Studia -

HEBRAICA
Ars Brevis Vita Longa:
Dn the Preservation
)f Synagogue Art

Budapest's 13th District:

the Modernist ~ewishQuarter
J (1 928-1944)

[ Bucharest's "Lost Synagoguesi'

IS "Lieux sans Memoire"

low Vampires
ecame Jewish

Traditional Ketubah (Jewlsh Encyclopedia) I

HE "GOLDSTEIN GOREN"CENTER
FOR HEBREW STUDIES
 UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF LETTERS
THE "GOLDSTEIN GOREN" CENTER
FOR HEBREW STUDIES

STUDIA HEBRAICA
IX-x

Editor: Dr. Felicia Waldman

 Editorial Board:
Prof. Dr. Liviu Papadima, University of Bucharest
Prof. Dr. Moshe Idel, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Prof. Dr. Leon Volovici, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Prof. Dr. Carol Iancu, Paul Valery University, Montpellier I11
Prof. Dr. Raphael Vago, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Dr. Peter Dan, Long Island University, New York
Prof. Dr. Andrei Cornea, University of Bucharest
Prof. Dr. Liviu Rotman, National School of Political and Administrative
Studies
Assist. Prof. Dr. Felicia Waldman, University of Bucharest
Dr. Andrei Oiqteanu, Institute for the History of Religion, Bucharest
Dr. Mgriuca Stanciu, Library of the Romanian Academy
Cover: Mircea Tomescu
Processing: Victoria Iacob
Picture processing: Gabriel Petrescu

"Studia Hebraica" is the yearly academic journal of the "Goldstein Goren" Center for
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ISSN - 1582-8158
 ARS BRE VZS, VITA LONCA:
ON PRESERVATION OF SYNAGOGUE ART
Ilia Rodov

Abstract
Rephrasing the renowned Latin version of Hippocrates's aphorism, I'd like to stress
the contradiction between the artistic values of synagogue adornment and its
secondary role in the functioning of the synagogue as a house o f prayer. The
sculptural and painted decoration of the synagogue conveys ideas about Jewish faith,
views on providence and redemption, traditions and innovations, social self-
identification of the community, and other ideas. The synagogue design undergoes
changes in the course o f time. Damages are caused by either the natural deterioration
of material objects in the course of time or the purposeful demolition of the synagogue
or its parts. A common aim of contemporary projects for the preservation of
synagogue art is restoring i t back to its original, or a near-original, state. Yet, the
synagogue's foren~ostfunction is to serve as a venue for the collective worship of its
congregation rather than a gallery or museum of art. Sometimes, synagogue patrons
intentionally alter the original decoration in order to renovate the synagogue, refresh
its appearance, or update the message of its art. The paper examines the co-existence
and mutual relations of the two approaches to the preservation of synagogue art.

Keywords: sacral art; synagogue art; Jewish visual culture; Jewish museums;
documentation of artifacts; preservation and restoration of artifacts; patronage over
synagogue art; Romania; Poland; Ukraine

Often a work o f art survives its creator. W e usually consider the motto "ars
longa, vita brevis" a s meaning that the spiritual values of art continue t o exist long
after the short life o f the artist has ended.' Yet, even durable objects o f art perish
in the course o f time. T h e return o f damaged o r altered artifacts t o their original o r

This research is supported by The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 26.5108).
I
Hippocrates's aphorism (Aphorisms, 1 :I), translated into Latin by Sencca (De Brevitute
Vitae. {.I),originally meant that it takes a long time to acquire and perfect one's expertise and a
h i m a n being has but a short time in which to do it.
 near-original appearance is usually believed to be the proper method to use for
their restoration. Contemporary scientific restoration practices endeavor for the
restorers' intervention to be as minimal as possible and any additions to be
distinguishable from the original piece without disturbing the overall visual effect
of the work, though in practice the restorers do not always succeed in adhering to
these principles.2 Full documentation of all work must be undertaken, therefore,
and the removal of every previous restoration must be made possible in prder to
allow for utilization of more suitable materials or techniques that may be
discovered in the future.' The present methods of physical preservation of works
of art are almost universal, depending on their technique and materials rather that
on their belonging to a certain artistic tradition. However, the different
ideological, religious, and social predispositions of the patrons of the restoration
may determine a number of its strategies and aims. The varied implementations of
the general methods of art restoration in the contemporary preservation of central
and eastern European synagogue art of the sixteenth to the early twentieth
centuries are the subject of the current paper.
Those who wish to study the original artistic decoration of eastern
European synagogues in situ are limited to a few dozen surviving examples from
the many thousands of buildings that existed in this region before the Holocaust.
Of the more than one hundred synagogues that once were located in the larger
cities and dozens in the towns of Romania, only one, or very few, survive in each
place. Approximately twenty of these surviving synagogues still contain original
furniture, paintings, and reliefs from the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries.
Only about the same number of relatively untouched pre-Holocaust interiors plus
a larger number of remnants in poorer condition remain today in the synagogues
in all of ~ o l a n dLithuania,
,~ Belarus, the Ukraine, and Russia.
In some places where the pre-war synagogue has survived, there no longer
is a religious community to take care of it. Several former synagogues have been
converted into Jewish museums or communal centers. In other places, the
declining congregations that .remain can hardly provide for the upkeep of their

