Reviving a 150-year-old tradition: Jewish youth in Budapest make history

The Jewish community in Budapest inaugurated a historic Orthodox synagogue at 23 Dessewffy Street, which will be managed and operated by teenagers up to age 18 under the Chabad-affiliated C-Teen youth organization, funded by EMIH. The building, originally a stable built in 1870, resumed activity after over a decade of silence.

The Jewish community in Budapest has inaugurated a synagogue unique in the world, not only catering to youth up to age 18 but also managed and operated by them. The officials, community leaders, and activity organizers are teenagers, with the goal that the historic Orthodox synagogue at 23 Dessewffy Street in the sixth district of the Hungarian capital will become the center of a young, vibrant, and independent Jewish community. The history of the prayer house began over 150 years ago, in 1870. The building originally served as a stable, and the first congregation to pray there largely consisted of Jewish coachmen, carriers, and porters known as "the red-hatted ones," who lived or worked near the Nyugati railway station. Later, the synagogue became associated with the "Bikur Cholim Society," and a "cheder" also operated there. In the generations after World War II, Laszlo Herzog (1950–2014) was one of the central figures there, serving as prayer leader, Torah reader, and teacher. His passing and the shrinking of the veteran community led to the cessation of regular religious life there over a decade ago. The building was rededicated in a grand event and will be managed by the international C-Teen youth organization affiliated with Chabad, with funding and support from the "Association of Torah Observers in Hungary" (EMIH), which inaugurated the historic synagogue in Ráskfalota about a month ago. Rabbi Shlomo Kovesh, Chief Rabbi of Hungary, said at the ceremony: "We are resolutely continuing the work aimed at restoring Jewish life to synagogues that were abandoned or closed." Rabbi Baruch Oberlander, the chief Chabad emissary in Hungary and president of the Orthodox Rabbinate of Budapest, emphasized that "the youth are the future of Hungarian Jewry." Gabor Keszler, president of the MAOIH Orthodox community, said that "a synagogue is truly alive when its doors are open." The mayor of Terézváros, Tamas Soproni, honored the event with his presence and said it is a natural continuation of a generations-old tradition.