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Davidoff House, Jerusalem
Summary: The story of the Davidoff House is part of the larger story that is the Bukharan quarter. Ever since the arrival of Yosef Mamon, a Sephardic rabbi who would become the spiritual-religious leader of the Bukharan community, a notion was infused into Bukharan society of the necessity/desire to return to Eretz Israel. This goal would come to fruition beginning in the 1860s with the establishment of a community in central West Jerusalem by affluent Bukharan Jews. With the establishment of a Hovevei Zion Association for Bukharan communities, a steady stream of funding would arise for the initial sects of Bukharan society in Eretz Israel to develop their respective quarter.
An integral member of this affluent sect of Bukharan Jewish society was Yosef Davidoff (Yusuf Davydov) of Tashkent, a millionaire who garnered such wealth by having stakes in a wide variety of trades (ranging from breweries to cotton production). Known for his philanthropic deeds for the local Tashkent Jewish community, he was also known for being a relatively religious man who liked to give back for religious endeavors. While he would commonly make pilgrimages to his private residence in Jerusalem, Beit Davidoff, he would only move to Jerusalem in 1913 (a year before his passing). The Davidoff House is known for its odd yet captivating architectural features. The home would subsequently be utilized as a gymnasium, high school, and then be vacant for a period before finally being restored as a local community center.
Description
Background: The Bukharan Quarter, also called HaBukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. As the name implies, the neighborhood was first established by Buhkaran Jews beginning in the late 1860s but gradually grew to become a pan-Persian Jewish area, hosting Jewish communities from Iran and Afghanistan alongside Bukharan Jews[1][2]. The creation of the neighborhood was part of a larger process of Jewish areas being established in Jerusalem outside the confines of the Old City[3]. The history of Bukharian desires to migrate to Eretz Israel actually hails from developments almost a century prior when Yosef Maman, a Sephardic rabbi initially from Morocco (but had resettled in Safed to teach at a yeshiva), was traveling to various Jewish communities to collect funds for yeshivot in Eretz Israel. After reaching Buhkara, Mamon would relent that the established Jewish community of Bukhara was sorely lacking proper study/understanding of Torah/halacha. Maman would go on to become the spiritual leader of the Bukharan Jewish community, providing them with Sephardic religious rites that replaced their old Persian rites. Their utilization of such rites was a result of isolation from surrounding Jewish populations, specifically from the Buhkara Emirati’s closed door policies[4]. Maman would establish many yeshivas in Bukhara; however, an integral part of his teachings was a support for Bukharan Jews to visit and return to Eretz Israel[5].
As early as 1827 and until 1860, many Bukharan Jews were making multi-month long visits to Eretz Israel but not settling in the land and opting to return to Bukhara[6]. These trips would establish the groundwork for the first true settlement of Bukharan Jews in Jerusalem in 1868 when Bukharan Jews from Russian Turkestan would make the trek to the Holy Land for their new home[7]. Like many of their Russian Ashkenazi counterparts, seven members of the Bukharan community would form a Hovevei Zion Association for the Bukharan communities of Nuhkara, Samarkand, and Tashkent. This association specifically bought around 40 houses northwest of Mea She’arim, an area that would become the Bukharan quarter, which they would name Rehovot[8]. The group’s charter specified a desire to build the quarter in parallel to the style of Europe’s largest cities, specifically following neo-Gothic and Italian architectural styles alongside traditional Jewish building styles including Moorish arches alongside a heavy utilization of Magen Davids and Hebrew inscriptions in the inside of the buildings. These homes were atypically large, possessing usually two stories and a courtyard (alongside streets triple the average width for such an era)[9]. The quarter as a whole was initially particularly affluent, being filled with Bukharan Jews who amassed wealth from mercantile, cotton, and tea trades in Central Asia.
The original population began to dissipate in the early of the 20th century and gradually grew to become a Sephardi-Haredi dominated area, with most of the houses/synagogues being utilized by such a population as well[10].
