Nayot
Encyclopedia
Nayot is a neighborhood in south-central Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 established in 1960 by a group of English-speaking immigrants.

Etymology

The name Nayot (lit. "oases") appears mentioned six times in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, in I Samuel (I Samuel 19:18).

History

Nayot was the first housing project in Jerusalem built by Anglo immigrants to Israel. Until an official name was announced in 1963, it was known as Hashikun Ha'anglo Saxi (the Anglo-Saxon neighborhood). English-speaking immigrants seeking housing in the 1950s formed a committee in 1957, and leased 16 dunams of land from the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

 below the hill where the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

 and the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

 are located today, which was outside the boundaries of Jerusalem at the time.

Of the first 62 semi-detached homes built in 1960, fifty were purchased by families who immigrated to Israel from the United States and Canada. Many of the first tenants were diplomats, among them Simcha Dinitz
Simcha Dinitz
Simcha Dinitz was an Israeli statesman and politician. He served as Director General of the Prime Minister's office and political advisor to Prime Minister Golda Meir from 1969–1973, before becoming the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 1973 to 1979...

. The architect was David Resnick, who won the Israel Prize
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...

 for architecture in 1995.

The committee also set up a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

fund, which was unknown in Israel in those days. Fundraising in the United States brought in $100,000, and the Israeli government matched the sum, creating a fund of $200,000.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK