Street Stroll: Medical center

Named for a philanthropist in the field of public health, Straus Street sports a host of functioning and former hospitals.

By AVIVA BAR-AM
Bikur Cholim 521 (photo credit: SHMUEL BAR-AM)
Bikur Cholim 521
(photo credit: SHMUEL BAR-AM)
In 1904, the New York-based Christian Missionary Alliance decided to build a church in Jerusalem. Unfortunately for its plans, the Ottoman Turks who ruled Palestine had decided to halt the construction of any new churches.
Undeterred, Alliance members brought the proposed blueprints to the appropriate Turkish bureaucrat. The Turk looked at the plans and asked what the bathtub-like area was for.
“This is a baptistery,” said the Alliance member, who went on to explain its purpose.
“And what is this other bathing area underneath?” was the next question.
“Another baptistery,” was the response.
“So let’s call your new building a Turkish bath!” suggested the bureaucrat. And the plans were approved.
Visit the Evangelical Alliance Church on a street stroll that runs almost entirely along Straus Street. Begin at the corner of Jaffa Road and King George Avenue. If you are lucky enough to live on its route, you can get there by the light rail; it stops right next to the intersection.
Jaffa Road meets King George Avenue at an intersection created on December 9, 1924, the day King George was inaugurated. Known as an “X” junction, it was the first in the country in which pedestrians could cross the streets on the diagonal. It is special for another reason as well: Each of the intersection’s corner buildings is only one story high.
The brightly lit Zoya shop on one corner recently replaced a store called Ma’ayan Stub. Looking very squat in front of a much higher apartment building, the structure dates back to the early 1930s and, like those on the other three corners, boasts a red tiled roof. Known for its ultra-Orthodox female clientele, drably dressed windows and low prices, Ma’ayan Stub set up shop there in 1940.
The original clothing store was founded in Germany more than 100 years ago by Yehuda Stub, who moved to Jerusalem when Hitler rose to power. One side of the tall building towering over the shop is covered by a mural a decade or so old, featuring a future light-rail train and a bustling downtown. Jerusalemites laughed cynically for years at the idea that one day a light rail like that one would actually travel through the streets of the city and reawaken what had turned into a deserted city center.
GAZE AT the corner structure on the other side of Straus Street. Although it was constructed during the Turkish rule of Palestine, it wasn’t until the British Mandate began that a ceramic tile appeared on its exterior wall. Designed by artists at what was then called the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts, it reads “Jaffa Road” in three languages – with English on the top (after all, the British were in charge).
I still remember when it hosted the inexpensive, homey Tarablus Restaurant. You could eat there on Shabbat only if you bought tickets ahead of time, as the eatery was kosher lemehadrin.
Despite its tired awnings and dirty red tiles, the former Tarablus would be delightful if restored. However, well-founded rumor has it that the building is slated for demolition, to be replaced by a high-rise.
Construction on the left side of the street makes it difficult to ascend Straus from here, so you should probably cross to the opposite sidewalk. Before you do so, however, look for a second ceramic plaque, this time on Zoya’s wall. The street was once called Chancellor Avenue.
Walk up the sidewalk to reach one of the city’s most magnificent buildings. In 1851, an order of Protestant nuns called the Diakoness Sisters opened a hospital for the homeless and destitute inside the Old City. Just over 40 years later, work began on this modern facility outside the walls. Today a wing of Bikur Cholim Hospital, it stretches around the corner to Hanevi’im Street.
The architect was Conrad Schick, a missionary/ craftsman/biblical scholar who designed whole neighborhoods such as Mea She’arim, and some of Jerusalem’s most dazzling structures. A sculpted dove with an olive branch – the symbol of the order – graces the lintel above the doors on both Hanevi’im and where you are at No. 6 Straus. Look beneath the dove to see the date: 1892.
During the War of Independence, when the Hadassah Hospital at Mount Scopus was cut off from Israel, Military Hospital No. 11 was set up in the German Hospital to treat wounded soldiers and civilians. After the war, with the Mount Scopus hospital inaccessible and Hadassah Ein Kerem still in the future, this became the Ziv Hadassah Hospital. If the gate is open, walk inside the foyer to view a fascinating exhibition of the history of hospitals in Jerusalem.
Carefully cross Straus to Bikur Cholim Hospital, founded inside the Old City in the mid-19th century so that Jews wouldn’t have to patronize the Christian missionary hospitals that had begun to spring up. The current institution opened in 1925, with an impressive façade and three sets of stunning double doors designed by multifaceted artist Ze’ev Raban. Made of hammered copper, the doors are inscribed with biblical verses and symbols of the Twelve Tribes.
A fixture in the city and known for its caring staff, Bikur Cholim played a crucial role during past terrorist attacks.
But it also suffered numerous financial difficulties and in 2012 was taken over by the Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
Continue up the sidewalk and turn left on Hanevi’im. If you look up at the building, you will see both hospital names on the exterior wall.
