The World That Was
Religious Life
The Synagogue
The Synagogue
"Things were different when it came to the synagogue. Although both the synagogue and the Beit Midrash were close, the distance between them was powerful. The great synagogue stood in the dark, full of secrets, frightening in its appearance. Various legends were spun around the synagogue. It was said that every night after midnight the dead came into the synagogue to pray; that those who could not find rest came searching for their "tikkun” (mending); that the dead would take the Holy Scriptures from the Ark and read the Torah. Therefore, whoever went by the shul at night was to knock on the gate three times to make the dead disappear…..Young children, and perhaps also the older ones, were afraid to walk past the synagogue at night. The result of these legends was that no mezuzah was placed on the synagogue’s door. Still today I remember the fear that the synagogue threw upon me when I went home late at night….”
Moshe Lubling in Wolbrom Irenu.
