Solomon with the Conservative move- p microfilm at the University of Michael Neches hired ment in 1922, dedicated its local printer Joseph Pittsburgh. In a 1976 article synagogue on Negley Avenue Selig Glick to publish about the local Yiddish press, in 1924 and became one of his first book, a she noted, “[Glick] wrote most the largest Jewish congrega- collection of sermons of the articles himself, translated titled Shemen Turak. tions in the city. others, ‘borrowed’ on occasion Image courtesy of the The sermons in Shemen Rauh Jewish History from the other Yiddish and Program & Archives. Hebrew periodicals of the time, Turak require an advanced level of Hebrew, but a profile of Neches in set the type, printed the paper, bound and the journal Nitzachon in 2017 describes the distributed his newspapers by himself, assisted book as “applying Torah ideas to contem- by his son Samuel.” porary issues of society and philosophy.” This copy of Shemen Turak was given to Sprinkled throughout are English phrases the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives
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by Seth Glick, a descendent of Joseph Glick and a book dealer, like his ancestor. Neches’ name is stamped inside, suggesting it came from his library. Joseph Glick and Rabbi Neches were kindred spirits of different generations. Both men were pious, intelligent and entrepreneurial. Schwartz described Glick’s two newspapers as being “full of jokes, puns, word play, doggerel, anecdotes, ‘raisins from the Talmud and witty sayings from our Sages.’” According to the profile in Nitzachon, “Rabbi Neches was a master darshan. He loved clever ideas, sayings, and parables.” Shemen Turak represents more than a meeting of like minds. It represents a convergence of several factors: a scholarly rabbinate, a printer with a Hebrew typeface and an interest in local subjects, and a shared belief that the value of books comes from their content rather than their commercial appeal. The name Shemen Turak is taken from Song of Songs. Roughly translated, the words mean “poured out oil,” and they refer to the virtue of sharing precious information. Bottled oil cannot release its fragrance. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Sen. John Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.
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