The Hurva Synagogue

We visited the magnificently rebuilt Hurva synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was officially opened about 3 months ago after being completely rebuilt based on the original design. A synagogue has stood on that site since it was acquired by Jews back in the 1500's, but it was destroyed five times by the Arabs, usually by a mob. It was rebuilt in the early 1700s and destroyed in 1721, then it was rebuilt in in 1864, but destroyed in the 1948 war of Independence when the Jordanian Legion dynamited it. It remained a ruin from then until now. Since it has been ruined so much of the time the name Hurva, meaning ruin, stuck, although the real name is Beit Yaakov.

It is run by the ultra-Orthodox, although this is not so surprising since they had built it in the 1700s. We did have difficulty getting in. When we found the public entrance around the back, the guard gave us a number to call. They said that it was OK to go in, and gave us a time for an English tour. Then we had to go buy tickets nearby and finally we went in. One thing you notice is that because the site on which it was built is small the building is narrow but very high. Inside the dome is 24 meters above the ground. We could not enter the lower floor because men were praying and learning there. We went up to the women's gallery and then to the dome which we circled around. People who are afraid of heights or who can't navigate narrow twisting stairs should not try to visit.

One reason why the Arabs constantly destroyed it is that it is so high that it is higher than the Al Aksa Mosque and the small mosque that the Muslims built right adjacent to the Synagogue. Under Muslim (Sharia ) law, the house of worship of no other religion can be higher than that of the Mosque. That is why nearby there are three other small synagogues that were built underground, but they were also destroyed by the Arabs and have since been rebuilt. There was and still is a belief among the local Arabs that if the Hurva is destroyed the Jews will not return to the Old City. This was written in his report by the commander of the Jordanian Legion who ordered it destroyed again. So when it was reopned recently there was a big riot of the Arabs in Jerusalem, but it is rebuilt and we are still there.

When it was rebuilt the remnants of the original brick walls that remained standing were kept in their original condition to remind one of the former destruction. Adjacent to the Hurva synagogue stands the Mosque minaret, deliberately built in the middle of the Jewish Quarter. The Jews have never destroyed that.