Givat Shaul

Givat Shaul ( _he. גבעת שאול, lit. ("Saul's Hill") is an almost exclusively 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, [ [http://www.sephardiccouncil.org/sages/yse.html Sephardic Sages] ] 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.Yarok Birushalayim, "Shechunat Givat Shaul," SPNI, vol. 85, June-July 2007] It is located at the western entrance to the city, east of the neighborhood of Har Nof and north of Kiryat Moshe.

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.

Givat Shaul today

Several important yeshivot, or religious seminaries, are located in Givat Shaul, among them the Jerusalem branch of "Yeshivas Pressburg". Well-known rabbis who live in Givat Shaul are Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Ulman and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

The population consists of a mix of Haredi and Religious Zionist Jews. The northernmost part of the neighborhood, directly above Highway 1, is a Haredi neighborhood, while many of the residents of the southern part, bordering Kiryat Moshe, are modern Orthodox.

Northern Givat Shaul

The northern part of Givat Shaul, close to Highway 1, is almost exclusively populated by Haredim. This is the location of the actual Givat Shaul Street, which 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 "Zupnik - Ner Yisroel" synagogue is led by Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Ulman, who is also a leading member of the great rabbinical court or Badatz of the Edah HaChareidis. The Zupnik synagogue is part of the Edah HaChareidis and is the center of Givat Shaul's more extreme Haredi population, who are virulently opposed to Zionism. [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/996810.html Haaretz] : "Haredim from neighboring Givat Shaul watched the show, thereby discovering that "prostitutes" were supposed to appear on stage. They turned to municipal officials and to the mobile news service Hakol Haharedi, and shouted on the air about the "brazenness" and the "terrible harlotry" threatening the city. The direct culprit, they claimed, is Lupolianski. One Jerusalemite screamed on air that the ultra-Orthodox Lupolianski "sits with prostitutes" and "wants to desecrate Jerusalem at any price" and turn it into "Sodom."]

Other important rabbis include Rabbi Yehoshua Karlinsky, rabbi of the Beer Avrohom synagogue; Rabbi Tennenbaum, rabbi of the Babad synagogue; Rabbi Shmuel Taussig, Admor of Toldos Shmuel. [ [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5768/chayeisoroh/CS68artaussig.htm Yated Ne'eman, 20 Cheshvan 5768 - November 1, 2007, Parashas Chayei Soroh] [

Prominent past residents of the Haredi section of Givat Shaul include:
* Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe was a prominent resident of the area, and rabbi of the "Ohel Yehonoson - Chanichei HaYeshivos" synagogue on Amram Gaon Street [] http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5765/emor/EMR65arwolbe.htm Yated Ne'eman, 2 Iyar 5765 - May 11, 2005, Parashas Emor] ] ;
* Rabbi Mordechai Zuckerman [ [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5764/CHS64arzckrmn.htm Yated Ne'eman, 24 Cheshvan 5764 - November 19, 2003] ]
* Rabbi Aharon Tausig [ [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5768/chayeisoroh/CS68artaussig.htm Yated Ne'eman, 20 Cheshvan 5768 - November 1, 2007, Parashas Chayei Soroh]

outhern 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 and the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, both major centers of Religious Zionism.

Givat Shaul Bet

The commercial area centered on Kanfei Nesharim and Beit HaDfus streets is lined with shops, clothing outlets and office buildings, housing many government agencies and ministry departments. This area is also referred to as "Givat Shaul Bet" and geographically seen, 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 located in the area include the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Authority of Religious Services, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, and the National Parks Authority. [ [http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Current%20Government%20of%20Israel/Addresses-%20Telephone%20and%20Fax%20Numbers%20of%20Government MFA: Addresses, Telephone and Fax Numbers of Government Ministries] ] [ [http://www.parks.org.il/ParksENG/faqs_search_tree.php3?NewNameMade=7&InitialEntry=1&from=116 National Parks Authority] [ The Israeli branch of Touro College is located in the area also. [ [http://www.touroisrael.org/pages/about_us Touro College in Israel] ]

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, there is another commercial zone, which is smaller than Givat Shaul Bet. This area houses several large stores and office buildings, as well as the Ya'aleh bakery, the Herzog psychiatric hospital, Egged's bus maintenance facility, and the main depot for the Jerusalem municipality's sanitation services.

Deir Yassin Massacre

On April 9, 1948 paramilitary forces of the Irgun and Lehi carried out a controversial house-by-house massacre of the Arab village of Deir Yassin in which a large number of the village's inhabitants were systematically killed. After the Deir Yassin Massacre the depopulated village was settled by Israelis and renamed Givat Shaul Bet. [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] Givat Shaul Bet is currently more realistically part of Har Nof and considered to be such; it is far away from the regular Givat Shaul neighborhood.

Noteworthy is that as soon as the Haredi (strictly Orthodox) Jewish residents of Givat Shaul, who affiliated with the anti-Zionist streams of Jerusalem Jewry (the Edah HaChareidis), heard of the ongoing massacre, a significant group of Haredim from Givat Shaul came to Deir Yassin to protest against what happened there. [ [http://www.ariga.com/peacewatch/dy/dypail.htm Meir Pail's account of the incident] ] In Meir Pa'il's words:

"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."

References

External links

* [http://www.herzoghospital.org/ Herzog Hospital for geriatric and psychiatric health care]