The Tiferes Yisrael shul, also known as “the Nissan Bak shul,” was dedicated in 1872

Title: The Beauty of Israel

Location: Jerusalem

Document: Architectural Drawing of the Tiferes Yisrael (Nissan Bak) Shul

Time: May 1855

Born in 1882, as a young child Rav Mordechai David Brim-Klagsbrun felt drawn to the famous kloiz of the Tiferes Yisrael shul in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. There he’d bask in the presence of the elderly chassidim, lions of the chaburah, who merited to have been followers of the holy Ruzhiner himself, Rav Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin, his son Rav Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura, and his son Rav Yitzchak Friedman, the Pachad Yitzchak of Boyan.

Acquaintances of Rav Mordechai David told his father, Rav Yitzchak Meir, that his son was hanging around the Tiferes Yisrael shul and was being influenced by Boyan chassidim. Rav Yitzchak Meir was a staunch Sanz chassid from Galicia, and the flames of the Sanz-Sadigura dispute had not yet subsided. He viewed with concern his son’s affiliation with the Tiferes Yisrael shul and the followers of Sadigura, and went to check out the situation.

Upon encountering the great chassidim from the shul, he was mollified, and satisfied that his son was spending his time with lofty individuals. Rav Mordechai David remained in the Tiferes Yisrael shul, and ultimately the family became devoted followers of the Boyan dynasty.

—Shnos Chaim, biography of Rav Chaim Brim

The Tiferes Yisrael shul, also known as “the Nissan Bak shul,” dedicated in 1872, was one of the most significant landmarks in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter of its period. Its construction marked the culmination of the ambitious vision of the Ruzhiner Rebbe, Rav Yisrael Friedman (1796–1850).

In the early 1840s, the Ruzhiner asked Nissan Bak, a devoted follower, to purchase a plot of land in Jerusalem for building a shul. Nissan Bak served as the titular head of the chassidic Kollel Volhyn in the Old Yishuv, and was one of the city’s most powerful Jewish leaders. The Ruzhiner desired that his community have its own place of worship, without having to integrate into the broader chassidic or Perushim congregations. The Rebbe provided the initial seed funding, while his son and successor, Rav Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura, managed to secure the resources to complete the project.

However, there were bureaucratic obstacles to overcome. The Muslim authorities, located in the faraway Ottoman capital of Istanbul, required special licenses for the construction of any shul, especially one that reached a significant height. These hurdles, combined with fundraising challenges, delayed the start of construction until 1866 — over two decades after the Rebbe’s initial vision. Finally, after years of struggle, the Tiferes Yisrael shul was dedicated in a grand ceremony in 1872. Although named for the Ruzhiner, who had since passed away, it was also known as “Nissan Bak’s shul,” after the man who served as its administrator and gabbai until his passing in 1889.

The shul rose three floors to its most prominent visual element, the grand dome that graced the roof. This dome was initially painted green, but was later repainted at the behest of one of the Rothschilds, who contributed funds to resolve tensions with local Muslim communities. The complex included a mikveh, a cheder, and soup kitchen. The primary focus, however, was always the shul itself.

The Tiferes Yisrael–Nissan Bak shul quickly became a central institution for chassidic Jews in Yerushalayim. Following the Sadigura-Boyan split in 1887, Rav Yitzchak Friedman, the Pachad Yitzchak of Boyan, took charge of the funding of Kollel Volhyn, retained ownership rights over the Lag B’omer hadlakah in Meron, and oversaw the administration of the Tiferes Yisrael shul. Subsequent Boyaner Rebbes would sell honorary seats in the shul to the general public, making it not only a center of Torah and prayer, but also a symbol of prestige among chassidic Jews across Eastern Europe.

Despite its centrality, the Nissan Bak shul soon fell into decline. By the early 20th century, as the Jewish community began to move to the newly constructed neighborhoods beyond the Old City walls, the shul’s attendance began to dwindle. Efforts to rejuvenate the building, including attempts by the Boyaner Rebbes to fundraise for connecting the shul to electricity in the 1920s, were largely unsuccessful.

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War was a turning point in the history of the shul, as it was for the Jews of the Old City. During the battle for the Jewish Quarter, the shul became a strategic outpost for the Haganah. Fierce battles were fought over control of the building, and it changed hands several times between Jewish defenders and the Jordanian Legion. Remarkably, there are stories of chassidic yeshivah students continuing their studies in the shul’s beis medrash, even amid the chaos of war.

Sadly, when the Jewish Quarter fell in 1948, the Tiferes Yisrael–Nissan Bak shul was destroyed by the Jordanians. The devastation of the Jewish Quarter marked the end of an era for the shul.

But the story doesn’t end there. The legacy of the shul, the vision of the Ruzhiner, and the efforts of Nissan Bak and the leaders of the Boyan dynasty through the generations would go on. The first new chapter came with the establishment in 1957 of the Tiferes Yisrael shul and yeshivah by the Boyan Rebbe of New York, Rav Mordechai Shlomo Friedman, at the top of Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood. Named for the inaccessible ruins of the shul in the Old City, it was architecturally designed to resemble the original, including the distinctive dome looming above the impressive structure.

The second new chapter will come soon. The grand Tiferes Yisrael shul in the Jewish Quarter is in the finishing stages of reconstruction at its original site, a replica of the original. History is coming full circle, as the sounds of Torah and tefillah will once again resonate very soon within its hallowed walls.

Russian Real Estate

A legend associated with the construction of the Tiferes Yisrael shul has it that the Russian Orthodox Church wanted to purchase a particular plot of land in the Jewish Quarter to build a church. The Ruzhiner got wind of those plans, and requested Nissan Bak purchase that plot before the church could get their hands on it. Once the land had been purchased, Nissan Bak decided to construct the shul on the property.

Austrian Dome

Another story adding to the mystique of the Tiferes Yisrael shul involves the famous 1869 visit of the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austrian Empire to the Holy City. As most of the members of Kollel Volhyn had Galician origins, and hence were Austrian subjects, Nissan Bak led a delegation of the Jewish community of Yerushalayim to greet the emperor.

Impressed with the shul under construction, Emperor Franz Joseph made a donation toward its completion. While that part is factually true, legend adds another layer to the meeting.

The emperor asked Nissan Bak where the dome was. Thinking on his feet, he responded, “My dear emperor, the synagogue wanted to welcome the emperor, so it doffed its hat in a respectful greeting.”

Impressed with this clever retort, the emperor allegedly donated the funding to complete the dome.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1051)