Lithuania: Restoration Work at Žiežmariai Wooden Synagogue has Begun

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. historical sign at synagogue. This was posted outside, but now it is inside. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016

Lithuania: Restoration Work at Žiežmariai Wooden Synagogue has Begun - Hopes are for a Wooden Synagogues Museum
by Samuel D. Gruber
 
I was recently in Lithuania to participate in a small workshop organized by the Centre for Studies of the Culture and History of East European Jews to discuss the state of Jewish heritage sites in Lithuania, and the best ways to tie these together into a coherent and accessible Jewish heritage route (or routes). This follows the formal establishment of a Jewish Cultural Route Association in December, 2015, and the recent launch of a Discover Jewish Lithuanian app. The Association includes the municipalities of Ukmergė and Kėdainiai, the regional administration of the Joniškis district, the Centre for Studies of the Culture and History of East European Jews and the Association of Lithuanian Museums. more partners are expected to join. Martynas Uzpelkis, representing the Jewish Community of Lithuania, made a presentation at the workshop, about Community initiatives, though at this stage the Community is not as involved in the Jewish Cultural Route as I hope they will be. Since creating the position of Specialist for Heritage Preservation three years ago, the Community has been much more pro-active in cultural heritage site issues, especially outside of Vilnius.

The two days of meetings included one day visiting sites (in the pouring rain) and one day in discussion. There were many topics covered - but foremost were the issues of site conservation,  preservation, interpretation and presentation, and how to create an local and international tourism infrastructure that can assist and support visitation of sites and appreciation of Lithuanian Jewish history, as well as broadening understanding of Judaism as a religion and culture.

Presently, most efforts to protect and preserve Jewish heritage sites outside of Vilnius and Kaunus are local initiatives, though often in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Lithuania. Those taking the lead are sometimes flying blind - they have the nest of intentions but have little guidance and few local precedents to learn from. Local political leaders - such as the mayor of Žiežmariai - have sometimes stepped out in front of their constituencies to take responsibility for Jewish sites. They need our encouragement, advice and support. The Žiežmariai synagogue (or beit midrash) owned by the Jewish Community of Lithuania, and managed by the Kaisiadorys District Municipality Administration.

Last fall, I reported on the restoration of the wooden synagogue of Pakruojis, which was just about to begin. Happily, this work is well underway, and the ongoing restoration and conversion of the building into a children's library has made some remarkable discoveries of previous hidden original features, including fragments of painting on boards from the wooden ceiling. 

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Interior wall showing original log construction. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Interior wall showing original construction. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

In May 2016, the restoration of the wooden synagogue of Žiežmariai had begun. Three weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit the work and talk with the Mayor Vytenis Tomkus and the architect.  We were lucky to have Vladimir Levin from the Center for Jewish Art in Jerusalem with us, since Valdimir had studied the building for the inventory and publication Synagogues of Lithuania.  His advice on the restoration was especially valuable to the local architect. Both Vladimir and I stressed that the Žiežmariai synagogue's greatest value was its authenticity, and that extreme effort was worth taking to protect and preserve every bit of original fabric in the building as possible. 

The goal of the project should not be to fully restore the building, but to protect it and bring it to a level (new roof, water handling envelope, mechanical systems, etc.) to allow it to safely function as an exhibition and activity center. In this day when many other localities (such as Bilgorai, Poland) are eager to erect recreations of wooden synagogues the appeal of Žiežmariai must be its claim as the "real thing".  

Žiežmariai is one of the latest wooden synagogues to be built, probably rebuilt around 1918. It  also, however, one of nearly a wooden dozen survivors that best preserves the most original features (you can read a full description of the building below). Importantly, the town of Žiežmariai lies on the much-traveled route between Lithuania's two major cities - Vilnius and Kaunus - so that that once restored the building will easily accessible to visitors. There are also other related Jewish sites in the vicinity. 

The synagogue also has meaning as a Holocaust site - since it was used as a camp for Jewish slave laborers.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. The lower parts of the bimah columns have may layers of original paint, the latest in a faux-marble patter. . Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Interior view showing one (left) of two surviving original bimah columns. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Newly fashioned bimah columns to replace those missing. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct 2016.

