Ashdod Travelers guide

Ashdod | Sightseeing 156 and was inaugurated in September 2009 in the City Quarter, where Ashdod's cultural institutions are located next to many municipal and government institutions. At the center of the synagogue there is a marble floor, with a carpet on top of it that surrounds the stage and looks as if it is woven out of artistic tiles. A luxurious chandelier hangs from the ceiling. The thin colorful scarves that adorn the magnificent Torah Scroll in the prayer hall were donated by the women of the community as a tribute to the glorification of the holy book, and they give the ceremony a personal and emotional tone. "The Georgian community members love to combine spirituality and tradition with the beautiful and aesthetic," says the community's Rabbi in the city, Rabbi Gershon Butrashvili. More about: The immigration from Georgia In the early 1970s, after much conflict with the Soviet Union's communist government, large waves of immigration stared to arrive in Israel from Georgia, the first Jews who broke the barrier of the iron curtain. Many of the Georgian immigrants came to Ashdod and settled in Quarter Dalet (4) of the city, where the first community synagogue was also built. They worked in different trades, mainly in commerce and small entrepreneurship, and in the fabric of Ashdod communities they were characterized as people who helped others, and perceived as those who "know how to get along". Over the years they moved into various quarters in the city, but many still maintain the characteristic traditions, culture and customs of the community. This is especially true in Ashdod, where 40 thousand of the community members live, and which is considered the capital of Georgian Jewish community in Israel and in the world. The prayer version at the synagogue is Jerusalem-Sephardic, but the music is Georgian. The heartfelt form of hospitality and the joy of the Georgian Jews are apparent in the synagogue as well, and on holidays and at festive events they set tables in the hall or in the garden filled with food and good wine as proper, and celebrate to the sounds of famous ethnic dance groups, musicians and singers from the community. On Shabbat Shira, when the part about the "Song of the Sea" is read from Parshat Beshalach, the worshipers stand on their feet and read it in a unique form of song. On that Saturday they also eat korkuti - a special wheat dish that is cooked to commemorate