Givat Shaul

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Kiryat Moshe and Givat Shaul neighbourhoods, divided by the Kanfei Nesharim / Tzi Yehuda Boulevard, as seen from the east. Givat Shaul is on the right.

Givat Shaul (Hebrew: גבעת שאול‎, lit. (Saul's Hill) is a 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] 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. Givat Shaul Street is closed to traffic on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

The Givat Shaul commercial center on Kanfei Nesharim street is lined with shops, clothing outlets and office buildings, housing many government agencies and ministry departments. Two of Jerusalem's largest bakeries (Angel's Bakery and Bermann), are located in the Givat Shaul industrial zone. On the western ridge of the neighborhood lies Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem's largest cemetery.

[edit] References