The Jewish community of Budapest has announced plans to build a new synagogue for the first time in 80 years.
The foundation stone for the new synagogue in
Budapest’s Csepel district is scheduled to be laid in a ceremony on
Sunday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, attended by leaders of
Hungary’s Jewish community and senior government officials.
“It attests as to the vitality of the Jewish
community,” read an announcement about the event, on the website of the
Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, or Mazsihisz – a body
representing many of the organizations that belong to Hungary’s Jewish
community of approximately 90,000.
The land for the new synagogue was donated by the
municipality, the Federation said, and construction costs were mostly
raised by the Jewish community of the Hungarian capital’s South Pest
district, BZSH. Construction is expected to end before November 2014.
Among the people set to officialte at the ceremony is
Andras Kerenyi, the president of that community, who in October was
physically assaulted by two men who hurled anti-Semitic insults at him
as they beat him. He managed to follow them after they ran away, which
led to their arrest.
“There are worrying trends in Hungary as represented by
the anti-Semitic Jobbik party, but at the same time there is a vibrant
Jewish community and much attentiveness to their needs and welfare on
the part of many in government,” said Joel Rubinfeld, co-chair of the
European Jewish Parliament, who returned last week to Belgium from a
round of talks with Hungarian officials on curbing anti-Semitism there.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Hungary Plans Synagogue Amid Rise of Anti-Semitic 'Jewish List' Jobbik Party
Posted @ 09:26
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