Bukharan Quarter

The Bukharan Quarter (, "Shkhunat HaBukharim"), sometimes referred to as HaBukharim Quarter or the Bukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem, Israel. The neighborhood was originally developed and populated by Bukharan Jews. It originally also had many residents from modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Many of the residents today are primarily Ashkenazi Haredi Jews. The quarter borders Tel Arza on the west, the Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood on the north, Arzei HaBira on the east, and Geula on the south.
History.
The first immigrants of Bukharan Jews from Russian Turkestan (Central Asia) settled in Jerusalem in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1890, seven members of the Bukharan Jewish community formed the Hovevei Zion Association of the Jewish communities of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. In 1891, the association bought land and drew up a charter stating that the new quarter would be built in the style of Europe's major cities. Architect Conrad Schick was employed to design the neighborhood. The streets were three times wider than even major thoroughfares in Jerusalem at the time, and spacious mansions were built with large courtyards. The homes were designed with neo-Gothic windows, European tiled roofs, neo-Moorish arches and Italian marble. Facades were decorated with Jewish motifs such as the Star of David and Hebrew inscriptions.
The founders named their settlement Rehovot, based on a line from the Hebrew Bible: "so (Isaac) called it Rehoboth [that is Broad places or Room], saying, "Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." ().
In 1905-1908, a dairy was opened and cotton fields were planted on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Construction of the quarter continued into the early 1950s. A total of 200 houses were built. During World War I, the Ottoman army occupied several buildings and cut down almost all of the trees.
In 1920, a factory for weaving Persian carpets opened, providing employment for 80 women.
Landmarks.
Yehudayoff Palace ("Armon").
Between 1905–1914 Bukharan merchant Elisha Yehudayoff and his son-in-law, Yisrael Haim Hefetz, built the "Armon" (lit. "palace") using local limestone and Italian marble with Italian-baroque ornaments. The "Armon" hosted many of the leading figures of the time. During World War I, the Ottoman army had its headquarters there. When the British captured Jerusalem in 1917, a celebratory reception was held in the "Armon". 200 Jewish soldiers serving in the British army attended a Passover Seder there. In 1921, the founding convention of the Chief Rabbinate took place at the "Armon", at which Rabbis Abraham Isaac Kook and Jacob Meir were elected. At the end of the British Mandate the "Armon" served as a meeting place for the Irgun.
Davidoff House.
The Davidoff House (10, HaBukharim Street) was built in 1906 as an opulent Italian-style mansion for Joseph Davidoff, after the Great War it became for a decade (1915-25) the home of the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem, a high school which had been founded in the neighborhood in 1909, and it currently serves as the quarter's community center.