Synagogues Without Jews

Rating:
Summary: CAVEATS
Review: I have read all the previous complimentary reviews, and agree with them all -- this is a masterpiece and should definitely be owned by all interested in this subject particularly because of its fine text, the wonderful and priceless photos (how did the old ones become in color??), and the pertinent appendices.
But I would like to also mention its limitations, which no one mentioned; but still these should not discourage its purchase:
(1) The most glaring (near-) omission is its abysmal index The text mentions hundreds of synagogues in tens of pages, yet the index consists of only two pages of quite large type.
(2) This grossly incomplete index also has the wrong reference page for many synagogues [I checked two towns and found each discussed on a different page].
(3) One should realize that only certain countries are listed; this is not a criticism; more a hope for a second volume. Those countries listed are: Italy, Croatia and Serbia, Greece, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Again, the grossly limited index makes search truly impossible; forcing one to just read each page in each subject country. Perhaps this is a 'plus'!

Still, a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: most useful coffee table book
Review: This is a beautiful book! The pictures are gorgeous, and the accompanying text is clear, concise, and extremely informative. Each chapter contains a beautiful and poignant story of a lost community. I shared this book with my parents, who come from and are familiar with some of the communities mentioned in the book. It brought back bittersweet memories for them, as they are survivors of the Shoah. I showed this book to my children and their friends, and the pictures generated some very good discussions. This is a book that belongs on every coffee table - and it won't stay there for too long. It's a book to be picked up and looked over slowly and lovingly. Each chapter is to be savoured. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: A Trail of Synagogue Art
Review: Winner of the National Jewish Book Award 2000, this jewel of a book should be in every Jewish home and in as many high-school, university and public libraries as possible, Jewish and otherwise.

Like many of life's blessings that seem "accidental," a holiday in Italy developed into this fascinating history of synagogues and their communities in Italy [6 communities], Croatia and Serbia [3], Greece [3], Austria [3], the Czech Republic: Bohemia and Moravia [7], Slovakia [7] and Hungary [5].

That "vacation" expanded into five seasons of research on 350 synagogues. Thirty-four chapters of text are devoted to the history of specific Jewish communities. The excellent photographs of synagogoue interiors and exteriors were taken by the authors, unless otherwise noted. Fieldwork was followed by seven years of research and writing.

Writing the Foreword in 1999, the late Dr. Joseph Burg mentioned the authors' "infinite work, tireless devotion and careful investigation." Their energy has created a rich mixture of information on the synagogues and the Jews who worshipped in them. This combines with a competent description of the architectural and decorative aesthetics.

The earliest mentioned synagogue (1408) is in the former Dubrovnik ghetto, where today a congregation of 47 members, up from 23 some years ago, worships at No. 3 Jewish Street. The most recent (1925), the Neolog synagogue in Lucenec, Slovakia, was designed by architect Lipot Baumhorn. The small community remaining after the Holocaust sold it to the state for repair and use for cultural purposes. However, the authorities leased it out as an agricultural warehouse. In the late 1970s, when the tenant moved out, the building was left open to vandals. Today the interior is a picture of "wanton devastation" in contrast to the exterior photographs which imply the past grandeur of Baumhorn's romantic style.

The text provides marvelous nuggets of congregational and artistic history. In Italy, the only European country in which Jews have lived continually since the second century B. C. E., the synagogue design ranges from the luxuriant Baroque-Rococo interior of the synagogue in Casale Monferrato to the white-walled purity at Gorizia. Built in the ghetto in 1699, the latter experienced in 1761 a fire which "licked up to the synagogue and suddenly stopped on the threshold." The congregation celebrated the date and miracle for many years as a "minor Purim." Restored in 1984, the building is now a small Jewish museum. The large Pilsen synagogue in Bohemia, built in 1892, has been restored and is open to the public. The Nazis did not destroy it because of adjacent valuable commercial property. The neo-Moresque styled synagogue and school built in 1903 in Osijek, Croatia, was sold to Pentacostals and is now a church and seminary.

