Chisinau, Moldova. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A synagogue in Moldova that was seized by the Soviet Union almost eight decades ago was reopened on Sunday.

About 300 people attended the reopening of the Wooden Synagogue, or the Lemnaria Synagogue, in the basement of the Kedem Jewish Community Center.

The synagogue was founded in 1835 and seized in 1940.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee opened the community center in 2005 in the building that consisted of the synagogue.

Alexandar Bilinkis, the president of Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova, along with Alexander Weinstein and Grinshpun Emmanuil, contributed the funds to enable the synagogue’s reopening.

Out of about 3 million people, fewer than 4,000 Jews reside in Moldova (as of 2012), which was party to pogroms and other persecution against Jews during the 19th and 20th centuries.