"Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors," says the Book of Psalms, and that is also the jubilee message of the Dohány Street Synagogue of Budapest: to open the gates to the world. The building is important to three different gropus. It has an  active religious life, , but more people are drawn by its social-cultural Additionally, the synagogue is also an important tourist attraction, competing with Europe's greatest.

The Dohány Street Synagogue is well-placed in many respects: it is the world's second largest synagogue and the largest active one in Europe, as many other synagogues fell victim to the Second World War. According to Zsuzsanna Toronyi, head of the Hungarian Jewish Archives, which can be found in the building, it is not worth arguing about whether the Dohány Street Synagogue of Budapest or the one in Amsterdam is bigger, as the result is different if we consider the dimensions, the cubic meters or the number of seats. In any case, the building in Dohány Street stands out among the neolog synagogues with its monumentality, and its popularity grows each year: while in 2002 it was visited by some 68 thousand peoplein 2008 the number of visitors was 176 thousand, making  it one of the country's most frequently visited buildings.

And yet, as Chief Rabbi Róbert Fröhlich relates, when the synagogue was built, it caused quite a scandal, for the building - designed by German architect Ludwig Förster in Moorish style - was barely any different from a Christian cathedral. The Torah reading table, the Bimah, was moved from the center to the front, and the three-nave structure, the two steeples with the chimes, the internal ornamental art and the rose-window all contradict the classical architectural style of synagogues. The world's largest synagogue in New York is sad and grey compared to this one.

But the greatest "sacrilege" in the eyes of Orthodox Jews was the organ and the choir. To this day, it is disputed whether it is permitted to pray in such a church. "This hasn't changed since the synagogue was built, and will probably not change in the next 150 years, either," says Chief Rabbi Fröhlich. That is why the Orthodox Jews who can be seen in the streets of the Jewish Quarter (most of whom arrive in  Budapest as foreigners with Hungarian roots) prefer to worship at the synagogue on Kazinczy Street instead.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, all the different denominations built their places of worship along the city limits of the time, that is why the Protestant Church on Calvin Square, the Lutheran Church on Deák Square and the Basilica on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street form a complete arc along the "Small Boulevard/Kiskörút". "The Hungarian Jewry acquired a building site in Dohány Street: the reason the entrance of the church is at a different angle from the street is because the Holy Ark must face East, towards Jerusalem," explains Zsuzsanna Toronyi, who has - on the occasion of the anniversary - organised an exhibition of the objects which were kept in the cellar under the Torah cabinet. Her favourites are the name plates signalling the owners of the 2840 seats. The seats could be bought, what's more, a mortgage could even be signed on the property. There was a saying that members of the synagogue district had to own a flat, a summer house and a seat in the Dohány Street Synagogue.

The story of two seats can be read at the exhibition: one of them is that of Johanna Bischitz, founder of the Jewish Women's Association of Pest, the other is that of the owner of the first iron ore factory in Budapest, Lipót Feiwel. The newspapers of the time, which can be seen in the storage area of the cellar, relate the "social" events that took place within the walls of the synagogue: at the time, what Franz Joseph and Sissi said or did was just as important as what appears in the press today regarding the list of politicians participating at the celebrations held in the synagogue. "It's a good thing if there is at least one reason for the right and the left to sit down beside one another," says Rabbi Fröhlich.

Apart from the restoration of the synagogue, which took place between 1991 and 1996, significant changes can be seen in the whole quarter. Kosher restaurants, shops, boutiques, gift shops and bookshops have opened, the butcher's and the cake-shop have been redecorated. The cafés with palm trees in Gozsdu Court(aka Madách Gardens) or the performances held in the Spinoza Restaurant-Theatre on Dob Street attract people from other parts of the city. In the past few years, the number of visitors to the Jewish Summer Festival, which was organised for the 12th time this year, has multiplied tenfold. According to Vera Vadas, head of the Jewish Tourism and Cultural Center (ZSIKK), the renaissance of Jewish culture and Klezmer music is a result of the summer festival. It is ZSIKK that coordinates the synagogue's touristic life as well. Foreigners are guided in seven different languages by ten tourist guides. They are shown round the synagogue, the Heroes' Memorial Temple, built in 1931 in honour of the soldiers who died during World War I, the Jewish Museum and the cemetery created during World War II,  They are also shown the Memorial Park, at the center of which stands the Tree of Life, depicting a weeping willow, designed by the famous sculptor, Imre Varga. An external, glass panoramic lift is to be built soon, and the Jewinform - offering information about the quarter and sights worth seeing elsewhere in the country - will open at the gate of the Jewish quarter.

