Great Synagogue in Rădăuți

Since it’s Shabbat, let me introduce you to another synagogue in Romania: the Great Synagogue in Rădăuți.

The first synagogue in Rădăuți was built in 1830 by Eliahu Gewölb in the town center.

As the Jewish population in the town grew, the synagogues became too small, and in 1880, during Emperor Franz Joseph I’s visit to Rădăuți, a delegation of Jews asked for his support. They needed a plot of land to build a large synagogue. The emperor agreed, granting the Jewish community a plot of land in the city center, near the park.

Construction of the synagogue was delayed for several years due to disagreements between Orthodox and Modernist Jews regarding its design. While the Orthodox wanted the temple to be built in the traditional synagogue style, the modernists wanted a temple similar to the one in Chernivtsi, with a round dome on top. A compromise was eventually reached, and the temple was built in the style of the Chernivtsi Temple but with two twin towers instead of a dome. The west wing was reserved for women.

The temple was inaugurated on August 18, 1883, on Emperor Franz Joseph I’s birthday, with the first service celebrated by the city’s new chief rabbi, Yitzhak Kunstadt.

The Great Temple in Rădăuți was built in the Neo-Moorish style; it is a massive structure with two tall towers topped by domes, which give the building the appearance of an Orthodox cathedral. The main entrance is located beneath one of the three arches supported by four massive columns. The synagogue’s windows are circular and topped with arches. The interior features decorations in a blend of styles: Renaissance, Baroque, and Moorish.

The town of Rădăuți had chief rabbis who led the community’s religious activities. This role was held by Hirsch Shapiro (1861–1881), Yitzhak Rabin Kunstadt (1883–1909), Dr. Yaacov Hoffman (1912–1923), Dr. Yaacov Nacht (1925–1928), Dr. Shimshon Stein (1930–1932, 1933–1940), Yitzhak Rabinowitz (1932–1933), and Yisroel Hornick (1945–1947). The latter was the last chief rabbi of Rădăuți.

In the list of synagogues in Romania published in the work “Seventy Years of Existence. Six Hundred Years of Jewish Life in Romania. Forty Years of Partnership FEDROM–JOINT,” published by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania in 2008, it was noted that the Great Synagogue in Rădăuți was still in use.

In the fall of 1941, 91,845 Jews were deported from Bukovina on the orders of Ion Antonescu. As a result of the anti-Semitic policies of the regime in Bucharest, on October 15, 1941, 9,169 Jews from Rădăuți and the surrounding towns—men, women, and children—were forcibly sent to Transnistria. Many of them died there from epidemics, cold, or starvation.

May the memory of this tragedy remain alive as a warning to future generations!

Shabbat Shalom!