See J . Beck and M. Daley, Art Restoration: The Crrlture, the Business a ~ r dthe Scandal,
W.W. Norton, London, 1996.
"or example, see "The Venice Charter: International Charter for the Conservation and
Restoration of Monuments and Sites" approved at the Second International Congress of Architects
and Technicians o f Historic Monuments, Venice, May 25-3 I, 1964, ICOMOS Cliurfers and Other
Standards: The Venice Chapter, www.icomos.org/docs (last accessed October 14, 2009), "Code of
Ethics and Guidelines for Practice," The American Institutefor Conservation of Historic and Artistic
Works - Ahorrt A X : Core Doamrents, www.conservation-us.org (last accessed October 14, 2009).
See also N. S. Price, M. K. Talley, Jr., and A. M. Vaccaro (eds.), Historical and Philosophical Issues
in /hc Cor~servutionof Cultural Heritage, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 1996.
'' The surviving paintings in Polish synagogues are listed in A. Trzciliski, "Zachowane
wystroje nialarskie boznic w Polsce," Studia Judaica 4 (200 I), no. 1-2 (7-8), pp. 67-95.
synagogues. They usually maintain a single synagogue in their town, conducting
services only on Sabbaths and holidays. Undoubtedly, the proper maintenance of
each of the surviving synagogues is very important for the preservation of the
Jewish cultural heritage. In practice, the current function of each surviving
synagogue reflects the extent to which its patrons intend to safeguard the building
as a historical monument.

Synagogue to Museum

As a rule, the historical authenticity of the restoration is a goal pursued in

the synagogues converted into Jewish museums or communal centers, in which
the historical design is the most impressive element of the exposition. This aim
prevailed during the adoption of the former synagogue of Tykocin, Poland, built
in 1642, as a part of the local Jewish museum that was established in 1976. The
restoration of the synagogue interior was executed between 1974 and 1978 under
the supervision of the Podlasie region conservator's office in Bialystok. Since
some sections of the wall painting it contained were so badly damaged that
conservation of the old paints was impossible, they were repainted (Fig. 1). In
order to designate the areas containing the new work, the restorers filled the
original shapes with narrow vertical strokes of color instead of the normal method
of covering the entire surface with paint (Fig. 2). When viewed close-up, the
strokes create the effect of an engraving printed on the wall. However, when
observed from a distance, the densely drawn lines seem to merge together,
creating an imitation of the original painted ornaments.
In the late sixteenth-century synagogue of Pinczow, Poland, balance
between the old paintings and the additions was obtained in another manner- The
entire Jewish community-of the town had perished in the Holocaust, and in the
late 1970s the Regional Museum in Pinczow took the synagogue under its
auspices. After the renovation of the building from the mid-1990s until the early
2000s, it was turned into a museum's branch. The paintings of 1741142 in the
synagogue lobby contain the only surviving depiction of scrolls inhabited with
animals and birds, and as such are a rare example of eighteenth-century painted
inscriptions in Polish synagogues (Figs 3-5). During the years in which the
building was abandoned, the plaster bearing the painting was deteriorated by
hunlidity, which caused the loss of many fragments. In the recent restoration, the
paintings were cleaned and retouched."he approach to the recovery of the lost

