Sanhedria Murchevet. A jewel in the crown of chareidi Jerusalem. Graced by both famous and hidden talmidei chachamim bustling shuls and a host of stellar educational institutions the streets of this neighborhood off Rechov Shmuel Hanavi are paved with black hats. But when the neighborhood was founded just 40 years ago it was home to a hodgepodge of chareidi secular and dati-leumi Jews and the streets were open to traffic on Shabbos. Resident Mr. Yaakov Mutner a retired IDF officer and chairman of the Jerusalem branch of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (AWIS) remembers Sanhedria Murchevet’s early years. “It was a real mixture — Zionists knitted kippahs a variety of Sephardic Jews Russians some chareidim. The neighborhood was built to house secularly educated people but because apartments were small affluent residents moved to areas where larger homes were available. Meanwhile chareidim content with smaller cheaper apartments moved in. One drew another and within 20 years the neighborhood changed its character completely till very few of us Mizrachis remain. Now with the housing shortage driving prices sky-high young Israeli chareidim cannot afford to live here so American yeshivah families are attracted.”