The forth coming inauguration of The Hague Liberal Synagogue in the 250-year-old building of the former Portuguese Synagogue is already marred by internal quarrels, misunderstandings and squabbles.
The synagogue will be inaugurated Sept. 2 and on Sept. 3 there will be a formal celebration attended by Queen Juliana to mark the 250th anniversary of the building which has been restored and brought back to its former glory.
The city’s Orthodox Chief Rabbi Menahem Fink announced today that he will not attend the ceremonies to protest against the fact that they will not be conducted according to the Orthodox rite. The executive of The Hague Orthodox Jewish Congregation will most probably also be absent.
A number of Dutch Sephardic Jews openly deplore the “lack of good taste” in housing a Liberal congregation in what was the spiritual home of a community which perished in the concentration camps of World War II.
The Liberal congregation acquired the building last year and started at once repairing and restoring it with the help of extensive state and municipal grants. Opponents of the restoration program say the congregation chose the building for “prestige reasons.” The program has left the congregation with a debt of some 400,000 Guilders (about $150,000) in spite of the grants received.
The new synagogue has 250 seats and cannot be expanded. Those who have already visited the building describe it as beautiful and say the reconstruction has been highly successful.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
