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Situated next to Shaar Shechem (the Damascus Gate) of the Old City, the Strauss Courtyard was built in 1896 by Reb Shmuel Strauss, a wealthy German banker who had a deep desire to own a piece of land in Eretz Yisrael. At the encouragement of Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm, he purchased a plot right outside the Old City walls to build apartments for talmidei chachamim who would engage in the study of mussar – as, according to Rav Simcha Zissel, learning mussar in Jerusalem would bring the Geulah.
The Center of Eretz Yisrael’s Mussar Movement
In the ensuing decades, this courtyard, known as Chatzer Strauss, would become the residence of the greatest talmidei chachamim and tzaddikim of Yerushalayim, and the heart of Eretz Yisrael’s mussar movement. It was home to Yeshivas Ohr Chadash, founded in 1897 in the Torah and mussar spirit of Rav Yisrael Salanter and led by Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
The courtyard also housed the illustrious Beis HaMussar, founded in 1904 by Rav Yitzele Blazer. When Rav Naftali Amsterdam arrived from Kovno two years later, he joined Rav Yitzele in leading the institution. With such giants at the helm, the Beis HaMussar quickly became the spiritual focal point of Yerushalayim, the place where the Torah giants of yesteryear would come together and sequester themselves in order to intensely focus on their Avodas Hashem.
Chatzer Strauss became renowned as one of the holiest corners of the Holy City, where Torah, tefillah and mussar growth took place throughout the day and night.
The Chatzer became famed for something else as well. Stories soon began to spread of miraculous yeshuos and healing that took place in the Chatzer. These miracles were particularly associated with two areas of the courtyard: the cellar and the well. A childless woman became pregnant and a mentally ill person was miraculously cured after drinking from the well’s water. After spending a day in the cellar, a blind girl’s sight was restored, while a woman’s lifelong back pain was cured after spending the night next to the well. These and other stories became part of the rich spiritual legacy and mystery of Chatzer Strauss.
Unfortunately, during the 1929 Arab riots, the Chatzer residents were warned of an impending attack and quickly evacuated. While they returned briefly, they fled once more in 1936 in the face of Arab violence, this time for good.
Today, nearly 100 years later, Torah has returned to Chatzer Strauss. In 2015, Yeshivas Nesivos Aharon purchased the courtyard and, after a legal battle to remove the Arab squatters, moved the yeshiva to the Chatzer in 2018.
Now that the sound of Torah learning resounds through the hallowed courtyard once more, we have the honor and privilege to take the next step: to restore the Chatzer to its former glory.
The Chatzer became famed for something else as well. Stories soon began to spread of miraculous yeshuos and healing that took place in the Chatzer. These miracles were particularly associated with two areas of the courtyard: the cellar and the well. A childless woman became pregnant and a mentally ill person was miraculously cured after drinking from the well’s water. After spending a day in the cellar, a blind girl’s sight was restored, while a woman’s lifelong back pain was cured after spending the night next to the well. These and other stories became part of the rich spiritual legacy and mystery of Chatzer Strauss.
