Willy Graf (from 1919 known as William Ritter von Graf) was a German architect based in Stuttgart. During World War I, Graf served in the Prussian army and was ennobled for his heroism. His firm Graf & Roeckle designed a number of notable buildings in Germany, including synagogues. He also designed a plaque honoring Jewish soldiers from Stuttgart who had fought in World War I. The august synagogue he designed in Mainz, erected on Hindenburgstrasse in 1911–1912, included a central, circular nave with a large dome and side wings housing a weekday synagogue, community rooms, wedding hall, and a Museum of Jewish Antiquities. It was looted and burned on Kristallnacht in 1938. Graf continued to live and work in Germany during the Nazi period and afterward.
Each of the four-sided shapes on Siona Shimshi’s Torah ark curtain represents a Jewish holiday, except for the one at left (second from top) with an image of hands arranged for a priestly blessing…
The Lazar Brodsky Choral Synagogue is built in the Romanesque revival style, with elements of Moorish revival. It is known as the Brodsky Choral Synagogue because it was built on the estate of the…
Jeshurun sings when they see him
Tender beauty in her youth
She plays and her violin is on her bosom
And its singing brings gladness to the heart of the gloomy
An unadorned graceful gazelle
Embellish…