The Jews of Focșani: The Border Town Where Romanian Hibbat Zion Was Born

Until 1862 Focșani was a double town: the Milcov stream ran through it, one half belonging to Moldavia and the other to Wallachia. Jews lived here from the 17th century, and in the 19th they made up about a quarter of the population. Solomon Schechter and “Cilibi Moise” were born here, and in the winter of 1881–1882 the town hosted the conference that laid the groundwork for Zikhron Ya’akov and Rosh Pinna.

A Town on the Border

According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jewish settlement in Focșani began in the second half of the 17th century. Foreign travellers already described a divided town: in 1632 Paulo Bonici wrote that half of it belonged to Moldavia and half to Wallachia. Each half had its own administration, and in the 19th century Focșani-Moldova was the seat of Putna county and Focșani-Muntenia the seat of Râmnicu Sărat county.

The split shows in the map of the cemeteries too. According to JewishGen’s cemetery survey, the oldest cemetery lay in the Moldavian part and was closed in 1691; some of its stones were later laid face down as steps of St John’s Church. In 1781 a cemetery was opened on Perjoi Street on the Moldavian side, and in 1787 a separate one on the Wallachian side, near “Balta lui Asanache.” Neither survives. The Austrian cartographer Emanuel Mirohorsky, writing shortly before the union of the principalities, described the Moldavian half as the more prosperous one, home to many Jews, most of them merchants.

On 6 July 1862 Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza signed a decree uniting “both parts of the town of Focșani, on this side and beyond the Milcov,” into a single town. According to Adevărul, residents from both sides gathered at the boundary stone and tore it down.

Growth and Hostility in the 19th Century

In 1820 the town counted 20 Jewish tax-paying families. By 1838 there were 736 Jews, in 1859 1,855 (19.2% of the population) and in 1899 5,954, or 25.2%. This is wine country, and according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica many Jews were vintners.

The town was also known for its hostility to Jews. The humiliating “Jewish oath” (More Judaico) was introduced in the courts here first, in 1838. In 1859 Jews were accused of a blood libel; the affair eventually proved to be a crime committed for gain.

Natives of Focșani

• Avram Moise Schwartz, “Cilibi Moise” (1812–1870), was born in Focșani into a poor family. A pedlar who became a well-known figure in Bucharest, he was, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the first Jewish writer in the Romanian language. From 1858 collections of his sayings appeared every year, and in 1901 M. Schwarzfeld edited his writings with a biography.
• Solomon Schechter was born in Focșani on 7 December 1847 into a Chabad Hasidic family. At ten he was sent to a yeshiva in Piatra Neamț, and went on to Lemberg, Vienna and Berlin. At Cambridge he became the scholar of the Cairo Genizah, from which he brought more than 100,000 pages to England, and in 1902 he became president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He died in 1915.

The Conference Town

On 30–31 December 1881 by the Julian calendar, 11–12 January 1882 by ours, delegates of the “Yishuv Eretz Israel” societies from all over Romania met at the Jewish boys’ school in Focșani. Chaired by Samuel Pineles of Galați, the conference set up a central committee for emigration and agricultural settlement, and within a year Zikhron Ya’akov and Rosh Pinna existed. For the conference and the founders, see our story “The Focșani Congress.”

In the next generation, too, Focșani remained a Zionist centre. Rabbi Jacob Nacht (1872–1959) served here from 1900 to 1919, and according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica his influence made the town a centre of Zionist cultural activity in Romania. The Hebrew writer Israel Teller taught at the Jewish school.

Between the Wars

From 1900 the antisemitic paper Paznicul was published in the town, and in 1910 the “Romanians’ Union” called for a boycott of Jewish merchants. In March 1925 the trial of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, later leader of the Iron Guard, accused of murdering the police chief of Iași, opened in Focșani. Antisemitic gangs used the occasion to pillage 300 Jewish homes, the school and the Great Synagogue.

In 1930 the town had 4,301 Jews, 13.2% of the population. On the eve of the Second World War the community maintained eight synagogues, the oldest from the 18th century, two primary schools, a kindergarten, a clinic and three cemeteries.

The Second World War

Under the Iron Guard and Antonescu regimes Jewish merchants were forced to hand their shops over to Guardists, and those who refused were sent to the camps at Târgu Jiu and Caracal. Three synagogues were blown up by army engineers on the pretext that the earthquake of November 1940 had damaged their foundations. When the war against the Soviet Union began in June 1941, Jewish men aged 16 to 60 were imprisoned. Most were released after a few weeks, but 65 hostages, among them the rabbi, were held much longer, a number later reduced to ten.

Jews expelled from the surrounding villages and towns and from Ploiești were brought to the town, and the community also cared for some 400 Jews from southern Transylvania brought here for forced labour. According to the county archive files, Jewish Forced Labour Detachment No. 111 operated at Soveja, in the Vrancea mountains. In spring 1944, 210 Jewish orphans from Transnistria were placed in the community’s care, and on 12 May 1944 men and women aged 15 to 55 were mobilised to dig anti-tank ditches. The community itself was not deported.

After the War and Today

According to the archive files, the Focșani Coral Temple reopened in 1946. In 1947 the town had 6,080 Jews, and in 1950 about 3,500. Most emigrated to Israel; by 1970 about 150 families and one working synagogue remained. In 1994 there were about 80 Jews and in 2004 about 70. According to Ziarul de Vrancea (2007), natives of Focșani in Israel number more than 500 families, hold reunions and have planted a “Focșani Forest” in the Jerusalem hills.

The one surviving synagogue stands at Strada Oituz 4, which also houses the community office. The Federation’s list of synagogues gives 1889 as its date of construction, while the local press gives 1896. In 2019 the building was reported unsafe, with no more than about 20 worshippers allowed in at a time; in July 2026 the Agerpres news agency described it as restored with the community’s help. The old cemetery, at Strada Nicolae Bălcescu 18, was used until 1874 and holds 4,393 graves according to the JewishGen survey; it is badly neglected. The new cemetery, opened in 1874 on the edge of town towards Petrești, has more than 3,245 graves, including Jewish soldiers of the First World War with a monument at the gate. In 2026 a city councillor called for its restoration.

Visiting

The community and the synagogue are at Strada Oituz 4. According to the Federation’s website, the phone number is +40 237 623 959. No fixed opening hours have been published, so visits to the synagogue and the cemeteries should be arranged in advance with the community. Focșani lies on the road between Bucharest and northern Moldavia and can be combined with a trip to Galați or Bacău.