The Buharim neighborhood: a trip between Turkish baths, a European palace and Jerusalem holiness

From the end of the 19th century Bukhari Jews began immigrating to the Land of Israel.

One of them was Rabbi Shlomo Musioff who came with 40 boxes of gold.

To mark the hundredth anniversary of his death, we went on a tour of the Buharim neighborhood in Jerusalem, which was designed in a European style, among luxurious houses, steam baths and the sanctity of synagogues

My father Baldy

04/10/2022

Tuesday, 04 October 2022, 08:18 Updated: 09:41

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"Ohel Avraham" synagogue for Bukhara immigrants, Ramla (photo: Ziv Reinstein)

"When you walk through these neighborhoods you can't help but feel a real sense of contentment

," wrote Eliezer Ben Yehuda about one of Jerusalem's posh neighborhoods at the beginning of the last century,

," the American consul also wrote.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Shlomo Musioff, one of the founders of the Bukharim neighborhood in Jerusalem, we set out to discover what remains of the magnificent houses and its special view.

In the 1860s, Russia conquered large parts of Central Asia as part of the 'Great Game' against Britain, and as a result the Jews enjoyed a significant economic boom.

In a short time they established large commercial companies, especially in the textile industry, in the marketing of cotton, wool and silk and transported the goods between East and West.

The economic and communal stability did not last long, and from the end of the 19th century, Bukhari Jews began immigrating to Eretz Israel.

One of the immigrants was Rabbi Shlomo Musioff who was born in 1852 in Bukhara and was extensively involved in Kabbalah and the occult.

Mussioff was involved in real estate and tea trade and in 1888 decided to immigrate to Israel with about 100 family members and 40 chests of gold after selling all his businesses in Bukhara.

Engaged in real estate and tea trade. Portrait of Shlomo Musioff (Photo: Surfers Photos, Zion Gadilof)

An expert in steam baths was invited from Turkey

Yitzhak Ben Zvi: "Often you meet Bukhari Jews wrapped in fur in the summer heat, because these people have not yet freed themselves from the cool atmosphere of Bukhara"

About a year after Mussioff's arrival in the Land of Israel, the Jews of Bukhara get together and in 1890 a call is issued for the establishment of the Bukhari neighborhood. The name chosen, 'Rehovot', is taken from the verse

of the construction was a model that had not yet been recognized in the Land of Israel and included the establishment of a planned neighborhood in a European format, planting trees, wide boulevards, large courtyards, a central market, bathhouses and even a payment to the 'House Committee', as also stipulated in the book of regulations: "...and the streets and markets in the streets according to the manner of the important European cities, and also the order and manner of the buildings as is customary in Europe, so that there may be majesty and the glory of Jerusalem".

A hammam was also built in the neighborhood, and for this a special steam bath specialist was even invited from Turkey.

Some of the senior Ottoman officials and foreign consuls lived in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood resident Yitzhak Ben Zvi, later the second president and researcher of Eastern Judaism, wrote about Bukhara Jews:

. "

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Yad Lerashonim in David Hefetz Square in Rehovot Bocharim (photo: Surfers' Photos, Avi Baldi)

An exact copy of the house from Tashkent

One of the builders of the luxurious houses was Yosef Davidoff, who owned dozens of cotton factories throughout Turkestan.

The house of the Davidoff family, today at Rehovot Bocharim 10, was built with a double roof, a pure aesthetic motif that exists in Tuscany and in synagogues in Eastern Europe.

The windows have a prominent triangular cornice, at the top of the columns are Greek capitals and in the center of them are signs of David and the house itself is apparently an exact copy of his private house in Tashkent.

Davidoff himself died a few months after he decided to settle in Jerusalem in 1914 and after his death the Hebrew Gymnasium was next to his house, before it moved to the new garden neighborhood, Rehavia.

The magnificent Beit Davidof with the double roof at 10 Rehovot Bocharim (Photo: Surfer Photos, Yaron Butzer)

Decorations of Beit Davidof (photo: Golishim photos, Yaron Butzer)

The magnificent facade of Beit Davidof (photo: Surfer Photos, Yaron Butzer)

"Palace of Messiah"

An even more magnificent house was the 'Palace', the home of the Hefetz-Yehodioff family, which is an example of a magnificent palace from the city of Florence.

The house was built in the renaissance style with the addition of Jewish motifs: it is full of columns, cornices, decorated headstones and signs of David.

On the sides are rows of arched windows, next to them are columns with Corinthian capitals, heavy iron doors with stylized artwork on them, and on its eastern side stands a round, double staircase, leading to a magnificent entrance.

A private synagogue was built on the second floor and one inner courtyard was intended for a sukkah, as a glass roof with rails was added above it.

A lot of thought was also put into the interior of the house: the marble and tiles came from Italy and the paintings on the walls included biblical motifs and landscapes created by the painter Shmuel Melnik, who at that time also painted in the Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The legend of the "Palace of Messiah" gained wings mainly thanks to Agnon, in his book "Shira":

In World War I, the house was confiscated by the Turks and served as a central headquarters and a stable.

Immediately after the British occupation, a Passover ceremony was held in the house for soldiers in the British army, and in May 1918, a grand reception was held for General Allenby.

In 1921, the foundation conference of the rabbinate was held there, and later it became a special school under the management of Hanna Spitzer, who founded the first Hebrew school for girls in Jerusalem.

