Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue

{{Infobox
|title = Ari Ashkenazi Shul
|image        = [[File:00000375 bima ari ashkenazi tzfas.jpg|215px|alt=Ari Ashkenazi Shul]]
|header1 = Hebrew:
|data2  = בית כנסת האר"י האשכנזי
|header3 = Spelling:
|data4  = Arei, Hari, Ashkanazi
|header5 = Other Names
|data6   = Arizal Shul
|header7 = Description:
|data8   = Old Synagogue in Safed, Israel named after Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, the holy Ari.}}

The Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue is one of the [[Tzfat Synagogues|older shuls]] in [[Safed]]. Originally built by Spanish Maronoes, the Shul was renamed after the [[Rabbi Yitzchak Luria|Arizal]] who used to pray the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer in the field adjacent to the Synagogue. After being destroyed in the [[Safed 1837 Earthquake|1837 earthquake]], the Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue was rebuilt 20 years later in the same location. In later years an additional Bais Medrash was built across from the original. Minyonim take place in both buildings.

== Gerigos Synagogue ==

The ARI Ashkanazi synagogue was originally called the “Gerigos Synagogue” because it was built by Jewish refugees who arrived in Tzfat from the Greek island of Gerigos. These people were descendants of Jews who had converted to Christianity under duress during the  Spanish Inquisition. They fled to Grigoros, renounced Christianity and immigrated to Israel.

Many people in Tzfat refused to accept these refugees as Jews when they arrived. They argued that, by converting, the Jews had forfeited their identity as Jews, for themselves as well as their descendants. This argument mirrored a similar dispute raging within the Jewish World of that time.

The Jews from Grigoros established their own synagogue, the Grigoros synagogue, along the eastern border of the existing Tzfat community. 

== Chakal Tapuchim ==

When [[Rabbi Yitzchak Luria|Rabbi Isaac Luria]], the ARI, came to Tzfat in 1534, he instituted the custom of welcoming the Sabbath in the field next to the Grigoros synagogue. Together with his students, the ARI would watch the sun set over the Meron mountain range as the Sabbath began. They would dance and sing the psalms and songs that today comprise the “Kabbalat Shabbat” service. This field was known by the students of the Ari as the 'Chakal Tapuchim' -- 'apple orchard' -- a reference to a realm in the spiritual dimensions.

== Renamed the Ari Shul ==

The Grigoros synagogue served the expanding Tzfat community as the original immigrants became integrated into the community. Residents renamed the synagogue the “ARI Ashkanazi” when Hassidic immigrants began to arrive in Tzfat in the late 1700s and established their own “minyan” -- prayer quorum -- there.

== Destruction and Resurection == 

The ARI Ashkanazi Synagogue that exists today was built in 1857. It sits on the site of the original ARI Ashkanazi synagogue which was completely destroyed in the [[Safed 1837 Earthquake|1837 earthquake]].

== Construction and Style ==

=== No Mezuzza ===

Visitors may notice that the ARI Ashkanazi synagogue does not have a “mezuzza” -- the traditional marking on the doorpost of a Jewish building. Jewish law states that a building must have a mezuzza if people intend to eat or sleep in the building. Since the ARI Ashkanazi does not have facilities for either eating or sleeping, no mezuzza exists on the doorframe.

=== The Bima ===

The “bima,”, the area where the person leading the services stands, is elevated in the center of the synagogue. Although the synagogue follows the “Nusach Sepharad”/Hassidic prayer service, the placement of the bima follows the tradition of many Sepharadi synagogues, allowing the (male) congregants to sit in a circular fashion surrounding the bima. (The women’s galley is upstairs). The pockmark in the wooden bima stand is a remnant of a piece of shrapnel that flew into the synagogue during the [[Safed War of Independence|War of Independence]]. At the moment that the shrapnel flew in, the congregant sitting closest to the door was bowing in prayer and the shrapnel flew over his head.

=== Torah Ark ===

The Ark where the Torah scroll rests is decorated with an intricate wooden carving, created over 100 years ago by a local craftsman. The carving depicts a crown, reminding congregants of the ARI’s teaching that the Torah’s crown comes to all who study and follow the Torah’s teachings.

Originally the top of the Torah Ark contained engraved images of lions, birds and other animals. This caused a lot of Halachic controversy, regarding the laws of having pictures and images in a permanent place of prayer. Although the images were removed for many years, the top of the Torah Ark currently contains an image of a lion, a reference to the holy ARI.

=== Chair of Eliyaho ===

Couple struggling with infertility come to the ARI Ashkanazi synagogue to sit in the shul’s Elijah’s Chair. During a circumcision the “Sandak,” the person holding the baby, sits in a designated Elijah’s chair. The ARI Ashkanazi’s Elijah’s Chair serves, when not being used for a circumcision, as a “segula” -- a good luck charm -- for infertile couples. Many couples report that after struggling for years with infertility, one visit to the Elijah’s chair in the ARI Ashkanazi produced the hoped-for baby.

{{Tzfat Synagogues}}
{{Kivrei Tzadikim}}
{{Safed History}}

[[Category:Old Synagogues]]
[[Category:Safed]]
[[Category:Kivray Tzadikim]]