Shmuel HaNavi Street ( he, רחוב שמואל הנביא, lit. Samuel the Prophet Street) is a main road in north-central

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. It starts at the intersection of St. George and Shivtei Israel Streets near

Highway 60 The following highways are numbered 60: International * AH60, Asian Highway 60 * European route E60 Australia * Bruxner Highway * Dawson Highway (Rolleston to Gladstone) - Queensland State Route 60 Brazil * BR-060 Canada * Alberta Highway 60 ...

, and merges into

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and '' kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

Boulevard ( Route 436) just past the intersection of Bar-Ilan and Hativat Harel Streets. The continuation of the street winds up to the tomb of Samuel the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

, after whom the street is named. Shmuel HaNavi Street borders the

Beit Yisrael Beit Yisrael ( he, בית ישראל, literal translation, lit. ) is a predominantly Haredi Judaism, Haredi neighborhood in central Jerusalem. It is located just north of Mea Shearim on Ha-Rav Zonenfeld St 13. The name Beit Yisrael is taken from ...

Bukharim The Bukharan Quarter ( he, שכונת הבוכרים, ''Shkhunat HaBukharim''), also HaBukharim Quarter or Bukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem, Israel. The neighborhood was established by Bukharan Jews of the Old Yishu ...

, Arzei HaBira, Shmuel HaNavi, Sanhedria and Gush 80 neighborhoods. With a largely

Haredi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

population, the street houses major synagogues for two Hasidic dynasties and many Haredi schools,

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

s, and girls' seminaries.

Name

The street is named after Samuel the prophet (11th century BC), the last

Biblical judge The Hebrew Bible judges /, pl. /. are described in the Hebrew Bible, and mostly in the Book of Judges, as people who served roles as military leaders in times of crisis, in the period before an Israelite monarchy was established. Role A cyclica ...

, who anointed both

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

I Samuel 15:1
and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

I Samuel 16:12–13
as

kings of Israel This article is an overview of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel as well as those of its successor states and classical period kingdoms ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty and Herodian dynasty. Kings of Ancient Israel and Judah The He ...

. The Tomb of Samuel, which rests atop the tallest mountain outside the Jerusalem city limits, can be reached by following the continuation of Shmuel HaNavi Street northward.

History

Before 1948, Shmuel HaNavi Street lay at the northern edge of Jewish Jerusalem, with the Arab neighborhood of

Sheikh Jarrah Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

to the northeast. Its location beyond populated areas such as

Mea Shearim Mea Shearim ( he, מאה שערים, lit., "hundred gates"; contextually, "a hundred fold") is one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem outside of the Old City. It is populated by Haredi Jews, and was built by members of the Old Yish ...

and Beit Yisrael was the reason why Simcha Mandelbaum, a Jewish merchant who had raised his family in the Old City, decided to build a new home at the eastern end of the street in 1927. While Mandelbaum wished to set an example for other Jews to build in the area and expand the borders of Jerusalem, the

Waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...

, which owned large tracts all around, forbade Arabs from selling any more land to Jews, so the three-story house stood on its own.Bird (2010), pp. 20–21. During the riots of 1929 and 1936, the Haganah took up positions in the Mandelbaum House to drive back the rioting Arabs leaving

Damascus Gate The Damascus Gate is one of the main Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side and connects to a highway leading out to Nablus, which in the Hebrew Bible was called Shechem or Sichem, and from th ...

toward Mea Shearim and Beit Yisrael.

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1 ...

naires blew up the house during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.Regev, Chaya. "The Mandelbaum Gate: Home of the Mandelbaum Family". ''Yated Ne'eman'' (Israel-English edition), 5 November 2004, pp. 16–18. During the 1947 civil war, residents on Shmuel HaNavi Street were subject to frequent shooting from snipers in Sheikh Jarrah. When

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

broke out in 1948, the street was thrust onto the frontlines, becoming a strategic gateway for Arab Legionnaires seeking to enter Jewish Jerusalem. Mandelbaum gateway

The

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,no man's land of barbed wire and minefields separating it from

Ammunition Hill Ammunition Hill ( he, גִּבְעַת הַתַּחְמֹשֶׁת, ''Giv'at HaTahmoshet'') was a fortified Jordanian military post in the northern part of Jordanian-ruled East Jerusalem and the western slope of Mount Scopus. It was the site o ...

to the north. From 1949 to 1967 the official crossing point between Israeli- and Jordanian-held territory stood at the eastern end of Shmuel HaNavi Street at a checkpoint called the

Mandelbaum Gate The Mandelbaum Gate is a former checkpoint between the Israeli and Jordanian sectors of Jerusalem, just north of the western edge of the Old City along the Green Line. The first checkpoint for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan/Israel Mixed Armisti ...

