Plovdiv Synagogue
{{Short description|Synagogue in Plovdiv, Bulgaria}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name = Zion Plovdiv Synagogue
| native_name = {{langx|bg|Паметник за спасение на пловдивските евреи Шофар}}
| image = Synagogue in Plovdiv_D.jpg
| image_upright = 1.4
| alt = The Synagogue in Plovdiv in 2010
| caption = The synagogue in 2010
| map_type = Bulgaria
| map_size = 250
| map_relief = 1
| map_caption = Location of the synagogue in Bulgaria
| location = Tsar Kaloyan Street 13, Plovdiv
| country = Bulgaria
| geo = {{Coord|42|9|2|N|24|44|27|E|type:landmark_region:BG|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation = Judaism
| rite = {{ubl|Romaniote|Nusach Sefard}}
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| status = Synagogue
| functional_status = Active
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| architecture_type = Synagogue architecture
| architecture_style = {{nowrap|Ottoman-style Balkan}}
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| established = {{circa|1710}} {{small|(as a congregation)}}
| year_completed = 1892
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| length = {{convert|12|m}}
| width = {{convert|12|m}}
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| dome_quantity = One
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| materials = Brick
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The Plovdiv Synagogue, officially the Zion Plovdiv Synagogue ({{langx|bg|Паметник за спасение на пловдивските евреи Шофар||Shofar for the salvation of Plovdiv Jews}}), is a Romaniote Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Built in 1892, the synagogue is one of the two active remaining synagogues in Bulgaria. The congregation worships in the Sephardi rite.
History
According to the archaeological research, a synagogue was constructed in ancient Philippopolis dating from the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus in the first half of 3rd century AD.{{cite web |last=Hazan |first=Elko Z. |title=Synagogues in Bulgaria: A testimony of eighteen centuries of Jewish presence in the Balkans |url=http://www.thebulgarianjews.org.il/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Hazan.pdf |website=The Bulgarian Jews |access-date=3 January 2013}} It was followed by several renovations, the last one – from the beginning of 5th century (M. Martinova).{{cite web |url=http://wikimapia.org/24209233/Synagogue |title=Synagogue (Plovdiv) |website=Wikimapia}} In 1360, when the city was conquered by the Turks, certain Jews who emigrated from Aragon in 1492 settled in Philippopolis and built a synagogue called "K. K. Aragon," which was standing in 1540, but is no longer in existence.
In 1892{{Jewish Encyclopedia |article=Philippopolis |noicon=1 |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12104-philippopolis |accessdate=3 January 2013}} following the Bulgarian liberation from Ottoman domination in 1878, one of the first synagogues to be erected was the (Zion) Synagogue in Plovdiv. It was built in the remnants of a small courtyard in what was once a large Jewish quarter called Orta Mezar during the Turkish rule. The location of the Sephardic synagogue is now called Tsar Kaloyan Street 13. The synagogue is one of the best surviving examples of the Ottoman-style Balkan synagogue.{{cite web |url=https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/bulgaria/heritage-heritage-sites/ |title=Bulgaria: Heritage & Heritage Sites |work=Jewish Heritage Europe |date=2024 |access-date=1 June 2024 }}
According to Ruth E. Gruber, the interior is a "hidden treasure…a glorious, if run-down, burst of color."{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} An exquisite Venetian glass chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling, which has a richly painted dome. All surfaces are covered in elaborate, Moorish-style, geometric designs in once-bright greens and blues. Torah scrolls are kept in the gilded Aron-ha-Kodesh.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritageabroad.gov/projects/bulgaria2.html |title=Synagogue of Plovdiv, Bulgaria |date=5 October 2009 |website=Heritage Abroad |access-date=14 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907192519/http://www.heritageabroad.gov/projects/bulgaria2.html |archive-date=7 September 2009}}
In 1904 the Jewish community possessed three other synagogues: Jeshurun, built in 1710 according to the inscription on a marble slab in the synagogue; Ahabat-Shalom, built in 1880; Shebeṭ Aḥim or Mafṭirim, founded in 1882 by emigrants from Karlovo, whence the Jews fled during the Turko-Russian war (1877-1878). Before World War II, the Jewish quarter had a population of 7000.
Legacy
Nowadays, the Jewish community in Bulgaria is very small (863 in 1994) because of the Holocaust, secularity of the local Jewish population due to many years of communism and subsequent Aliya (Jewish immigration to Israel).
