Ashkenazi Synagogue

The Ancient Jewish Sephardic Synagogue in Sarajevo, Bosnia

The tour of Sarajevo with Anja ended in front of the Jewish Synagogue built in 1581. There is a small entrance fee but several of the group decided to visit, including us.

During the time of the Ottoman occupation, Sarajevo was home to Muslims, Catholics, Jews and Eastern Orthodox. Many of its religious establishments have survived the past including this Synagogue.

Jews came to the Balkans via Istanbul during the Spanish/Portuguese expulsion in 1492. The first Jews arrived in Sarajevo as early as 1541 via Salonika/Thessaloniki. Coincidentally, my daughter-in-law's father was born in Salonika when it was still Turkish. He was just one of the Salonika's 56,000 Jews sent to concentration camps where most were killed in the gas chambers. Leon was the only member in his family to survive.

Sarajevo, Bosnia: Part 4 - Bilava Synagogue

Documentation materials from the Bilava Synagogue, collected by the Journey into Jewish Heritage student delegation to Sarajevo, Bosnia (2010)

Sarajevo, Bosnia: Part 3 - The Sephardi Synagogue

Part 3: Documentation materials from the Sephardi Synagogue, collected by the Journey into Jewish Heritage student delegation to Sarajevo, Bosnia (2010)

Empty synagogue and holy book tell Sarajevo Jews' fate

Since February, the famed 14th century Jewish manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah has become more accessible to the public as the Sarajevo national museum puts it on display twice a week. However, the Sabbath prayers are scarcely attended as the Bosnian capital is now home to less than 1,000 Jews.

BOSNIA: SARAJEVO HAGGADAH: JEWISH COMMUNITY CEREMONY

Natural Sound

A priceless medieval manuscript has been opened for only the third time in fifty years today (Saturday) as Sarajevo's Jewish community marked Passover.

At the ceremony to open the revered 'Sarajevo Haggadah' (holy book) was Bosnia's Muslim President where he called on Bosnians to stay on in the country depite the war.

Prayers were also read from the tiny book's magnificently illustrated vellum pages.

For thousands of years, Jews have spent the Passover holiday recounting the story of their Exodus from Egypt by reading from the Haggadah (in Hebrew literally meaning 'the telling').

The Sarajevo Haggadah was written between the years 1320 and 1350 in northern Spain and is acclaimed as one of finest illustrated medieval manuscripts in existence.

In 1492, when Jews were expelled from Spain, the book left with them.

The next recorded mention of the book was in 1609 in Italy before it found its way into Sarajevo's National Museum in 1894.

Nazi Germans during the Second World War attempted to confiscate the Haggadah from the Museum, but it was saved by an Islamic scholar and hidden under floorboards in a mountain retreat.

Today's celebration was ecumenical, gathering together Islamic, Catholic and Orthodox leaders, as well as officials from Bosnia's government gathered.

Izetbegovic urged his people to stay in Bosnia in spite of the hardships of the war and said his government was one of tolerance for all faiths.

But despite the celebrations a sombre tone prevailed as war rumbled on outside the synagogues walls.

Just minutes before the worship commenced sniper bullets killed a second French peacekeeper was killed in the last two days.


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sarajevo jewish heritage

Exploring a Synagogue in Sarajevo

I was blessed to get to visit one of the two active Synagogues in Sarajevo recently and it just so happened to be during the Feast of Tabernacles. Here are a few quick thoughts and photos from my time there.

Bosnia - Convoy of Bosnian Jews

A convoy of some 300 Jewish Bosnians is hoping to leave Sarajevo
this afternoon around 1300 gmt. The six buses and two trucks have
been in preparation throughout the morning at the Jewish community
centre. Jakov Dinenteld, the head of security at the community
centre, said UNPROFOR vehicles would escort the convoy to the
Sarajevo suburb of Lukavica on the Bosnian Serb side and then it
would go to Makarska near Split, Croatia.
=
SHOWS

SARAJEVO, 5/2:
pan from building to bus and crowds of refugees and wellwishers
gathered for farewell
man passing travellers with wheelbarrow
cu of travellers
people atop of building
cu of travellors
Jakov Dinenteld, head of staff security at the community centre
says Unprofor will escort the convoy to the Sarajevo suburb of
Lukavica on the Bosnian Serb side and then the convoy will go to
Makarska near Split, Croatia
man waving farewell
onto bus
2.59


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Sarajevo, Bosnia: Part 3b - The Sephardi Synagogue Architectural Simulation

The Sephardi Synagogue Architectural Simulation by the Journey into the Jewish Heritage student delegation to Sarajevo, Bosnia (2010)

Time off: The Jews of Bosnia and Hercegovina

Sarajevo is becoming one of the must-visit cities of Europe. And it has a long and rich Jewish history: The Jewish community of Bosnia and Herzegovina recently celebrated 450 years.

