Har Nof (הר נוף, lit. scenic mountain) is a neighborhood on a hillside on the western boundary of Jerusalem, Israel, with a population of 20,000 residents, primarily Orthodox Jews. The first homes in Har Nof were built in the early 1980s.

Archeology

In Talmudic times, Har Nof was an agricultural settlement that served Jerusalem. Remains of ancient wine presses, farmhouses and terraces built 1,500 years ago have been unearthed on the outskirts of Har Nof.

Demography

The overwhelming majority of the residents of Har Nof are Orthodox Jewish or Haredi. Many are recent olim. The neighborhood has a large community of English-speaking olim, including a small group of Bostoner Hasidim, as well as notable French-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities. There are also communities of both Ger and Vizhnitz Hasidim, as well many Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews. The former Sefardic chief rabbi and leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, lives in Har Nof. Spiritual leaders of the Ashkenazi Haredi community who reside in Har Nof are the Bostoner Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, Rabbi Moishe Sternbuch of the Edah HaChareidis, and Rabbi Yitzchak Mordechai Rubin of Kehilat Bnei Torah .

Synagogues and public institutions

As a religious neighborhood, Har Nof is home to many synagogues, yeshivas and Torah study institutions, among them Heichal Hatorah, Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok, Machon Shlomo and Machon Yaakov. The campus of Neve Yerushalayim, a college for religious women, is located in Har Nof.

Geography

Har Nof is a terraced neighborhood on the slopes of a mountain that sits 813 meters above sea level. Due to the topography, many of the multi-storey apartment buildings have entrances on both sides of the building - one to reach the lower floors and another to reach the higher floors. Some streets are connected by long flights of stairs. At the foot of Har Nof lies the 1,200 dunam Jerusalem Forest (Yaar Yerushalayim), planted in the 1950s as a green lung around the city.

The neighborhood is linked to the city center by Kanfei Nesharim and Beit Hadfus streets, passing through the neighborhood of Givat Shaul.

Communal activism

The residents of Har Nof founded Shomera, a non-profit environmental protection association to thwart the building of high-rise luxury towers that would block the view of the Jerusalem Forest.

Emergency medical care is provided by the volunteer group Hachovesh

References

External links

har nof website(English)