Diskin Orphanage

Coordinates: 31°47′24.77″N 35°11′42.44″E / 31.7902139°N 35.1951222°E / 31.7902139; 35.1951222

Diskin Orphanage 1900

The Diskin Orphanage was an orphanage in the Old City of Jerusalem, established in 1881 by Yehoshua Leib Diskin. From the Jewish Quarter, it moved to Street of the Prophets outside the walls of the Old City.^[1] In 1927, it moved to a new building in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, near the main entrance to the city from the west.

History

In 1878, Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin left his rabbinical position in Brest-Litovsk and moved to Palestine, where he found a large religious community living under near impossible conditions. The persecution and disease from which the Jews of the Holy Land suffered moved Diskin to open a home for orphans in the city, after bringing needy children into his own home.

In time, as the number of children increased, Diskin established the “Great Institution for Orphans” that came to be known as the Diskin Orphanage of Jerusalem. Diskin's second wife, Sarah, known as the Brisker Rebbetzin, brought 40,000 rubles into the marriage which was used for this purpose.^[2] When Diskin died in 1898, his lifework was continued by his only son, Yitzhak Yerucham Diskin. Rabbi Yitzhak built the imposing Diskin Orphanage campus, cited by Israeli architect and historian David Kroyanker as one of the ten most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem.^[3]

Today

Since then, the orphanage has undergone many changes. The building is rented by a boarding school.^[3] Today Beit Diskin operates as a non-profit organization that provides needy youngsters with clothing, dental care, hot meals and educational guidance^[4]

References

Bibliography

• Menachem Mendel. Pillar of Fire: Episodes in the Life of the Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin. Mesorah Publications. ISBN 0-89906-847-2. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diskin Orphanage.

• Official website
• The Last Rabbis of Brest