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Photos of the Last Remaining Synagogues in the Muslim World

Photos of the Last Remaining Synagogues in the Muslim World

11 beautiful photos of shuls that were once home to thriving Jewish communities.
by Hyacinth Mascarenhas
Faith has long inspired some of the most remarkable architecture around the world.
In Judaism, the synagogue is seen as more than just a physical building: It is a central address and institution for the expression of Jewish identity and traditions, embedded in the social fabric of Jewish communities.
These synagogues were once scattered across the Middle East and North Africa and were home to thriving and flourishing Jewish populations, some dating back to ancient times. Since the creation of Israel in 1948 and the 1967 Six-Day War, however, these numbers have dwindled due to persecution and subsequent emigration, leaving behind only a few thousand Jews in the Arab world. Small clusters of Jews can still be found in Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Tunisia.
Along with this diaspora, the few remaining synagogues stand as reminders of the once-thriving Jewish populations in Muslim-majority countries and offer us a glimpse into the unique Arab-Jewish identity in the Middle East.
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most gorgeous synagogues and temples in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, spanning from Iran to Morocco:

1. Eliyahu Hanavi Sephardic, Egypt

Eliyahu Hanavi Sephardic, Egypt
The 150-year-old Eliyahu Hanavi Sephardic synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, is one of the largest synagogues in the Middle East and boasts towering Italian marble columns and seating for more than 700 people, offering us a unique glimpse into what the once-vibrant Jewish community was like in its prime.

2. Ashkenazi Synagogue, Turkey

Ashkenazi Synagogue, TurkeyVia: Wikimedia
Designed by Italian architect Gabriel Tedeschi, Ashkenazi Synagogue is located in Istanbul, Turkey, and was opened in 1900 for Jewish immigrants from Poland and Macedonia. The wooden black ark is carved with letters of the Hebrew alphabet and was brought from Kiev. It is also the country’s only Ashkenazi synagogue.
3. Slat Alfassiyine, Morocco

Slat Alfassiyine, MoroccoVia: Francois Munier
Located in Fez, Morocco, one of the world’s oldest medieval cities, this 17th-century synagogue was reopened early last year following a two-year restoration project. It is an “eloquent testimony to the spiritual wealth and diversity of the Kingdom of Morocco and its heritage,” according to Moroccan King Mohammed VI.
Islamist Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane represented King Mohammed VI in an inauguration ceremony marking the completion of a 17th century synagogue restoration project in Fez yesterday.
In 2011, when a new constitution was adapted, the king said that Jewish places of worship throughout Morocco should be restored, even as the Arab spring roared across North Africa.The newly renovated Slat Alfassiyine synagogue in the heart of one of the world’s oldest medieval cities, the country’s cultural and spiritual nucleus, symbolizes how seriously he took that mandate.
4. Shaar Hashomayim, Egypt

Shaar Hashomayim, Egypt
One of the largest Jewish temples in Egypt, the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue, which means “Gates of Heaven,” was built in 1905. Also known as Adly Street Temple and Ismailiya Temple, the architecture of this synagogue resembles ancient Egyptian temples, and is engraved with lotus flowers and plants on its outer walls.
5. Temple Beth-El, Morocco

Temple Beth-El, MoroccoVia: Brian
Located in Casablanca, Morocco, Temple Beth-El is one of the largest synagogues in the country, and is the religious and social center of the city’s Jewish community.
6. Neve Shalom, Turkey

Neve Shalom, TurkeyVia: Anita Gould
Dating back to the 1930s, Neve Shalom, which means “Oasis of Peace,” is Istanbul’s largest synagogue. Tragically, it has also been the target of numerous brutal attacks by anti-Jewish extremists in recent decades.
7. Magen Abraham, Lebanon

Magen Abraham, LebanonVia: Ted Swedenburg
This building is the last remaining synagogue in Beirut, Lebanon. After the last rabbi departed in 1975, the synagogue suffered severe structural damage during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. However, repairs began in 2009 and the interior has now been restored to its original state, with sky-blue walls and arched windows.
8. El Ghriba, Tunisia

El Ghriba, TunisiaVia: Pietro Izzo
Believed to date back almost 1,900 years, the El Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia, 500 kilometers south of Tunis, is Africa’s oldest synagogue. Last year the synagogue hosted hundreds of Jews from Europe, Israel and Africa in a three-day pilgrimage guarded by armed Tunisian police.
9. Zarzis Synagogue, Tunisia

