Yossi Banaah Synagogue
(Hebrew: בית כנסת הצדיק הלבן רבי יוסי בנוי צפת / Pronunciation: “tz-a-deek ha-la-van, yos-si ba-an-ay / Other Names: Tzadik HaLavan, Kever Rebbe Yosi Banni / Spelling: Banai, Banni, Bana, Banaa, Bannay, Bannah / Description: Old Synagogue in Safed, Israel where the Tana Rabbi Yosi Bannah is buried.)
The Tzadik HaLavan synagogue, also known as the Yossi Banai Synagogue, is unique in that it was built around a gravesite. The synagogue is one of the oldest in Tzfat and has seen continuous use for the last 500 years. Tzfat legend attributes miracles to the synagogue in the name of the rabbi for whom the synagogue was named.
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Yossi Banai
Rabbi Yossi Banai was a Talmudic-era scholar. He studied with Rabbi Akiva in the years following the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jews. He was buried along the mountainside of Tzfat and residents of Safed built a synagogue over his grave in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Miracle of the White Chickens
During the era of Ottoman rule the Jews of Tzfat witnessed a miracle in the name of Yossi Banai. .
A cruel Ottoman Ottoman ruler demanded that the Jews bring him a specified number of white chickens and roosters. He warned that dire consequences would result if the chickens and roosters were not brought within three days. Almost all of the chickens in Tzfat were multi-colored and the Jews of Tzfat panicked.
Many residents prayed at the gravesite Yossi Banai in the synagogue. They then remained in the shul for three days to pray and fast. On the third night one of the residents who was sleeping at the synagogue dreamt that Yossi Banai advised the Jews to bring their chickens to his grave. All the Jews of Tzfat brought their chickens and roosters to Yossi Banai’s grave and watched, amazed, as all their chickens turned white. The Ottoman ruler, seeing this miracle, relaxed his harsh rule over the Jews and the Yossi Banai synagogue became known as the “Tzadik HaLavan” -- the White Righteous One -- synagogue.
Smicha - Rabbinical Ordination
The Tzadik HaLavan synagogue played another important role in Tzfat with an unusual ordination of Tzfat’s greatest 16th century rabbis. Rabbi Ya’akov Beirav, Safed’s Chief Rabbi during the early 16th century, wanted to reinstate “smicha,” the ordination of rabbis to the Sanhedrin. True smicha had been dissolved when the Sanhedrin dispersed during the Roman exile but Rabbi Beirav felt that the time had come to reestablish the authority that would unite the Jewish World and, he believed, bring the messiah. Tzfat’s rabbinical establishment supported Rabbi Beirav and ordained him, paving the way for him to bestow ordination on the great Tzfat rabbis, Rabbi Yosef Caro, Rabbi Moshe Metrani, Rabbi Moshe Galante, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. This ceremony took place at the Tzaddik HaLavan synagogue. Subsequently, worldwide rabbinical condemnations and refusal to accept the reenactment of the Sanhedrin doomed the move and the initiative died out.
The Synagogue
The Tzaddik HaLavan synagogue is located one level up from the ancient Tzfat cemetery, above the ARI Ashkanazi synagogue. Visitors walk through through a courtyard to enter the synagogue whose interior is blue, a Kabbalistic motif reminicent of the heavens. The raised center “Bima” -- central prayer area -- is next to an Elijah’s chair which is used for circumcision ceremonies. Visitors will see painted etchings of biblical instruments along the ceiling’s arches. A local family, the Shabbabos, care for the synagogue and open it for Sabbath prayers. The prayer service is conducted in the Sepharadi tradition.