Page 10 - Nachlaot Very Advanced RA1 130918
P. 10
Very Advanced Level – רמה מתקדמת מאד
Even Yisrael Neighborhood
Even Yisrael neighborhood is the first Jewish neighborhood that was built in the
Nachlaot compound in Jerusalem in 1875, abutting Jaffa Street. Its uniqueness was
[derived from] the variety of its residents – Ashkenazim and Sephardim (as opposed
to the other "Nachlaot" –urban settlements–which were based on ethnically
homogeneous groups), well-educated people alongside common workers, rich and
poor.
The Even Yisrael neighborhood was called so following the verse from Parashat
(weekly Torah portion) Vayehi: (Genesis 29:24):
And his (Joseph's) bow remained strong,
and his arms moved unencumbered;
from the arms of the Warrior Knight (Hashem) of Jacob
whence the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
This verse is taken from Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. The blessing describes a
stable settlement and a stronghold. There is a claim that these words specifically
were chosen for the neighborhood's name because the original number of homes,
53, was identical to the Gematria value of the Hebrew word for stone ("EVEN").
There are many stories about this special neighborhood; one of them is the story of
the oven:
The older neighborhoods in Jerusalem (including Even Yisrael) were built around a
courtyard. In the courtyard there was a big oven that belonged to all the neighbors.
Every Friday, the mothers would all cook their Shabbat food in large pots and their
children would put the pot in the oven. On Shabbat morning the children would
return to the oven to take the food home for the Shabbat meal. The problem was
that all the pots were identical and sometimes children would take the wrong pot.
So, the Ashkenazi family Firestein, who didn't eat spicy food, would sometimes get
the pot belonging to the Sephardic family Amrani, who loved spicy food and ate a
spicy Shabbat stew (cholent in Yiddish) every Shabbat. The Amrani children, who
loved spicy food, received the Firestein pot and ate sweet, sweet gefilte fish on
Shabbat morning.
But that wasn't all! Sometimes, the rich children received a pot belonging to a poor
family and ate plain rice with no meat. And the poor children, who normally ate
only rice and bread every day, including on Shabbat, would receive a pot full of
good meat.
At first the mothers got angry with their children. "I don't understand why you can't
take the right pot", Mrs. Firestein said angrily. "Now we will eat only rice all
Shabbat", the wealthy mother said angrily. But slowly the mothers came to realize
that it's fun sometimes to eat different food. And on Saturday night, the mothers
would take each other's recipes.
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