THE JEWISH ART IN NORTHWEST ROMANIA ( MARAMURES, SATU MARE I BIHOR COUNTYS) THE SINAGOGUE AND THE CEMETERY

The settlement of a significantly large Jewish community in the Romanian Northwest, which continued for over two centuries, has left an impression still visible in the local architecture as well as in hundreads of jweish cemeteries. The timeframe to be assessed is 1850-1935. This corresponds with the most prosperous period enjoyed by the communities, which was fostered by the emancipation of the Jews during the seconf half of the nineteenth century and lasted until the eve of the Holocaust. It is generally accepted in European art critique that the historiography of judaic art is modest and very young. Dominique Jarrase1 places the beginnings of Jewish historiography only in the the nineteenth century.In the preface of A pokol Traktatusa kepekben, Schner Alfred states that the investigation of jewish art begins in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In another reference to the historiography of synagogue architecture, it is set forth that even though the nineteenth century witnessed the construction of an impressive number of such edifices, these buildings were predominantly ignored2 by historians and art critics alike, inspite of their significance and value. Ines Muller enumerates the names of architects such as Weinbrenner, Semper, Zwirner, Grtner, Brklein, Stler and Frster, who built synagogues with distinct architectural features beginning in the eighteenth century. She muses as to why these achievements were overlooked by the art historians3. An important aspect of Judaic art historiography must be set forth in the introduction, namely that for a long time the Jewish communities was not interested in or were not allowed to write about their architecture. The Jews carried the Word of God in their hearts; the space in where the Word was spoken being of secondary importance4.
1

Dominique Jarrass, expert Jewish legacy, proffessor in contemprary art at Bordeaux University, one of the most popular Jewish art chritic, one of those that founded the Jewish art istoriography. 2 Ines Mller, A Rumbach Sebestyn utcai zsinagga, Otto Wagner fiatalkori fmve Budapesten, Lcker Verlag Wien, MFA Judaisztikai Kutatcsoport, Budapest 1993, p. 11 (Going on: A Wagner zsinagga...) 3 Ibidem, p. 11 4 I. Mller, Zsinagoga..., p. 13

The historiography of Judaic art has proceeded timidly in Romania. It has done so through limited but pertinent studies beginning in the second half of the twentieth century. Only in the past years have more robust works appeared on the topic of the present study, Judaic art of synagogues and cemeteries. The first referenced work, The syangogue architecture of monotheism, pubilshed in 2000, belongs to professor Mircea Moldovan and adresses the complex issues of the synagogue and the particularties associated with it. It references the tentative beginnings under the strong polytheistic , the evolution of its formation and functionalism, the defining elements from its interior and exterior, religious practices, and its context locally and in Europe. Another significant work in the field belongs to proffessor Silviu Sanie5 of the Iasi University, History department. Though it mentions only one cemetery, namely the medievel cemetery from Siret, it provides a frame of reference through wich he establishes a methodological approach for the study of the jewish cemetery, a unique system of classifiying grave stones, a collection of names, and a classification of funeral ornamentation for the specific cemetery. The scholarly work encompasses a catalogue of the Siret cemetery monuments, accompanied by a full depiction shape, location in the system of classification, the description of names and inclusion of the inscribed epitaph, in as much as the engravings are discernable and for each gravestone, a geographic location and conclusions. The work is the result of precious research, counducted by Professor Sanie over an extended period of time. Additional works belonging to the Romanian historiography include Erdlyi Lajos Rgi zsid temetk mvszete (The Art of Old Jewish Cemeteries), published in hungarian by Kriterion publishing house in 1980, Aristide Streja and Lucian Schwarz Synagogues in Romania. These works are to be added to Az szakerdlyi Holokauszt fldrajzi enciklopdija6 (The Geographical Encyclopedia of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania) which in spite of not having been published in Romania, boasts a robust amount of archival material, including pictures and factual information of the Judaic patrimony in Transilvania. The first statistical evidence of Jews in the Romanian Northwest comes form the census. Emperor Leopold ordered the inclusion of the Jews in the census in
5

S. Sanie, Dinuire prin piatr. Monumentale cimetireux mdival de la Siret, Ed. Hasefer, Bucureti, 2000 (Going on : Siret) 6 Randolph L. Braham, Az szak-erdlyi holokauszt fldrajzi enciklopdija, Budapest Park Kiad, Cluj Napoca Koinnia, 2008, (Going on: Enciklopdia ...)

