We’ve been asked about the current status of the 200-year-old Ark that nearly a decade ago, without authorization, was removed from the disused synagogue in Siret, near the Romanian border with Ukraine, taken to Israel, and replaced by a shoddy replica. With our posts in February 2019, JHE was the first to bring this situation to world attention.
The current situation is that, after a long and complex series of investigations and court cases, the six-meter-tall Ark is now in the possession of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
The process took five years to resolve, a person in Israel involved in the matter told JHE. It entailed legal moves in both Romania and Israel, where Yochanan Ron-Singer, former Chairman of the World Organization of Bukovina Jews was a key player.
Ultimately the Ark — which, our source said, for at least part of this time was held in the storeroom of a furniture/antique shop in Rishon LeZion, Israel — was transferred to Yad Vashem in May of last year (2024). It is officially a donation from the Romania Federation of Jewish Communities (FEDROM).
According an email to JHE from a Yad Vashem spokesperson, the Ark has been undergoing restoration and will be displayed as part of Yad Vashem’s collection. (We have asked when, but so far have received no reply.)
Yad Vashem already is in the possession of several other Arks from synagogues in northern Romania.
As soon as FEDROM became aware of the removal of the ark in 2019 (thanks to our JHE posts), it filed a criminal complaint for fraud. FEDROM officials collaborated with the people in Israel working on the case.
The person in Israel involved in the recovery process in Israel said moves had included “complaints to Israel Police (twice), appeals to court (twice), handling this sacred project during the COVID-19 pandemic and the [Gaza] war” as well as “other unexpected obstacles and exercises that the holder tried in order to delay and prevent the return of the Ark.”
Meanwhile, the replica ark remains in situ in the synagogue in Siret.
When we saw it last summer (2024) there was no signage or other documentation to note that this was not the original Ark, but a poor copy installed as part of the scheme to remove the original.
We met at the time with the director of a new local history museum in the town, but he was unaware of the case.
Visitors probably regard the fake as the real, 200-year-old ark. We hope that information panels will be installed to provide the full story!
Click here to see our original posts about the case from 2019