An all-day series of events to mark the 150th anniversary of the Kazinczy street synagogue in Miskolc, Hungary, will take place on June 9, organized by the autonomous Orthodox Jewish congregation there. (The city’s grand Paloczy street synagogue, built in 1901, was destroyed in 1963).
Built between 1856 and 1863, the synagogue was designed by Ludwig von Forster, the same architect who designed the great Dohany St. synagogue in Budapest. Its rather austere facade hides opulent interior decoration. Graceful columns support lovely vaulting, and walls and ceiling are completely covered by elaborate Moorish-style geometric designs.
According to the Yivo Encyclopedia:
The completion of the Kazinczy Street synagogue in 1863 precipitated a conflict between Ezekiel Mozes Fischman, chief rabbi of Miskolc, and Hillel Lichtenstein, the ultra-Orthodox rabbi of Szikszó. At the end of the 1860s, the community wavered over whether to affiliate as Orthodox or Neolog. After the leadership chose to affiliate with Orthodoxy in 1869, the members of the Kazinczy synagogue became Neolog in 1870. In 1875, the two communities were reunited as a single Orthodox community. A decade later, a small contingent organized a Status Quo congregation, and HasidicJews organized a separate congregation after rejecting innovations with respect to marriage ceremonies.
The anniversary events start at 10 a.m. and conclude at 6 p.m.
Click here (Miskolc Jewish community web site) to see the program