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a fragment from a corner of the synagogue
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[Page 42 - Yiddish] [Page 38 - Hebrew]
by Eng. David Davidowitz, Tel Aviv
Translated by Jerrold Landau
Donated by Wanda Peretz
The old Gritzer synagogue, built of wood, was one of the finest and most interesting Jewish religious buildings on Polish soil. To our regret, we do not have any historical documents which can be used to determine the date when the synagogue was built. However, we can assume that a short time passed between the building of the synagogue and the interior renovation, and that the house of worship was certainly built during the second half of the 18th century.
As with most of the wooden synagogues of central Poland (Greater Poland) and in the south (Lesser Poland), the Gritzer synagogue was not especially noted for its external architecture. It did not possess the rich, external artistic form of the synagogue of Zabłudów and Wolpa (Białystok region). It did not possess their galleries, towers, or domed roofs, as well as the charm that shone upon them from the nearby Nasielsk community. Nevertheless, with that modesty in external architecture, the Gritzer synagogue excelled with inner richness, with the artifacts and character of folksy motifs, and especially with its beautiful bima constructed in the form of a pavilion, and its Holy Ark, which was rich with motifs taken from the living world (lions holding the crown of the Torah). It has pillars on both sides, and a small “superfortes” over the doors in the form of a small gallery. The gallery was decorated with the tablets of covenant, cut into the depth of the ark and veiled behind a curtain.
Among the unique aspects of the synagogue, it is worthwhile to especially note the one-of-a-kind fixture that can only be found in the old synagogues of Poland – such as Zamość, Lemberg, Krasnystaw, and Gąbin – namely: a small choir-stall for cheder children. It was built, as was customary, near the western wall of the synagogue in the form of a raised, four-cornered gallery with an ornate stage.
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a fragment from a corner of the synagogue |
Despite its external modesty, the Gritzer synagogue became famous, and earned a name in the Jewish artistic world, especially due to the beauty of the interior decorations – the paintings on the walls that were more decorative than those of the less remarkable synagogues. The history of Jewish religious art is not rich with names of Jewish artists. For the most part, the synagogue creations from previous centuries are anonymous. The painters who worked for the synagogues were not interested at all in perpetuating their names. A painter would regard himself as a worker who was occupied with a holy task. The small Gritzer community merited, however, that the dedicated artist who painted the interior of the synagogue revealed his name to us – he was the famous artist David Friedlender,
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who lived in the 18th century.
David Friedlender excelled with his multi-faceted talent. His name is bound with artistic-painting talent in the synagogues and communal buildings of Grójec and Piotrków. He excelled as a sculptor. His constructed the Holy Ark of the synagogue of Wyszogród. In his work, he incorporated sculpted images of Biblical scenes, musical instruments that are mentioned in chapter 150 of the Book of Psalms, as well as images of Moses and Aaron. Friedlender was also known as an architect. He built synagogues in the communities of Piotrków, Zelasin[1], and possibly also Wyszogród. He etched the famous gravestone of the Zbitkower family in the Warsaw cemetery.
I will attempt to portray the interior paintings of the Gritzer synagogue – the work of David Friedlender.
The ceiling arch, the form of which resembles most of the arches in the wooden synagogues of western Poland (for example, in Dobrzyń on the Wisłą), was adorned with a polychrome that was reminiscent of the firmament of the blue sky. The bird that dominated the heavenly firmament was the eagle. The eagles fulfilled an interesting decorative function there, namely: they were the “upholders” of the synagogue's hanging chandelier. The worshippers who would look up to the arched ceiling of their synagogue would get the impression that the eagles were holding in their beaks the ends of the chains from which they chandelier was hanging.
On both sides of the Holy Ark, where the lions were holding the crown of the Torah, there was a polychrome painting that represented in a fantastical canvas various legendary beasts such as lions with birds. The painting was framed very nicely on a section of the eastern wall – by the twin windows on both sides of the ark, and the arch of the synagogue on the northern side, and by the southern wall on the other side. From among the interior paintings, especially significant from an artistic-decorative standpoint are the Biblical scenes on the theme “By the waters of Babylon” (Psalm 137) that decorate the major portion of the west wall below the women's gallery. There, David Friedlender created a wonderful scene with his pure, artistic conception.
