The synagogue of Ulm, Germany, 2023.
The Jewish symbol of the Star of David is used to create patterned windows in the limestone walls of the synagogue in Ulm, Germany. The town's original synagogue was torn down in 1938 as part of the Kristallnacht, or "night of broken glass", a series of attacks on Jewish community buildings within Nazi Germany. After World War II, a secular building was constructed where the old synagogue once stood. The current synagogue was reinstated right beside the site of its predecessor, in the middle of the square. It is as though the synagogue has taken a step forward from its former position, reclaiming its location. Both a synagogue and a Jewish community centre are contained within the cubical structure, which stands apart from the surrounding buildings. With no constructed borders, it stands abrupt and solitary recalling the building of the first temple.
When Solomon was building his temple to God, there was to be no noise. The stones were to be hewn in the quarry and brought to the place of construction. One of the stones was the largest stone ever taken out of a quarry. It’s a miracle of engineering that without the use of earth moving machinery, the Israelites were able to haul this enormous cubical stone to the temple site and set it in place. Once there, the builders weren’t sure what to do with it. It didn’t seem to fit anywhere in the blueprints for the temple. So, the builders pushed it over the temple mount into the Kidron Valley and there it lay. Later, they realized their mistake and hauled it back up again. They placed it in the foundation of the temple and it remains on the western wall of the temple mount to this day.
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