Emek Refaim, on the corner of Rachel Amano Street, in 1950.
Emek Refaim is the main street of the German Colony neighborhood, which starts from the Bell Garden and ends at the intersection of Oranim and Elazar Modai Street.
Until the 19th century, Emek Rafaim was a fertile ground for crops. This area provided grain and vegetables for the city’s residents. The Emek Rafaim area is unique in Jerusalem for its relatively rare topography and vast flat area.
At the end of the 19th century, the Turks built the railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem. This passed through Nahal Refaim and ran parallel to today’s Refaim Valley until it reached the Jerusalem train station, near today’s Khan Theater, and what is known today as the station complex.
The Turks started building this railway 150 years ago. It took Israel over twenty years to finish the construction, and 12 years from the day the cornerstone was laid until the new train from Tel Aviv was launched at the Navon train station.
Today, Emek Refaim is the main artery of the German colony, with shops, restaurants, and entertainment facilities on both sides. The old Ottoman railway, starting from the station complex to the Malcha neighborhood, is now used as a track park. The blue line of the future light rail will pass through Emek Refaim Street itself.
The pastoral image on the building on the corner of Emek Refaim Street reflects the changes the area and the entire city is going through, and the necessity to find a delicate balance between century-long history and today’s growing population needs, which affect the city and the country.
This is our Jerusalem — a fertile field that used to offer grains and crops and now became one of the most expensive and special areas in the city, a 140-year-old Turkish railway from Jaffa, in front of a modern train built for 20 years that required a huge budget, a light rail axis that was approved in 2018 but doesn’t yet show any signs of existence
Shabbat of peace to the far and near Jerusalem.
