Founding
In 1923, Shalom Aharon Levy, and Shlomo Yitzchak Cohen, two wealthy Jews from Aden, decided to immigrate to the land of Israel. While at a layover in Port Said, they purchased a plot of land in the recently founded city of Tel Aviv as an investment, originally intending on building their homes there. The Sephardi chief rabbi of the city, Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, wrote them a letter encouraging them to build a place for worship for the Sephardic community in the city. Levy and Cohen agreed with the proposition and subsidized a large part of the construction of the synagogue on their land.
Uziel was largely responsible for supervising the construction of the synagogue, and called upon Joseph Berlin (1877–1950), a famous architect of Russian-Jewish origin, to build the structure. He had immigrated in 1921 to British Palestine and his buildings were very influenced by Art Deco and Bauhaus. The synagogue was constructed around the same time as the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv, which was the house of worship for Ashkenazi Jews. This inspired the nickname calling it the Great Sephardic Synagogue due to it being the main (and largely only) formal place of congregation for Sephardic Jews in the city.
The construction was completed in 1928, minus the dome, which was not completed until 1931 with funding from the Batish brothers, who were wealthy Jewish merchants from Manchester and Aleppo. In 1928, the synagogue was placed on the city land registry, and Uziel's name appeared first, followed by Levy and Cohen. A copy of the land act is displayed in the synagogue next to Uziel's letter from 1923.
Post-founding
Rabbi Uziel regularly officiated at the synagogue until 1939, the year he was appointed as the Rishon LeZion. Rabbi Nissim Korkidi [he] was one of its original cantors (asked by the rabbi to join), and he worked closely with Uziel. He was also tasked with establishing and choir and cantorial school within the congregation. The synagogue grew year after year and became the most important Sephardic spiritual location in Tel Aviv. On the High Holy Days, attendance was so high that many attendants were forced to listen to the services from outside. Eli Cohen was one of many who had his wedding performed there in the mid-20th century.
In 1983, the Government of Israel released a stamp containing the facade of the synagogue, commemorating its founding.
Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, attendance has plummeted, often seeing less than a total of 20 attendants for daily service. Despite the low attendance, the beautiful architecture of the synagogue attracts many couples for weddings and receptions. It contains a wedding hall that can hold up to 250 people. Zvika Hadar was one such individual.
