Budapest Gets a Huge New Synagogue

Plans are in place to build a 2,000 sqm synagogue and Jewish cultural center by the Margaret Bridge, near a site memorializing the mass death of a group of Jews, who were shot so that they fell into the Danube during World War II. The development is currently in the planning stages and is expected to be inaugurated in 2017.  It will be the first synagogue of similar dimensions to be founded in the capital of Hungary since the Second World War. 

Place for Jewish cultural life

The site will be called Zsilip which means floodgate. The Újlipótváros area of District 13 was popular among middle-class citizens of Jewish origin and it is the same even today in Budapest. The Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) said it is making plans for a center that would be developed via renovation and conversion of the ground floor of the property called Palatinus House in Budapest’s District 13. The development will house a synagogue, a Jewish cultural center, a kosher restaurant and confectionery, and also an educational centre, according to the EMIH press release.

Remembrance and Deeds

The establishment of the new synagogue was announced on the day the remains of Jewish Holocaust victims discovered nearby are to be given final respects. “It is a welcome moment to announce our large-scale project, when following prolonged negotiations the remains of our Jewish compatriots who died as martyrs by Margaret Bridge can be finally laid to rest at the Kozma Street Cemetery according to Jewish ritual,” - Slomó Köves, the congergation’s chief rabbi said, according to the release he also added:. “Many of the martyrs, who died over seventy years ago, now, had come from Újlipótváros too, so I consider it important to emphasize that we are building our new institution in their honor.” Slomó also emphasized the importance of deeds.

(Source: http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2016/04/15/uj_zsinagoga_epul_budapesten/, Budapest Business Journal)