Grape and wine merchant Jewish families from Poland settled in Tarcal as early as the mid-1700’s. The Tarcal Jews established an official Jewish community at the end of the 18th century. The memory of the former Jewish community is preserved today by the synagogue and the cemetery.

The Tarcal synagogue
(Tarcal, Könyves Kálmán u. 41.)
The Zopf style temple was built between 1790 and 1800. The architecture, cornice and external staircase are reminiscent of the Mád Synagogue. It is currently privately owned by Finnish artists who manage the “Tarcal Gallery” in the building, housing temporary exhibitions and artist residencies.

The Tarcal Jewish cemetery
(Tarcal, Keresztúri u. 48.)

The century old cemetery is located in the northern part of the village on the side of the “Kopasz-hegy” Hill. There are hundreds of graves, and here lies the famous rabbi of the village, Jakab Spira.

Sources:
www.csodarabbikutja.hu
Szántó Gábor: Zsidó kövek magyar tájban /2004./