The Hurva Synagogue (, translit: Beit ha-Knesset ha-Hurva, lit. "The Ruin Synagogue"), also known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid (, "Ruin of Rabbi Judah the Pious"), is a synagogue located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
It was originally founded in the early 18th century by followers of Judah HeHasid on the ruins of a 15th century synagogue and adjacent to the 14th century Sidna Omar mosque, but was destroyed a few years later in 1721 by Ottoman authorities, for failure of its proprietors to pay back a debt to local Muslims. The plot became known as "The Ruin", or Hurva, where it lay desolate for 116 years until it was resettled in 1837 by members of the Ashkenazi Jewish community, known as the Perushim. In 1864, the Perushim rebuilt the synagogue, and although officially named the Beis Yaakov Synagogue, it retained its name as the Hurva. It became Jerusalem's main Ashkenazi synagogue, until it too was destroyed by the Arab Legion during the fighting in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
After Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, a number of plans were submitted for the design of a new building. After years of deliberation and indecision, a commemorative arch was erected instead at the site in 1977, itself becoming a prominent landmark of the Jewish Quarter. The plan to rebuild the synagogue in its 19th-century style received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000, and the newly rebuilt synagogue was dedicated on March 15, 2010.
History
Early history
The Hurva Synagogue today stands off a plaza in the centre of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, adjacent to the 14th century Sidna Omar mosque. Excavations carried out at the site in July and August 2003 revealed evidence from four main settlement periods: First Temple (800–600 BCE), Second Temple (100 CE), Byzantine and Ottoman. Three bedrock-hewn mikvehs (ritual baths) were uncovered there dating from the 1st century. The earliest tradition regarding the site is of a synagogue existing there at the time of the second-century sage Judah the Prince.
Judah heHasid and aftermath: 1700s
In the winter of 1700, a group of around 500 Ashkenazim led by Judah HeHasid arrived from Poland. They were mystics who were intent on advancing the arrival of the Messianic Era by settling in Jerusalem and leading ascetic lives. A few days after their arrival in the city, heHasid died, and without a leader, their messianic hopes dissipated and the community began to disintegrate. Those who remained managed to build forty dwellings and a small synagogue in the Ashkenazic Compound. Soon after, they endeavoured to construct a larger synagogue, but the task proved expensive. They found themselves having to bribe the Ottoman authorities in order to enable them to proceed with their building project. Unexpected costs relating to the construction, financial hardships and the burden of various other taxes drained their funds. They became impoverished and were forced to take loans from local Arabs, eventually falling into severe debt. Pressure and threats from the creditors led to a meshulach (rabbinical emissary) being sent abroad to solicit funds for repayment of the loans. In late 1720, with the debts still outstanding, the Arab lenders lost patience and set the synagogue and its contents alight. The leaders of the community were imprisoned and shortly after, not only this group but all other Ashkenazim were banished from the city, an interdiction which remained until statute of limitations on the synagogue loans expired roughly a century later. Over the course of time, shops were built in the courtyard and the synagogue was left desolate, in a pile of rubble. It thus became known as the "Ruin of Rabbi Judah heHasid".