Inscription from the Establishment of the Rema Synagogue
Artist Unknown
1553
Image
The text on this inscription, dating from the establishment of the Rema Synagogue in Krákow, reads, in part: “The man, R. Israel ben Joseph (of blessed memory), gathered his strength, for the honor of the Holy One blessed be He and, in the memory of his wife Malka bat R. Eleazar (may her soul be bound in the bonds of life), built—from the assets of her estate—this place, the house of God.” The Rema Synagogue, named after the famous rabbi and scholar Moses Isserles (known by the Hebrew acronym “Rema”), was built in 1553 in the city of Kazimierz (today a district of Kraków, Poland). It was originally referred to as the New Synagogue to distinguish it from the city’s Old Synagogue. Although some traditions ascribe its construction to Isserles himself, the dedication indicates that it was built by his father, Israel, a wealthy banker, to commemorate his first wife, who died in an epidemic that had ravaged the city. The synagogue, probably a wooden structure, was destroyed by a fire only four years later and was subsequently rebuilt as a Renaissance-style masonry building by permission of the king, Sigismund II Augustus.
Credits
Courtesy Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska w Krakowie.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
You may also like
Faces decorating a siddur
These are marginal illustrations found in a manuscript siddur from Italy according to the Romaniote rite, with prayers focused on marriage and birth rituals and customs, as well as the pidyon ha-ben…
Portrait of Abigaill Franks (1696–1756).
Born in London, as a young girl Abigaill Levy immigrated with her parents to New York City. In 1712, she married Jacob Franks, with whom she would have nine children. Despite his Ashkenazic family…
Reader’s Desk
This wooden tevah—a stand or reader’s platform used for supporting Torah scrolls—was made and used in Yemen. It was the practice in Yemen for boys to become active participants in synagogue services…
You may also like
Faces decorating a siddur
These are marginal illustrations found in a manuscript siddur from Italy according to the Romaniote rite, with prayers focused on marriage and birth rituals and customs, as well as the pidyon ha-ben…
Portrait of Abigaill Franks (1696–1756).
Born in London, as a young girl Abigaill Levy immigrated with her parents to New York City. In 1712, she married Jacob Franks, with whom she would have nine children. Despite his Ashkenazic family…
Reader’s Desk
This wooden tevah—a stand or reader’s platform used for supporting Torah scrolls—was made and used in Yemen. It was the practice in Yemen for boys to become active participants in synagogue services…