Adath Ieshurim Synagogue, Bucharest

סקירה

הסיפור של Adath Ieshurim Synagogue, Bucharest

Adath Ieshurim was one of the many small synagogues of Bucharest's Jewish quarter, the district that began behind today's Piața Unirii and stretched eastwards. Radio România Internațional's encyclopaedia, in two articles by Steliu Lambru published in December 2019 and January 2020, gives the only account found: it was a synagogue of the Orthodox rite, built in 1915, standing immediately next to the Carpenters' Temple (Templul Tâmplarilor), a building of 1842 that was reconstructed in 1895, and it was demolished in 1984 together with its neighbour.

Nothing else about the building has been traced in this research: its street, its founders, its rabbis and its appearance are unknown, and no photograph of it was found. Its fate belongs to the wider destruction of the Jewish quarter under Nicolae Ceaușescu. After the earthquake of 4 March 1977 the regime began rebuilding the centre of the capital, and between 1984 and 1987 the systematization works levelled most of the quarter, including the line of the planned boulevard Victoria Socialismului and the site of the new Unirea market hall. Of the quarter's synagogues only the Great Synagogue and the Holy Union Temple were saved, and both are now museums.

מיקום

Where it stood for 69 years

Historic: former Jewish quarter of Bucharest, beside the Carpenters' Temple (Templul Tâmplarilor); street and number unknown. Today: area east of Piața Unirii, Sector 3, Bucharest; placeholder pin at Piața Unirii (approximate).

פתיחת מפה גדולה ←

הקהילה היהודית

Jews are first recorded in Bucharest in the middle of the sixteenth century, under Prince Mircea Ciobanul, according to Radio România Internațional. Sephardic Jews descended from the exiles of Spain settled in the Popescu district (mahalaua Popescului) behind present-day Piața Unirii, and over the following centuries the quarter extending east from there became the centre of Jewish life in the city, with houses, shops, workshops, schools and dozens of houses of prayer. Many of these were small congregations organised by trade or origin: the sources mention a tailors' synagogue on Mămulari Street, the Carpenters' Temple next to Adath Ieshurim, and synagogues founded by families such as the Gasters. Adath Ieshurim, built in 1915, was one of the latest additions to this network. Its name, a common Hebrew congregational title meaning 'congregation of Jeshurun', and its Orthodox rite are the only facts recorded about the people who founded and used it; their number and origins are unknown.

אדריכלות ועיצוב

No description, plan or photograph of the Adath Ieshurim synagogue has been found, so its appearance is unknown. The architect, the builder, the seating capacity and the style are not recorded in any source consulted. The only fixed points are its construction date, 1915, given by Radio România Internațional, and its position immediately beside the Carpenters' Temple, a building of 1842 that had been reconstructed in 1895. Whether it was a free-standing temple like the city's Moorish-style Choral Temple or a modest prayer house among ordinary houses cannot be said without further evidence. The documentation gathered by the Wilhelm Filderman Centre and the Ion Mincu University of Architecture for their 2019 exhibition on the demolished synagogues of the Jewish quarter, and the archival research of Narcis Ispas and Oana Marinache for it, may hold a plan or a photograph.

החיים בבית הכנסת

No account of worship inside Adath Ieshurim has been found. Radio România Internațional records only that it followed the Orthodox rite, Its neighbour, the Carpenters' Temple, was a craftsmen's congregation, and the close placing of the two buildings is typical of the quarter, where several small synagogues often stood within a few steps of each other. The names of its rabbis, cantors, presidents and members are unknown, and no records of its activities, schools or charitable societies were found. How long services continued after the Second World War, when emigration emptied much of the quarter, is also unknown. The planned volume on Bucharest's demolished synagogues prepared by Anca Tudorancea and Costin Gheorghe for the Hasefer publishing house may contain the missing information about the congregation.

הרס

In 1941, during the Legionary rebellion, members of the Iron Guard (the Legionnaires) devastated synagogues in the Jewish quarter, among them the Carpenters' Temple next door to Adath Ieshurim, the Cahal Grande and the Malbim synagogue. Whether Adath Ieshurim itself was damaged then is not recorded. The building was demolished in 1984, in the same year as its neighbour, according to Radio România Internațional. The article does not say who ordered or carried out the demolition, but places it in the systematization of central Bucharest by the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, for which the earthquake of 4 March 1977 provided the occasion. Historians quoted by Radio România Internațional say the Jewish quarter and the Uranus district suffered the greatest losses. Historia dates the systematization works that cleared the quarter to 1984-1987, and other synagogues were taken for the planned boulevard Victoria Socialismului and the new Unirea market hall; other synagogues of the quarter were demolished in 1986 and 1987.

גורל הקהילה

During the Legionary rebellion of 1941 the Iron Guard attacked the Jewish quarter and devastated several of its synagogues, including the Carpenters' Temple beside Adath Ieshurim. The Jewish community of Bucharest nevertheless remained large after the war: the European Jewish heritage guide jguideeurope gives an estimated 158,000 Jews in the city in 1948. Most of them emigrated in the following decades. Radio România Internațional describes the conditions under the Communist regime: those who applied to emigrate lost their jobs at once, often waited years for permission, and had to hand their homes over to the state fully renovated. The emptying of the quarter left its synagogues with dwindling congregations by the time the systematization began. Today the Jewish community of Bucharest is small: jguideeurope estimates about 2,000 Jews in the city, while Radio România Internațional gives about 4,000.

האתר כיום

The exact site of the Adath Ieshurim synagogue has not been identified, because no source consulted gives its street or that of the Carpenters' Temple. Both stood in the former Jewish quarter east of Piața Unirii, an area largely rebuilt after the demolitions of 1984-1987 with apartment blocks, new boulevards and the Unirea market hall. No surviving fragment of the building is recorded. The map pin is a placeholder at Piața Unirii, where Radio România Internațional says the old quarter began, and does not mark the synagogue itself. The Great Synagogue and the Holy Union Temple, which survive nearby, house a Holocaust museum and the Nicolae Cajal museum of the history of the Jews of Romania.

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