Central Synagogue of Aleppo
The Aleppine Central Synagogue ( Hebrew בית הכנסת המרכזי בחאלֶבּ, Arabic كنيس حلب المركزي Kanis Halab al-Markazi ), also called Joab Synagogue or al-Bandara Synagogue (كنيس البندرة) is a synagogue from the 5th century AD, which was destroyed in the Aleppo pogrom in December 1947, along with ten other historical synagogues. Until then, she had guarded the Aleppo Codex since the 14th century . It was the only ancient synagogue in the world that was still in use.
history
According to legend, the synagogue was built in the 10th century BC. Erected by King David's general Joab ben Zeruiah . The current building dates from the Byzantine period of the 4th or 5th century AD, the oldest inscription from the year 834 AD. After being damaged by the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, the synagogue was converted into a mosque . In the time of Timur it served as a retreat from his acts of violence, but was destroyed in 1400. In 1418 the synagogue was rebuilt. It was visited in August 1626 by the Jesuit traveler Pietro della Valle and described in 1905 by the researcher Elkan Nathan Adler .
On December 1, 1947, the synagogue was burned down by a mob during the pogrom of Aleppo in the course of the expulsions of Jews . Several Jewish believers, including numerous children, were killed. Many pages of the Aleppo Codex , the oldest manuscript of the Masoretic Hebrew Bible, were also burned . The document, previously believed to have disappeared, was brought to Israel in 1958 . The central synagogue was protected under the Assad regime and rebuilt in 1992 with funding from the Syrian- Jewish community in New York . On June 1, 2008, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad still allowed Kaddish and Kohanim prayers in the synagogue.
Building
In the south wing (also known as the wall of Zion ) of the central synagogue facing Jerusalem, there is a room called the "Cave of Elijah ", where old manuscripts ( kethers ) of the Torah and the Bible were kept. The courtyard could be used as an open-air synagogue in summer. The stone building was divided into three areas. The courtyard separated the west wing, where the Mustarabi community prayed (the long-established Jewish community of Aleppo). The eastern area was built in the 16th century and served as a Jewish study hall as well as a prayer hall for the "Franks", ie for the Sephardic Jews from south-western Europe who later settled there . There were three Torah shrines in the western hall, three on the south wall and one on the east wing.
literature
- Nathan Adler: The Jews of Many Lands. Jewish Publication Society , Philadelphia 1905.
- Walter Zenner: A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria. Wayne State University Press, Detroit 2000, pp. 35-39.
Web links
- Haim F. Ghiuzeli: The Central Synagogue in Aleppo, Syria. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012 ; accessed on March 11, 2016 .
Coordinates: 36 ° 12 ′ 7.1 ″ N , 37 ° 8 ′ 58.9 ″ E