THE ISTAMBULI SYNAGOGUE |
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Our Istambuli Synagogue, one of the complex of four Sephardi synagogues clustered round the Ben Zakkai Synagogue in the Old City, is surely one of the most beautiful to be found anywhere. But it was not always thus. Between 1945 and 1967 it lay destroyed and desolate - but even before then it was not properly built nor in good repair.
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The original building was put up about 1764. The first synagogue on the site was the Ben Zakkai, built in the 16th century and the other three in the complex were added haphazardly over the years without any proper plan. Jerusalem was then under the repressive rule of the Turks, and all four synagogues had to be built below ground level so as not to complete with the nearby mosques. No repairs of any kind were permitted and by the 1830's the Istambuli still had no proper roof. The wooden structure leaked. The holes were covered with mats. A shaliach was sent to Morocco to beg for funds. He wrote: "The rain pours in, driving the worshippers from one corner to the other. They cover their faces with their cloaks and hasten to finish their prayers before the synagogue is flooded. Then they leave, weeping that things have come to this."
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In 1835 the Egyptian Mohammed Ali rebelled against Turkish domination and for a few years conditions in Jerusalem were better. The new Governor gave permission for the synagogue to be repaired and even largely rebuilt - it is from this time that the beautiful symmetrical, domed design dates. The year can be seen inscribed on two tablets - one on the pillar near the Ark where the date 5595 (corresponding to 1835) can be made out in Hebrew letters, the other outside over the door at the bottom of the stairs where the year is written in western numbers.
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Two interesting pictures are reproduced here. The earlier one was engraved in 1836 as an illustration to one of those rather dull travel books which appeared in Victorian times when Palestine was first being explored by Europeans. "Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor" was produced by John Carne in London. The synagogue is not even mentioned in the text, so there is no way of telling just what is happening in the scene. Presumably it is some sort of formal dedication of the building, though why the spokesman should be wearing a tall conical hat is not clear. In any case the artist has adopted the common trick of drawing the people half size so as to make the actual building seem more impressive than it really is.
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The other picture was painted by the Jerusalem artist Zvi Raban in 1928 as an illustration for his book "Hageinu" (Our Festivals) published in New York and reprinted in Tel Aviv in 1985. The scene is of Yom Kippur and it shows an Ashkenazi service.
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The two pictures show recognisably the same Ehal and Tebah (Ark and reading desk), but not the same ones as we have today. The surprise is that the Tebah was even in a different place - on the north wall, to the left of the Ark instead of where it is now, on the west wall, opposite it. Moreover, in the Raban picture can be seen a wooden lattice high in the corner - presumably this marks the ladies' gallery. As one writer has remarked: "The women's gallery in these synagogues always appears as an afterthought, formed by enclosing odd corners here or there." Our present arrangement is more dignified.
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The whole complex was destroyed in 1948. It is recorded that between that year and 1967 debris accumulated on the floor to a depth of 3 meters. Dorothy Rothschild of London donated the money for the rebuilding of the whole complex of four synagogues. Our new Tebah was brought from the Old Synagogue in Pesaro. It dates from 1788. The Ehal came from Ancona. Recently both hae been repaired and regilded. The Ner Tamid (the Everlasting Light over the Ark) is from Gibraltar.
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We are always grateful to the Va'ad Edat haSepardim veEdot haMizrah (The Council of Separadi and Oriental Jews in Jerusalem) for giving us permission to pray in such a beautiful and historic building.
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