Friday, March 19, 2010
Famous Jerusalem Synagogue Rebuilt
The Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City, which has already been destroyed and rebuilt once in its 300-year history, has been restored once again. Ynet reported that on Monday [March 15], the new Hurva, located in the Jewish Quarter, was inaugurated. While the Jewish people were excited to see the synagogue rebuilt, following decades of lying in ruins, Hamas used the synagogue as a call for Palestinians to riot, which took place earlier this week, according to www.JerusalemOnline.com news. (Read on under comments)
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The interesting thing is that some people believe that it has to do with an old prophesy in Zecaraiah (further on in the article):
ReplyDelete"In addition, Haaretz reported that an Islamic group cited a Jewish prophecy linking the Hurva to the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, according to Ynet, said there were no plans to rebuild the Temple. Sadly, Arab opposition to the Hurva is nothing new.
According to the history of the site on the Web site for The Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem Ltd. (JQDC), the Hurva's first building was burned down by Arab creditors. It was rebuilt in the mid-1800s, but destroyed again, this time by the Jordanians, after they took the Jewish Quarter in 1948. Since then, only a single arch rose over the ruins.
Rebuilding the famous synagogue with its prominent dome was not cheap. According to the JQDC, prior to its completion, the Hurva budget was set at millions of dollars. In a letter from the architect on the JQDC Web site, Nahum Meltzer said he wanted the new Hurva to resemble the old one.
The JQDC said the old Hurva was at one point the tallest building in the Jewish Quarter. Whether or not that is the case now, the Hurva certainly is one of the more impressive buildings in the Quarter with its tall dome and recognizable high archway.
In a statement on the JQDC Web site from CEO Nissim Arazi, the old remnants of the Hurva, which literally means "ruin," were considered to be part of the symbol of the destruction wrought on Jerusalem by Israel's enemies. Arazi quotes from Zechariah 8:4-5, which prophesies of the restoration of Jewish life to Jerusalem, and later says of the Hurva restoration, "We have returned to Jerusalem. We have returned and we have rebuilt the symbol of destruction."
(By Joshua Spurlock, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, March 18, 2010)