' The preservation of the synagogue was prompted by the Jewish Historical Institute in
Warsaw. the International Survey of Jewish Monuments, and the Regional Museum of Pinczow.
The restoration of the paintings was supported and supervised by the Office of the Regional
Consmator in Kielce.
 fragments was twofold. Some badly damaged areas were reconstructed by
following the traces of the original images and ornamentation, and, when possible,
by consulting old black-and-white photographs. Here, the difference between the
new and old colors is almost indistinguishable (cf. Fig. 4 vs. Fig. 5). Many other
sections from which the painted plaster was missing have been filled in with new
plaster and then painted a light color, but the patterns have not been repainted
(Fig. 3). The beige patches here and there on the walls thus substitute for the lost
fragments of the ornaments and inscriptions.
Problenls even more acute arise when one considers the preservation of a
building that during its long history was redecorated one or more times. Each of
the stages of synagogue design - not only the first one - may be worthy of
preservation. The story of the Torah ark in the High Synagogue in Krakow shows
how profound one's hesitations may be about returning a work of art to its initial
state. Since World War 11, no synagogue service has taken place here, and for
many years the building housed the governmental workshop for the conservation
of historical monuments. Since 2005, the High Synagogue had been opened to
visitors and it is used for exhibitions of materials relating to Jewish culture.
The Torah ark (Fig. 6) still dominates the interior of the former prayer
hall. The ark's upper panel contains a stucco relief of rampant griffins that once
supported a crown. A delicately sculpted vase with flowers and garlands falling
over a pair of scrolling finials forms a decorative pediment. The decorations are of
the Rococo style that was adopted in Polish synagogues in the 1760s. Obviously,
these reliefs may not have been part of the original Torah ark in the synagogue,
which was established in the early 1560s.~In those same years, an impressive
Renaissance Torah ark was built in the neighboring Old Synagogue (Fig. 7). The
composition and proportions of the Corinthian fluted colonnettes on low squat
pedestals and the broken entablature of the ark's frame in the High Synagogue
resemble the corresponding elements in the Old Synagogue's ark.
The affinity of these two arks suggests that just as was its Renaissance
lower part, the original upper part of the High Synagogue ark might also be
modeled on the ark in the Old Synagogue. Consequently, the Rococo
superstructure would have taken the place of the Renaissance pediment in the
eighteenth century. This hypothesis is corroborated by additional Renaissance
stone reliefs that were found in the High Synagogue. A few of them can be
discerned in a photograph taken in the 1930s (Fig. 8). Nowadays, the triangular
leafy pediment seen above the door in the western wall is still found in the same
location (Fig. 9), whereas a crown relief on a rectangular panel has been lost. One
more Renaissance leafy pediment surmounts the niche for the alms box from the

" I. Rejduch-Samkowa and J. Samek (eds.), Kutalog zuby~kow sztuki rv Polsce, 4 , Miasto
Jl/c/uicu:Bknice. hudowle publiczne i cmentarze, Instytut Sztuki
Ktakhrt., 6 . Kozit?iierz i Srraclot?~.
Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Warsaw, 1995, p. 13.
 same synagogue (Fig. 10). This symmetrical relief consists of two separate
carvings which almost copy the standing volutes flanking the crown relief in the
Old Synagogue's ark. If arranged together in a graphic reconstruction (Fig. 11),
the four carvings generate a Renaissance composition of an attic panel flanked by
standing volutes and bearing a leafy pediment. We may thus assume that after the
Renaissance stone carvings were removed from their place at the top of the ark,
they were embedded in the synagogue walls. However, the actual restoration of
the Ark to its original Renaissance appearance would entail dismantling the
surviving Rococo reliefs.
The case in the Kupah Synagogue in Krak6w (Fig. 12)' illustrates a
situation when the simultaneous display of remnants from different stages of the
wall painting creates a combination that did not previously exist. Except for the
years of the Holocaust, the early seventeenth-century synagogue was continuously
active until 195 1, when it was taken from the Jews and given as a workshop to
purse makers. The restoration of the building and its decoration was undertaken
by the Jewish community and organizations for the preservation of the cultural
heritage in Krakow between 1991 and 2002. The community uses the building as
a venue for exhibitions, concerts, and public ceremonies.
The walls of the prayer hall have been redecorated several times. A
roughly symmetrical vegetal ornamentation appears in the lowermost layer of
painting. Later on, these old, allegedly seventeenth-century ornaments were
overlaid with painted inscriptions within simple geometric frames. More recently,
presumably in the 1830s, the wall with the paintings was partially hidden behind a
gallery, and the inscriptions were painted over with off-white. The recent
restoration uncovered remnants of the two old layers of wall paintings and
preserved the gallery with its early twentieth-century paintings. Now we can
observe the lower part of the earliest vegetal ornaments through the transparent
background of the later inscriptions (Fig. 13). As a result, one can simultaneously
see fragments of at least three subsequent stages of the interior decoration. Yet,
we can hardly imagine what the all-around view of the synagogue interior was at
each of its earlier stages of decoration. ..
The restoration and conservation of the synagogue decorations ensure
good preservation and clear exposition of the surviving authentic fragments of the
old paintings and carvings. However, these procedures do not pursue the
reconstruction of the entire work of art, its overall aesthetic effect, or its style. As
the Venice Chapter stresses, "unity of style is not the aim of a restoration."*
Neither did those carrying out the restoration intend to revive the original function
of the monument; the renovation of the synagogues adopted for museums or

