The Shul
If you arrive in Mád by train, expect a tepid welcome. As we stood on the platform, the town sign loomed threateningly over the tiny rail station. Alongside the road to the village, an abandoned factory, one of thousands strewn across the eastern half of Europe, huddled in a forest of weeds. A handful of unbroken windows reflected sunlight in a way which appeared as if the ghosts of communist workers still toiled inside. Keep going, the reality of Mád isn’t nearly so grim.
A meager welcome to Mad…
Mád is, at its heart, a wine town – part of the Tokaj region of eastern Hungary. Yet we came to Mád with one goal, to visit the baroque synagogue built in 1795 – potentially the oldest in the country. I had read about the NY Times and seen photos of the interior. But I wanted to see for myself and had set an appointment to do just that.
We entered Mád on one of two seldom traveled roads which constitutes the village. Our meeting with the synagogue caretaker had been prearranged for 3PM. Barnabás Fehér was lying on a swing in his backyard as we approached. He jumped up and motioned “one minute”, dashed thru his back door and returned holding aloft an iron key–the length of a trout with the heft of a chisel. He nodded his head towards a tractor path which cut behind his property to the synagogue.
Barnabas with the key to the synagogue
Barnabás described everything we saw in Hungarian, painstakingly, slowly with the deliberation of a man who has performed this role for decades. He peppered his speech with English, German, Italian – pointing to a ruined building next to the synagogue as a “scuola” – which turned out to be a rabbinical school. A few steps past the school stood the simple shul – a beige and cream building with classically baroque domed windows and arched facade.
As soon as Barnabás opened the door, Pat set about to shoot photos attaching his camera to his tripod and scouting the best angles. The interior was cramped with a bimah, the spot where the Torah was read, in the center of the room surrounded by pillars. No single photo could possibly capture the entirety of the sanctuary.
While Pat worked, my girlfriend, Sue, and I followed Barnabás as he led us through the synagogue. He pointed to an upper balcony and indicated “women” and the lower floor he said, “men”. Then, he paused before a series of marble plaques inscribed with names and mournfully indicated, “Mort… Auschwitz”.
Prior to World War II, the 700 person Jewish population of Mád thrived, working in the wine industry – often as merchants. Yet today, not a single Jew lives in Mád. The synagogue serves as a memorial and an occasional performance hall. Monday prior to our visit, the Hungarian Jewish conductor, Ivan Fischer, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra performed at this venue.
Barnabás led us to an anteroom – a tiny museum of various religious items and pointed to a photo of the shul – devastated and burned. “No war, fire.” Behind the royal blue curtain, the ark contains “No Torah”. Sadly, in Central Europe today, many rural synagogues no longer serve a religious purpose.
The spectacular renovation
We spent nearly an hour in the synagogue. At times I wiped tears from my cheeks, yet overall I was captivated by the vibrant colors everywhere – blue, pink and tan; the gilded carvings and geometric designs; the silver and gold accents.Standing there, I vacillated between heartbreak and hope.
Tombstones dot the hillside
We left the synagogue and walked to the furthest end of town. There, fully visible over a concrete fence was the Jewish cemetery which dates back to 1769. Colorful tombstones inscribed in Hungarian, Hebrew, or both dotted the hillside. Up above the graves, row after row of grapes stretched as far as the eye could see.
Grapes cover the hillsides
Ironically, for me, the cemetery served as a reminder of the living, an indication of the vibrant Jewish community which existed in Mád for centuries. The synagogue, in all its opulence and color, today memorializes the dead – a tribute to this same community now gone.
As we rode the train back to Tokaj, Pat, Sue and I talked about what a special and moving day we had spent in Mád – a pilgrimage of sorts. We specifically returned to the far eastern corner of Hungary to see this one amazing building. As we pulled out of town, I felt so very grateful we had made the journey.
During our visit, we learned of the life of Barnabás Fehér. He has earned his own post which I hope to write shortly.
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Categories: Central/Eastern Europe
The World In Between 
This was a good read!
