Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

March 26, 2025

The Tykocin Synagogue and Its Magnificent Artwork

A rare surviving gem of East European Jewry.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the shtetl of Tykocin—located in what is now northeastern Poland—was home to such renowned talmudists as Shmuel Eidels (the Maharsha) and Jacob Joshua Falk (author of Pney Yehoshua). It was also home to an impressive synagogue building that survives to this day, with magnificent artwork painted on its walls and an elaborate lectern in the Cordovan style. Henry Abramson explains its history. (Video, 3 minutes.)

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