The Great Synagogue on King George Street which was built largely through a donation from a British Jewish philanthropist, went up in 1982 next door to Heichal Shlomo, the seat of the Israeli Rabbinate, and its grand expanse, with capacity for 1400 worshipers, consciously calls to mind the glory of Herod's Temple. Services are daily, with Shabbat morning drawing the largest crowd. The synagogue is mainline Israeli Orthodox; head coverings are required and women and men sit in separate sections. Visitors can also enjoy the large private collection of mezuzot in the foyer.

Three of the gates in the Old City's walls vie for the honor of being the most stylish entrance through which to stride into the ancient heart of the Holy City. Jaffa Gate has centuries of precedent as the traditional pilgrims' portal. Damascus Gate gets a leg up architecturally with its looming medivalisms. And Zion Gate? No gate has a name with greater resonance than Zion Gate – the dozens of Babylon-burning Rasta reggae anthems which namecheck the gate agree.

Perhaps no single location embodies the turbulent history of the Old City's Jewish Quarter as fully as the Hurva Synagogue. It was once the grandest synagogue in the Land of Israel and the quintessence of the spirit of the small Jewish community that tenaciously clung to the Holy Land during the long years of exile and dispersion. The Hurva, after already being burned down once, was reduced to rubble in 1948 by the Jordanian Legion. It is now finally being rebuilt once again.