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Hurva Synagogue

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A pre-1948 photograph of the Hurva synagogue

The Hurva Synagogue, ([] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: no text (help) Template:Hebrew, translit: Beit ha-Knesset ha-Hurba), located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was Jerusalem's main Ashkenazi synagogue from the 16th until the 20th century, when it was reduced to rubble by Jordanian soldiers during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is currently being rebuilt and is due to be completed by 2009.

History

Construction (1700s)

In the year 1700, a mass immigration of Rabbi Judah he-Hasid (Segal) and his 300 to 1,000 students (sources vary on the number)[1] arrived in Jerusalem from Poland. They bought the courtyard next to the Ramban Synagogue, which had been closed by the Ottomans in 1589 due to Muslim incitement. On this site they began building a synagogue to accommodate the increased Jewish population of the city.

Due to the sudden death of their rabbi and the subsequent decline of the community, the immigrants were unable to finish construction or pay their debts. In 1721, the unfinished structure was burned together with the 40 Sifrei Torah it contained by the Arab creditors. From this time on the site lay in ruins and became known as Hurbat Rav Yehudah HaHasid — the Ruin of Rabbi Judah the Pious. The name was commonly abridged to "the Hurba" (commonly referred to in English as "Hurva") or "the Ruin."

Rebuilding (1850s)

The Hurva rose 82 feet above the ground

The site remained desolate for about 140 years. It was in 1816, when Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov arrived in Jerusalem from Safed hoping to obtain a firman releasing the Ashkenasim from all debts, that the possibility of rebuilding the synagogue arose. He was a disciple of the Vilna Gaon and belonged to a group of ascetic Jews, known as the Perushim who had immigrated to Palestine from Lithuania between 1809 and 1812. Originally settling in Safed, several outbreaks of disease drove many of them to Jerusalem.[2]

When Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov got consent absolving the Ashkenasim from outstanding debts, he also received details of the legal boundaries of the original courtyard the Jews had bought years earlier. However, it was still necessary, and proving difficult, to get further permission from the Ottoman rulers to waive "Omar's covenant" which forbade the building of synagogues. In 1832 when Muhammad Ali of Egypt took control of Jerusalem, permission was given only for carrying out repairs to existing synagogues. Unsatisfied, the Perushim garnered support of the Russian and Austrian consuls and together with invoking the name of Baron Salomon Mayer von Rothschild, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Tzoref, a Lithuanian-born rabbi and silversmith who negotiated on behalf of the Perushim, succeeded and construction began in 1836. A year later in 1837 the Menachem Zion Synagogue was a reality. It was, however, the same year that an earthquake struck in the city of Safed which resulted in another wave of Jewish refugees arriving in Jerusalem. As the community swelled, the need arose for a larger synagogue.

The matter again fell to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Tzoref. Together with the efforts of British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore and the help of the British consuls in Jerusalem and Constantinople, the necessary firman was obtained from the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I in 1856.

Postcard of the Hurva c.1920

The edict was delivered by Moses Montefiore himself during his fifth pilgrimage to the Holy Land, however Zoref was assassinated by local Arabs before construction was finished. The cornerstone was laid in 1856 in the presence Chief Rabbi Shmuel Salant, who had been instrumental is raising the necessary funding, and Baron Alphonse James de Rothschild brother of Edmond James de Rothschild who dedicated much of his life supporting the Jews of Palestine. It was officially named Beit Yaakov — House of Jacob — after their father James (Yaakov) Rothschild, although the synagogue retained its name as The Hurva.[3] As the construction progressed, funds ran out and it took a further eight years, till 1864, for the building to be completed. The largest single gift came from Yechezkel Reuben, a wealthy sephardi Jew from Baghdad, who gave 100,000 of the million piasters needed. His son, Menashe, and daughter, Lady Sasson, later supplemented his donation. The combined "Reuben" donations eventually covered more than half the cost. It marked an important step in the unity of the Sephardi and Ashkenasi communities of the city.[4]

Another contributor was the King Frederick William IV of Prussia, whose name was inscribed above the entrance together with those of other benefactors.[5] He also gave permission for funds to be collected from his Jewish subjects. Throughout Western Europe emissaries sought donations with the slogan "Merit Eternal Life with one stone".

