Metropolitan Museum Exhibits Models
of Historic Synagogues Dating to 245 CE
NEW YORK—The Metropolitan
Museum opened an exhibition
Wednesday entitled "Synagogues
from Damascus to Newport: 15
Centuries of Jewish History."
It consists of eight models of
historic synagogues, each accom-
panied by related Judaica from
New York collections. These huge
models, never before produced,
frescoes have been removed from
Dura-Europos to a museum in
Damascus, and the model reunites
them.
The 6th Century synagogue of
Bet-Alpha in Israel was built
as a basilica, and it incorpor-
ated all the features which syna-
gogues such as Sardis, "'thetas
and Aegina possessed only in
twin windows and heavy butresses
recalls crusader's castles.
a continuous stone
Inside,
bench lines the walls of the
men's ball. The barrel vault with
lunettes and rosettes connect-
ing the summits was common in
Palestine. A particular feature
is the "cave," a squarish room
in the basement, commonly 'den-
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MODEL OF ARI-SAFED SYNAGOGUE AT METROPOLITAN MUSEUM
are the first group of a larger as-
semblage being created for the
museum of Yeshiva University.
The museum, endowed by Erica
and Ludwig Jesselson, will open
in 1973 at Yeshiva University's
main center -campus.
With the expansion of . the
Jewish Diaspora during the peri-
od of the Second Temple (526
synagogues in-
CE)
BCE-70
creased in number throughout
the Parthian, Hellenistic and
Roman empires.
The earliest archeological evi-
dence of a synagogue's existence
is at Shedia in Egypt. It dated
hack to the last this d of the 3rd
Century BCE.
From the destruction of the Sec-
ond Temple (70 CE) and the re-
sulting substitution of prayer for
animal sacrifice, the synagogue
became the central institution for
Jewish worship and study.
An order of services was de-
veloped which remained substan-
tially unchanged in the tradition-
al synagogues. Frequently, the
synagogue also served as the so-
cial center for the community.
Synagogue architecture always
has been strongly influenced by
the culture surrounding each com-
munity. Though there are but a few
regulations governing the loca-
tion and internal layout of the
synagogue, there are distinctions
among the oriental, Sephardic
(Iberian) and Ashkenazi (Central
and East European) styles of syna-
gogues.
The earliest synagogue in the
exhibition is that at Dur-a-Europos
in Syria, which was built around
245 CE. It is the first known syna-
gogue with a wall recess oriented
toward Jerusalem which served
as the ark for the Torah scroll,
and it is the only ancient syna-
gogue with a preserved fresco
cycle.
Biblical subjects are depicted in
these frescoes in the provincial
Parthian-Roman style character-
istic of the area at that time. The
part. It had two galleries sup-
ported on two rows of piers, and
the galleries served as the worn-
( en's section. Also present were
an apse for the ark, a bima for
the reader and a courtyard.
cavated, little more than the splen-
did mosaic floor now exists at
of
the
Bet-Alpha. The model
synagogue represents a synthesis
of current scholarly opinion of how
Bet-Alpha must have looked.
Synagogue architecture of the
European Middle Ages is repre•
sented by the Sephardic syna-
gogue of Toledo, Spain, and the
Ashkenazi Altneuschul in Pra-
gue, Czechoslovakia.
The Toledo synagogue, known as
Santa -Maria la Blanca (the build-
ing was turned into a church early
in the 16th Century) was built
around 1200 in a Mudejar style,
the style evolved by Moorish ar-
tisans working for Christians.
Like most medieval synagogues,
this one is modest outside and
splendid within. The hall is di-
vided into five aisles by horse-
shoe-arched arcades with elabor-
ately carved capitols supporting a
beamed wooden roof.
The Altneuschul still preserved
in Prague was built in the 13th
and 14th centuries in the form of
a rectangular, double-naved hall
with two central columns support-
ing Gothic pointed ribbed vaults.
The Alneuschul is unusual for its
impressive exterior. The main hall
with its steep roof and vertically
channeled gables rises high over
the annexes.
In the 16th Century, Safed in
Israel's Upper Galilee became the
scat of a mystical movement of
believers in the impending com-
ing of the Messiah. Its chief men-
tor was Rabbi Isaac Luria, (1534-
1572), called the "Ari," who foun-
ed the Lurianic school of the
Kabala. A kabalistic manuscript
loaned by the library of the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary is ex-
hibited nearby. Two Safed syna-
gogues are traditionally associat-
ed with the "Ari," both originally
dating to the 16th Century.
The Sephardic synagogue built
in the 16th Century was modeled
for the exhibition. It has a pleas-
ing facade facing a courtyard. The
main western front with its three
tified as Ari's study.