Thanks Pam.. We also had a wonderful time!… We all commented, one of the best days of our lives.
Last weekend, June 30th – July 2, 2017 – I was privileged to visit Mad, along with about 200 other fellow Jews.
The boys yeshiva you wrote about is now a beautiful, modern study house with black and white pictures depicting some of the families dragged to their deaths from Mad. Over 880 were taken to Auschwitz on the same day we arrived to Mad! Only about 15-20 survived, 19 came back to search for their families and left weeks later for America and Israel.
On the sabbath, the Main Street of Mad leading from the synagogue as the yeshiva on the hill was nice and alive by proud Jewish men wearing their tallises!
No Hungarian came out from their houses but I can assure you they were watching us from behind their curtains.
We had babies in strollers too!
The night before with a candle light procession many went up the hills to the Miracle Rabbis. I chose to walk those hills in Sunday morning with friends. It was a overwhelming experience with mixed feelings…
Thank you so much for this comment, Edith. I can not even imagine what this must have been like for you. I will need to return to see the school! Mad, Hungary might be the most moving place I’ve ever visited.
Was good hearing from you! You depicted the little town so well. Barnabas, I did inquire about him, he keeps mostly to himself nowadays… Due to frail health.
I’m trying to make connections and find if there are second generation children of survivors like mysel from Mad. Myself, I was born in Cluj, Klausenburg) Romania, after the war, and what I remember often is hearing that my grandparents and my dad’s first family while in the cattle trains they saw the sign “Kassa” in then Czecholovakia, and the poor Jews panicked.. They realized where the trains were taking them. That station is very close to Mad.
So for me, it was also going back in the footsteps of my family 73 years to date!!!!
That’s so great, Edith! Wow. What an emotional journey. I have a few ideas on research. First, in Mad, Gabo Bartha is a Hungarian from Romania (Transylvania) who lives in Mad. She is the person that put me in touch with Barnabas Feher. You can reach her (I believe this is still true) through the Budahazy Pince website. She might have ideas of contacts in the town that can help you.
Second, a man reached out to me whose father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all rabbis in Mad (all buried in the Mad cemetery next to their wives). In 2014, Joel was in NYC and had traveled to Mad 10 times in various Jewish reunions and memorials. If you email me from my website (use the contact button) I will send you his email address.
Lastly, you might want to reach out to whomever is the lead on Hungarian Jewish research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. They were very helpful on some research I did on the Slovak Jewish Community. Good luck!!!
I just enjoyed reading your ” a weekend in New York” that really takes me back to the 60’s as a young teen who moved to New York with my parents.
To this day I find Times Square don’t ask me how to even start describing it, as the epicenter of my memories of the 60’s!! Working for Icelandic Airlines, on 5 th Avenue, I would often walk down the Avenue to catch a subway home to Brooklyn from 34th Street. Oh those sights! Hawaii Kai, remember? Castro convertible, a sofa being opened by Bernadette? The Wienerwald, the gritty men walking by…. Not the same today, but I sure make it my business to do that walk each time I go into Manhattan…. Cafe Wha, O’ Neill’s in the Village..
What is your take on Budapest? I found it depressing, congested and rather unkept..
When will you visit Cluj? The next time I will ever again, it will be to post a deserving plaque to the more than 19,000 Jews taken from there -if go you go to the Iris brick factory which was turned into a ghetto for them, a real inferno, you will hardly notice a small rusted plaque.
The Germans, Romanians are planning to actually open on that sacred ground art exhibits and fun things as if they didn’t have enough empty places all over there…
I do Holocaust research and thank you I do know about Yad Vashem. They are good.
Looking forward to your next article!
Edith
Oh Edith… I remember all those things. Drug deals on Time Square. Teens trying to sell us pot while police officers stand idly nearby. Some of what left is better off gone, but I’m still not sure I love the new city.
