Nachlaot

Nachlaot after a snowfall in December 2006.

Nachlaot (Hebrew: נחלאות‎, also Nahlaot) is a cluster of neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. Neighborhoods in Nachlaot (plural of nachala, lit. "homestead") include Mishkenot Yisrael, Ohel Moshe, Mazkeret Moshe, Zichron Yosef, Sukkat Shalom, Zichron Yaakov, Shevet Ahim and Nahalat Ahim. The Mahane Yehuda shuk (open-air marketplace) sits next to Nachlaot and is often mistakenly thought to be part of that neighborhood, while it is, in fact, in the adjoining neighborhood called Mahane Yehuda.

History

Street of the Stairs, Nahalat Ahim

The neighborhoods that make up the Nachlaot district were established beginning in the late 1870s outside the walls of the Old City, which was becoming increasingly overcrowded and unsanitary. The first was Mishkenot Yisrael, built in 1875. The name comes from a biblical verse (Numbers 24:5): "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob/Thy dwellings, O Israel." Mazkeret Moshe was founded by Sir Moses Montefiore in 1882 as an Ashkenazi neighborhood. Ohel Moshe is a Sephardi neighborhood established alongside it. Former Israeli president Yitzhak Navon grew up in Ohel Moshe, and the neighborhood served as the inspiration for his play Bustan Sephardi (Sephardi Orchard). The Banai family, a famous family of actors and singers, lived in Nachlaot. A Syrian Jewish community settled in Nachlaot in 1900 and built the Ades Synagogue, which was completed in 1901. Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda outdoor market is located next to Nachlaot. Rabbi Aryeh Levin, known as the "prisoners' rabbi" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Russian Compound, lived in Mishkenot Yisrael. Nahalat Ahim, south of Rehov Bezalel, was founded in 1925 for the Yemenite community.

Gentrification

In the wake of gentrification projects in the area, housing prices have risen steeply.

Synagogues

At one time Nachlaot had a higher concentration of synagogues than anywhere else in the world, around 300 within a radius of just a few blocks. Many of these were not much more than a tiny room with space for only about a dozen worshippers. Over the decades, many have closed, and now there are about 100 left, such as Kol Rina, an Orthodox synagogue which offers prayer services modeled after the tunes and spirit of the late Rabbi Carlebach, and the N'vei Shalom (Raz) Synagogue, offering an inspiring Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service intended to not just fulfill one's responsibility to pray, but to stir the heart and spirit. Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz runs a weekly Friday night service outdoors, at Reshimu.

The neighborhood includes the world famous Addes Congregation, the flagship of the Syrian Halebi community, as well as the synagogues located in the Knesset Alef (Beis Rachel), Batei Broidey and Batei Rand, following the tradition of Old Jerusalem, including followers of the Vlina Gaon as well as hassidic tradition.

Notable residents

• Ehud Banai
• Yossi Banai
• Aryeh Levin
• Rami Levy
• Yitzhak Navon
• Yosef Qafih
• Uzi Baram
• Michael Levin
• Uzi Narkiss