Navigating the gnarled streets of the Synagogue Quarter (Kiryat Batei haKn&s set), also called the Old City (Ha’Ir ba’Atikci), is a matter of luck; nole landmarks carefully, but when you get lost-and you will get lost-enjoy the experience: there are few nicer places to lose your bearings. The Old City’s tiny, ornate synagogues^,! all of which are still in use-are its most interesting features.

Their holy arks are placed on the southern wall, facing Jerusalem. Each synagogue has its story. The Chernobyl Synagogue was founded by Jews from that luckless Ukrainian town,-They claim that the reactor was built over Jewish graves, and that it melted down oid the anniversary of the death of the chief rabbi buried beneath it. The ChertkoffSyn. agogue’s chief rabbi predicted in 1840 that the messianic redemption ige’ula) would begin when there were 600,000 Jews in the Land of Israel-a population reached with independence in 1948, but with no results so far.