When Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders in 1099, the Jewish residents were
annihilated. The last remaining Jews, battling the invaders, found refuge in a synagogue.
When the conquest was complete, the Crusaders set the synagogue alight, burning
everyone inside alive. By the time the RAMBAN arrived, Jewish Jerusalem had been
demolished and in ruin for 170 years, and few Jews remained in the city. The continuum
of Jewish life in the city was rejuvenated with the RAMBAN’s arrival.
The RAMBAN arrived in Jerusalem on the 9th of Ellul, 1267. In a letter to his son,
he described the establishment of the synagogue: “Many are [Israel's] forsaken places,
and great is the desecration. The more sacred the place, the greater the devastation
it has suffered. Jerusalem is the most desolate place of all. There are two brothers
dyers by trade……There are ten men who meet on the Sabbaths they hold services at
their home”
He goes on to tell how he found a desolate, ruined building that had marble pillars
and a magnificent arch, cleared out the rubble and transformed it into a synagogue.
Torah scrolls that had been removed before the Mongol invasion and transported to
the city of Shechem, were returned.
Some scholars claim that the building was previously a synagogue during the time
of the Geonim, but was destroyed at some point. The RAMBAN lived in Jerusalem
for three short years, but during this time, he was able to reverse the fortunes
of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel.
Rabbi Ovadia Bartanura, a Halachaic commentator who came to Jerusalem 220 years
later, described the synagogue in a letter to his father:”Jerusalem is desolate
. . no Torah scrolls are to be found, but for a few . . . and the synagogue of Jerusalem
is built on pillars and is long and narrow and dark…”
Thirty five years later Rabbi Moshe Bassula arrived in Jerusalem. The RAMBAN synagogue
was still the only synagogue in the city, and he described it accurately: “There
is only one synagogue in Jerusalem, and it is beautiful, with four columns inside.
Its length is 63 feet, its width 28, and in the front of the Temple is a room that
holds the Torah scrolls, more than 60 in number. The worshippers pray to the east
against the Temple, and there is no light in the synagogue but for that which enters
from the western opening and a small window, and even at daytime candles are lit
all around.”
At the end of the 16th century, ownership of the synagogue passed into Arab hands.
For 400 years, it was used as raisin mill, a charcoal warehouse and finally a cheese
factory. Over 100 years ago, the building returned to Jewish hands and the sound
of the Torah once again emanated from the RAMBAN Yeshiva in the Street of the Jews.
The Quarter was conquered by the Arab Legion in the War of Independence in 1948.
19 years later, during the Six-Day War of 1967, 700 years after the arrival of the
RAMBAN in Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter was liberated. The entire Quarter, including
the RAMBAN synagogue, was in ruin. Following in the footsteps of the RAMBAN, looking
for the marble columns of his synagogue, we found a small opening near the Hurva
courtyard that led to a long corridor. At the end of the corridor was a small courtyard
with a stairway ascending to a second level. At that time, the building was inhabited
by poverty-stricken families living in great density. In all the disorder and confusion,
only one marble column was found. It was if the other three columns described by
the RAMBAN had disappeared. When the work of clearing the synagogue began, the rubble
was cleared out, and a second column, supporting the arched roof, was found. The
building was cleared and readied for worship. Two additional columns, described
by Moshe Bassula, were still missing. A gap was found in the rear of the house,
and when the refuse and rubble was cleared from there, an additional two columns
were found, and the form of the ancient synagogue was revealed in its entirety.
The rehabilitation process of the RAMBAN's ancient synagogue began. Its completion
created a link between the RAMBAN, who had rejuvenated the Jewish settlement of
Jerusalem 700 hundred years ago, and the State of Israel that had liberated the
Old City of Jerusalem.
