Hurva Synagogue

Construction of the Hurva Synagogue began under Rabbi Judah the Hassid (Judah he-Hasid Segal ha-Levi) but ended at his death in 1700. The Rabbi led the largest organized congregation of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel in the 17th and 18th centuries. The failure of the Ashkenazi to pay the bills for the half-built synagogue led to riots that resulted in their expulsion from Jerusalem in 1720. The resulting desolate ruins gave the synagogue its current name - Hurva. The Hurva Synagogue was again occupied under Rabbi Ibrahim Pasha in 1836 and finally completed in 1856.