Jerusalem, Israel
The Jewish Quarter, Old City
הָרוֹבַע הַיְּהוּדִי HaRova HaYehudi
A residential quarter built on top of its own excavations, where the ruins were left visible inside the new streets.
Iron Age foundations, rebuilt after 1967
Visiting the Jewish Quarter, Old City
- What to wear
- Shoulders and knees covered. It is a religious residential neighbourhood as much as a tourist route.
- Photography
- Streets and ruins yes. People, and above all children, only with permission.
- Cost
- The streets are free. The Hurva, the Herodian Quarter and the Burnt House are ticketed separately and are small.
- When to go
- Early morning, or Friday before midday. Almost everything closes for Shabbat.
- Access
- Steps and steep ramps everywhere. Parts of the main square are step-free, most side lanes are not.
What to wear at every Jerusalem site
Etiquette
- DoPeople live here. On Shabbat the lanes are quiet and staying quiet with them is the whole courtesy.
- DoMen cover their heads in any of the synagogues. Coverings are by the door.
- AvoidPhotographing children in the alleys, particularly in the religious lanes, is not welcome. Ask or skip it.
- DoModest dress makes every doorway in the quarter easier to walk through.
- DoIf a class or a service is under way in a synagogue, wait at the back until it breaks.
Local tip
Find the Broad Wall first, then the Cardo, then the Hurva. In that order the quarter reads as a timeline instead of a set of stops.
Hours, prices, access and security arrangements change: check official sources before you go, and follow the instructions of site and security staff. In an emergency, call the local emergency number (in Israel: police 100, ambulance 101, or 112 from a mobile).
The history of the Jewish Quarter, Old City
Layers underfoot
Excavation after 1967 uncovered the Broad Wall, a city wall from the eighth century BCE, and the Burnt House, a priestly home destroyed in 70 CE. Both are open under the modern pavement.
Emptied, then rebuilt
The quarter fell in the 1948 war, its Jewish residents left and much of it was ruined during the years of Jordanian control. Israel rebuilt it after 1967 around the newly dug remains.
The Hurva
The Hurva Synagogue was begun in the eighteenth century by followers of Judah he-Hasid, rebuilt in the nineteenth, destroyed in 1948 and reconstructed to the nineteenth-century design in 2010.
The Sephardi rooms
The four linked Sephardi synagogues, sunk below street level so as not to rise above the surrounding houses, have been in use since the seventeenth century and are the oldest prayer rooms here.
Hebrew for the visit
Phrases
- אֵיפֹה הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה?eifo hair haatika?Where is the Old City?In Jerusalem this means the walled quarter around the Kotel. Akko, Jaffa and Tzfat have old cities too.
- אֵיפֹה בֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת?eifo beit haknesset?Where is the synagogue?The name means house of assembly. Ashkenazim often say shul instead, from Yiddish.
- אֶפְשָׁר לְהִכָּנֵס?efshar lehikanes?May I come in?Ask at the door rather than walking in during prayers. Most communities welcome a respectful visitor.
- אֲנִי מְחַפֵּשׂ אֶת הָרְחוֹב הַזֶּהani mechapes et harechov hazeI’m looking for this streetA woman says מְחַפֶּשֶׂת (mechapeset). Show the written address and this sentence does the rest.
- בֹּקֶר טוֹבboker tovGood morningHebrew puts the adjective after the noun, so it reads “morning good”.
Words
- הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָהhaIr haAtikathe Old CityBoth the noun and the adjective take the definite article. That doubling is the rule in Hebrew.
- בֵּית כְּנֶסֶתbeit knessetsynagogueLiterally “house of gathering”. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, shares the root.
- שְׁכוּנָהshchunaneighbourhood
- רְחוֹבrechovstreetStreet signs abbreviate it to רח׳ before the name.
- אֶבֶןevenstoneJerusalem stone is required by city building rules, which is why the city reads as one colour.
- שַׁעַרshaargateThe gates of the Old City walls all carry names built on this word.
Getting Around: all the phrases · All 157 phrases in the phrasebook
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