{"id":555,"date":"2017-08-09T10:55:24","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T10:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/?p=555"},"modified":"2017-08-10T10:10:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T10:10:01","slug":"bistrita-how-should-one-use-synagogues-without-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/2017\/08\/09\/bistrita-how-should-one-use-synagogues-without-jews\/","title":{"rendered":"Bistri\u021ba: How Should One Use Synagogues Without Jews?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The old town of Bistri\u021ba in Transylvania is a lively, welcoming place with caf\u00e9s, bakeries, parks and nicely renovated old houses. Near the center, once again, a synagogue, this time in excellent condition and even open.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach, an elderly man immediately invites us in and turns on the lights for us. This is not a museum, and certainly not a house of prayer; it’s an art center. A stage with a piano has been set up in front of the Aron Koidesh<\/i> and the Ezras Nashim<\/i>, the women’s balcony, is filled with paintings by various local artists. Some of them are very interesting, in my view.<\/p>\n

The question what should be done with old, disused Shuls is a difficult and controversial one and I have no clear opinion. I am sad to see them no longer serving their purpose. I am sad to see the damage to many buildings. I try to evoce images of what Jewish life used to look like in such places.<\/p>\n

I also feel that this is not a good place for Jews. We are better off in Israel, there is no reason whatsoever to return and settle these lost places. This would be madness!<\/p>\n

In Bistri\u021ba’s case, I am happy with what I find: A good and useful place which conserves the memory of what was once and can never be again.<\/p>\n

Edit: I have been made aware of a little polish village, Radzan\u00f3w, that recently <\/i>staged a fake jewish wedding.<\/a> The goal apparently was to educate the populace on the odd traditions of their former neighbors who have all been killed in the Shoah.<\/i>
\nOne resident is trying to re-open the local Shul that still stands. He, however, wants it to be a full-fledged synagogue complete with Sefer Torah and all, not a museum. He believes that returning a Sefer to the Shul will help the place heal.<\/i><\/p>\n

Of course I think that maintaining Shuls where there will never ever be a Minyan is somewhat silly. But I do like the notion that these places where the Jews were driven out or murdered, need healing.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The old town of Bistri\u021ba in Transylvania is a lively, welcoming place with caf\u00e9s, bakeries, parks and nicely renovated old houses. Near the center, once again, a synagogue, this time in excellent condition and even open. As we approach, an elderly man immediately invites us in and turns on the lights for us. This is … Continue reading Bistri\u021ba: How Should One Use Synagogues Without Jews?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bukovina2017.rennert.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}