Cities - Jerusalem - The Old City

Above the Kotel area, after you climb some one hundred and twenty stairs, you’ll find yourself in the old city of Jerusalem. Most likely, you’ll be in the Jewish quarter, the smallest of the four “quarters” of the old city. The largest is the Moslem quarter, adjacent to the Jewish to the north. Before the riots of 1920 through 1936, nearly a third of what is now the Moslem quarter was either rented or owned by Jews. They were attacked, murdered, and driven out by the Moslem population, and the Jewish quarter itself was conquered and destroyed in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. (Reports from the Jewish underground at that time, the Lehi and the Stern Gang, indicate that it would have been possible to conquer and re-take it at the time, but that this wasn’t done for political reasons).

The other two quarters are the Christian quarter, located west of the Moslem quarter, and the Armenian quarter, south of the Christian and west of the Jewish quarters. There are sites in every quarter which are important to the members of all of the faiths. We will focus on the Jewish sites in the Jewish quarter. As mentioned, the Jewish quarter was leveled, and all of its buildings, including synagogues and homes, demolished by the Jordanians. King Hussein actually planned on creating a Jordanian national park on the remnants of what once was the Jewish quarter.

The Israeli army changed his plans. In June, 1967, during the Six-Day War, they conquered the old city and rushed to the Kotel, the Western Wall, where no Jew had been allowed to pray for nineteen years. One of the first residents of the Jewish quarter, R' Moshe Segal, was the first to blow the shofar at the Kotel, upon its liberation in 1967. Over the next ten to fifteen years, the Jewish quarter was renovated and rebuilt, and families and institutions began to return.

What you see in front and around you when you ascend the stairs from the Kotel is the rebuilt Jewish quarter. What was uninhabitable for nineteen years under Jordanian occupation is now inhabited by over four hundred Jewish families. Only one synagogue was left standing by the Jordanians (an Arab used it as a textile factory), and that is the Chabad Shul, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, named after the third Lubavitcher Rebbe. It was originally built in the 1860’s, and added on to around 1900, and subsequently became a Kollel (place for married students to continue learning Torah) as well as a synagogue. Today, it is a thriving center for Torah scholarship, including the study of the inner dimensions of Torah – Chassidut.

Around the corner from the Tzemach Tzedek are two famous synagogues, the Churva, and the Ramban. The Churva was also built beginning in 1856, and became the largest and most beautiful synagogue of the Ashkenazi Jews in the old city. Like every other site in the Jewish quarter, it was blown up by the Jordanians. It was partly rebuilt after the six-day war, resulting in the lone arch which has become one of the symbols of the Old City. The arch, as high as it is, is only two thirds of the height of the original structure. At the present time, the Churva shul has been almost entirely rebuilt, and it looks as if it will be possible to open it to public prayers in the near future. (The lone mosque of the Jewish quarter, located next to the Churva and Ramban, was built by the Moslems for the sole purpose of establishing a place of worship which would be higher than the Churva. The mosque is unused today). Just underneath the rebuilt Churva lies the Ramban synagogue, which is the long, dark synagogue described by the Ramban when he journeyed to Jerusalem in 1267 and renewed the Jewish community. (Of course today, the Ramban synagogue, as the main center of worship for the Jews of the old city, is well-lit and air conditioned).

To the south, adjacent to the Jewish quarter parking lot are to be found the “four Sfardi synagogues” (628-0592). These exotic and beautiful structures, rebuilt after desecration by the Jordanians, perhaps most truly replicate the pre-war atmosphere of all of the synagogues of the old city. There were many years when the Sfardi Jewish population of the old city was the predominant congregation, and these four synagogues, representing various branches of the Sfardi tradition, were their places of worship.

On one of the east-west arteries of the Jewish quarter, Ohr HaChaim Street, named after a Sfardi sage (Reb Chaim ben Attar) of the seventeen hundreds, is found a synagogue in his name. In it is also found a museum associated with the Weingarten family. The last Rabbi of the Jewish quarter was a Weingarten, and the museum (called the “Old Yishuv Court Museum,” tel. 627-6319) preserves records of the history and way of life in the Jewish quarter before the war of Independence, when all the Jews were driven out. In the bottom floor of this museum and synagogue is to be found the tiny “Ari” shul, where the great Kabbalist (Reb Yitzhak Luria, ztz’l) was born.

Returning in the direction of the Kotel, one enters a bricked area known as the “Churva Square.” Here is where tourists pause to eat and drink a little something before continuing on their journeys, and where students from all over the world in the various academies of Jewish learning and programs of the old city meet and “hang out.” On a typical spring, summer or fall evening, the sounds of guitars and bongos fill the air and lend a celebratory atmosphere to the old city. Jerusalem Connection (the producers of this pamphlet) is located directly over the Churva Square, in the same building as the cafe and Ahava, on the top floor.

As one faces the building of Jerusalem Connection and looks to the right, one sees the Wohl Museum (628-3448), which houses archaeological finds under the ground level of the old city. Continuing in the direction of the Kotel, one comes to the Karaite synagogue. It is virtually unused today. The Rabbis at one point cursed the Karaites, who refused to accept the authority of the oral Torah, and they have never been able to muster a “minyan” (a prayer quorum) of ten men in the old city. Across from the Karaite synagogue is the remains of the Tiferet Yisrael, or “Nissan Bek” synagogue. Built as the main synagogue of the Ruzhiner Chassidim in the old city, it also was destroyed by the Jordanians. Reb Nissan Bek was a major public figure and benefactor of the Jews of Jerusalem, and it was said that when Kaiser Wilhelm visited the old city, it was R’ Nissan Bek who accompanied him through the Jewish quarter. When he saw the Tiferet Yisrael synagogue standing unfinished, without a roof, the Kaiser asked Reb Nissan Bek why this was. He replied, “The synagogue is taking its hat off to the Kaiser.” Subsequently, the Kaiser himself donated the domed roof of the synagogue.

As one descends the stairs leading from the Tiferet Yisrael synagogue to the street of the same name, leading to the Kotel, one passes the “Burnt House” (628-7211). These ruins apparently housed Cohanim (priests) in the time of the Temple, and one can see there the burnt ruins of what was once their dwelling.

This is but a partial list of the attractions and archaeological sites of the old city. As the sole geographical location of Jerusalem until only one hundred and fifty years ago, the old city obviously contains layer upon layer of history. It would take days and volumes to do a credible job of recording this history, much of which is probably unknown in any case. But, we hope this will serve as an introductory guide. Here are opening and closing times of the sites mentioned above, as well as their locations: