2 Friday, March 14, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Synagogues, Worshipers, Architecture and Drama

Architecture of synagogues through
the ages, the struggles of many against
prejudice and persecution, the fascination
that attaches to their historic experiences
— these are linked so admirably and so
dramatically in a single volume that it
emerges as one of the most impressive
works produced in many years.
Carol Herselle Krinsky, professor of
fine arts at New York University, in Syna-
gogues of Europe: Architecture, History,
Meaning, provides such a marked enrich-
ment of the collective title that her ex-
pressly researched achievement earns
appreciation and deep recognition.
MIT Press, as publisher of this truly
great work, enters the field of publishing
books of histofic Jewish value on the high-
est level.
. Commendations for Prof. Krinsky's
notable contribution to Jewish historical
research comes from many quarters, from
teachers of art literature, from architects
and historians. Prof. Joseph Gutmann of
Wayne State University, himself an
author of many volumes dealing with the
subjects, had this to say in recognition of
Prof. Krinsky's achievements:
"Carol Krinsky's book is a major
evaluation of European synagogue art
architecture. It disposes of many scholarly
uncertainties and sheds new light in Euro-
pean architecture. This welcome addition
to the growing literature on synagogue art
will prove to be of value not only to the
scholar of Judaism and art history, but also
to European travelers interested in obtain-
ing accurate information about surviving
synagogues."
Prof. Gutmann touched upon many
vital factors emphasized in the Krinsky
creative achievement. While it is architec-
ture that has the emphasized fascination,
the many historic experiences recorded
here make her work one of great historic
importance.
Providing extensive treatment to the
synagogues of the Balkans, Eastern
Europe, the USSR, France, Belgium, Ger-
many, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, the
Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries
and the United Kingdom, in many there
was the resistance to oppression, and the
survivalism reveals the courage of the
dedicated and devout.
The very -detailed accounts contain the
references to many synagogal locations
which serve merely as conceivably memo- .
rial spots. Special interest attached to
what Prof. Krinsky defines as an "Appen-
dix: List of Extant Polish Synagogues"
enumerating 69 communities, the reader
will surely be puzzled, amazed, to learn
that such synagogues exist, even if it is
explained that it is "extant." A reading of
the list proyides the clue. For example,

'Under Roman Law'

Excerpt from "Synagogues of Europe"
by Carol Herselle Krinsky.
"Fortunately for the Jew% Pope
Gregory the Great (pontificate 590-
604) was a man of integrity. He chas-
tised church officials whose religious
zeal led them to approve of illegal or
excessive actions against Jews. Greg-
ory protected synagogues because he •
believed that forced conversions were
undesirable, and that the destruction
of a Jew's traditional place of prayer
was an unsound inducement to con-
version. Gregory did, however, ap-
pease Christians by permitting the
removal and relocation of asynagoiue
if it was so near a church that the
sounds within disturbed Christians in
the church."

Bobowa house of worship is now "workshop
or school?' "Chelm" is described as a "tech-
nical school. "Lodz" is accompanied by an
address, Poludniowa St. No. 28. Czes-
tochowa is "a concert hall." Slutsk is de-
scribed as "a bakery since the 1920s." Dab-
rows is "a warehouse." "Jaroslaw" is an
art school." Zamosc is listed as "tourist
hotel, library or post office."
The author has this notation at the
end of this list of "synagogues extant":
"These may not all be accessible to the vis-
itors. The local tourist office may be con-
sulted for advice."
Drama after drama, indeed, tragedy
after tragedy followed by the survivalism
that is the Jewish historic experience is
imbeddedin every chapter of the recorded
confrontatinos assembled by Dr. Krinsky.
Therefore, her truly fascinating work
served as a guide for students, as a
textbook for students of the synagogue's
progress through the centuries.
There is an especially impressive fac-
tor in her volume when she deals with the
religious differences, with the contrasts
between the traditional Orthodox and the
emerging Reform.
On that score, because of the notewor-
thy contrasts and, the historic records, as
cial from non-Jewish
well as the prejudi
ranks in the Jewish experiences, Prof.
Krinsky's Synagogues of Europe has much
value for people of all faiths and for
theological students everywhere.
The Jewish interest gains especially
in the author's description of the
emergence of the Reform Jewish move-
ment. This portion of her volume will
surely gain concerned interest in all
Jewish ranks. This is how Prof. Krinsky
defines the birth and development of Re-
form in Jewish ranks:

