HURVA SYNAGOGUE

MY ISRAEL:

HURVA SYNANGOGUE:

The name Hurva, meaning ruin, arose due to the synagogue’s history. It was destroyed twice & built three times. The alternative name for the synagogue is Bet Yaacov & is located in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem’s Old city in an area known as the upper city. The basement of the present day structure contains archaeological remains from earlier periods. The neighborhood housed the aristocracy & priestly families towards the end of the Second Temple period. (586 B.C.E.-73 C.E.). A private mikva (ritual bath), hewn into the bedrock, bears witness to the affluence of the resident population of the period. Additional archaeological remains from later periods include a paved street from the Byzantine period (324 C.E.-638 C.E.) as well as an industrial installation from the Mamluk Period (1291-1516).

The history of the present day structure began in the year 1700 with the arrival of Yehudah ha-Hasid & his followers. Yehuda ha-Hasid was a Jewish preacher who went throughout Poland & parts of Germany & Austria urging members of the resident Jewish communities to make Aliyah. The group numbering about 1500 people gathered in Italy prior to embarking on their journey to the Holy land. During the journey, approximately a third of his followers perished & the remainder acquired debts in exchange for permission to enter the Ottoman Empire, the occupying power of the period. (1516 – 1917). To make matters worse, Yehudah ha-Hasid died a few days after he and his followers arrived in the Holy land, & buried on the Mount of Olives. Imagine if you will, a group of leaderless people arriving in a country with no financial resources, and having no knowledge of the resident languages or cultures. Nevertheless, in 1700 they began building the synagogue but had to borrow money from wealthy local Arabs, as the resident Jewish population of the time were poor & relied mostly on charities from the Jewish diaspora. The local Jewish community comprised mainly of Sephardic Jews that originated from countries around the Mediterranean as opposed to the few Ashkenazi Jews, such as themselves, who hailed from Europe. The Sephardi community in particular were suspicious of the group, believing that some were adherents of Shabbetai Zvi, a false Jewish messiah.

In 1720, the Arab creditors burnt down the building because of unpaid debts. Ashkenazi Jews were henceforth unwelcome in Jerusalem. For approximately 140 years, Ashkenazi Jews had to disguise themselves & dress in Sephardic garb if wanting to visit Jerusalem.

In 1864, the Perushim, followers of the great Lithuanian rabbi, namely the Vilna ha-Gaon, arrived in Jerusalem and rebuilt the synagogue. They named the synagogue Bet Yaacov after one of the Rothschild’s, who with others financed the building.

Since 1820, there had been a Jewish majority in the Old City. During the 1948 War of Independence the Jordanians conquered & occupied Judea & Samaria, ethnically cleansed the area of Jews & adopted the name West Bank. This policy of renaming areas & in some cases cities, has since ancient times been adopted by Israel's enemies in order to sever the Jewish connection. Both east & west Jerusalem lie within the boundaries of Judea. Jews that resided in the eastern section of the city, which includes the Old City were expelled. In the process, the Jordanians destroyed 58 synagogues within the Old City, including the Bet Yaacov synagogue better known as the Hurva synagogue.

The plan to replicate the 19th century synagogue received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000, and the newly rebuilt synagogue inaugurated on March 15, 2010.

THE ARCHITECTURE:

A contradiction exists between the present day congregation who are Ashkenazim of western origin, & the building style, which is neo-Byzantine & of eastern origin. Towards the end of the third century, the Roman Empire split into east & west. The emperor moved his capitol to Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople & today known as Istanbul. The pope remained in the west. The west adopted the Roman basilica, a longitudinal building with an emphasis on the horizontal as their blueprint for places of worship. The east in contrast adopted the centralized Roman temple with an emphasis on the vertical, as the standard for houses of worship. The structure is without doubt, inspired by the east with an emphasis on the vertical & classified as neo-Byzantine architecture. Symbolically, Byzantine architects saw the square as a symbol of the earth & the circle as a symbol of heaven, a motif expressed throughout the building. The four corner towers define a square and surround the central dome. In addition to stabilizing the structure, the towers accommodate staircases leading to the women’s section on the upper floor & are themselves capped with small domes. The towers connect to each other via relief arches that span the distance between them. Pendentives, triangular segments of a spherical surface, fill the upper corners of a square structure. This done to transform a square (the symbol of earth) into a circle forming a drum to support a dome (The symbol of heaven). (Refer to annotated massing sketch for clarification). Other symbols include 12 openings in the drum that supports the dome, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The interior walls are plastered and display murals depicting David’s Tower, Rachel’s Tomb, the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) & the Cave of the patriarchs.

Ron Traub (Tour Guide & Architect). Website: rontraub-tours.com Photo’s: Rimonah Traub Historical photo’s: Internet Sketches: Ron Traub