7
Ibid., pp. 18-20.
"'International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration o f Monuments and Sites"
(see note 3 above), Article 1 1.
 expositional halls does not facilitate normative public worship in the presence of
the Torah scrolls in the ark and the bimah from which the Torah is read. In the
former synagogues of Tykocin and Piriczow, and in the High and Kupah of
Krakow, no doors have been reconstructed to enclose the Torah scroll in the ark's
niche, and in the three latter synagogues no bimah has been rebuilt.

Synagogue, Not Museum

The images and symbols in a synagogue convey the Jewish concepts of

faith and God's providence. They convey admiration of the Divine creation and
Sinaitic revelation of the Torah, refer to the interrelation between celestial law and
mundane powers, envisage the sacred history, envision the messianic future, and
pron~ise redemption for the faithful. The design can also express -the self-
identification of the synagogue patrons with a specific social or professional
group, family, neighborhood, charitable society, or movement in Judaism.
However, the display of images is a subsidiary function of the synagogue, whose
primary purpose is to provide its congregation with an appropriate venue for
collective prayer.
From time to time, the active Jewish community senses a real need to alter
the decoration of the synagogue. The apprehension of synagogue art by its viewer
is transformed as time passes, and the old meanings may controvert new ideas or
the next generations may fail to remember the original symbolism of the images.
The style which once was representative and prestigious can became obsolete and
ridiculous. The worsened physical condition of a synagogue, however, is an even
more urgent reason for its repair. Refurbishing- the acting synagogue, its
.congregation normatively aspires to continue its worship in a more comfortable
and pleasanter environment rather than intending to restore, conserve, and display
the old stages of the synagogue decoration.
A notable example of this pragmatic approach is the recent renovation of
the wall and ceiling painting in the Tsori Gilead (Gilead's Balm) synagogue of
Lvov (presently L'viv, Ukraine). This was one of two complete synagogue
paintings that had survived in the Ukraine after the Holocaust. The synagogue,
built in 1924-3 1, was seized by the Nazis in 194 1, stripped of its furniture, and
turned into a barn. After World War 11, the building was employed as a warehouse
until it was restituted by the Jews in 1989. In the following years, rabbis of the
Karlin-Stolin Hassidic court from Brooklyn revived the synagogue, now named
Beis Aharon v'Yisrael (Aaron's and Israel's House), as a center of religious life
and charitable activity. The synagogue was equipped with a new Torah ark and
bimah. The revival of the Jewish religious community and the physical
refurbishing of the synagogue in Lvov were enthusiastically supported by the
 HGSS Friends of Lvov, a charitable organization founded by the congregation of
the Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue (HGSS) in London. The initiative of
"twinning congregations" was instigated by the Conference of European Rabbis in
1990 to intensify the development of JewishOrthodox religious communities in
the post-communist Soviet Union by pairing them with established communities
in the West that could support them. Considering the planned work to be "not just
a matter of art conservation," the HGSS Friends of Lvov proclaimed that "by
restoring the Synagogue we will help to restore the dignity of the Jewish
c~mrnunit~."~
The ceiling and wall paintings of the Tsori Gilead were produced by a
Jewish artist, Maksymilian Kugel, in 1936. Kugel combined motifs adopted from
traditional paintings in eastern European synagogues and contemporaneous
Jewish art with the neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque styles of academic art in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire of the early twentieth century."
The damage suffered by Kugel's paintings was minor. Relatively small
sections of the painted surface crumbled here and there, but only a few
insignificant fragments of the paintings were lost, along with the figure of a lion
(Fig. 14) that was deliberately shot by the bullets of Nazi soldiers. The historical
preservation of the paintings theoretically would have included their clearing and
fixation, restoration of the damage, and reconstruction of the lost fragments.
Andriy Skrentovych, conservator of the West Ukrainian Institute for Conservation
in Lvov, who tendered the project, however, proposed to leave the damage to the
lion painting by the bullets untouched as an impressive testimony to the dramatic
history of the synagogue and the Jewish community." The patrons of the
synagogue preferred another plan. They hired painters who, following the original
outline relatively accurately, refurbished the original images and ornaments, thus
con~pletely covering Kugel's paintings. Repainting the lion, they decided to
conceal the signs of the bullets (Fig. 15).
A closer examination reveals that the original paintings have in fact been
altered. Since the painters could not read Hebrew, they just omitted Hebrew
inscriptions (cf. Fig. 16 vs. Fig. 17). The more intense and less harmonized palette
of the remake has replaced the more unified and delicate original coloring. The
new colors are colder, and the shadows are rendered sharper than in the original.