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. View of womens' gallery. Photo:Sergey Kravtsov, 2004 - Center for Jewish Art Archives

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Restoration of womens' gallery. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Traces of original wall decoration, Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Žiežmariai, Lithuania. Synagogue. Traces of original wall decoration, Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Following is a detailed description of the Žiežmariai synagogue or beit midrash adapted from Synagogues in Lithuania vol 2, N-Z  (Vilnius, 2012), 408-413, written by Sergey Kravtsov, Giedrė Mickūnaitė, and Vladimir Levin:

The beit midrash was probably built in the second half of the 19^th century, and must have been severely damaged in the fire of 1918. It is located to the southeast of the central town square, in the midst of the quarter behind Vilniaus Street (once the main thoroughfare of the town), facing a large unpaved square, some 100 m northeast of the Church of Jacob the Apostle.

The exterior of the wooden beit midrash shows clearly the interior division into a prayer hall on the southeast and the vestibule with women’s section above it in the northwest. The building has retained its form as seen on photographs from the 1930s.

The beit midrash is a milled wood log house, built on a masonry foundation. It has a rectangular plan, 22.57 by 17.19 m, with its shorter sides facing southeast and northwest. Its maximal height is 9.65 m. The lofty southeastern part of the building housed a prayer hall.. The northwestern part includes a central vestibule and two chambers on either side on the ground floor, and a women’s section on the first floor. An extension with a staircase to the women’s section is adjacent to the western corner of the building with a door opening on its southeastern side. The entire log structure is spanned with a hipped roof in a truss construction.

The main entrance to the building is cut through the center of the northwestern façade, where traces of a demolished exterior lobby are still evident. The windows of the two-storey part of the building are rectangular. Another door leading directly to the prayer hall is located on the northeastern façade.

The prayer hall  with 18 windows (one of them is combined with a door) is nearly square; it measures 13.86 m from southeast to northwest and 15.00 m from northeast to southwest; it is 5.13 m high. The ceiling of the prayer hall is supported by two heavy longitudinal beams, which rest on the division wall of the women’s section, the southeastern wall of the hall and the central pillars. Originally, the ceiling of the prayer hall was planked; some planks remain in the eastern corner, in very poor condition. The interior of the building was originally lathed, plastered, and whitewashed, though much of the plaster is missing. Most of the interior adornments are lost, although the wooden patera in the ceiling above the bimah and the capitals of the central pillars still exist (Fig. 10); these elements are painted white, blue and gold. A fragment of painted frieze with a repeated stencil rose design in between a broad blue band and red dotted line is traceable on the northwestern wall. The Torah ark stood at the center of the southeastern wall, in the wide pier between the central windows.

A painted plaster relief showing a palmetto held in what looks like a triangular vase, was situated above the ark and is still visible. The entrance to the prayer hall is located in the center of the northwestern wall, above which, in the interior, there are fifteen segment-headed openings connecting the hall to the women’s section. There are six round-headed windows on each of the southeastern and southwestern sides of the prayer hall, and five such windows and a round-headed door combined with a window in the northeastern wall. The frames of all the openings were painted gold. In general, the forms and colors of the interior decoration hint at Neo-Classicist aesthetics, while the palmetto may be inspired by Lithuanian folk motifs.

A Jewish Gem of the South: Temple B'nai Israel in Natchez

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Postcard, Souvenir Post Card Company, New York, William A. Rosenthall Collection, College of Charleston. 

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

A Jewish Gem of the South: Temple B'nai Israel in Natchez
by Samuel D. Gruber 

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of spending many hours over three days in the sanctuary of the temple B'nai Israel in Natchez, Mississippi, one of the loveliest and most comfortable Jewish spaces in the South. built more than a century ago, the room still works well for Shabbat services and as a meeting hall for a modest-sized conference such as the just-concluded Annual Meeting of the Southern Jewish Historical Society (SJHS). I was last at the Temple in 1992 - and it seemed then that the place was about the close, the small congregation disappears. But remarkable the stalwarts held on, and the now even smaller congregation remains devoted to the building, its history and the traditions and memories it embodies. But still it is scheduled to close - sometime soon - and transition has has been planned now for decades into a musuem and cultural center administered by the Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL). Unfortunately, the decade of diminished capabilities have taken their tool and the building needs work. ISJL will need to raise considerable funds to ensure this Jewish gem will last another century.