The supplementary chapter "A Gallery of Women" points out that the last resident Jews in remote towns more often than not are women. Today many are the mainstays of the local Jewish presence. Included here is Bernadette Booten's study "Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue," and information from Lee I. Levine's "The Ancient Synagogue: the first thousand years.

"The Italian Synagogue through the Ages" by Noemi Cassuto features photos of seven synagogues. Two in-scale floor plans detail the 13th century synagogue in Trani, converted 300 years later into a church.

"Synagogue Interior Decoration and the Halakhah" by Shalom Sabar questions which graphic content has been considered permissible over the years in view of the Second Commandment which forbids making images. The possibility of idolatry has always threatened, as did the simple fact of being distracted from prayer. Rabbi Judah ben Temah stated: Be strong as a tiger, light as an eagle, fast as a deer and mighty as a lion to fulfill the will of your Father in Heaven." Some Jews wanted images of the four "holy" animals used decoratively. In fact, in the 12th century in Regensburg, Germany, images of animals and birds were painted on the walls. Images of plants, fruit and flowers were always allowed, as were geometric designs, often inlaid in metal or mosaic.

"Spirituality and Space" by Rudolf Klein points out that in Judaism architecture lacks a direct link to the spiritual, the Torah, and the spatial. A minyan of ten Jews can pray together in any room, even out of doors. The synagogue is sacred because of the scriptures it contains.

The Appendix on synagogue restoration is a useful reference list to the current status of close to 150 synagogues, i.e., "in Jewish use; museum; new building; institute; community center; concert hall and gallery." In Venice three synagogues are in use, a fourth in restoration; in Zemun, in 1998 the Serbian radical party restored one as "a restaurant and gambling house."

A long list of Acknowledgments; a Bibliography; a Glossary and an Index witness that the entire project was created by many hearts and minds working together to achieve a shared vision. The book is such a rich mine of Jewish community history and religious art that one will return to it time and again.

The authors' parental roots in Moldavia and the Ukraine were transplanted to the United States, where Rivka and Ben-Zion grew up. Rivka has a BJE degree from Hebrew College in Boston and an MA in Ancient Semitic Languages and Art of the Ancient Near East from Columbia University. She studied art history and Jewish art at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and she lectures in Israel and abroad. Ben-Zion earned a Ph.D. in Genetics at Yale University. They live in Jerusalem.

The authors share with the reader the many meetings they had with total strangers during their travels, Jews and non-Jews: the friendships that developed, kindnesses shown, hospitality generously given. They were often asked, "Did your family come from this town?" Feeling themselves "an intrinsic part of the endless list of anonymous Jews who populated these villages and towns, the Dorfmans symbolically replied, "Yes, our family came from this town."

Rating:
Summary: Jewish Communities and the Art of Their Synagogues
Review: Winner of the National Jewish Book Award 2000, this jewel of a book should be in every Jewish home and in as many high-school, university and public libraries as possible, Jewish and otherwise.

Like many of life's blessings that seem "accidental," a holiday in Italy developed into this fascinating history of synagogues and their communities in Italy [6 communities], Croatia and Serbia [3], Greece [3], Austria [3], the Czech Republic [7], Slovakia [7] and Hungary [5].

That "vacation" expanded into five seasons of research on 350 synagogues. Thirty-four chapters of text are devoted to the history of specific Jewish communities. The excellent photographs of synagogue interiors and exteriors were taken by the authors unless otherwise noted. Fieldwork was followed by seven years of research and writing.

Writing in the Foreword in 1999, Dr. Joseph Burg mentioned the authors' "infinite work, tireless devotion and careful investigation." Their energy has created a rich texture of information on the synagogues and the Jews who worshipped in them. This combines with a competent description of the architectural and decorative aesthetics.