1689. The data served to levvi taxes. Beginning with the eighteenth century, the frequency of the census increased, and revealed a decreasing number of Jews in the area. It must be mentioned however that these numbers include only heads of family 7, resulting in an estimation of the population based on the known size 8 of jewish families at the given times. During the second half of the ninteenth century, the census was conducted approximately every ten years and was administered by the hungarian administraton. The 1850 census in Transylvania employs the local administrative unit9 as the primary measurment. This census is particularly important becasue it is the first one to follow the historical events in 1848-1849. The primary purpose of this Transilvanian census, administered by the Austrian military governance, was a military one. The 1910 census in north-west Romania shows data collected through a method by which thee respondents answered typed out questions with multiple choice responses10. The 1930 census is the first conducted after Transilvanias union with Romania, howeve it is the last that contains data on the numerical, economic and cultural pinnacle reached by the Jewish community in this area. Based on the analysis of the census data between 1850-1935, the following conclusions can be reached: - the jewish pobulation was distributed throughout the geographic area of this study (see appendix 1) throughout the period of the study (1850-1939); the number of local administrative units where jewish pupulation did not register, or according to the census, pupulation of jewish conversion, is very small (the exception beein rural Bihor); - the jewish population underwent a continuous growth in numbers, eventually comprising a significant procentage of the population of the localities where they settled; - the dynamic of the jewish population growth shows that it could not have occured naturally, meaning that it must be a result of immigration;
Treza Mzes, Evreii din Oradea, Ed. Hasefer, 1997, p. 21, (going on: Oradea ...) Ibidem, p. 21-22, in those times a family had usualy five members ... 9 Ibidem, p. 14 10 T. Rotaru, Recensmntul din 1910, p. 709
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- the jewish population settled and lived in both the rural and urban environment throughout the timeperiod of this study; - the end of the ninteenth century shows the largest population growth in the urban jewish population; - the dynamic growth in jewish urban pupulation is no the result of a massive rural to urban migration, but rather the choice of new immigrants that settle in urban areas. At the same time, urbanization was also occuring, however immigration remained significantly larger then urbanization; - declines in population are also visible, in part becasue of urbanization and in part becasue of migration to localities with economic incentives (Sudrigiu in Bihor county was one such locality, due to the booming local lumber industry, which resulted in a significant population increase that included an increase in the jewish population); - the increase in the jewish population was also influenced by the tolarence level of the local population, as in other regions both closeby and further away, pogroms continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. The growth of the Jewish community happened very slowly at first in Northwest Romania, increasing by under one hundread indivuduals over the course of a century. The significant leap was a result of immigration. These successive waves of immigrants, brought with them cultural adaptations based on an uprooted history. The customs ranged from old traditions that the communities didnt want to abandon, to the most recent, strongly narrative, tied to their emancipation11. The symagogue12 is an institution particular to judaism. It is recent in Europes christian carachter, though it has manifested itself for the past two postchristic millenia as a place of exercising the faith. After emancipation, the synagogue became the most visible way in which the jewish populations wished to mark their presence in their communities. What is less known to the world that integrated the synagogue, is the non-cult function there of, as well as the complexity of the other
L. Scott Lerner, The Narrating Architecture of Emancipation, http://online.sfsu.edu/kmillet/lerner.pdf , (Going on: Narating... ) 12 This study refers to the sinagogues in Northwest romania, included in the whider Est-central European space
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functions of this institution, which once achieved, enabled a true existentialist miracle: judaism. In defining the meaning of the synagogue, the observations of Dominique Jarrasse13 should be taken into account, namely that the space of the syangogue is primarily defined by the presence of minian. This is the minnimum number of ten men above the age of thirteen, necessary for prayer to take place in the syangogue. The congregation of men is more important than the physical location , which is not the object of the consacration14. While this observation shows the emphasis on the human element in worship as being more important than a wall, it also distracts form the sanctity of such a place. The same definition of the minian is enounciated by Carol Hershelle Krinsky, who finds it to be central to the meaning of the syangogue15. The representatives of the judaic culture and religion have extended the function of this institution to its utmost, bestowing upon it the development, founding of, creation of judaism16. In spite of this, it has been held that the syangogue is less vital for the survival of the community than a ritual bath, lass valued than a study17. The Hebrew terminology bet hakneset defines one of the most important functions of the syangogue18, that of a gathering house. It is for this meaning that the name syangogue has derived, having its root in Sunagg, the Greek word for gathering. Through this function, the synagogue can be identified along with eclesia19. These gatherings became very important for the Jews after their first uprooting, as it was their way of maintaining a cohesive community. The syangogue was the meeting place, the place to remember the communitys longing for the Temple, and the place to hope for tomorrow. Living as a diaspora for millenia, the Jews were subjected to the laws and customs of those who tolerated their presence. With their own laws and faith, they retreated to the syangogue. The reality of dual belonging accompanied the

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Dominique Jarrasse, Fonctions et forrmes de la synagogue: refus et tentation de la sacralisation, Revue de lhistoire des religions, numro 4 (2005) P. 394, http://rhr.revues.org/4216 (going on: Fonctions ...) 14 Ibidem 15 Carol Herselle Krinsky, Synagogues of Europe Architecture, History, Meaning, 1988, http://books.google.ro/, p. 5 16 D. Jarrass, Fonctions p. 395 17 Ibidem, p. 396 18 Ibidem, p. 345. It is underlined the missing of the term in the Bible, explaining the name coming from the Greek languange, not Hebrew. 19 Ibidem, p. 394