At the end of the picture, on the right side, we see a city whose
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buildings are reminiscent of the houses of the cities in Greater Poland during that era.
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At the end of the left side there was a four-story tower. This was the tower of Babylon. In the center, there were trees that are growing on the riverbank. Various musical instruments were hanging from the branches, as a references to the verse “On the willows therein we have hung our fiddles.” That creation is interesting for us. It is like primitive art; and on the other hand, like a fine symbolic depiction of the suffering of Jews on foreign soil and the longing for their homeland. That scene, which is quite widespread in the polychromes of the wooden synagogues (Przedbórz and others) was especially beloved by Friedlender. He returns to it, albeit with various minor changes in style, on the magnificent monument of Shmuel Zbitkower, the father of the Bergson family, which is found in the Warsaw cemetery. On it as well, there is a portrayal of a city on a riverbank, with its houses, onion towers, and a tall tower the form of which resembles the tower in the painting in the Gritzer synagogue. The differences is that in the center of the lower
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relief, below the trees with musical instruments hanging on them, there is a river with sailboats, a hint to the business of the deceased Shmuel Zbitkower. However, on that painting, the artist inscribed the verses “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept as we remembered Zion. On the willows therein we hung our fiddles.” He inscribed another verse below the painting.
I wish to point out an interesting detail that is characteristic of many wall paintings in wooden synagogues, namely: the adaptation of the picture to the “natural” frames that were created in the construction of the walls. Here as well, as with the polychrome over the Holy Ark, the picture is adorned with a four-sided frame, but in this case, under the aforementioned choir platform, in the place known as the brick wall (the designated canvass on all the walls of the synagogue), and below the three openings to the women's gallery that were constructed of small, cut wooden columns.
The polychromes in the Gritzer synagogue belonged to the characteristic creations of David Friedlender's generation, and even to the style of that era. We must not forget that the artist was among the last of those who engaged in decorating synagogues built from wood. This was during the latter half of the eighteenth century, during the sunset of the popular synagogue art of the Jews of Poland. The era of the blossoming of that art was during the seventeenth century, the century of building – decorated fortress synagogues, and charming small synagogues, built of wood, their beauty lying in the polychromes, in the Holy Ark that was rich with etchings, and in the bima constructed of donated woodcuts.
Even though imitations[2] were already floating over the creations of the era during which Friedlender worked, his polychromes in the Gritzer synagogue are among the finest examples of the religious decorative art of Polish Jewry.
Aside from the aforementioned paintings, the interior of the Gritzer synagogue also adorned with popular ornaments that one could see in various places along the walls of the synagogue. From among them, it is especially worthwhile to note the decorative motif of regional character that was in the corners of the building. The motif was constructed in the form of woodcuts of pomegranates, upon
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which rests a dove with spread wings, and over it a moshle[3]. The plaster decoration of that picture excels with its charm, and gives testimony to the delicate artistic sense of the architect of the synagogue. It is possible that the decoration was also constructed by David Friedlender. Let us also mention the wide decorations[4], made in an ideal form, that weave around the interior of the synagogue around the walls and move up the walls toward the ceiling vault, that was rich in pictures. It is also worthwhile to stress the large, raised, brass Chanukah menorah, supported on a platform of small lions.
For the documentation, I should stress here that the synagogue in Grójec, that artistic, Jewish, modest monument so characteristic of the folk creativity of Polish Jewry, was greatly portrayed by the researchers of Jewish art in Poland, such as Balaban, Zeitchik, Shipper, the Russian Lukomski, and others. Understandably, it piqued the interest of the lovers of Jewish art[a].
The cemetery of the Gritzer community is also mentioned in the Jewish art literature as an example of a cemetery that portrays the romantic charm of the old-time Jewish cemeteries[b].
With the downfall of the Jews in Poland and the destruction of their spiritual and artistic treasures, the Gritzer synagogue fell victim to the lust for destruction. It was destroyed during the first weeks of the war due to an edict issued by the Nazis. The Gritzer synagogue was torn apart by the vandals along with the synagogues throughout all of Poland; together with the synagogues of Piotrków, Wyszogród, Kępno, and Działoszyn. Those synagogues were built or decorated by the person involved in the holy work – David Friedlender.
Original Footnotes
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