Jerusalem, after 1860. The meaning of Nahalat Shiv’a is the estate of the seven.
Seven rabbis purchased the land Between Jaffa road and the Independence Park
lays one of the first neighborhoods built outside the antique walls of the city
and became the founders of this beautiful neighborhood.
If you want to go back in time to the end of the 19th century and enjoy the traditional architecture
or grab a beer in one of the bars in the area this neighborhood is the place.
Nahalat shiv’a is very famous today for its restaurants, cafes, galleries and its pubs.
Back in 1860 a terrible epidemic attacked the city’s population.
Sir Moshe Montefiore already finished to build Mishkanot Shananim and tried to convince
Jews from the old city to move, using the illness as an excuse.
The conditions were better in the open air a short distance from the walls.
A small group of seven families decided to leave the old city and to settle down outside
the city walls by themselves. Their main problem was how to purchase the land
and get the Kushan-the property bill.
In order to buy a property in the Othman empire you needed to be an Othman citizen.
Only the wife of Lieve Horovitz answered these demands.
Before she came to the Khadi, the Muslim Judge, she dressed like a distinguished Arab lady.
The seven founders decided among themselves to make a contest.
Two houses were to be built on the first year and those who won needed to pay extra in order to move in.
The cost of one private building was fifty Turkish liras, the equivalent of one hundred dollars of those years.
Yoel Moshe Salomon gave the first sum of mony but he never settled down in the neighborhood.
Salomon joined another group of pioneers that left the city to build a new city, Petah Tikva.
At first only the men came to live and after a couple of years their families joined them.
In 1876 sir Moshe Montefiore came again to Jerusalem.
He was so pleased to see the citizens of the old city moving and building new areas outside the walls.
Nahalat Shiv’a became the inspiration for outer communities who built their own neighborhoods.
It’s an artistic area with lots of art galleries and a couple of small museums,
galleries, lots of hidden cafes, restaurants and pubs.
The first synagogues out side the walls of the old city are
hidden in the alleys of this neighborhood.
Wail walking in the area you can take a peek at them and at the crowed of believers.
It is a great place to pass an afternoon or an evening.
Friends of Zion Museum
http://www.fozmuseum.com/
Museum of Italian Jewish art
http://ijamuseum.org/