Yosef Davidoff: Yosef Davidoff was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1855. His father, Yudo Davidoff, was a well known fabrics dryer who opened a fabrics shop and would eventually become relatively wealthy from the shop[11]. This action by Yudo Davidoff would provide his sons, Yosef included, the needed capital to open the Davidoff (Davydov) Trading House[12].
The trading house, formally called the Torgovi Dom company (which Yosef acted as the corporate head), would specialize in a multitude of business ventures for the Davidoff brothers, including owning/operating four cotton factories, real estate ventures, a brewery, oil prospecting, coal mining and agricultural exports[13]. This trading company would make Yosef a millionaire and he wanted to give back some of his wealth. Yosef was raised relatively religious, having a formal education in the Hebrew language and the Talmud, hence he established two Jewish schools and a synagogue for the local Jewish community of Tashkent in 1902 under the jurisdiction of Rabbi Shlomo Tajer; furthermore, his deeds would move the local Tashkent Jewish community to name the street Yosef lived on as Davydov Street[14].
Yosef Davidoff, being a heavily observant man, would likewise make many pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but did not make aliyah until 1913. He would settle in his private residence, the Davidoff House. Before moving, he was elected president of the Jewish community of Tashkent. He would die in 1914, living only around a year in Jerusalem before passing[15].
Davidoff House: The Davidoff House, described as a crown jewel of the Bukharan quarter, is truly a defining example of the quarter. The home was supposedly built in 1906 to resemble the extravagant former home of Yosef Davidoff in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The design elements are unique in this already unique section of Jerusalem. The double sectioned roof is clearly noticeable, with red tiles acting as a cover. The asymmetrically-distanced windows are protected by vertical columns alongside carved/pointed stone gable layers at the top of the window[16]. The roof is said to resemble the Ashkenazi building style of Polish synagogues and the architecture as a whole is very similar to that found in Tuscany. The specific individual who designed Beit Davidoff was an Italian architect, hence why the style of the architecture resembles that of Tuscany’s famous structures[17]. The exterior is distinguished by its array of Magen David symbols and asymmetrical windows[18].
Home to the first Hebrew high school of Jerusalem and the Hebrew Gymnasium of Jerusalem, the Davidoff House would not fall out of complete use initially after Yosef’s passing[19][20]. Like many buildings in the area, the Davidoff House was not well maintained for a long period of time (and was actually vacant since 1983) and required restoration by the World Bukharan Jewish Congress/Moskel Center[21]. Beit Davidoff no longer houses the Davidoff family but rather the Geula Bukharim Community Center which serves over 50,000 Haredi residents of the area. The building specifically houses an exhibit dedicated to exploring and honoring the history of the Bukharan quarter[22].
Jerusalem, Israel
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Notes
[1] Shimoni, David. “Culture-Sensitive Mediation: A Hybrid Model for the Israeli Bukharian Community.” International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution 2, no. 2 (2014): 95–114. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26928684.
[2] https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007465879205171
[3] Kark, Ruth; Oren-Nordheim, Michal (2001). Jerusalem and Its Environs: Quarters, Neighborhoods, Villages, 1800-1948. Israel studies in historical geography. Wayne State University Press. pp. 74, table on p.82-86 (see 84). ISBN 9780814329092.
[4] BURTON, AUDREY. “Bukharan Jews, Ancient and Modern.” Jewish Historical Studies, vol. 34, 1994, pp. 43–68. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29779953. Accessed 13 Jul. 2022.
[5] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html#2
[6] BURTON, AUDREY. “Bukharan Jews, Ancient and Modern.” Jewish Historical Studies, vol. 34, 1994, pp. 43–68. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29779953. Accessed 13 Jul. 2022.
[7] Wager, Eliyahu (1988). Bukharan Quarter. Illustrated guide to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Publishing House. pp. 207–201.
[8] Wager, Eliyahu (1988). Bukharan Quarter. Illustrated guide to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Publishing House. pp. 207–201.