diasporal circumstances of judaism. The syangogue developed a pseudoadministration of its own20, to which the community adhered. The Jews found that the primary function of the syangogue, also named house of learning or bet ha-midras, was as a place of study. Still, the syangogue was also a house for prayer, in hebrew bet ha-tefila, where the jews were committed to gathering and praying. It is in regard to this function that the building norms of the edifice are constructed: the spaces, orientation and furnishings. The syangogue was also the place where the jews came for holidays and the celebration of religious and social customs. This included the bar mitzvah for boys, which is a passage to manhood celebrated at 13 years of age, and after which the adult man can partake in the minian and may read the Tora in syangogue. For girls, the bat mitzvah was celebrated at 12 years of age. The syangogue was also the place of the officiation of weddings. A function sometimes attributed to the syangogue is that of courthouse, bet din, through which the community had autonomy to adjudicate certian internal disputes. Judgments as well as other communications concerning the community were passed down in syangogue. After the emancipation in the ninteenth century, another funcation was added, namely that of social representative. Though frowned upon by orthodox rabbis, the search for a way to express identity led to an explosion in the aesthetics of the exteriors of syangogues. This new function was not noticed by its contemporaries, nor is it visible in the scholarly works21 of the period. Through the rare functions corresponding to this jewish invention, the synagogue must first be considered as a functional space22. The most important functions of the synagogue, which make it into, as mentioned ny Dominique Jarrasse not a holy place, not a cult place but at most a cult place are radically distinct from the functional dimentios of other cult buildings. The synagogue is a place of cult manifestation of a peoples who invented God, and who throughout history took it upon itself to live by respecting the written
Maro Borsk, Synagogue Arhitecture in Slovakia Tawards Creating a Memorial Landscape of Lost Community, A Dissertation Submitted to the Hochschule fr Jdische Studien, Heidelberg in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, April 2005. The author mentiones the fact that between the functions of the institution, we can see the similarities with the City Hall. P. 90 , (going on: Slovakia...) 21 S. L. Lerner, Narrating..., p. 3 22 D. Jarrass, Fonctions ..., p. 394
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Law given to it. Paradoxically, the materializing of this peoples is not the result of indications reveled in the texts. The synagogue is a human invention23, authored by the Jewish people, as a result of historical events. As observed numerous times, the Jews transformed their history into religion, and the important historical events became holidays. The syangogue is a space relevant to monotheism, with a concrete configuration through numerous attempts at forms of expression. The origin of this result is still not certain. This construction was not developed in the land promised to the Jews by god, instead it is intertwined with the diaspora. Their status as strangers among other peoples determined the characteristics and functions which beceme cemented throughout time. To reach what is now a synagogue, the evolution began with the desert Tabernacle, as called by Jarrasse, the cession tent, or in Hebrew, ohel moed.. According to the biblical description, this was lokely a sanctuary comprised of an interior courtyard, dressed in fabric hung on a wood frame of gilded wisteria. This is where the priests presented the sacrifice. Behind the courtyard was an area separated by a screen, where the Tablets of the Law were kept, also called the Holy Holiest. This space was to become the ark , the most important component for achieving the cult function, and the first of the tow poles of the synagogue. The second pole was established later on, known as the bima or almenor. This is the place form which the divine word24 was spoken, passed down through the Law given by God to his chosen person, Moses. The Jewish reformation of the late nineteenth century manifested itself inside the synagogue predominantly through the general dispute of where the bima should be placed, the introduction of the organ and chorus in addition to the changes seen in the exterior. The reformation also primarily meant a fight of judaism with itself, and secondarily with the historical context ans the social and religious influences. Prior to the debut of facades, the european synagogue architecture was outstandingly modest: From the exterior nothing signales synagogue ... there were no symbols, no inscriptions25. These forms, obsolete synagogues of the old jewish

