The Ancient Synagogues of Jerusalem – Part 2
The Interiors. Ohel Yitzhak
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| Old City landscape in 1900. The domed buildings were the Churva and Tifreret Yisrael synagogues |
Today, we feature the interior of the Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue which was located in the Muslim Quarter (many Jews lived beyond the confines of the Jewish Quarter despite the supposed division of the Old City).
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| Interior of the synagogue (circa 1900) |
Built in 1870 by Hungarian Jews, the synagogue was known as the Ungarin Shul, built inside the Shomrei HaChomos Kollel (Talmudic study center). In 1904, a second story was added to the synagogue giving it a very prominent view of the Temple Mount 100 meters away.
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| The destroyed Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue |
The riots and pogroms of the Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936-1939) forced the Jewish congregants to abandon the synagogue in 1938. The Jordanian Legion captured the Old City in 1948, and the building was destroyed.
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| Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue today |
In 2008 the Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue was rebuilt and beautifully restored, under the sponsorship of the Moskowitz family of the United States.
Today, the synagogue is administered by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.
Next in this series: The "Churva" Synagogue.
Ancient Synagogues of Jerusalem - Part 3 - The Churva
circa 1864
For 100 years, the dome of the Churva synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City prominently shared the skyscape with the domes of the al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Note the enlargement from the 150-year-old title page photo above.
In 1700, Rabbi Yehuda HaHasid acquired land called "the Ashkenzi compound" in the Old City for an Ashkenazi synagogue and institutions. Part of the funds for the purchase were borrowed from local Arab sources. When the rabbi died soon thereafter, the Jews were unable to repay the debt. The Ashkenazi community fled, and the synagogue was destroyed by the Arabs in 1721. The site became known as "Churvat Rabbi Yehuda" -- Rabbi Yehuda's ruins.
For 100 years Ashkenazi Jews avoided the Old City, only entering disguised in Sephardi garb.
Avraham Shlomo Zalman HaTzoref
Avraham Shlomo Zalman HaTzoref, born in Lithuania and a student of the "Gaon of Vilna," moved to Jerusalem where he was determined to reverse the fortunes of the Jews of Jerusalem. He traveled to Europe to raise funds for the community, and in 1836 lobbied the ruler of Egypt and Palestine, Muhammad Ali Pasha, to cancel the Jewish community's century-old debt and to permit new Jewish construction.
Local Arabs were angered by the cancellation of the debt and the restored Jewish life in the Old City, and they attempted to assassinate HaTzoref. In 1851 he was hit in the head in a sword attack and died months later, almost exactly 160 years ago. HaTzoref is listed in the modern annals of Israel's history as the first victim of Arab terrorism.
His son Mordechai and grandson Yoel Moshe took on the family name of "Solomon." They were pioneers in establishing Jewish communities outside of the Old City such as Meah Sha'arim and Petah Tikva. Yoel Moshe established the first Hebrew printing press and newspaper in the Holy Land in 1863.
in the Churva ruins
The Churva Synagogue was completed in 1864 and was considered the most beautiful synagogue in Eretz Yisrael.
During the 1948 war, it was the epicenter of the fighting between the Jewish Haganah forces and the Jordanian Legion in the Old City. The Churva was captured and blown up.
Israel recaptured the Old City in 1967. The Churva, with all its previous splendor, was rebuilt and rededicated in March 2010.
View Part One of the ancient synagogue series. View Part Two here.
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Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs Will Be Packed This Weekend.
Photographs from the Cave 100 Years Ago
Genesis 23: And these were the days of Sarah, 127 years. Sarah died in Kiryat-Arba which is Hebron....Abraham spoke to the Sons of Heth: grant me legal possession of land for a burial site... for its price in full ... 400 shekels of silver.... Thus it was established, the field and the cave that was in it, for Abraham as legally possessed for a burial site from the Sons of Heth."
Machpelah showing mammoth
stones in Herodian wall"
The massive building surrounding the gravesite was built by King Herod two thousand years ago. The actual graves are located in subterranean caverns beneath. Their locations are marked above ground by cenotaphs -- empty tombs that serve as monuments.
(circa 1900)
showing distinctive
features of
Crusader Church"
completion of the book of Genesis
Many Jewish families in Israel celebrate weddings, bar mitzvas and circumcisions at the shrine.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Metulla, Israel's Northern-most Town.
Was It Originally French or British?
(Wikipedia,Ynhockey)
Actually, both versions may be correct.
Metulla was established as a Jewish settlement in 1896 on land purchased by Baron de Rothschild. But despite the Turkish control of the area and then the French sovereignty, the lawlessness of the region forced the residents of Metulla to occasionally flee their homes.
flag on the building.
down from French Metulla post"
Click on the captions to see the originals.
public domain)
Today, Metulla is a popular vacation town for Israelis and home to 2,000 residents. The town's Canada Centre is a massive winter sport facility, complete with an olympic-size skating rink where Israel's skating champions practice.
Situated on the Lebanese border and close to the Syrian border, Metulla over the years has been a target for the rockets and artillery bombardments from Hizbullah and Fatah.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Israel Daily Picture Publishes its 100th Photo Essay
Israel Daily Picture (IDP) is publishing its 100th photo essay this week. After discovering the American Colony photo collection in the Library of Congress five months ago, we wondered if there are enough photographs and topics to sustain this blog.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
What Brought Together These Rabbis and the Founder of Modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
The place: The Government House, Jerusalem
The Occasion: The High Commissioner's Reception
Those are the details we know from the photograph's caption. But what brought together these ultra-Orthodox rabbis, British officers, Arab dignitaries and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the founder of modern Hebrew, who appears to be standing behind the rabbis? [Both the men -- the one in the light suit and his partner with the hat -- look like the man on the stamp.] And what are all the men holding?
Port, June 30, 1920
Samuel read the proclamation and presented a copy to all of his guests.
proclamation again two
days later.
Rabbi Sonnenfeld joined other rabbis a year later to meet with Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill at Samuel's Government House. See the posting and video here describing the meeting. Also attending the meeting with Churchill was Emir Abdullah who would become King Abdullah of Jordan. Sonnenfeld, Bernstein and Jungreis met with Abdullah in Jordan in 1924.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
New Photo Added to "Where Is Tell Pioth?"
Talpiot in southern Jerusalem
This pastoral picture from the Library of Congress collection bears the date 1925 and the caption, "Jewish colony of Tell Pioth on the Plain of Rephaim."
Where's Tell Pioth?
It may take a few seconds for anyone who knows Jerusalem to realize that the picture is of the Talpiotneighborhood in southern Jerusalem. The "Plain of Rephaim" is the continuation of "Emek Refaim" Road in Jerusalem's German Colony.
(with permission of the Jewish Postcard Collection)
The land for Talpiot was purchased in 1911 from German Templers of the German Colony of Jerusalem. Standing on the land and looking northeast toward Jerusalem's Old City and the Tower of David, the Jewish founders saw themselves as guardians of the Holy City, specifically the "talpiyot (turrets)" as expressed in the Bible's Song of Songs, 4:4 "Thy neck is like the tower of David, built with turrets."
that would become Talpiot?
By 1924 the first 40 homes were built, but the community suffered from deadly Arab attacks in 1929 and again in 1936.
Among the early settlers in Talpiot was the writer S.Y. Agnon who wrote about the neighborhood in his book, The Fire and the Trees. "I stood among the small trees that surround gardens... and on the path that I love the small houses and the refreshing gardens..."
Trees, gardens and small houses such as those in the first picture.