Today we delved into Jewish life in Budapest. We visited Dohany Synagogue, the second largest in the world. The Great Synagogue is designed like a basilica and includes some striking Byzantine and Moorish elements. The interior is vast and ornate, with two balconies and, unusually, an organ. Its ark contains 25 torah scrolls taken from other synagogues destroyed during the Holocaust. The Memorial Garden contains monuments to Jews who died in the Holocaust and to non-Jews who protected their Jewish neighbors.
We stopped at the Old Jewish Quarter with its maze of narrow streets once teeming with Jewish life in the 18th century. This recently renovated area of Budapest is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A powerful part of our day was when we visited a lovely sculpture of a weeping willow tree where each silver leaf is engraved with the name of a Righteous Gentile who helped Jews escape during the Holocaust. This piece was given to the people of Hungary by her native son and film star, Tony Curtis (who just died only a couple weeks ago).
Our day was culmintated this evening with a real treat at the Hungarian State Opera House–magnificent inside and outside…it is like a movie setting–to see the ballet, Romeo and Juliet.
(Thousands of Hungarian Jews were rounded up from the Hungarian Ghetto; taken to the Danube; made to take off their clothes and shoes…and shot…falling into the river. )
(Chain Bridge across the Danube River)
