Rebirth of Budapest’s Óbuda Synagogue and its Jewish community

Last September saw the old, neoclassical building of the Óbuda Synagogue reborn. Donations from private individuals covered the first phase of the construction. One of the window’s renovation was realized by the donation of a Hungarian-born American gentleman while the Torah scroll was donated by real estate developer Gábor Futó.

Due to the Communist regime’s policy, holy sites in Hungary were generally used as warehouses. This particular temple, built in 1821 (when it replaced the one from 1737), housed a textile museum and later served as a television studio until last year, when Hungarian-born Rabbi Slomó Köves, head of the United Hungarian Jewish Congregation, found it. “We wanted to find a small estate to build a new synagogue in Buda because at the time I had no idea that the building of a once working place of worship would be on sale,” the Rabbi says. “The building itself is still on the premises of MTV (Hungarian State Television). We have rented it, and began to reconstruct it to its original state. We hope this won’t take longer than 5 years.”

Donations from private individuals covered the first phase of the construction, so the Rabbi’s Chabad community was able to open and rededicate the synagogue last year. Since then, it has been in use on a regular basis, including services and communal gatherings every Friday, Saturday and holidays, kids’ playhouse on Sunday, and further reconstructions during the rest of the week. “Currently, an estimated USD 3 million is needed to complete the full project,” adds businessman Peter Steinreich, whose main goal is to connect the international business and corporate world with the synagogue. “Therefore, we are also planning to hold a fundraising event in New York City at 52nd Street’s Hungarian Consulate, hoping that a nice sum will be raised.” On behalf of the Congregation of the Óbuda Synagogue, Steinreich has also sent an invitation to US Senator Joe Lieberman to attend the Óbuda Shul’s first annual dinner celebration scheduled for August. “The presence of the Senator would confirm a strong American Congressional support for the Hungarian Jewish community, which is the third largest in Europe today,” he explains.

“Jews have been here for many centuries. Ours is a strong community, not necessarily in the religious sense, but rather bound through communal aspects,” notes Steinreich, referring to Swedish Hungarian businessman Peter Wilhelm, one of the largest contributors
to the, synagogue. “His efforts in time and money is unprecedented. He is the one who have sponsored a corporate dinner for the festival of Purim, just recently.” According to the businessman, there are believed to be 100,000 Jews living in Hungary, though, not all consider themselves as such. “However, I have noticed great thirst among young Jews for their religious birthright, and also for knowledge about their roots and cultural heritage,” the Rabbi remarks. “This is a reversed situation of the Jewish directive ‘you shall teach your sons’ – in our case, it is the sons who are providing the parents with the information on
Judaism.”