Jerusalem's Bold Pioneers: The Hidden Story of Building a City

The remarkable success of the neighborhood-building efforts filled local activists with hope, seeing these developments as signs of redemption. As they expressed in a proclamation from 1875: "We see the rays of dawn slowly shimmering, heralding a near salvation."

Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, would bless the construction workers as they left for their building tasks, saying, "May my portion be with you." He expressed his admiration for their role in bringing redemption closer, as taught by the Sages in the Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin regarding the verse "But you, O mountains of Israel, shall yield your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for they are soon to come"—there is no clearer sign of redemption than this.

Venturing outside the city walls was perilous, as until the early 1870s, the city gates were closed at night due to fear of robbers. As an example, we note the wife of R' Yosef Rivlin, one of the initiators and pioneers of the new neighborhoods in Jerusalem, who died from a stroke after successfully fending off a robber during their settlement at Nahalat Shiva.

Pioneers faced significant harassment from local Arab landlords, who were concerned about the impact of new neighborhoods on Jerusalem's property values. The "Gvardim" was formed for protection. These were Jewish residents with weapons who patrolled the deserted paths between the barren fields.

The terrain in some neighborhoods was exceptionally harsh. Near Mea Shearim, for example, there was a large swamp that spread yellow fever and Egyptian malaria. R' Yosef Rivlin devised a plan to drain the swamp called "Pipe, Rope, and Dog." The plan surpassed all expectations and successfully eliminated the swamp.

A survey of the neighborhoods outside the walls provides a detailed account: by 1897, even before the Zionist organization became active in the country, forty-six (46) neighborhoods had been built outside the wall. Most of Israel's capital city was constructed with great dedication by the members of the old Yishuv, independently of and before Zionist efforts, from land acquisition, planning, house construction, population, and defense.

A significant portion of the neighborhoods was built by immigrants from Eastern countries, who arrived without any connection to the Ashkenazi immigrations and Zionist organization, as noted by Prof. Ben-Arieh: "Two important factors contributed to the development of Jerusalem outside the walls: on one hand, the old Yishuv, which continued building the new city, and on the other hand, the Eastern communities that contributed to the development and construction of Jerusalem's neighborhoods... Much is said about the First Aliyah, about the Biluim, about the Lovers of Zion, and the Second Aliyah, yet it is often forgotten that in the same year as the First Aliyah, the first Yemenite Aliyah arrived in Jerusalem... The Georgians arrived in Jerusalem in the 1860s, Persian Jews arrived in the 19th century and established several neighborhoods... Later, Syrian Jews also came to Jerusalem... not to mention the Kurdish contribution, establishing their own neighborhood... Therefore, we can say that the contribution of the Eastern communities to Jerusalem's development was highly significant and crucial."

Despite all this, if you ask the average person today who built modern Jerusalem, Israel's capital outside the walls, you'll typically hear the names of secular Ashkenazi figures and Zionist organizational terms. The efforts of the Eastern and Haredi communities have been largely forgotten.