Blog - RE/MAX Jerusalem

Abu tor
Armon HaNatziv It’s a must in every tour of the city of Jerusalem-the breathtaking Haas Sherover Promenade, popularly known as the Tayelet, with its unobstructed sweeping views of the Temple Mount, Judean Hills, and on a clear day, the Dead Sea. Very near this famous Jerusalem landmark is the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv, popularly known as East Talpiot. Biblically, Armon Hanatziv was where Abraham and Isaac were able to see Mount Moriah, after their long and arduous 3-day trek from Beer Sheva. Later, its topography was used to build an aqueduct that brought water from the springs of Gush Etzion, traveling through Armon Hanatziv, and from there to the Temple Mount; its final destination. More recently, in 1933, ‘the Residency’, the residence cum offices of the British High Commissioner was built on the ridge next to the Tayelet. In Hebrew it was called Armon Hanatziv and it from that beautiful monument of British rule that the neighborhood got its name. The entire neighborhood is built on a large mountain, and from a bird’s-eye view it looks like a large amphitheater opening out to the Judean Mountains, Jordan, and the desert. The unique topography and the view is its major selling point. From…
Arnona Arnona is a neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, situated between the neighborhoods of Talpiot and Ramat Rachel. It has a rural feeling, yet is located in a city – a relatively unusual combination. It is a family-oriented community with religious, traditional and secular families. Most new houses are being bought by young Dati-Leumi (National Religious) families. Arnona was founded in 1931 (5691 according to the Jewish calendar) on land owned by the Keren HaEzra company according to plans created by the architect Richard Kaufmann. In 1935, another neighborhood named “Binyan v’Melacha” was founded alongside Talpiot; this neighborhood has since been incorporated into the Arnona area. Together with other nearby Jewish areas (Talpiot and Mekor Chaim), Arnona gradually became a southern suburb of Jerusalem separated from the main city neighborhoods of Baka and Talbieh, and the German Colony area. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Arnona was on the front line. In May 1948, Arnona was occupied by Arab forces. An attack by Egyptian, Jordanian, and local Arab troops led to a retreat by Jewish forces from Arnona and Ramat Rachel. A combined unit of the Hagana and Palmach later retook the area. The 1949 cease fire agreement with Jordan placed the cease-fire…
Baka The neighborhood is somewhat trapezoidal, sandwiched between Derech Hevron on the east at 760 meters above sea level and sloping downward toward Derech HaRakevet and General Pierre Koenig Street on the western side at 740 meters. The old Jerusalem Railway Station occupies the north-eastern point with Rivka Street forming the southern base. Baka is bounded by Abu Tor to the northeast, Talpiot to the east, Talpiot Industrial Zone to the south, Mekor Chaim to the west, and the Greek Colony and German Colony to the northwest. The north-south Derech Beit Lehem serves as the major commercial artery within the neighborhood. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Baka experienced a significant change as middle class professionals began to move in. Many of the palatial homes were renovated, while some of the larger mansions from the Mandate period were subdivided into luxury apartments. Demographically, the neighborhood contains a mix of religious and secular Jews and is popular among English and French-speaking immigrants. The main commercial street, Derech Beit Lehem, is lined with shops, designer stores, coffee houses, restaurants and more.[5][6]
Bayit Ve’gan
Beit Hakerem
City Center The City Center of Jerusalem comprises the area from The Old City via Jaffa Road and King George Streets, and obviously the famous Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall (the midrachov) through to the Machaneh Yehuda Market (the Shuk). This was one of the first areas of Jerusalem to be developed outside of the Old City. It started in the 1870’s as the Beis David neighborhood, a small walled community of 10 apartments just off Jaffa Road and developed until, in the 1920’s, the neighborhood was extended to include, among other buildings, the apartment of HaRav Kook, who was Israel’s first chief Ashkenazi Rabbi. This apartment still exists today as a museum at 9 HaRav Kook Street. Although largely a business area comprising shops, restaurants and offices, the City Center has a significant number of apartments occupied by those who enjoy the convenience of living in the hub of Jerusalem. According to Alyssa Friedland, with RE/MAX Vision, about 70% of properties are tenant occupied, largely by students who enjoy a subsidy from the municipality for renting in the area. This high demand has resulted in an increase in rental prices and a corresponding increase in sale prices. The average apartment can be…
Ein Karem Ein Kerem is a charming hillside village famed for its centuries-old holy sites. These include the Church of St. John the Baptist, containing a cave said to be the saint’s birthplace, and Mary’s Spring, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have drunk. Dotting the village’s narrow streets are galleries and shops selling hand-painted tiles and jewelry, plus quaint cafes and stylish Mediterranean restaurants.
