SHARON Ex-newscaster to return ceremonial key of temple

The key is still in its original box provided by a former Sharon business.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Former local newscaster Joe Shafran is bringing a piece of local religious history back to the Shenango Valley on Friday.
Shafran, now living in Annapolis, Md., will present the ceremonial gold key used to open the first synagogue in Sharon to Temple Beth Israel in a ceremony set for 6:30 p.m. at the temple at 840 Highland Road.
Shafran said his grandmother, Sophia Friedman, used the key to open the House of Israel on Shenango Avenue on Sept. 23, 1923. It was the city's first synagogue, he said.
Inscription
The gold key bears the inscription "House of Israel September 1923."
Shafran said it's still in the special box provided at the time by Randall & amp; Price Jewelers and Opticians, a former Sharon business.
Shafran said he will present the key and a commemorative plaque to Temple Beth.
The old synagogue is long gone and the land where it was located is now part of the Penn State Shenango campus.
Shafran said the key sat in a drawer in his mother's home in Sharon for years. He has it now and decided it would be best to turn it over to the city's Jewish population.
Shafran, founder of the Mercer County Oral History Project (now the Joe Shafran Oral History Project) which tape-records older county residents to get their views of the area's history, said he will be doing some taping Friday of residents who recall the House of Israel.
To be at library
He also will be at the Shenango Valley Community Library at 11 a.m. Friday for a demonstration by the Mercer County Historical Society of new technology for preservation of vocal recordings for the history project.
Audiotapes now being used last only about 75 years but the new technology can extend that life to 1,000 years, he said.
Any area residents with some local history to tell should attend that session, said Shafran, who at one time did news broadcasts for WYTV Channel 33.