The earliest synagogue discussed [1408] is in the former ghetto of Dubrovnik, where today a congregation of 47 members, up from 23 some six years ago, worships at number 3 Jewish Street. The most recent one [1925] the Neolog synagogue in Lucenec, Slovakia, was designed by architect Lipot Baumhorn. The small community remaining after the Holocaust sold it to the State for repair and use for cultural purposes. However, the authorities leased it out as an agricultural warehouse. In the late 1970s, when the tenants moved out, the building was left open to vandals. Today the interior is a picture of "wanton destruction," a contrast with the exterior that still evokes the grandeur of Baumhorn's Romantic style.

The text provides marvelous nuggets of congregational and artistic history. In Italy, the only European country in which Jews have lived continually since the Second Century BCE, synagogue design ranges from the luxuriant Baroque-Rococo interior of the synagogue in Casale Monferrato to the white-walled purity in Gorizia. Built in the ghetto in 1699, the latter experienced a fire in 1761 which "licked up to the synagogue and suddenly stopped on the threshold." The congregation celebrated the date and miracle for many years as a minor Purim. Restored in 1984, the building is now a small Jewish Museum. The large Pilsen synagogue in Bohemia built in 1892 has been restored and is open to the public. The Nazis did not destroy it because of adjacent valuable commercial property. The neo-Moresque styled synagogue and school built in 1903 in Osijek, Croatia, was sold to Pentacostals and is now a church and seminary.

The supplementary chapter "A Gallery of Women" points out that the last resident Jews in remote towns more often than not are women. Today many are the mainstays of the local Jewish presence.

The "Italian Synagogue through the Ages" by Noemi Cassuto features photos of seven synagogues. Two in-scale floor plans detail the 13th century synagogue in Trani, converted 300 years later into a church.

"Synagogue Interior Decoration and the Halakhah" by Shalom Sabar questions which graphic content has been considered permissible over the years in view of the Second Commandment which forbids figurative representation. The possibility of idolatry has always threatened, as did the simple fact of being distracted from prayer. Rabbi Judah ben Temah stated "Be strong as a tiger, light as an eagle, fast as a deer and mighty as a lion to fulfill the will of your Father in Heaven." Some Jews wanted images of the four "holy" animals used decoratively. In the 12th century in Regensburg, Germany, images of animals and birds were painted on the walls. Images of plants, fruit and flowers were always allowed, as were geometric designs often inlaid in metal or mosaic.

"Spirituality and Space" by Rudolf Klein points out that in Judaism architecture lacks a direct link to the spiritual, the Torah and the spatial. A minyan of ten Jews can pray together in any room, even out of doors. The synagogue is sacred because of the scriptures it contains.

The Appendix on synagogue restoration is a useful current status reference list of close to 150 synagogues, i.e. "in Jewish use; museum; new building; institute; community center; concert hall and gallery." In Venice three synagogues are in use, a fourth in restoration; in Zemun, in 1998 the Serbian radical party restored one as "a restaurant and gambling house."

A long list of Acknowledgments: a Bibliography; a Glossary and an Index witness that the entire project was created by many hearts and minds working together to achieve a shared vision. The book is such a rich mine of Jewish community history and religious art that one will return to it time and again.

The authors' parental roots in Moldavia and the Ukraine were transplanted to the United States, where Rivka and Ben-Zion grew up. Rivka has a first degree from Hebrew College in Boston and an M.A. in Ancient Semitic Languages and Art of the Ancient Near East from Columbia University. She also studied art history and Jewish art at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. She lectures in Israel and abroad. Ben-Zion earned a Ph.D. in Genetics at Yale University. They live in Jerusalem.

The authors share with the reader the many meetings they had with total strangers during their travels, Jews and non-Jews; the friendships that developed, kindnesses shown, hospitality generously given. They were often asked "Did your family come from this town?" Feeling themselves "an intrinsic part of the endless list of anonymous Jews who populated these villages and towns," the Dorfmans found themselves answering "Yes. Our family came from this town."