Sacred Music Fills the Air at Neglected Shul in Krakow

Still bearing the dust and grime of decades of neglect, the 36 stained glass windows of the 130-year-old Postepowa, or Temple Synagogue, somehow seemed to glow to the poignant strains of Arnold Schonberg’s “Survivor from Warsaw” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.”

Those were the selections of American-Jewish maestro Gilbert Levine, who conducted the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra at a special concert Sunday in the only 19th-century synagogue still intact in Poland.

The program began with the Krakow Festival Choir singing the “Shma Yisrael.”

The concert, attended by 400 guests from Poland, France, England, Belgium, Austria and the United States, was organized by the Jewish Heritage Council, a subdivision of the World Monuments Fund.

It was sponsored by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw to draw world attention to the deteriorated condition of the historic place of worship in this southern Polish city on the banks of the Vistula.

The program was dedicated to the memory of those who once worshipped here and to honor the few who still do. There are no more than 200 Jews in Krakow, compared to a pre-Holocaust population of 60,000.

There are few more graphic musical representations of the Holocaust than Schonberg’s “Survivor from Warsaw,” Levine said. It was narrated at the concert by an actual survivor, Jack Eisner.

BROUGHT TEARS TO THE EYES

Many listeners felt shivers as the tender voice of alto soloist Jeremy Glazier, a 12-year-old from Toronto, filled the synagogue with his “Adonai” from the “Chichester Psalms.”

It brought tears to the eyes of Czeslaw Jakubowicz, leader of the tiny Jewish community, who was seated next to Polish dignitaries.

According to Ronald Lauder, a former U.S. ambassador to Austria who is president of the foundation that bears his name, the concert had a twofold purpose.

“We want people to become aware of the significance and beauty of the synagogue and to understand its pressing need for preservation.

“We also want to demonstrate how the building can be used by both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities of Krakow to enhance the city’s cultural and religious life,” Lauder said.

Samuel Gruber, director of the Jewish Heritage Fund, said the restoration and preservation of the synagogue would cost an estimated $300,000.

The Temple Synagogue, completed in 1862, became the center of Progressive Judaism in Poland. Before World War II, its membership included leading businessmen, industrialists, bankers, writers and musicians.

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, it was stripped of its furnishings and ritual objects and used as a stable. But the essential structure survived intact, including the frescoed ceiling.

The building was returned to Krakow’s surviving Jews after the war. But its large size made maintenance too costly for the remnant community, and it fell into disrepair.