|
Bobowa
Bobowa is a gmina seat in the Gorlice district of the Małopolska voivodship. It lost its status as a town in 1934.
Worth seeing:
- the synagogue
- All Saints' church (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries)
- Gothic church of St. Sophia
- Renaissance fortified manor house in Jeżów
- former manor house in Bobowa
The town's origins reach back to the Middle Ages, but Bobowa had many different owners and never became as important as for example nearby Biecz. The Jaworski and Długoszowski families owned the town for the longest time. Its importance in the medieval period is evidenced by its three churches and trade privileges.
The synagogue. Photo: A.Olej&K. Kobus:
Jews appeared in Bobowa in 1732, when the town's owner, Michał Jaworski, permitted them to settle in the town. As was usually the case, they were primarily involved in trade, but also in crafts, mainly tailoring, baking and cap-making. The women, in the local tradition, made bobbin-lace, which in the second half of the nineteenth century became increasingly popular. In 1914, the Jews comprised 48% of the town's total population.
The famous tsaddik Halberstam was also active during the second half of the nineteenth century. He founded a dynasty of tsaddikim and a well-known yeshiva. Szlomo Halberstam (1847-1906), grandson of the tsaddik from Nowy Sącz, Chaim Halberstam, the rabbi of Oświęcim and Wisznica, was an outstanding teacher of rabbis. He advocated an ascetic way of life and opposed public education. As a result, he founded his own court and Talmudic school, which attracted Jews from Central Europe. The fame of the Bobowa court was reinforced by Halberstam's successor, Ben Cion Halberstam (1874-1941), who founded other yeshivot all over Małopolska and organized assistance for Jews escaping the Third Reich. He was also a gifted musician and composed many songs. After the Second World War broke out, he escaped to Lwów with his family, where he was shot along with other Chasidim after the Germans entered.
|
His son Szlomo Halberstam (b. 1908) survived the Holocaust and ensured continuity for the Bobowa dynasty, whose main postwar center became New York. The Bobowa Chasidim belong to one of the most dynamic Chasidic communities in the world, with Bobowa synagogues in New York, London, Jerusalem, Antwerp, Toronto and Montreal. In November 1939, the Germans arrested members of the local intelligentsia, with the rest were sent to do forced labor, digging trenches. Attempts to escape were punishable by death, as was aid to Jews or Polish partisans. In this way, the Germans pacified the village of Wilczyska for its support of the Polish resistance.
In October 1941, the Germans created a ghetto in Bobowa, which was liquidated in August 1942. Twenty-five people were shot and about 700 were sent to Stróżówka, where a mass execution took place in the Garbacz forest. The rest were deported to camps.
The cemetery and the ohel. Photo: A.Olej&K. Kobus:
Jews built a synagogue soon after they first began settling in Bobowa. A great fire that destroyed the town in 1889 left its mark on the synagogue, as did the devastation wrought by the Germans during the Second World War. Shortly after the war, it was rebuilt, but during the communist period housed a school's workshops. The building is located near the square. It is built on a rectangular layout with a square annex. The large prayer room was built of stone and covered with a vault supported by four columns. Its western part is made of wood. A wall painting dating back to 1778 has survived on its eastern wall, having plant and animal motifs, which serves as an elaborate decoration for the aron ha-kodesh - one of the most valuable surviving historical works of Jewish sacral art in Poland. Recently discovered wall paintings are visible on the other walls.
In 1993, the building became the property of the Kraków Jewish Community. It was renovated thanks to funds from Rabbi Asche Scharf of New York, and a grand reopening was held in July 2003. It currently serves as a place of prayer for visiting Jews and is also open to the public.
To the southwest of Bobowa, on the hill above the road to Grybów, is a kirkut, where the grave of tsaddik Halberstam is located, as well as about 200 matsevot. It has been tidied up and fenced. Tadeusz Nowak is its caretaker.
You are welcome to discuss about "Bobowa"
|
mapa miejsc
|