Polish Museum Unveils Synagogue Roof

THE TIMES AND DEMOCRAT 
By Associated Press

The painted ceiling of a reconstructed wooden synagogue that dates back
centuries, photographed in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday March 12, 2013.

POLAND — In March, a Jewish history museum in Warsaw unveiled a reconstructed synagogue roof with an elaborately painted ceiling modeled on a 17th-century structure, presenting the first object that will go on permanent display in the highly awaited museum. The wooden roof and ceiling will be a key attraction in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which is due to open next year in the heart of the city’s former Jewish quarter. The ceiling is a rich panoply in milky blues and brownish reds of zodiac signs and animal symbols, along with inscriptions in Hebrew. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, the program director of the museum’s core exhibition, said some of the animals express Messianic yearnings prevalent in Polish Jewish communities after a period of wars and destruction in the 17th century. “It’s a heavenly canopy,” Kirshenblatt-Gimblett said. “It’s celestial. It’s literally the heavens and the world to come.” [link]

Rabbi Boaz Pash from the Jewish Community of Warsaw looks up at roof