Breznice, Czech Republic: Where Were the Women?

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.The synagogue sits in the middle of the second ghetto square; the two spaces are connected by a single street. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. View into women's gallery from stair landing. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. View of sanctuary from west women's gallery. The south gallery (on right) was added in the 19th century. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Republic: Where Were the Women?

Continuing my look at  synagogues that I visited this past summer (see Rakovnik, Plzen, St. Polten, and Terezin), and looking especially at where were the women, I turn to the recently re-restored and now pristine 18th-century of Březnice, a small Bohemian town 65 kms southwest of Prague, and 15 kms south of the district town of Přibram.The Březnice synagogue stands in the middle of one of the best preserved Jewish ghettos in the region. After being used as a warehouse after World War II, it has been restored twice since the 1990s, most recently as part of the  “Revitalization of Jewish Monuments” project, known as 10 Stars. As in any modern restoration, the architects and conservators had to make choices about which elements from which periods to conserve, replicate, imitate or emphasize.

Březnice is an important example of an 18th-century synagogue and also represents change in the the 19th century (including more space for women) and in the 20th century (new wall paintings and stained glass windows). Overall, the restoration attempt refers to the latest period of synagogue use, but since everything looks so fresh and clean, this cannot really be the case. Instead, as with almost all preservation projects, we have something new. The restored building is an amalgam that allows us to identify historical bits and pieces from which we reach for teachable moments. The bimah is only an approximation, there was probably more seating around the bimah and in the sanctuary, the walls may have had more decoration - including prayer, dedication or memorial inscriptions, and there may have been rails, lamps and other metalwork around the Ark. Based on other synagogues of the period, the interior may have seemed more cluttered for use. Still, the overall architectural impression is probably correct.

The modest-sized synagogue served as a spiritual, physical, and aesthetic oasis set in the heart of the ghetto, which itself was near the heart of the town.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Model of the Ghetto from exhibition in Boskovice Jewish Town Hall. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

According to the text by provided by Daniel Polakovic (which corresponds to earlier writings of Jaroslav Klenovsky):

The earliest written records of Jewish settlement date from the second half of the 15th century. In the 15th-17th centuries, Břzenice's Jews lived in various parts of town, and in 1573-1725 they owned a total of 19 different houses at various times. On the basis of the Translocation Decree of 1726, Břzenice's Jews were forcibly concentrated within the newly established Loksany suburb. The houses of this new Jewish quarter were built in 1726-1747 on a regular town plan with two squares and two streets. The neighborhood consists of 24 baroque buildings, meticulously numbered using the Roman numerals. A synagogue was built at the center of the larger, rear, square; the smaller square was connected to the main town square by a narrow street and gate. It was a closed ghetto, connected with the rest of town by just the one street and gate.Most of the ghetto's buildings were renovated in the neo-classical or Empire style following the great fire of 14 April 1821.

The synagogue was was built in the middle of the second, larger, square in 1725. Following the destructive fire of 1821, it was rebuilt in its original size and form thanks to the help of the Count of Kolowrat. As a sign of gratitude, the Kolowrat family’s coat of arms was placed inside the synagogue.

This ghetto or Jewish quarter was no ugly slum. It was well laid out, and  by the 18th century its two dozen houses were well built with attractive facades. At least one house - that of the famed Joachim von Popper (d. 1795) - was a mansion and is still imposing today.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Second square of the Ghetto with synagogue on the right. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Popper mansion and synagogue south wall with main entrance (right)..Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018

The main hall in the synagogue’s northern part features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with lunettes and a separate entrance. Men entered into the sanctuary through a projecting doorway into a vestibule under the women's gallery, and on axis with the bimah and Ark. There is also a smaller door which entered the sanctuary at the southwest corner from a vaulted hallway. This is a traditional arrangement, similar to what we see at the Altneushul in Prague.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.West wall. Entrance to women's gallery and school or right. Photo: Jiří Stach, Federation of Jewish Communities of Czech Republic.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Plans. From J. Klenovsky, The Gates of the righteous: Synagogues in Moravia, Silesia and Bohemia, p. 94.

Women entered through a more modest doorway, also on the west wall, but flush to the wall without any attention-grabbing extension. This door is used by the public today and leads into the vaulted hallway parallel with the sanctuary axis, which divided the building in two,  with the small doorway into the sanctuary on the left and a stairway to an upper floor on the right. Upstairs there was a one-room school and access to the women's gallery. It is a fairly generous stair by the standards of the time, with a wide passage and relatively low rises for east ascent.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

At first the women's gallery occupied only the west side of the hall, where women would look toward the Ark and the Hebrew inscription  with the verse “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). They would also have a good view of the painted ceiling. 

A second space was added in the 19th century on the east side, too. This has two spaces in the from which women could view the sanctuary, but behind a larger area was open above the vault of the downstairs hallway. This area is now used for temporary exhibition and is closed off form the rest of the prayer hall, but it was large enough even to accommodate its own female prayer leader. Since the sanctuary itself was not enlarged, this new space perhaps indicates that more women were attending the synagogue, even if  the population overall was not expanding. Presumably the benches in place now are not original, so it is hard to know the seating arrangement - but even with the expanded women's space there would only be comfortable seating for between 15-20 women in all.
 

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

The women’s gallery originally ran along the southern side; the balcony on the western side was probably built in 1874, when the bimah was moved to the east and new rows of benches were added.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Stained glass window in memory of Katerina Červenka. Synagogue.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

The early 20th-century stained-glass windows are the work of inventor Emanuel Červenka, the son of the Březnice shamash, who dedicated them to his parents Moses and Katerina. and the decorative wall paintings are by  painter Ladislav Kuba.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. View from the west women's gallery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. View from the west women's gallery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. View from the west women's gallery.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Painted ceiling seen from west women's gallery.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. This vaulted entry hall separates the building in two. In the 19th-century the area above was opened for more space for women.Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. This space was originally the schoolroom. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. View to main door to sanctuary beneath arches supporting west women's gallery with early 20th-century floral decoration Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Inside of main door to sanctuary beneath west women's gallery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Pier in sanctuary supporting west women's gallery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Detail of reconstructed Ark steps.There may have been lamp stands or some other furnishing on the two flat surfaces flanking the Ark.   Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Doorway from downstairs hallway into men's sanctuary. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.

Březnice, Czech Rep. Synagogue. Expanded women's space above ground floor hallway, now used for temporary exhibition. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2018.