. This checkpoint was named after the destroyed Mandelbaum House, whose ruins lay nearby. Clergy, diplomats and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

personnel used the Israeli (2002), pp. 95–97. gateway to pass through the concrete and barbed wire barrier between the sectors, but Jordanian officials allowed only one-way passage for non-official traffic. Anyone with an Israeli stamp in his or her passport was denied passage. After the Six-Day War and the

reunification of Jerusalem The Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, known to Israelis as the reunification of Jerusalem, refers to the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, and its annexation. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separate, internati ...

, the Israelis dismantled the Mandelbaum Gate. Today a sundial standing in the middle of the

Jerusalem Light Rail Jerusalem Light Rail ( he, הרכבת הקלה בירושלים, ''HaRakevet HaKala Birushalayim'', ar, قطار القدس الخفيف, ''Qiṭār Al-Quds Al-Khafīf'') is a light rail system in Jerusalem. Currently, the Red Line is the o ...

tracks near the beginning of Shmuel HaNavi Street marks the site where the Gate once stood.

Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood

To reinforce its claim on the territory on its side of the 1949 armistice line, in the early 1960s the Jerusalem municipality erected a complex of "long train" tenement buildings built in the manner of fortresses. The Israel Housing Ministry mandated that the external concrete walls of the buildings be three times the normal thickness to withstand shelling. The roofs of the buildings had raised parapets fitted with gun slots. The buildings themselves were arranged in a "confusing zig-zag pattern" to slow down Arab armies that might charge the complex, and the courtyards between the buildings were designed to accommodate mass mobilization of Israeli troops in the event of an attack. Shmuel HaNavi facade

This housing project, known as ''Shikun Shmuel HaNavi'' (Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood), was largely populated by

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

immigrants from North Africa. The overcrowded conditions and lack of infrastructure quickly turned it into a slum. In the late 1970s an urban protest movement called Ohalim established a branch here, initiating cultural and productive activities for disadvantaged youth and elderly. In the 1980s the neighborhood was significantly upgraded as part of Project Renewal, a national

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

program that upgraded housing, infrastructure and utilities in 84 Israeli neighborhoods between 1977 and 1984. A new facade was added to each building in the complex and apartments were enlarged or combined to create larger living quarters. As the first generation of immigrant children matured and left the neighborhood, their parents followed, and Haredi families from Mea Shearim, Bukharim and

Geula Geula ( he, גאולה lit. ''Redemption'') is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem, populated mainly by Haredi Jews. Geula is bordered by Zikhron Moshe and Mekor Baruch on the west, the Bukharim neighborhood on the north, Mea Shearim on ...

took their place. In the 1990s the corner of Shmuel HaNavi and Bar-Ilan Streets was the site of frequent protests to close both streets to traffic on the

Jewish Sabbath Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

, a law that was eventually enforced. According to a 1997 appeal by the Ministry of Transportation to the Supreme Court of Israel on the closure, "almost 100% of the residents living in the vicinity of the Shmuel HaNavi and Jeremiah Streets, as far as Shamgar Street, are all religious or Ultra-Orthodox".

Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing

In 2004 a suicide bomber dressed as a Haredi Jew boarded a crowded #2 bus on its return route from the

Western Wall The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط � ...

and detonated himself as it turned the corner to Shmuel HaNavi Street. The bus was filled with Haredi families with small children; 23 were killed and more than 130 wounded.

2014 Jerusalem tractor attack

In 2014 an Arab workman took a tractor from a work site and went on a terror rampage, overturning a bus with the Arab driver inside, killing one person and wounding several. In October 2015 an Arab terrorist stabbed and lightly wounded a 16-year-old Jewish teenager on Shmuel Hanavi Street.

