Edited by: TJVNews.com

The story of the Hurva Synagogue begins around 1700, when Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid (Judah the Pious) led about 1,000 Jews to Jerusalem to strengthen the small community & build a great synagogue & study center in the Old City.

Construction of the synagogue began soon after their arrival, on land purchased near the Ramban Synagogue.

However, Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid died only six days after arriving, & in 1720, local Arabs set fire to the unfinished synagogue.

What remained of this once-grand house of prayer became known as “Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid” – “The Ruin of Rabbi Judah the Pious.”.

For nearly 150 years, the blackened stones stood as a haunting symbol of destruction & defeat.

The Hurva Synagogue was rebuilt in the mid-19th century, (completed in 1864), under Ottoman rule, funded by followers of the Vilna Gaon, the great Lithuanian rabbi & scholar.

It became the largest & most beautiful synagogue in Jerusalem.

In 1948 it was destroyed again during the War of Independence by the Trans-Jordanian armies.

2010: Reconstructed by the Israeli government & Jerusalem Municipality, restoring its 19th-century design.

Today, the Hurva stands proudly in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, its gleaming dome visible from all directions, a living testament to Jewish resilience & renewal in the heart of ancient Jerusalem.

The image shows the destruction in 1948, & the synagogue – interior & exterior – following the rebuilding.

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