Beit David was the fourth Jewish neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem. This courtyard neighborhood was established in 1873. [1]
Beit David was founded as an almshouse for Jews on a plot of land donated by a kollel. [2] It was named for the philanthropist, David Reis. The name also alludes to the historical House of David and to the book known as Beit David, a treatise on Jewish law written by Joseph Ben David in the 18th century. [3] Because Beit David was far from the kollel's center in the Old City, it contained a synagogue and 10 apartments to ensure the existence of a minyan. [2]
The residence of Abraham Isaac Kook, Israel's first Askenanzic chief rabbi was on the second floor of the building, added in 1922. The Rabbi Kook House is now a museum of the life of Rabbi Kook. [4] The Museum of Psalms, located on the ground floor for many years, featured the paintings of Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger, a Kabbalist and painter. Berger was evicted in 2014 to make room for a yeshiva [5]