Musrara/Morasha Quarter of Jerusalem
The Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem is replete with history from the pre-State days. Today, Musrara or as it is called in Hebrew, Morasha, is undergoing a gentrification process. Artists, young families, and Israeli’s wanting to return to the city are renovating the old houses and building new modern apartments. It is five minutes walking distance to the Old City and the Center of downtown Jerusalem. Musrara is close to family owned markets, homemade take-away food shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and prides itself on being both a charming and an historic neighborhood.
Wealthy Arabs built the original homes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As with many Arab residents of Jerusalem, they fled the area during the War of Independence when the neighboring Arab States promised to destroy the Jewish population and reinstate them to their homes. That promise was not realized because the Jewish people won the war and declared a Jewish State. Even at the beckoning of the newly established leadership to return to their homes and live in peaceful coexistence with their Jewish neighbors, the majority of the Arabs chose to remain outside the country with the hope that soon their brethren would "push the Jews into the sea and they would not have to share this land.
The neighborhood remained a Jewish neighborhood that was on the "seam line or border between Jordanian East Jerusalem and Israeli West Jerusalem. In the early 1950’s new immigrants, mostly from Arab countries, were settled into the neighborhood. Musrara, like many of the older areas of the city, was a focus of economic distress and poverty.
In 1967, after the Six Day War, Jerusalem was reunited and declared the undivided capital of Israel. The city now flowed from one neighborhood to the other. Jews could freely visit the Old City and the Kotel and Arabs from East Jerusalem had access to the free economy of West Jerusalem. Although the neighborhood remained impoverished economically, people who grew-up in Musrara have fond memories of family and friends supporting and helping one another.
In the 70’s, the disenchanted youth of Musrara established the Israeli "Black Panther Movement, fashioned after the American Afro-American group with the same name. The young leaders demanded from the establishment equal services and opportunities for the Jews of Sephardi background. The social and economic divide between Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews and those of Spanish descent still lingers within our country. The "Black Panthers of Musrara helped to bring those issues to the foray and, as a result, the gap continues to close between these two different cultural groups.
Musrara became a "Project Renewal neighborhood for the Los Angeles Federation. Along with support from the government, money was invested to build better schools, playgrounds, and community areas for the residents, who even in the worst of times took pride in keeping their neighborhood clean and attractive.
Among some of the attractions in the quarter itself are The Nagger School of Photography, which operates two galleries, The Moral Derfler Gallery and The Community Gallery. The Jerusalem Foundation supports a very special project called: "Musrara-A Neighborhood With Vision". The neighborhood has become the nesting home of a flight of beautiful and rare lesser kestrels or red falcons. It is an endangered species and many of the residents have shown an interest in helping to save these birds by setting up nesting boxes and cameras on their roofs. A kiosk has also set up an observation balcony that has telescopes on its roof for viewing these rare birds. Jerusalem Foundation President, Ruth Cheshin was quoted as saying, Following years of investment in developing Musrara, we have been granted this wonderful opportunity to turn this unique natural wonder into a means for helping to advance the neighborhood."
