Kerem Avraham

Kerem Avraham, in English Abraham's Vineyard, is a neighbourhood near Geula in central Jerusalem, founded in 1855.

The 1855 mission house was one of the first structures to be built outside the Old City of Jerusalem; the others are the Schneller Orphanage, the Bishop Gobat school, Mishkenot Sha’ananim, and the Russian Compound.

[5] Finn employed Jewish laborers to build the first house there in 1855 and cisterns for water storage were built.

After Finn's death, a soap-making factory was established by his widow and high quality kosher soap was produced which was sold locally and exported abroad.

The soap was made from olive oil fat mixed with alkali, sourced from the ashes of the kali plant[dubious – discuss] (barilla), which grew in the Jordan valley.

James Finn at the entrance to Kerem Avraham
Jewish workers in Kerem Avraham in 1855
The Har Tzvi Synagogue, the main syngogue in the neighborhood
A house in the neighborhood