On Nisan 5, 1944, the wedding of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and his wife Margalit took place in the school yard. Today (2022), it houses the Beit Ya'akov and Beit Hana girls' schools of the Chabad movement.

The houses in the neighborhood were handed over to the Mandate authorities and the State of Israel free of any right, therefore to this day most of them are used as public institutions in the possession of the State of Israel and the Jerusalem Municipality.

The palace at 19 Ezra St. in the Bucharim neighborhood is inspired by a palace from Florence (Photo: Surfer Photos, Yaron Butzer)

The palace at 19 Ezra St. is one of the largest private houses in Jerusalem (photo: Gliders' photos, Eyal Kokhei)

Passover Seder for Jewish British soldiers at Beit Yehudiof-Hafetz (Photo: Surfers' Photos, Yaron Butzer)

The first house in the neighborhood was built by Shlomo Musioff in 1894 in a large courtyard, part of which currently houses the Musioff Synagogue.

One of the stones of the lower northern wall of the synagogue, facing Adoniahu HaCohen Street, is located in one of the upper tiers of the Western Wall.

Other building materials were also brought from sacred places: some of the sand for the construction was brought from the Temple Mount, and the water used for the cement mixture was drawn from the Shiloh hole.

Musioff was a very educated man and in his home he built a whole wing of ancient books including more than 300 manuscripts from the 14th century to the 19th century.

In addition, he also collected antiquities, including coins, gold-embroidered silk clothes, blankets, carpets, stones, marbles, porcelain, ancient tools and gold weapons.

Corner of the Mossyuf Synagogue on Yoel and Hag Adoniahu Streets.

In the lower part, the stone that was brought from the Temple Mount plaza (photo: Glishim photos, Avi Baldi)

The dedication address in memory of Yehuda Musayouf at the entrance to the Booker's Market (Photo: Surfer Photos, Eyal Kokhei)

The son who threaded pearls on Shabbat, and died of syphilis

Most of the sons of the Mussioff couple moved to Paris and from there they dispersed all over the world following the pearl trade.

The Musioff family actually controlled large parts of the world in the pearl market and their name went far and wide.

In 1908, Shlomo Mosioff received information that his eldest son Yehuda was ill and staying in Paris, but the visit ended in severe disappointment as Shlomo discovered that his son Yehuda was engaged in threading pearls even on Shabbat, and two weeks later he did die of syphilis.

When Mussioff received the bitter news, he set up a memorial plaque in memory of his son Yehuda Mussioff at the entrance to the Bukhari market, which still exists today in the southwest corner:

Musiyuf died unexpectedly at the age of 70, while he was sober and managing his affairs, with his sons not by his side and no one to say Kaddish over him, but he left a detailed will, with a catch: the rent from the extensive family compound would be divided only among the sons who would live in the Land of Israel and those who were not present.

Shortly after he passed away, a large part of the antiquities and books also disappeared, and only after a long legal dispute did his grandson, the billionaire Shlomo Mussioff, decide to donate what was left to the establishment of the Shlomo Mussioff Center for the Study of Kabbalah in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar-Ilan University.

In fact, to this day, books from the original collection of Shlomo Musioff circulate all over the world and a few years ago an original number page of Rabbi Chaim Vital, which belonged to the collection, was sold for thousands of dollars.

The Booker's Market in Jerusalem (photo: Surfers' Photos, Yaron Butzer)

A colorful balcony at the corner of Yoel Street and Bucharim Street (Photo: Surfer Photos, Yaron Butzer)

The son who was captured and became a billionaire

Musiyuf's other sons also left the country on their journey on the Pearl Trail, including the son Rehavia, who was named after the neighborhood and returned to the country only after his father's death.

Rehavia's son, Daniel, fell during the War of Independence in a Jordanian ambush on Radar Hill and another daughter, Malka, was murdered in 1955 by infiltrators who attacked the bus she was traveling in on the way to Kibbutz Sasa.

Another son, Shlomo Musioff, was taken prisoner by the Jordanians in the War of Independence and later moved to London, where he opened a successful international jewelry store and became a billionaire (his daughter Dorit is married to the former president of Iceland, Oliver Grimsson).

The youngest son Alon opened a jewelry store on Jaffa Street, established a store called 'Changing Point' and was the first in Israel to receive permission from the Bank of Israel to convert money.

His high-profile bankruptcy at the end of the 1990s led to the appointment of trustees for the endowment and dozens of lawsuits that continue to this day, as of 2022.

On the eve of the War of Liberation, the Buharim neighborhood becomes a Sefar neighborhood, on the border of the no-man's land.

A population of low-income newcomers enters the neighborhood, while the luxurious residences are turned into warehouses and workshops.

In the early 1970s, an ultra-Orthodox population began to move into the neighborhood, and within a few years it became a point of friction between the old residents, the police, and the ultra-Orthodox population.

Many properties in the neighborhood still belong to public endowments, but it is precisely in the courtyard of the Bukhara endowment, which was intended for the poor of Bukhara, that Hasidic people live today.

Despite the uniqueness of the Bukhari neighborhood in terms of space, planning and architecture, and despite the fact that the owners of its houses were famous people and well-known merchants from India to Kush, they and their neighborhood did not receive a place of sufficient honor in the annals of Jerusalem.

Avi Baldi (photo: Surfers Photos, Yehuda Weisel)

Avi Baladi is a student for a master's degree in law at the Hebrew University and a guidance counselor.

A tour following the Musioff family in the Buharim neighborhood will be held on Friday October 28, 2022.

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