Givat Shaul (Hebrew: גבעת שאול, lit. (Saul's Hill) is a predominantly religious neighborhood in western Jerusalem, 820 meters about sea level, named after the "Rishon Lezion," Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elyashar, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Eretz Israel,[1] and not, as commonly believed, for the biblical King Saul, whose capital was probably located on a hill near Pisgat Ze'ev, on the way to Ramallah.[2] It is located at the western entrance to the city, east of the neighborhood of Har Nof and north of Kiryat Moshe.
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History
Givat Shaul was established in 1906 on land purchased from the Arab villages of Deir Yassin and Lifta by Rabbi Nissim Elyashar, Arieh Leib and Moshe Kopel Kantrovitz. The first settlers were primarily Yemenite Jews who engaged in agriculture. Later, they were joined by families from Meah Shearim and the Old City, some Ashkenazi and some Sephardi. The Ashkenazim built the first public building, Beit Knesset HaPerushim.
In 1912, an embroidery and sewing workshop was opened with the help of a Jewish philanthropist, Rabbi Slutzkin. Other industries established in Givat Shaul were the Froumine biscuit factory, a factory for kerosene heaters that manufactured arms for the British army during the British Mandate of Palestine and a matza factory. In 1927, the Diskin Orphanage moved to Givat Shaul from the Old City. The building, designed by a local architect named Tabachnik, was home to 500 orphan boys.[2]
Angel's bakery moved to its present location in Givat Shaul in 1958. The Angel brothers, Danny, Ovad and Avraham, designed a pipeline that brought flour from the mill across the road, for which they were awarded the Kaplan Prize for productivity and efficiency. The bakery's outlet store on the corner of Beit Hadfus and Farbstein streets opened in 1984.[3]
Demography
The population consists of a mix of Haredi and Religious Zionist Jews. The northernmost part of the neighborhood, directly above Highway 1, is an overwhelmingly Haredi neighborhood, while the residents of the residents of the southern part, bordering Kiryat Moshe, are overwhelmingly Modern Orthodox - synonym for Religious Zionist.
Neighborhoods
Northern Givat Shaul
The northern part of Givat Shaul is populated mainly by Haredim, and the main street is closed to traffic on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Several major synagogues are located here, including the Pressburg Yeshiva and neighborhood synagogue, and the Zupnik - Ner Yisroel synagogue. The population consists of a mix of Hasidic, Litvishe and Sephardi/Mizrahi Haredim, and a small minority of National-Religious Jews. The rabbi of the Zupnik - Ner Yisroel synagogue is Avrohom Yitzchok Ulman, a senior member of the rabbinical high court, or Badatz, of the Edah HaChareidis. Other important rabbis living in Givat Shaul are Rabbi Yehoshua Karlinsky, rabbi of the Beer Avrohom synagogue; Rabbi Tennenbaum, rabbi of the Babad synagogue and Rabbi Shmuel Taussig, Admor of Toldos Shmuel.[4]
Southern Givat Shaul
In the southern part of Givat Shaul, the population predominantly consists of Modern Orthodox Jews, affiliating with Religious Zionism. This section borders Kiryat Moshe and is often also referred to as such. Institutions in this area include the main synagogue of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, a major center of Sephardic Religious Zionism, as well as the primarily Ashkenazi national-religious flagship Mercaz HaRav yeshiva.
Givat Shaul Bet
The commercial area on Kanfei Nesharim and Beit HaDfus streets, lined with shops, clothing outlets, office buildings and government agencies, is sometimes referred to as Givat Shaul Bet. Geographically, it lies between Har Nof and Kiryat Moshe. Two of Jerusalem's largest bakeries (Angel's Bakery and Bermann), are located in the Givat Shaul industrial zone. Government offices include the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Authority of Religious Services, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, and the National Parks Authority.[5][6] The Israeli branch of Touro College is also in Givat Shaul.[7]
Har HaMenuchot
On the northwestern ridge of the neighborhood lies Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem's largest cemetery. Between the northern section of Givat Shaul and the cemetery is another commercial zone consisting of several large stores and office buildings. The Herzog psychiatric hospital, [8]
Deir Yassin
On April 9, 1948, Irgun and Lehi forces occupied the Arab village of Deir Yassin and expelled the remaining residents. According to some, a massacre, now known as the Deir Yassin Massacre was committed there, but Israel denies this. In 1955, the Jordanian newspaper Al Urdun published the account of a survivor who said that the Arabs had deliberately exaggerated horror stories about atrocities in Deir Yassin to encourage others to fight, but unwittingly had caused them to flee. [9] The village was repopulated by Israelis and renamed Givat Shaul Bet.[10]
When the residents of Givat Shaul heard of the attack, a large group gathered in Deir Yassin to protest.[11] Meir Pa'il describes the scene in his memoirs:
"Meanwhile a crowd of people from Givat Shaul, with peyot {earlocks} , most of them religious, came into the village and started yelling ‘gazlanim’ ‘rozchim’ - (thieves, murderers) "we had an agreement with this village. It was quiet. Why are you murdering them?" They were Chareidi (ultra-orthodox) Jews. This is one of the nicest things I can say about Hareidi Jews. These people from Givat Shaul gradually approached and entered the village, and the Lehi and Irgun people had no choice, they had to stop. It was about 2:00 or 3:00 PM. Then the Lehi and Irgun gathered about 250 people, most of them women, children and elderly people in a school house. Later the building became a "Beit Habad" - "Habad House.’ They were debating what to do with them. There was a great deal of yelling. The dissidents were yelling ‘Let’s blow up the schoolhouse with everyone in it’ and the Givat Shaul people were yelling "thieves and murderers - don’t do it" and so on. Finally they put the prisoners from the schoolhouse on four trucks and drove them to the Arab quarter of Jerusalem near the Damascus gate. I left after the fourth truck went out."
Notable residents
- Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, rabbi of the Ohel Yehonoson - Chanichei HaYeshivos synagogue on Amram Gaon Street[12]
- Rabbi Mordechai Zuckerman[13]
- Rabbi Aharon Tausig[14]
- Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Ulman
- Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
References
- ^ Sephardic Sages
- ^ a b Yarok Birushalayim, "Shechunat Givat Shaul," SPNI, vol. 85, June-July 2007
- ^ Jerusalem's Town Baker
- ^ Yated Ne'eman, 20 Cheshvan 5768 - November 1, 2007, Parashas Chayei Soroh
- ^ MFA: Addresses, Telephone and Fax Numbers of Government Ministries
- ^ National Parks Authority
- ^ Touro College in Israel
- ^ Herzog Hospital for geriatric and psychiatric health care
- ^ "Propaganda as History: What Happened at Deir Yassin?" Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1-84519-075-0 What Happened at Deir Yassin
- ^ Milstein, Uri [1987] (1998). History of the War of Independence IV: Out of Crisis Came Decision (in Hebrew, English version translated and edited by Alan Sacks). Lanhan, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc. ISBN 0-7618-1489-2. : Chapter 16: Deir Yassin, Section 12: The Massacre
- ^ Meir Pail's account of the incident
- ^ Yated Ne'eman, 2 Iyar 5765 - May 11, 2005, Parashas Emor
- ^ Yated Ne'eman, 24 Cheshvan 5764 - November 19, 2003
- ^ Yated Ne'eman, 20 Cheshvan 5768 - November 1, 2007, Parashas Chayei Soroh
Coordinates: 31°47′21.57″N 35°11′30.73″E / 31.789325°N 35.1918694°E
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