The house of the Israeli Novelist, Chaim Hazzaz, located on Hovevei Zion Street in the Talbiyeh neighborhood
More from once upon a time in Jerusalem.
The building was constructed in the luxurious Arab architectural style of those days, featuring a main entrance in the form of an eastern arch with a high ceiling and a magnificent wooden door leading to a grand lobby with ornate tiled floors, arched windows, balconies, and spanning two floors.
The building was designed for apartment rentals and was completed in 1924. Its walls are steeped in history; if its stones could speak, they would tell the story of the Zionist revival in State of Israel.
On the first floor, to the right, lived until his last day the writer, playwright, and novelist, Chaim Hazzaz, one of the greatest Hebrew writers of all times. Hazzaz lost his entire family during the riots in Ukraine in 1919, an event that greatly influenced his writing, vividly depicting his sense of loneliness in his books. Hazzaz immigrated to Israel in 1931 and settled in Jerusalem.
In 1948, his only son Nahum fell in battle, at the young age of twenty years old, during the War of Independence.
Hazzaz was awarded the first Israel Prize for Literature, which he wrote in his study on the quiet and green street that was restored in the museum that was built after his passing. To maintain peace in the study, Hazzaz’s second wife acquired the roof above their apartment.
Additionally, Hazzaz was awarded the Bialik Prize, the Newman Prize, authored the charter of foundation for Yad Vashem, he lit a torch during the ceremony of Israel’s 20th Independence Day, he was awarded the title of “Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem”, he was the president of the Hebrew Writers Association, and co-founder of the Hebrew Language Academy.
In the same building resided until his passing, Professor Reuven Tsur, another Jerusalemite luminary who was awarded the Israel Prize for Literature.
Furthermore, during the years 1937-1939, Colonel Ord Wingate, a British intelligence officer, also lived in the building. He initiated the establishment of the Special Night Squads in 1938 – covert commando units that were formed by teams of the Haganah defenders and British soldiers who successfully fought against Arab gangs attacking the Jewish settlements during the British Mandate, laying the groundwork for the IDF Commando units after the establishment of the state of Israel.
Wingate, known as “the Friend,” contributed greatly to the fight against Arab marauders during the Mandate period and developed innovative operational methods based on precise intelligence, tactics, and secrecy.
This is our Jerusalem – a magnificent building in the heart of the Talbiyeh neighborhood that preserves its unique character to this day, where four apartments housed two Israel Prize recipients, Colonel Wingate, an English Christian, a Zionist pioneer who contributed to the defense of the homeland and after whom a sports institute was named that trains future IDF commandos.
In a city where every stone tells a story and every building is a renewed archive.
And on a personal note – the apartment of Chaim Hazzaz, one of the greatest Hebrew writers of all generations, where he wrote his selected writings and plays, is now offered for sale after the passing of his widow Aviva, and his famous study room has been replicated in the museum named after him. It is our privilege and honor to handle its sale and write another chapter in the chain of renewal of the Jewish settlement in Jerusalem.
May we merit to see the renewal of Jerusalem, the eternal city of the Jewish people.
Shabbat shalom to those near and far from Jerusalem.
