Nahlaot and Mahane Yehuda
Nahlaot is a picturesque cluster of old neighborhoods in Jerusalem, the most famous of which is Mahane Yehuda.
These were some of the earliest neighborhoods in Jerusalem to be established outside the Old City walls. The first one – Even Yisrael – went up in 1875; the last one – Zichron Yakov – was built in 1931. This cluster of 32 neighborhoods became known collectively as "the Homesteads" in Hebrew; the word nahlaot being the plural of nachala – homestead. (The first neighborhood built outside the city walls was Mishkenot Shaananim in 1860.)
In the late 19th century, bandits and highwaymen plagued the land and living outside the city walls was quite dangerous. For this reason, most of the new "neighborhoods" consisted of one or two story buildings built in a square surrounding a central courtyard. There would be a well in the center of the courtyard, and one entrance that would be locked at nightfall. There were few windows on the walls that faced out and these were very small, to prevent intruders, and barricaded at night. The apartments were tiny – one or two rooms – and in some neighborhoods were subsidized by charity funds.Several of the neighborhoods – Mazkeret Moshe, Ohel Moshe – are named after Sir Moses Montefiore, who built founded them. Life in the courtyards was very colorful, however – and still is. While gentrification is slowly taking over the area, you can still wander the tiny alleys and see people living much as they did 100 years ago: laundry hanging out to dry, children playing in the courtyards around the now-stoppered wells. These are the streets of mystics and artists – stroll around and you’ll also find lots of unexpected synagogues, unexpected little shops and even a stained glass workshop. With a little imagination, you can easily picture Jerusalem of yesteryear.
If you take a Friday evening walk through Nahlaot, you’ll get a feel for the Jewish Sabbath – the smell of chicken soup wafting through the air as joyful songs drift from the myriad little synagogues and family tables. A guided tour through Nahlaot can give you a real sense of Jerusalem’s growth once people moved out of the city walls, and of the many different cultures that met in this tiny area of the city.
The most well-known area of Nahlaot is Mahane Yehuda, home of Jerusalem's famed open air food market.The market occupies several streets and dozens of alleys, some of which have been enclosed with a roof, to protect shoppers from the elements. You'll find colorful displays of vegetables and fruits, mounds of halva (a sesame seed based confection), stalls that sell a dozen different varieties of olives, sacks of spices, breads of every description, as well as tanks of live fish, cases of fresh cheeses and butcher shops. Among all this, candy counters, kitchen wares, clothes and knitting yarn all vie for attention, too.
The ambiance alone is worth a visit. If you want to stroll leisurely among the stalls, pick a day early in the week. By Thursday morning, people start shopping for the Sabbath and Thursday nights and Friday mornings are packed with people doing last minute errands. If you have the time, though, early Friday afternoon is also a fun time to visit Mahane Yehuda. As it gets closer to closing time, vendors trying to unload their fresh produce start dropping their prices. One will hawk his tomatoes at a reduced price and a competitor down the alley will hear him and start hawking his own at half a shekel less – and so on down the street.
When I was a penniless student, my roommate and I would purposefully put off our Shabbat shopping until Friday afternoon so we could get the lowest prices possible and then race home with our loot to quickly make our Shabbos salads and vegetables.Fun memories, perhaps, but a leisurely stroll earlier on in the week is definitely much more pleasant. Go around lunch time and you can treat yourself to some samples from the various stalls, or finish your tour on Agrippas Street, where you'll find several Israel fast food places that serve up fairly decent falafel.
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