Ibidem, p. 395 A. Streja, L. Schwarz, Sinagogi din Romnia, Editura Hasefer, Bucureti, 1996, p. 18 (going on: Sinagogi ...) 25 Ibidem
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neighborhoods and the oratories26, which were subsequently written about through means of comparison, were followed by other cult buildings. These were capable of bringing about the status change of its owners, from Jews to Israelis27, citizens of the countries where they lived. If the historiography of jewish art of the second half of the nineteenth century is to be discussed, most authors place the debut thereof sometime between the middle of the century and the last decade. Some affirm that the historiography of the aesthetic of the facade of synagogues began as early as the year1800, when synagogues were no longer being build in a spontaneous manner28 and imitation the style of the particular period, but rather, there was a focus on finding an appropriate style, which would correspond to the needs of the jewish community it represented. Indeed, it was a time focused on a search to find an original expression, reflective of the self. The goal was to find a style outside the influence of Christianity or Islam. Though Judaism was fundamental to and preceded both these monotheistic forces, having been stranded in a figuratively barron setting for millennia, it began individualizing its architectural expression only very late in time. This was especially true with regard to the synagogue. As religious and faithful preservers of the Law, the jews partook in the gift of the European architectural culture. However they were unable to define themselves stylistically outside the the historical memory of their ancestors, who were biblical heroes they piously venerated. The Judaic European architecture came close to the neo-classical style, but the victory of originality came through a strong oriental stylistic fingerprint29. There was a clear exotic approach, which is seen by Dominique Jerrasse as the result of a lack of an architectural style specific to the Jews. This orientation of synagogue style towards Orientalism was connected to the influence possibly exerted by the architects of the Romantic period30, who in the second half of the nineteenth century appealed to antiquity, in this case to the Egyptian architecture and that of Mesopotamia.
Ibidem Ibidem 28 I. Mller, A Wagner zsinagga..., p. 14 29 D. Jarrass, La synagogue de la rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, lieu de construction d'une culture juive parisienne et d'un regard sur les Juifs, Romantisme 3/2004 (nr. 125) http://www.cairn.info/revue-romantisme-2004-3-page-43.htm, (n continuare: Notre Dame...) 30 Hana Taragan, The Gate of Heaven synagogue in Cairo, n Journal of Jewish Identitie, 2009, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journalofjewishidentities/v002/2.1taragan.pdf, p. 44, (going on: Cairo...)
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The European stylistic context at the time of these changes in the Jewish environment was very favorable to the emerging of the new style, because both the new jewish architecture and the eclecticism that was in full manifestation, were searching for synthesis to go through recomposition31. Facades, as visible signs, will have the mission of spreading the complex message of empowerment and emancipation: newly won freedom and equality. They als show the dignity of identity, by confirming the presence of the jewish element in an environment in which they had to slip by quietly for centuries, introverted in hidden insides. In their speeches, rabbis warn about the message received by the viewer: you see this temple is speaking to you. My doors opened for everyone. I give all people without distinction the right to come near the Lord32 was the way in which Solomon Klein translated the language of temple architecture. The New Jewish temples, converted from the depiction of sinagogues of the ghetto, which had to be unrecognizable from the outside, atsto not challenge the Christian in any way, become by radically upgraded facades, the pride of the cities where they were located. The facade of the temple was designed to send a strong dual message: on one hand, the message of the ancestral origin of a culture - as unique and unifying heritage of people whose history has so often pulled the land form under their feet -, and on the other hand, the message of a desire for integration, dignity, and stability in an area that they would like to assume as a new home. This message can be read as the form of the new judaism that the european Jews assume, in wich they only see the new form of their old inheritance, their old religion. Adopting the neo-egyptian style raised a series of discussions and questions about the causes of this adoption into Jewish architecture. In a work by C. H. Krinsky, in which he selected all synagogues with neo-egyptian style elements, he poses the question of why Jews made that choice, since, on the one hand, the style first originated in pagan, polytheistic religion,which was prohibited by biblical command, and on the other hand, their people suffered one of the toughest periods in their history enslaved in Egypt33.
S. Lerner, Narrating..., p. 1 Ibidem, p. 4 33 H. Taragan, Cairo ..., p. 42
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A desire for an exotic approach34 to the facades of new temples was repeatedly underlined. In the early nineteenth century, the belief was that the Egyptian style of architecture was appropriate for the synagogue, because Hiram, the Phoenician craftsman, would have built Kings Solomon temple in this style35. Not all Architects were excited to use neo-moor or oriental styles. Many preferred European styles, especially the Romanic and Gothic styles36. In a description of the synagogue built by Otto Wagner in Budapest, it is said that, in relation to synagogue architecture, christian architects prefer the solomonic oriental inspired style, that also reflects the origin of the beneficiaries. The jewish architects would lean toward the JewishGerman style, with Gothic and Romanesque takeovers37. A variety of formulas were observed in connection with the style of facade compositions of jewish temples, ranging from Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine, Moorish, Assyrian, Babylonian, Romantic, Neo-Baroque, Gothic, Classical, to the newest one at that time, Secession. All these are welcomed, but they belong to the respective nations. To come close to their origins, synagogue architecture will be defined by elements taken from the temple: the courtyard, ritual laundry , and it seems, since the twelfth century, the access between two columns38, the famous pillars of Joachim and Boaz39, which flanked the entrance of the old temple in Jerusalem: He set the pillars on the porch of the temple, set the right pillar, and called him Ioachin, and he set the left pillar, and called him Boaz. The temple is a constant in Jewish memory, so it is customary in the synagogue that one piece of the wall remain unpainted in memory of the destroyed Temple40. Other than these design-related works, which on the one hand are connected with the existing architectural context, and on the other hand with the introduction of architectural elements related to the Jewish origins, such as the Temple in Jerusalem as first model and the biblical description, there were meetings of the mind and human relations established by attending the same schools of architecture and a very large migration of architects that exchanged ideas and architectural models. Such a meeting linking Egypt to an area very close to the one
S. L. Lerner, Narrating..., p. 10 I. Mller, A Wagner zsinagga ..., p. 14 36 D. Jarrass, Notre Dame..., p. 54 37 I. Mller, A Wagner zsinagga ..., p. 11 38 C. H. Krinsky, Synagogues ..., p. 9 39 Biblia I Regi 7:21 40 C. H. Krinsky, Synagogues ..., p. 9
34 35

