Ansicht der am Berge Zion bereits bezogenen 12 Familien-Wohnungen, welche auf dem Situationsplane skizzirt sind. [“View of 12 Family-Dwellings on Mount Zion.”]

A prospectus for purchasing land on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion. The pamphlet conveys in most impassioned terms the supreme importance of the commandment of Yishuv Eretz Israel, settling the Land of Israel. The three members of the “Central Committee for Building Dwellings for the Poor and Pilgrims in Jerusalem” were J. Ettlinger, Chief Rabbi of Altona (Germany’s great halachist); Dr. I. [Azriel] Hildesheimer, Rabbi of Eisenstadt (a former pupil of R. Ettlinger) and Joseph Hirsch of Halberstadt (R. Hildesheimer’s brother-in-law). It seems that the impetus for this bold endeavor came from R. Azriel Hildesheimer, who took “special interest in the welfare of the Jews of Palestine. In 1860, when the Missionary Society of Palestine provided seventy free dwellings for homeless Jews, Hildesheimer built houses in Jerusalem for the free use of Jewish pilgrims and the poor.” (JE, Vol. VI p. 395).