Free Essay Sample on Old-New Synagogue: Place of Jewish Worship, Study & Community

Introduction

The Jewish worship in synagogues. Besides, the synagogues are also used as places of study and also as a community center. The Jewish who strictly adhere to the beliefs of their religions refer to synagogues as a shul. Below is a description of the Old-New Synagogue and how the Jewish used it.

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The Old-New synagogue (Altneuschul) which is the oldest synagogue being used in Europe was built in 1270 in the ancient Jewish quarter of Josefov, Prague (Podwal and Mark 4). It was established there to reflect the idea that it was built with stones from the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The Prague Jewish community have been faithfully praying in that synagogue, regularly for the past 700 years apart from the year 1941-1945 when they got interrupted because of the occupation of the Nazi (Podwal and Mark 10). Apart from the golem, the Old-New Synagogue is also involved in other legendary tales.

Historical Aspects

The orthodox Jewish believed that the building has survived for several centuries due to one main reason that the wings of angels that transformed into doves protected it against the ghetto fire. There are also many historical aspects of the building and among them is an architectural oddity that contains the story of the golem (“an animated anthropomorphic being created from mud or clay”). The interior steps of the roof of the building were removed, then a ladder to a sealed door was established into the wall behind the building (Seidlová and Veronika 46). Until today, the attic has always remained sealed and individuals who visit the Old-New Synagogue in Prague are always entertained with other interesting stories.

The Bedkhem (Bethlehem) Church

Christians worship in churches, chapels, or cathedral. A church symbolizes believers who come together to worship (Faella and Giuseppe 27). Through churches, Christians have been able to help the needy people around them by giving them food, shelter, and some clothing. Below is an analysis of the Bedkhem (Bethlehem) Church.

The Bedkhem church is an Armenian Apostolic church. It was built and completed in the year 1627 (Faella and Giuseppe 31). The church was funded with Khajeh Petros, “a wealthy Armenian merchant”.It is located in Julfa quarter in Isfahan (Nesf-e Jahan), Iran, which is the center of the world. It is one of the largest churches in that city with the largest dome as well. The ceiling of the Bedkhem church is covered with gold with a very beautiful inside painting of the place. The church is noted to hold more gold-work and paintings than any other church in the area. The inscriptions in the church are in Armenian and they are praises and prayers from the 16th century. Besides, the paintings represent a combination of both artistic styles from Iranian and Italian which were done by artists from European and Armenian illustrating narrative from the Gospel and Torah. Bethlehem church’s architectural design takes a rectangular shape with two courtyards. The building is beautiful and it is painted with lush colors that make every tourist always want to revisit the site.

Conclusion

The building of Bethlehem church has the writings of the dates of when it was constructed and renovated. The Southern entrance of the church has writings in the Armenian language which are used to remember and celebrate the charitable work of Khaje Petros. Also, the western entrance of the church has his tombstone. Additionally, there are writing which were made on a floral lazuli tile and installed above the western entrance ( Milani et al., 17). The tile contained many names of the wealthy Armenians in the 18th century who contributed to the renovation of the church. All this happened during the reign of Mozaffar al-din Shah Qajar.

Works Cited

Faella, Giuseppe, et al. "The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: Non-destructive tests for the structural knowledge." Journal of Cultural Heritage 13.4 (2012): e27-e41.

Milani, Gabriele, Marco Valente, and Claudio Alessandri. "The narthex of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: a non-linear finite element approach to predict the structural damage." Computers & Structures 207 (2018): 3-18. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045794917302080

Podwal, Mark H. Built by Angels: The Story of the Old-new Synagogue. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Built_by_Angels.html?id=2z2HqbXeGkkC&redir_esc=y

Seidlová, Veronika. "Negotiation of Musical Remembrance within Jewish Ritual Performances in Prague’s Old-New Synagogue." Journal of Urban Culture Research 16 (2018): 44-62.
https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/JUCR/article/view/132350