The Eisenmann Synagogue is an historic

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. It was built by Jacob Eisenmann in 1907 and is the only synagogue in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

to have survived the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Belgium.

Jacob Eisenmann

Jacob (Jacques) Samuel Eisenmann was born in Frankfurt am Main. In 1884 he moved to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, where he established a company in the import of dried fruits and industrial fibers from the Belgian Congo. He was a very successful businessman and reputed to have been close with

King Leopold II * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

. His wife was the daughter of

Eliezer Liepman Philip Prins Eliezer Liepman Philip Prins (Eliezer Liepman; 1835–1915), merchant and scholar of Arnhem, the Netherlands. Until 1876 Prins was privately tutored, after which time he continued his studies in Amsterdam and moved to Frankfurt in 1887. Biography ...

and his brother-in-law was the noted painter

Benjamin Prins Benjamin Liepman Prins (1860–1934) was a Dutch genre works, genre artist. Biography Benjamin Liepman Prins was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands on 21 January 1860. He was the second of eight children from Eliezer Liepman Philip Prins' fir ...

. Eisenmann was extremely well versed in both Jewish and general topics. He was a student of

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

Samson Raphael Hirsh Samson Raphael Hirsch (; June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was a German Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the ''Torah im Derech Eretz'' school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed ''neo ...

, under whom Eisenmann had studied in Frankfurt.

Founding of the Minyan

The tradition of the Jewish community in his native Frankfurt was close to his heart, and he was annoyed at the way of life of Eastern European immigrants brought to Antwerp. Specifically the lack of decorum during the

tefillot Jewish prayer ( he, תְּפִלָּה, ; plural ; yi, תּפֿלה, tfile , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with i ...

and conversation during prayers that perturbed him. As a result, he decided to start his own minyan, one which the traditions of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, would be kept. In 1905 he rented three rooms in the Breughelstraat. In the beginning there were only 20-odd members of his

minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...

, but soon, the number of worshipers burgeoned and it became quite clear that a new space was necessary. As a result, Eisenmann decided to purchase a piece of land on Oostenstraat across the street from the railroad embankment.

The design

In 1908 Eisenmann bought two adjoining buildings, and built the synagogue to stretch through the interior of both. The facades of the buildings were not to be recognizable as a Jewish

place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

or Shul. This stealth was a crucial factor in the survival of the

during the Second World War. As an architect Eisenmann chose a Mr De Lange, who had just graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The synagogue was completed in 1909.

Book and Centennial

In 2004 a niece of Jacob Eisenmann, Els Bendheim wrote a book about the history and significance of this unique synagogue. The book was the result of much effort and research and was published by

KTAV Publishing House KTAV Publishing House is a publishing house located in Brooklyn, New York. Ktav means "to write" in Hebrew. Founded in 1921, it has been among the most notable publishers of Judaica and Jewish educational texts since the middle of the 20th cent ...

in 2004. In 2009 a group of descendants of

Jacob Eisenmann Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

gathered in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

to celebrate and commemorate the 100th anniversary of the synagogue's founding in 1909. Over 200 people gathered at a festive ceremony among them the synagogue's primary benefactor Mr. Jack Lunzer.

Jacob Eisenmann

Founding of the Minyan

The design

Book and Centennial

References

Further reading