'j
"HGSS Friends of Lvov: The Restoration of the Synagogue on Brothers Mykhnovskych
Street," [p. 61, hgssfriendsoflvov.org.iik/brothers.htm (last accessed October 14, 2009).
111
The architecture and art of the Tsori Gilead synagogue is the subject of research and a
planned monographic publication authored by Dr. Sergey R. Kravtsov and nlyself.
II
This solution should have fully answered the "International Charter for the
Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites" (see note 3 above), Article 3: "The
intention in conserving and restoring monuments is to safeguard them no less as works of art than
as historical evidence."
 In the repainted depiction of the TempIe's interior, the strict structure of the
columns drawn by Kugel has been somewhat corrupted. The Holy Ark has been
replaced with a seven-branched menorah standing on an altar. Perhaps the
contemporary painters preferred the Temple's menorah as a more distinct Jewish
symbol, or, alternatively, their patron apprehended the undesirable resemblance of
Kugel's portal-shaped Ark to church altarpieces.
The average mind may consider the faded and stained old paintings as
defective objects rather than unique artifacts worthy of special treatment.
Although alterations of an original work of art are unacceptable under the laws
regulating the preservation of historical monuments, the repainting of Kugel's
work looked much more reasonable to the patrons than its restoration. It is true
that the historical restoration would have taken longer, been more expensive, have
resulted in recognizable repairs, and would not have been concerned with the
holes in the image of the lion. Whereas the historians and conservators can now
state with certainty that Kugel's authentic work has disappeared, the synagogue
patrons celebrate the remake as an improved copy of the original paintings. The
freshly restored paintings became a part of the synagogue refurbishing that was
completed with the import of wooden furnishings from England and installation
of new lights in 2008 (Fig. 18). Numerous modem lamps, including the cable
lights at the gallery's barrier, give the prayer hall a somewhat kitschy but festive
tone. As a result, the hall that had once looked neglected and poor now evokes a
sense of prosperity and social security, thereby restoring "the dignity of the
Jewish community."
Similar irreversible losses of art in the synagogues maintained by
communities may be diminished by administrative regulations or by monitoring
on the part of organizations for the preservation of cultural heritage, when they
work together with financial support for scientific restoration and conservation.
Yet, since worshippers are not predisposed to treat their house of prayer as a
museum, the balance between their needs and the preservation of the monument
cannot easily be achieved. ..

Preservation of the Images of Art Works

Neither scientific restoration and conservation of its remnants, nor the

overall refurbishing of a synagogue can maintain both the historical liability and
original integrity of its art. In any case, as time passes one can no longer see the
work of art as it was created by the artist. The preservation of the damaged or
altered work is thus not limited to the maintenance of its physical remnants, but
should also embrace collecting the visual, historical, folkloristic, and other records
of its creation, former appearances, and appreciations.
 With this realization in mind, we should have an even higher estimation of
the efforts of those twentieth-century enthusiasts who traveled with their cameras
and notepads, alone or accompanied by a small group of students, throughout
Central and Eastern Europe in order to collect records from old synagogues. To
name but a few, they include Alfred Grotte, Alois Breier, Szymon Zajczyk,
Danylo Shcherbakivsky, Stefan Taranushchenko, George Loukomski, and Zussia
Efron. Many of their photographs and drawings are the only surviving testimony
of lost synagogue architecture and art. Nowadays, this activity is continued by the
Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, the Center of Jewish Art in Jerusalem, the
Bet-Tfila Research Unit for Jewish Architecture in Europe located in Braunsweig,
the International Survey of Jewish Monuments in Syracuse, New York, and
several other institutions.'*
The case of the Gemilut Hasadim (Acts of Loving Kindness) Synagogue
in Suceava demonstrates how the visual documentation compensates, to a certain
extent, for the loss of the earlier images because of their having been totally
repainted. Presently, the center of the western side of the prayer hall is occupied
by a painting from 2003 depicting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. A photograph
of this wall in 1979" shows another painting of the Western Wall partially hidden
behind singing children (Fig. 19). The Wailing Wall is a popular symbol of the
Jews' mourning for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and of their hope
for its rebuilding; it is frequently portrayed in Jewish prints, artistic crafts, and
synagogues of the early twentieth century throughout Eastern ~ u r 0 ~ e In .l~
Suceava, the depiction of the Wall had additional, memorial and political
connotations, which are referred to in the dedicatory inscription above: "In
memory of the heroes who gave their souls for the defense of the Western Wall
and our Holy Land in [the] month [of] August, 1929."'5 Apparently, the painting
was produced shortly after the news about the riots in the Wailing Wall area and

