The Western Wall Heritage Foundation

The Jewish Quarter (Hebrew: הרובע היהודי, HaRova HaYehudi; Arabic: حارة اليهود, Harat al-Yehud) is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem (part of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem). The area lies in the southwestern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Street of the Chain in the north and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east. In the early 20th century the Jewish population of the quarter reached 19,000.During the 1948 war, the Jewish Quarter fought the Arab Legion as part of the battle for Jerusalem, and the Hurva synagogue was blown up by Arab legionnaires. On May 1948, the Jewish Quarter surrendered; some Jews were taken captive, and the rest were evacuated. A crowd then systemtically pillaged and razed the quarter.After Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, the quarter was earmarked for rehabilitation as a tourist destination and a residential neighborhood, and in the years that followed, a large-scale reconstruction and conservation project was undertaken. This project included archeological excavations, which uncovered many remains from the First and Second Temple periods, including the Israelite Tower, the Broad Wall, the Burnt House and the Herodian Quarter, along with remains from later periods, such as the Byzantine Cardo and the Nea Church. The quarter is today inhabited by around 2,000 residents and is home to numerous yeshivas and synagogues, most notably the Hurva Synagogue, destroyed numerous times and rededicated in 2010. The quarter is also the site of two historical mosques – the Sidna Omar Mosque and the Al Dissi Mosque – both of which have been closed since the Six-Day War.

The Burnt House Museum (aka Katros House) is a museum presenting an excavated house from the Second Temple period situated 6 m (20 ft) below current street level in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת תפארת ישראל; Ashkenazi Hebrew: Tiferes Yisroel), most often spelled Tiferet Israel, also known as the Nisan Bak Shul (Yiddish: ניסן ב"ק שול), after its co-founder, Nisan Bak was a prominent synagogue between 1872 and 1948 in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1872 by the Ruzhin Hasidim among the members of the Old Yishuv and was destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion on 21 May 1948 during the Battle for Jerusalem of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.The synagogue was left as ruins after the recapture of the Old City in the Six-Day War. In November 2012 the Jerusalem municipality announced its approval for plans to rebuild the synagogue. The cornerstone was laid on May 27, 2014.

The Church of Saint Mary of the Germans (Hebrew: כנסיית מרים של הגרמנים Latin: Santa Maria Alemannorum or Santa Maria Alemanna) was a Catholic church, built in Romanesque style, now in ruins, located in the Old City of Jerusalem on the northeast slope of Mount Zion. It was in 1126, after the First Crusade, when a German pilgrim and his wife, whose names are unknown, founded a hospice for pilgrims from the Holy Roman Empire. He joined the Hospice of St. John of Jerusalem. Celestine II sets the rules in 1143, taking the hospital under his protection, but with a right of prior review of the Order of St. John. The building was partly destroyed by the attacks of 1187, and rebuilt in 1229. Frederick II assigned it to the Teutonic Knights in April 1229, but then it went to the Order of St. John by order of Pope Gregory IX. As a result of the capture of Jerusalem in 1244, the hospice and church were left in ruins.The ruins were discovered in 1872 by T. Drake. They are now partially open as part of a public archaeological park.

The Tzuf Dvash Synagogue is a Sephardic synagogue which was founded in 1860 under Ottoman Empire rule in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Today it is located at 15 Plugat ha-Kotel Street. It is named after Rabbi David ben Shimon, (acronym D-b-Sh, Hebrew: דבש), who arrived in the Land of Israel from Morocco in 1854 and founded Machane Yisrael, one of the first neighborhoods outside of the Old City walls. During the 19th century, a greater number of Jews arrived in Jerusalem from the North African countries. Through Ben Shimon's influence, the group broke off from the greater Sephardic community of Jerusalem and established the Westerners' Synagogue (as opposed to the Eastern Mizrahi Jews) in 1860. The building also contained the community's Talmud Torah and an old age home. The community's property register, which was written after Ben Shimon's death in 1879, listed a yard with two synagogues, with the Ben Tzuf synagogue described as the "large and special one." The register adds that people would rise each midnight to study at the synagogue. The upper floor contained the Talmud Torah, which consisted of three rooms. The lower floor housed the meeting room of the community council, as well as two small rooms in which lived the widows who cleaned the yard. After the 1948 war, the building was under Jordanian rule, along with the entire Old City of Jerusalem. Though the building was looted, it remained standing. After the Six-Day War, the building was refurbished and in 1980 it was restored as a house of prayer. The domed rooms were rededicated in 1988 by the French community. The building also serves as a yeshiva.

