Published Saturday, October 19, 2002
still seeks
temple stories
Herald Staff Writer
The story of a brass key engraved with a Star of David remained a mystery for two decades for Sharon native Joe Shafran.
But with the help of a friend and a date engraved on the key, its mystery was unlocked.
Shafran, a former area broadcaster who lives in Annapolis, Md., found the key when his mother, Molly, died in 1980 and the family was cleaning out her Sharon home.
"We were removing things from her house when we saw this key in a box," the 75-year-old Shafran said. "It had a Star of David and a date, 9-1923. On the other side it said, 'House of Israel.' We thought it was a little unusual, but I never made anything of it. I took it, put it in my pocket and said to myself, 'I'm not going to dispose of it.' "
In 1995, Shafran began the Mercer County Oral History Project, for which residents record stories of the Shenango Valley and the county. The project has been renamed the Joe Shafran Oral History Project.
"But like the shoemaker who never fixes his own children's shoes, I had never asked my mother what old Sharon was like, which may partly be why I started the project," Shafran said. His mother came to the Sharon area as a 10-year-old in 1902.
In 2000, he looked at the key again and with the help of the Mercer County Genealogical Society and Paul Corbett, who researched old Sharon Heralds at the Shenango Valley Community Library in Sharon, he learned the key's story.
An "article ran on Sept. 23, 1923, and my grandmother Sophia Friedman, who was one of the matriarchs of the community, had been given a key to open the door of the first synagogue in Sharon, called the House of Israel," Shafran said, explaining that the wooden building was a replica of eastern European synagogues.
"It was on Shenango Avenue, where the Penn State campus is now. The area of it is just a grassy area now. It was torn down in the early 1950s ... There's no trace whatsoever except the key," he said.
According to the 1923 newspaper story, "Mrs. Sophia Friedman, Railroad Street, was chosen to place the golden key in the door and formally opened the new building."
Learning the story behind the key gave Shafran a new perspective on his heritage.
"Here's a woman in the 1800s, who decided to uproot the family in Europe and come to America. They followed an idea. And now what it's meant to me, to live in freedom, liberty," Shafran said, his voice cracking with emotion. "Now I give credit to these people. We wouldn't do it. My big move was from here to D.C."
His grandmother died in 1932, when he was 5 years old.
And the key, which for a long time was Shafran's own personal connection to Sharon, is here to stay.
Shafran and his wife Jerri presented it in a plaque with his grandmother's picture and a copy of the newspaper article to Temple Beth Israel on Friday night.
"It shouldn't be sitting in a drawer in Annapolis. Interest is lost as generations go by," Shafran said. "This key belongs back in Sharon."
Anyone with historical information about the House of Israel may call Shafran at (800) 795-2428.