Belz Beis HaMedrash HaGadol
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The Belz Beis HaMedrash HaGadol, (The Belz Great Synagogue), is the largest synagogue in Jerusalem.
In the 1980s, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II) of Belz spearheaded plans for the huge synagogue to be erected in the Kiryat Belz section of Jerusalem. The building, which would have four entrances accessible to each of the four streets of the hilly neighborhood, would be an enlarged replica of the structure that the first Rebbe of Belz, the Sar Shalom, had built in the town of Belz. It would include a grandiose main sanctuary, smaller study halls, wedding and bar mitzvah halls, libraries, and other communal facilities.
Funds for this ambitious project were raised among Belzer Hasidim and were supplemented by various fund-raising projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Like the original synagogue of Belz which took 15 years to complete, the new Beis Hamedrash HaGadol that now dominates the northern Jerusalem skyline also took 15 years to construct and was dedicated in 2000. Its main sanctuary seats 6,000 worshippers. The ornate wooden ark, an item for the Guinness Book of Records, is 12 meters high and weighs 18 tons. It has the capacity to hold over 100 Torah scrolls. Nine chandeliers, each standing at 18 feet high and 11 feet wide, each contain over 200,000 pieces of Czech crystal. In stark contrast to the majestic synagogue, the simple wooden chair and lectern used by Rabbi Aharon of Belz when he came to Israel in 1944 stands in a glass case next to the ark.
The main sanctuary is used only on the Sabbath and holidays, while weekday services take place in the adjacent smaller rooms of the complex.