French Hill The other side of the railroad tracks…French Hill..Good investor Opportunities. Rising out of Jerusalem’s northeast corner, offering breathtaking views of the Old City and much of West Jerusalem beyond, is the neighborhood of French Hill. One of the seven hills upon which Jerusalem is built, French Hill is a relatively modest mountain that still figures prominently in the city’s history and continues to capture the Israeli imagination. According to local legend French hill has nothing to do with France. It was named after a Carmelite Hospice located on the highest point of the neighborhood. The area was a military outpost under Jordanian rule. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, French Hill was annexed to Jerusalem under the Jerusalem Law in 1980. This residential neighborhood was built in the aftermath of the six day war in 1967. Work began in 1969, and it was meant to create a demographic link between Jewish West Jerusalem and the Hadassah Hospital compound and the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, which had been an Israeli enclave before the war. At that time, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol envisioned that it would become the first planned urban community in modern Jerusalem, providing as many services as possible…
German Colony The Templars in Jerusalem The German Colony‎, HaMoshava HaGermanit, is a neighborhood in Jerusalem built in the second half of the 19th century. The name derives from the organization which founded the neighborhood- the German Temple Society; a religious Lutheran missionary society that believed in settling in the holy land. By 1910, there were already well-established German settlements and thriving communities in Jerusalem, Haifa, Sarona, Wilhelma, Bethlehem and Waldheim near Nazareth. The settlement in Jerusalem was their third in Palestine after the one in Haifa and Jaffa. The settlement in Jerusalem was an agricultural settlement, built on fallow agricultural land outside the walls of Jerusalem. It was established 1873 after one of the colonists, Matthaus Frank, bought a large tract of land in the Refaim Valley from a landowner in Beth Safafa. The Templars were Christians who broke away from the Protestant church and encouraged their members to settle in the Holy Land to prepare for Messianic salvation. They built their homes in the style to which they were accustomed in Germany – farmhouses of one or two stories, with slanted, tiled roofs and shuttered windows, but using local materials such as Jerusalem Stone instead of wood and bricks. The…
Gilo Gilo is one of the largest neighborhoods situated in south-east Jerusalem, with about 35,000 residents of which 3,000 are under the age of 18 (estimates vary, depending on their source). The neighborhood’s population makes it the equivalent of small urban center such as Tiberius and Maale Adumim. It has a heterogeneous population, with a its socio-economic mix of the middle class, lower class, native born immigrants, secular, orthodox and religious, young and old. Gilo is one of five ring neighborhoods of Jerusalem. It was established in 1973, but archaeological excavations at the site revealed habituation dating from the Iron Age I, through to the Roman and Byzantine periods. The area was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1917 when the site came under British rule. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the land was occupied by Jordan until Israel captured the West Bank during the Six Day War. Gilo is built on land beyond the 1949 armistice line, and was annexed to Israel following the Six-Day War. Gilo is located on a hilltop in southwest Jerusalem, separated from Beit Jala by a deep gorge. The Route 60 Tunnels Highway to Gush Etzion runs underneath it on the east, and the settlement…
Givat Mordechai Givat Mordechai, (Hebrew: גבעת מרדכי‎, trans: Mordechai’s Hill) is a Jewish neighborhood in southwest-central Jerusalem, Israel, midway between the neighborhoods of Nayot and Malcha. The neighborhood was named after an American philanthropist, Maxwell (Mordechai) Abbell of Chicago. [1] Givat Mordechai was established in 1955 by members of Hapoel Hamizrachi, the forerunner of the National Religious Party, known in Hebrew as Mafdal. Most of the streets are named after leaders of Hapoel Hamizrachi. Shahal Street, for example, is a Hebrew acronym for the religious Zionist leader Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Landau. The population is largely modern Orthodox, with some secular Jews. There are many synagogues and educational institutions in Givat Mordechai. The main campus of the Jerusalem College of Technology is located there, as is the Hebron yeshiva.[2]
Givat Shaul Givat Shaul (Hebrew: גבעת שאול, lit. (Saul’s Hill) is a neighborhood in western Jerusalem, Israel. The neighborhood is located at the western entrance to the city, east of the neighborhood of Har Nof and north of Kiryat Moshe. Givat Shaul stands 820 meters above sea level.
