Situated on the banks of the Bodrog River, Sárospatak was an important stop on the trade route towards Poland already in the 12^th century. Following the Mongol invasion, Italians arrived in the region, introducing their brand of viticulture, which shaped the life of the settlement in the subsequent centuries.

In 1680, Jews are mentioned in Sárospatak when Kuruc (anti-Habsburg insurgent) troops burned Tokaj and Sárospatak, taking significant “spoils” from the Jewish residents. At that time, the town was still part of Rákóczi’s estate, and Jews could settle here as tenants, or could engage in trade and pay taxes to the landlord.

Since the congregation’s records were destroyed multiple times throughout history, there is no precise information on its establishment. In 1726, two Jewish families are recorded in the census. The first arrivals came from Galicia. In 1805, the census listed 51 tax-paying Jewish males, of whom 8 were born in Sárospatak, 16 in other townships in Zemplén county, 10 in Abaúj-, Sáros-, and Szabolcs county, and 17 in Galicia. Thus, the data shows that by the early 19^th century, two thirds of Jewish men in Sárospatak were Hungarian born.

In the 19^th century, immigrants settled along the Bodrog River, creating the Jewish quarter in Sárospatak under modest conditions. The community significantly grew in the first half of the century, counting 89 families in 1811. In 1850, Sárospatak’s population was 4,180, which included 264 Jews.

Historical accounts highlight the excellent Jewish-Hungarian relations in Sárospatak during the 19^th century. According to one record, during the revolution of 1848, it was the Jewish elders who convinced the passing Russian army commander not to destroy the town despite his soldiers having been pelted with stones by the impassioned revolutionary students of the Protestant boarding school.

The identity of the community’s first rabbi is uncertain, possibly Sinyover Hirsch. Unlike the surrounding villages, Hasidism had a lesser influence on the members of the central congregation in Sárospatak, and the smaller Hassidic community continued a peaceful existence separate from the rest of the Jewish community. In 1893, the Hassidic community established a state recognized prayer association, which operated within the main congregation. They lived by the riverfront in the alleys surrounding the old synagogue, and eventually built their own prayer house in 1905, known colloquially as the “small temple.” As this area was considered a tide land due to the proximity of the Bodrog River, their new prayer house was built on elevated ground, which meant that the building overlooked the smaller houses surrounding it. The building was bombed during World War II, and the entire Hassid quarter with its zigzag of small houses was demolished in later landscaping projects.

In 1885, a Jewish school was built with a donation from Farkas Goldblatt, which continues to function as an educational institution to this day. According to Zohár Asher, students passed through six grades and were taught by three teachers.

Simon Schattin, who served as rabbi from 1837 to 1859, came to hold a special place within the community’s history as an outstanding Talmudic scholar. The congregation’s last rabbi was Fülöp Fischer, who led the Sárospatak Jewish community until the deportations of 1944. In April 1944, members of the local community were crowded into the Jewish school, then taken to the Sátoraljaújhely ghetto and later deported. Only 220 out of 1,036 deported members of the Sárospatak Jewish community survived the Holocaust. The community reorganized after the Holocaust, but they only used the so-called winter prayer room of the synagogue for holidays and worship. The Sárospatak synagogue – along with a host of other synagogues – was sold by the organization created by the communist government incorporating representatives of Jewish congregations (MIOK) in the 1960s, and was subsequently converted into a department store.

In 2022, German artist Günter Demnig, in association with the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association (MAZSIKE), placed two Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) in Sárospatak at Kossuth Lajos utca 67 and Retel utca 6. Stolpersteine bear the names, as well as the year of birth and death of Holocaust victims, and can be found in various countries across Europe. The stones are embedded in the pavement in front of the former residences of the victims.

The Sárospatak Synagogue
(Sárospatak, Rákóczi Ferenc utca 45.)

The Sárospatak Jews built their synagogue in 1864, replacing the first one, which was destroyed by a fire. The building took on its present form in 1890. The complex includes the synagogue proper, the winter prayer room built in 1936 in the courtyard, the mikveh (ritual bath), the rabbi’s residence, and the school, all constructed on a small area, creating an almost independent Jewish quarter.

The modest and strictly religious community filled the building until the 1940s. After the Holocaust, only one-fifth of the Sárospatak Jews returned. They used the winter prayer room for worship. During the socialist era, MIOK sold the building, and since the 1960s, it has functioned as a department store.

PHOTOS:

1. Drawing of the façade of the Sárospatak Synagogue.
2. The Sárospatak Synagogue.
3. The façade of the Sárospatak Synagogue.
4. The façade of the former synagogue turned into a department store.
5. Postcard featuring the Sárospatak Synagogue.

The Mikveh (ritual bath)
(Sárospatak, Szent Erzsébet utca 1.)

The former mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) is a sacred building erected in the early 19^th century at the intersection of the former Rákóczi utca and Kádár Kata utca. The building enjoys protected status. In 2008, the municipality placed on one of its walls a memorial plaque with a menorah motif commemorating in Hungarian and Hebrew the destroyed Jewish community of Sárospatak – barely one fifth of which managed to survive the Holocaust. The street facing section of the building is now occupied by businesses. The garden – which is below street level, – filled with poison ivy in the summer, hides a well, which supplies water to the solitary pool built in the basement. It is supposed that the members of the Hassidic community did not actually bathe there, but either in their own mikve or in the Bodrog River.

PHOTOS:

1. The building of the Sárospatak mikveh (ritual bath).
2. The inner courtyard of the Sárospatak mikveh (ritual bath).
3. Holocaust memorial commemorating Sárospatak Jews.

The Sárospatak Jewish Cemetery
(Sárospatak, Arany János utca 13.)

The oldest tombstone in the Jewish cemetery dates back to 1780. The cemetery is surrounded by a high stone wall, and the graves are well-maintained. Strolling amongst the graves of the former community’s eminent members and rabbis, one can easily discover the tomb of Rabbi Fülöp Fischer.

PHOTOS:

1. The Sárospatak Jewish cemetery.
2. Hebrew language Holocaust memorial plaque at the Sárospatak Jewish cemetery.
3-8. Tombstones in the Sárospatak Jewish cemetery.