My sister Linda and I attended Sabbath services here at the Central Synagogue in Budapest. The grandeur of the architecture and the resplendent renovation only served as stark contrast to the declining Jewish population and scarce attendance. The Orthodox synagogue down the street, while a fraction of the size, had three times the attendance. In pre-war Hungary Jews made up 25% of the city's population. After the devastation of the Holocaust and subsequent emigration the community is barely a shadow of the vibrant community that lived here.