On his visit to Jerusalem in 1866, Moses Montefiore went to see the famed Hurva synagogue, placing a silver breastplate on one of the Torah scrolls. When he visited again in 1875, a crowd of 3,000 Jews turned out to greet him. [6]

For the next 84 years, the building was considered the most beautiful and most important synagogue in the Land of Israel. It also housed part of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, the largest yeshiva in Jerusalem. It was a focal point of Jewish spiritual life in the city and was the site of the installation of the Ashkenasi chief rabbis of both Palestine and Jerusalem.[7]

On February 3, 1901 a memorial service for Queen Victoria took place inside the synagogue in gratitude for the protection afforded to the Jews of Jerusalem by Britain. The service was presided over by the Ashkenasi Chief Rabbi, Shmuel Salant. According to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, the large building was “filled to its utmost capacity and policemen had to keep off the crowds, who vainly sought admission, by force".[8]

Demolition (1948)

In the battle for the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, fighters from the Haganah established a defensive position inside the synagogue and its courtyard. After a call for surrender communicated via the Red Cross failed, soldiers from the Arab Legion of Jordan proceeded to blow a hole in the wall surrounding the synagogue. After 45 minutes of ensuing fighting, they captured the building.[9] The Legionnaires entered the synagogue itself and tried to scramble to the top of its dome to plant a Jordanian flag. Three of them were shot by Haganah snipers, but the fourth succeeded. Clearly visible in the New City, the flag over the skyline of the Old City signaled the Legion’s triumph.[10] Two days after capturing the Jewish Quarter, the Jordanians blew up the synagogue.[11] The Jordanian commander who led the operation is reported to have told his superiors: "For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible."[12]

Commemorative arch (1978)

The commemorative arch built after the Six-Day War

Following the Six Day War, plans were mooted and designs sought for a new synagogue to be built at the site. As no permanent solution could be agreed upon, a temporary, symbolic solution was created. In 1978, one of the four arches that had originally supported the synagogue’s monumental dome was recreated. The 16 meter high stone arch spanning the space where the Hurva once stood was erected by two architects. The height of the original building, including the dome, had been twice as high as the symbolic arch. Together with the remains of the building and explanatory plaques, it was stark reminder of what had once stood at the site.

Commemorative stamp (1998)

In 1998 Barbuda issued a stamp bearing the image of the Hurva.[13]


Design and architecture

Interior, c.1935

The synagogue, designed by the Sultan's official architect Assad Effendi, contained 42-foot-high window arches and a domed ceiling that rose 82 feet above the ground. It was the tallest structure in the Old City and was visible for miles.

The Holy Ark together with its gates were brought to Jerusalem from the Nikolaijewsky synagogue located in Kherson, Russia. The Nikolaijewsky synagogue had been used by Russian Jewish conscripts who had been forced to spend twenty-five years in the Tsarist army. The Ark consisted of four Corinthian columns and was decorated with baroque carvings.[4]

One of the most generous donations came from Pinchas Rosenberg, the Imperial Court tailor of St. Petersburg. In the diary of Rabbi Chaim HaLevy, the emissary who had been sent from Jerusalem to collect funds for the synagogue, Rosenberg set out in details what his money was intended for. Among the items which were bought with his money were two big bronze candelabras; a silver Hanukah candlestick which "arrived miraculously on the 1st Tevet [1866] precisely in time to light the last eight Hanukah candles" and an iron door made under the holy ark for safe-keeping of the candlestick. He also earmarked funds towards the building of an "artistically wrought iron fence around the roof under the upper windows so that there be a veranda on which may stand all our brethren who go up in pilgrimage to behold our desolate Temple, and also a partition for the womenfolk on the Feast of Tabernacles and Simchat Torah"[4]

Aharon Bier, in his Book of the Jewish Quarter, offers the following description of the synagogue:

The Ark

"The synagogue prayer hall was reached via an entrance with three iron gates. The length was around 15.5 meters and the width was around 14 meters. The height of the synagogue to the bottom of the dome was around 16 meters and to the top of the dome it was 24 meters. During the synagogue's heyday, the ark in the middle of the eastern wall dominated the interior. This ark was crafted by a Jewish artisan in eastern Poland and then brought over. Worshipers approached the ark by ascending stairs surrounded by a rail and iron gates, which separated the chapel from the hall. The alcove where the ark stood and the area above the ark were adorned with dazzling woodcuts of flowers and birds. The ark itself had two levels, was covered with a curtain and held 50 Torah scrolls. To the right and in front of the ark was the cantor's podium, which was designed as a miniature version of the two-level ark.

