Historical Information

Zamenhof and Hamaaravim Streets are located in the Machaneh Yisrael quarter of Jerusalem, which is the first area in 'modern Jerusalem' to have been built by individuals outside the walls of the Old City in the year 1865.

Mishkenot Shaananim (Yemin Moshe) was established outside the city walls a few years previously, and was built using organizational funding, lead by Sir Moses Montefoire.

Machaneh Yisrael was built for and by Moroccan Jews. The Jews were known as Mugrabim, meaning Western, and the area is still known to some as Shechunat Hamugrabim (Mugrabi neighbourhood). The Hebrew for western is Maaravi, hence the naming of one of the neighborhood's streets as Hamaaravim St.

The areas borders are Agron Street to the north-east, King David Street to the East, Hess Street south east and Zamenhof street to the west.

Machaneh Yisrael was originally built around an open courtyard. All the entrances to the apartments opened in to the courtyard, so that the outer walls of the building could function as 'fortifications'. The courtyard itself had only one gate which could be locked from the inside. The neighborhood's water cisterns and baking ovens were also located in this courtyard.

The quarter and its houses was built in the same architectural style as the Old City.

The quarter was established in the main due to socio-economic reasons. The Morrocan Jewish community living in Jerusalem was extremely poor, and many of Jerusalem's Morrocan Jews had reached the shores of Palestine with barely the shirt on their backs.

One of their leaders, Rabbi David ben Simon made it his mission to alleviate their situtaion, by establishing a quarter outside of the Old city walls, in the realisation that property and rental costs were fast becoming prohibitively expensive in the Old City itself. The rental inflation was partially caused by a huge influx of Arabs from trans Jordan escaping from an outbreak of cholera.

Other factors leading to the establishment and subsequent expansion of the neighbourhood include the outbreak of a cholera epidemic which spread in the Old City in 1866 (and which did not affect the inhabitants of Mishkenot Shaananim). Thus Machaneh Yisrael became a safe health haven.

Additionally, security fears concerning living outside of the Old City had recently been allayed. Also, the recent building of the Russian Compound resulted in a large immigration Russians, again affecting property prices.