Tourists may only enter the church if their shoulders are covered, and for men it is obligatory to wear a kippah or scullcap. The same refers to services held on Friday evening and Saturday morning: the neighbourhood of the synagogue is quiet, the old and young, Hungarians and foreigners arrive, around a hundred people. The men sit in the center, the women on the two sides. Around five hundred families are registered on the list of taxpayers. For them, the synagogue is not the symbol of Hungarian Jewry, it is "simply" Dohány Street. According to Róbert Fröhlich, the religious community has grown younger in the past sixteen years: when he first came here, the average age was 80, today it is around fifty. Most believers are familiar with the rituals and ceremonies and know that the synagogue is also the scene of encounters. And what may seem strange or surprising to outsiders is natural for them: talking is allowed during the religious service.

It is not only traditional religious holidays that are observed in synagogues, but also other important events of the world. For example, on September 11th, the Chief Rabbi turned to his congregation and told them that the Kaddish of that day was also for the Jews who died in the Twin Towers of New York City.

Saturday service

D. M. | kultura@hetivalasz.hu

For decades, Gábor Lisznyay-Szabó, Roman Catholic church musician, played the organ of the Terézváros Parish Church and that of the Dohány Street Synagogue simultaneously. According to the law of Moses, it is prohibited to work on Saturdays - and playing the organ counts as work - that is why it is traditionally a Christian musician who plays on that day. Mária Lisznyay-Szabó took over from her father in the synagogue in 1971.

"It seems there was no question about what profession you would choose."

"When I was a little girl, on Friday nights, when my father came to play the organ in the synagogue, I accompanied him whenever I could. I would sit there and listen attentively. Often he would teach me solmization in the street, while walking. In truth, I always wanted to be a music teacher, and I graduated in 1976. I followed my father's footsteps and studied at the college for Catholic cantors, too. Besides playing the organ, I was also the leader of the youth choir and wrote textbooks on music theory. I still teach harmonics as part of the graduate training course for Catholic cantors."

"What was it that touched you the most in Jewish music?"

"Its beautiful eastern sound, and most of all, its improvisatory nature. My father had a quartet made up of Jewish singers and cantors. I must have been around five years old when they came to our house to rehearse. One of them sang a tune that I can still remember to this day. On another occasion, some Catholic monks came. At Christmas, I used to play on the piano, accompanying my sister, who played the violin. We would perform Mennyből az angyal (Angel from Heaven - a Christmas carol frequently sung in Hungary), then we would sing Hanukkah songs with the children from the Jewish Orphanage."

"How did you practice your Catholic faith?"

"On Sundays, my sister and I went to children's Mass at the chapel in Vörösmarty Street. Monks taught us religious education, and I was five years old when, with pontifical permission, I received my first communion. My father played the organ in the synagogue on Friday nights, on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays, and today I continue this service."

"Why don't you do musical service in Catholic churches?"

"The work here is more varied, you have to improvise, and I can express myself better with the music here. Also, I did not really want to play the organ at funerals."

"Right up to the 19th century, they did not build organs in synagogues, what's more, according to Orthodox believers, a musical instrument in church is a "sacrilege". So I suppose there are few pieces written for the organ in Jewish lithurgy."

"There are no organs in orthodox synagogues, so the neolog Dohány Street Synagogue is unique in this respect as well. There are mainly pieces written for choir with organ accompaniment, and preludiums, so at services it is mainly improvisations that can be heard. My father composed a great deal, he jotted down the Jewish tunes from tapes, and wrote accompaniments to them on the organ. He also composed a great solo organ piece: the preludium to the Jewish prayer of repentance that starts with Unöszáne Tajkef, which could also be heard at the ceremony commemorating the synagogue's 150th anniversary."

"What is worth knowing about the organ of the synagogue?"

"The first instrument of the synagogue was built in the organ factory of Schulze and Sons, in Thüringen, following the pattern of the organ of the great synagogue in Vienna. In 1931, it was further developed in Otto Rieger's organ factory in Budapest. The organ, with its 70 register pipes, 4 manuals, 5030 pipes and 48 chimes, was, in its day, one of the largest organs in the country. Its present form dates from the reconstruction of the synagogue in 1996, and was built in the Jemlich factory in Dresden. Today it is a four manual, 56+10 register organ with a double row of keyboards."

"Do you sometimes give concerts?"

"I am not a performer, that never appealed to me. I regard my work as a kind of service, for the glory of God."