Next door, the Evangelical Alliance Church was built from 1907 to 1913 “as money came in,” says Roger Ebell, directory of Church Ministries in the Land of Israel. The interior is very modest, with neither crosses nor Christian images.
For decades, the adjacent parking lot contained the German consulate, which served as a center of Nazi activity until it was evacuated in 1939. Afterwards, the British turned it into an administration building, which was blown up by the Irgun Zva’i Leumi (a pre-state Jewish underground organization) in 1947. The powerful blast damaged the roof of the Evangelical Alliance Church and blew out all but one of the windows. These were temporarily repaired, and in 1974 a few were replaced with brightly colored stained glass depicting the biblical Seven Species (wheat, barley, fig, pomegranate, olive tree, grape and date). In 1990, during the centennial celebration of the ministry in Israel, the wooden ceiling was restored as well.
Now head over to the old German Hospital’s splendid Hanevi’im entrance for a close examination of its stunning façade. Then cross Hanevi’im and look backwards to view the unusual bell tower that graces its roof.
You should now be standing in front of the Israel Center, formerly the San Remo Hotel. Hard to imagine unless you can picture it clean, shiny and without rusty balconies, but when erected in 1927, the San Remo was considered the crème de la crème of Jerusalem hotels.
On the opposite corner, Beit Harofeh is almost bereft of windows. This is the headquarters of the Israel Medical Association, founded in 1913, right across from two hospitals with a third, the former Rothschild Hospital, farther down Hanevi’im Street.
The buildings at numbers 12 and 14 Straus are called Batei Berman, or the Berman Houses.
Not long after moving to Jerusalem from Russia in 1875 and settling in the Old City, the Berman family ran out of funds.
Scholar Halevi Berman’s wife, Kreshe, saved the day by baking honey cakes and black bread for tourists to the Holy City. Soon she became so successful that her son Yehoshua joined her in the “bakery,” and the business thrived.
In 1880, Yehoshua bravely opened what may have been the first store outside the Old City walls, on Jaffa Road. A decade later he built a large bakery in Mea She’arim. Today the family business is located in Givat Shaul.
In 1933 the Bermans built these two houses on Straus for their large extended families. Plain they may be, but they hide one of the first tennis courts – and possibly the only one – in Jerusalem at the time.
TURN RIGHT on Avigdori Street. Operating behind the gray gate of the structure on the corner of Straus, the Sokolov Gymnasia (high school) opened in the 1930s. Its most famous alumnus was former chief of staff Mordechai “Motta” Gur. It was Gur who led his paratroopers to the Temple Mount during the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967.
Return to Straus, cross to the other side of the street and walk through the parking lot next to Histadrut (Labor Union) headquarters.
You should now be in a park where, if you look left, you can spot a large 13th-century Muslim tomb called Turbet Kamariya. It is believed to contain the graves of three members of the Kameri family who fought the Crusaders. It may also be the burial place of Nebi Ukasha Bin-Mohasin, one of Muhammad’s disciples. An abandoned 19th-century mosque and minaret, named for Nebi Ukasha, is found to your right.
Because there was an unobstructed view of Mount Scopus from the top of the Histadrut building, the IDF built an army post on the roof. It was manned from 1948 to 1967, when Jerusalem was divided and Mount Scopus was cut off from the rest of the city. From there they could watch as convoys traveled to Mount Scopus with Israeli soldiers – euphemistically called policemen – and supplies. During the Six Day War, this became the headquarters for Jerusalem regiments attempting to take the Old City from Jordan.
In addition to its offices, the building housed the Mitchell Cinema. It also became home to the Hapoel Jerusalem Basketball Club and was filled with fans during its games.
Finally, stop in front of 24 Straus at Beit Straus. Born in Germany in 1848, Nathan Straus was raised in the United States and as an adult was deeply involved in good works, especially in the area of public health. Together with a host of other philanthropic deeds he performed in the late 19th century, Straus prepared and distributed sterilized milk to the destitute of New York, along with groceries and coal.
For years Straus ran a soup kitchen in the Old City, and when an earthquake shook the country in 1927, he sent a huge sum of money to help its victims. Two years later he donated this handsome medical facility, built around a lovely courtyard and graced with a stylish fountain. The entrance still features a stately double stairway.
During Arab riots in 1929, hundreds of Jews were killed or wounded. It was here, at the newly opened Straus Center, that survivors of the Hebron attacks were treated and found a temporary refuge.
Remember the sign outside of Zoya naming this street Chancellor Avenue? When inaugurated in 1930, it was named for Nathan Straus. But a year later, the British renamed it for the high commissioner of Palestine, Sir John Chancellor. It took 17 years and the establishment of the State of Israel to return the street to its original name.• Note: The Evangelical Alliance Church is open to the public Sundays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.