Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship between
the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael

JAFFA GATE (SHA'AR YAFFO)

Built in 1538 by Suleiman the Magnificent, this gate serves as one of the main connections between the Old City and the rest of Jerusalem.

The Arabs call it Bab el-Halil (Gate of the Beloved) as a reference to Abraham, the Beloved of G-d, who is buried in Hebron, since the road to that southern city leaves from here. But it is the westerly orientation of the gate which has endowed it with the name indicating that the road to Jaffa begins here.

In 1898 the Turks breached the Old City wall and paved a road over the moat so that their visiting ally, Kaiser Wilhelm II of German would not have to dismount from his royal carriage. A quarter of a century later, with the Turks and Germans vanquished in World War One, the victorious British General Allenby and his staff dismounted from their horses and entered the Holy City on foot in the traditional manner of pilgrims.