The Heritage House is a non-profit youth hostel in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It offers free or subsidized lodging to Jews from around the world. The hostel provides young Jewish adults with information on touring, studying, intern, and work opportunities in Israel, in addition to providing follow-up connections, especially with the Jewish communities back in their home towns around the world.

Yeshivat HaKotel (Hebrew: ישיבת הכותל, lit. 'Yeshiva of the Western Wall') is a religious Zionist Hesder yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, opposite the Temple Mount and overlooking the Kotel (Western Wall), hence its name. Most of the students are in the Israeli Hesder program which combines at least fifteen months of army service with several years of Yeshiva study.Baruch Wieder, the former Rosh Kollel, is the Rosh Yeshiva. The previous Rosh Yeshiva was Yeshayahu Hadari who served as Rosh Yeshiva for more than thirty years, although not consecutively. Mordechai Elon was Rosh Yeshiva from 2002–2006. Yeshivat HaKotel has a program for English-speaking students that offers integration with Israelis, a broad comprehensive curriculum in Talmud, Tanakh, Machshava, Halacha, and Mussar. In 2006, Yeshivat HaKotel opened a new program for Portuguese and Spanish-speaking students, headed by Brazilian-born rabbi Daniel Segal. As of 2011, more than 100 students from Latin American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Colombia, and also from Portugal and Spain, have graduated this program.

The Temple Institute, known in Hebrew as Machon HaMikdash (Hebrew: מכון המקדש), is an organization in Israel focusing on the endeavor of establishing the Third Temple. Its long-term aims are to build the third Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, on the site occupied by the Dome of the Rock, and to reinstate animal sacrificial worship. It aspires to reach this goal through the study of Temple construction and ritual and through the development of actual Temple ritual objects, garments, and building plans suitable for immediate use in the event conditions permit its reconstruction. It runs a museum in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in Israel. It was founded and is headed by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. Its current director general is Dovid Shvartz, and the International Department is headed by Rabbi Chaim Richman. New York billionaire Henry Swieca has supported the institute. The Israeli government has also provided funding.

Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh (in Hebrew: ישיבת נתיב אריה) is a Religious Zionist yeshiva located at the Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem. Netiv Aryeh was founded in 2003 by the current rosh yeshiva, Aharon Bina. Avigdor Nebenzahl, former chief rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, is the senior rosh yeshiva. His son Chizkiyahu Nebenzahl, the current chief rabbi, also serves as a rosh yeshiva.

On May 13, 1948, a day before the state of Israel was proclaimed, the Haganah launched Operation Shfifon (Hebrew: מבצע שפיפון, lit. Operation Cerastes Cerastes) with the aim of capturing the British outposts in the Old City of Jerusalem and preventing the Arab forces from taking control of them first. Such an eventuality had long been anticipated, and plans prepared called Operation Shfifon ('horned viper'; some translate it as 'Serpent') and quickly followed by Operation Kilshon.

The Herodian Quarter – Wohl Archaeological Museum is an underground archaeological site and museum situated in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It exhibits lavish structures that reflect the high standard of living among the inhabitants of Jerusalem's affluent Upper City during the late Second Temple Period, from the Herodian era until the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Among the exhibits are five residential buildings, believed to have been inhabited by priestly families, complete with ritual baths, bathhouses, and household items. The wall paintings and architectural elements are designed according to Hellenistic and Roman styles. The "Palatial Mansion" stands out with its multi-level layout surrounding a central courtyard. This grand residence includes an ornate reception area decorated in a style found in Pompeii, also featuring remnants of collapsed wooden beams, evidence of the city's destruction.Numerous smaller discoveries were unearthed, with stone vessels standing out due to their immunity to ritual impurity under Jewish law. Luxurious imported items like terra sigillata ware and Phoenician goods, such as cosmetics and perfumes, were also uncovered. In instances where significant artifacts, like the menorah graffiti and a unique glass vessel by the Sidonian artist Aniyon, were relocated to the Israel Museum, replicas and photographs are showcased.Discovered during the post-Six-Day War reconstruction of the Jewish Quarter, these ancient mansions were excavated by an archaeological team led by Nahman Avigad between 1969 and 1983. The museum, located beneath the Yeshivat HaKotel, was opened to visitors in 1988 after extensive restoration work.

The Western Wall Plaza is a large public square situated adjacent to the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was formed in 1967 as a result of the razing of the Mughrabi Quarter neighborhood at the very end of the Six-Day War.