(PINKAS).
<<(Bucharest, Romania).>> Sepher HaZikaron [Memorial Book of the Talales Synagogue ...

(PINKAS).
<<(Bucharest, Romania).>> Sepher HaZikaron [Memorial Book of the Talales Synagogue, Bucharest].


Manuscript written in Hebrew and Yiddish in square and cursive calligraphic hands on paper.
pp. 173 (excluding blanks). Variously worn, and stained, few leaves loose or torn. Original gilt-tooled boards, with later date (1902), rubbed and shaken. Folio.
Bucharest, Rumania: 1870’s - 1950’s


Record book of Beit HaKnesset Chaburah Talales, Bucharest. Commences with two autograph letters offering blessings to the group who formed this congregation, from Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margulies, and Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik Schor of Bucharest. Contents: Table listing names of the 22 individuals who established the synagogue, each colorfully ornamented by the artist who signs his name “Yosef Schreiber.” Following this are 22 Takanot, arranged according to the letters of the alphabet. Each occupies its own page and is illustrated colorfully with interesting figures (such as a griffin holding a shofar) and floral or geometric shapes. They encompass procedural issues, such as Number 2 which deals with the collection of monies from charity containers; control over behavior, such as Number 13 which stipulates that those who loan a Torah Scroll may not sell it before fist giving the synagogue first option to purchase it. Number 18 restricts where unmarried men may sit in the synagogue, stipulating that upon marriage they will be moved to a more forward seat. After this are several pages listing donations of various items, such as Torah crowns, and couches. These date from the 1870’s and 1880’s. There are several pages that appear to be attempts at beginning another Pinkas for the congregation. These open with fine calligraphic title pages and lists of signatures, including a laudatory autograph letter by Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik Taubes, the chief rabbi of Bucharest from 1891 and a second autograph letter from Rabbi Chaim Shmuel Schorr, Rabbi Taubes’ successor. A section entitled Zikaron BaSepher, records the saga of the congregation’s search from 1911-14 for a permanent location, which it found in the Temple Baron de Hirsch. Two pages contain tablets of honor to be displayed noting the names of such Jewish notables as Sir Moses Montefiore, Adolf Cremieux and Theodore Herzl. Also recorded is the late Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Eisik Schorr, and the list is headed by one of Bucharest’s greatest rabbinic notables, Rabbi Meir Leibush Malbim. Following this is a section of names for memorial all the way through until World War II. Immediately after the war, these lists continue, under the heading “Names of the Holy Martyrs who were Murdered, their Blood Spilled as Water…” Ends with names of deceased during the Communist period. This manuscript is a valuable resource for the history of a synagogue and its associated community in Rumania for practically a century - a century of intense social and political upheaval.