Being a spiritual leader in a small town was always different. Rabbis needed to be able to handle wide ranging responsibilities, meditate differences, and stand as public Jewish representatives. Often, small towns pioneered new approaches to the rabbinate. This talk with consider legacy of small-town rabbis in the Western PA region.

Presented by Eric S. Lidji, Director, Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center in association with the Smithsonian Institution. Lidji writes extensively about the Jewish history of Western Pennsylvania. He is the author of the book “The Seventeenth Generation” and co-editor of the anthologies “Her Deeds Sing Her Praises” and “Bound in the Bond of Life”. He curates the websites “The Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania” and “The October 27 Archive.”