Talpiot

:"Talpiot is also an academic program affiliated with the IDF"

Talpiot ( _he. תלפיות, lit. turrets, or magnificently built), is a neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem, Israel, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers.

Etymology

The name "Talpiot" derives from a verse in Song of Songs 4:4 - "Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded with turrets." According to rabbinic sources, Talpiot refers to the Temple. It was said to be a compound of the Hebrew words "tel" (hill) and "piyot" (mouths), as in "the hill to which all mouths turn in prayer." [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6880963/Talpiot-s-tels-and-turrets.html#abstract Talpiot's tels and turrets: a look at my old neighborhood.(Israel)(Geographic overview) Industry & Business Article - Research, News, Information, Contacts, Divisions, Subsidiaries, Business Associations ] ]

History

The early settlers were evacuated from Talpiot in the wake of the 1929 Hebron massacre, but later returned. When the British left Jerusalem in May 1948, a Haganah military brigade launched Operation Kilshon to seize security zones previously occupied by the British and defend Jerusalem against attack by the Arab Legion. The British army camp in Talpiot, known as Mahane Allenby, was one of the strategic sites captured in this operation. [ "War of Independence," "Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel," p. 1196, Herzl Press & McGraw Will, New York, 1971]

After the Israeli War of Independence, Talpiot became the frontier, surrounded by Jordanian-controlled East Jerusalem, although Israelis continued to live there. The neighbourhood expanded significantly after the 1967 Six-Day War. New residential districts were established in the enclave formerly controlled by the United Nations, which had been a no man's land. A large industrial zone developed on the outskirts of residential Talpiot to house the businesses evicted from Mamilla.

Over the last decade, Mahane Allenby was torn down and luxury towers were built on the land.

Districts

Talpiot today consists of several districts. "Old Talpiot" is the historic residential neighborhood founded in 1922. North Talpiot, also known as Arnona, built after 1967, offers panoramic views of the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys, and the Old City. Across Derech Hevron to the west is the Talpiot industrial zone, now one of Jerusalem's main shopping districts. To the east is the neighborhood of East Talpiot.

Nightlife

Talpiot has become a hub of Jerusalem nightlife. There are several shopping malls in Talpiot (among them Kanyon Hadar on Pierre Koenig Street and Kanyon Ahim Yisrael on Yad Haharutzim Street), a multiplex cinema, a bowling alley, and dozens of nightclubs and discos including one of Israel's oldest and most popular nightclubs, Haoman 17.

Haas Promenade

Connecting East Talpiot and Talpiot is the Haas Promenade _he. הטיילת "(ha-Tayelet)". From this vantage point atop a ridge overlooking Jerusalem's Old City and the Dead Sea, tradition holds that Abraham was shown Mount Moriah as the site for the binding of Isaac as recorded in the Bible.Fact|date=October 2007 Hidden under this ridge are the remains of an aqueduct built by Herod the Great to bring water from the south, by way of his summer palace Herodium, to the Second Temple. This area was a no man's land in the period between the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. At one end of the promenade, on the Hill of Evil Counsel, is the United Nations Middle East Headquarters in the former Jerusalem Government House, home of the British high commissioner during the British Mandate of Palestine. The Jerusalem Peace Forest, joining formerly West and East Jerusalem, descends along the slope below the Promenade. The Jerusalem municipality plants a tree in this forest for every child born in Jerusalem, representing the eternal hope of peace bridging the Arab and Jewish populations.

Versailles wedding hall

On May 24, 2001, the third floor of the Versailles wedding hall in Talpiot collapsed during a wedding party, killing 23 and injuring more than 200. The collapse was blamed on poor construction, using a system called Pal-Kal which was deemed unfit for public buildings. The disaster is considered Israel's worst civil disaster. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_4530000/4530071.stm "2001: Israel wedding party tragedy"] , "BBC Online"]

Notable residents

Shmuel Yosef Agnon, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, settled in Talpiot in 1924 and wrote most of his important works there. After his death, his home was turned into a museum, Beit Agnon, where his study has been preserved intact. [ [http://jerusalem-mag.com/fullarticle-en.asp?xml=1586.xml&mail=%23%23email%23 "Jerusalem Mosaic] , "Jerusalem Municipality Tourism Authority"] One of his neighbors was the eminent scholar Joseph Gedalja Klausner, the uncle of Israeli author Amos Oz. In his autobiographical novel "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (2003), Oz writes that Agnon and Klausner were not fond of one another and kept their distance. The founder of Modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, built a home in Talpiot, but died before moving in.

ee also

*Talpiot Tomb
*
*Ramat Rachel

References