Jewish Heritage Europe

Posing the question — in 1990: should old synagogues in eastern Europe be saved

  Our previous post highlighted an article by Phyllis Myers in this month’s Moment Magazine in which she poses the old question: should old synagogues in eastern Europe be saved? Her answer was a decided YES. It is important to remember, however, … continue reading →

Revisiting an old question: Are the old synagogues of eastern Europe worth saving?

In a compelling essay for Moment Magazine, Phyllis Myers,  a conservation policy and politics adviser to governments and private groups, returns to consider a question she first addressed some 25 years ago — a question that we at JHE feel has long been answered: … continue reading →

Vilnius’s Gėlių st. synagogue no longer in danger of collapse

      The Cultural Heritage Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture has issued a progress report on efforts to stabilize, and eventually restore, the synagogue at Gėlių st. 6 in Vilnius. The work is being carried out via principal funding … continue reading →

Clean-up at Vilna Ghetto Jewish Library building

Often we think of Jewish built heritage in terms of synagogue buildings, mikvaot, Jewish cemeteries, and other sites with religious association. Or Holocaust memorial sites, former ghettos and Jewish quarters, Jewish schools, rabbis’ houses, and the like. Clean-up operations for such … continue reading →

Death of Jakovas Bunka

We mourn the death of a remarkable man, Jakovas (Yaakov) Bunka (Yankl or Yosl Bunk), a renowned folk-style wood-sculptor, World War II hero and passionate keeper of the Jewish flame in his native town, Plunge, Lithuania, who died July 30 at the age … continue reading →