Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva - Destruction and Relocation

Destruction and Relocation

Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva operated at 1 Gal'ed Street in the Old City of Jerusalem from 1906 to 1948. An earthquake damaged the building in 1927. During the Israeli War of Independence, Haganah fighters used the yeshiva's roof to fire on the Jordanian army. When the Old City fell to the Jordanians, the yeshiva evacuated to Amatzia Street in the Katamon neighborhood. The Jordanians set fire to the Old City building, burning all the seforim (holy books) and furniture inside. After the liberation of the Old City by the Israeli army in 1967, the yeshiva tried to reclaim its property, without success.

Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva next moved to the Beit Yisrael neighborhood, occupying the building that now houses the shteiblekh. In 1958, the yeshiva moved to Rashbam Street in the Mekor Baruch neighborhood.

When Rabbi Refoel Dovid Auerbach became the rosh yeshiva, he succeeded in establishing a permanent home for the yeshiva at 71 Rashi Street in 1992. The design for the uppermost story of the building features thirteen windows on the sides facing the street and the rear courtyard, totaling twenty-six (the gematria of YHWH, one of the names of God). (In recent years, a building addition on the top rear story covered over three of the thirteen windows there.)