Beit Yisrael

Beit Yisrael (Hebrew: בית ישראל‎‎, lit. House of Israel) is a predominantly Haredi neighborhood in central Jerusalem, Israel. It is located just north of Mea Shearim.

The name Beit Yisrael is taken from the verse in Ezekiel 36:10, in which Ezekiel prophesies to the hills and mountains of Israel, "I shall make numerous on you the people, the entire House of Israel; the cities will be reinhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt." According to tradition, the neighborhood is built on the location on which the sacrificial remnants of the Second Temple were disposed.

Beit Yisrael was built in the 1880s as an extension of Mea Shearim; it was originally called "Mea Shearim HaHadasha" (Hebrew: מאה שערים החדשה‎‎, lit. the new Mea Shearim). A number of prominent community activists of the Old Yishuv, looking for a solution to the skyrocketing costs of living quarters in Mea Shearim, came up with the idea to purchase the adjacent plot of land, a dirty and infested area nicknamed "the pool" because of its severe drainage problems. Rabbi Aryeh Leib Dayan purchased the plot for a cheap price, after which they drained the water and began to build. The neighborhood book of regulations describes some of the difficulties of the time:

Beit Yisrael originally consisted of one central street by the same name, which contained the main synagogue, with small alleyways branching off on which houses were built. Another main street, which connected the neighborhood to Mea Shearim, was built later and named for Rabbi Dayan. Two-story houses lined the roads, with spacious courtyards behind them and a shared well for every two houses. The inhabitants were originally poor people who could not afford housing in other neighborhoods, though many olim from across the globe settled there as well. By 1900, there were sixty houses and two synagogues. Throughout the years of Mandate Palestine, the neighborhood continued to grow, eventually expanding to the north.

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