Central Synagogue of Aleppo

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The Central Synagogue of Aleppo, (

Brief history

According to tradition, the foundation for the Great Synagogue in Aleppo was constructed by

Another account by Elkan Nathan Adler in his book Jews in Many Lands published in 1905 records:

The chief synagogue is very ancient and has many peculiarities. There are several modern additions to it, but the main structure is dated by the Abbe Chagnot as early as the fourth century. It has several inscriptions, some carved on its walls, others painted on them. One is as late as 1861, another as early as 834. The latter is on a chapel stated to have been erected by Mar Ali ben Nathan b. Mebasser b. HaAram....Hebrew inscription... Only four letters are starred, so that the date is probably 1145, sel.=834. The local Jews, however, assume that all the letters count in the perat, but that no thousand is omitted, so that the date would be 654 sel., i.e., 345 of the common era! The letters are certainly archaic, so early an inscription should not be accepted as such without further evidence. There are several chapels surrounding the main building, evidently added from time to time, as the community grew. In each of these

yeshivah and in a secret chamber in the eaves of the roof of one of the side chapels is the genizah

.

It had later on undergone a series of modifications until its destruction during the

violent attacks against Jews

by the local population in December 1947. The building has been badly damaged, but the synagogue still stands and is under full supervision and protection by the Syrian government, although there are no worshippers utilizing it. The synagogue was partially rebuilt (financed by the Syrian Jewish community of New York) and completed in 1992, but it now stands silent and empty.

Occasionally, when possible, trips are made to visit the synagogue by Syrian Jews. An example of such a trip took place on 1 June 2008, when a minyan for the morning services with the Kaddish and Kohanim was conducted by the visitors and former members of the synagogue.^[citation needed]

Architecture and layout

The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot

The older portions of the synagogue were built in the Byzantine period, perhaps as early as the 9th century. Damaged in the Mongol sack of Aleppo in 1400, the building underwent extensive changes in 1405–1418. With the arrival of the

Sephardim in Aleppo in the 16th century, a wing on the eastern side of the main courtyard was built. On the southern part of this wing, facing Jerusalem, is a small room known as the "cave of Elijah." Within the porticoed

-courtyard, is a raised, covered "tevah," or reader's platform, which the congregation used seasonally. It was in this form that Della Valle viewed the synagogue. It remained essentially unchanged until it was looted and burned in the riots of 1947.

The

Holy Ark and the bimah

for the cantor.

The synagogue edifice was divided into three main sections: a central courtyard that separated the western wing, where in modern times the musta'arabi community used to worship, from the eastern section built at a later time during the 16th century and which served as Beth Midrash and prayer hall of the "Francos", i.e. Sephardi Jews that settled in the town after the Spanish exile and other European Jews that happened to sojourn in Aleppo. An additional enclosed small courtyard was bordering the eastern wing farther to the east.

The western hall had three heichaloth (Holy Arks); there were another three heichaloth on the southern wall ("the Zion Wall") of the courtyard, and a seventh Holy Ark, located in the eastern wing close to the courtyard, also on the southern wall pointing to the direction of

Masoretic text of the Bible.^{[citation needed]} The Jews believed that the day that the Aleppo Codex gets removed from Aleppo is the day that their community will be destroyed. It turns out that this actually occurred.^{[dubious – discuss}

]

See also

• Syrian Jews
• History of the Jews in Syria
• Ades Synagogue

References

• Adler, Nathan. The Jews of Many Lands, Jewish Publication Society; Philadelphia, 1905.
• Zenner, Walter. A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria, Wayne State University Press, page 35-39.

External links

• The Central Synagogue in Aleppo, Syria
• The Jews of Aleppo
• Silenced Sacred Places- Robert Lyons
• Sephardic Pizmonim Project