European Jewish Congress - First Post-World War Two Synagogue Opened in Tallinn, Estonia (original) (raw)

Estonian and Jewish leaders inaugurated the first synagogue built in Tallinn since World War II, during a ceremony this Wednesday May 16th, attended by around 300 people, among them European Jewish Congress President Pierre Besnainou, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip

No new synagogues were constructed in the Estonian capital under the Soviet Union, and the original Tallinn synagogue, built in 1883, was not rebuilt after being destroyed in 1944 during a bombing raid against the fleeing Germans - the Baltic city then became the only post-war European capital without a synagogue.

At the opening ceremony Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres cut the red ribbon at the front of the $2 million, 180-seat ultramodern synagogue in Tallinn after the Torah scrolls were brought inside amid music and dancing.

Among the dignitaries on hand were Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who hung the mezuzah. EJC President Pierre Besnainou also attended along with leaders and members of the Jewish community of Estonia.

"You can burn down a building, but you cannot burn down a prayer. And we are a praying people," Peres said.

On the eve of the Holocaust, nearly 4,500 Jews lived in the country, 2,500 of them in the capital. During World War two the Jewish population was first deported to Sibera by invading Soviet forces, than massacred by Nazi soldiers and their local collaborators. After the war a small community was re-established, and following the end of Soviet rule all restrictions were lifted on the community.

Estonian Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kot, beaming from the newly inaugurated bimah, declared triumphantly, "The last 70 years were a dream. This is morning. Good morning, Estonia."