Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center, Modern synagogue at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
The Cymbalista Synagogue consists of two identical towers standing 13.5 meters high, connected by a rectangular entrance hall with clean geometric lines. The interior contains event spaces, a library holding Jewish texts, and exhibition areas designed for educational programs.
The center was founded on the initiative of Norbert and Paulette Cymbalista, Swiss members of the university's board of governors, after the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish gunman, as a meeting place for all parts of Israeli society. Mario Botta designed it in 1996 and it was built in 1997–1998. In 2022 Tel Aviv's conservation committee listed it as a protected building, the youngest in Israel to receive that status at 24 years old.
The center was founded after the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish gunman, as a meeting place for all parts of Israeli society in a spirit of respect for Jewish tradition and liberal democracy. Its annual Tuesday Lecture Series, Talmud study in the beit midrash, and the "Judaism in Dispute" forum put that aim into practice. In 2018 Amos Oz gave there what became his last public lecture, published after his death as All the Account Is Not Yet Closed.
The facility offers accessible event spaces, a library, and exhibitions that can be visited without prior arrangements. It is helpful to check beforehand about any visiting restrictions, especially during Jewish holidays.
The building was the youngest in Israel to be listed for conservation: in 2022 the Tel Aviv-Jaffa conservation committee protected it just 24 years after construction. The eastern tower holds the Orthodox synagogue, the western one a 150-seat lecture hall used for non-Orthodox prayer, and the exterior is clad in reddish stone from the Dolomites after Jerusalem stone failed aesthetically.
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