Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

After nearly eight decades, Moldova reopens synagogue seized by Soviets

About 300 people attended the reopening of the Wooden Synagogue, or Lemnaria Synagogue, which was founded in 1835 and seized in 1940.

Chisinau, Moldova. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Chisinau, Moldova. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

A synagogue in Moldova that was seized by the Soviet Union almost eight decades ago was reopened on Sunday.

About 300 people attended the reopening of the Wooden Synagogue, or the Lemnaria Synagogue, in the basement of the Kedem Jewish Community Center.

The synagogue was founded in 1835 and seized in 1940.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee opened the community center in 2005 in the building that consisted of the synagogue.

Alexandar Bilinkis, the president of Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova, along with Alexander Weinstein and Grinshpun Emmanuil, contributed the funds to enable the synagogue’s reopening.

Out of about 3 million people, fewer than 4,000 Jews reside in Moldova (as of 2012), which was party to pogroms and other persecution against Jews during the 19th and 20th centuries.

120 soldiers honored at President’s Residence ceremony marking 78th Independence Day.
Khamis Muhammad Khamis Qassas infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led massacre.
Hostile statements were spray-painted along the length of a school building, including: “Israel spit on Christians. They hate the world,” and “Israel kills kids.”
The report, compiled between August 2025 and January 2026, reveals that the P.A. paid terrorists after Trump’s 20-point plan went into effect.
The long-tailed duck was last observed in the Jewish state in 1986, in Eilat.
Palestine Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) Director Rafat Al-Qudra made the claim about the genetically engineered rodents to Fatah-run Awdah TV on April 15.