Hurva Synagogue Topics

• collins pp
• private donors
• city skyline
• lefkovits
• jewish quarter
• rabinovitch
• haganah
• heat of battle
• military activities
• meltzer
• israeli government
• philanthropist
• vadim
• standstill
• domes
• shrines
• 11m
• weingarten
• legions

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Hurva Synagogue, Hurva Synagogue

The Arab flag flying over the Old City skyline signaled the Legions triumph. A short while later a huge explosion reduced the synagogue, together with the Etz Chaim Yeshiva attached to it, to rubble. Collins , pp. 492-494 Mordechai Weingarten The question of whether responsibility for its destruction should rest on the shoulders of the Arab Legion or on the Haganah who had turned it into their last stronghold is debatable. What is for certain is that the building was deliberately mined and blown up after the Arabs had captured the area. Safdie , p. 82. "This was not done in the heat of battle, but by official order. Explosives were placed carefully and thoughtfully under the springing points of the domes, of the great Hurva synagogue." el-Tell wrote in 1959 that operations of calculated destruction had been set in motion because the Jewish Quarter had no strategic value. Its buildings and shrines were not destroyed in battle. All this took place after military activities had come to a standstill. Jeffers , p. 164.

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." Shragai 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. Lefkovits.

Source: Wikipedia > Hurva Synagogue