After 500 years, Palermo gets a synagogue—in a former church

Paul Heymont 1/18/177:00 AM

More than 500 years after Spain's Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion of Jews from Sicily, then controlled by Spain, the Jewish community of Palermo will again have a public synagogue.

On January 12th, Palermo's archbishop, Corrado Lorefice, formally transferred the former chapel of Santa Maria del Sabato to the city's small but growing Jewish community, saying "God's name should not divide but should create bridges. This is a gesture of hope and of peaceful community between men."

The chapel is a 15th-century building in the historic Jewish quarter. The original request came from the Sicilian Institute of Jewish Studies and a Jerusalem-based non-profit.

Photo: Santa Maria del Sabato, Palermo

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