HISTORY

K.K.Sha'are Ratzon was founded in 1980.  

Services take place at one of the Four Sephardic Synagogues in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The synagogues form a complex of four adjoining synagogues built at different periods to accommodate the religious needs of the Sephardic community, each congregation practising a different rite.

As the Sephardi community of Jerusalem grew, a large group of immigrants arrived from Istanbul, Turkey, who used the adjacent building as a synagogue from 1764. Over time, the Istanbuli Synagogue, (Hebrew: בית הכנסת האיסטנבולי), attracted worshipers from the Eastern communities, including Kurdistan and from North and West Africa. The Istanbuli Synagogue is now used by a Spanish and Portuguese congregation following mostly the London rite.

The Aron Kodesh dates from the seventeenth century and was imported from a synagogue which had been destroyed in Ancona, Italy. The bimah, constructed in the eighteenth century, came from a synagogue in Pesaro, Italy. The synagogue was renovated in 1836.

During the Israel War of Independence the synagogue was occupied by Arabs. After Israel gained control of the Old City during the Six Day War, it was renovated.

As the Istanbuli synagogue is the largest of the four Sephardi synagogues, it is used for the inauguration of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Sources: Wikipedia, synagogue website