Baruch Mizrachi family

The oldest Jewish family in Jerusalem.

Baruch Mizrachi came to Jerusalem in 1621 and bought five houses in the Old City of Jerusalem.

On 1643 Baruch Mizrachi wrote a will, bequeathing the houses to his sons, but preventing them from selling the houses, and obliging them to bequeath the houses to their sons, so that when the Messiah will come Baruch Mizrahi will be able to return and live in his houses.

The houses passed from generation to generation, and were the main reason that the family didn't leave Jerusalem (while many other Jewish families at time left the city because of the economic conditions at the time).

The houses were let by the family members since the turn of the twentieth century to an Arab family, while the family members built their houses outside the walls surrounding the Old City.

In 1948, the Old City was conquered by the Jordanian army, and the same Arab family continued living in the houses.

In 1967, upon the reoccupation of Jerusalem by the Israelis, the family members returned to the houses and claimed ownership to the property.

At the time, the Israeli authorities expropriated and demolished all the houses in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in order to build a new neighborhood, and hence the family members were able to collect only compensation, which the family members felt they were not allowed to collect because of Baruch Mizrachi's will.

Instead it was agreed that on the new building a plaque would be hanged with the family's story.

The mayors of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek and Uri Lupolianski both promised that upon the arrival of the Messiah, Baruch Mizrachi will be able to receive from the municipality five new houses in Jerusalem.

Among the descendants of the Baruch Mizrachi are: Yitzhak Navon the former Israeli president, as well as Gilead Sher who was in charge of the Israeli peace negotiations.