10. Neue Synagoge

The architects Eduard Knoblauch and Friedrich Stüler designed it: the Neue Synagoge in German, or just the Oranienburgerstrasse synagogue. And there is stands—red brick Moorish style with a spectacular golden dome. The Prussian chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, attended its opening in 1866 and inside, picture this—a sanctuary that stretched before you that held more than 3,000 people. A woman’s balcony surrounded the sanctuary. The bema, or the ark where the Torahs were kept, stood under a half dome in the very front, and above them, stained glass windows, and each of them had small gas jets just to keep them from freezing over in winter. Like other liberal synagogues in Germany, a choir performed while an enormous pipe organ played. Now just look at that impressive entrance—three sets of elegant doors. Now imagine that we have been invited to a wedding there—and let’s have Rosa Rosenstein describe getting married—right here.  “I insisted we get married in the temple on Oranienburger Straße. My husband, Maximillian Weiss—we called him Mishi—he was a tailor like my father, and he was from Hungary. So his entire family came up to Berlin for our wedding. There were grand meals, kosher, of course, Mishi and I went and had a professional photo made—after I bought my dress at Tietz on Alexanderplatz.Then the wedding: our parents accompanied us to the bema, and just before us, as we walked up that enormous, that long aisle in the Temple, two little girls walked before us, scattering flowers. The only problem was we had two darling little boys in sailor suits carrying the train of my wedding dress. They were five years old and they fought with each other the whole time; they were both tugging on the train and I had to struggle to hold on to it. I thought they were going to pull me over! Then came the dinner after. From my mother’s kitchen came plates of freshly prepared gefilte fish and these fragrant, wonderful challah. Mishi’s family prepared these great Hungarian dishes. Then we danced, we laughed, and in less than two years, we had two daughters, Bessy and Lilly.”But this synagogue did not have long to live. In fact, I’ll tell you about what happened ten years later.

Keep walking down Oranienburger Straße and make a right on to Tucholskystraße