A community chronology says that when Rabbi Levin arrived in Harbin in 1903, a school was established in the synagogue yard. The arrangement placed religious and educational life next to one another, while keeping them as distinct activities. In 1907, a full-time Jewish school was established as the community’s population and institutions grew.
From the journal
The Main Synagogue and Jewish school on Tongjiang Street
The synagogue and school began as neighboring institutions: the synagogue yard held a school by 1903, followed by a full-time Jewish school in 1907.
In the same city · Harbin ↗
Learning beside the prayer hall
A courtyard between two buildings
The provincial protection notice identifies the Main Synagogue and Jewish Middle School as separate protected buildings and includes the courtyard between them in the protected area. The space is a visible link between the two addresses: a synagogue for communal prayer and a school for learning, occupying neighboring ground on Tongjiang Street.
Part of a wider civic network
The early community also maintained a library and a reading room with Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish publications. Those institutions help place the synagogue and school within a broader civic network rather than treating the courtyard as an isolated architectural feature. On Tongjiang Street, the surviving pair marks a community that organized worship, teaching and shared reading in one district.