Mishkenot Sha’ananim is the first Jewish neighborhood outside the walls of the Old City, and its flour mill has become one of the symbols of the city of Jerusalem…
The Jewish Exodus from the Walls
In those days, the Old City had very poor sanitary conditions, leading to many diseases. The leaders of the settlement realized that they needed to move out of this death trap to a healthier area outside the walls. The city’s residents, however, were very afraid of thieves and wild animals, making it difficult to convince them to leave. Therefore, a neighborhood surrounded by walls was built here, with the flour mill as a source of livelihood, and families were even allowed to move here for free.
The First Neighborhood Outside the Wall
The pioneer is, of course, Mishkenot Sha’ananim, which was built with the funds of Moses Montefiore and inaugurated in 1860. About five years later, the Mahane Israel neighborhood was built by the Old City’s Maghreb residents. The third neighborhood is Nachlaot Shiv’a (1869). In 1873, the fourth neighborhood “Beit David” was established, and in the 1920s, the house of Rabbi Kook was built there. The fifth and final neighborhood in the first wave is Mea Shearim (1874). In all these neighborhoods, you can find water wells, courtyards, or other defensive elements.