Holyland
Katamonim
Kiryat HaLeom Kiryat HaLeom (Hebrew: קריית הלאום‎), also known as Kiryat HaUma (Hebrew: קריית האומה‎) and referred to in English as the National Quarter,[1] is the official label of a complex in central Jerusalem that includes Kiryat HaMemshala (the government precinct), the Knesset (parliament), Sacher Park, the Menorah Garden, Wohl Rose Park and Binyanei HaUma convention center. It was traditionally considered to be the northern part of the Givat Ram neighborhood.
Kiryat Moshe
Malha
Mishkenot Hauma Mishkenot HaUma
Nachlaot Nachlaot is a grouping of 23 courtyard neighborhoods in central Jerusalem. The area is known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. The neighborhoods that make up the Nachlaot area were established beginning in the late 1870’s outside the walls of the Old City. The first was Mishkenot Yisrael, built in 1875. Mazkeret Moshe was founded by Sir Moses Montefiore in 1882 as an Ashkenazi neighborhood. Ohel Moshe is a Sephardi neighborhood established alongside it. Former Israeli president Yitzhak Navon 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, which was completed in 1901. Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda outdoor market is located next to Nachlaot. Rabbi Aryeh Levin, known as the “prisoners’ rabbi” for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Russian Compound, lived in Mishkenot Yisrael. Nahalat Achim, south of Rehov Bezalel, was founded in 1925 for the Yemenite community. At one time Nachlaot had a higher concentration of synagogues than anywhere else…
Neve Yaakov Neve Yaakov also Neve Ya’aqov, (Hebrew: נווה יעקב‎; lit. Jacob’s Oasis), is an Israeli settlement[1] and neighborhood[2] located in East Jerusalem,[3][4][5][6][7] north of Pisgat Ze’ev and south of al-Ram. Established in 1924 during the period of the British Mandate, it was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The area was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War and a new neighborhood was built nearby, at which time international opposition to its legitimacy began.[8] The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this,[9] defining it as a neighborhood within the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Municipality, which provides all services.[10] The population of Neve Yaakov is 30,000. Neve Yaakov is one of Jerusalem’s Ring Neighborhoods.[11] Neve Yaakov was established in 1924 on a 65 dunams (0.065 km2; 0.025 sq mi)[12] parcel of land purchased from the Arabs of Beit Hanina by members of the American Mizrachi movement.[13] HaKfar HaIvri Neve Yaakov (The Jewish Village of Neve Yaakov) was named for the leader of the movement, Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines (1839–1915).[14] It was an hour’s walk to the Old City, where most Jews of Jerusalem lived at the time. Until they were abandoned in 1948, Neve Yaakov and Atarot were the only Jewish settlements north of the Old City.[13] The first houses were ready for occupancy in Av (summer) 1925. The village’s rav, Rabbi Yitzchak Avigdor Orenstein, ruled that new homeowners could move…
Katamon
pat Pat is a neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem, located between Katamon in the north and Beit Safafa in the south. The Pat neighborhood is named for Yaacov Pat, a commander of the Haganah.[1] Pat was the last of the Katamonim neighborhoods built in the 1950s to provide housing for residents of the Maabara transit camps and other socio-economically weak populations. The main thoroughfare is Yaacov Pat Street, which separates it from Katamon Het. In the 1990s, under the auspices of “Project Renewal,” apartment blocks in Pat were expanded and faced with Jerusalem stone. The construction of Malha Mall, Teddy Stadium and the Jerusalem Railway Station, which are all near Pat, along with the development of the Talpiot industrial zone and the construction of the Begin Expressway, have increased property values.