12
Much work has been done researching the historical, social, and cultural contexts of
synagogue art in Eastern Europe. The archival. documents published by Sergey Bershadsky,
Mathias Bersohn, Mayer Balaban, Jakub Goldberg, and other historians help us to understand
historical facts and the social and ideological background of synagogue art. The folk tales recorded
and published by Shlomo An-ski, Abraham Rechtman, Dov Noy, and other folklorists shed light
on the semantics and aesthetics of this art.
13
The photograph showing the celebration of the feast of Hanukkah in 1979 was found in
the women's gallery of the synagogue in 2007.
14
See E. Bergman, "Motifs Pertaining to Jerusalem in the Building and Decorating of
19' and Early 20Ih Century Synagogues in the Polish Lands;" Z. Efron, "Motifs of Jerusalem in the
Mural Painting of Eastern European Synagogues: The Researcher's Impression;" 0.Goldberg-
Mulkiewicz, "The Image of Jerusalem in the Jewish Diaspora of the 1 9 ' and ~ 20Ih Centuries" in P.
Paszkewicz and T. Zadroiny (eds), Jerozolima w kultune Europejskiej, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej
Akademii Nauk, Warsaw, 1997, pp. 449-57,45945, and 467-80 respectively.
Is The Hebrew inscription reads:
a"sin I/ IN D ~ Y v7in1
) I1 ;1vi77;1 ~IPW N m y n >nix n m >Y a w s N
~ i i o n v D V l i~i x 5
 the following massacre of Jews in the Holy and'^ reached Romania. In this
context, the great Star of David inserted between the painting and inscription
appears to be a Zionist symbol.
A photograph taken in 1996 by members of the expedition of the Center for
Jewish Art shows the painting in this spot in full (Fig. 20). The masonry seen in the
top left of this depiction is similar yet not identical to the grid of courses of stones
appearing here behind the singers in the 1979 photograph. Most likely, the older
painting was rehrbished, perhaps in a manner following the original com~osition,
even though it deviated from it in details. The image is a mirror variation of the
depiction of prayer at the Wailing Wall that ever since the early twentieth century
has been widely depicted on Jewish postcards (e.g., see Fig. 21). In his copy, an
anonymous painter simplified some figures and omitted several men, but copied as
precisely as he could the group of the three worshippers leaning on the Wall. He
also eliminated all the women, obviously doing so in order to not represent the men
and women praying together, as in Orthodox synagogues the sexes pray separately.
The painter also reworked the perspective of the Wall and the small building
adjacent to it at a right angle into the flattened representation of both structures on
the same frontal plane. He ignored the fact that worshipers whom he showed in
profile appear to be looking aside rather than properly facing the Wall. The frontal
rendering of the buildings makes the painting closer to the symbolic depictions of
the Wailing Wall in Jewish folk art. Incorporating the horizontal image on the
postcard into the vertical panel in the synagogue, the painter added several courses
of stones to the Wall, and - though it still does not reach the height of the real
Western Wall in Jerusalem - painted its upper edge and the blue sky above. The
dedicatory inscription above the painting has been accurately rewritten, given a blue
background, and enclosed within a frame.
The second painting was lost when the synagogue wall was reconstructed
in 2003, and a newer image on the same subject was produced by a painter who
signed his or her works by the initials C. R. S. (Fig. 22). This is a strictly frontal
view of the Wall with a few praying men facing it. Probably, the painting was
influenced by the contemporary photographs making use of the effect of the
expressive black silhouettes of the ultra-Orthodox Jews in their long jackets and
wide hats, standing against the illuminated yellowish stones of the Wall ( e g , Fig.
23). The strip of blue was added above the Wall, making it even lower that in the

