by | September 16, 2026 · 1:08 pm

High Holiday updates

We will be unveiling 5 memorial plaques during Yizkor service on Monday: Mildred Bodell, Mary Beth Mandelkorn, Faye Isaacs Goldstein, Joel Roteman, and Saul Levin. I have updated the Yahrzeit page of our website to include the photos of the new plaques. As a reminder, all 349 plaques from our shul are photographed and uploaded to make them available for family research.
www.thecarnegieshul.org/yahrzeit

Shabbos services this week for Shabbos Shuvah (the sabbath of repentance) start at 9;20. For Shabbos (every week) you can participate by Zoom. The link is provided upon request.

For High Holidays, we live stream the services on YouTube Live. You can find our channel at this link:

www.youtube.com/@thecarnegieshul6908

If you lose the link, you can always just go to YouTube and search for thecarnegieshul. We’re easy to find. If you opt to subscribe, you can find it easier in the future. You can view the Rosh Hashanah service from last weekend as well.

Yom Kippur services begin at:
7;15 Sunday evening
9:20 Monday morning
5:50 Monday afternoon
8:00 Sounding the Shofar to end the fast

Be well, do good.
Rick

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by | September 11, 2026 · 10:56 am

High Holiday reminder

Just a reminder to everyone about the service schedule for Rosh Hashanah.

Friday night (tonight) at 7:30
Saturday morning at 9:20
Saturday evening at 7:10
Sunday morning at 9:20

For those who may be stuck at home, go to YouTube and in the search window enter thecarnegieshul and you will find the livestream.

From all the members of the Board of Directors: we wish you and your family a new year full of luck and blessings.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone.
Rick

PS, here’s the link to the Livestream.

https://youtube.com/@thecarnegieshul6908?si=hXb50ayd7HXihVEq

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by | July 29, 2026 · 5:42 pm

5787 High Holidays approaching

Yes, we know it’s still July!  But as Larry says, “the holidays are either early or late, but never on time”. This year they are early. Erev Rosh Hashanah is the Friday night after Labor Day. That’s September 11. So, this year Rosh Hashanah is on Saturday and Sunday. That’s right, you have no excuse for not attending both days. Our shaliach tzibbur AJ Edelman is returning for his 9th High Holidays in Carnegie. Please RSVP. You can do this on the shul website www.thecarnegieshul.org. Our shul continues its forever policy of open admission at no charge.

new shul announcement

Early talk of a shul in Carnegie, Sep 1897

I was looking through old newspapers to see if I could find a High Holiday announcement from the past. I wasn’t successful and I will keep looking, but I did find this announcement on the front page of the Carnegie Item, Friday September 24, 1897. The congregation was just starting to take shape. Per the oral history handed down to me from our Nusi Stanley Roth, the congregation was formed in May of 1898. And even at that point a shul wouldn’t be built for a few more years. Until the shul was built, the minyan met in Markus Sherman’s home.

We look forward to seeing all of you during the Holidays, but we also need you on Shabbos to help make minyan. Remember that we need a minyan to read the Torah and say Kaddish. It’s a good time to add this mitzvah to your schedule, even if you can’t come every week. Give us a heads up if you are coming.

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by | May 29, 2026 · 11:17 am

Holocaust Program at the Carnegie Carnegie

Mark your calendars.

June 9, 7:00 – 9:30
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall
300 Beechwood Ave, Carnegie

My Dad’s Story: Remembering the Holocaust, with Sue Tresatti and Richard Murphy

More than 1.6 million people were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps between 1933 and 1945. One of them was Norman Roth.

Join Norman’s daughter Sue Tresatti for the heartrending story of her father’s imprisonment in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps as a teenage boy. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Norman’s life was spared for labor but his mother, younger sister, and younger brother were murdered in the gas chambers. Hear about how Norman survived years of horror and escaped to the West from behind the Iron Curtain, eventually settling in Pittsburgh.

Doors open at 6:15pm. Military researcher and WWII historian Richard Murphy provides historical context. An audience Q&A will follow the presentation. A reception with light refreshments will follow this program.

This program is co-sponsored by The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. Registration is required. Click here to register.

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by | May 21, 2026 · 12:31 pm

Shavuos services this Shabbos

Tomorrow and Saturday we celebrate Shavuos, the second of the pilgrimage festivals. It is an agricultural festival that greets the first grain harvests. Unlike Passover and Succot, we only observe 2 days for Shavuos, not a whole week. But all three festivals have a Yizkor memorial service as part of the ritual. Yizkor is conducted on the 2nd day of Shavuos and this year that falls on Shabbos. Your presence will help make a minyan and you’ll have an opportunity to say kaddish for family members who have passed.

All three pilgrimage festivals are agricultural in nature, and as such we are commanded to observe them “in their season”. However, the Torah associates historical events with Passover and Succot, none for Shavuos. For example, the Torah states specifically that we observe Passover to remember the exodus from Egypt. But, Shavuos is simply the festival of the first grain harvest. Is that the reason we tend to neglect it?

The rabbis tried to remedy that by associating Shavuos with the giving of the 10 commandments at Sinai. The Torah readings for Shavuos include the reading of the aseret hadibrot (the 10 utterances or 10 statements), and by extension the holiday celebrates Hashem giving us the entire Torah. Consequently, it is appropriate to celebrate the holiday by studying Torah. All day and night! If you are planning to “pull an all-nighter”, Dr. Block recommends this list of things to read.

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