The Hechal Yehuda Synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת היכל יהודה, ''Beit haKnesset Hechal Yehuda''), also commonly known as the Recanati synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת רקנטי, ''Beit haKnesset Recanati''), is one of approximately 500

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

s in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Situated on the

Menahem ben Saruq Menahem ben Saruq (also known as Menahem ben Jacob ibn Saruq, he, מנחם בן סרוק) was a Spanish-Jewish philologist of the tenth century CE. He was a skilled poet and polyglot. He was born in Tortosa around 920 and died around 970 in Cordob ...

street in the city's centre, it is often referred to as the ''Seashell Synagogue'' ( he, בית הכנסת קונכית, ''Beit haKnesset Konkit'', ) because of its unusual shape resembling a

seashell A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal or organism that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washe ...

. The design is inspired by the seashells on the shores of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

city of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, which is the hometown of the wealthy Recanati family and the synagogue's architect, Yitzhak Toledano. It was the Recanati family who donated the money for the synagogue. It is affiliated with Orthodox Judaism.

History

The Hechal Yehuda Synagogue was built in memory of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, which was almost completely destroyed during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. It is named after Yehuda Leon Recanati. The construction of the synagogue was completed in 1980, after both Toledano and Recanati had died. Today most worshippers at the synagogue are

Sephardi Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

originating from Thessaloniki.

Architecture

The north bare concrete facade is decorated with bas-reliefs of traditional Jewish motifs and symbols, made by artist Yechezkel Kimchi, while the coloured-glass windows, that present motifs from Jewish holidays, were made by the local artist Josef Shealtiel. The shell-like design creates an internal space which enables the congregation to see and to hear from wherever they are seated. The synagogue, incorporating two floors, has room for 600 persons, 400 men and 200 women in separated galleries. File:PikiWiki Israel 5505 Landscapes of Israel - Mini Israel.JPG File:PikiWiki Israel 7105 saloniki synagogue in tel aviv.jpg

External links

References

{{coord, 32, 5, 12.22, N, 34, 47, 0.17, E, display=title Synagogues in Tel Aviv Heichal Yehuda, Tel Aviv Heichal Yehuda, Tel Aviv Heichal Yehuda, Tel Aviv Heichal Yehuda, Tel Aviv 1980 establishments in Israel Synagogues completed in 1980 Expressionist architecture Modernist architecture in Israel

History

Architecture

See also

External links

References