(Photo By: The Center for Jewish Art/Foundation for Jewish Heritage, via JTA)
By: Cnaan Liphshiz - April 23, 2021
A municipality in Ukraine pledged to return to Jewish ownership what’s left of a 17th-century synagogue that the Nazis partially destroyed and the Soviets turned into a sports school.
The building that contains parts of the former Great Synagogue of Lutsk will be gifted to the Jewish Community of Lutsk, a nonprofit that represents Jews there, a city official told the news site Suspilne last week.
The former synagogue is in poor condition, requiring millions of dollars to be renovated. Hanna Matusowska, a local Jewish community leader, said the community will raise funds to renovate the building and reopen it as a synagogue that also functions as a museum.
Robust and reminiscent of a medieval castle, the synagogue is one of a few Jewish houses of worship built to also serve as a fortress, according to the London-based Foundation for Jewish Heritage.
Read More: Times of Israel