Jerusalem 1860: The Montefiore Gate That Opened a New City

In 1860, Jerusalem was still a cramped walled city of about 15,000 people, its gates locked at night. Then Sir Moses Montefiore, the British Jewish financier and philanthropist, funded the first Jewish neighborhood outside the Old City walls. This episode follows the construction of Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the windmill that became its symbol, and the bitter resistance from religious authorities who feared leaving the sacred precincts. We explore Montefiore's broader vision—his meetings with the Ottoman Sultan, his attempts to bring modern agriculture, and the cholera epidemic that almost derailed everything. The new neighborhood sparked a building frenzy that within decades created the New City of Jerusalem. But it also deepened divides between the Old Yishuv, who clung to traditional charity, and the new pioneers. This is the story of how one man's philanthropy, rooted in the pogroms of 1840s Damascus, literally moved the walls of Jerusalem.

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