The Neolog Synagogue of Arad: Rabbi Chorin’s Temple of Reform

In an inner courtyard on Strada Tribunul Dobra, hidden from passers-by, stands the Neolog synagogue of Arad. It was built in 1827–1834 under Rabbi Aaron Chorin, one of the pioneers of Reform in Hungarian Jewry, and according to the “Synagogues’ Stories” documentation project it has been in continuous use for almost two hundred years.

A community that outgrew its prayer house

Jews are recorded in Arad from 1717, when the commander of the fortress allowed two families to settle in the town. A first, wooden synagogue was built in 1759, and the first service was held in it in 1764 under Rabbi Yohanan. By the early 19th century the community numbered about 800: 812, according to a count that the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) and the Encyclopaedia Judaica date to 1839 and other sources to 1828. The old prayer house could no longer hold the worshippers.

The driving force behind a new building was Rabbi Aaron Chorin (1766–1844), born in Weisskirchen (Hranice) in Moravia, a student of the Mattersdorf yeshivah and of the Noda bi-Yehudah in Prague. Chorin was elected rabbi of Arad in the spring of 1789, at the age of 23, and held the post until his death, 55 years later. At his side stood the community’s leader, the merchant Moses Hirschl.

Built by day, torn down by night

According to “Synagogues’ Stories”, digging for the foundations began on 24 April 1827 without a building permit, and the town authorities tore down by night what had been built by day. In this tradition Hirschl sought the protection of the emperor in Vienna, and only then did the town accept the building. The source names Franz Joseph, but he came to the throne only in 1848; in 1834 the emperor was Francis I. The Encyclopaedia Judaica dates Chorin’s initiative to 1828. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1834.

It was designed and built by the Arad master builder Domokos Heim, who, according to the city’s tourist information centre, served several times as mayor. Because of the regulations of the day, the synagogue cannot be seen from the street: it sits at the heart of a corner block that also holds shops, offices, flats and storerooms, and is entered through an inner courtyard.

Classicism outside, Oriental colour inside

The façades are plain: light rustication on the ground floor, simple window frames and decorative arches above the first-floor windows. The tourist centre calls the street front, with its Ionic capitals, Classicist, and JGuide Europe describes the style as “Greco-Tuscan”. The ANU Museum and JGuide both describe an unusual plan: a triangular, three-storey block around a small central courtyard.

Inside, the contrast is sharp. The walls are covered with a fresco of Oriental-inspired geometric patterns, which sources call “Spanish-Moorish”, in beige, brown and gold. Engaged columns and a dome give the hall a monumental scale. At the top of the dome is a Star of David rosette, ringed by twelve painted “windows” whose colours have faded. The women’s galleries are on the first floor, and large windows facing the courtyard let in a great deal of light, which was rare in synagogues of the period.

• The Torah ark: Baroque, with two groups of four Corinthian columns, gilded ornament and a sun motif at the top.
• The organ: according to a plaque on the instrument, built in 1841 by the Arad workshop of Anton Dangl and Son, in the second-floor gallery.
• The bimah: a carved wooden chair, and a yellow parokhet before the ark.

The organ is more than ornament. As early as 1818, in the collection Nogah ha-Tzedek, Chorin defended organ music and prayers in German, while insisting that the Shema and the Amidah remain in Hebrew. The Arad synagogue was, in effect, a workshop of early Hungarian Reform.

The line of rabbis

After Chorin’s death on 24 August 1844, Jacob Steinhardt was appointed, first as interim rabbi and school superintendent, then as chief rabbi. He served until 1885, and according to “Synagogues’ Stories” sermons in Hungarian were heard in the synagogue from 1845. He was followed by Sándor (Alexander) Rosenberg, who came from Kaposvár (1885–1909), and Lajos Vágvölgyi (1909–1940 or 1941), who, according to the JBAT archive, looked favourably on Zionism.

Rabbi József Miklós Schönfeld, who held a doctorate, led the community through the war years and the start of Communist rule. According to “Synagogues’ Stories” he was twice accused of Zionism and arrested, and in 1961 he emigrated to Israel. The rabbis after him served only briefly, by which time the Neolog and Orthodox communities had been merged.

The marble plaques and the memorial

Inside the synagogue, marble plaques carry the names of the community’s men who fell in the First World War, in a long list. The Jews of Arad themselves were not deported in the Holocaust, but the community did not forget its members who perished. In 1960 it erected a memorial to the victims in the old Neolog cemetery on Strada Toporaș, inscribed “In memory of our martyrs” and bearing the names of 244 victims from Arad and its surroundings.

Rabbi Chorin is also buried in that cemetery, according to press reports. In 1851 a Carrara marble portrait bust by the Jewish sculptor Jakab Guttmann was set up beside his grave. It was stolen in 1997; in March 2025 it was reported found in an antiques shop in Austria and returned.

The building today

In 2004 the synagogue was listed as a historic monument. It is still used for prayer, and in 2009 the ANU Museum also described it as the community centre and a venue for classical concerts. The fresco has faded and is damaged in places, and plaster has flaked here and there. The ANU Museum reported that the community had begun conservation work with a professional conservator, but we found no current source on its extent. The building also houses the office of the community, which is headed by Raoul Vizental.

Visiting

The synagogue is at Strada Tribunul Dobra 10, in central Arad. The entrance is through the inner courtyard, by a glass door beneath a large window. No regular opening hours are published; arrange your visit in advance with the Jewish Community of Arad at the same address. The telephone number listed by the Federation of Jewish Communities is +40 257 281 310. The “Synagogues’ Stories” website offers a virtual tour of the hall.

It is worth combining the visit with the old Neolog cemetery (entrance at Strada Toporaș 4). According to the community’s website it is closed on Shabbat, on holidays, on Rosh Hodesh and throughout the month of Nisan; hours on other days are posted on the community’s site and differ between summer and winter.