10
The riots began after the inflammatory sermon at the Hurum as-Sharf (the Holy
Precincts, or the Temple Mount) on Friday, August 16, when a mass o f Arabs rushed from that site
to the Wailing Wall below and to the Jewish quarters in Jerusalem. After the next Friday, August
23, the massacres spread over Jerusalem, Motsa, Hebron, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, and Safed, resulting in
murder o f 133 Jews. In some places, the rioters were repelled by the defence o f the Jewish
Hugurruii organi~ation.See B. Morris, Righteous Victim: A Historj of the Zionist-Arab Conflict,
iKKl--7001,Vintage Books. New York, 2001, pp. 113-16.
previous painting. The old inscription was rewritten as well, though without the
date of August 1929, whose meaning had obviously been forgotten.". The old
photographs thus became an effective source for reconstructing lost images and
forgotten meanings.
In conclusion, though we have to concede that the physical existence of
works of art may be short, sometimes people can revive the lost artistic ideas.
That is, to rephrase Hippocrates, "ars brevis, vita longa." It goes without~saying,
of course, that all possible efforts should be invested in the preservation of
existing objects. However, no less important is the saving of records of synagogue
art. This includes the taking of photographs, making of technical drawings and
video recordings of synagogues, the collection of historical documents, and the
writing of memoirs about the artists who worked in synagogues, stories, folk tales,
and the like. When the real synagogue art no longer exists in its material
substance, it should be preserved in a virtual form.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Beck, James H. and Daley, Michael, Art Restoration: The Culture, the Business and the Scandal,
W.W. Norton, London, 1996
Bergman, Eleonora, "Motifs Pertaining to Jerusalem in the Building and Decorating of 1 9 ' and~
Early 20Ih Century Synagogues in the Polish Lands" in Piotr Paszkewicz and Tadeusz
Zadrozny (eds), Jerozolitm i v kulturze Europejskiej, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii
Nauk, Warsaw, 1997, pp. 449-57
"Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice," The Anzerican Institute for Conservation of
Historic and Artistic Wotks - About AIC: Core Documents, www.conservation-us.org
(last accessed October 14, 2009)
Efron, Zussia, "Motifs of Jerusalem in the Mural Painting of Eastern European Synagogues: The
~esearcher's~~m~ression" in Piotr Paszkewicz and Tadeusz Zadroiny (eds), Jerozolinza LV
kulturze Europejskiej, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warsaw, 1997, pp. 459-465
Goldberg-Mulkiewicz, Olga, "The Image of Jerusalem in the Jewish Diaspora of the 191hand 20Ih
Centuries" in Piotr Paszkewicz and Tadeusz Zadrozny (eds), Jerozolima w kultune
Europejskiej, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warsaw, 1997, pp. 4.67-80
HGSS "HGSS Friends of Lvov: The Restoration of the Synagogue on Brothers Mykhnovskych
Street," hgssfriendsoflvov.org.uk~brothers.htm(last accessed October 14, 2009)
Morris, Benny, Righteous Victims: A Histoty of the Zionist-Arab Cotlflict. l88l-2OO/, Vintage
Books, New York, 2001
Price, Nicholas Stanley; Talley, Mansfield Kirby, and Alessandra Melucco Vaccaro (eds),
Historical and Philosophical Issues in the Conservation of Cultwal Heritage, Getty
Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 1996
Rejduch-Sarnkowa, Izabela and Sarnek, Jan (eds), Katalog zabytkhw sztuki w Polsce, 4, Miasto
Krakow, 6, Kazimien i Stradom. Juduica: Boznice, hudowle publiczne i cmenrarze,
Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akadeniii Nauk, Warsaw, 1995

17
The current Hebrew inscription (Fig. 22) lacks the words u"sin >N omn u7ii-11(in the
month of August, 1929) and mistakenly omits the letter 2 in the word a?i[>]xa (heroes).
Trzciftski, Andrzej "Zachowane wystroje malarskie boinic w Polsce," Studia Judaica 4 (2001) ,
no. 1-2 (7-8), pp. 67-95
"The Venice Charter: International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments
and Sites", ICOMOS Charters and Other Standards: The Venice Chapter (Venice, 1964),
www.icomos.org/docs (last accessed October 14,2009)

Ilia M. Rodov, Ph. D. in History of Arts from the Hebrew University of

Jerusalem, is a lecturer at the Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University,
and an editor of Ars Judaica - Bar Ilan Journal of Jewish Art.

Fig. I. Synagogue in Tykocin.

