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Just over 50 years ago, Jerusalem's skyline was completely different. The domes of the Jewish Quarter's two main synagogues – Tifereth Yisrael and the Hurva -overlooked the congested houses of the quarter.
The Hurva synagogue was the first synagogue to be built in the Old City of Jerusalem since the destruction of the Second Temple. Documents found dating back to 1421 indicate that there was a synagogue there at that time, which would later come to be known as "The Ashkenazi Courtyard".
In 1700, a group of settlers led by Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Hassid settled in the courtyard. Two decades later, Arab creditors burnt down the synagogue and the courtyard that they had built. A hundred years would pass before the synagogue was rebuilt by followers of Rabbi Eliyahi Ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, the Vilna Gaon.
A further 50 years would pass before they had received the necessary building permits and had collected enough funds, and in 1864 the Great Synagogue – the Hurva – was resurrected from desolation, taller than any of the buildings in the Quarter.
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