The name of the yeshiva was taken from the Torah passage in which Jacob dreams of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven.

After he awakens from his dream, Jacob exclaims, "This is none other than the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven (Shaar Hashamayim)!"

[1] The impetus to found Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva came from a dream experienced by two noteworthy Jerusalem rabbis on the same night in 1906.

He got dressed and set out for the home of Rabbi Shimon Horowitz, a kabbalah scholar and author of Shem MiShimon and Kol Mevaser, to discuss the dream with him.

They had each envisioned an honorable Jew, his face shining with a supernatural light, who had demanded to know why people weren't studying his teachings.

[This is] the only place in the world where the Torah of kabbalah is studied in an orderly manner, progressing from simple teachings to more difficult ones, taught by talmidei chachamim who are qualified for the task.

The Jordanians set fire to the Old City building, burning all the seforim (holy books) and furniture inside.

[1] Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva next moved to the Beit Yisrael neighborhood, occupying the building that now houses the shtieblekh.

[1][4] The design for the uppermost story of the building features thirteen windows on the sides facing the street and the rear courtyard, totaling twenty-six (the gematria of YHWH, one of the names of God).

[1] (In recent years, a building addition on the top rear story covered over three of the thirteen windows there.)

[1] Shaar HaShamayim Yeshiva has increased public awareness of the yahrzeit of the Arizal on 5 Av, and reintroduced the custom of visiting his gravesite in Safed on that day.