Bayit VeGan

Coordinates: 31°46′6″N 35°11′01″E / 31.76833°N 35.18361°E / 31.76833; 35.18361

Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Bayit Vegan

Bayit VeGan (Hebrew: בית וגן‎, lit. House and Garden) is a neighborhood in southwest-central Jerusalem, Israel, with a large religious population. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat Hayovel and Givat Mordechai. The Shaare Zedek Medical Center is located in Bayit VeGan. At 836 meters above sea level, Bayit VeGan is the highest of all Jerusalem neighborhoods.^{[citation needed]}

History

A 4,000 year old cemetery and many Canaanite artifacts were discovered in an archeological dig at the edge of Beit Vegan. The cemetery covers an area of more than half an acre (0.2 hectare), and burials are believed to have taken place there mainly in the Bronze Age, in 2200-2000 BCE and 1700-1600 BCE.^[1]

During the British Mandate, the army built one of its radar stations in Bayit VeGan. A synagogue, Beit Knesset Migdal ("The Tower"), now stands on the spot.

Beit Vegan is one of six garden neighborhoods designed in Jerusalem by the Bauhaus architect Ricard Kaufmann. It was the third neighborhood built in West Jerusalem in modern times.^[2]

A scale-model of the Second Temple designed by Prof. Michael Avi Yonah based on the writings of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, was located for many years on the grounds of the Holyland Hotel in Bayit Vegan. In 2007, it was moved to the Israel Museum.^[3]

Religious institutions and schools

Kol Torah in Bayit VeGan

Many religious institutions and schools are located in Bayit VeGan, among them Afikei Torah Seminary, Ateret Yisrael Yeshiva, Kol Torah Yeshiva, Yeshiva University's Gruss Kollel, Yeshivat Torat Shraga, Tiferet Yerushalayim,^[4] Midreshet Moriah, Michlalah Jerusalem College for Women, Seminar Yerushalayim HaChadash seminary for orthodox girls, Yad Harav Herzog, Himmelfarb High School, Kiryat Noar (Boys Town) and Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School. The Amshinover Rebbe has his court in Bayit Vegan, on Rabbi Frank Street.

The Boyar School, a secular high school for gifted students from all over the country, is also located in Bayit VeGan.^[5]

Hotels and guesthouses

In recent years, a hotel was built on the corner of Hapisga Street, and the Bayit Vegan youth hostel on the same street was upgraded to a guesthouse.

Notable residents

• Yehoshua Neuwirth

• Ezriel Auerbach

References

External links

• Views of Bayit VeGan
• Article with a photograph of the Migdal Synagogue