Bosnia - Jewish convoy

A convoy of some 300 Jewish Bosnians is hoping to leave Sarajevo
this afternoon around 1300 gmt. The six buses and two trucks have
been in preparation throughout the morning at the Jewish community
centre. Jakov Dinenteld, the head of security at the community
centre, said UNPROFOR vehicles would escort the convoy to the
Sarajevo suburb of Lukavica on the Bosnian Serb side and then it
would go to Makarska near Split, Croatia.

SHOWS
SARAJEVO, 5/2:
pan from building to bus and crowds of refugees and wellwishers
gathered for farewell
people atop of building
cu of travellors
tearful farewells
children and others board bus
woman wipes way tears
man onto bus
0.55


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Sarajevo, Bosnia: Part 6 - Jewish Communities Outside Sarajevo

Documentation of the Jewish communities outside Sarajevo by the Journey into Jewish Heritage student delegation to Sarajevo, Bosnia (2010)

The communities of Travnik, Zepce, and Zenica

Sarajevo, Bosnia: Part 7 - Community Voices

Interviews with members of the Jewish community, performed by the Journey into Jewish Heritage student delegation to Sarajevo, Bosnia (2010)

Bosnian home of a Jewish treasure reopens | Focus on Europe

Although the National Museum of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo was closed in 2012, thanks to the efforts of staff and activists, the country's shared Muslim, Jewish and Christian heritage is once again on show to the public.

The Jewish World: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Celebrating 450 years of vibrant Jewish life and counting: welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina!

Bosnia - Jewish Cemetery Left In Peace

TI: 10:40:38

One of Bosnia's bloodiest frontlines, the Jewish cemetary in
Sarajevo, was finally quiet on Wednesday (27/12).

SHOWS:

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA 27/12:
zoom from holiday inn hotel to jewish cemetery on southern
hillside;
soldiers walking up hill;
pull back to show damaged synagogue;
entrance to cemetery;
vs inside synagogue;
vs shots through firing positions;
vs of cemetery;
one soldier says he feels secure because I-For is here;
another soldier says I-For will only be here for a year so we must
be cautious ;
bullet holes in outer wall;
vs of damage to synagogue;
cu of trench;
bullet holes in tombstone;
soldier walking past damaged building;
soldier walking through trench;
ws of barbed wire;

2.16 vision


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Bosnia - Jewish Passover Celebrations

T/I: 11:25:52


For the first time in four years, Sarajevo's Jewish community are able to celebrate Passover - which commemorates the exodus of the Jews from captivity in Egypt. They were joined on Thursday (4/4) by Jewish aid workers visiting the Bosnian capital from around the world, and by Jewish soldiers who are part of IFOR, the NATO-led Bosnian peace implementation
force.

SHOWS:

SAREJAVO, BOSNIA, 4/4
0.00 Exterior synagogue
0.04 Passover seder at synagogue
0.22 SOT US IFOR soldier (unnamed) from Michigan talking about
celebrations: The service here will be a little shorter
than I am used to, because as I understand it, the people
here for many years were not allowed to study the religion,
so it is a little more difficult for them to have the
ceremony, so they do what they can do, and then we celebrate
with a meal.
0.50 Rabbi eats and talks
0.58 Service in progress
1.07 SOT Rabbi Moshe Tutnaver (in english): Sarajevo is special
because the world's most famous hagadah is the Sarajevo
hagadah, it begins 'let all who are hungry comes and eat',
and this community has fed a lot of people, and so it is
very symbolic.
1.24 Service in progress

1.36 ENDS.


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Mosques, Churches, Synagogue, Sarajevo Bosnia Herzegovina by BK Bazhe

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Nestled in a valley on either side of the river Miljacka, Sarajevo isn’t known as the “Jerusalem of Europe” for nothing. In its more harmonious past this was the only European city to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue in the same neighborhood.

They are still there, cheek by jowl today – the Ashkenazi synagogue; the 16th-century Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, one of the finest Ottoman buildings in Bosnia; the Catholic Cathedral of Jesus’s Sacred Heart; and Sarajevo’s old Orthodox Church.

B.K. BAZHE is a writer, poet, and artist.
He is the author of DAMAGES
(creative nonfiction)—Winner in the Writers Digest Awards
IDENTITIES (poetry), and COLORS (art book).
He is published and exhibited
in Europe and America.

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