Zarzis Synagogue, TunisiaVia: Wikimedia
Home to a small Jewish community of around 100 people, this synagogue is located in Zarzis, Tunisia. Built in the early 20th century, the building was once host to a community of about 1,000 people. In 1982 the synagogue was torched shortly after the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and the community’s Torah scrolls were destroyed before the building was restored.
Zarzis is home to a Jewish community of around 100 people, all living in the Jewish quarter of the city near the central market.
Many have jewelry shops and run other businesses such as carpentry and the Shimon Haddad and sons general store, the shop sells natural remedies and other miscellaneous products.
The community is served by the Zarzis Synagogue, built in the early 20th century to host the local Jewish community that numbered approximately1000 people at the time.
The synagogue was subject to an arson attack in 1982 that followed the Israeli incursion into Lebanon before it was restored to its original status. Prayers are read in the synagogue every Saturday morning and the synagogue hosts a Yeshiva, a Jewish Torah learning school during the week. The synagogue has a distinctive Andalusian architectural style.
10. Pol-e-Choubi Synagogue, Iran

Pol-e-Choubi Synagogue, Iran
Iran’s population of 75 million includes about 20,000 Jews, the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside Israel. The Pol-e-Choubi synagogue in located in Tehran, Iran.
11. Ben Ezra, Egypt

Ben Ezra, EgyptVia: girlenchanted
Located in Old Cairo, the Ben Ezra was not only an important center of prayer and celebration for Jews in Egypt since the 10th century. Often referred to as El-Geniza Synagogue, it was also site of the 19th-century discovery of the Cairo Geniza, considered to be “the most important source for understanding daily religious, communal and intellectual life around the Mediterranean during the medieval period.”
According to local legend, the synagogue is said to be built on the exact place where Moses was found near the river shore.

Segun tomado de, http://www.aish.com/jw/s/Photos-of-the-Last-Remaining-Synagogues-in-the-Muslim-World.html el jueves, 4 de dic. de 2014.

Archaeologist cracks mysterious message on Jerusalem prison wall
An Israeli archaeologist set out to find the Jewish fighter who left behind an inscription at Jerusalem’s Kishle prison. What he found dates back to the 8th century BCE — the First Temple period.
By Judy Maltz | Dec. 3, 2014 | 11:14 AM

Shmuel Matza Photo by Emil Salman

The Kishle prison, then Photo by Courtesy of the Tower of David Museum
As a 20-year-old member of the pre-state Jewish underground, Shmuel Matza spent four days incarcerated in the Kishle, a prison right near Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

But he made sure that evidence of his brief stay there would remain for posterity.

In a symbolic act of defiance, Matza, a commander in the Irgun at the time, etched his name into the wall of the prison, and beside it, the emblem of his militant anti-British organization – a hand clenching a gun running across a map of Greater Israel with the words “only thus” written beneath it.

These inscriptions are still discernible at the entrance to the facility, recently opened for public tours by the Tower of David Museum. (English-language tours of the site are scheduled to begin on December 19.) Beyond the peeled prison walls, the site includes excavations of remains that archeologists say date back as far as the First Temple period.

“I etched these inscriptions into the wall with a fork because they wouldn’t provide us with knives there,” recalls 87-year-old Matza, who still carries vivid memories of those days. “There were about 20 of us packed into one jail cell. There were fleas and lice, and it smelled pretty awful. We’d go out to the patio for our meals, which consisted of olives, yogurt, pita bread and tea. I still remember that they served the tea in these aluminum cups which got so hot that it burned our mouths when we drank from them.”

The Tower of David Museum Courtesy of Tower of David Museum

It was Amit Re’em, a young archeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, who set out to find the young prisoner who had etched his name into the wall when he began excavating the site almost 15 years ago and discovered the inscription.

“I knew that there was a Yehoshua Matza [a well-known Likud politician], so I though this might be a relative,” recalls Re’em. “I called him, and indeed, it turned out that Yehoshua was his younger brother. So I immediately picked up the phone and called Shmuel.”

Built in the 1830s, the Kishle was originally used as a military compound by the Ottomans. During the British Mandate period, it served as a police station and jail. Matza was among the many Jewish underground activists held there under administrative detention.

The inscription, now open to the public Courtesy Tower of David Museum

He grew up barely a few hundred meters away in the neighborhood of Yemin Moshe overlooking the Hinnom Valley, one of four brothers. His older brother had joined the pre-state Haganah, which eventually formed the core of the IDF after Israel gained independence, while he enlisted in the more militant Irgun (also known as Etzel) underground, and his younger brother Yehoshua – later to serve several terms as a Likud Knesset member, including one as health minister, before being appointed president of the Israel Bonds organization – joined the even more radical Lehi. “We had one other brother, but my father insisted that he stay behind and mind the homefront,” recounts Matza wryly.

In 1947, two years after he joined the Irgun, Matza was apprehended by British officers who suspected he was illegally hoarding weapons. After four days in transit at Kishle, he was transferred to the much bigger Latrun prison, where he spent the next eight months before joining Israeli forces in the War of Independence.

