We got back on the road and drove 35 Kms. south to Saluzzo. From the window of the car, we could see why this area is called Piedmont - at the foot of the mountains - as thenAlps loomed high everywhere we looked.
And as it was lunch time, we sat at an outdoor cafe, where they were happy to let us eat our lunches as long as we purchased coffees.
Across the road there was a small laneway called Via Deportati Ebrei, the street of the Jewish deportees in memory of the 29 Jews from Saluzzo murdered in the Holocaust.
The earliest record of Jews in Saluzzo was in the mid 1400s, and by the end of the 1500's there was a cemetery and 13 families with a total population of 68. At its height, the population numbered no more than 200-300 Jews, who were employed mainly as moneylenders, jewellers and traders of fine fabrics.
Again from the street, there was no indication of a shul. It is in the building on the right of the above picture. We entered a small courtyard through an archway and then climbed three floors to enter the shul. The building is from the 1700s and the Aron is from that era. The synagogue was rebuilt in 1832 and was recently restored.
There is a centre raised bimah whose floor level extends to the Aron. It is gold plated sculpted wood with mirror inserts.
Recently when the restoration was in process, they discovered that the vaulted ceilings were covered in frescos (think Michaelangelo) that depict scenes of Jewish content including a detailed illustration of the order of the encampment of the Israelites in the desert.
We were beginning to detect a pattern here. Synagogues hidden away but possessing great artistic value. Synagogues that almost all gave great thanks and kavod to King Carlos Alberto who granted the Jews total freedom to worship and live outside ghetto walls at the time of Emancipation in the mid 1800's.
Small communities who dedicated themselves to ensuring that there was a Jewish life and a place in which to gather worship and socialize. Communities that over time dwindled and disappeared.
We were off to our fourth synagogue of the day in the town of Cuneo, 33 Kms south of Saluzzo.
When we arrived in the old section of the city, we met a Jewish lady who lives in Cuneo and who has been very involved in the restoration of the space in memory of her husband a"h.
The community began in the early 1400s when a few Jews from Provence were allowed to reside in the city, and by the end of the 1500s descendants of the "Pope's Jews" arrived from Avignon. They were given that name because when the pope was exiled from Rome, he brought his Jewish financiers and bankers with him to Avignon. So well were the Jews of Cuneo accepted that the local market day was changed from Saturday to Friday.
The synagogue unlike the two previous communities was on a Main Street and was clearly visible as a synagogue with the possuk "v'asu li mikdash veshachanti betocham" embossed along the top of the facade of the structure.
We entered a tall rectangular sanctuary, with much gold leaf bordering the panels that lined the walls. In the front of the shul was a very ornate Aron with wood carvings and depictions of the vessels used in the Beit Hamikdash. Once again, we marvelled at the beauty of a shul in such a small Kehilla.
Some unique things that we saw in this shul was a yartzeit plaque which was different from any we had seen till now as it was hand written on paper.
There was also a list of "Takanot" or rules regarding who can serve as the shaliach tzibbur for the High Holy Days and for Selichot.
And then in the corner of the room was a raised pulpit where the Rav would speak and below it a stone plaque which read "al ha-nes she-naaseh po" (for the miracle that happened here) in memory of the miracle of Purim Della Bomba.
This occasion was celebrated in Cuneo for about 140 years commemorating a miracle which occurred during the Napoleonic war in 1800 on the 4th of Kislev, when a bomb fell on the synagogue where Jews congregated for the evening prayers, but miraculously, no one was hurt. On the anniversary of the day of salvation, which was called Purim Sheni, the community gathered and remembered by reciting Hallel and piyyutim, removing Sifrei Torah from the ark and doing hakafot (circling the bimah), etc. The special celebration of this event was ended when the Holocaust began.
We then went downstairs to an area that has been totally renovated in recent years to be used as a meeting place and library. It is quite amazing that people are still putting effort into building and renovating Jewish areas of interest when the community has few Jews left. One of the items that we saw in the library was a Pirkei Avot published between 1712 and 1718 in Mantova, Italy.
Our final stop of the day was the beautiful synagogue in Cherasco, 48 Kms away.
The community dates back to the mid 1500s and at its height consisted of 100 Jews. The Synagogue here is on the top floor of a plain residential building and again without a guide, you would never know that there was a shul here.
The shul dates back to the late 1700s and the bimah, with its twisted columns and huppah like roof in the centre of the room facing the ornately carved Aron, resembles a number of the shuls seen earlier in the day.
Once again, plaques adorned the walls of the room with names of donors hidden in Pesukim and phrases.
A beautifully artistic Brich Shemai was painted on the wall.
Behind the parochet were beautifully painted and carved wooden doors of the Aron.
And so ended a full day of shul hopping.
We walked away with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, these were people who truly cared about their religion and invested heavily, way beyond the ability of their numbers, in creating a mikdash me'at for their tiny communities. We tried to think of anyplace that we had visited where we had seen such beautiful synagogues and so many in one region and we came up blank. It was truly inspiring.
On the other hand, it was depressing to see a precious heritage and legacy that had almost totally disappeared and was now relegated to museum like displays. Jewish life had seemed to come to an end in all places in Piedmont other than Torino. It was sad.
We are so happy that we took the time to do this tour. You get one chance to do it and as they say, one must seize the opportunity.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we do some more shul hopping, but this time without Baruch Lampronti. We visit three shuls in the northern area of Piedmont, in Casale Monferrato, in Vercelli and in Biella. And yes, there are more surprises and more mixed feelings.
All the best
Fran and David
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