Seder Chinuch Sefer Torah written in Mitzvot HK [Chevra Kadisha] Gmilut chasadim in KK [Holy community] Gorinchem [Netherlands] eve Shabbat Kodesh Eighteenth of the month of Sivan, year 1849 - single page - manuscript on parchment. A museum item! A unique remnant in the world of a Jewish community which no longer exists!
A beautiful song in honor of the Inserting of a Sefer Torah in the Gorinchem community. Stanzas to said in seven rounders with the new Sefer Torah. The song is divided into 15 sections, which are divided into Poets, the cantor, and the audience, and they deal with Matan Torah And on the occasion of the introduction of the Torah. The lyrics of the song were specially composed for this event, and do not appear anywhere else.
The first Jewish citizens of Gorinchem were registered at the end of the seventeenth century. An organized Jewish community existed in Gorinchem until 1787. At that time, local Jews gathered for prayer in a rented room. The community grew following the granting of full civil rights to Dutch Jews in 1796.
A new synagogue, located in Kökelstraat, was inaugurated in 1842 and remained in use until World War II. The Jewish community in Gorinchem grew throughout the nineteenth century. At that time, most of the Jews in Gorinchem worked as retail merchants.
During the peak years of Jewish life in Gorinachem, the community maintained voluntary organizations, including Chevra Kadisha, a society for helping the poor, a religious association and a society for the maintenance of the interior of the synagogue.
In January 1941, at the beginning of World War II, Germans and members of the Dutch Cooperation Party NSB vandalized the Gorinchem Synagogue. Deportation of Jews from Gorinchem began in May 1942, more than half of the Jews residence were deported and murdered during the war.
After the war, only a few Jews returned to their homes. The synagogue was restored but was soon sold due to its small number of members. The building was demolished in 1958. The Jewish community in Gorinchem was officially dissolved in 1964 and merged administratively into the Jewish community in Rotterdam.
In 2000, during the construction at the site of the former synagogue, a building was discovered that previously housed the synagogue of the Gorinchem community; The building remained complete but moved several meters.
Before us is a special and rare historical relic of a community which no longer exists!
[1] leaf. 34x20 cm. Very good condition.
