Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the world after the Temple Emmanuel in New York, with 3600 seats and a total capacity for
over five thousand worshippers. It belongs to the
Neolog
community, a Hungarian denomin-
ation combining elements of Reform and Orthodox Judaism. Today, eighty percent of Hun-
garian Jewry are Neologs, but their numbers amounted to only twenty percent before the Ho-
locaust, which virtually wiped out the Orthodox and Hasidic communities in the provinces.
Neolog worship includes features that are anathema to other denominations, not least organ
music during services.
Designed by a Viennese Gentile, Ludwig Förster, the building epitomizes the so-called
Byzantine-Moorish style that was popular in the 1850s, and attests to the patriotism of Hun-
garian Jewry - the colours of its brickwork (yellow, red and blue) being those of Budapest's
coat of arms. In the 1990s the synagogue was restored at a cost of over $40 million; the work
was funded by the Hungarian government and the Hungarian-Jewish diaspora, notably the
Emmanuel Foundation, fronted by the late Hollywood actor Tony Curtis who was born of
1920s emigrants.
The interior
The magnificent, cathedral-like
interior
was designed by Frigyes Feszl, the architect of the
Vigadó concert hall. Arabesques and Stars of David decorate the ceiling, the balconies for
female worshippers are surmounted by gilded arches, and the floor is inset with eight-poin-
ted stars. The layout reflects the synagogue's Neolog identity, with the
bemah
, or Ark of the
Torah, at one end, in the Reform fashion, but with men and women seated apart, according
to Orthodox tradition. On Jewish festivals, the place is filled to the rafters with Jews from
all over Hungary, whose chattering disturbs their more devout co-religionists. At other times,
the hall is used for concerts of classical or klezmer music, as advertised outside.
The Jewish Museum
Headinguptothesecond-floor
JewishMuseum
(ZsidóMúzeum),totheleftofthemainsyn-
agogue entrance, note a relief of Tivadar (Theodor) Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism,
who was born and taught on this site. In the foyer is a gravestone inscribed with a menorah
(seven-branched candlestick) from the third century AD - proof that there were Jews living
in Hungary six hundred years before the Magyars arrived. The first three rooms are devoted
to Jewish festivals, with beautifully crafted objects such as Sabbath lamps and bowls for the
Seder festival, some from medieval times. The final room focuses on the Holocaust in Hun-
gary, with chilling photos and examples of anti-Semitic propaganda. Oddly, the museum says
nothing about the huge contribution that Jews have made to Hungarian society, in every field
from medicine to poetry.
The cemetery and Heroes' Temple
The
cemetery
beside the synagogue only exists at this spot because the Nazis forbade Jews
from being buried elsewhere - one of many calculated humiliations inflicted on the Jewish
