Jewish Quarter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish Quarter residents evacuating the Old City through the Zion Gate, May 1948

The Jewish Quarter is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. It lies in the southeastern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Cardo in the north and and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east.

The quarter has had a rich history, with a nearly continual Jewish presence since Roman times. In 1948 its population of about 2,000 Jews was besieged, and forced to leave en masse. The quarter had been completely sacked, with ancient synagogues destroyed.

The quarter remained under Transjordanian occupation until its capture by Israeli paratroops in the Six-Day War of 1967. The quarter has since been revived—the population now surpasses 5,000, and many large educational institutions have taken up residence.

In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Many old European and Middle Eastern cities have a historical Jewish quarter once inhabited by Jews, including Prague (the Josefov, or Josephstadt in German), Kraków (the Kazimierz), Budapest, Amsterdam, and Rome.