A gala ceremony rededicated the magnificent Great or Grain Merchants’ synagogue in Bacău, Romania, following structural renovation.
The event November 21 took place during this year’s “Bereshit” – Romania’s annual national get-together that draws hundreds of Jews from around the country for educational seminars and social events. Organized by the JDC and Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, it takes place each year to a different city.
As we posted In August, the synagogue has undergone a structural renovation that entailed repair of the exterior of the building and the roof, as well as the flooring and the heating and electricity systems. The circa €800,000 cost was covered mainly by the state, with contributions from the Federation of Jewish Communities (FEDROM), the city, and the Caritatea Foundation, a partnership of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and FEDROM.
The reinauguration ceremony, attended by numerous state and local civic VIPs as well as the Israeli ambassador and Jewish religious and communal leaders, included the affixation of a mezuzah on the entry and a religious service officiated by Romania’s Chief Rabbi Rafael Shaffer.
Torahs were taken from the ark and paraded around the sanctuary, and Bacau Jewish community president Heinrich Brif blew the Shofar.
FEDROM President Silvio Vexler called the reinauguration “a dream come true, a promise fulfilled.”
“After many, too many years, in this iconic place of worship the sound of the Shofar sounded again and the Torah was read,” he said in a Facebook post.
Here are some images of the ceremony, from the news site deșteptarea.ro
Dating from around 1900, the synagogue was extensively rebuilt after a fire in the 1920s. It is noted especially for the extraordinary paintings that decorate the walls and dome created in 1926-27.by the artist Avram Mendel Grünberg (or Grinberg), from Iasi.
Listed as a historic monument, it is the only one of the city’s pre-war 22 synagogues to survive — the others fell victim to communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s “systemization” scheme that razed much of the city’s original architecture. One of the few surviving historic buildings in the city, it is surrounded by the apartment blocks and other buildings put up under Ceausescu.