Hungary: Singing Hallelujah .. the grand Synagogue in Pécs marks 150th birthday

The landmark grand synagogue in Pécs, southern Hungary, marked its 150th birthday with a celebratory event that included speeches — but also song.

And one of the songs, as this video of the event from the Mazsihisz Jewish umbrella federation shows, was “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen….

The synagogue, located on downtown Kossuth square, was designed by the architects Frigyes Feszl, Károly Gerster, and Lipót Kauser and built between 1866 and 1869 for the Neolog (Hungarian reform) Jewish community.  It was expanded in 1905.

The synagogue’s  façade features tall arched windows and a high, arched central section, framing a big clock and topped by the tablets of Moses. Around the top of the clock runs a Hebrew quotation from the book of Isaiah: “For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”

In his speech at the anniversary ceremony, Mazsihisz President Andras Heisler picked up on this theme. He said:

In the synagogue in Pécs everyone may find a home, they are always welcome. The gate of the house of God stands forever open “to all peoples”. It is open to members of the Jewish Community in Pécs, open to Jews, half Jews and quarter-Jews and non-Jews, respecting our values.

The interior of the synagogue is richly decorated and includes soaring women’s galleries and an organ and choir loft.

This is how the Hungary Post Office described it when it issued a stamp picturing the synagogue in 2017:

The most prominent feature of the facade is the ornamented clock in the semicircular tympanum, and the large decorative windows and the small onion-shaped domes on the corners of the synagogue define the building’s character.

The rich ornamentation of the space for worship, which is dominated by blue, brown and red colours, is derived from the same source, thus having a single effect. Seating for men is in wooden pews, while women are accommodated in galleries with carved wooden balustrades on two floors supported by thin columns on each side.

The interior space of the synagogue divided in three retains its original form and endeavours were made to ensure the preservation of such historic values during renovation works. The synagogue also houses an organ, which is a monument of industrial history, as it was the first organ of the Pécs Angster Organ Manufactory that used to enjoy high repute.

Heisler and other speakers at the birthday ceremony emphasized the role of Neolog Judaism — the largest stream of Judaism in the country since the early 20th century– and the importance of maintaining a Neolog identity.  Hungarian Jewry underwent a formal schism 150 years ago at a national Jewish congress held in 1868-69, and officially split into three streams — Neolog, Traditional Orthodox, and Status Quo Ante (which did not want to ally with the other two streams). 

In an interview, Tamas Goldmann, president of the tiny Jewish community said that originally, organizers had wanted to recreate the original dedication ceremony for the synagogue, “but we soon realized that a six-hour ceremony today isn’t feasible.”

The anniversary ceremony did, however, include an actor reading the speech at the 1869 ceremony given by Neolog Judaism pioneer Rabbi Lipot Low.

Inside, the two tiers of the women’s galleries, supported by cast iron columns, have beautifully decorated ceilings, and there is a choir loft and organ.

A permanent exhibit on the history of Jews in Pécs and surrounding Baranya County, from the 18th century to the present,  opened in the synagogue in 2014.  It includes documents, Judaica objects and other artifacts, as well as touch-screens and flat-screen monitors to tell personal stories as well as general history.

 Goldmann said in in his interview that given the small size — 70-80 active members — and demographic prospects of the Jewish community, the 150th anniversary of the synagogue was an opportunity to consider the future: with or without a local Jewish community.

The anniversary ceremony, he said, was a chance to highlight the synagogue and Jewish history of Pécs and “to show ourselves” as part of the city’s life.

The question is whether in the future, if the Jewish community in the city disappears, what remains behind us. Two things are most definitely two strong points: the synagogue and the Jewish cemetery [which, he noted, could use restoration]