Nachlaot is a cluster of neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. Neighborhoods in Nachlaot (plural of nachala, lit. "homestead") include Mishkenot Yisrael, Ohel Moshe, Mazkeret Moshe, Zichron Yosef, Sukkat Shalom, Zichron Yaakov, Shevet Ahim and Nahalat Ahim. The Mahane Yehuda shuk (open-air marketplace) sits next to Nachlaot and is often mistakenly thought to be part of that neighborhood, while it is, in fact, in the adjoining neighborhood called Mahane Yehuda.

History

The neighborhoods that make up the Nachlaot district were established beginning in the late 1870s outside the walls of the Old City, which was becoming increasingly overcrowded and unsanitary. The first was Mishkenot Yisrael, built in 1875. The name comes from a biblical verse (Numbers 24:5): "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob/Thy dwellings, O Israel." Mazkeret Moshe

Mazkeret Moshe

Mazkeret Moshe is a neighborhood of Jerusalem founded in 1882 and completed in 1885. Its construction enjoyed financial support from Moses Montefiore's foundation, established in 1874 when Mr. Montefiore, a British-Jewish philanthropist, was 90 years old...

 was founded by Sir Moses Montefiore

Moses Montefiore

Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt was one of the most famous British Jews of the 19th century. Montefiore was a financier, banker, philanthropist and Sheriff of London...

 in 1882 as an Ashkenazi neighborhood. Ohel Moshe is a Sephardi neighborhood established alongside it. Former Israeli president Yitzhak Navon

Yitzhak Navon

Yitzhak Navon is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and author. He served as the fifth President of Israel between 1978 and 1982 as a member of the center-left Alignment party...

 grew up in Ohel Moshe, and the neighborhood served as the inspiration for his play Bustan Sephardi (Sephardi Orchard). The Banai family, a famous family of actors and singers, lived in Nachlaot. A Syrian Jewish community settled in Nachlaot in 1900 and built the Ades Synagogue

Ades Synagogue

The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...

, which was completed in 1901. Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda outdoor market is located next to Nachlaot. Rabbi Aryeh Levin

Aryeh Levin

Rabbi Aryeh Levin, , known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate...

, known as the "prisoners' rabbi" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Russian Compound, lived in Mishkenot Yisrael. Nahalat Ahim, south of Rehov Bezalel, was founded in 1925 for the Yemenite community.

Gentrification

In the wake of gentrification projects in the area, housing prices have risen steeply.

Synagogues

At one time Nachlaot had a higher concentration of synagogues than anywhere else in the world, around 300 within a radius of just a few blocks. Many of these were not much more than a tiny room with space for only about a dozen worshippers. Over the decades, many have closed, and now there are about 100 left, including Kol Rina, an Orthodox synagogue which offers prayer services modeled after the tunes and spirit of the late Rabbi Carlebach, with spiritual leader Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, who is bilingual, making a concerted effort to make his House of Worship a comfort zone for all those who visit and worship regularly. The same holds true for the N'vei Shalom (Raz) Synagogue, offering an inspiring Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service intended to not just fulfill one's responsibility to pray, but to stir the heart and spirit.

The neighborhood includes the world famous Addes Congregation, the flagship of the Syrian Halebi community, as well as the synagogues located in the Knesset Alef, Bet, and Gimmel areas, following the tradition of Old Jerusalem, including followers of the Vlina Gaon as well as hassidic tradition. This would include synagogues such as Beis Rachel, Batei Broider and Batei Rund.

Notable residents

• Yitzhak Navon
  Yitzhak Navon
  Yitzhak Navon is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and author. He served as the fifth President of Israel between 1978 and 1982 as a member of the center-left Alignment party...
  
  
• Ehud Banai
  Ehud Banai
  -Early life:Banai, of Persian Jewish and Afghan Jewish descent, was born in Jerusalem to the actor Yaakov Banai, the eldest of the Banai siblings, and moved to Givataim at the age of four.-Music career:...
  
  
• Yossi Banai
  Yossi Banai
  Yossi Banai was an Israeli performer, singer, actor, and dramatist.-Biography:Banai was born in Jerusalem, and grew up in the neighborhood of the Mahane Yehuda market...
  
  
• Aryeh Levin
  Aryeh Levin
  Rabbi Aryeh Levin, , known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate...
  
  
• Yosef Qafih
  Yosef Qafih
  Yosef Qafih , widely known as Rabbi Kapach , was one of the foremost leaders of the Yemenite Jewish community, first in Yemen and later in Israel. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, also a prominent Yemenite leader and grandson of the founder of the Dor Deah movement in Yemen...
  
  
• Uzi Baram
  Uzi Baram
  Uzi Baram is an Israeli former politician, who served as a member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2001, and was Minister of Tourism and Minister of Internal Affairs in the 1990s.-Biography:...
  
  
• Michael Levin
• Uzi Narkiss
  Uzi Narkiss
  Uzi Narkiss was an Israeli general. Narkiss was commander of the Israel Defense Forces units in the Central Region during the Six Day War...