Calcium oxide15 is known as lime1116 and is one of the top 10 chemicals1217 produced annually by thermal decomposition of limestone. The thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate to lime18 is one of the oldest chemical reactions known. For several thousand years, lime has been used in mortar (a paste of lime, sand and water) to cement stones to one another in buildings, walls and roads. The setting of mortar involves several chemical reactions.
1 Congregation Shearith Israel, 1654, Upper West Side, Manhattan, is the oldest congregation in New York and the United States. 2  Temple Society of Concord, 1839, Syracuse, New York.  Angel Orensanz Center, 1849, Lower East Side, Manhattan, is the oldest synagogue building still standing in New York State.
The Dohany Synagogue, in Budapest, is one of the world's largest and the largest found in Europe. Synagogues are prayer spaces (sanctuaries) and places for worship in the Jewish faith.This list provides the ten largest synagogues in the world and they seem to share a common historical trend of surviving against historical odds that threatened their existence.