In 1994 the synagogue was mostly inactive.{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2285793.html |title=Unearthing Bulgarian Jewry in Communism's Rubble |first=Natasha |last=Singer |date=6 March 1994 |newspaper=Forward |access-date=3 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313221527/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2285793.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2016}} but the community is undergoing a revival {{cite web |last=Astaire |first=Libi |title=Unlocking Plovdiv's Past |url=http://halachicadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ari.pdf |work=Mishpacha |access-date=4 January 2013}}
In 2003 the synagogue was restored. The city's mayor, the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to Bulgaria, were present at its inauguration.
The funding for the restoration of the 19th-century Zion Synagogue. was raised by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (US$26,000){{cite web |title=Synagogue of Plovdiv, Bulgaria |url=http://www.heritageabroad.gov/Projects/SynagogueofPlovdivBulgaria.aspx |website=Heritage Abroad |access-date=3 January 2013}} and the
London-based Hanadiv Charitable Foundation.{{cite news |title=News at a Glance |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-88510964.html |date=11 December 2003 |newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=3 January 2013 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204082552/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-88510964.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 February 2016}}
The Plovdiv synagogue is open on Friday night services and on High Holidays. Zion synagogue is also available for guests during the day only after a prescheduled visit. The synagogue hosts various events connected with the cultural and educational program of the city.{{Cite web |url=https://www.plovdivsynagogue.com/ |title=Home |website=Plovdiv Synagogue |access-date=21 July 2019}}
A permanent exhibition about the Jewish life in the city and the region will soon be created and it will present different objects and stories from the community in Plovdiv and Bulgaria.
Rabbis
The following individuals have served as chief rabbi of the congregation and the city:
| class="wikitable"
! Ordinal !! Officeholder !! Term commenced !! Term ended !! Time in office !! Notes | |||||
| align="center"|{{nts|1}} | Abraham Sidi | align=center| 1790 | align=center| 1810 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1790|1810}} years}} | according to Zedner, l.c. p. 397, "Sa'id" |
| align="center"|{{nts|2}} | Judah Sidi | align=center| 1810 | align=center| 1812 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1810|1812}} years}} | Brother of the preceding, and author of Ot Emet, on the laws relating to reading the Torah, Salonica, 1799; and of Ner Miẓwah, on Maimonides' Yad and his Sefer ha-Miẓwot, with indexes to the hermeneutic works of Solomon and Israel Jacob Algazi, ib. 1810-11; |
| align="center"|{{nts|3}} | {{nowrap|Abraham ibn Aroglio}} | align=center| 1812 | align=center| 1819 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1812|1819}} years}} | |
| align="center"|{{nts|4}} | Abraham Ventura | align=center| 1823 | align=center| 1829 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1823|1829}} years}} | |
| align="center"|{{nts|5}} | Moses ha-Levi | align=center| 1830 | align=center| 1832 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1830|1832}} years}} | |
| align="center"|{{nts|6}} | Jacob Finzi | align=center| 1832 | align=center| 1833 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1832|1833}} years}} | |
| align="center"|{{nts|7}} | {{nowrap|Ḥayyim ibn Aroglio}} | align=center| 1833 | align=center| 1857 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1833|1857}} years}} | with Abraham ibn Aroglio, joint author of Mayim ha-Ḥayyim, responsa, Salonica, 1846 |
| align="center"|{{nts|8}} | Moses Behmoiras | align=center| 1857 | align=center| 1876 | align=right| {{nowrap|{{age in years|1857|1876}} years}} | Ḥayyim Meborah (1876-92) |
| align="center"|{{nts|9}} | Ezra Benaroyo | align=center| 1892 | |||
| align="center"|{{nts|10}} | Shmuel Behar | {{cite book |last=Paldiel |first=Mordecai |title=Churches and the Holocaust: Unholy Teaching, Good Samaritans, and Reconciliation |year=2006 |publisher=KTAV |location=Jersey City, NJ |isbn=978-0-88125-908-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psleDQml1WsC |page=308}} |
Gallery
{{commons category|Plovdiv Synagogue}}
File:PLOVDIVSY1.jpg
File:PLOVDIVSY2.jpg
File:PLOVDIVSY3.jpg|Detail of the dome
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv B.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv C.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv D.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv F.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv G.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv H.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv J.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv K.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv L.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv M.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv N.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv O.jpg
File:Synagogue in Plovdiv P.jpg
File:The Synagogue Entrance.jpg
File:The Synagogue in Plovdiv a.jpg
See also
{{stack|{{portal|Bulgaria|Judaism}}}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Synagogues in Bulgaria}}
{{Plovdiv}}
{{authority control}}
Category:1710s establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Category:19th-century synagogues in Europe
Category:Jewish organizations established in the 18th century
Category:Ottoman architecture in Bulgaria
Category:Sephardi Jewish culture in Bulgaria
Category:Synagogue buildings with domes
Category:Synagogues completed in 1892