Synagogue named after Rabbi Masoud Elkabetz

The story

The synagogue named after Rabbi Masoud Elkabetz stands in the north of Beersheba; in the register of synagogues of the Religious Council it is listed in the Sephardi rite, and its gabbai is listed by the name Charlie Abuhatzeira. That family name is the connection: the Abuhatzeira family is a Moroccan rabbinic dynasty, of the community that in Morocco preceded those expelled from Spain, and in Beersheba it already has a place — the court of Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, the Baba Elazar, on Cyprus Street in Neighborhood Heh. In that same municipal register appear two further synagogues whose names point to the same world: “Baba Sali”, on Alexander Yannai Street, and “Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan”, on Bar Giora Street — both named after righteous men whose graves are focal points of pilgrimage for those who came from Morocco. That is, the Moroccan immigration to Beersheba was not kept in one house but in several, and each of them carries the name of a figure that the community brought with it in memory. What the register gives is the name, the address and the rite; who the people were who founded this house, and when, it does not tell.

• Communities
• Beersheba