The Great Synagogue

The synagogue was erected on the site of the former house of prayer in the centre of the Jewish quarter of Kaczorowo situated on an island which existed there at that time.

Its construction was inspired by the desire to erect a synagogue worthy of the local kahal which exercised authority over the communities of Bialystok and Grajewo. According to some sources, it is modelled on the fortified synagogue in Pinsk, built in 1640. It is a square building (18m by 18m) with a tower in the north-east corner.

It used to perform many functions, being home to institutions such as the kahal and the court of law. The tower was used as a prison. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was agreat centre of intellect. The Talmudists studied and taught here, and among them scholars such as Menachem David ben Yitzhak, the pupil of Moses Isserles (Remuh) from Cracow, Shmuel Eliezer ben Yehuda ha-Levi Edels, Joshua ben Josef Elijahu Shapira and Eliezer Rokeach.

Redecorated in the 1840s, it was renowned for its rich furnishings, including valuable ark curtains. The Germans stripped it bare during the Second World War. The looted building was restored in the 1970sand turned into a museum. The nearby market stalls were never rebuilt.

The entrance leads you through the spacious hallway which once housed the kahal and the court. From here you can walk into the main prayer hall for men. The lowering of the level of the floor is the implementation of the words of psalmist: "From the depth I call Thee, Lord".

The hall is nine meters high. The exhibition in the synagogue is one of the most interesting displays of Jewish heritage in Poland. The bimah occupies the centre of the prayer hall. It does not contain a chair for circumcisions.

The nine-bay vaulting is typical of Polish synagogues. The wall paintings are very interesting. They contain biblical texts in Aramaic and Hebrew, as well as painted decorations depicting twigs and animal motifs. New discoveries are being made in the building all the time.

The oldest and most original features show up only when surface layers are removed. Some items from the interior, for example the candlesticks, have been re-created with the aid of old photographs taken by Szymon Zajczyk. The parochet is completely new (a gift from rabbi Schudrich and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation). The collection of artistic handicraft is quite astounding. Here you can find silver spice boxes, Chanukah lamps, and vessels used during the festival of Pesach. The phylacteries are particularly special.

The building next to the synagogue, now housing the museum and the Tejsha restaurant, is the former beit ha-midrash. It was erected in the period from 1772 to 1798. Totally destroyed during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in 1972. In recent years it underwent repair and remodelling during which a new roof was put on.

The figure of Rivka Tiktiner who lived in the first half of the 16th century is closely connected with the history of Tykocin. She was one of the very few women who gained respect as a religious authority in Judaism. As daughter of rabbi Mayer from Tykocin, she learned Hebrew and studied the Torah. She published her work Meneket Rivka about raising children and the duties of women. The book, published in 1609 in Prague and in 1618 in Cracow, was written in Yiddish in order to reach the greatest number of uneducated female readers. Rivka Tiktiner, an extraordinary character for her time, was the focus of great interest in Europe. In 1719 her monograph was published in Germany, under the title: De Rebecca Polona eruditarum in gente Judaica Foeminarium rariori exemplo (On Rebecca of Poland, the Rarest Example of a Female Scholar from the Jewish Nation).