Sightseeing

The Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin Museum of History

Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin invites you to visit the multimedia exhibition of the Museum of History of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. The exhibition presents the history of the Jews in Lublin, the life of Rabbi Meir Shapiro, as well as the history of the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin school.

In 2017, the 130th anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Meir Shapiro was commemorated. He was the founder and rector of the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, the initiator of the Daf Yomi program and a member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. To commemorate and disseminate knowledge about this great Polish Jew of worldwide renown, a permanent multimedia exhibition was created in the heart of the Yeshiva building in Lublin.

The largely factual material collected presents the figure and achievements of Rabbi Shapiro, the history of the Yeshiva against the background of Lublin’s Jewish history, the environment and daily life of its students, and the curriculum. A reading room/library is also open to visitors, housing the Yeshiva’s archive.

Synagogue

The synagogue was built in 1930 together with the entire Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin complex. In addition to its religious functions, it also served as the yeshiva’s lecture hall and could accommodate more than 200 students.

The 200 m² synagogue is located at the level of the second and third floors of the building’s southern wing. The single-space main prayer hall has a women’s gallery with an entrance at the level of the third floor, also accessible via a separate staircase partitioned off from the building. It is supported by eight green, round Corinthian columns running around the hall on three sides.

On the eastern wall is the aron ha-kodesh, in front of which there is a raised platform surrounded by a wrought-iron balustrade, accessible by five steps. To the left of the cabinet are a small ner tamid and a plaque with a Hebrew inscription; to the right are another plaque with a Hebrew inscription, a gilded menorah and a commemorative plaque in English commemorating the destruction of Lublin’s Jews, bearing the following text:

“This menorah, symbolizing the reborn State of Israel is a gift to jewish community in Lublin in memory of 40.000 Lublin Jews killed by Nazi Germans during World War II. On the day synagogue was rededicatet.”

In the center is a square, two-entrance bimah, also surrounded by a wrought-iron balustrade.

The official reopening of the synagogue after renovation took place on 11 February 2007. It was the first ceremony of its kind in post-war Poland, as the reconstruction of the synagogue’s interior was fully financed by the Polish Jewish community. More than 600 people attended the ceremony, including representatives of the Polish and international Jewish communities, academic, cultural and religious circles, Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Piotr Kadlčik, chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, Roman Litman, chairman of the Lublin branch, Israeli Ambassador Dawid Peleg, Archbishop Józef Życiński, Lublin Mayor Adam Wasilewski and representatives of the local authorities, Rabbi Yehiel Kaufman from Boro Park in Brooklyn, Jehuda Widawski, Lublin residents and other guests.

On 4 November 2008, during ceremonial celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Meir Shapiro’s death, the reconstructed Aron ha-kodesh was solemnly unveiled by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. Members of the Jewish Religious Community in Warsaw, Auxiliary Bishop of Lublin Mieczysław Cisło and representatives of the Lublin local authorities attended the ceremony. The cantor of the Park East Synagogue in New York, Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, gave a concert.

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Lublin

The oldest Jewish cemetery in Lublin and one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Poland. The matzevot located there are among Poland’s and Europe’s most valuable Jewish monuments. The cemetery covers an area of approximately 1 ha and contains more than 60 matzevot, the oldest of which dates from 1541.
Due to the establishment of a new Jewish cemetery and a lack of space, the old cemetery was closed in 1830, and the last official burial took place that same year.

The New Jewish Cemetery in Lublin

A Jewish cemetery located in Lublin, on Walecznych Street.
It covers an area of more than 8 ha and contains approximately 50 tombstones.

The New Jewish Cemetery in Lublin is the resting place of the tzadik Jacob Leib Eiger, known as Yehuda Leib of Lublin. The ohel erected over his grave also concealed the remains of Abraham Eiger, Yehuda’s son, Israel Eiger, Abraham’s son, and Cadok ha-Kohen, Jacob’s son.

Lublin rabbis were also buried in the cemetery, including Joshua Heschel Ashkenazi, whose grandson was the historian Szymon Askenazy. It is estimated that more than fifty thousand Jews have been buried in the cemetery from its establishment to the present day. The necropolis grounds were enlarged several times through successive land purchases. The size of the cemetery is illustrated by an account by Meir Bałaban: "Thousands of large and small tombstones peer out from behind the quadrilateral cemetery wall and testify to the size of the present Jewish community in Lublin."

The earthly remains of Rabbi Meir Yehuda Shapiro were also laid to rest here. He was a renowned religious and socio-political activist and the founder of the world-famous Lublin Talmudic academy, known as the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, which now houses the Ilan Hotel.