World Jewish News

Lublin Synagogue Reopens.

After a break of more than 60 years, Lublin has an active synagogue once again. It is located in the partly renovated building of the famed pre-World War II Yeshiva of the Wise Men center.
Established in the 19th century, the Yeshiva of the Wise Men was one of the most important centers of religious and intellectual life of Polish Jews. For this reason, Lublin was called the Jerusalem of the Kingdom of Poland. The ceremony reopening the synagogue, which took place on Feb. 11, was led by Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and President of the Association of Jewish Communities in Poland Piotr Kadlcik.
The ceremony attracted crowds. The courtyard in front of the building was filled to capacity with Jews from Poland and abroad as well as numerous Lublin residents. Lublin Mayor Adam Wasilewski emphasized in his speech that Lublin was proud that representatives of different religions had lived peacefully in the city for centuries: Catholics, Orthodox and Jews. "Multicultural Lublin has always been a city of tolerance," Wasilewski said.
Among the guests were Catholic Church leaders led by Lublin Archbishop Józef Życiński, Israeli Ambassador to Poland David Peleg, representatives of British, German and Austrian embassies, and a representative of the Office of the President of Poland. Archbishop Życiński called the Yeshiva Lublin's Oxford, saying he hoped it would "intellectually encompass all of cultural Lublin." Other speakers included Father Romuald Weksler-Waszkinel, a Polish priest of Jewish descent who has long been involved in Polish- and Catholic-Jewish dialogue, who said he was glad to "see the synagogue as a living place, and not a ghost."
The synagogue was decorated with a plaque bearing the inscription "Rabbi Meir Shapiro Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin," the same as the one that could be seen at the top of the building until World War II and the Nazi occupation, when the Jewish community in Lublin ceased to exist. The inscription commemorates the Yeshiva's 19th-century founder. It was unveiled to the music of a Hasidic march. Later, Rabbi Schudrich fixed a mezuzah-a case containing a small parchment scroll with an excerpt from the Torah-to the Yeshiva building's main door. Another mezuzah was placed at the entrance to the synagogue, which is on the upper floor of the building.
During the reopening ceremony, the synagogue was bursting at the seams. The women who took part in the prayers gathered upstairs and the men prayed on the ground floor of the synagogue, according to Jewish tradition. The culmination of the religious celebration was when the Torah was brought into the building, a very important moment for the Jews. Before the sacred scrolls were laid in a wooden box, a particularly spectacular moment occurred-the traditional joyful dance during which the Torah was passed from one dancing man to the next.
The reopening of the synagogue attracted a lot of media attention. Images of joyful Jewish men dancing around the Torah were broadcast by Polish and foreign TV networks.
Another element of the ceremony that was very moving for many of the participants was when a video was played featuring former students of the Lublin Yeshiva now scattered all over the world. The man who found them was Piotr Rytka Zandberg, who also supervised the synagogue's renovation. "I wanted them to give their blessing to Lublin," Zandberg says. "I will never forget my meeting with Rabbi David Halahmi, who is in a nursing home in America. When I came in, his eyes were closed. Next to him was a book he had written about the Lublin Yeshiva. He seemed not to remember anything anymore. It wasn't until I told him the Yeshiva would be brought back to life that he opened his eyes and began his story."
The Lublin synagogue is the first to be restored after World War II exclusively with funds donated by the Jewish community in Poland. The community will also renovate the building's basement, where Europe's first Museum of Hasidic Jews is to be opened.

Источник: jewish.ru