by Leah Goldstein


Interior of the new Synagogue at Yad Vashem: fusing past with present

For millennia, synagogues have been central to Jewish life. Such was the faith of European Jewry, that even the smallest communities had not just one, but several synagogues—some as grand as temples, others more modest, built of wood or stone. The Nazis were fully aware of the symbolic importance of the synagogue and made a special point of targeting them for destruction. Many thousands of synagogues and study-houses were demolished by the Nazis during the Holocaust; on Kristallnacht alone more than one thousand synagogues were ruined, often after being looted of their sacred ornaments.

There is no more fitting memorial to the destroyed places of worship of European Jewry than a synagogue in the heart of Yad Vashem. The Nazis demolished synagogues, entire Jewish communities and six million Jews, but never destroyed the Jewish faith. Inaugurated on 8 June in the presence of Minister of Housing and Construction Isaac Herzog MK and donors Marilyn and Barry Rubenstein (USA), the new Yad Vashem Synagogue—part of the new Museum Complex—offers a place for visitors to recite kaddish (the mourner’s prayer), to gather in silent prayer or join a traditional prayer service, or to hold memorial services for lost communities.

Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie and the interior design firm Tamuz, the 210-sq. meter circular building fuses past with present, using traditional and modern concepts. Ritual artifacts rescued from destroyed synagogues adorn the Synagogue in commemoration of the glorious past of European Jewry. The artifacts are displayed behind the seats in specially designed and illuminated niches around the Synagogue’s circular outer wall. They include three Torah Arks from Romania (one of the Arks was discovered being used as a clothes closet in a local Romanian’s home), as well as various other Judaica from other European countries. The main functioning Torah Ark’s façade is from Barlad, Romania. There is also the Torah Ark of the Apple Merchants Association Synagogue in Iasi, and the parochet (Torah Ark curtain) from Cluj. In addition, there are ritual articles from other countries, including stained-glass from the Dobrish synagogue (Czechoslovakia)—now used as the municipality building; a Torah scroll wrapped in a coat, brought by survivors back from Transnistria to Czernowitz at the end of the war; a wall lamp from Przeworsk (Poland)—where the Jewish community and its synagogues were completely annihilated; and various synagogue ornaments found in non-Jewish homes.

The inauguration ceremony included the dedication of a Torah Scroll that survived the Holocaust. The Scroll was discovered in a barn in Wengrow, near Lublin (Poland), by a Polish farmer who gave it to an Israeli visitor during the Communist era. It was restored with the generous help of Allan and Sylvie Green (France).

The Arks displayed in the Synagogue were brought to Yad Vashem with the support of the late Prof. Nicolae Cajal, then President of the Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania, and with the full backing of the Romanian government. In 1998, Director of the Museums Division Yehudit Inbar and Senior Artifacts Curator Haviva Peled-Carmeli went to Romania to trace what remained of a once-thriving Jewish community. They journeyed across the country, visiting synagogues in Bucharest, Barlad, Radauti, Cluj, Timisoara, Iasi, Dorohoi and Constanta. There they found a wealth of Judaica and synagogue furnishings in private homes and in synagogues hermetically sealed since the Holocaust.

Recalls Peled-Carmeli: “During a visit to the Prime Minister of Romania, accompanied by Prof. Cajal, the Prime Minister asked us how we set about bringing personal artifacts to Israel. We explained the shipping process, and then made a request to come to Romania to search for ritual artifacts from destroyed communities.

“In all, we spent about 20 days traveling all over Romania and Transylvania. We found about 10 Torah Arks—or, more precisely, parts of Arks—which we pieced back together like a puzzle, as well as bimot (prayer lecterns) and other related objects. We submitted the entire list to the Prime Minister, who told his government: ‘We should permit them to take the arks because here they will disintegrate; at Yad Vashem even a stuffed bear is treated like the Mona Lisa.’”

The remnants—discovered in various states of disrepair—arrived at Yad Vashem in November 1999. There, several of Israel’s most distinguished restorers—Dudu Shinhav, Eliyahu Matzkin, Alexandra Borushk and Varda Gross—labored piece them back together. In keeping with Yad Vashem’s restoration policy, they endeavored not to add any new parts, since what is missing bears witness to the extent of destruction wrought upon the Jewish community. Where parts had to be added, they were painted a different color so their addition would be clear.

“The Yad Vashem synagogue, a functioning place of worship, will serve as a memorial to the destroyed places of worship of European Jewry,” said Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev. “It will be a testimonial to the faith, the rich spiritual world of European Jewry and the extraordinary will of the Jewish people to survive, to remember and to rebuild.”

top