Roots of Hospitality

Design: Alma Lion
Story: Cohen-Amir Menucha
Building: Zoharei Chama Synagogue - Mahane Yehuda Clock Tower

"Each guest will receive a tea tray every day, morning and evening, and may drink as much as he likes, for free."

-From the guest rulebook, written by Rabbi Shmuel Levi in 1908

The name of Zoharei Chama Synagogue points to the heavens and symbolizes the sanctity of the building, while its location—facing the Mahane Yehuda Market—connects it to the secular and the mundane. The synagogue can be seen as a liminal space that connects heaven and Earth, the sacred and the secular: a pit stop at the point of transition between the hustle and bustle of the market and the intimacy of the home. Instead of turning its back on the crowded market and its worldly concerns, the synagogue provided benches so the weary shoppers could rest, and even allocated a special corner where those who stopped to pray on their way to or from the market could place their bags.
Everyone who stopped at the "Smiling Building" was treated as an individual who deserved respect and attention. The penniless and the wealthy were treated as equals. Inspired by the institution's values of generosity and equality, "Roots of Hospitality" is an attempt to treat simple, accessible, and inexpensive objects with a similar measure of respect. The use of copper echoes the copper works of Rabbi Abba Levi, the synagogue's founder.
The series of souvenirs dedicated to the synagogue and its characteristic shapes, materials, and colors were also influenced by the building's exterior, the sundial atop it, the marks left on it by time, and the transformations it has undergone.