Synagogue on Rue Buffault
The synagogue on Rue Buffault was built by Portuguese Jews belonging to Sephardic Judaism and inaugurated in 1877. It is located at 28 rue Buffault in the 9th arrondissement of Paris . The nearest metro station is Cadet on line 7 .
history
In the 19th century there were efforts to unite the various Jewish communities of the Alsatian-Lorraine Jews who - like the Jews who immigrated from Eastern Europe - followed the Ashkenazi rite, and the Sephardic Jews , who mainly came from Portugal and the Mediterranean region, under a common Tsarfat rite . The synagogue on Rue de la Victoire , which had been under construction since 1867 and inaugurated in 1874, was intended as a common synagogue . However, there were different opinions between the consistory and the Portuguese Jews and there was no agreement on where the bima should be in the synagogue. The Portuguese Jews therefore decided to build their own synagogue near the Rue de la Victoire. In contrast to the synagogues of the consistory, they received no financial support from the city of Paris and had to pay for the purchase of a plot of land and the cost of construction themselves. For this purpose a company was founded which issued 4,000 shares of 100 francs each. Received support the community from which Bordeaux originating patron Daniel Iffla Osiris (1825-1907), who himself grew up in the Sephardic rite. He appointed the architect Stanislas Ferrand and influenced the interior design, which was to be modeled on the synagogue of his childhood on Rue Causserouge in Bordeaux . Construction of the synagogue began in 1876, and the inauguration took place a year later. Today the synagogue is used by North African Jews who immigrated mainly after the Second World War .
architecture
The synagogue on Rue Buffault has space for 600 men on the ground floor and 300 women in the galleries. Its architectural style is influenced by the great synagogues on Rue de la Victoire and Rue des Tournelles . With its round arches and blind arcades , it is reminiscent of Romanesque churches.
facade
The facade, including the tablets of the law on the gable, is 22.50 meters high and is flanked by two narrow towers. In the middle is a rosette with twelve spokes, which - like the six blind arcades on each of the two towers - are intended to remind of the twelve tribes of Israel . In the semicircle above it, broken by ten oculi, is the biblical quote from the 5th book of Moses (chapter 28, verse 6) in Hebrew script : "You will be blessed when you come in, blessed when you go out". Three arcades on the ground floor form the entrance to a porch, from which three portals open to a vestibule . Side stairs lead from here to the women's galleries .
inner space
The interior is divided into a wide central nave and two narrow aisles. The side women's galleries are each supported by six arcades on white marble columns. The keystones are designed as tablets of the law and bear biblical names such as Abraham , Isaac , Jacob or Moses , which represent important milestones in Jewish history. On the large arch above the western gallery there is an inscription in French: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. The first words of the Jewish creed, Shma Yisrael , surround the large rose window above the entrance: “Hear, Israel, the Eternal is our God, the Eternal is only”.
Furnishing
The bima , called Tevah by the Sephardic Jews , is located in the middle of the ship , as is customary in the Orthodox synagogues. It is surrounded by a balustrade with large chandeliers and is unusually wide, which is why the benches of the faithful are set up lengthways. In front of it is the large eight-armed candlestick ( Hanukkia ). Like the balustrade of the galleries, the stone barriers of the Bima in the form of tablets of the law and with stars of David are broken through. According to Jewish tradition, the synagogue faces east ( Misrach ), towards Jerusalem . At the eastern end of the nave is the Torah shrine, hidden under an arcade and behind red velvet curtains ( parochet ) . The bezel above is pierced in the form of rays of the sun that seem to emanate from the tablets of the law in their center and penetrate the clouds below. The Hebrew letters יהוהstanding on the fall for the name of God ( YHWH ). Eternal light hangs in front of the Torah shrine .
literature
- Jean Colson, Marie-Christine Lauroa (ed.): Dictionnaire des Monuments de Paris . Paris 2003 (1st edition 1992), ISBN 2-84334-001-2 , pp. 770-771.
- Dominique Jarrassé: Guide du Patrimoine Juif Parisien . Parigramme, Paris 2003, ISBN 978-2-84096-247-2 , pp. 81-85.
Web links
Belleville | Buffault | Cadet | Chasseloup-Laubat | Copernic | Gaston-de-Caillavet | Montevideo | Montmartre | Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth | Pavée | Roquette | Saint-Lazare | Tournelles | Victoire
Coordinates: 48 ° 52 ′ 34 " N , 2 ° 20 ′ 33.1" E