Inside rows of very comfortable curved pews following the new 20th-century preference for wider seating (for wider bottoms?) and sloping backs, sweep across the broad interior. All seating is good, with excellent sight lines to the bimah and Ark and a sense of closeness no  matter how far. This same modern version of the old "broad-house' synagogue design was being pursued elsewhere about the same time - notably at the much larger Isaiah Temple designed by Dankmar Adler and built 1998-1900 in Chicago.

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Sanctuary. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Sanctuary. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

You can get a great 360 degree view of the sanctuary at 
http://www.synagogues360.org/synagogues.php?ident=united_states_035

B'nai Israel is especially loved for its brilliantly color and patterned windows, and its classical style Ark of dazzling white marble.

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Sanctuary windows. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Sanctuary window. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

B'nai Israel is one of a group of related classical style synagogues erected across Mississippi shortly after the turn of the 20^th century. I've written before about the rise of Classicism as the "brand" style of the Reform Movement at the turn of the 20th-century, but as I've been researching the this and similar building for the up-coming on-line exhibit Synagogues of the South for the College of Charleston, I've adopted a slightly more nuanced view.

After all, the leap in design from the previous Temple, which burned down in 1903 is not so great as in the case where classical style Temple radically replaced earlier Moorish style ones (as in Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL). H. A. Overbeck, who had already designed a synagogue in Dallas prepared plans for the new structure. The cornerstone for the present building was laid in July, 1904, and the building was dedicated March 25, 1905, with Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati and over 600 others in attendance.

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Portico detail. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. South side, former terracotta or stucco medallion now missing. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

The synagogue is designed as a tight block on a high foundation. A protruding porch, which serves as a small entryway-vestibule is reached by a slight of steps from the street, flanked by two pairs of tall smooth ionic columns set on pedestals, close to the facade. The entrance atop the steps and between the columns is a big arched doorway. The columns support and entablature and a pediment, and these dominate the building’s outward appearance. Inside, a small dome on a high drum sits over the sanctuary which is subtly lit through its high-quality stained windows that punctuate the building’s sides.

The sanctuary has a seating capacity of 450. The centerpiece of the building is a magnificent ark of Italian marble, located right under the new organ (listed on the National Register of Historic Organs) now, which congregants played at most services. With an additional balcony over the entrance (presumably for extra seating), the temple was built to house an ever growing congregation. The building is a testament to the wealth and prominence of Natchez’s Jewish community at the time. And yet, by 1907, B’nai Israel had reached its peak size with 145 members.

Stay tuned for some more posts about this building and the time, style and challenges it represents.
 

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Balcony over entrance. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. Organ loft over Ark.. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Read more at :lhttp://www.isjl.org/mississippi-natchez-temple-bnai-israel-encyclopedia.html

USA: Presidents and Synagogues

USA: Presidents and Synagogues
by Samuel D. Gruber

Today is election day in the United States and you can be assured that whoever wins, there will one or more visits to synagogues during the next administration. This is a long tradition. President George Washington visited the Touro synagogue in Newport, RI, in 1781, but not for a Jewish service, but for a town meeting. 

In the United States, Ulysses S. Grant was the first president to attend a synagogue functioning as a house of worship (the dedication of Washington, D.C.'s  Adas Israel in 1876). Since then it has been customary for presidents to visit synagogues – either as part of their election campaigns or for important occasions when in office.

In the spirit of the day, I mention just a few such memorable moments. Readers can feel free to mention others.

At Adas Israel, Grant attended he three-hour dedication service on June 9, 1876, becoming the first president to attend a synagogue service  He also contributed $10 to the building fund. Read an account of Grant's visit to Adas Israel here.

In 1898 President William McKinley attended the cornerstone laying of Washington Hebrew Congregation at 8th & I Streets, NW.  then on April 20, 1900, President McKinley attended the Passover Sabbath evening service at the Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, in Paterson, NJ, built by his friend Nathan Bernert.

William Howard Taft visited Rodef Shalom in  Pittsburgh, PA in May 1909. (I've written about this earlier - read about it here).

 

In 1952, President Harry S. Truman laid the cornerstone of Washington Hebrew Congregation, which was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1955. According to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, Eisenhower mused that it is incumbent upon his office that he should attend “such a great and significant event in the lives of one part of the great faiths that have made this country what it is, to pay his respects to that faith and to this event and to the people who have made it possible.” Read President Eisenhower’s entire dedication speech.

