Yesterday I went a walking tour to one of the historic synagogues in Jerusalem, The Conegliano Veneto Synagogue, otherwise know as the Italian Synagogue in Jerusalem.
The history of this synagogue dates back to the Jewish community that formed in the 1500s in the small village of Conegliano, Italy between the cities of Padua and Venice.
The community built a new synagogue in 1701. It remained in operation until the community was devastated during the First World War. Its last service was held on Yom Kippur 1917 for a group of Jewish soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian army.
The building remained dormant until 1948, when the Jewish community in Venice agreed to donate t to Jerusalem. In 1951 the synagogue was taken apart and shipped to Israel where it was reassembled where the Italian Jewish community gathered for prayer in Jerusalem, inside the former building of "The German Catholic Institution Near Jaffa Gate." Today the Synagogue is still used for Shabbat and holiday services by the Italian Jewish community.
In addition to the Italian Synagogue, the building also houses a museum of Italian Jewish art. The museum contains many artifacts, many dating all the way back to the fifteenth century.
Scenes from Ben Yehuda Street:
Some familiar signs:
Interesting side note: Something about me must look Russian right now. Each of the last three days someone has come up to me and asked if I speak Russian. On Tuesday a group of Russian tourists tried to ask me directions, and first they tried Russian. Yesterday a man saw me taking pictures and came up to tell me about his vision for creating an exhibition of photos from Jerusalem when he returned home to Russia. He asked if I would consider contributing my pictures to his collection which he hoped to one day take to communities around the world. Tonight I was reading a book on a park when when an old woman approached me. You guessed it! She asked if I could speak russian. Then she asked if I could speak Yiddish. Then we had a brief conversation in her extremely limited Hebrew. I'm not sure how I feel about this new development, but I thought I would share it with you.
Tomorrow I will be meeting up with Rabbi Dobrusin and the members from Beth Israel on the congregational trip to Israel. I will be joining them for a trip to the Western Wall and Kabbalat Shabbat in the Old City!
Beautiful pictures!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJake
ReplyDeleteglad you are having a great trip. The Gabbai of the Italian Shul is a good friend of Cindy and me so look for him next you go and introduce youself. His name is Umberto Pace.