Shaareh Torah  

In the early part of the twentieth century, approximately one hundred and fifty Lithuanian Jewish immigrants on the east side of Youngstown organized in to an Orthodox Congregation, Shaareh Torah. This was also around the same time as the founding of Emanu-El. The congregants, under the leadership of Tevila Cohen, purchased, remodeled, and utilized a home at 17 S. Hine Street as a synagogue. Dissention and internal quarrels soon surfaced within Shaareh Torah. By 1912, debates over a more “relaxed ritual” in place of traditional Orthodox practices polarized the members within the “Hine Street Shule.” 

As a result, a “splinter group” under the leadership of Samuel Levy broke from Shaareh Torah in 1913 and formed another congregation - Shaareh Torah Anshe Chessid Shel Emes. The new congregation, referred to as the “big” Shaareh Torah, purchased a former Presbyterian Church to be a synagogue at the corner of Prospect Street and Himrod Avenue. They prospered initially with the addition of newly arriving Hungarian and “Litvak” immigrants. The original Shaareh Torah, or “little” Shaareh Torah, disbanded in 1920 because of decreased membership and poor management.  By the 1930s, the big shule followed the little and dissolved due to the Great Depression and relocation of members to the north and south sides.[1]