We were happy to learn from the Ukrainian Jewish scholar Dr. Eugeny Kotlyar that repairs have been completed on the stained glass windows in the historic synagogue in the Podil district of Kyiv, which were damaged in October by a blast wave from Russian drone strikes.
Kotlyar shared a Facebook post from the synagogue in which the Jewish community board announced the completion and posted photos of the restored windows.
The board thanked community member Oleksy (Ariel) Shpanel-Yukhta for providing financial assistance for the work and said that Kotlyar — the artist, art historian. and Jewish heritage researcher who designed the windows — was involved in the restoration work.
The colorful windows were installed in 2002 and focus on holy places of the land of Israel and the tribes of Israel.
In October, Kotlyar wrote an essay for JHE, reflecting on the post-communist symbolism of the windows and the synagogue itself, and about the challenges for their restoration.
“The synagogue in Podil, which dates back to the late 19th century,” he wrote, “holds a unique place in Ukrainian Jewish history: known internationally as the Shchekavytska Synagogue or the Rosenberg Synagogue, it was the only synagogue in Kyiv that remained open during the Soviet era, and it miraculously survived the Nazi occupation. For generations, it has been the heart of Jewish spiritual life in Ukraine’s capital.”
Click here to read his essay and about the damage to the windows