In the middle of the synagogue, there was a flat platform without the high wooden structure that is standard in the other synagogues in the Old City. This bimah was covered with expensive marble plates. The light entered the high synagogue through 12 windows at the base of the dome and via two rows of large windows set in the walls of the chapel - except for the eastern wall, where the ark was located. This way the light from the three other walls was channeled onto the eastern wall. Above the ark was a triangular window with rounded points. The seats were benches that faced east and also lined the walls. The women's section was in the galleries, along the three sides of the chapel, except the eastern side. Access to the galleries was through towers situated at the corners of the building.

In the four corners were drawings of four animals in accordance with the statement in Pirkei Avot: "Be strong as the leopard and swift as the eagle, fleet as the deer and brave as the lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven". The walls of the synagogue had drawings and decorations such as stars of David, the menorah, Mount Sinai and the Tablets of the Ten Commandments.

The building facade was covered in finely hewn stone. The four corners had little towers, but the construction of only one was completed and it had a small dome. The three others were missing the dome and the upper level. The base of the dome was surrounded by a veranda, which offered a fine view of large parts of the Old City and the area around Jerusalem."[7]

Rebuilding plans and reconstruction

The Kahn plans (1968-1973)

Removing the commemorative arch, January 2006.
Reconstruction work under way on the Hurva synagogue, July 2007.
Nearing completion, December 2007.

After the unification of Jerusalem by Israel following the Six Day War, plans were made to rebuild the synagogue as part of the overall rehabilitaion of the Jewish Quarter. Leading the campaign to rebuild the Hurva was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Tzoref's great-great-grandson, Ya'acov Salomon. Louis Kahn, a world-renowned architect who was also a founding member of the Jerusalem Committee was commissioned to design the building. Between 1968 and 1973, Kahn presented three plans for the reconstruction. The ruins were incorporated in a memorial garden, with a new structure on an adjacent lot and a promenade, the "Route of the Prophets," leading to the Western Wall.

Kahn proposed a structure within a structure, the outer one composed of 16 piers covered in golden Jerusalem stone cut in blocks of the same proportions as those of the Western Wall. In the bases of the four corners of the two-story, 12-meter high structure delineated by the piers would be small alcoves for meditation or individual prayer. The inner chamber, made of four inverted concrete pyramids supporting the building's roof, would be used for daily prayer services and allow for larger crowds on Sabbath or festivals. Kahn's model was displayed in the Israel Museum, but when he died in 1974, his plan was shelved. Former mayor Teddy Kollek wrote to Kahn in 1968 that "the decision concerning your plans is essentially a political one. Should we in the Jewish Quarter have a building of major importance which competes with the mosque and the Holy Sepulchre, and should we in general have any building which would compete in importance with the Western Wall?"

Boston-based architect Moshe Safdie, who has built extensively in Jerusalem and trained with Kahn in Philadelphia, was also in favour of rebuilding using contemporary design: "It's absurd to reconstruct the Hurva as if nothing had happened. If we have the desire to rebuild it, let's have the courage to have a great architect do it." [14]

With these disputes over the modern façade of the proposed new building, which some felt did not properly match the Jewish Quarter’s aesthetic, an Englishman named Sir Charles Clore took the initiative and agreed to fund the project, providing it could be completed in a specified number of years, (his wish was to see the project completed before his death). Sir Denys Lasdun drew up plans that were also modern but more closely adhered to the original; however, bowing to the objection of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the Minister of Interior at the time refused to sign the papers so that construction could begin. Time ran out and the Hurva was not rebuilt. However, Sir Charles’s daughter provided the necessary funds to create one of the few open spaces in the Jewish Quarter adjacent to the ruined synagoue.

Excavations (2003)

During July and August 2003, an excavation took place inside the Hurva. It was carried out by the Institute for Archaeology at the Hebrew University and the Israel Exploration Society. The excavation was funded by the Jewish Quarter Development Company of Jerusalem.

