The “Synagogue of Glaziers” in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, is currently undergoing extensive renovation to prevent its collapse, following the ravages of time and weather that bit it – 133 years after it was inaugurated in 1888 (1888). Its construction began two years earlier by one of At that time, there were still unique synagogues in Eastern Europe for certain professions – and the building was called “Glazier Schul”, meaning the synagogue of the glaziers, because most of its worshipers practiced this profession, which was common in those days among the city’s residents.
The synagogue was active and bustling with minyanim and Torah lessons until World War II, when Kishinev suffered entirely from Nazi air force bombings. The holy place was also damaged – its ceiling collapsed, its doors and windows shattered and when the Nazis entered the city on foot they also sealed it. After the war and despite the extensive destruction, in March 1947, the building was renovated following a request from members of the Jewish community to the Kishinev City Council.
Soldiers from the Jewish community, who participated in the war and were even wounded, took part in the construction and restoration of the synagogue. Despite their physical hardships and injuries, they set a goal to restore the old crown and rebuild the Great Synagogue. The renovation process took about a year and the new building was stronger and nicer. In those days, when the Communists ruled unchallenged, the “Synagogue of Glaziers” was the only one operating in the city – after the rest of the synagogues were converted to other uses.
Even after the earthquake in Moldova in 1977, government officials approved a plan to rehabilitate it, and in later years a matzah bakery was built there. He always held prayers on Shabbat during which he read aloud to the public – in Yiddish – the Torah portion of the week. For years he gathered students from all over the country and taught them in the building.
At the end of 1989, a tremendous change took place in the life of the Jewish community in the country: Rabbi Zalman Abelski was sent to it by the Lubavitcher Rebbe and began rehabilitating Jewish identity and establishing institutions in the country. The municipality decided to change the name of the street where the “Glazier Shul” from Yakimovsk to Chabad-Lubavitch. In 2004, Rabbi Abelsky passed away, and his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, was appointed his successor in the rabbinate and in the mission, with the assistance of three of the rabbi’s granddaughters who came to Moldova with their husbands and children.
The major renovations to the synagogue have just begun, which will become large, modern and accessible – in order to adapt it to the needs of the vibrant Jewish community in the Moldovan capital. Out of the synagogue comes the extensive activity of all the Jewish communities around Kishinev and the place has become the beating heart of the Jewish revival in the Eastern European country. The renovated synagogue will be named after him, “R. Zalman’s Shul.” The cost of the renovation is $ 400,000.
“The economic situation here is very bad, the corona is hitting the residents hard and we need every shekel to be able to renovate the building before it collapses. In the two years since the outbreak of the plague our activity has intensified and includes not only spiritual assistance This, “says the director of the Jewish community, Rabbi Zosha Abelski.