The Gherla Synagogue is a synagogue located in Gherla in northern Romania. The building was constructed in 1903 and was in danger of collapse in 2012 when fund raising was commenced to complete structural repairs.
History
The modern city of Gherla was founded by the Armenian community in 1700 with the approval bought from Vienna, with the consent of Emperor Leopold I. In the beginning the Jews were only permitted to live in the small villages surrounding the actual city. One of the villages, Iclod, even as early as 1772 had a large Jewish population, with a house of prayer and a cemetery. Many of the Jews who lived in Iclod went to work every day in Gherla. During the 1830s, the first Jews settled in Gherla. Initially they were only allowed to settle in one suburb, Candia, but after a while they were expelled. Only after the 1848 revolution were the Jews allowed to live in the city of Gherla proper. The congregation was established in the 1850s by which time the restrictions on settlement of Jews in town has been rescinded. The community grew at a gradual pace. By 1860s the congregation already had a kosher butcher, a synagogue and a mikvah (ritual bath). The cemetery was opened in the 1870, until then, the burials took place in the Jewish cemetery of Iclod. Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef ha-Kohen became the first official chief rabbi of Gherla's Jewish community in 1880, acting as the spiritual leader, religious instructor, and even shochet (kosher slaughterer) of the community, and under his guidance many religious institutions were set up. He served until his death in 1920. Following the death of Rabbi ha-Kohen, his son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Elias became the rabbi of Gherla. After his death in 1930, his son Jakov Samuel Elias took over the spiritual leadership of the congregation In 1944 he was deported with the rest of the Jewish population and murdered in a camp near Auschwitz in 1945.
The Jews of Gherla worked in various branches of industry and trade; several factories were owned by Jews. The largest of these was the distillery founded by Jakov Dov Feldmann, who employed many Jewish workers. At the turn of the twentieth century, Feldmann was the congregation's president. By 1903 there were multiple small synagogues operating in the city. That year, a large and elaborate synagogue was built to accommodate the increasing Jewish population. Religious life flourished, especially thanks to the construction of the new synagogue, the improving Jewish educational system, and the formation of a society which met at the synagogue to study the Talmud.
Around this time a number of rabbis moved to the city, notable among them the Hassidic rabbi Baruch Rubin, and small religious schools popped up in individual homes, leading to the establishment of a larger "Talmud Torah" school in 1922, which housed an elementary school. Other institutions formed as well, such as the Chevra Kadisha (burial society), several organizations which helped take care of the needy members of the community, and even a kind of a guest house for the poorer visitors in the city. A modern mikveh (ritual bath) facility was constructed on the banks of the Somes canal and inaugurated in 1925. By 1930, census figures show that there were 1037 Jews in Gherla. The presidents of the congregation between the two world wars were Samuel Teleki, a landowner and distiller; Simcha Klein, a landowner; and Albert Fischer, a furniture factory owner. During this period of thriving Jewish life, the Zionist movement which was sweeping through Transylvania attracted some followers in Gherla, and precipitated some meetings and events. The first Zionist organization in Gherla was established in 1919. The various Zionist youth groups, such as the Aviva and Barissia, as well as Betar, were launched during the 1920s. The Zionist women were gathered in the WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization). The non-Zionist Agudath Yisrael also had a local chapter. However, because the Jews of Gherla were Orthodox and at the time Zionism was shunned by the majority of traditional Jews, most of the community was less receptive or even openly hostile to Zionist ideology, and the movement did not gain as wide a following or as vibrant a cultural life as it did in some other Transylvanian cities. Nevertheless, some Zionists managed to reach leadership positions in the congregation. The highest point was reached by Albert Fischer who was also the congregation's president.