Mea She'arim

Established in 1874, Mea She'arim is one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem outside the walls of the Old City. It was founded by a building society of Orthodox residents who sought to alleviate the overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions within the Old City. The name, which translates to 'a hundred gates' or 'a hundredfold,' is derived from a verse in the Book of Genesis regarding Isaac's harvest, reflecting the founders' hopes for a bountiful and protected community. Originally designed by the architect Conrad Schick, the neighborhood was built as a fortress-like courtyard for security. The houses formed an outer wall with gates that were locked every night to protect the residents from bandits and wild animals. This architectural layout created a self-contained world where religious life could flourish undisturbed by the outside world, a characteristic that remains central to the neighborhood's identity today. Over the decades, Mea She'arim has become a bastion of Haredi Judaism, specifically for various Hasidic and Litvish groups. It has famously resisted modernization, maintaining the customs, dress, and language of 19th-century Eastern European Jewry. Today, it stands as a living museum of a bygone era, where Yiddish is the primary language and the walls are covered with 'pashkevilim'—posters that serve as the community's primary source of news and social regulation.