Pod Roșu Synagogue

The Pod Roșu Synagogue was a synagogue in Iași, Romania in the Podu Roș neighborhood, during the 19th and 20th centuries
Cucu Street (under that name because of the sales of fowl which took place in a nearby market) was formerly called Sinagogilor Street for the many synagogues that were there (there were as many as 132 at one point), and the Pod Roșu Synagogue was built in a nearby neighborhood under the same name.
Pod Roșu means "Red Bridge" in Romanian language.
== History ==
The Pod Roșu Synagogue was the second major synagogue to be built in Iași following the building of the Great Synagogue (Iași) in 1671. In 1808, the Apter Rav, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel moved to Iași to found a Hasidic 
Chassidic community there (he was to leave only a few years thereafter). As the Great Synagogue (then called the Schulhof) prayed in Nusach Ashkenaz, the intended synagogue was to pray in Nusach Sefard and Nusach Ari.
Despite the synagogue no longer standing, it is still recalled today as one of the major synagogues in Iasi
The synagogue was built circa 1810, and continued to pray in the Chassidic Nussach after the departure of the Rebbe of Apt. The Apter Rebbe built the synagogue from his own funds, though the completion of surrounding luxurious homes, which had been part of his contract with the Gabbai, was unable to be realized. The text of the contracts is to be found in the Apter Rebbe's published correspondence.אגרת הרב מאפטא, תקע"א: ט"ז
The synagogue had a Rebbe's chamber off of the main prayer hall, built in the style of Chassidic synagogues and courts in Poland. This chamber was unheated for many years, and devoted Chassidim prayed in the freezing cold despite this, to observe their Rebbe. There was also a large Hanukkah menorah on the Mizrah. The Apter Rebbe's chair remained in the synagogue at least until the 1890s.Gutman, Menahem, Otsar Agadot Hasidim (Iasi)
== Dovid Ba'al Shem ==
A common personality in the Pod Roșu Synagogue was Dovid Baal Shem, a kabbalist who previously studied with the Maiden of Ludmir. Although he had a small Synagogue, he frequented the synagogue as well. He was known to perform Miracle; he passed away in Tammuz (month), 1883.
== Avraham Elchanan Maizelman ==
Pod Roșu Synagogue is most prominently known today as the seat of the rabbinate of Rabbi Avraham Elchanan "Huna" Maizelman (1863?-1928), a Talmid Chacham known as the "Poylesher Rov". Born in Halych in Galicia, he showed great aptitude at the study of Halakha at an early age. He received Semikhah when he was forty years old from rabbis of Stryi. His wife, "Hudiyah", was the granddaughter of Rabbi Boruch of Kosiv.https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/baruch-ben-abraham-kosov
Rabbi Avraham Elchanan took the position over from Rabbi Uri Sheraga Taubes (originally from Zhydachiv, author of the book Ori ve-yish'i, son of Rabbi :he:שמואל_שמעלקא_טויבש|Shmuel "Shmelke" Taubes, father of Rabbi :he:יצחק_איזיק_טאובס|Isaac Taubes, Rabbi in Bucharest) who died in 1890. Shmuel "Shmelke" Taubes was the brother-in-law of :he:יעקב_משולם_אורנשטיין|Rabbi Jacob Meshullam Orenstien of Lviv|Lemberg, who shared a familial connection to Rabbi Avraham Elchanan Maizelman as well.
Rabbi Avraham Elchanan was a specialist Even Ha'ezer, specifically in the areas of Gittin, Yibum and Halizah, and Mamzer. His surviving responsa are recorded in Rabbi Binyomin Aryeh ha-kohen Weiss of Chernivtsi|Chernowitz's Even yekara (Edition (book)) 126 and (Edition (book)) 165.Weiss, Binyamin Aryeh ha-kohen, Even yekarah (Przemysl, Knoller, 1902)
Avraham Elchanan was rabbi of the Pod Roșu Synagogue for 32 years; his son, Samuel, later immigrated to Boston. Among his descendants are economist David I. Meiselman and American-Israeli rabbi Moshe Meiselman. He is buried in the Păcurari cemetery, the historic burial ground for Iasi Jewry, next to his wife.