Before the excavation, the Israel Antiquities Authority supervised the removal of the stone flooring which had been laid after the 1967 Six Day War. Earth was removed to a depth of two metres over an area of 300m². The dig revealed evidence from four main settlement periods: First Temple (800-600 BCE), Second Temple (100 CE), Byzantine and Ottoman.[12]

Restoration commences (2005)

Finally in 2005, the Israeli government announced that a version of Assad Effendi's 19th-century design would soon rise above the Jewish Quarter. The government-funded Jewish Quarter Development Corporation originally convinced the Israeli government to allocate $6.2 million (NIS 24m), about 85 percent of the cost, for the reconstruction of the old Ottoman synagogue with private donors contributing the remainder. In the end, the government only paid NIS 11m, with the remainder of the funds donated by a Ukrainian Jewish businessman and philanthropist, Vadim Rabinovitch.[11]

Jerusalem architect Nahum Meltzer was given the commission, and was told to hew as closely as possible to the 19th-century design. Meltzer feels that "both out of respect for the historical memory of the Jewish people and out of respect for the built-up area of the Old City, it is fitting for us to restore the lost glory and rebuild the Hurva Synagogue the way it was."[7] Work has started on the site and is expected to take four years.

Induction ceremony (2007)

On February 15, 2007, during construction works, Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, rabbi of Rehovot, was appointed as the rabbi of the Hurva. A certificate of confirmation was signed by leading rabbis, including Yosef Sholom Eliashiv. Menachem Porush, who remembered the original building in its glory, mentioned how overjoyed he was to see the fulfillment of his dream which he had never given up on – the rebuilding of the Hurva.[15]

Sources

  • Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, Ma’or, 1997; Published in English, 2006, Oxford University Press.

References

  1. ^ "Judah HeChassid, Shabbatean and Jerusalem Emigre". Retrieved 2006-11-28. Judah HeChassid spent a year traveling through Germany and Moravia gaining followers. By the time the whole group gathered in Italy, they numbered almost 1,500. They took two different routes: one through Venice and one through Constantinople. It was a terrible experience, and almost 500 people died on the trip. They arrived in Jerusalem on October 14, 1700 creating a variety of major crises. At that time only about 200 Ashkenazic Jews lived in Jerusalem. (There were about 1,000 Sephardic Jews.) The sudden influx of 1,000 Ashkenazic Jews created an economic crisis, because the Jerusalem community had no infrastructure or facilities to help such a large group.
  2. ^ Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, Ma’or, 1997; published in English, 2006, Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Horovitz, Ahron (2000). "The Jewish Quarter". Jerusalem, Footsteps Through Time. Jerusalem: Feldheim. pp. pg.171-174. ISBN 1583303987. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  4. ^ a b c Gilbert, Martin (1985). "The 1850s: "More bustle, and more business"". Jerusalem, Rebirth of a City. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. pg.97. ISBN 0701128925. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  5. ^ Wasserstein, Bernard (2001). "Old City, New City". Divided Jerusalem. London: Profile Books. pp. pg.51. ISBN 1861973330. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  6. ^ Yehoshua Ben-Arieh. Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century, The Old City. Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi and St. Martin's Press. pp. p. 305. ISBN 0-312-44187-8. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  7. ^ a b c Shragai, Nadav (December 20, 2005). "Out of the ruins". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 2007-01-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Gilbert, Martin (1996). "Awakenings, 1900-1909". Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. pg.2. ISBN 0701130709. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  9. ^ 'Battle of Jerusalem in 1948', Tell, 1999, Chapter 4
  10. ^ Tell, Ahmad (September 6, 1999). "The Battle of Old Jerusalem in 1948,(Part Four): The Hurva Synagogue". Jerusalmites.org. Retrieved 2007-08-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b Lefkovits, Etgar (March 28, 2008). "Hurva Synagogue restoration nears completion". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2008-04-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ a b Shragai, Nadav (November 28, 2006). "Byzantine arch found at site of renovated Jerusalem synagogue". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 2007-07-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Hurva Synagogue; N. 19980730
  14. ^ Green, David (February 29, 2004). "From the ruins: A master architect's attempt to rebuild on sacred ground". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-07-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ (Hebrew) (February 20, 2007). "The Hurva returns to life". Chadrei Charedim. Retrieved 2007-07-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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