A photo shows one of the shallow water reservoirs in Simferopol Russia's ongoing efforts to stretch Crimea's dwindling water supplies will only slightly delay the need to permanently fix the region's insufficient water resources by either funding expensive infrastructure overhauls or convincing Ukraine to reopen the North Crimean Canal The availability of fresh water in Crimea has progressively degraded following Russia's annexation in 2014 But with drought conditions worsening through the summer and beyond the peninsula's dire water scarcity issues are now increasingly threatening industrial and agricultural consumption... By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org Workers found a 9-foot-tall frame of a Star-of-David stained glass window while renovating a hospital in Crimea (JTA) — The renovation of a hospital in an area that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 yielded the discovery of parts of a 19th-century synagogue that was thought to have been completely destroyed The synagogue in Bilohirsk, a city in central Crimea, was built in the middle of the 19th century by and for Krymchaks, a Jewish minority who related to to Karaites, another dwindling Jewish group, and are believed to be descended from Georgian Jews the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress estimated there were only 300 Krymchaks in Ukraine when Crimea was still controlled by that country Russia invaded and annexed the territory in 2014 Communist officials shut down the synagogue and turned it into a warehouse a hospital built at the location was heavily bombed during World War II All traces of the building’s previous function were thought to have been destroyed So construction workers were astonished to discover a circular metal frame with a Star of David locked inside it during renovations at the hospital last month the frame was trapped in a slab of concrete and once was one of the synagogue’s several stained glass windows it reflected the relative wealth of the Krymchak community during what many historians consider its heyday The window’s arch also survived, leading to a reassessment of the construction plan so that engineers can preserve what remains of the former synagogue But the Nazis nearly destroyed it and the Karaites The rich history of Crimean Jewry has not been thoroughly documented a historian who specializes in Karaite history told Crimea24 that aired last month about the find “Little is known about who built our synagogues there were about 12 synagogues in Simferopol but we have no data on the architects of any of them,” he said about the capital city of Crimea “And there are practically no photographs,” Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky unveiled a bill that he said was designed to preserve the heritage of the Krymchaks But by designating those groups “indigenous peoples,” Zelensky which zealously guards the interests of Ukraine’s ethnic Russian minority JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy.