Normally, it
should hardly have been possible for me to enter this synagogue. However I got
the opportunity. (On a more official invitation, I visited another synagogue, the
“Grande Synagogue” of Paris (see previous post)).
You may
have understood that I now and then do some (unpaid) “guiding” in Paris through
an organization called “Parisien d’un jour” (there is also a link on my
sidebar), which is part of the Global Greeter Network, working worldwide. As "Greeters" we are volunteers and to call us guides is misleading; it’s more an issue of
meeting between people, walking around areas which are not the usual tourist
tracks, talk about local life in general…
Recently I
made such a walk with a family from Israel and they had expressed the wish to
see some Jewish areas and landmarks in Paris, mainly in the Marais area (see
previous posts here, here, here, here, here…). So when we passed in front of the
Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue they decided to visit it and I had the privilege to
join them. We were welcomed with smiles.
This synagogue is for Parisians in general better known as the “Rue Pavée Synagogue”
(Rue Pavée = the paved street; it was the first street in the area to be paved
around 1450) and sometimes as the “Guimard Synagogue” as its Art Nouveau architect
is Hector Guimard, the same who created the metro entrances and a number of
buildings in Paris (see previous posts here and here). The synagogue was officially opened in 1914.
Guimard is responsibele for as well the exterior as the interior.
Agoudas
Hekehilos refers to a society of orthodox Jews, mostly of Russian origin, who
commissioned and financed the building.
On the
evening of Yom Kippur in 1941, the building was dynamited along with six other
Parisian synagogues, restored after the war. A new refurbishing of the facade would
certainly be nice.
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