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The 10 Best Synagogues in Israel (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 10 picks

The best synagogues to visit in Israel are the Hurva and the Four Sephardic Synagogues in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, the Chagall Windows at Hadassah Ein Kerem, and the Great Synagogue and Bauhaus-era shuls of Tel Aviv. Some are working congregations, some are effectively museums, and several are both. Ten, below.

1. The Hurva Synagogue — Jewish Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem

Destroyed twice, rebuilt twice — the landmark of the Jewish Quarter skyline.

₪₪ Mid-range

The Hurva — literally 'the ruin' — is the defining synagogue of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, and its name tells the story: the original eighteenth-century building was destroyed, the grand nineteenth-century replacement was destroyed in 1948, and for decades only a single memorial arch stood on the site.

It was rebuilt in the neo-Byzantine style of the nineteenth-century version and reopened in 2010, and its dome is now the most prominent structure on the Quarter's skyline.

It operates as both a working synagogue and a visitor site, and the upper gallery walkway gives one of the better views over the Old City rooftops.

Good to know: Book the rooftop gallery access — the view over the Old City is the best part of the visit.

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2. The Four Sephardic Synagogues — Jewish Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem

Four connected sixteenth- and seventeenth-century synagogues, below street level.

₪₪ Mid-range

The Four Sephardic Synagogues are a linked complex — the Ben Zakai, the Eliyahu Ha'navi, the Emtsai and the Istanbuli — built from the sixteenth century onwards by the Sephardic community and sunk below street level, because Ottoman rules restricted the height of non-Muslim buildings.

That constraint produced the atmosphere: low, vaulted, dim rooms reached down a few steps, with wooden fittings brought from Italy and Turkey after the 1967 restoration.

They are among the most genuinely moving interiors in the Old City, and considerably quieter than the Hurva a few streets away.

Good to know: Go here rather than only the Hurva — these are older, more atmospheric and far less busy.

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3. The Chagall Windows, Hadassah Ein Kerem — Ein Kerem, Jerusalem

Twelve Chagall stained-glass windows in a hospital synagogue.

₪₪ Mid-range

Marc Chagall's twelve stained-glass windows, one for each of the tribes of Israel, are installed in the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Centre at Ein Kerem, on the western edge of Jerusalem.

They are among Chagall's most significant works in the medium — saturated blues, reds, greens and yellows, filled with the animals, fish and floating figures of his visual language — and the small synagogue is designed entirely around them.

Ein Kerem itself is one of the loveliest parts of Jerusalem: a stone village in a valley of cypresses and churches, and a good half day on its own.

Good to know: Combine with Ein Kerem village below — it is one of the prettiest corners of Jerusalem.

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4. The Belz Great Synagogue — Kiryat Belz, north Jerusalem

One of the largest synagogues in the world, and a genuine spectacle.

₪ Budget

The Belz Great Synagogue in northern Jerusalem is among the largest synagogues anywhere — an enormous Hasidic complex built for a community that was almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust and rebuilt from a handful of survivors.

The main sanctuary seats thousands, with a vast chandelier and an ark holding many Torah scrolls, and the scale is the point: it was built deliberately as a statement of continuity.

It is in a strictly religious neighbourhood, so modest dress is essential rather than advisable, and visits should be timed outside prayers.

Good to know: This is a strictly Haredi neighbourhood. Dress fully modestly and do not photograph people.

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5. The Ramban Synagogue — Jewish Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem

The oldest synagogue still in use in Jerusalem, going back to the 1200s.

₪ Budget

The Ramban Synagogue traces to the thirteenth century and the arrival in Jerusalem of Nachmanides — the Ramban — the Catalan scholar who found the Jewish community almost gone and set about re-establishing it.

The building has been in and out of use across eight centuries, serving at various points as a workshop and a warehouse, and was restored after 1967. It is small, plain and vaulted.

It is a working neighbourhood synagogue rather than a monument, which is precisely its interest — the continuity is the point.

Good to know: It is a working shul with no ticket desk. Visit between prayer times and be quiet about it.

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6. The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv — Allenby Street, Tel Aviv

The city's landmark synagogue, with a striking arched facade on Allenby.

₪ Budget

The Great Synagogue on Allenby Street opened in the 1920s and is the principal synagogue of Tel Aviv, with a domed interior, stained glass and a facade of tall arches added in a 1970s remodelling that gives it its distinctive look.

It sits in the middle of the commercial city rather than in a religious quarter, which says something about how Tel Aviv was built, and it is a short walk from the Carmel Market and Rothschild Boulevard.

It holds services daily and is the venue for major communal occasions. Visitors are welcome; check the office hours if you want to see the interior outside prayer times.

Good to know: Friday evening is the best time to visit — a short service and the building at its liveliest.

