The fact that the synagogue in Tykocin was not destroyed during World War II should be regarded as a miracle. The near-total destruction of the Jewish community was inextricably linked to the annihilation of the material and cultural heritage of many generations. Almost everything disappeared. From dishes to houses, from Torah scrolls to the Yiddish language, from everyday customs to the craftsmanship of Jewish artisans. Everything was lost, but not in Tykocin. Between 2016 and 2018, the synagogue building was fully restored, and its furnishings and collection of Judaica impressed even the most outstanding experts in the field.
The Tykocin Synagogue was built in 1642 – on the site of an old wooden synagogue, a brick one was erected, modeled after the defensive synagogue in Pinsk. Both the size and the construction of the building indicated the rank of its founders. For comparison, in Zabłudów, Suchowola, and many other places, wooden synagogues were built, which by their nature were less durable. In Tykocin, a huge synagogue was constructed, considering it was the 17th century. The main hall, the men's hall – roughly square in plan, measuring 18×18 meters – had two extensive women's rooms or spaces for women and children attached to it, as well as a vestibule – a lobby that served various functions. On holidays, the Tykocin synagogue gathered about 1,000 worshippers. On weekdays, life also buzzed here: the community (kehillah), religious schools – cheder and yeshiva – were located here, and finally, a prison cell was arranged in the corner tower. In other words, for 300 years, Tykocin was a religious, and in practice also an administrative and educational center.
In 1522, Olbracht Gasztold (Grand Chancellor and Voivode of Troki) issued a privilege for the castle in Grodno; in simpler terms, he invited the Grodno Jews to his town of Tykocin. Ten Jewish families moved to a separate district called Kaczorowo (then unattractive because it was damp). Fifty years later, out of 394 families living in Tykocin, 59 were Old Believer families (15%). In 1771, out of 2,600 inhabitants of the town, 1,376 professed Judaism (48%).
A few years after settling in Tykocin, the Jews received additional privileges, which were later expanded by King Stephen Báthory and confirmed by Sigismund III Vasa, Władysław IV, and John II Casimir. In addition to exempting Jews from municipal court jurisdiction, they were allowed to trade in all royal towns and villages, as well as in private centers belonging to the clergy and nobility. Obviously, other centers were very jealous of the Tykocin Jews! The latter, on the other hand, made the most of their historic opportunity....
Today, Tykocin is a small town located away from major transport routes and centers. During the times of the First Polish Republic, it was a kind of center of the universe – it is no coincidence that Sigismund Augustus built the largest fortress here on ethnically Polish lands. In the shadow of great politics and wars, the painstaking work of the Tykocin Jews continued. Tykocin’s location at the crossroads of trade routes connecting the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus with Gdańsk and western markets offered virtually unlimited trading opportunities. Countless tons of timber and other goods flowed down the Narew River.
The Jews of Tykocin conducted trade on both local and international levels. They had regular trade contacts with Gdańsk, Königsberg, Wrocław, and beyond. In 1537, an agent of the Mogilev merchants bought lard in Tykocin and brought it back to Warsaw. In 1541, Ilya Moseyevich Doktorovich made deals with Nuremberg merchants. Aron Bosco traded with Vilnius, Kaunas, Poznań, and Lublin. By that time, the Jews of Tykocin were engaged in an extremely profitable business involving various types of leases, customs duties, and revenues to the princely and royal treasury.
The extremely active Jewish community of Tykocin was not only involved in trade and property leasing but also dominated crafts and conducted highly profitable credit and monetary operations. Jan Klemens Branicki entrusted the Tykocin kehillah with managing sectors usually monopolized by the heir, namely brewing and taverns where beer and strong spirits were served, butcher shops, tanneries, meat trade, management of inns, and land property administration. Another testament to the trust in the honesty of the Tykocin Jews was the fact that they were entrusted with sums from wills and property records in favor of churches – with the obligation to pay annual commissions. In other words, the community acted as a bank. The community’s role grew along with its wealth – soon the kehillah became the second most important in the Polish Republic. The first and foremost role, of course, was played by the Jews of Kazimierz in Kraków. In the Crown Sejm, the Jews sat right next to them, on their right hand, were usually the Jews from Tykocin.
Tykocin was also an important center of Talmudic culture and scholarship. Many famous rabbis and Torah scholars lived here. The daughter of one of them – Mordechai Tiktiner – Rivka (Rebecca) Tiktiner (circa 1550–1605) entered history as the first Jewish poetess and Talmudic writer. She wrote both in Hebrew and Yiddish.
The community’s development continued until the fall of the First Polish Republic. After changes in borders, trade routes, and authorities, the Jews of Tykocin lost their privileges and opportunities to earn good income. The town grew poorer year by year. Eventually, Tykocin turned into a provincial shtetl after a railway line was laid nearby, and Białystok became one of the most important centers of the textile industry. The final end of the life of the Tykocin Jews came in August 1941. Almost all of them were brutally murdered by the Germans – about 2,100 people. They were buried in mass graves in the forest near the village of Łopuchowo, where they rest to this day. Only 150 survived the massacre; by the end of the war, 21 people remained alive.
We enter the main hall of the synagogue by descending steps, which are meant to remind us of the words from the Torah: “Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.” However, this is not about descending in the literal sense, but about a certain life attitude: humility and modesty towards God, people, the world, and everything that life brings.
The main hall has a square layout; the most important wall, the eastern one facing Jerusalem, is not built on the outside, as prescribed by the rules. It is on this wall that the Aron ha-Kodesh, the altar cabinet where the synagogue’s greatest treasure – the Torah scrolls – is kept.
The Tykocin Synagogue is a nine-bay building – look up – we are talking about the vault – the central field is supported by four massive columns, which at the same time form the bimah.
The bimah is the equivalent of a pulpit or podium, located in the center so that all present can hear the prayers. The harmonious combination of vaults and the bimah is a symbolic agreement between heaven and earth. The bimah was used not only for circumcision but also for reading earthly messages and words of curses.
Photo by Monika Tarajko
You must not overlook the deep symbolism of the synagogue’s vault. It seems to be the sky with stars, yet on the eight fields there is a certain number of stars:
“The eight parts of this dome-like structure are a sign of the perfection of the Lord’s words addressed to Abraham: ‘And every male child among you shall be circumcised on the eighth day of his life.’ There are stars in the sky to which divine ideas are attributed. On the three fields of the ark, there are 13 stars – as many as the months in a leap year of the Jewish calendar. At the thirteenth year of every person’s life, a bar mitzvah – a solemn confirmation – was held here, on the bimah. In the four fields, we count 11 stars each. This number contains a warning against violating divine rights.
Sources:
https://bialystoksubiektywnie.com/en/blog/2019/04/12/synagogue-in-tykocin-history-visit-guide/