The Reform Movement
The trends toward cultural
integration also encouraged some
culturally assimilated Jews
around 1800 to abandon the dis-
tinctive practices of worship that
had developed in times of political
and cultural isolation. These Jews
lived mainly in Germany, Vienna,
and western Europe. They hoped
to bring Judaism into harmony
with modern conditions by
eliminating liturgical traditions
and prayers that had no applica-
tion in Nineteenth Century
Europe. Understanding that those
half-ignorant of Hebrew recited
prayers only by rote, the
modern-minded faithful wanted to
introduce vernacular prayers and
sermons to make synagogue
attendance meaningful.
The . result of their plans was
the movement known as Reform
Judaism, a term we have already
mentioned. Changes in prayers ac-
companied esthetic •changes re-
lated to aspects of low-church Pro-
testantism. In those Protestant
churches, the emphasis was on
preaching, especially about as
pacts of godly behavior, rather
than on dogma and ritual. The
congregations sat in rooms that
were essentially meeting and
preaching halls rather than
sanctuaries of incarnate mys-
teries, and they listened to a minis-
ter (who, like a rabbi; might. be
married), rather than to a celibate
priest. The designers of Protestant
churches made all parts of a build-
ing visible, and made sure that the
minister could be heard through-
out the building. These elements
were familiar in Judaism.. Major
differences between Protestant

Synagogue in the Amsterdam-South Area on Jacob Obrechtplein.

Orthodox synagogues used by as-
similated Jews, changes also oc-
curred in the auxiliary areas. In
fashionable synagogues, there
might be open porches to shelter
those who alighted from carriages
in the rain. These synagogues
would also have cloakrooms and
resting rooms for women. If the .
rabbi and cantor lived off the
premises, they had office and rob-
ing rooms in the synagogue
(though contrary to Jewish cus-
tom, even Orthodox rabbis wore
ministerial robes if the govern-
ment insisted on them). There
might be a dressing and waiting
room for brides, and a social hall to
replace the old separate Tanzhaus,
or festival building. Such changes
as these suggest that the syna-
gogue came increasingly to be
viewed as a place for polite ac-
tivity. It is understandable that
aesthetic considerations came to
the fore in the conduct of services
and in decidions about arthitec-
tural form and style that would
please the culturally assimilated
congregation, whatever rite it fol-
lowed.
Architectural rapproache-
ment with churches had its limits,
of course. Synagogues avoided a
church plan in which the apse —
for the ark in a synagogue, for the
altar in a church — lay behind a
bay covered with a dome or
cupola. The dome or cupola or lan-
tern could have illuminated the
easterly bimah in a Reform temple,
thereby distinguishing the bimah's
space from that of the ark. But be-
cause this plan separates the con-
gregation from anyone beyond.the
domed bay, it suits the special
status of a priest and does not suit a
rabbi or cantor. In addition, as this
plan had been invented specifi-
cally for Roman , ' Catholic
churches, using it would have ob-
viously imitated the practice of an-
other religion, something which
even the Reformers must have
hesitated to do •ithout good rea-
son.
This is a remarkable impression of

and traditional Jewish practice in-
cluded seating the entire family to-
gether rather than segregating
women, and having unified re-
sponsive reading and hymn sing-
ing, the latter regulated by an
organ and a trained choir.
The serene orderliness of these
Protestant procedures appealed to
those assimilated German Jews
who began the Reform movement.
In the age of a proper Biedermeier
parlor, the age of Jane Austen, a
Reform-minded Jewish family
shunned the shouting, vigorous
movement, and uncoordinated
praying known in traditional
Ashkenazic synagogues, was agh-
ast at the smoking and eating done
in exceptionally lax congregations,
and would probably have looked
askance at the informality in some
Catholic and evangelical Protes-
tant churches. Reformers evi-
dently believed that decorum rein-
forced religious activity. They saw
the rabbi and cantor as leaders of
organized prayers, which should
be recited by one voice or by the
congregation in unison, rather
than by each individual at his own
pace. These prayers were to be of-
fered in clean synagogues, where
informal behavior was supposed
to be unknown. Everyone was to
sit sedately, focusing on the east
where the bimah had moved from
' the center of the room. It was easy
to see beyond the bimah, because
. Reformers removed the old stone-
framed bimah enclosures•and sub-
stituted simpler tables instead, as
at Worms. Scores of. galleried
basilican synagogues were'erected
for Reform worship, and there was
little to distinguish the Jews' build-
, ings from Protestant churches.
That was part of the point: Reform
temples were meant to appeal
especially to assimilated youths
who might be tempted to follow
other ambitious young Jews in
converting to Christianity. The
rows of neat pews revealed the
status of congregation members,
since those who sat closest to the
east enjoyed the greatest wealth or
prestige.
In reform temples, and even in

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