Description

The Grand Choral Synagogue of Kiev (Also known as the Podol Synagogue or the Rozenberg Synagogue)  Built 1895. Closed, under Stalin, in 1929. Converted to a horse stable by the Nazis during the German occupation of Kiev.
The structure survived WWII, and reopened as a synagogue in 1945. It remained the city’s only working synagogue until 2000.

224,000 Jews lived in Kiev on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Most escaped the city. The remaining 33,771 Jews were concentrated in  Babi Yar, and were executed Sept 29-30th 1941, with another 15.000 Jews murdered in the same place during 1941-1942. After the war the surviving Jews returned to the city. On September 4–7, 1945 after the war, a pogrom took place, 100 Jews were beaten, 5 died of their wounds.

The Choral Synagogue, the first permanent house of worship for the Jewish community of Kiev was built in 1895, a time of severe anti-Semitism. When built, it had to be officially declared a “private residence ” to avoid problems with the authorities.

Choral Synagogues (Yiddish: Khorshul) were built in Eastern Europe, from Hungary to Russia. These synagogues represented the ideas of Jewish Enlightenment and featured male choruses, conducted sermons in local languages, decorated their interiors, and placed pews facing the eastern wall where the ark containing the Torah was housed.  

(12 inches high x 13 ½  inches wide x 2 ¾ inches deep)