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selected for the current study. It is the meeting of a member of a known nineteenth century, Egyptian, Cattaui family, whose son, Maurice Youssef, Born in 1847, studied in Paris and came to collaborate on a synagogue project with Edward Matesek, an architect and native of Austria-Hungary. Eduard Matesek was Max Herzs41 partner in building the Egyptian pavillion for the 1893 Chicago World Fair42. The latter was born in Grniceni (Otlaka) near Arad in 1865 and settled to work in Cairo. These collaborations explain the similarities between synagogues located thousands of miles away, such as the one example mentioned by Hana Taragan, which referenced the facades of the synagogue Sha ar Hashamayin in Cairo and Hradec Kralove43 synagogue located about 100 km from Prague. Incorportating the European architecturel style on the one hand, and making recourse to the stlye of antiquity, the Jews were forced to stylistically define themselves between the Christian and Islamic formula. Boralevi Alberto defined the new temple as something new that tries to be neither church nor mosque44.In northwestern Romania, this exotic oriental aspect is very visible through the large-scale synagogues built during the Reform period, which will be highlighted in the descriptions of monuments. Among these is the spectacular form of the synagogue on the Primariei street in Oradea. The torsade of the monumental columns flanking facades (Fig. 33), are impressive both through their surprise appearance in provincial urban space that emerged in the early ninteenth century Transylvania, as well as through the solomonic size, accented by the nervousness of the spiral in Moor vocabulary. When taking a brief overview of the images of the cities selected for this study, one finds a series of common characteristics of these elements. Cities are medium or small in size relative to the what is characteristic in Romania. The medium sized ones are the former medieval fortresses. They are ancient settlements that have been mapped, or have changed their configuration, shortly before, or simultaneously with the arrival of Jews in the area. These cities, despite the tendency towards change, and investment efforts of the communist period in the second half of the twentieth

41

Jew architect born in (Otlaka) lng Arad n 19th of mai 1856, was privilaged to be popular between the officials in Cairo, with an important role in the organization of the muslim Muzeum in Cairo. http://www.tion.ro/stiri/timis/articol/sarcofag-egiptean-la-muzeu/cn/news-20080514-06272678 42 H. Taragan, Cairo ..., p.35 43 Ibidem, p.35 44 S. L. Lerner, Narrating ..., p. 10

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century, have preserved the old historic center, and thus the architecture to which we should relate the new post-emancipation synagogue architecture. Representative buildings of these cities are concentrated in central markets, quartets or adjacent streets. The oldest buildings in these areas are religious ones, either churches or episcopal residences. Rarely, buildings can be found that withstood time, like Stephen's Tower in Baia Mare, or the old wing of the former Vecsey residence in Satu Mare. The remaining buildings are community institutions, such as banks, palaces or other private premises, built predominantly in the nineteenth century. These buildings belong to the late Transylvanian baroque style, neoclassicism, but mostly to the eclectic reconstruction. In Oradea first, but also in Satu Mare, early twentieth century imposed the new current Viennese influence, namely Secession. This is the architectural context that receives the new religious constructions of emancipated Jews. Generally, synagogues were located on streets adjacent to the town centers, such as in Satu Mare, Sighet and Oradea. In Baia Mare and Carei synagogues were built on side streets but not far from the city's historic center. The synagogue in Oradea had a chance of relatively central location. Its placement completes a section of the town center, in an area with a large side opening for Cris riverbank. Rural synagogues and prayer houses were usually located throughout the central areas of the localities, but their architecture adopted a more domestic form. Through size, the synagogue buildings dominated over the living quarters but not over the Christian churches, whose towers raised their silhouettes over the modest rural architecture. It was noted that during the pre-emancipation period Jews, got closer to the local architecture, because they wanted to be good citizens. After emancipation, desire of proximity to origins, or the memory of happier times, becomes visible. Even the new name given to the synagogue, as temple45, makes clear reference to their history; to what they inherited through collective memory. The hope embodied by the Temple was a mark and moral support of this ethnic group with an amazing destiny, unprecedented in the history of mankind.
Klein Rudolf, Keresztnyek szmra mr rthet, zsidk szmra mg emszthet. A pesti zsinaggk az els imahzaktl a templomig, http://bfl.archivportal.hu/id-988-klein_rudolf_keresztenyek_ szamara_ mar.html
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Jews, at least by the fact that for millennia they have not had a state, are unique among the peoples of the world. They lived in the diaspora, which makes them always have a double affiliation. If membership of people in the midst of whom they were living was stated stated laws that determined Jewish rights, obligations and restrictions, the fact that they kept the membership as a Jewish people is one of the most amazing existential strength known in human history. It was said very nicely that ... The history of the entire Jewish diaspora was not a history of kings or of rulers, of leaders of armies or of resounding battles, it was a history ... of a daily reality46.. Expulsions and persecutions against the Jews were not the result of crossing swords, but decisions of masters of the territories where they were established. And all these were overcame with resignation and the endurance of the race, pushed by that complex religious, mystical, cultural, social and moral called Synagogue. For Jews in the north-west of Romania, the history thread can be considered interrupted after the events occurred during the Second World War, due to the disappearance of much of the population as a result of deportion and later due to emigration in the communist period. Currently, we can only talk about communities in Sighet and Oradea. Satu Mare and Baia Mare hardly meets minyan. It is very rare to find a Hebrew family. This study refers to the artistic manifestations of Jews whos continuity in the area is longer than two centuries and who arrived here mostly driven by the hardships of history. This time between 1850-1930 is considered the period of maximum prosperity of the communities. As noted in previous chapters, anywhere Hebrew Diaspora art developed, even in very large areas, it assimilated the local influences. However, ithis presents common matrix determined by Judaism. This matrix is the stable kernel of Jewish eclecticism, like an axis around which time and space gave birth and developed a unique style. The constant in the style is biblical commandment, which focuses the unity in style, diversity being determined by the opening to the local context. As in all things that concern them, and also in the artistic style they developed, the Jews r unique. By temporarily passing through, they left their legacy in northwestern Romania and elsewhere. Their attachment to the identity given by the Law is unconditional and unlimited. It is governed by one measure: the divine incomprehensible. Causes that have led to this great attachment arebased in the complex notion of the Hebrew
46

