The Forward has run an article about the Teleki ter shtibl project in Budapest — the revitalization of an old apartment synagogue in Budapest’s 8th district — and the hopes of the project’s prime movers, brothers Andras and Gabor Mayer, to find and foster a network of shtiblach in Europe.
…in Teleki’s rebirth as a fringe alternative, a younger generation of Hungarian Jews says it sees a model that can potentially be replicated elsewhere.
“We want to identify, renovate and revive those shtiblekh that are still existing and which are late in their survival period, like we were 10 years ago,” said Andras Mayer, 42, one of the members who, together with his brother, Gabor Mayer, and Hurwitz have helped rescue what was a dying congregation. Where once the century-old congregation struggled to find enough men for a minyan, the tiny three-room house of prayer now overflows with members. Saturday services have been extended one hour, with congregants arriving early for brewed coffee (operated on a special timer), followed by a lunch of kosher cholent prepared the night before, by the rabbi’s wife.
(Andras attended the conference on managing Jewish immovable heritage held in April in Krakow and contributed many wonderful photographs of sessions and participants.)