We lived in a wonderful neighbourhood in Budapest and fell in love with it. But I can see how people could leave with different impressions. It’s a place we could live in, but we won’t. The government is too unstable and insane (sound familiar?).
I have no firm plans to return to Romania, but we did enjoy our short visit there. If we return, I will certainly put Cluj on the list!
I am a 1st gen American. My father was born in Kunágota, near Arad. I went to the unveiling of a holocaust memorial in Bekéscsaba in 2016. At that time, my father, read the names of neighbors he remembered from his childhood. We are not Jewish but my dad’s memory of the kindly neighbors forced expulsion scarred him. I am glad you are able to reclaim your heritage. Your words help to preserve history
Wow.. what a wonderful thing for your father to do (and a special memory for you). Thank you for sharing it.
Hello! I cannot explain how thrilled I am to read this post. My great-grandparents are from Mad; they left for America while they were expecting my grandfather. I have always been interested in genealogy, but it has been a struggle with the Hungarian side of my family. I did the Ancestry DNA test and was intrigued to find that I had a result of 7% European Jewish ancestry, and my grandfather’s results showed 26%. This was surprising because our family is exclusively Catholic (as far as we knew). When I shared this with Grandpa he relayed a family secret…his father was illegitimate, and his grandmother never revealed the identity of his father. We assume she never revealed her secret because the shame of being an unwed mother back then was amplified by the father being a different religion.
I am planning on visiting next year. I hope to learn more about this side of my family, and discover the family that has been kept secret for so long.
Wow. What an amazing discovery. Our day in Mad was one of my favorite days of the last 6 years. Good luck. I’d love to hear how your trip turns out.
Jen, I found your post interesting given the family story being very similarity. My fathers family all came from Mád as wealthy wine growers and merchants. They were all Catholic for three generations after my GGGF converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1860 or so. After my fathers death I was surprised when my DNA test showed 50% Jewish ancestry. So for three generations as Catholics my forefathers married converted Catholic woman in Hungary who were also 100% ethnically Jewish. It is all very fascinating.
Hi! Im trying to reach or get in touch with people from Mád who survived. My grandmother was one of them.
Please go to my website (www.theworldinbetween.com) and use the contact form to email me. I’ll give you more information. Good luck!
During these days of isolation because of covid19 I have started to delve into family history. I am so grateful to have stumbled across your site and to hear of your meaningful visit to Mad. I have come to find out that many of my great and great, great grandparents were born and married in Mad. I am anxious to organize a visit when bans are lifted. Do you have any current contacts that you can share. Most specifically I would be interested in the Jewish cemetery and any registrars office that might list births and deaths. Many thanks,
Shoshi
Hi… sorry this took me a while. I haven’t been active in a while on my blog. What an incredible story!
A few years ago Barnabas Feher was still managing the synagogue, but he was very old and spoke no English. I’m not sure if he still plays a role.
I would try one of two contacts: Akos Borász at info@budahazypince.hu (this is a winemaker at a lovely old world vineyard). A meal would be highly recommended! He and his partner helped set up a time with Barnabas.
Alternatively, Taste of Hungary would certainly arrange a private tour. Web site: https://tastehungary.com/
Make sure you ask if they can arrange a visit to the cemetery which is separate and managed by different people.
I believe the Jewish records across Hungary are aggregated in Budapest. I’d also reach out to the synagogue there.
Good luck!
Great post, thanks for writing this. My fathers family owned an estate and vineyard in Mád which I will be visiting for the first time later this month. It is now a wine academy of some sort from what I’m reading. After partially escaping the Nazis with the help of Wallenberg and later the communists they ended up in California.
Oh wow, Steve. Mad is one of my best all time travel memories. It’s incredible how many people affiliated with that town have reached out to me.
In Budapest we lived in a Wallenberg neighborhood in the 13th.
Enjoy Hungary.
Thanks for your response, now I will make sure to visit Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park in District XIII. I may end up getting dual citizenship in Hungary and buy a small apartment as the USD is very strong against the HUF right now. we shall see how it is. Thanks again for the info and help!
