The first synagogue since WWII entirely renovated by the Jewish community of Poland will be opened in the city of Lublin next month. The first Museum of Chasidism in Europe will be located in the renovated building.
WARSAW (EJP)--- The first synagogue since WWII entirely renovated by the Jewish Community of Poland will be opened in City of Lublin on February 11th. The first Museum of Chasidism in Europe will be located in the renovated building.
Before WWII Lublin was one of the most important centres of the Jewish life, especially in field of education. Jews first settled in the city at the beginning of the 14th century and intensified after 1336, when King Casmir the Great gave the Jews so called “privilege of settlement”.
In 1930 Rabbi Meir Shapiro, creator of the Daf Yomi, founded the biggest Talmudic school in the world in Lublin, the Yeshiva Chachmei.
More than 20,000 people took part in the grand opening ceremony.
Jewish life in the city developed till the outbreak of the war. In 1939 the Jewish population of Lublin was about 40,000 (40 percent of total population).
During the Holocaust Nazis killed not only almost all Jewish residents but destroyed the entire Jewish quarter. Most of Jewish Lublinians were murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp.
Rabbi Meir Shapiro, founder of the biggest Talmudic school in the world in Lublin, the Yeshiva Chachmei.
Museum of Chasidism
Until 2003 the building of the former Yeshiva was occupied by the Lublin Medical Academy but three years ago it was returned to the Warsaw Jewish Religious Community. After reconstructions works, the building will now become a synagogue again.
The Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich will officially bring in the Torah Scroll on 11 February.
More than 2,000 people, including Polish Jews and citizens of Lublin, will attend the ceremony.
Among international guests will be a couple of pre-war graduates of the Yeshiva Chachmei, which will be definitely the most touching moment of the ceremony.
Piotr Kadlcik, the chairman of the Union of Jewish Orthodox Communities in Poland, said: “The restoration of the Yeshiva, the Synagogue, library and museum is not aimed at reopening the old wounds but it should serve the future.
“It is possible that within a few years, inside the restored building, we will reopen the Talmudic school”.
