The Hechal Yehuda Synagogue , also commonly known as the Recanati synagogue , is one of approximately 500 synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

s in the second largest city of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

. Situated on the Menahem ben Saruq

Menahem ben Saruq

Menahem ben Saruq was a Spanish-Jewish philologist of the tenth century CE. He was a skilled poet and polyglot. He was born in Tortosa around 920 and died around 970. Menahem produced an early dictionary of the Hebrew language...

 street in the city's centre, it is often referred to as the Seashell Synagogue because of its unusual shape resembling a seashell

Seashell

A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers...

. The design is inspired by the seashells on the shores of the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 city of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

, which is the hometown of the wealthy Recanati family. It was the Recanati family who donated the money for the synagogue. It is affiliated with Orthodox Judaism.

History

The Hechal Yehuda Synagogue was built in memory of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki that was almost completely destroyed during the Holocaust. It is named after Yehuda Leon Recanati, an important benefactor, acting around the world. The construction of the synagogue was completed in 1980. Today most worshippers at the synagogue are Greek

History of the Jews in Greece

There have been organized Jewish communities in Greece for more than two thousand years. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews"...

-Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 originating from Thessaloniki.

Architecture

The north bare concrete facade is decorated with bas-reliefs of traditional Jewish motifs and symbols, made by artist Yechezkel Kimchi, while the coloured-glass windows, that present motifs from Jewish holidays, were made by the local artist Josef Shealtiel. The shell-like design creates an internal space which enables the congregation to see and to hear from wherever they are seated. The synagogue, incorporating two floors, has room for 600 persons, 400 men and 200 women in separated galleries.