Budapest's Oldest Synagogue Relaunched

The Chief Rabbi of Hungary and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjn took part in the reopening of Budapest's oldest Synagogue on September 4th. The ceremony, which was attended by 1500 members of the Jewish community, chimed in with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The imposing Obuda Synagogue was initially constructed in 1737, but was rebuilt in its present neoclassical form in 1820. It was one of the grandest Jewish houses of worship in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Prior to the war, Hungary housed a large Jewish population of approximately 800,000 citizens. About 200,000 managed to survive the Nazi cyclone. In 1960, the synagogue was taken over by the Communist government, which used it as a television studio.

Hungary's current Jewish population, which stands at about 100,000, is significantly larger than in many other Central European countries. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu noted optimistically that the reopening of the synagogue was the symbol of a Jewish renaissance."