This summer, an expedition of the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem traveled through the historic region of Podolia, today divided between Ukraine and Transnistria/Moldova, to document surviving synagogues and other remnants of centuries of Jewish life.
Title image: Medzhybizh Beit Midrash of the Besht
The August 2026 expedition was conducted as part of an Israel Science Foundation-funded research project, with support from the United Jewish Community of Ukraine and the Moldova Jewish Museum.
Podolia holds a central place in Jewish history and is considered the cradle of Hasidism. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, lived and died in Medzhybizh, where his grave remains an important pilgrimage site today.
But the expedition also highlighted just how fragile the region’s Jewish heritage has become. Of at least 600 synagogues that existed in Podolia in 1914, only 49 buildings remain standing today. Some still serve Jewish communities, while others have been converted into homes, offices or shops, and many are deteriorating ruins.
“Every synagogue we document tells us something about the Jewish communities that once lived here, but also reminds us how much has already been lost. Many of these buildings are in extremely fragile condition, so documenting them today is essential if we want their history to remain accessible to future generations.”
Among the sites visited were the 18th-century Great Synagogue of Rașcov, the historic beit midrash in Bershad, which has never been closed and still serves the local Jewish community, and surviving synagogue buildings in Zhmerynka.
The team also encountered contemporary Jewish life, including a small but vibrant community in Kamianets-Podilskyi, showing that Podolia’s Jewish story is not only one of loss and preservation, but also of continuity.
All materials collected during the expedition are already available through the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art and Material Culture, maintained by the Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University. The database contains more than 600,000 photographs and drawings documenting Jewish objects and buildings around the world and can be accessed at : https://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php
Link to photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qV6pDnzWEn1Uamt__ik9T3kdOBhdOXg2?usp=drive_link Credit for photos: Center for Jewish Art