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7. Beit El Synagogue — Central Tel Aviv

A Bauhaus-era synagogue — a building type that barely exists anywhere else.

₪ Budget

Tel Aviv's status as the world's largest collection of International Style architecture produced something unusual: synagogues built in the Bauhaus idiom during the 1930s, with clean lines, curved balconies and none of the ornament the building type usually carries.

Beit El is among the notable examples, and the interest is precisely the tension — a modernist vocabulary applied to a traditional function, by architects who had trained in Germany and arrived with a set of ideas.

For anyone touring the White City, these buildings are the part of the story that the standard Bauhaus walking routes usually skip.

Good to know: Pair it with a White City architecture walk — the modernist synagogues are the overlooked chapter.

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8. The Italian Synagogue and museum — Hillel Street, city centre, Jerusalem

An eighteenth-century Venetian interior, shipped from Italy and rebuilt here.

₪₪ Mid-range

The Italian Synagogue on Hillel Street contains the complete interior of an eighteenth-century synagogue from Conegliano Veneto, near Venice — dismantled and brought to Jerusalem in the 1950s after the Italian community that used it had all but disappeared.

It is a baroque Italian interior, gilded and ornate, sitting inside a Jerusalem stone building, and it is unlike anything else in the city.

The attached Museum of Italian Jewish Art covers a community with a two-thousand-year history, which is a story most visitors have never encountered.

Good to know: In the city centre rather than the Old City — easy to combine with a Jaffa Street afternoon.

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9. The Yemenite Quarter synagogues — Kerem HaTeimanim, Tel Aviv

Small neighbourhood shuls with a distinct Yemenite liturgy and melody.

₪ Budget

Kerem HaTeimanim, the Yemenite Quarter between the Carmel Market and the sea, holds a cluster of small synagogues founded by Yemenite immigrants in the early twentieth century, several of them tucked into ordinary residential buildings.

The liturgy and the melodies are distinctively Yemenite and quite different from the Ashkenazi and general Sephardi traditions most visitors will have encountered, and the pronunciation of Hebrew differs too.

These are working neighbourhood congregations, small and informal. Go for a weekday evening or Friday night service and you will likely be welcomed and possibly interrogated.

Good to know: The Yemenite melodies are the reason to come — they are unlike anything in the European tradition.

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10. The Jaffa and Neve Tzedek synagogues — Jaffa and Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv

The oldest congregations in the city, from before Tel Aviv existed.

₪ Budget

Jaffa and Neve Tzedek predate Tel Aviv, and their synagogues are the city's oldest — small stone buildings serving communities that were established when this was a port town and a first suburb rather than a metropolis.

Several have been restored, and the interest is historical as much as architectural: these are the congregations of the Jewish community that lived in Jaffa before 1909.

The buildings are woven into the fabric of two of the most attractive neighbourhoods in the city, so they fit naturally into a walk rather than requiring a special trip.

Good to know: Combine with a Neve Tzedek and Old Jaffa walk — the buildings are minutes apart.

Google Maps

Frequently asked questions

Can tourists visit synagogues in Israel?

Generally yes, and the historic ones in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter charge a small entry fee and are set up for visitors. Working congregations are more variable — attending a service is usually welcome, wandering in with a camera during one is not. Modest dress and a head covering for men are expected everywhere.

Which is the most famous synagogue in Israel?

The Hurva in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter — destroyed in 1721, rebuilt, destroyed again in 1948 and rebuilt in 2010, and now the landmark on the quarter's skyline. The Belz Great Synagogue is the largest, and the Chagall Windows at Hadassah are the most artistically significant.

Where are the Chagall Windows in Israel?

In the synagogue of the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in western Jerusalem — twelve stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall representing the twelve tribes. Entry is free or nominal and it is open to visitors on weekdays. It is a working hospital, so it is a quiet visit rather than a tourist one.

Are there Bauhaus synagogues in Israel?

Yes, and almost nowhere else. Tel Aviv's building boom coincided with the International Style, so the city has a set of 1930s modernist synagogues — a building type that essentially exists only here. Beit El is the clearest example and is worth seeking out.

Can women visit synagogues in Israel?

Yes. Orthodox synagogues, which is most of them, have separate men's and women's sections, and the women's gallery is often upstairs. Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv is the main Reform congregation with fully mixed seating. Shoulders and knees covered is the expectation across the board.

Which synagogue should you visit for a service in Israel?

The Great Synagogue of Jerusalem for a full cantorial service with choir, which is a genuine performance tradition. The Belz Great Synagogue for scale on a Friday night. In Tel Aviv, Ihud Shivat Zion has a large Anglo congregation and is the easiest place to walk in as a visitor.

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