Bayit Vegan
Encyclopedia
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, with a mostly charedi (ultraorthodox) religious population. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl , also Har HaZikaron , is the national cemetery of Israel on the west side of Jerusalem. It is named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl's tomb lies at the top of the hill. Yad Vashem, which commemorates the Holocaust, lies to the west of Mt. Herzl....
and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat Hayovel and Givat Mordechai
Givat Mordechai
Givat Mordechai, is a Jewish neighborhood in southwest-central Jerusalem, Israel, midway between the neighborhoods of Nayot and Malcha. The neighborhood was named after an American philanthropist, Maxwell Abbell of Chicago...
. The Shaare Zedek Medical Center is located near Bayit VeGan. At 836 meters above sea level, Bayit VeGan is the highest of all Jerusalem neighborhoods.
History
A 4,000 year old cemetery and many CanaanCanaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
ite artifacts were discovered in an archeological dig at the edge of Beit Vegan. The cemetery covers an area of more than half an acre (0.2 hectare), and burials are believed to have taken place there mainly in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, in 2200-2000 BCE and 1700-1600 BCE.
During the British Mandate, the army built one of its radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
stations in Bayit VeGan. A synagogue, Beit Knesset Migdal ("The Tower"), now stands on the spot.
It was the third neighborhood built in West Jerusalem in modern times.
A scale-model
Model of Jerusalem in the Late 2nd Temple Period
The Holyland Model of Jerusalem is a 1:50 scale-model of the city of Jerusalem in the late Second Temple Period. The model was moved from its original location at the Holyland Hotel in Bayit VeGan, Jerusalem, to a new site at the Israel Museum in June 2006....
of the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
designed by Prof. Michael Avi Yonah based on the writings of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, was located for many years on the grounds of the Holyland Hotel in Bayit Vegan. In 2007, it was moved to the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
.
Religious institutions and schools
Many religious institutions and schools are located in Bayit VeGan, among them Afikei Torah Seminary, Ateret Yisrael Yeshiva, Horev High School, Kol Torah Yeshiva, Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
's Gruss Kollel, Yeshivat Torat Shraga
Torat Shraga
Yeshivat Torat Shraga is a post-high school yeshiva in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem, Israel. Rabbi Avishai David is the rosh yeshiva...
, Tiferet Yerushalayim, Michlalah Jerusalem College for Women , Nishmat: The Jewish Center for the Advanced Study of Women
Nishmat (yeshiva)
Nishmat: The Jewish Center for the Advanced Study of Women is a Modern Orthodox Jewish institution of higher Torah learning for women, or midrasha. It was one of the first places in the world to teach Jewish women Talmud and in-depth Halakha intensely and systematically...
, Seminar Yerushalayim HaChadash, Yad Harav Herzog, Himmelfarb High School, Kiryat Noar (Boys Town) and Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School. The Amshinover Rebbe
Amshinov (Hasidic dynasty)
Amshinov is the name of a Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Kalish. It is an offshoot of Vurka dynasty. It takes its name from the Yiddish name of Mszczonów, a town in Poland.-History:...
has his court in Bayit Vegan, on Rabbi Frank Street. The Boyar School, a secular high school for gifted students from all over the country, is also located in Bayit VeGan.
Sports facilities
The Betar Jerusalem football club has a playing field in Beit Vegan.Hotels and guesthouses
In recent years, a hotelHotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
was built on the corner of Hapisga Street, and the Bayit Vegan youth hostel on the same street was upgraded to a guesthouse.
Notable residents
- Rabbi Yehoshua NeuwirthYehoshua NeuwirthYehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth is an eminent Orthodox Jewish rabbi and posek in Jerusalem, Israel. He is one of the primary and most renowned students of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and the author of a two-volume Hebrew language treatise, Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah — translated into English...
- Rabbi Ezriel AuerbachEzriel AuerbachRabbi Ezriel Auerbach is a prominent Haredi rabbi and Posek. He is the son of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, two world-renowned Poskim. He is considered Rabbi Elyashiv's right-hand man in matters of halakha.Auerbach married Leah Elyashiv , daughter of...
- Rabbi David Obadia