The congregation was founded in 1926[a] by Rabbi Amram Aburbeh for Maghrebi Jews from North Africa.

[8] On 19 February 1997, Judge V. Ziler, President of the Jerusalem District Court, ruled the synagogue was permanently hekdesh,[citation needed] (הקדש).

The synagogue itself, on the second floor, is designed in a Neo-Mauresque, or Spanish North-African style, where the men's seats surround the raised Bimah.

[citation needed] To build a new synagogue for the growing number of Maghrebi Jews that were leaving the Old City of Jerusalem for newer neighborhoods,[citation needed] Aburbeh approached Don Yamin Ben Harroch, a philanthropist who led the Jewish community in Melilla, Spain,[9] who contributed funds for its construction.

[10] Aburbeh led the synagogue from 1926 until 1951, when he was elected Chief Rabbi in Petah Tikva, Israel.