FIRST Jewish Hostel in Jaffa - Tel Aviv, Israel - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

"The Libyan synagogue of Jaffa is an Mizrahi Jewish synagogue built inside a former hotel in 1948 by Jewish immigrants from Libya. Located on Rehov Mazal Daggim, the Pisces (Fish) Street, in the historical part of Jaffa, it is the oldest synagogue in Tel Aviv-Yafo.

The building was originally built as a khan (a roadside hostel) in 1740 near the Port of Jaffa by Ottoman authorities in Constantinople. It was the only Jewish khan in the city, available for Jewish pilgrims going to Jerusalem and other holy cities in the area. In addition to reception rooms for pilgrims, the khan also had a synagogue and a mikvah (Jewish ritual bath). The building was also known by the name Zonana House, named after Rabbi Yaakov ben David Zonana, who owned it.

Rabbi Chaim Joseph David Azoulay stayed at the khan in 1757 and described the place in his memoirs as a place of "silence and tranquility". This tranquility is all relative, as sever[clarification needed] years later another pilgrim, Rabbi Simcha Mazalevitz, wrote that[citation needed] the Arabs confiscated the building for the first time. At first, the Arabs allowed Jewish pilgrims, whose number had diminished, to come to the site three days a year, and later made the site completely forbidden to Jews.

Over the years the building was used for a variety of different purposes, eventually becoming a soap factory, though the Arab population continued to refer to the building as the Jewish House."
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Inscription on stone:
IN 1740 THE FIRST JEWISH HOSTEL IN JAFFA
WAS ESTABLISHED HERE
WHICH INCLUDED A SYNAGOGUE AND A MIKVE
THE SYNAGOGUE RE-OPENED IN 1948
BY LIBYAN JEWS IS STILL IN USE

FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location Date of FIRST: 01/01/1740 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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