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Baba Tama Synagogue, Jerusalem

Description

Background: The Bukharan Quarter, also called HaBukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. As the name implies, the neighborhood was first established by Buhkaran Jews beginning in the late 1860s but gradually grew to become a pan-Persian Jewish area, hosting Jewish communities from Iran and Afghanistan alongside Bukharan Jews[1][2]. The creation of the neighborhood was part of a larger process of Jewish areas being established in Jerusalem outside the confines of the Old City[3]. The history of Bukharian desires to migrate to Eretz Israel actually hails from developments almost a century prior when Yosef Maman, a Sephardic rabbi initially from Morocco (but had resettled in Safed to teach at a yeshiva), was traveling to various Jewish communities to collect funds for yeshivot in Eretz Israel. After reaching Buhkara, Mamon would relent that the established Jewish community of Bukhara was sorely lacking proper study/understanding of Torah/halacha. Maman would go on to become the spiritual leader of the Bukharan Jewish community, providing them with Sephardic religious rites that replaced their old Persian rites. Their utilization of such rites was a result of isolation from surrounding Jewish populations, specifically from the Buhkara Emirati’s closed door policies[4]. Maman would establish many yeshivas in Bukhara; however, an integral part of his teachings was a support for Bukharan Jews to visit and return to Eretz Israel[5]. 

As early as 1827 and until 1860, many Bukharan Jews were making multi-month long visits to Eretz Israel but not settling in the land and opting to return to Bukhara[6]. These trips would establish the groundwork for the first true settlement of Bukharan Jews in Jerusalem in 1868 when Bukharan Jews from Russian Turkestan would make the trek to the Holy Land for their new home[7]. Like many of their Russian Ashkenazi counterparts, seven members of the Bukharan community would form a Hovevei Zion Association for the Bukharan communities of Nuhkara, Samarkand, and Tashkent. This association specifically bought around 40 houses northwest of Mea She’arim, an area that would become the Bukharan quarter, which they would name Rehovot[8]. The group’s charter specified a desire to build the quarter in parallel to the style of Europe’s largest cities, specifically following neo-Gothic and Italian architectural styles alongside traditional Jewish building styles including Moorish arches alongside a heavy utilization of Magen Davids and Hebrew inscriptions in the inside of the buildings. These homes were atypically large, possessing usually two stories and a courtyard (alongside streets triple the average width for such an era)[9]. The quarter as a whole was initially particularly affluent, being filled with Bukharan Jews who amassed wealth from mercantile, cotton, and tea trades in Central Asia. 

The original population began to dissipate in the early of the 20th century and gradually grew to become a Sephardi-Haredi dominated area, with most of the houses/synagogues being utilized by such a population as well[10]. 

David Tama: David Tama was an affluent Bukharan Jewish merchant who was known for his financing of early cultural projects in the Bukharan quarter[11]. The Baba Tama synagogue, whose historical and cultural elegance can be contributed to David Tama’s funding, was named Baba Tama after David Tama; however, “Baba” (which means “gate” in Aramaic) was actually supposed to be in reference to the word grandfather, saba, in Hebrew, thus referencing both David’s age and his grandfatherly status in funding many early projects in the Bukharan quarter[12]. While not confirmed, it is also believed that the street of the synagogue, Rechov David, is also named in his honor. While a frequent visitor of the quarter, David would not make aliyah as he decided only to fund projects abroad from Uzbekistan (and much of such funding would be cut off with the rise of Soviet Russia, which also targeted many wealthy Bukharian Jews under their control)[13].

Baba Tama Synagogue: While initial construction would only begin in 1894, the Baba Tama synagogue, one of the last two synagogues still standing from those foundational years that established the Bukharan quarter, would only be completed in 1895[14]. The Baba Tama synagogue is located on the corner of Four Rechov David (corner of HaBukharim and Yehezkel). While hard to notice today, the seven meter high synagogue was originally designed in a bright blue. The basis for such a design element was to ensure the safety of worshipers as certain Jewish traditions claim Satan fears the color blue.

The inside of the synagogue was historically draped in Central Asian embroideries/rugs[15]. To this day, from the courtyard section, vibrant windows exuding designs commonly found on Central Asian carpets can likewise be seen. The courtyard, an endowment courtyard reflective of the other features in the Mea She’arim neighborhood, is located to the side of the synagogue that possesses an arch-based entrance[16].

Due to many years of renovations and construction, a host of photographic documentation is available of the site throughout various time periods. One can even see the numbers written by the Israel Antiquities Society on some of the stones utilized in the structure (so the stones could be placed in their proper/original location) [17]. Below are documents attesting to the synagogue during its formative years as well as colored photos of the synagogue in use, specifically photos of the Torah Ark and rabbis. The Baba Tama synagogue, due to its sheer beauty, would be utilized for the 100th anniversary (since the founding of the Bukharan quarter) stamp of the area. The colored photo of the Torah Ark would be utilized on various famous Jerusalem postcards as well[18]. The synagogue is still in use by the local Haredi population and many photos of the “Malkot” ritual have derived from the synagogue in recent years[19].

For more photos/documents of Baba Tama, visit The Center for Jewish Art here: http://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php?mode=set&id=15309

Jerusalem, Israel

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