Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World

The Bet El yeshiva was founded in 1737 by Rabbi Gedaliah Ḥayyun in the Old City of Jerusalem as a part of the general flowering of Kabbala in eighteenth-century Jerusalem. The yeshiva was galvanized by its second leader, the Yemenite kabbalist Shalom Sharʿabi (1720-1780, also known as RaSHaSH). Sharʿabi bequeathed a system of contemplative kabbalistic prayer that has been the school's defining system ever since and is responsible for its preeminence among practitioners of the most arcane systems of Lurianic Kabbala.The early Bet El group left a number of documents. The most signifi…

The Beth Israel Synagogue, located on Efe Street, Şişli, is one of several synagogues in Istanbul. The building was erected in the 1920s and was originally used partly as a synagogue and partly as an auto repair garage. The part that was used as a synagogue and two nearby houses were bought in 1947 in order to enlarge the synagogue. With the supervision of contractor Aram Deragobyan and architect Jak Pardo, construction began in 1952 and the synagogue was named the Beth Israel Synagogue.            Unlike most other synagogues in Istanbul, Beth Israel has no historical or arti…

The Bet Israel Synagogue is located in the Karataş quarter of the Turkish city of Izmir (formerly Smyrna). The city’s largest synagogue, it was built to accommodate the growing population in the area, which in the late nineteenth century was known as the Jewish quarter.Ottoman law required government permission to restore or build new synagogues. The request for the construction of Bet Israel was submitted in 1904 to Sultan Abdülhamid II; the following year permission was granted and construction began. The synagogue was opened for worshi…