Another “Once upon a time in Jerusalem”, and this time –
The first bus in the Talpiot neighborhood, 1925.
In 1911, Yitzhak Levi, the manager of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which was the central financial institution of the Jewish community during the Ottoman rule, turned to Arthur Ruppin, director of the Israel branch of the World Zionist Organization, with a request to build a residential neighborhood for its employees in Jerusalem.
After researching, a 145-dunam plot of land was located in southern Jerusalem that belonged to the Templers, who came from Germany. The Templers did not agree to sell only a section of the land for the establishment of a residential neighborhood for the bank’s employees, and Ruppin decided to purchase the entire plot in order to establish a modern Jewish city alongside the Old City, in an ambitious plan to build 800 housing units.
During the Ottoman rule there was almost complete freedom for planning and building the city. Planning of the neighborhood began, but World War I disrupted the process.
After the British conquered the country, the planners turned to the British authorities, who demanded a master plan for the new neighborhood.
In 1920, Ruppin turned to Richard Kaufmann, the highly respected Jewish-German architect who also planned, among others, the Rehavia neighborhood, Beit Hakerem, N’ahalal, and the city of Ramat Gan.
After months of work, Kaufmann prepared a detailed plan for Talpiot neighborhood with 800 housing units, taking into account the topographic structure of the neighborhood based on garden city planning – green and spacious garden neighborhoods, with green areas larger than residential areas, a central green boulevard and public gardens.
Kaufmann also received an exemption and special permit from the British government to build some of the buildings with plaster cladding, despite the British government’s directive to build stone-clad houses in Jerusalem, a directive that exists to this day.
The plan included, among other things, a hotel, an immigrant hostel, a bathhouse, a sports field, a synagogue, kindergartens, an art academy and more.
The public buildings were planned around the top of the hill on which the Talpiot neighborhood was located. The art academy was planned at the top of the hill, and most of the high neighborhood overlooked the walls of the Old City on the one hand and the mountains of Edom and the Dead Sea to the east.
The name of the neighborhood was chosen because of the magnificent view towards the Old City and the Tower of David above it – “Your neck is built like the Tower of David, built for Talpiot” as the words of the wisest man in “Shir HaShirim”.
The street names were given after settlements that could be seen from the neighborhood, such as Kfar Etzion and Beit H’aArava, and in addition street names were given to sites seen from the neighborhood – the Dead Sea- Yam Hamelach street, the Jordan- Hayarden, the Gilad, Ein Gedi and so on.
Talpiot was considered a remote and disconnected neighborhood from the urban center of Jerusalem on Jaffa Street and the Russian Compound, and was a true remote suburb.
The construction work of the neighborhood was carried out relatively quickly and by 1924 forty houses had been built in Talpiot.
Among the residents of the neighborhood were Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Arie Leib Yaffe – chairman of Keren Hayesod, the painter Abel Pann, and the literary scholar Prof. Joseph Klausner.
The residents did not even pay municipal taxes to the Jerusalem Municipality, and the neighborhood committee took care of water and electricity services.
The committee also took care of public transportation, and in the photo is the first bus in Talpiot, 1925.
The great writer S.Y. Agnon, one of the first residents of the neighborhood and Nobel Prize laureate for literature, wrote in his book “In the Fire and in the Wood”:
“There was a bus going to and from the neighborhood four times a day, but what would one do if he needed to travel with his neighbor? Since there was no telephone? He would take a Shofar and climb onto the roof of his house and blow the Shofar, his neighbors would hear and come”.
And so, the first startup in the neighborhood was invented –
An advanced public address and travel app system in a compact package made from a ram’s horn, which also does not require charging.
Later, construction work slowed down considerably due to ideological disagreements within the members of G’dud H’aAvoda, who later disbanded in 1927 following the dispute.
It was a renewed reminder of the wars between Jews that have accompanied us since the dawn of our people – from Yosef and his brothers, the Exodus from Egypt, the sin of the golden calf, the spies, the destruction of the Temples and Masada (*partial list),
through “Gdud HaAvoda” of the Mandate period, and unfortunately until today.
It turns out that despite everything – we still haven’t learned anything.
Another painful and bloody reminder was given to us on the last Simchat Torah holiday.
Will we learn something after 3,000 years of Jewish civil wars? Only time will tell.
(*Sad spoiler – given past attempts, our situation does not bode well.)
In the end, less than 10% of Kaufmann’s original plan for the magnificent garden neighborhood was built.
After the War of Independence, Talpiot became a border neighborhood, with its eastern border being the eastern border of Jerusalem as well.
Beitar Street in its northern section was the border of the demilitarized zone with Jordan where UN forces were stationed, and was only liberated in the Six Day War.
After the Six Day War the border moved to the Jordan River and the neighborhood underwent a transformation.
Its rural houses were demolished in favor of 3-4 story housing,
and new, ugly housing projects were built in the area, some of which are currently undergoing urban renewal and demolition in favor of giant towers alongside D’erech Beit Lechem Street.
Such is the fleeting glory of the world.
May we succeed in learning from the painful and bloody experiences of the past and settle Jerusalem with houses and people worthy of it.
Shabbat Shalom and B’sorot Tovot from Yerushalyim
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The photo was processed by Tamar Hirdani, photographer – Jacob Ben Dov.
