Tu BiShvat, the Jewish tree holiday, is marked on the Hebrew calendar as more than a day of fruit and planting. It is a moment when the land itself seems to gain a voice, when trees become cultural and environmental anchors, and when the bond between people and soil sharpens once again. Rising along Yisrael Zarhi Street in Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood stands a tall cedar tree, looking back across decades. It bears no fruit, no figs, no almonds, yet it carries something no less rare: memory. Planted in the heart of a neighborhood founded in 1974, the cedar has watched roots take hold and later be uprooted in Jerusalem’s changing landscape. Evergreen, it has observed from above as the face of the neighborhood gradually shifted.
What Did Ramot Once Look Like in Jerusalem?
Ramot of the 1970s and 1980s was a young, largely secular neighborhood filled with optimism about the future. Young couples arrived in large numbers, educators, journalists, lawyers, doctors, merchants and economists. The state school “Ramot G” on Zundak Street 1 housed more than 1,500 students. Children came from every corner of the neighborhood: Shay Street, Derech HaHoresh, Yisrael Zarhi, Aharon Eshkoli and others, all converging on a school whose vision centered on democracy and values. It was an elite neighborhood in a moral sense, a community that believed in education, culture and civic responsibility.
In its early years, Ramot was also home to well known families. Among them were the family of Moshe Nussbaum, former police and internal security commentator, the family of Ehud Yaari, Middle East analyst, the family of news presenter Anat Saran, the late Amos Arbel, journalist and news presenter, Danny Deutsch, former weather forecaster and current Home Front Command spokesperson, Magistrate Court judge Shulamit Dotan, and, in stark contrast, also the family of Danny Maoz, who would later be accused in the tragic murder of his parents.
Traders who operated with honesty and a desire to make a living while supporting Jerusalem also lived in Ramot, including the Cohen family, founders of the well known “Bazaar Strauss.”
With this human capital, Ramot flourished. It boasted children’s and adult libraries, a swimming pool, and communal observances of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Lag BaOmer and more. Well kept gardens were attached to homes, sports fields dotted the area, and the gifted students’ school “Ofek” gained recognition. Recanati, Ben Ze’ev and Zundak streets were lively. The small neighborhood supermarket run by the Naamad brothers sold everything, including collectible cards for children’s albums.
Then, without an official announcement and without a sign at the neighborhood entrance, Ramot began to change.
How Did the Ramot Neighborhood in Jerusalem Change Over the Years?
Long time families gradually left. The entire cultural essence took on a different character. Areas where children once played and where a Scouts youth movement branch operated were replaced by religious institutions.
Today, Ramot is one of the largest ultra Orthodox and religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
So tells the veteran cedar tree, one of the neighborhood’s silent witnesses. Perhaps the Jewish tree holiday, known in Hebrew as Tu BiShvat, is a fitting and timely invitation for reflection.