[9] https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/Conrad_Schick__JQ_67_0.pdf
[10]https://archive.ph/20120802121958/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=2242&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197
[11] https://www.geni.com/people/Yusuf-Davydov/6000000001589989041
[12] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yosef-davydov
[13]https://costume.mini.icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/12/ICOM_Costume_London_2017_Proceedings_-_Ben-Yossef.pdf
[14] https://stmegi.com/upload/iblock/397/3970ca885bb822e2aec6927b54a47f70.pdf
[15] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yosef-davydov
[16] https://jerudesign.org/item/intentional-imperfections-i/
[17] http://allaboutjerusalem.com/article/bukharan-quarter
[18]https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-jewish-star-of-david-engraved-on-the-stone-gable-of-the-neo-renaissance-175737911.html
[19]https://education.tau.ac.il/sites/education.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/education/dl/dor/DorleDor49EngAbstracts.pdf
[20]https://www.haaretz.com/2013-01-06/ty-article/.premium/land-of-silk-and-honey/0000017f-dc41-d3ff-a7ff-fde186f90000
[21] https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/118759
[22]https://www.timesofisrael.com/remnants-of-an-empire-visit-ottoman-era-buildings-revamped-for-modern-jerusalem/
Work Cited
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Bar'am-Ben Yossef, N. (n.d.). One Woman – Many Transitions Deborah Davidoff from Tashkent, Uzbekistan as a model of the transformations of Bu- kharan Jewish women's dress from the early twentieth century to the middle of the twentiehth century. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://costume.mini.icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/12/guidelines_english.pdf
Bar-Am, A. and S. (2019, August 31). Remnants of an empire: Visit ottoman-era buildings revamped for modern Jerusalem. The Times of Israel. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.timesofisrael.com/remnants-of-an-empire-visit-ottoman-era-buildings-revamped-for-modern-jerusalem/
"Bukharan Quarter Landmarks Saved by Lev Levayev," (2007).Gil Zohar for Israel National News. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/118759
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Dekel, N., & Kark, R. (n.d.). Rachel Yanait - Teacher at the Jerusalem Hebrew Gymnasium at the close of the Ottoman Period. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://education.tau.ac.il/sites/education.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/education/dl/yedion_edu_03_01_2022.pdf
Issa, Perla, Walid Khalidi, and Amal Jamal. Institute for Palestine Studies, (2022). ttps://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/Conrad_Schick__JQ_67_0.pdf.
JERUSALEM - MULTICULTURAL DESIGN MOTIFS. Jerudesign.org. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://jerudesign.org/item/intentional-imperfections-i/
Kark, Ruth, and Michal Oren-Nordheim. Jerusalem and Its Environs : Quarters, Neighborhoods, Villages, 1800-1948. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press (2001); Detroit, Michigan.
Limited, A. (n.d.). The jewish star of david engraved on the stone gable of the Neo-Renaissance window of Davidoff House an imposing and prominent mansion built in 1906 located in the Bukharan or bukharim quarter a Haredi religious neighborhood in the center of West Jerusalem israel stock photo. Alamy. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-jewish-star-of-david-engraved-on-the-stone-gable-of-the-neo-renaissance-175737911.html
“One More Step.” archive.ph. (2012). https://archive.ph/20120802121958/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=224https%3A%2F%2Farchive.ph%2F20120802121958%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.jerusalem.muni.il%2Fjer_sys%2Fpicture%2Fatarim%2FToursite_form_atarEng.asp%3Fsite_id&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197.
Pinkasov, R., & Danilova, S. (2018). The Bukharian and Mountain Jews in the Whirlpool of History. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://stmegi.com/upload/iblock/397/3970ca885bb822e2aec6927b54a47f70.pdf
Shekhunat Habukharim (Jerusalem, Israel). The National Library of Israel. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2022, from https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007465879205171
Shimoni, David. “Culture-Sensitive Mediation: A Hybrid Model for the Israeli Bukharian Community.” International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution 2, no. 2 (2014): 95–114. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26928684.
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Wager, Eliyahu. Bukharan Quarter. Illustrated guide to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Publishing House. (1988). pp. 207–201
Yosef Davydov. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yosef-davydov
Yusuf Davydov. geni_family_tree. (2022, May 2). Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.geni.com/people/Yusuf-Davydov/6000000001589989041