Nisan Bak

Nisan Bak (or Nissan Beck; ; 1815–1889) was a leader of the Hasidic Jewish community of the Old Yishuv in Ottoman Palestine. He was the founder of two Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Kirya Ne'emana (better known as Batei Nissan Bak) and a Yemenite Jewish neighborhood, and builder of the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, also known as the Nisan Bak Shul.

Biography Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, also known as the Beit Knesset Nisan Bak, c. 1940

Nisan Bak was born in Berdichev as the only son of Rabbi Yisrael Bak, a Sadigura Hasid. After working as a printer in his home town between 1815 and 1821 and having to close down his business, he eventually immigrated to Palestine in 1831. Affected first by the Safed earthquake of 1837 and after seeing his press and farm destroyed during the Druze revolt of 1838, he left the Galilee and relocated to Jerusalem. The imposing, three-story synagogue was inaugurated on 19 August 1872. For the next 75 years, it served as the centre for the Hasidic community in the city. It was considered one of the most beautiful synagogues of Jerusalem, with a commanding view of the Temple Mount, ornate decorations, and beautiful silver objects donated by Hasidim. It was destroyed by the Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Kirya Ne'emana

In 1875 Nisan Bak, together with Rabbi Shmuel Mordechai Warshavsky and under the auspices of Kollel Volhin, founded the Jewish neighborhood of Kirya Ne'emana, initially called Oholei Moshe vi-Yhudit ("Tents of Moses and Judith"), but popularly known as Batei Nissan Bak ("Nissan Bak Houses"). The neighborhood was originally intended for Hasidic Jews, but due to lack of financing, only 30 of the planned 60 houses were constructed. The remainder of the land was apportioned to several other groups: Syrian, Iraqi, and Persian Jews. In the 1890s another neighborhood, Eshel Avraham, was erected next to Kirya Ne'emana for Georgian and Caucasian Jews. These neighborhoods were virtually abandoned during the 1929 Palestine riots and the homes taken over by Christians and Muslims. The remaining Jewish residents left with the Arab takeover of East Jerusalem after 1948.