Jewish prayer house in Łódź - conditions of spatial development, deployment, contemporary relics and their use

W artykule dokonano analizy organizowania w przestrzeni Łodzi żydowskich modlitewni. Próbę tę podjęto w kontekście rozmieszczenia przestrzennego ludności żydowskiej, warunkowanego istnieniem specjalnego rewiru (1827–1862), poza którego granicami ludność ta nie miała na ogół prawa się osiedlać. W odniesieniu do współ- czesności określono również funkcje obiektów będących dawnymi domami modlitwy lub miejsc po nich, w przypadku gdy obiekty te nie zachowały się w krajobrazie kulturowym miasta.Jews for the purpose of prayer and religious congregations not only erected a synagogue, but also "private" prayer houses. They weren’t, comparing to the previous one, as impressive in architectonic shape. They were smaller in size, had poorer interior and were usually arranged in private houses and tenement houses, occasionally in factorial buildings (e.g. in Łódź). In Łódź over 250 small Jewish prayer houses were erected. Directed by first of all religious nature motivations, Jewish people erected these buildings also for certain social purposes. They were supposed to be the place of integration of different environments: neighbourhood, professional. The prayer houses played a big role especially in the religious life of the Hasidim, the followers of specific Zadiks. The continuous increase of the number of cult buildings was also the result of enormous inner differentiation of local Jewish community, among the others the marking disproportions in material status of their representatives, political differences (increasing influence of Zionism) and most of all the increasing differences, or even religious conflicts (first between Hasidism and traditional rabbinic trend, and latter of both mentioned before with reformed Judaism)