The historic Lev Ha'ir neighborhood gets a new breath of life.
By Janet Mendelsohn Moshe
Mahane Yehuda, the fruit and vegetable market on Yafo Street, is probably Jerusalem's most bustling area. Piled high with colorful fresh produce, the stands are staffed by vendors who will gladly cut open a watermelon and invite a potential customer to sample the contents. One can also try a fresh pastry or sample one of the many pickled vegetables on display before making a purchase. In fact, the market is a tourist's paradise, where just two dollars will buy five fresh pita breads, cheese to spread on them, olives, fresh apricots, grapes and sunflower seeds for snacking.
The market lies in one of the oldest neighborhoods outside the Old City walls. This area housed the various Jewish communities in the late 19th century. Despite its rich heritage, the neighborhoods of Lev Ha'ir (Heb., The City's Heart) soon became dilapidated, and home to some of Jerusalem's most disadvantaged residents.
"The buildings in these neighborhoods, some consisting of only a single street, are architecturally interesting," explains Uri Amedi, community worker and Director of the Lev Ha'ir Community Council. "But over the years, the main thrust of expansion has been in the suburbs, and the inner city was left with an aging and often needy population."
Amedi came to work in the neighborhood as an activist 17 years ago. "At that time, builders wanted to pull down the buildings, replacing them with commercial property," he recalls. So Amedi went to Mahane Yehuda. There he persuaded stall-owners that organization and unity would help them channel municipal funds into the development and beautification of their market, and its surroundings.
Beginning with communal clean-ups and supported by preservationists, the neighborhood slowly began to take on a new character. Keren Hayesod/United Israel Appeal helped raise money for neighborhood projects for youngsters and the elderly, and the government funded the physical rehabilitation of the area. Today new floors and additions grace some of the century-old stone buildings. The ambience of Lev Ha'ir is preserved by the crisscrossing small roads and alleyways, which prevent access to large numbers of cars. It is still a neighborhood that one must walk through to appreciate.
As a result, young couples and new immigrants are now flocking to buy in the neighborhood. "Fortunately, the architecture of the area is preserved, and any changes are closely monitored," explains Amedi. "A number of synagogues, cobblestone streets, gateways and public gardens have been refurbished, and the old-fashioned wells and water cisterns still exist," he continues. "Although Lev Ha'ir is only a small part of the city today, these cobblestone alleys provide a valuable glimpse of nineteenth-century Jerusalem."
In May of this year, the new Wiener Heritage Center in Lev Ha'ir was opened. Refurbished by Hans Wiener of Sweden, the Center will collect and record data, documenting the various communities that founded the neighborhood. According to coordinator Devorah Avi Dan, the Center will serve as a repository of information on the growth and development of Jerusalem in the 19th century, when residents moved out of the Old City.
"The Center will serve as a base for tours of the neighborhood, and a lecture hall and library are available," Avi Dan explains. "The large shaded courtyard is an ideal spot to begin the trail, enjoy the produce of the market and relive Jerusalem as it was a century ago."