(JTA) A Dutch municipality rejected a Turkish entrepreneur’s plan to transform a 125-year-old synagogue into a restaurant.
The city council of Deventer in the east of the Netherlands last week deemed the plan “inconsistent with the building’s character,” a decision which blocked the plan of developer Ayhan Sahin to turn the tall, neo-Moorish style Grand Synagogue into an eatery, Joods.nl reported. He bought the building in January.
Tom Fürstenberg, chairman of Deventer’s Beth Shoshanna Jewish community, made up of several dozen members, said he was “relieved” following the decision. In April, he had told the regional newspaper De Stentor that it would be “scandalous” if the municipality approves Sahin’s plans.
