A CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY

A Polish Jewish Gift

On our visit to Krakow Hannah and I visited the Jewish quarter and in particular the Jewish Museum. During the Second World War Germany invaded Poland and six million Poles were killed, including three million Polish Jews. Almost all traces of the existence of the Jewish community were destroyed. More recently there has been a drive to unearth evidence of its existence, and the Museum has a moving collection of photographs of Jewish cemeteries that have been literally unearthed,, derelict synagogues, and pieces of architecture that bear witness to a once thriving Jewish community.

An image of a part of what was once a synagogue and now is simply part of a wall. Notice the small circular window with a Star of David.

Beside the image was this text:

The significance of the circular window

Entrance to the synagogue in the village of Wielkie Oczy. The circular window high above the entry door is a common architectural feature of synagogues in Galicia. Part of the purpose of a synagogue is to facilitate the worshippers’ search for God. But according to Jewish mystical traditions, it is a two-way process: God is also in search of people. So a special hole, high in the wall, symbolically permits God to peer through, as if to catch sight of his worshippers yearning for him. The circular window, then, is not intended for people to look out; it is for God to look in.

Nearby stands the fortress synagogue, built in the fifteen century. It is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Poland, and one of the most precious landmarks of Jewish architecture in Europe. The synagogue served as a house of prayer until World War II when it was desecrated by Nazis in 1939. It was one of the city’s most important synagogues as well as the main religious, social, and organizational centre of the Kraków Jewish community. We visited it too, it’s now also a museum, but giving a powerful sense of what being in a synagogue feels like.

An image of the inside of the synagogue

I was very moved by the two buildings, and I found myself reflecting on the fact that my ‘shed’ where I pray and meet with people at home, has plenty of Christian symbols, a bottle of zam-zam water from Mecca, a tiny figure of the Buddha that used to be my daughter’s, together with a Tibetan singing bowl, but no Jewish symbol. So I bought a small menorah and it now stands proudly in my shed. Together they remind me that there many different paths up the mountain seeking the One God.

An image of the menorah with lit candles, in my shed.

Along the street was a Jewish bookshop and a number of Jewish restaurants. We sat outside in warm sunshine, enjoyed a cold beer and were uplifted by three Jewish musicians playing what sounded like traditional Jewish music. Magical.

An image of the musicians playing.