Hungary Plans Synagogue Amid Rise of Anti-Semitic ‘Jewish List’ Jobbik Party
Image by getty images
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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