Like many of his fellow prisoners, Matza had no idea about the archeological treasure trove lying beneath the floor of his jail cell. It would take several decades before the excavation of the site would begin.

“In this one concentrated space, you have the entire history of Jerusalem,” notes Re’em, who today serves as Jerusalem District Archeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority. “Layer upon layer of it, starting with the British Mandate period and going down all the way to the 8th century BCE, the First Temple period.”

The Kishle prison, then Courtesy of the Tower of David Museum

One level below the prison, Re’em and his team found remnants of fabric-dying basins dating back to the Crusader era. Beneath that, they discovered a water drainage channel assumed to have belonged to Herod’s palace, and further below, the foundations of the palace, which archeologists believe extended as far as Mount Zion. Under these foundations, they discovered remains of a Hasmonean-era wall dating back to the end of the first century, and at the very bottom, remnants of another wall believed to have been built by King Hezekiah about 900 years earlier.

“Nowhere in Jerusalem do we have remnants of so many different periods in history in one small space,” notes Re’em.

Spending a few days on top of thousands of years of history has apparently provided Matza with a unique perspective on old age. With almost nine decades on earth behind him, he doesn’t think twice about heading out every morning to his law practice in downtown Jerusalem, where he says he still gets great satisfaction preparing for court battles.

“What am I going to do at home?” he asks. “At work I get to cross-examine people, I get to shout at other lawyers and to argue with the judge. At home, there’s just my wife to fight with. And I know that with her I’m always going to lose.”

Segun tomado de, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/.premium-1.629716 el miércoles, 3 de dic. de 2014.

Who Are the Real Racists in Israel?

Reflections on the UN Partition of Palestine

Larry Domnitch

Abbas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel as Jewish state
Speaking to Arab League, PA president accuses Israel of setting up apartheid state, says Palestinians can’t wait any longer for statehood
BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF November 29, 2014, 4:41 pm 79

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas gives a press conference following his meeting with South African president, on November 26, 2014, in Pretoria, as part of his first official visit to South Africa. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO/STEFAN HEUNIS)NEWSROOM

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that the Palestinians would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and accused Israel of establishing an apartheid government.

The Palestinian leader was speaking in Cairo at an emergency session of the Arab League with foreign ministers from around the Arab world. His remarks came following a week of intense debate among Israeli politicians about a Knesset bill which would enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state in law.
“We will never recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel,” Abbas was quoted by Channel 10 saying. The news outlet also reported that Abbas threatened to terminate all security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank unless peace negotiations are revived. Talks collapsed in April, and Israel will not resume them so long as Abbas is partnered with the Hamas terror group in a Palestinian unity government.

Abbas charged that instead of advancing the peace process, Israel was working to set up an apartheid state, including Jews-only buses, establishment of Israeli legal sovereignty over West Bank settlements, the proposed “Jewish state” law, and requirements of declarations of loyalty by citizens.

“Return to negotiations is possible if Israel agrees to a full freeze of settlement [construction], including Jerusalem, release of the fourth group of long-term prisoners, and setting a timetable for negotiations which will begin with setting borders,” Abbas said.

Israel agreed to release four groups of Palestinian prisoners as a precondition for the American-mediated negotiations that began last year, but refused to free the final batch in March in a dispute over Palestinian demands that Israeli Arab prisoners be included, and having failed to secure Abbas’s agreement that the talks would continue beyond the original April deadline.

Abbas said Saturday that the Palestinians weren’t willing to wait any longer for progress and were determined to petition the United Nations Security Council to demand a timetable for the end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“It’s impossible for us to wait any longer, because Israel continues its aggression and expropriation of lands and setting facts on the ground by continuing to build settlements,” Abbas was quoted saying. “The government of Israel doesn’t want, for internal reasons, to define its borders and we can’t continue with this situation.”

Abbas was expected to receive Arab League approval to lodge the UN petition in the coming days, but did not say when he would do so.

According to Channel 10, Abbas said he asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to cooperate in drafting the Security Council proposal, in order to put pressure on Israel to cease settlement construction.

The resolution is likely — but not certain — to fail, either because it falls short of the needed votes or because the US will veto it. But it will likely add momentum to international backing for Palestinian statehood.

Abbas warned that the Palestinians could take other steps, including joining the International Criminal Court, if the Security Council rejects the resolution.

The PA president said he would take these steps unless Israel “takes responsibility for the situation.”

“The situations in the [West] Bank is dangerous, and can’t continue,” Abbas said. “All signs point to [the fact that] the American mediation [of peace talks] failed with the end of negotiations.”

Read more: Abbas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel as Jewish state | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-palestinians-will-never-recognize-israel-as-jewish-state/#ixzz3KUHM3ZGX