L. Benjamin, I. Cajal-Marin, H. Kuller, Mituri ..., p. 22.

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miracle, and the effects it has generated artistically in the area studied, we try to identify in the content of the thesis. The complexity of the phenomenon and successive resettings of hierarchies, interdependencies, connections, determination or classification, will be known much better after the crystallizations that time will produce as we depart and gain a different perspective on relevant events. Determinations of this style seem to be born from the paradox of having a promise rather than a possession, the concrete aspect thereof being a migration in a perpetual diaspora. However, style is constantly linked to the idea of promised space, and variables were determined by specific inhabited territories, which periodically changed. These changes were caused either by brutal fracture of some historical events, as a result of intolerance, either by the natural inclination to move, under the dominant memory of the beginning, also passed down in the Law. The changes have coagulated in time as restless Jewish eclecticism, dynamic and surpriseing in the heterogeneity of acceptances for defining the core of identity. This has as its cause, the most obvious feature of Jewish eclecticism, a fabulous convergence to the heterogeneity of forms of Commandment-construction: the Temple of Solomon. The style does not abandon the Biblical thread, and receives only local influences that uploads it with new expressivity, though keeping the same structural core. The fact that eclecticism is more visible after Jewish emancipation is obvious, but its elaboration seems to begin the first day of the Babylonian exile, from the pain caused to the people by the loss of the Temple. The people, the religion and the synagogue seem to be defined at the same time, supporting and supplementing each other in the miracle of development. Inspiration and following the Biblical recommendation generated the perpetuation of some generally accepted forms of Judaism. For the preserveation of the biblical canon, the consent of every Jew47 was essential. Community members striving for equal treatment in synagogue, in life and death for every believer, as well as cultivating charity as a fundamental virtue, were the building blocks for support and unity among the wandering people. This preservation of the Commandment was possible primarily due to a thorough knowledge of biblical writings through regular study, reading and
M. Radosav, Livada..., p. 16. there is a cuustom that the most important representqatives of the rabbi schools to meet and discuss the regulations and questions, caused by special situations, is so called rabbi response, so those to get solved and to religion to keep his unity.
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transmission of the text of the Law, which was a priority of the Hebrew head of family. In the Old Testament, Biblical indications concerning the house of God and everything connected with it, such as objects and clothing, are common. The Jews, knowing the prescriptions, have observed them as best they could, and this increased ethnic and religious cohesion. In the periods with the most severe restrictions, when religious manifestations had to introverted, the transmission of the Jewish canon was mental, done both in the synagogue and silently, in the privacy of the home, by the head of the family. In addition to biblical prescriptions, scholars and Jewish leaders were able to impose rules according to tradition, which over time became norms that have been perpetuated. Other causes that imposed elements of renewal in synagogue art, and cemetery art are related to architectural influences in the European context. These influences were perceived differently by the spiritual leaders of the Jews. Some conservatives, opposed the deviation from tradition, other reformers were permissive to incorporation, but only after the liberation and detachment from conservatives, were they be able to fully express new ideas. The permission to show new forms of the synagogue worked in two directions. One was from the outside, which gave the locals shelter, and allowed these unusual forms, but also a dual inner part, of accepting Jews. Still, many rabbis were concerned about the extent and ease of entry into the biblical architectural canon of elements foreign to Hebrew people. This new Judaism of emancipation meant for the jewish architecture a reward desire for creative expression inhibited for generations. That is why the emulation was unstoppable, giving rise to competitions. In their succession, European styles were developed in connection with the ecclesiastical architecture, devoid of a single canon to be perpetuated over time. Forms in their succession were never the same. The renewal also included other buildings such as palaces, castles, fortresses, abbeys and other living residences, hospitals, schools and government buildings.. In emancipation Judaism, although architectural context influences and overtaken forms, even being dominant sometimes, the model of Solomon's Temple as described in the Old Testament is never abamdoned. The jewish eclecticism developed only through religious expressions they were allowed to preserve: the synagogue and the cemetery. Because they were only tolerated, they did not belong to 15

