And I Shall Dwell Among Them: Historic Synagogues of the World

by Neil Folberg, Yom Tov Assis

For nearly two millennia, from the year 70 until the founding of Israel in 1948, the Jewish people were without a homeland. But wherever they wandered in the great Diaspora they continued the tradition of building synagogues as refuge for their beliefs and testament to their strength and accomplishments as a people. And I Shall Dwell Among Them considers the spiritual, architectural and cultural significance of these structures. It is the first study to document the synagogues with both scholarly depth and photographic excellence. “Among the phenomena Neil Folberg detected in his search for historic synagogues was that wherever Jews settled--whether in Morocco, Hungary or the American South--the designs of their temples reflected the prevailing style of the environment. But it is the building's power to evoke spirituality that comes across most forcefully in his photographs.”
-- New York Magazine

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Lorri]

Words can’t articulate the beauty of the photographs within the 176 pages. The book contains incredibly stunning and magnificent photographs of synagogues of the world, every part of the world, from the U.S. and Canada, to cities in Europe and cities in Northern and Eastern Europe, and it includes synagogues in the Caribbean and in India, also several in Uzbekistan and in Morocco and other locations worldwide, In fact, while reading the book today (the entire book, more than once), I was surprised to see a photograph of the interior of Congregation Mikveh Israel on page 89. It is located in Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A. I have my own photographs of that synagogue interior and exterior, and you can see an interior capture I took, just below this paragraph.

Neil Folberg’s dedication to capturing the essence of the synagogues of the world is masterful. This is a book I will treasure.