Archeological discoveries

Evidence for the presence of the Third Wall of the New City from the time of King Agrippa I has been found on Shmuel HaNavi Street. Reinforcing this connection, Simcha Mandelbaum found coins from the

Bar Kokhba Simon ben Koseba or Cosiba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כֹסֵבָא, translit= Šīmʾōn bar Ḵōsēḇaʾ‎ ; died 135 CE), commonly known as Bar Kokhba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כּוֹכְבָא‎, translit=Šīmʾōn bar ...

era on the site of his new house at the beginning of the street. The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

(''Zevachin'' 107a) and the author of ''Kaftor VeFerach'' cite a location near or on the street as the site where the ''deshen'' (ashes) from

sacrifices Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

on the Temple Altar were deposited. Roman tombs and

ossuaries An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

have also been found on Shmuel HaNavi Street. A few hundred meters north of the western end of the street lies the Second Temple-era Tombs of the Sanhedrin in a large park. In July 2009 archaeologists discovered an ancient

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

on Shmuel HaNavi Street, near the intersection with Yehezkel Street, during new residential construction. The quarter-acre (one-dunam) area was thought to be part of a larger network of quarries extending from Musrara to Sanhedria, from which the giant stones used by King Herod in the construction of the Second Temple (first century BC) were hewn.

Cultural institutions

From 1941 to 1947 the street was home to the

Jerusalem Biblical Zoo The Tisch Family Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem ( he, גן החיות התנ"כי בירושלים על שם משפחת טיש, ar, حديقة الحيوان الكتابية في أورشليم القدس '), popularly known as the Jerusalem Bibl ...

founded by Professor Aharon Shulov of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Present-day landmarks

Synagogues

*Beis Yosef Tzvi – Dushinsky (headquarters of the Dushinsky Hasidic dynasty *

Sadigura Sadhora ( uk, Садгора; german: Sadagora; pl, Sadagóra; ro, Sadagura; yi, סאדיגורא Sadigora, also Sadagura and Sadiger) is a settlement in Ukraine, now a Sadhirskyi District of Chernivtsi city, which is located 6 km from the ...

Boys’ schools

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educ ...

Eitz Chaim *Talmud Torah Ramat HaTorah *Talmud Torah Kedushat HaTorah – Sadigura *Talmud Torah Zhvill

Girls’ seminaries

Bais Yaakov Bais Yaakov ( he, בית יעקב also Beis Yaakov, Beit Yaakov, Beth Jacob or Beys Yankev; lit., House fJacob) is a genericized name for full-time Haredi Jewish elementary and secondary schools for Jewish girls throughout the world. Bais Yaa ...

Maalot seminary *Nachlas Bais Yaakov seminary *Neve Yisrael Seminary *Tehillas Bais Yaakov seminary

Yeshivas

*Ahavat Moshe yeshiva and

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

( Breslov) *Beis Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky yeshiva gedolaRossoff (2001), p. 464. * Chut shel Chessed *Eitz Chaim yeshiva *Shaarei Torah Hasidic yeshiva gedola *Tiferet Tzvi yeshiva * Yeshivat HaRaayon HaYehudi (Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea), founded by

Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane (; he, רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who serv ...

on Shmuel HaNavi Street in 1989 and relocated to

Kfar Tapuach Kfar Tapuach ( he, כְּפַר תַּפּוּחַ, ''lit.'', Apple-village) is an Orthodox Jewish Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride Tapuach Junction, one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The e ...

in 2001 *Zhvill yeshiva gedola

Notable residents

Ben Zion Abba Shaul Ben Zion Abba Shaul ( he, בן-ציון אבא-שאול; 31 July 1924 – 13 July 1998; on the Hebrew calendar: 29 Tammuz 5684 – 19 Tammuz 5758) (first name also spelled Ben Sion) was one of the leading Sephardic rabbis, Torah scholars ...

* Yisroel Moshe Dushinsky, Second Dushinsky

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...

* Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, Third Dushinsky Rebbe *Sadigura Rebbe

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Google map of Shmuel HaNavi Street
{{Streets in Jerusalem Streets in Jerusalem