Painting on the eastern wall, above
the Torah ark. The state before the
restoration. Photograph by A.
Stasiak. Biatystok, the archives of the
Podlasie region conservator, album
62IMl74 I, nr. 5
- wall, abbG the Torah ark. The state after the
restoration: dense strokes of paint cover the
reconstructed sections. Photograph by A. Juszczak.
Biatystok, the archives of the Podlasie region
conservator, album 62IMl74 1, nr. 15
 Fig. 3. Synagogue in Piticz6w. Josef, son of Eliezer, wall and ceiling painting in the lobby
(looking eastward), 174 1/42. The state after the restoration. Photograph by B. Yaniv, 2006

Fig. 4. Synagogue in Pilicz6w. Josef, son of Fig. 5. Synagogue in Pincz6w. Josef, son of
Eliezer, ceiling painting in the lobby (detail), Eliezer, ceiling painting in the lobby (detail),
1741142. The state before the restoration. 174 1/42. The state after the restoration.
Photograph by I. Rodov, 1998 Photograph by B. Yaniv, 2006
 Fig. 6. The High Synagogue in Krakow Fig. 7. The Old Synagogue in Cracow
(Kazimierz). Torah ark, ca 1563, altered in the (Kazimierz). Torah ark, ca 1560
second half of the 18th century Photograph by I. Rodov, 1998
Photograph by I. Rodov, 1998
Fig. 8. The High Synagogue in Krak6w (Kazimierz). Prayer hall (looking towards the north-wcst);
the former pediment of the Torah ark (above the door on the left) and the Ark's former crown relief
(above the door on the left) built into the wall Photograph, before 1939.
Warsaw, The Institute of Art, The Polish Academy of
Sciences, Warsaw, neg. no. 3378
Fig. 9. The High Synagogue in Krak6w (Kazimierz). Pediment with arboreal relief
located above the walled up door in the western wall of the prayer hall
Photograph by I. Rodov, 1998

Fig. 10. Krak6w (Kazimierz). Alms box frc ... lhe High Synagogue
transferred to the house at 40 Joseph Street.
Photograph by I. Rodov, 1998
Fig. 11. Reconstruction of the Renaissance Holy Ark
in the High Synagogue in Krak6w (Kazimierz)
Fig. 12. The Kupah Synagogue in Kraki5w (Kazimierz).
Prayer hall and women's gallery
(looking southward; after the restoration)
Photograph by B. Yaniv, 2006
Fig. 13. The Kupah Synagogue in
Krak6w (Kazimierz). Layers of
painting on the southern wall of the
prayer hall (after the restoration)
Photograph by B. Yaniv, 2006

Fig. 14. The Tsori Gilead synagogue in Lvov. Fig. 15. The Tsori Gilead synagogue in Lvov.
Maksymilian Kugel, "Be a Hero as a Lion," "Be a Hero as a Lion," repainted in 2007.
wall painting, 1936. Photograph by S. Kravtsov, 2008
Photograph by S. Kravtsov, 2006
 Fig. 16. The Tsori Gilead synagogue in Lvov.
Maksymilian Kugel, "The Temple in
Jerusalem," wall painting, 1936. Photograph by
I. Rodov, 1994
Fig. 17. The Tsori Gilead synagogue in Lvov.
Maksymilian Kugel, "The Temple in
Jerusalem," repainted in 2007 (the Hebrew
inscription under the frame is absent).
Photograph by S. Kravtsov, 2008

Fig. 18. The Tsori Gilead synagogue in Lvov. Prayer hall (looking towards the north-
west), refurbished in 200 1-2008. Photograph of 2008, by courtesy of The HGSS
Friends of Lvov
Fig. 19. The Gemilut Hasadim Synagogue in Suceava. "The Wailing Wall"
(detail of the painting seen behind the children)
and dedicatory inscription on the western wall of the prayer hall
Photograph, 1979
 Fig. 20. The Gemilut Hasadim Synagogue in Suceava.
"The Wailing Wall" and dedicatory inscription painted on the
western wall of the prayer hall between 1978 and 1996.
Photograph by B. Khaimovich, 1996, by courtesy of the Center
for Jewish Art, Jerusalem

Fig. 21. "At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem," postcard,

the early 20th century. Gross Family Collection,
Tel Aviv, by courtesy of William Gross

Fig. 22. The Gmilut Hasadim Synagogue
in Suceava. C. R. S., "The Wailing Wall"
and dedicatory inscription on the western
wall of the prayer hall, 2003. Photograph
by I. Rodov, 2007
Fig. 23. An ultra-Orthodox Jew praying
at the "Wailing Wall" section of the
western wall of the Mount Temple
in Jerusalem