After years of efforts, the Belz hasidic movement this week received final approval for a major expansion of its Great Synagogue in Jerusalem.
The main sanctuary, which has become too small to accommodate the thousands of hasidim who attend, will undergo significant expansion in all directions.
The approval was granted specifically on the date known within the community as the “Day of Rescue," marking the anniversary of the rescue of Belz’s spiritual leaders, Rabbi Aharon of Belz and his brother Rabbi Mordechai of Biłgoraj, from the Holocaust. The brothers arrived in Israel after the war penniless and destitute.
Belz was the first hasidic movement to establish a large-scale compound in Israel, a move later followed by many other hasidic groups. Construction of the current center began over forty years ago, but the rapid growth of the hasidic community has made the existing structure too crowded.
According to the approved plan, the Great Synagogue will be expanded to the east, west, and south.
Simultaneously, the Heichal Hatishim - known among hasidim as the "groyseh shtib" (great hall) - will be rebuilt as a vast structure with surrounding galleries, in order to accommodate the tens of thousands of hasidim who come from around the world.