The Hurva Synagogue

On Wednesday, the first day of Cheshvan in the year 5461 (October 1700), Rabbi Yehuda the Chassid came to Jerusalem leading a group of his students. They resided in the Ashke#%!@ area and planned to build a synagogue nearby. But on Shabbat Rabbi Yehuda fell ill, and on the following Monday, just a few days after his arrival in Jerusalem, he passed away. His followers were left without a leader and without the donations that had been promised to their rabbi, but were slow in coming. Although the followers did, in fact, complete the construction of the synagogue they were left in serious debt. In 1721 their Arab creditors stormed the courtyard and the synagogue, destroying them both. The community members were forced to leave Jerusalem, and for 90 years the Ashke#%!@ Jews dared not show their faces in Jerusalem for fear that this would be detrimental to them. What to know more? Come visit!