CHEVRA LOMDEI MISHNAYOT SYNAGOGUE

The Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot (Hebrew: the Association for the Study of Mishnah) was established in 1893 for religious and educational purposes. From its inception through 1939, the synagogue presidents included Oswiecim residents Natan Silbiger, Abraham Kaufmann, Salomon Joachim Barber and Jakób Singer. In the interwar period, the association’s rabbi was Jekele Jankiel Zukerberg from Komarno, the son-in-law of the Sassover admor, who was later replaced by Chaim Jehuda Judel Halberstam. During its operating years the membership of the synagogue ranged between 90 and 120 people.

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Initially, the Association did not have a building of its own, and prayers took place in the prayer house belonging to the Chrzanover Hasidim (the Chrzanover shtibl) on Hospital Square (today Jan Skarbek Square). In 1912, the Lomdei Mishnayot Association acquired a site from Józef and Gizela Glass, and in 1913, construction on the synagogue began . The Association’s synagogue was operating by September of 1918, and remained in operation until 1939. During World War II, the synagogue’s interior was completely destroyed, and building was turned into a German munitions depot.

After the war, the synagogue opened for religious services again (1945-c.1955) and the few survivors still in Oswiecim prayed there. In 1977, the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue was nationalized by the Communist government, and was used as a carpet warehouse from 1992-1997. In 1998 the building was returned to the Jewish Community of Bielsko-Biała, which then donated the synagogue to the Auschwitz Jewish Center.

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The synagogue is an example of a typical beit midrash (Hebrew: a house of study) from the beginning of the 20^th century, which was a built for both prayer and religious education. In the men’s section of the synagogue are two historic plaques. The first one is located on the mechitza, the wall dividing the men and women’s sections, and bears names of three gabbaim (administrators of the synagogue): Jakir Singer, Chaim Goldstein, and Alter Neuberg (1928). It is the only original element from the prewar Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue that still exists. The second plaque, the shiviti, is located on the eastern wall of the synagogue, to the right of the aron ha-kodesh. It was provided by Hinda Cwet to honor her late husband Shlomo Zalman Pelzman, a rabbi and a teacher from Kety. The plaque was most likely mounted on the wall by local survivors soon after the war.

[1] Photo by unknown photographer presents a group of children and women at well on Hospital Square in Oswiecim (presently Priest Jan Skarbek Square). In the background – Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue and a part of a house where Kornreich family lived (right, presently Auschwitz Jewish Center). This picture was taken most likely at the beginning of WWII (c. 1939-1941). Collection of The State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim.

[2] Photo by unknown photographer presents groups of people, probably Jews on Hospital Square (presently Priest Jan Skarbek Square), including Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue. This square was also a one of place where Oswiecim Jews were gathered before their deportation to the ghettos. This picture was taken most likely at the beginning of WWII (c. 1939-1941). Collection of The State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim.