Synagogue of Livorno, Italy

1962

Tetzaveh (תצוה – you will command), Exodus 27, 20 to 30, 10.
Shabbat Zakhor (זכור – Remember), Deuteronomy 25, 17-19
Chida’s Hilula (11 Adar 5783)

The New Synagogue of Livorno is the most famous work of the Italian architect Angelo Di Castro. The shape of the building is reminiscent of the Mishkan. In the center, the tevah is built from marble elements of the old synagogue. The Arch in carved and gilded wood (1708) comes from the Synagogue of Pesaro. The basement rooms house an oratory, Oratorio Lampronti, whose 18th-century furniture comes from the Spanish synagogue in Ferrara.

217 years ago, on Shabbat Zakhor (11 Adar 5766) in Livorno, where he settled in 1780, Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai, better known by the acronym Chida (חיד”א) died. In 1956 his bones are transferred to Jerusalem.

לכבוד החיד”א, זכותו תגן עלינו
Likhvod hachida, zekhuto tagen ‘alenu.
Honor to the Chida, may his merit protect us

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