Pisgat Zeev Pisgat Ze’ev (Hebrew: פסגת זאב‎, lit. Ze’ev’s Peak) is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem[1] and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000.[2] Pisgat Ze’ev was established by Israel as one of the city’s five Ring Neighborhoods on land effectively annexed after the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[3] Pisgat Ze’ev is situated east of Shuafat and Beit Hanina, west of Hizma, south of Neve Yaakov, and north of ‘Anata and the Shuafat refugee camp. The Israeli West Bank barrier includes Pisgat Ze’ev in the northern section of Jerusalem while excluding Shuafat refugee camp from the city by running in an S-shape here.[1] Archeological evidence shows that in the biblical period, the site encompassed small agricultural villages along routes north from Jerusalem to Nablus and the Galilee. The villages made use of varied water-catchment strategies and served the needs of Israelite Jerusalem, including as a major producer of wine and oil for use in the Temple in Jerusalem.[4] Three ritual baths from the Second Temple period have been excavated in Pisgat Ze’ev.[5] The Byzantine period saw the villages’ primary use shift from agriculture to service religious functions, such as churches and monasteries. A large monastery from the period was located at the site’s highest point, Ras at-Tawill. The monastery was likely active from the end of…
Ramat Eshkol Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol/Givat Hamivtar neighborhood, a quiet area, slightly removed from the hustle and bustle of the city center, was established soon after the Six Day War in 1968, on what was once the a battlefield between Israel and Jordan. Ramat Eshkol is located in northern Jerusalem bordering the communities of Maalot Dafana to the east, Sanhedruia Murhevet on its west side, and its northern border is the neighborhood of French Hill. The convenient location allows for easy access to the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University, the Kotel Hama’aravi and Old City of Jerusalem as well as city center. Sderot Levi Eshkol (Eshkol Boulevard), the main thoroughfare of the neighborhood was named for the Israeli Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol. The government planned the area in order to create a link between West Jerusalem and Mount Scopus; from the Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood to French Hill and then on to The Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus. Several parks in Ramat Eshkol stand as a testament to its history. After the Six-Day War, Ammunition Hill was restored and turn into a park welcoming visitors from near and far. Gan HaHamishah Asar (Park of the Fifteen) was built in 1969 to commemorate fifteen…
Ramat Sharet
Ramot
Rehavia Rehavia is an upscale Jerusalem neighborhood located between the city center and Talbieh. The suburb received its name from Eliezer Yelin, its first inhabitant, and one of its early architects, and was named after Moses’ grandson, “Rehavia”. Rehavia was established on a large plot of land purchased in 1921 from the Greek Orthodox Church by the Palestine Land Development Company (PLDC) and the first house was completed in 1924. It was given the biblical name Rehavia. The area was known at the time by the Arab name of Ginzaria, a native Jerusalem plant. The Jewish National Fund (JNF) bought the land and commissioned the German-Jewish architect Richard Kauffmann to design a garden neighborhood. Kauffmann, who spelled the name of his project as Janziriah, created a typical Garden City neighborhood, with gardens surrounding the houses and an orderly, but not too strict grid of streets and footpaths set in relation to the main boulevard cutting through the area, thus avoiding an excessive sense of symmetry. For legalistic reasons the land had to be transferred back to the PLDC in exchange for lands in the Jezreel Valley, but the JNF retained some real-estate in the neighborhood. The Gymnasia Rehavia high school, Yeshurun…
Romema Romema (Hebrew: רוממה, lit. Uplifted) is a neighbourhood in northwest Jerusalem, just off the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway at the main entrance to the city. It occupies the highest hill in Jerusalem.[1][2] Romema is bordered by Kiryat Mattersdorf and Mekor Baruch. Romema was founded on a hill outside the historical city of Lifta in 1921. The initiator of the project was attorney Yom-Tov Hamon, an expert in Ottoman law and land-ownership issues, who arbitrated disputes among Arab landowners in the region and opened sales of the land to Jews.[1] The original building plan called for 24 houses surrounding a central square.[1] The Jewish section of the neighborhood was built with private funding. Most of the original streets were named for Hebrew newspapers of the era: HaZvi, edited by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Ariel, HaOr, Torah Mitzion, and Moriah.[1] In 1931 a water reservoir was erected here.[2] Extant architecture shows the area’s original affluence, wealth, and diversity. These include the three-story residence of Arab Haj Muhammad, who owned quarries in nearby Lifta and was a judge in the city’s Muslim courts; the elegant home of Jewish hotelier and businessman Yehiel Amdurski, and the home of Rabbi Yehuda Fishman-Maimon.[1] By 1948, the population was diverse, with Arab, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish residents.[1] At the beginning of 1948, during the Civil war, Christian Palestinians and Muslim Arabs living in the Arab section of Romema as well as the nearby village of…
Sha’arei Chesed The neighborhood, Shaarei Hesed, Gates of Mercy in Hebrew, is located between the more well-known neighborhoods of Rehavia to its north, Nachlaot to its south and the Wolfson Towers to the west. The neighborhood was established in 1909 and covers an area of 40,000 sqm (approximately 40 dunams or 10 acres). The neighborhood had very orthodox beginnings. It was first inhabited by ultra-orthodox Jews and they insisted that residents should strictly adhere to Halacha (Jewish religious law). Only those who agreed to live according to the requirements of halacha were allowed to live there. One of the founders of Shaarei Hesed was Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Porush (there is a street named after him in the neighborhood). He was helped in his endeavors by the then Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shmuel Salant. They set up a general fund headed by Porush and raised money from the Diaspora (mainly East and Central Europe), and used the money to assist ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi Jews to purchase modest apartments in Jerusalem. Consequently the vast majority of the residents were Yeshiva students who studied in the area. The first 114 houses were built in a row on long narrow plots similar to the style…