Bielsk Podlaski

The Yefeh 'Einayim Synagogue

 

“In 1898, construction of a new synagogue began, on the location of the earlier one from the 16th century. The new building was called the “Yefeh 'Einayim” [lit. lovely or beautiful eyes] synagogue, after the title of the book by the town's Rabbi, Aryeh Loeb Yellin. Beside it was the new beit-midrash (study house) “Sha'arei Tzion” (erected in 1889) and another beit-midrash.”¹  

Photograph of the interior of the Yefeh 'Einayim wooden synagogue in Bielsk Podlaski on page 169
of the Bielsk Podlaski Yizkor book. The caption reads: "Photographed in 1919 by a Christian German soldier
who was impressed by the beauty of the building." The 1973 book "Rabbi Areyh Loeb Yellin, Author of "Yefeh 'Einayim"" by Rivka Ziskind,
dates this photo to 1921. Another source states that holding the Torah scroll is Elie Korytski,
Chief Rabbi of Bielsk Podlaski. However, Rabbi Moshe Bendas became Chief Rabbi in 1917. Photo contributed by Tomy Wisniewski.

The Yefeh 'Einayim synagogue (as well as other synagogues and the town’s rabbis) was written about in the Bielsk Podlaski yizkor book, Bielsk-Podliask; Book in the Holy Memory of the Bielsk Podliask Jews Whose Lives Were Taken During the Holocaust Between 1939 and 1944. The chapter Centers of Interest in Bielsk on page 95:

“Another synagogue, which was called “Yefeh 'Einayim” (lit. beautiful eyes), was the shul for the elites, the grand figures of the city, and even its place and form indicated that. It stood on a high location in the center of a spacious garden with fruit trees and with benches for resting, and so forth. The windows of the building were wide, the ceiling of the hall was supported by pillars, but the holy ark was “modern” as in every other place.”

Photograph of the exterior of the wooden Yefeh 'Einayim synagogue in Bielsk Podlaski, taken during the interwar period.
The photo is on page 218 of the Bielsk Podlaski yizkor book, in the chapter titled The Life Story of R' Aryeh Loeb Yellin.

The yizkor book chapter "Bielsk Podlaski - My Birthplace," on page 262, states that during WWI, "Two big fires severely damaged the city, one during the battles when the three synagogues that were concentrated on one square were burned. “The Alter,” “The Alt-Niya” and the “Hachnasaat Orchim Synagogue” as well as the shtibel [small prayer house or room] of the chassidim, the municipal bath and the “Hekdesh” – the shelter for paupers. After that, a large fire destroyed almost an entire street in the center of the city." The maps linked to below show the proximity of the synagogues. 

From "Yefeh 'Einayim [יפה העינים] (Rabbi Aryeh Loeb Yellin)" on page 167, part of the chapter "The Rabbis' Deeds," in the Bielsk Podlaski Yizkor book.
The caption reads: "After the fire, the Beit Midrash is rebuilt."

The synagogue was within the boundaries of the ghetto created by the Nazis in 1941. It served as the headquarters of the Judenrat (Jewish Council established by the Nazis) and the meeting place of the Jewish police. From time to time the Germans stormed the building.² The approximate boundaries of the ghetto, and the Jewish sites within it, can be seen on this Google map. A memorial plaque placed on the site of the former Shaarei Zion synagogue, displays a map of the center of town. It includes partial boundaries of the ghetto and the former location of the Yefeh 'Einayim synagogue as well as other Jewish sites.

In the chapter "In the Holocaust in Russia and also Bielsk Before and After its Destruction," on page 144, the author wrote that after WWII "I heard that the central Great Synagogue was dismantled and its parts were sold." In this story about the discovery of a Torah scroll in Bielsk by the family of Moshe Alpert, who wrote three chapter in the yizkor book on pages 165, 235, and 462, it is said that Jews were herded into the synagogue which was then set on fire. Another story is that the synagogue was dismantled because the wood was needed to construct the wall that the Jews were ordered by the Nazis to build around the ghetto.

Footnotes 

1.      Bielsk chapter of Pinkas Hakehillot Polin, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume VIII. <return>

2.      “In the Bielsk Ghetto & the Camps,” by Meir Peker, in Bielsk-Podliask; Book in the Holy Memory of the Bielsk Podliask Jews Whose Lives Were Taken During the Holocaust Between 1939 and 1944. <return>

Updated March 14, 2024
Copyright © 2023 Andrew Blumberg

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