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Synagogue Temporarily Brought to Life

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Hebrew prayers resonated in what once was a synagogue in southern when a small group of Jews recently held Shabbat services here for the first time in decades.

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the Poland representative of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, organized a minyan to travel June 30 to the town of Lesko and pray in the remote former synagogue, which now is used as a museum.

Most of the minyan consisted of young Jews from Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw, Poland.

The Shabbat coincided with the opening of an exhibition of Jewish life at the museum.

English scholar Jonathan Webber helped with the organization of the event, which included a kosher meal.

Schudrich said, “The concept was that during the exhibition there should not just be artifacts, but a chance for the synagogue to be a synagogue again, even if only for one Shabbos.”

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