Love of the Land

For the week ending 24 February 2007 / 6 Adar I 5767

The "Armenian Quarter" of East Jerusalem

by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach zt'l
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How did this section of Jerusalem get such a name when only one sector of it is actually occupied by the Armenian compound?

The compound itself has a wall around its big cathedral and adjoining buildings, but what about the rest of the area that has no relation to the Armenians?

Since a name had to be given to an area that was neither Jewish, Moslem nor Christian, it was decided to call it the Armenian Quarter for convenience's sake.

An American Christian scholar made a study in the previous century of the divisions of Jerusalem and called the area "Hart el Yahud" ("The Jewish Section of the Armenian Quarter"), an admission from a non-Jew that the "Armenian Quarter" had a heavy concentration of Jews.

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