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HaAri Synagogue

HaAri Synagogue

Those who have visited Tzfat invariably tour the HaAri synagogue for its history and ornate decor. However, few know that there is another HaAri synagogue right in Jerusalem's Old City. Rabbi Issac Luria, also known as The Ari, or "HaAri" (literally, "the lion," but also a Hebrew acronym meaning "the divine Rabbi Isaac"), was one of the most prominent mystics in Jewish history. The HaAri, who lived in the 16th century, for the most part in the north of Israel, established a school of Jewish mysticism known as Lurianic Kabbalah. The system revolutionized Kabbalistic thought and continues to be hugely influential both among Jewish mystics and in the pop-Kaballah circles made famous (some would say, infamous) by such practitioners as Madonna, Ashton Kutcher, and David Beckham. According to tradition, the HaAri Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City is located in the building where Luria was born and resided for 20 years. Like several other houses of prayer, the HaAri Synagogue was established inside a residential building in order to avoid detection by the Ottoman authorities, who had forbidden the city’s Jews to engage in public prayer. The synagogue was destroyed during the Arab riots of 1936, but has since been restored.
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  • address iconOr Hahayim St, Jerusalem
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