Posts

Showing posts from December, 2015

JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD - ALTER JÜDISCHER FRIEDHOF, WORMS/GERMANY

Image
"REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF AGES PAST." DEUT. 32:7 Sunday, Tevet 15, 5776. December 27, 2015 Shalom! World. With good reason Worms lays claim to be one of the oldest and most historically interesting towns of Germany. The Jewish cemetery and the Synagogue together attest to almost 1.000 years of Jewish life in Worms. The cemetery is one of the most outstanding and impressive places in the city. Worms is one of three cities along the Rhine river which were centers of Jewish intellectual life during the Middle Ages. These three cities, Speyer, Worms and Mainz, are together known as SHUM, an abbreviation based on the initial letters of the Hebrew names of the cities.  At this time many great Jewish intellectuals studied and taught at the yeshiva (Talmud school) in Worms. Among the most famous of these are Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040 - 1105), the outstanding commentator on the Talmud. Other famous names are Isaac ben Eleazar ...

JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. TEMPEL SYNAGOGUE. KRAKOW/POLAND.

Image
Sunday, Tevet 1, 5776 · December 13, 2015 Chanukah Day 7 • Rosh Chodesh Tevet Shalom! World. The Tempel Synagogue was founded by Krakow's Reform Jews and has traditionally hosted services for non-Orthodox Jews of the city. The Tempel Synagogue survived the war almost unscathed. It was built in 1860 to 1862, in the neo-Renaissance style designed by Ignacy Hercok, thanks to the efforts of the Association of progressive Jews in Krakow. Magnificently restored, it is now open. The building was enlarged in 1868, 1893, and 1924. During World War II Tempel Synagogue was badly damaged by hte Nazis, who used it as a magazine. Services resumed after the war and a mikvah was added in 1947. There is a women's secction in the one of the balconies. Regular prayer services were held here until 1985, in Polish and Germany as well as Hebrew. The Synagogue was completely renovated in 1995-2000. Today the Tempel Synagogue remains active as a place of worship, but services are on...

JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. THE CLOTH HALL. KRAKOW/POLAND.

Image
Yom Khamíshí, Kislev 21, 5776. Thrusday, December 3, 2015. Shalom! World. The iconic showpiece at the centre of the markt square, the origins and development of Krakow's Cloth Hall can be traced as those of the city itself. Proof of a structure at this site dates back to the mid-13th century. When King Kazimierz the Great approved construction of a purpose-built trading hall in the mid-14th century, Krakow's importance as an east-west trading post vastly increased and  the city thrived. Though the name "Sukiennice" literally refers to textiles and fabrics, Krakow's Cloth Hall saw an array of commodities bought and sold in its merchant stalls including wax, spieces, leather and silk, as well as lead and salt from the nearby Wieliczka mines. After a fire in the mid-16th century, the Sukiennice was given a Renaissance facelift by Jan Maria Padovano, making it most magnificent building in all of Krakow. By the mid-1870s, however, Poland had been parti...