JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE DOHANY STREET. BUDAPEST/HUNGARY

Wednesday, Nissan 23, 5777. April 19, 2017.

Shalom! World.

The History of  the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum in Budapest/Hungary.

The Synagogue on the Dohany street of Pest is not only the most impressive one in the country, but it's the largest Synagogue of Europe, the second largest one in the world. (The largest Jewish house of worship in the world is the Temple Emanu-El in New York).

The tours in the Jewish district of Budapest all have their departure point at  the Dohany Synagogue. This recently restored, magnificente, twin-towered building celebrated 157 years of existence in 2016. Let it take your breath away with its beautiful interior, see why it is among the top ten sights of Budapest. The second largest Synagogue of  the world located in downtown Budapest had to be constructed onn na asymmetric lot in order to place the Ark looking East. In a way it is hidden from our eyes if we  arrive to the 7th district from Museum korut (where the National Museum is), however the talento of its designers is shown by the impressiveness of the building even it facing a small square and not the boulevard.  Frigyes Feszl and Ludwig Förster created their máster piece in the middle of a metropolis using the Oriental-Byzantine (moorsh) style influenced by Moslen architecture.


                                                                                               
The consecration of the synagogue was a  major event on september 6, 1859.  It can hold 3000 seated and  approximately 2000 standing people. Major events took and take place here, like the celebrations part of the 1000th anniversary of  the Hungarian Conquest in May 1896, memorial services for importante Hungarian personalities in the 19th century, liturgical, organ or Klezmer concerts nowadays. The Dohany Synagogue remained the most importante religious centre of  the Neolog Jews in Hungary to this day.

Neolog Judaism in Hungary

Neolog Judaism is a mild reform movement within Judaism mainly in Hungarian-speaking regions of Europe, which began in the late 19th century. The reforms were comparable to the more traditional wing of U.S. Conservative Judaism. At the time of ots founding, the Orthodox Jews in these regions were particularly rigis against all modern innovations, so even these modest reforms had lad to sharp organizational separation. Communities that aligned with neither the Orthodox nor the Neologs were as the Status quo.

In the 19th century, the Neolog Jews were located mainly in the cities and larger towns. They arose in the environment of  the later period of  the Austr-Hungarian Empire generally, good period for upwardly mobile Jews, especially those of modernizing inclinations. In the Hungarian portion of the Empire, most Jews (nearly all Neologs and even most of  the Orthodox) adpted the Hungarian language, rather than Yiddish as their primary language and viewed themselves as "Hungarians of Jewish religion".

After the rise of Communism in post-World War II Hungary, the government forced Orthodox and Neolog organizations there into single organizational structure, albeit with a semi-autonomous Orthodox section. However, all three denominations (Orthodox, Neolog and Status Quo) have resumed their separate existences in the post-Communist period.

History of  the Hungarian Jewish Museum

At Dohany streeet nr. 2 there used to be a  two-story Classicist style house right next to the Synagogue. Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of  Zionism was born and raised there. The Jewish Museum was constructed on the plot where the house used to stand, adjoining the Dohany Synagogue. The little square in front of the  Dohany complex bears the name of  Herzl. The Jewish Museum construted between 1930-1931 has a very rich collection of religious relics of the Pest Hevrah Kaddishah, ritual objects of  the Shabbaths and  High Holidays, a Holocaust room, a historical exhibition and houses temporary exhibitions as well (some of many: Chagall, Soutine, Modigliani etc.).

History of the Budapest Ghetto mass grave

The Heroes' Temple and  the Hungarian Jewish Museum were constructed as part of the Dohany synagogue complex in 1931. The territory enclosed by the three buildings was a little green spot until it became part of the Budapest ghetto on 18th November 1944.

Almost 300 houses with around 4500 apartments became part of the Budapest ghetto with 55 000 people crowed into them. By January 1945 this number grew to 70 000. Due to the extreme weather conditions, llack of  supplies of food and medicine and the perpetrators' terror many people lost their lives on the territory of the ghetto. Their bodies were left unburied on the streets and in the courtyard of  the Dohany synagogue.

On January 18, 1945 the ghetto enclosed by Dohany, Karoly, Kiraly and Kertsz streets was liberated by Russian militaryforces. Several days  later on February 17, 1945 the police station of the VIIth district  reported that the burial of corpses collectfrom the área of  the former ghetto had  been finished. The cemeteries chosen for them were: Kozma street cemetery (3500 victims were buried there), Saalgotarjan street cemetery  and the garden  of the Heroes' Temple.

The small garden became of major importance by offering eternal resting place for the victims buried in common  graves. Today it is a silente place with many small headstones crowed together around the 24 graves and more than 2000 corpses beneath.

Shalom! Aleichem.

Cultural Support:  Jacob Jr B.A.C.E., avec L'Integration d'Association avec Israel et dans le Monde/Cz.