Shana Tova and Gmar Chatimah Tova to all the members of the Chabad on Campus community.
I hope that all of you celebrated the holiday with your loved ones, with lots of good food and ‘fast’ easily. I thought of what could be my next blog for this community so we can get into holiday spirits and include some of my hobbies. So I want to introduce a place which is close to my heart where I found myself most of my childhood for holidays and other events is in Budapest’s biggest synagogue on Dohány street.
The synagogue was built in the 19th century, as you can see on the building, the architecture was influenced by the Islamic models of the Moorish people who came from North Africa. The synagogue was designed by Ludwig Förster, originally from Vienna who stated and I quote “architectural forms that have been used by oriental ethnic groups that are related to the Israelite people, and in particular the Arabs”. Another interesting fact is that the synagogue was built nearby the house where Theodore Herzl was born.
On the sad side of history, the synagogue was bombed in 1939 by the Nazi party during the Second World War and only renovated in the 1990s after Hungary was not governed by the Communist party anymore. However, after the renovation was a successful project, the synagogue expanded to other parts of its building where visitors, diplomats and many more people pay a visit.
The Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives, Hero’s Temple, Jewish Cemetery, and Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park.
When I was a kid I visited this building many times in my life, some occasions were holiday related, others were for memorial days and also, when the city organizes the Summer Jewish Festival, famous artists from Israel come to hold a show here, like Idan Raichel. This place was built so elegantly that when I go there I’m amazed again and again by how the renovation made this building very classic and held it close to the Jewish culture. I hope if any of you go on a trip to Budapest will have a visit there too.
I want to say thank you also for taking interest in reading my blogs and hearing many nice comments after ten months of constant writing. See you at future events!
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