This is an illustration from 1734 depicting the Shavuot services at the Great Synagogue of Nuremberg that was printed in the children’s newspaper Davar L’Yeladim in 1948 to accompany an article about the festival of Shavuot. The large synagogue is very crowded with many of the men wearing a tallit (prayer shawl). The synagogue is decorated with branches and other greenery, as was the custom for the holiday of Shavuot. The synagogue has high, vaulted ceilings and the bimah (the synagogue platform) is situated in the middle of the room. Many of the men are standing behind stenders or lecterns upon which they have placed their prayer books.
The article accompanying the illustration explained that the Shavuot custom in countries outside of Israel was to decorate synagogues, houses, and public areas with flowers, trees, leaves and plants as a reminder of the bikkurim (first fruits) that were brought to the Temple on Shavuot. Another source for the custom is a midrash that explains that Mt. Sinai, despite being located in the desert, was miraculously covered with greenery at the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments, which is commemorated on Shavuot.
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Nuremberg – Nuremberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. Jews are first mentioned as living in Nuremberg in 1182, and a synagogue was built in 1296. Many of the Nuremberg Jews were moneylenders since that was a profession that was open to Jews at the time. Their relationship with the city authorities fluctuated between tolerance, due to the need for their financial skills, and persecution. During some periods, Jews were permitted to live in the city of Nuremberg; at other times they were barred. It wasn’t until 1850 that Jews were allowed to become citizens of the city. From this time, Jewish institutions were built in Nuremberg including synagogues, a cemetery, and Jewish schools, and by 1933, Nuremberg was the second largest Jewish community in Bavaria. During the rise of the Nazi party, Nuremberg was their base of operation which made life difficult for the Jewish community. Jews were arrested and publicly humiliated in the streets, synagogues and Jewish businesses were burnt to the ground, causing many Jews to leave. Deportations of the remaining Jews, who numbered 2,611 in 1939, took place from 1941–1942; most did not survive the war. About sixty-five survivors returned to Nuremberg after the war. In 2005, 1,450 Jews lived in Nuremberg, eighty percent of whom were immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Shavuot - Shavuot, also known as the Festival of Weeks – is celebrated on the sixth of Sivan. Shavuot, one of the three biblical pilgrim festivals, commemorates many different things: it marks the day that the Israelites received the Torah on Mount Sinai; it celebrates the wheat harvest in Israel; and it signifies the end of the Counting of the Omer. It is celebrated with many colourful and festive traditions such as holding bikkurim ceremonies, eating dairy food, decorating the synagogue with flowers and greenery, reading the Book of Ruth, and studying the Torah all through the night (Tikkun Leil Shavuot). In modern Israel, kibbutzim celebrate Shavuot and the bikkurim with processions displaying their produce of the previous year, including fruit and vegetables, farm animals, and even the new babies!
Synagogue Design – The design of synagogues is influenced by the place, time, and community that built it. All synagogues face toward Jerusalem and include certain features such as the ark (aron hakodesh) where the Torah scrolls are kept, a curtain (parochet) in front of the ark, a prayer platform (bimah) from which the services are led , and a lamp that is kept constantly lit (ner tamid). In Orthodox synagogues men and women sit separately, while in Reform and Conservative synagogues families sit together. In many Sephardi synagogues the congregation sits around the bimah, while in Ashkenazi synagogues the congregation sit in rows facing the ark. Karaite synagogues differ from the more common synagogues and do not have any seats. While some synagogues are very simple in style, others are very ornate and include stained glass windows, intricate designs on the walls, and candelabras. There are very few traditional guidelines for synagogues except that they should include windows and be the tallest building in the area. In many places, however, Jews were not allowed to build tall buildings, and some synagogues were even built below ground level. For these reasons, synagogues were often built hidden within existing buildings or protected by a high wall. The emancipation of the Jews in nineteenth-century Western Europe impacted the architecture of synagogues, and large, elaborate synagogues were built, often in central locations.
