Work is getting under way to conserve the majestic ruins of the 18th century Great Synagogue of Rashkov (Raşcov), a town situated on the left bank of the Dniester River that is currently part of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Republic (Transnistria), which split from Moldova in 1990–92.
The synagogue was one of 10 heritage sites on both sides of the Dniester that in 2020 won a competition (involving online voting) to receive EU funding for preservation and restoration. The competition was organised by the EU Confidence Building Measure program (EU CBM) and implemented by U.N. Development Program (UNDP).
In April 2021, the UNDP signed a cooperation agreement with Tkumat Rashkov (Rashkov Rebirth), a Foundation established in Israel in 2016 to restore the synagogue. Tkumat Rashkov signed a cooperation agreement with the Jewish Community of Moldova in July.
The competition awarded the synagogue €48,000 — a small fraction of the estimated costs that full conservation and restoration of the roofless ruin will entail.
On August 4, the first stage of work began — clean-up, removal of vegetation, and preservation of the walls. These are priority temporary measures aimed at safeguarding the building until full conservation and restoration work can get under way, and , are expected to be completed by the end of this year. .
Further work, in 2022, will include archaeological research as well as continuing conservation of the building and the restoration of the surviving stone elements of the Synagogue’s decoration.
Also envisaged is the installation of a small viewing platform, fenced with a metal lattice, to encourage visitors.
Raşcov was an important place in the history of Hasidism: the author of the first hasidic book Toldot Yaakov Yosef, R. Yaakov Yosef of Polonne (d. 1783), was the rabbi of the town in 1748–52.
He was succeeded there by his son, R. Avraham Shimshon, who moved to the Land of Israel c. 1759. Another hasidic personality, R. Shabbetai of Rashkov (1657–1745), served as a scribe of the Besht and authored one of the first Hasidic prayer books. His descendants formed the Raşcov hasidic dynasty.
The synagogue is presumed to have been built in 1749, during the rabbinical tenure of R. Yaakov Yosef, Center for Jewish Art scholars Vladimir Levin and Sergey R. Kravtsov wrote in a 2017 article for JHE about the history and architecture of the synagogue.
The synagogue was ruined in 1930s, during an anti-religious campaign in the USSR. Since then only its roofless, unprotected walls remain, while some elements of its historical shape and decoration may be virtually reconstructed from the old photographs, drawings, and the memories of the prewar gabai’s son, the artist Mikhail Voronsky (1914–2014).
Read the article about the history and architecture of the synagogue by Levin and Kravtsov
See the Tkumat Rashkov Facebook page, with many posts about the project
See an article about the work starting
See an article with many photos of the synagogue