Ezrat Israel: An Undiscovered Neighbourhood, the Coming of the Messiah and the Resting Place of Many Prophets

It’s not very often that I come across a whole Jerusalem neighbourhood that I have never seen or heard of before.  But that’s just what happened as I was preparing a tour of the Jaffa Road for Yom Ha’atzmaut.

The Ezrat Israel Neighbourhood
Photo by Ranbar

Ezrat Israel is a small neighbourhood tucked away between the Jaffa Road and Rehov Hanevi’im near to the junction of Jaffa Road and King George Street.  The whole neighbourhood consists of one narrow alley with a row of houses, originally two-storey buildings, on either side.  It was established in 1892 on the initiative of Rabbi Ya’akov Meir the Hacham Bashi – the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel.  He was supported by a group of notable Sephardi and Ashkenazi rabbis; Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel who succeeded him in as Hacham Bashi, Rabbi Nissim Elyashar, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi David Kantorowitz, Rabbi Yaakov Mann and Rabbi Joseph Rivlin.  

Nabi Okasha Mosque
Photo: Yoninah

Cabbalists considered a hill just to the north of the site of this neighbourhood to be “Patcha DeKarta”, the entrance to the city, the seat of the Mashiach ben Yosef who would herald the arrival of the Messiah.  Before the neighbourhood was built a group of cabbalists, students of the Vilna Gaon, set up a tent there (the tent of Mashiach ben Yosef) and prayed there fervently for the coming of the Messiah.  In 1908 the International Evangelistic Church was built at the end of the neighbourhood facing Rehov Hanevi’im where the cabbalists’ tent had been.  The tent was moved to Nabi Okasha Park on Rehov Strauss.

When the neighbourhood was first built it connected the Jaffa Road and Rehov Hanevi’in.  It was also a convenient route between the established neighbourhoods of Even Israel and Meah Shearim.  Iron gates were installed at both its entrances and they were locked at night.  With the building of the evangelistic church the way through to Rehov Hanevi’im and Meah Shearim was blocked.

Hacham Bashi
Harav Ya'akov Meir

Ezrat Israel though small was home to some prominent people.  The Sephardi Chief Rabbis Ya’akov Meir and Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel lived there as did Yitzchak Ben Zvi, the second President of the State of Israel and Rachel Yanait Ben Zvi.  The authors Yehuda Burla and Yehuda HaEzrachi (Brisker) grew up in the neighbourhood.  There were three print houses in Ezrat Israel.  In one, the Co-operative or “Unity” printing house, David Ben Gurion and Yosef Haim Brenner worked and at times lived.  Jerusalem’s Freemasons’ Hall can still be found in the neighbourhood.   Today the little neighbourhood contains a mixture of homes, shops and offices and has a traditional or secular character.  Take the time to visit Ezrat Israel next time you are near the Jaffa Road.  It is a quiet and picturesque oasis in the midst of Jerusalem.



A street sign from the British Mandate
Photo: DMY

For those of you who wonder about Nabi Okasha: There is a Mamluk mausoleum and a mosque known as Nabi Okasha or al-Kimeria on Rehov Strauss.  Many traditions cling to this place.  It is the grave of Okasha, a friend of the Prophet Muhammad.  It is the grave of four sons of Kimer who fought with Saladin against the Crusaders.  It is the burial place of the major prophets of the three great Abrahamic religions: Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.  That is the reason that the British Governor Sir Ronald Storrs gave Rehov Hanev’im (the Street of the Prophets) its name.