'Pursuer of Peace') is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

[4] In 1847, a dozen Jewish Pittsburghers established a burial society they called Bes Almon (Mourners’ House) and purchased land on Troy Hill, on the city's North Side, for use as a cemetery.

By 1848, the group had rented a room downtown, on Penn Avenue and Sixth Street, and formed a congregation called Shaare Shemayim (Gate of Heaven).

The congregation's charter, dated November 9, 1856, gives as its primary objectives “the furtherance of the cause of Religion” and “the establishment of a good school in which the young shall be instructed in the principles of the Hebrew Religion as well as general branches of knowledge.” Over the next eight years, some members twice split off into separate congregations, but then rejoined.

The re-merged congregations took the name Rodef Shalom at that time, with thirty-five member families, and fifty children enrolled in the school.

The change didn't suit all Rodef Shalom congregants, with some resigning and forming the Orthodox, later Conservative, Tree of Life Synagogue.

As the years passed, services were shortened, women and men sat together, and an organ was installed—music was vital to Rodef Shalom even then, as the choir, directed by Bertha (Mrs. Jacob) Benswanger, was reputed to be “one of the best in the country.” The transition to the English language took time.

The resulting "Pittsburgh Platform" declared that Judaism was a religion, not a nation, and that the Bible was an ethical guide, not the infallible word of God.

During his Pittsburgh tenure, he started an international peace organization and co-edited the weekly Jewish Criterion, in addition to preaching at both Sabbath and Sunday services at Rodef Shalom.

Nevertheless, more than half of Rodef Shalom's members still lived near the Allegheny City Temple, so when a move was suggested due to crowded conditions, the congregation opted to expand where it stood.

Rodef Shalom sold its new-but-outdated home to the Second Presbyterian Church, their downtown neighbor, for $150,000 and began its move toward the east, buying a lot near the corner of Morewood and Fifth avenues for $60,000.

The Religious School added the Levy Hall auditorium (designed by Ingham & Boyd), and the Cohen Chapel, completed in 1938.

In 2000–2003, other areas of the building were updated for contemporary usage and handicap accessibility and a new porte-cochere entrance from the parking lot was added.

[5] On October 30, 2018 Rodef Shalom hosted the memorial service for Cecil and David Rosenthal, victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting that had occurred three days earlier.

[6][7] In December 2023 it was announced that Rodef Shalom and Temple Sinai, on Forbes Avenue, having split eighty years earlier, were beginning plans to form closer collaboration.

The double dome, 90 feet (27 m) in diameter, was constructed without structural steel, instead using the Catalan vault, a Spanish vernacular style brought to the U.S. by Rafael Guastavino.