In the summer of 1997, a research team from the Center for
the Study of Jewish Art of the Hebrew University went to
Romania, where it conducted a survey of that country's Jewish
art.
The team discovered preserved synagogues which still have
aronot kodesh and sifrei kodesh.
Romania is currently comprised of regions which are very
divergent from each other, and which in the past were under
different governments, such as Turkey, Austria, Hungary and
independent Romania. Romania's Jews also stem from different
origins. Some of its communities were initially comprised of
Sephardic Jews from Turkey. Others were comprised of Jews who
stemmed from Galacia, and some were made up of Jews of Austro-
German or Hungarian bents.
As a result, before the Holocaust, certain regions of Romania
had Chassidic communities, and others had Orthodox
communities which battled against the Reform communities that
had spread throughout Romania.
Many of the artistic treasures of Romanian Jewry were
collected by Rabbi Moshe Rosen, who served as the Chief Rabbi
of Romania between 1948 and 1994. These treasures were
preserved in the Jewish Museum of Bucharest.
The Walachia region had a large Sephardic community which
originated from the Balkans and from Turkey. Toward the 19th
century, Ashkenazic Jews from Galacia and Russia arrived in
the region.
The researchers found large collections of religious
artifacts in Polisti and Karyova. Transylvania was an
independent country, which was later on swallowed up by the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its first Jewish community was
located in Alba Ulia, where Jews had lived from 1591.
Migration did not increase in large proportions, because the
number of Jews permitted to enter was restricted.
In Transylvania, the influences of various cultures are
evident. Brashov, where 130 Jewish families currently reside,
has a well preserved synagogue. Alba Yulia has a structure
dating back to 1840 comprising a school, a beis din
and, of all things, a local prison.
The Jewish community of Satu-Mara (Satmar) which was founded
in the middle of the 19th century, once numbered 22,000
residents. It had 16 Orthodox synagogues. Today, only three
of those synagogues remain, one of which is still active and
has approximately 1000 sifrei kodesh. The aron
kodesh is made of wood, and is 10 meters high. A smaller
synagogue, built in 1923, is situated beside the larger
one.
The Jewish community of Oradia (Arad) was the most active
during the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1944, its
25,000 Jews were sent to their deaths. Today it has 300 Jews.
A Reform temple stands in the city's center, but the Orthodox
community built two synagogues and a communal center at the
city's outskirts.
Hundreds of years ago, the Jews of Timishora (Tamashvar)
located on the Balkan border, originated from Turkey. Later
on Ashkenazic Jews came, and in 1726, two synagogues were
built an Ashkenazic one and a Sephardic one. Today,
approximately 1,000 Jews live there, most of them elderly,
and all of them observant.
Marmorosh, which is located in the Carpathian mountains was
once a large Chassidic bastion, and Yiddish was its spoken
language. Jews arrived there from Bukovina and Galacia, and
were very unlike the Jews of Romania. Today, there are no
Jews there, and all of its synagogues were destroyed during
the Communist regime, or were unrecognizably changed and
used for different purposes.
Moisi, still has a mikveh located beside the river.
However the mikveh currently serves as a public
bathhouse.
