Co wiemy o żydowskich domach modlitwy na przykładzie Krakowa

What we know about Jewish houses of prayer on the example of Cracow

The house of prayer (heb. Bet Midrash - house of study) was a place, where Jews used to gather in order to study of the Law and the rabbinic texts. There one could also lead religious service. Judaic Law allowed to consume meals in the houses of prayer, or - if the situation required - to sleep there. Houses of prayer were established by private people, religious, Charity or handicraftsmen's societies. Cities with big agglomerations of Jewish people run even hundreds of houses of prayer. For example: about 400 houses of prayer in Warsaw, about 100 in Łódź and Lublin, and about 34 in Kielce functioned in the period between the 1st and 2nd World War.  There has been no detailed research to determine the number and localisation of all houses of prayer in Cracow yet.  The author of the article managed to set down names and addresses of 102 houses of prayer in Cracow on the basis of research. They were established over the span of years 1817 - 1938. Most of them were placed in buildings, where one or several rooms were adopted for religious purposes. Anywhere from ten to twenty big, sole houses of prayer were built in the beginning of twentieth century. They belonged to different religious societies.  After 1945 all houses of prayer in Cracow discontinued to fulfill religious functions. Nowadays galleries, schools, offices, private flats or cultural institutions reside there. Some of them were pulled down or reconstructed on account of bad technical conditions.