Kiryat Itri (Hebrew:קריית איתרי) is aHaredi neighborhood inJerusalem. It is located on the northern edge of the mountain plateau on which central Jerusalem lies.
The neighborhood was established in the late 1960s by RabbiMordechai Elefant, in co-operation with theJewish Agency for Israel, to encourage American Jewishimmigration to Israel. The small neighborhood is usually associated with the larger, adjoining neighborhoods ofKiryat Mattersdorf to the west orUnsdorf to the northeast.
Kiryat Itri was established in 1967 by the Israel Torah Research Institute (ITRI) of New York City, under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Elefant, institute dean.[1][2][3] Elefant establishedYeshivas Itri in the southeast of the city the following year.[4] The housing development was undertaken in co-operation with the Jewish Agency for Israel,[1] to encourage American Jewish immigration to Israel.[5] Construction costs exceededIL30 million (US$7.5 million, or $70,700,000 in current dollar terms).[1][5]
The neighborhood was planned along the northern edge of the mountain plateau on which central Jerusalem lies, adjacent to the newly built neighborhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf. Its viability was threatened before construction even began, when, in the spring of 1967, it was found that the site abutted a rock quarry to the south inRomema, which bombarded the area with dust and noise from explosions. Elefant and the owners of the quarry appeared before a district planning committee to discuss the relocation of the quarry.[6]
Kiryat Itri was planned for 250 families.[1][6] Threehigh-rise apartment buildings were erected on the south side of the street, and five low-rise apartment buildings on the north side. The flats were small by American standards.[5] A supermarket and postal agency[7] occupy the ground floor of 14 Sorotzkin, the westernmost building. The main street, Rechov Sorotzkin, is named after RabbiZalman Sorotzkin.[8]
The first residents, comprising 85 individuals and 65 families, arrived in Israel from the United States in August 1968.[1] Singles and young people were temporarily lodged in a former British hospital inBeit Safafa and in theOrient House hotel to await completion of their apartments, while families were lodged in rented homes.[5] Occupancy began in 1969.[5]
TheIsrael branch of theLakewood Yeshiva was first founded in Kiryat Itri in the 1980s. In 2004, the yeshiva moved to its own building in theRamot neighborhood.[9]
Notable residents of Kiryat Itri include RabbiYitzchok Ezrachi, a rosh yeshiva of theMir yeshiva; famous Jewish radical RabbiMeir Kahane (1932–1990);[10][11] Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky, an instructor at Yeshivas Itri;[5][12] and Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Rot, Rav of theChabad community of Kiryat Mattersdorf–Itri.[13]
Rabbi Eliyahu Abba Shaul, son of RabbiBen Zion Abba Shaul, represented Kiryat Mattersdorf, Kiryat Itri, and Kiryat Unsdorf on the Jerusalem Religious Council.[14]