The synagogues are certainly not the Temple whose reconstruction is long awaited, but they are the testimonies of the existence of a past or present Jewish life. Built in different regions and at different times, these buildings nourished by memory prove to be the will of men to sanctify the Eternal.
My modest contribution is to feed this memory week after week, party after party.
The Great Synagogue of Budapest or Dohány Synagogue is considered the largest in Europe. Above the monumental entrance door is inscribed the verse (Exodus 25:8):
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם
And they will build me a sanctuary and I will dwell in the midst of them.
The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 by the Viennese architect Ludwig Förster in a Moorish style inspired by the Alhambra in Granada. The interior decoration is partly due to Frigyes Feszl. During the inauguration, Franz Liszt played the organ there. During World War II the building suffered severe damage. Its restoration started in 1991, financed by the State and by private donations, in particular those of Estée Lauder and Tony Curtis, was completed in 1998.
In front of the synagogue, a small square bears the name of Theodor Herzl, born in a neighboring house in 1860. The Memory Park adjoining the synagogue houses the memorial of the 600,000 Hungarian Jewish Martyrs and that of the Righteous Among the Nations (Raoul Wallenberg, Carl Lutz, Gertrud Lutz-Fankhauser, Giorgio Perlasca, Ángel Sanz Briz, Angelo Rotta, Friedrich Born, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews).