Description
Napoli's synagogue in the Palazzo Sessa was inaugurated in 1864 thanks to the influence of Baron Rothschild. In the entrance there are two marble statues; one which remembers the community president Dario Ascarelli who bought the premises for the synagogue in 1910 and the other which commemorates the deportation of Neapolitan Jews during the second world war. The synagogue is made up of two parts on a rectangular plan. They are separated by an arch and both face in the direction of Jerusalem. On the western wall there is a sacred closet (the Aron Ha-Kodesh) where the manuscripts of the Torah or the Pentacost are kept on rolls of parchment. The pentacost is the first five books of the bible from which the Law is written. The pulpit or Bimah is in the centre of the synagogue. It is from here that the Law is proclaimed and that the religious rites are carried out. The women's gallery is on an upper level in order that the men and women be apart during the ceremony. The large conference room has been reopened after restoration work that was carried out in 1992 . To visit the synagogue, it is best to telephone for an appointment.
Service times: Friday sunset; 8.30am Sat and holy days.