On Dec 28, 1963, Lyndon Johnson visited Agudas Achim (and his old friend Jim Novy) in  Austin, Texas, after having postponed an intended visit for the dedication during the same trip in which President Kennedy was assassinated. 

More recently, presidents make a point of visiting synagogues at home and abroad. George W. Bush visited the restoration of the Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 27, 2002. In 2005, President  Bush toured the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue just prior to a major event celebrating 350 years of Jewish life in North America. Read President Bush’s remarks. 

In 2011, former President Bill Clinton visited the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue for a wedding. Read about the visit in The Washington Post.

Barack Obama has been to shul at least three times during his administration. He visited the synagogue in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sept. 4, 2013. President Obama honored Raoul Wallenberg’s memory in his remarks at the Synagogue. Two months later attended a synagogue in Dallas.  Oboma spoke at Adas Israel in Cleveland Park (Washington, DC) n 2105, about the Iran nuclear deal.  Before the presidency, the Obama;s used to live across the street from Temple Isaiah in Chicago, and frequently attended events there.

USA: North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, a Percival Goodman Designed "Jeweled Crown" in Highland Park, Illinois

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Entrance. Percival Goodman, architect of sanctuary, 1964; Bernheim and Kahn, architects of entryway, 1980s. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

 

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Sanctuary. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

USA: North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, a Percival Goodman Designed "Jeweled Crown" in Highland Park, Illinois
by Samuel D. Gruber

[14 July 2016. n.b. this post has been corrected to reflect the contribution of architects Bernheim and Kahn in the late 1980s]

When in the Chicago area recently I had the chance to visit for the first time the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (NSSBethEl) in Highland Park, Illinois.  The congregation was founded in 1947, and after opening a new school building in 1953, built a community center and auditorium, where services were held beginning in 1957.  Only then did work begin for a purpose-built sanctuary, and this was designed by Percival Goodman and begun by 1962.
(Read history of the congregation here). Additions have been made to the complex in the years since, including a new and attractive entrance in the 1980s.

Dedicated in 1964, the fine and distinctive building, referred to as "a jeweled crown" because of its shape and decoration, is too little known in the world of synagogue architecture, and certainly has been overshadowed by its near-contemporary neighbor, the North Shore Congregation Israel by Minoru Yamasaki. NSSBethEl, however, surely ranks among the best designed and best preserved synagogues of the 1960s. In addition to its architecture, it houses an impressive ark, menorah and other metalwork by Ludwig Wolpert.

NSSBethEl is one of several synagogues of this period in which architect Goodman was clearly trying to come up with striking new designs in competition with the much publicized grand-gesture work of star (and not Jewish) architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Pietro Belluschi, Yamasaki and others - while maintaining the warmth and almost vernacular simplicity that marked his early work and adoption of everyday materials.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

The key to the complex is a round drum flanked by a low sweeping entryway, around which is wrapped  a sprawling complex. The drum appears to be made of pre-fab concrete slabs joined together (presumably around a steel frame), a technology not-unlike Yamasaki's use of pre-fab slabs at North Shore congregation Israel. The round drum recalls the contemporary sanctuary at Brith Kodesh in Rochester, designed by Pietro Belluschi and also completed in 1964. While round sanctuaries have their problems, it is worth noting the North Shore, overwhelmed by the size and grandeur of their huge 1960s sanctuary, built a smaller and round one in the 1980s, designed by Thomas Beebe, at the other end of their complex.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

The unusual window shapes, and the use of small rectangular openings filled with solid pane colored glass, recalls Goodman's use of color and light in the Fairmount Temple in Cleveland, Ohio (1957), and also recalls Philip Johnson's work at Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel in Port Chester, New York (1956).

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Ark and menorah by Ludwig Wolpert. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

 

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

Despite the curved shape of the sanctuary space, the rear wall does slide open - with much effort - to connect the space with the social hall, a favorite device of Goodman to accommodate the difference in congregation size between Shabbat and High Holiday services.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

Highland Park, IL. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. Percival Goodman, architect, 1964. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016. 

I want to thank the staff of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El for allowing me access to the building on very short notice, and for their dedication to maintaining this exciting work of mid-century modern synagogue architecture.