The Ari Synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת הארי) is situated on Or HaHaim Street in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located on the ground floor of a building which also houses the Ohr ha-Chaim Synagogue and Old Yishuv Court Museum. It is named after Rabbi

Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534 Fine 2003, p24/ref> – July 25, 1572) ( he, יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי ''Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi''), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI" (mea ...

, (1534–1572), who was known as the Ari ( he, אֲרִי; trans: ''The Lion''), an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for haEloqi Rabbeinu Yitzhak (''the divine, our teacher, Isaac''). He was a great kabbalist who founded a new school in Kabbalistic thought, known as the "System of the Ari" or "

Lurianic kabbalah Lurianic Kabbalah is a school of kabbalah named after Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the Jewish rabbi who developed it. Lurianic Kabbalah gave a seminal new account of Kabbalistic thought that its followers synthesised with, and read into, the earlie ...

Origins

According to tradition, it was in this building where Rabbi

was born and where he lived for 20 years. It is told that Eliyahu Ha-Navi was the

sandek A sandek or sandak ( he, סנדק "companion of child") is a person honored at a Jewish ''brit milah'' (circumcision) ceremony, traditionally either by holding the baby boy on the knees or thighs while the mohel performs the brit milah, or by h ...

at his Brit milah. At some stage, the room of his traditional birthplace became a Sephardic synagogue. The

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

of the

yishuv Yishuv ( he, ישוב, literally "settlement"), Ha-Yishuv ( he, הישוב, ''the Yishuv''), or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri ( he, הישוב העברי, ''the Hebrew Yishuv''), is the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Israel (corresponding to the ...

were forbidden by Ottoman Law to establish any new synagogues. This led to inconspicuous prayer houses which, like the Ari Synagogue, were located in residential homes. During the riots of 1936 the synagogue was looted and burned.

References

{{Authority control Synagogues in Jerusalem Isaac Luria he:מוזיאון חצר היישוב הישן#בית הכנסת האר"י

Origins

See also

References