From the 17th Century onward,
the meeting house type of hall was
adopted as the model for the Por-
tuguese and Spanish synagog -
Of particular interest is the in Amsterdam, The Hague, L
mosaic floor in the nave with its don and the. Americas. The Touro
representations of the ark, cere- synagogue in Newport, R.I., repre-
monial implements, the zodiac, a sents this type. It was designed by
scene of the "sacrifice - of Isaac" Peter Harrison. architect of Bos-
and the names of the Jewish ar- ton's King's Chapel, and was built
tists who made the mosaic.
in 1763. It is a splendid example
Though the site was carefully ex- of mid-18th Century American Pal-
43 — Friday, Sept. 29, 1972
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
ladianism with its ionic porch and
its screens of white classical col-
umns inside.
The interior layout faithfully fol-
lows the arrangements of 17th
Century Sephardic synagogues in
Europe.
developed
Synagogue building
differently in Eastern Europe from
the late 16th to the 18th centuries.
The wooden synagogues found in
"shtetls" (villages) all over Po-
land, Lithuania. White Russia and
the Ukraine reflected Polish influ-
ence.
The synagogue at Zabludow, Po-
land, represents this type, and it
strikingly illustrates the style's
folk art qualities. It was built
in the firs1„,,Xalf of the 17th Cen-
tury, an annexes, corner pavi-
lions and vestibule were added in
the 18th Century.
The building's picturesqueness
was enhanced by the balustraded
balcony, the stepped hipped roofs
saddled with gabled roofs, the
herringbone paneling and brack-
ets under the eaves.
With the growing size of the
communities in the 18th Century,
the Ashkenazi synagogue doubled
its annexes to accommodate guild
meetings, boys' choirs and more
women worshipers. Upper stories
emerged over the side annexes
and over the vestibule with larger
windows facing the men's hall of
worship. In the 19th Century, gal-
leries became integral.
The Duesseldorf, Germany,.
synagogue, designed by Peter
Krahe in 1802 and built by
Peter Koehler, was one of the
earliest galleried synagogues in
Germany. The synagogue re-
tained the central bima, and the
hall had a gallery on three sides
supported on Tuscan doric
col-
umns.
The synagogue was entered
through a pedimented porch flank-
ed by subsidiary rooms. It had a
semicircular facade, which was
shielded from the street by a resi-
dential building belonging to the
congregation.
The exhibition has been organ-
ized under the supervision of Karl
Katz, Metropolitan Museum chair-
man for special exhibitions and
loans. For Yeshiva University, Dr.
Abraham G. Duker, former direc-
tor of libraries, Dr. Rachel Wisch-
nitzer, chief research consultant,
and Dalia Tawil, researcher, pro-
vided background for construction
of the models, made by Display--
craft.
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The Hebrew Corner
'Illegals' Return to the Homeland
This is the story of the ship San Salvador which sank opposite
the coast of Turkey.
A ruthless Bulgarian colonel e.roelled 4,000 Jews from Bulgaria
during the world war. Where could they go? In Europe Hiter ruled, and
in Eretz Yisrael the English were esconced and did not let a Jew
come in.
Then the San Salvador appeared in the shape of a tiny antiquated
boat. The ship's timber was rotten, but hopes ran high. 326 illegals
embarked.
The ship was crowded; there was no room to move but the illegals
sang the anthem: Hatikva. There were no workers on board, only
the captain and a few sailors were there. The young lads said: "Row-
ing a boat is a wonderful sport" ... and they sat and rowed.
Two hours passed. Bulgaria was left behind. The sea was stormy,
the waves were high, three days the ship tossed and turned on the
waves, till it reached the Turkish coast safely. Morning came. The
illegals saw from the deck of the tiny ship the picturesque Bosporus
and Istanbul. The illegals paid in full, for water and bread.
During the night the storm began. 326 people went down into the
hold on the captain's order. There wasn't room for even 40 persons.
It was difficult to stand up. it was difficult even to breathe.
Suddenly a noise was heard. People began to shout: A hole in the
ship! Water. The illegals tried to stop up the hole with blankets and
coats. But the water continued to rise.
There was one rescue boat. The captain and sailor jumped into it
and fled to the shore. The wrecked ship was left without a captain.
234 persons were drowned that night, and only 120 were saved.
For many days afterward, the sea cast up the dead bodies on the
shore. 119 bodies were buried in a large common grave in Turkey.
Several months ago the bodies reached Israel to find their eternal
resting place in a country where they had not been granted to live.
Translation of Hebrew column published by
Bill hilt Mandl, Jerusalem.