Jerusalem Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky has initiated a project
to restore and elevate two important botei knesses in
the Old City, making them higher than the churches and
mosques, thereby bringing back a Jewish look to the Jerusalem
skyline.
In the first phase the Jerusalem Municipality, in cooperation
with the Jewish Quarter Development Company, will perform
extensive work to rebuild and raise the Churva and Tiferes
Yisroel shuls, which were Jerusalem's highest and most
splendid botei knesses until the War of 5708 (1948)
after which they were dynamited by Jordan when it controlled
the area.
Development work is already underway at the Churva, which was
built three centuries ago by R' Yehuda the Chassid and served
as a center of Ashkenazi communal life in the city. The shul
was destroyed by the Turks and lay in ruins for over a
hundred years until Moshe Montefiore had it rebuilt. The
tallest, most impressive building in the Jewish Quarter, it
served as the heart of Jewish life and the spiritual center
of the Jewish Quarter until it was again razed, this time by
the Jordanians.
The task of raising and rebuilding the shul will cost NIS 28
million ($6.4 million). Upon completion one year from now the
beis knesses will once again serve as an important
spiritual center in the Jewish Quarter and will tower even
higher than the Al-Aqsa Mosque, lehavdil.
Beis Knesses Tiferes Yisroel, the other building included in
the project, was built by HaRav Nisan Bak, the late rov of
the Chassidic community of the Old Yishuv. It was notable for
its grand dome, high enough to be seen for miles. Like the
Churva, it has also lain in ruins ever since the Jordanians
exploded it in 5708 (1948). The construction work at the site
will cost NIS 30 million ($6.8 million) and will include the
restoration of the magnificent dome, making it visible once
again from almost every part of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Mayor Rabbi Lupoliansky said, "The project, now in
the initial stages, will provide the Old City the proper
appearance and will restore to the Jerusalem skyline the
Jewish flavor that has been missing since the large botei
knesses were destroyed in the Old City."
