WHATSAPP OPEN KARO FREE

WHATSAPP OPEN KARO FREE

Karo’s soup kitchen has been put to modern use, providing free meals for the students who learn there.

The seating is around the periphery according to Sephardic custom, and there is a spectacular picture window view of Mount Meron to the west.Įven the original building with R. In addition, there is a “kollel” - where 16 young men learn Torah every evening, and a yeshivah for young students which is open in the mornings. Daily minyans for morning, afternoon and evening services are held, as well as the holiday and Sabbath prayers. While many of Tzfat’s ancient synagogues are closed today, except for weekend and holiday prayers, the Karo Synagogue is open most days from early morning until late at night. Kissing the more than one-foot-high mezuzah (a showpiece itself) and passing through the arch, one can look at the wall to his left and see a map which traces R’ Karo’s journey before he settled in Tzfat although various cities in Egypt, Turkey and Greece were stepping stones in R’ Karo’s life, it was his work in Tzfat - along with his contemporary, the Holy Ari, - which earned Tzfat the name it still bears today - one of Israel’s four Holy cities. Upon entering the Karo synagogue, the arch above the door tells the story of its rededication in 1839 after Italian scholar and philanthropist R’ Yitzchak Goyatos unstintingly helped repair this, and other Tzfat synagogues devastated by the major earthquake of 1837. One is from Persia and is about 200 years old one is from Iraq and is about 300 years old, and one is said to be from Spain and is over 500 years old. There are three Torah scrolls in the ark, behind secure bars. The Holy Ark is left open so that visitors can gaze and even take photographs. This was done intentionally in order to avoid forming a cross. Next to it is the geniza, the place for storing damaged holy books that are no longer usable until they can be given a proper burial.Įven the floor is interesting: no four blocks ever meet at one point. Karo composed the Shulchan Aruch, which became the universally accepted basic text of Jewish law from that time until today. Many are hundreds of years old, dating back at least to the mid-16th century when R. Today’s visitor to this synagogue on Beis Yosef Street in the heart of Tzfat’s Old City, can view the collection of Torah books - “sefarim” - stacked high on the shelves of the back walls. Karo that provided nourishment for all of the area’s needy. This major Torah center was balanced by acts of kindness as well - around the corner from the synagogue one can still see the “soup kitchen” organized by R. Karo and his brilliant colleagues rendered Jewish legal decisions that were respected around the world. Surrounded by some of the generation’s greatest Torah sages, R. Besides serving as a House of Prayer, this half of the synagogue housed a prestigious learning center where hundreds of Torah students were drawn to the fiery depths of teaching permeating this city at the time. The “lower” half of the synagogue - divided only by the platform and not by walls - was no less buzzing in activity. With a little imagination, however, one can picture Rabbi Karo - starting at age 48 - presiding on that platform as head of the Rabbinic Council. The “step of honor” - a foot-or-so high step onto a platform - is the only telling sign today of the splendour of this “golden era” in Tzfat’s history. Although the synagogue of the saintly Rabbi Yosef Karo is used mostly for prayer and learning today, there was a time when it also served as the seat of one of the world’s most prestigious rabbinical courts.

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