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In the 19th century, Hungarian jewry developed its very own brand of Reform movement: The Neolog denominaton. It deviates from the typical Reform ideas at least insofar as women are not seated with the men; but it shares its rejection of the Talmud; i.e. basically the oral Thora and the teachings of generations upon generations of rabbis. As stated in a document that was found during the renovation of Oradea’s Neolog synagogue,

“… to serve as as place of worship for the city’s Jews so that within its walls pure religiosity and progressive ideas be preached, along with moral tenets cleansed of sophistry, Hungarian national spirit and patriotic devotion, equality and fraternity, loyalty to the King and love for the country forever and ever!!! [sic] Written in Oradea on 24th September 1878 …

As one can see, neologism advocates patriotism towards Hungary very much in the same way that German reformers sought to display “true” German patriotism. The motive was clear in both cases: The newly “emancipated” jews hoped for recognition as real Germans and Hungarians, respectively.

I am not going to poke fun at them for choosing a path that led nowhere. It is not my place. In hindsight we all are wiser. Nor do I need to point out that this sort of patriotic enthusiasm turned out to be but a pipe dream that was followed by a cruel awakening.

Instead, I would like to share with you the astounding beauty of this building in the center of Oradea, right by the river Crișul Repede.
You may find of interest a few oddities of Neolog architecture; i.e. there is no bimah with a shulchan to read the Torah (this is done all the way in front). This way, the seating arrangements resemble church benches. Furthermore, there is an organ up above the aron koidesh. Neologism obviously has no problem with music on Shabbes.

Well, actually not.

Cluj is no different than the rest of the country. Everywhere in Romania we saw, cables will stretch out over the streets and from house to neighboring house instead of running underground, expensively dug into the streets.

Electricity, telephone, TV, occasionally also overhead contact wires for Cluj streetcars (trams) or electric buses (trolley buses).

So why Cluj?
Because here I decided to take pictures of the most picturesque cable arrangements. At times, with some gas meters thrown in.

But Cluj also offers something quite ingenious I have never seen in any other place: The river Somesul Mic serves as swath for a high-voltage power line.

After crossing the Karpat mountain range at last we have arrived in Radauz, home of my grandparents, the place I have heard of so often. And at first sight, well, I hate to admit I have seldomly seen a more ugly place!

But Radautz has four days time to grow on me; four days I anticipate eagerly.

(Well, not all buildings look that gruesome. Let’s see what Radautz has in store for us.)

Both synagogues are Orthodox; the smaller one (on the right) was built about 30 years after the other, apparently, because the bigger Shul became too small to accomodate everyone. The following photographs show the bigger Shul as it is in 2017. It is no longer used for prayers but as a cultural venue.

The smaller Shul is were prayers are held, nowadays.
Here some views of the interior. Much of the design seems to be influenced by Viennese Art Nouveau. However the Aron haKodesh is different. It is not clear if the artist who built the Aron was simply more conservative-minded, or if the Aron was taken from an older synagogue, elsewhere.

Today, actual Shabbes prayers take place in the smaller Ante-Room. Though the Nussach is Sefard (i.e., the manner of prayer is Chassidic, not, Heaven forbid, Reform or Neolog), there is no Mechitza (division, such as a curtain) between the men sitting in the west side and the women on the east.