South Hiking Trail, Amsterdam

Beha’alotekha (בהעלותךwhen thou shalt raise), Nbr 8: 1–12: 16
ב דַּבֵּר, אֶל-אַהֲרֹן, וְאָמַרְתָּ, אֵלָיו: בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, אֶת-הַנֵּרֹת, אֶל-מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה, יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת.
2 Speak to Aaron and tell him:
When you arrange the lamps, it is opposite the face
of the candelabra that the seven lamps must project the light.

Designed by Amsterdam-based architectural firm SeARCH1, the liberal synagogue on the Zuidelijke Wandelweg (Southern Hiking Trail) offers two large windows in the shape of a stylized menorah that cast their lights the outside. Bricks from the old synagogue were salvaged and included in the building, linking history with modernity.

This is the second synagogue built in the Netherlands since the Holocaust during which 75% of the Jewish community was wiped out. On the holy ark is inscribed a verse from Isaiah chapter 40:

ח יבש חציר, נבל ציץ, ודבר אלוקינו יקום לעולם.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our Gd endures forever.

1 Stedenbouw En ARCHitectuur (Town Planning & Architecture) was founded by Bjarne Mastenbroek in 2002

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