Page 59 - Satan in the Sanctuary

The Jerusalem Great Synagogue—A Halfway House? 61

Kook and Jacob Meir, chief rabbis of the Holy Land in the
1930s:

How is it even possible to imagine the large Jewish Com-
munity in the new Jerusalem—which is, after all, the main
and largest part of the City—without a central synagogue
which one can aptly call the Great Central Synagogue of
Jerusalem?
How is it possible even to give expression to the strange but
nevertheless true statement that "Jerusalem the Great and
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Holy" has no large, central synagogue?
Thus, even before Israel became a state as we know it now,
and even before the old and new Jerusalems were merged
into one city, the desire for the Great Synagogue existed. But
the dream awaited the 1967 Six-Day War, when the Jews
were able to repossess the Old City, containing the ancient
Jewish quarter and the Temple Mount.
The foundation stone of the new Great Synagogue was
actually laid in June 1969, though few people in the world
then knew it. Considerable ceremony was undertaken with
the laying of the foundation, which was observed by Israeli
government religious and lay dignitaries. The brochure goes
on:
On the 8th of Tamuz, 5729 (June 24, 1969 A.D.) the Cere-
mony of the laying of the Foundation Stone of the Jeru-
salem Great Synagogue took place in United Jerusalem,
the capital city of the independent State of Israel, in the
presence of the President of the State, the Chief Rabbis of
Israel, Cabinet Ministers, Members of the Diplomatic and
Consular Corps, the Mayor of the city and chief rabbis and
distinguished lay leaders of Communities in Israel and
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throughout the Diaspora.