state institutions. Their institutions were concentrated in the synagogue: school, community meeting and sometimes others. Among the few social service buildings that are built by Jews at one time are hospitals. Ludwig Forster finds that the most important elements taken from the ancient Hebrew architectural model are the following: the colors of the facade made from colored bricks obtained by burning various colors of clay, the Joachim and Boaz pillars at the entrance to the Temple, and the interior divisions of the building48. All these elements have been identified in synagogue art in north-western Romania. By coming close to eclecticism, a style that developed in Europe during the emancipation period, the Jews developed a fitting made of expression: the judaic eclecticism. In order to compose this style, they were open to the risk of formulas proposed by civilizations other than their own. This openness extended to the refinement of the ancient orient49, passing through the egyptian monumentality50, and then going to the successive european architectural expressions of both the West and the East. Through their restless historical itinerary, they bound themselves as people of the book in the architecture of the synagogue, the only form in which they fully manifest themselves. They attempted a formula to represent them: the synthesis of the exotic that defined their past (their origin and history), and a formula of the european reconfiguration for the present. The searching was an opportunity for historical and stylistic remembrance in a variety of formulas, which eventually revealed its essence: judaic eclectic. This was borne of the european emancipation of the Jews, and became more widely disseminated, and marked by the forms of the context in which it manifested itself. this Temple of new judaism became the emblem of the new social status of the Jews. It is important to highlight another feature of this style born and developed from Judaism, the reference to which is not primarily temporal, as in other styles that flow through the ordered phase occuring at a time, a handful of contributing factors and influences, that matured and then declined, while the seeds of the next form succeeded it. The jewish eclecticism relates strictly selectively to ethnicity, at what it has deeper and perennial, in a tradition that sometimes was slightly extended, but revolving around a nucleus that when what was borrowed might become devastating, has the power to turn into itself and seek its own resources.
I. Mller, A Wagner zsinagga..., p. 25 D. Jarrass, La synagogue..., p. 52 50 H. Taragan, Cairo..., p. 32
48 49

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Within itself, through its heterogeneous feature, come together infinite and delicious forms, each of which, builds the new style. When the form of the synagogue is attributed as belonging to the European historical styles, as the characteristics of architectural elements that compose it, historically they were long outdated. The skill of its conception, like a perpetuum-mobile, which will have only ethnic references, has the ability to adopt and adapt any renewing formula. Feature that separates the historical European styles or the reversals of the neo formulas during the course of Jewish eclecticism would be timeless. While the architecture, in its development, always found its renewal in the matrix whose elements were always different, Judaism was renewed through the same matrix, whose features were those of the beginnings, originating in the law. Timelessness is determined by the constant persistence of the commandment, and also by use of the characteristics of certain styles, even long after their appearance and development, which could mean several centuries. Late adoptions of specific elements of one style or another, may be the result of adapting synagogue forms to architecture of the area where it was placed. Simultaneously with the timelessness of Jewish architecture, we have to take into acount and unusual living situation of Jewish people over time. They lived in many areas, except the one whose name they carried and where they could only hope to arrive. So they did not define themselves primary like other peoples, as belonging to a place, but instead to a religion. They are not Israeli primarily because they live in Israel, but because this land was promised to them and therefore they accepted the commandments and led their lives as ruled by law. Because of this feature of their existence and permanent links that grew between the distant territories where they lived, it was possible to keep maintain real unity in their artistic manifestations. This was observed by those who studied this field, as I mentioned in the first chapter. The twentieth century will be one with major changes for European architecture of Judaism, but not just for this reason. The fate of European Jewish communities has changed radically as a result of the Holocaust and the subsequent establishment of Israel. The second half of the century actually consisted of attempts to save and preserved the heritage and reconstructiop of synagogues , because it seems that no new Synagogue was being built51.
51

In Sighetu Marmaiei will be build the first Sinagogue in Europe after 1940, on the place of the old Big Sinagogue, with a pilgrimage purpose. Oral information, the president of the Jewish Comunity in Sighetu Marmaiei, ing. Hari Marcus.

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In the early twentieth century, the emancipated and prosperous Jews living in north-western Romania, are brought into the contemporary architectural events of the moment: Secession. Synagogue architecture manifested along with the social context, would lead to the development of a Secession as adapted by Jews to match their identity. It would be an expression of the synthesis of new Central European style with the symbols of their identity. The incorporation of new forms from the beginning of the century are exemplified by Saare Tora synagogue in Satu Mare. As I mentioned before, Jews were not loyal to a particular period of artistic movements. Their preferences show most unexpected jumps. Proof of this is a spectacular return to the Moorish vocabulary, the most prominent example being the synagogue on Primariei street in Oradea, the last great synagogue built in northwestern Romania. Information about the existence of the vast majority of emancipation synagogues in north-western Romania is available, but at this time their forms are not known. If we add to this the fact that we can not find uniformity or similarity of configurations even in closeby areas and in the same period, it reveals the complexity of trying to include them in a formula of classification, the register of forms being very varied. Scholarly literature proposed criteria for the classification of synagogues as varied characteristics: by size52, by the period in which they were built53, after internal organization or facades54, etc.. The most simple form are evidence by the rural synagogues or those in small communities, which were usually built on the basis of lenght, mononavate, with a single balcony reserved for women, located opposite the the ark. These synagogues have windows on the eastern, northern and southern facades on one level only, and sometimes on two levels, as those in Maramures. Two levels are distinguished only in the facade containing the balcony for women. In this facade, in the lower part are located entrances, sometimes windows, and in the upper part windows, or at least the round holes for ventilation. Side facades (north and south) always contain windows and may contain entries too.
A. Streja, L. Schwarz, Sinagogi..., p. 36 M. Borsk, Slovakia..., p. 111..The aouther preposes these periods: the pre-emancipation Sinagogues, second half of the eightteen century and the first half of the nineteen century, the emancipation Siangogues from the second half of the nineteen century, the Sinagogues from 1900 to World War I and the interbelic Sinagogues. 54 I. Mller, A Wagner zsinagga..., p. 24
52 53