SDB
Dear Steve I stumbled across this web page, and was touched by the comments. After my mother died I learned of her family coming from Mad, family name then Teitelbaum, but although she talked of owning a vineyard in Tokaj, she mentioned nothing of her Jewish heritage or went into any detail. After her death, I traced my great grandmother to Saskatoon where she originally holidayed from Hungary with her brother who was apparently a catholic priest, and she married there. I have no family on her side to ask, but one weekend, she took me to a holocaust camp near Amsterdam on a short break, and Anne Frank’s house, and was very upset. I have often been asked if I am Jewish throughout my life and my mother always remained silent. I would love to discover who my mother’s family were. She always said they lived in Vienna. Do you know how I might go about finding information – perhaps a visit to Mad should be a good place to start – it sounds lovely!
Hi Debbie…. Thank you for your comment. Just yesterday I was talking about Mad. You may want to contact Yad Vashem. If nothing else, they may give you pointers on how to start.
It may sound daunting to get to Mad, but you can get there by train from Budapest. I took a wine tour thru Taste of Hungary that took me there the first time. I’m not sure if the tour still exists.
But send me an email off the contact tab. I have a friend in Budapest who grew up in a family that never admitted aloud that they were Jewish. I may be able to connect you and she may have some ideas.
I am descended from Salamon Teitelbaum( married Chana Zipser) who was a wine merchant in Mad. My great grandmother Sidonia was born in Mad as were many of her siblings.
Salamon and Chana (Zipser) Teitelbaum moved to Satoraljaujhely and Chana died there.
great grandmother Sidonia married in Satoraljaujhely and my grandmother Vilma was born there in 1889.
I would love to know from which Teitelbaum you are descended. Have you had a DNA test from familytreedna.org, or ancestry or My Heritage? I have tested on all three.
please do contact me.
Hi Katrina…. It’s amazing how many people have ties to this Hungarian village! I’m not sure if Steve will see this, but if you use the contact form to email me, I’ll forward your email. And good luck.
Hi,
I may have missed the previous message but the last name isn’t Teitelbaum. I think there were several Jewish Wine merchants from Mad. Currently my family’s wine estate in Mad is being used by the University of Debrecen as a wine testing institute. If you want a recommendation for a genealogist who is very familiar with Jewish family records you should try “Hungarian Roots”. They did a good job tracing my entire family from Mad to Budapest. You can contact me directly with any questions.
My grandmother was born in Md. She came to the United States as a child in the late 1800s. She had a large family of brothers and sisters. A few years ago I went to Mad and stayed in a hotel there. The woman at the hotel (I think named Adrianne) was very nice and helpful getting us to see the temple and the cemetery. My grandmother had given me some clothes with embroidery that was like embroidery we saw in Mad. My mother also visited an aged aunt in the 1920s in Mad as her family lived in Vienna for a year then.
What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. It’s amazing how many people have contacted me with a tie to Mad, Hungary.
My mother told me that her grandfather exported paprika. My grandmother lived with us and made crepes and butter cookies, and strudel. my mother made goulash with beef and chicken with paprika. I could use the Hungarian words, but my spelling could be better. My mother and grandmother spoke German to each other. I remember my grandmother mentioning Franz Josef. I didn’t see my family’s name in the list of those who died in WW 2. The temple is beautiful, but of course, the list is terribly sad.
What a lovely comment. I love the old food traditions. And where would we all be without our grandmothers?
Mad is simultaneously the most uplifting and devastating place.
Wjust visited Mad from London. A very moving experience.
We also went to the old cemetery where a famous Rabbi is buried in a beautiful renovated Ohel.. He is known as the LEVUSH. He was a Rabbi first in Prague. When he died in 1612, he was Rabbi in Posen. Why he is buried in Mad? I can’t seem to find an answer.
What a great trip. Thanks for sharing this story! I’m not sure how to find out why he’s buried in Mad.
Thhanks great blog post
Thank you. It was a day that I still think about.