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The largest synagogues had three naves that resulted in a tripartite facade opposite the ark. The tri-nave interiors had either a nine cell structure55, so called tabernaculare synagogues, determined by four pillars which generated nine interior partitions and which claim the best central location of the ark, or an oblong structure with a larger number of support pillars. Because of the biblical prescriptions and restrictions imposed from outside the Jewish cult, the western faade was not always on the street alignment. Several situations where identified, where the alignment of the street is aligned with the eastern facade, in which case this could be protected by a colonnade, or one of the side facades56. The western facades of synagogues built after emancipation, are the most developed in terms of aesthetics, having the highest concentration of specific narrative elements: functional goals but also with a decorative purpose, decorative items specific in the exterior architecture to which one or more specific decorations of the Jewish register are joined. Facades built on three main axes refer to the commandarchitecture of the Temple in Jerusalem. In this tripartite structure we meet several configurations. In the area the current study pertain so, are found facades with higher central axis and horizontal closure of all axis, for example the synagogue in Carei (Fig. 64). The most frequently encountered situation corresponds to the central axis flanked by towers or pillars. The facade opposite to that houseing the ark is always the main access the synagogue. It is located in the central axis when unique, and when there are multiple entries, they are distributed symmetrically in the axes of the facade. A characteristic of the western facade of the synagogues in the area is the presence of windows. These can be distributed between inputs, they can flank the main entrance (entrances), they can stand alone or be grouped summetrically in twos. The windows have very different forms: rectangular, slightly arched, round, bifore, trifore or having more leaves, with a round lobe in the upper side, or completed in horseshoe-arch. Most common are the characteristic round arch style ones. In the upper registers of the facade, complex windows forms or impressive perforated rozases can appear.

55 56

Ibidem, p. 113 Ibidem, p. 117

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The entryway into the synagogues of northwestern Romania is direct, there were not identified porticos57 or porches. The north and south facades are often symmetrical. But there are cases when one of them is attached to another wing or has gaps for more doors. The placement of the doors can be made in any of the axes of the lateral facades, but most commonly they are in the first shaft, and they accesses the seats reserved for women. After the placement of the womens balconies within the synagogue, the facade has one or more rows of windows. The eastern facade is the most important one because this wall is home to the Holy of Holies. It has the most solid wall and usually has the fewest holes/ However it does not lack the round window above the ark - ned tamid in the study area. At several synagogues, including the ones at Valea lui Mihai (BH) (Fig. 63), the Hasidim Synagogue in Munkcs, Satu Mare (SM) (Fig. 40), and Sas evra of Oradea (BH) (Fig. 68) windows were identified even in this facade. Analyzing the forms that they have aquired, we can see structures similar to the desert Tabernacle, but most apparent is the convergence to the Temple of Jerusalem with its two pillars of Joachim and Boaz, which the center of the architectural form for the synagogue and as in part for the cemetery. We believe that the cemetery has another biblical reference, namely the column that Joseph stuck over Rachels tomb, with the obelisk and column shapes. Returning to the most common form of this type of stone and the reference that this form makes to the ancient architectural model, we note the similarity between the synagogue and the architectural form of the tombstone. We may look at the synagogue in terms of the architectural type it evolved around, namely in conjunction with the Temple of Solomon . The main feature of this is a central axis, flanked by two lateral axes, symbolizing the columns of Ioachim and Boaz, which following the Moor model dissect the crown molding, rising above it. The temple type tomb stone may be read in the same way: a central axis, representing the space between the columns, the columns being represented by the two side columns. Even the two handles that often flank the center could be identified as extensions of the towers above the crown molding.
A. Streja, L. Schwartz, Sinagogi..., p. 120.This architectural element is not excluded from the Sinagogue architectural vocabulary, for example it exists in the Sinagogue in Trgu Mure, but it was not found in the studied, nor in old pictures.
57

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Although it was forbidden to have idols, already form the time of the ancient diaspora, jews have know the funeral monuments of the peoples they came into contact with. More than other arts, sculpture developed in connection with funeral orders. The tombstone honored the memory of people and their deeds. This intention of preserving the memory of the deceased appears also in the epitaph texts in which only positive qualities are attributed to the deceased. In north-western Romania, the form of tombstones in Hebrew cemeteries differs fundamentally from the simple wooden tombstones found in modest Christian cemeteries or artificial stone or marble monuments in urban cemeteries. The form that Jews have developed in the area is much closer to the ancient forms and spaces in which they lived during the Middle Ages. The Hebrew Cemetery was isolated because of the danger of impurity, and was usually ousted to the outskirts of town. Therefore it suffered not so significant external influences in the way that the synagogue did. Artistic manifestations seem to be much more free-ranging in the cemetery. Emancipation led to a dominant temple shaped tombstone, almost as a matter of definition. Emancipation victoriously brought about size in urban cemeteries, preciousness of the material, complex monuments, sometimes grandiose surroundings at the expense of the symbol of identity.

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