The inauguration of a house expanding the Valero (Dolgin) complex, part of the Jewish settlement in the Old City of Jerusalem, was held by the Ateret Cohanim organization and the residents of the Old City on Saturday night.
Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, Rosh Yeshivat Merkaz Harav, attended the event and was honored to install the mezuzahs for the new extension, which includes rooms that have been renovated for the benefit of a resident family and will be used by Jews after many years of standing vacant.
The Valero complex is located near the Flowers (Herod's) Gate in the Old City and is part of a continuum of Jewish settlement in the area.
In recent years it has been renamed the Dolgin House, after the late Rabbi Yeshayahu Dolgin, who served as the rabbi of the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in Jerusalem and was the one who connected between the Moskowitz family from Miami and the Ateret Cohanim organization in its early years.
The ancient compound was purchased by Jacob Valero, a member of the famous Valero family, the pioneers of banking in Jerusalem, in the second half of the 19th century.
Valero's house was designed and built by Conrad Schick, who was considered in his time one of the best architects in the Land of Israel and indeed the house is built in a unique and magnificent splendor.
An Ateret Cohanim representative said, "Tonight we are privileged to expand another part of this property in Old Jerusalem. The house was used as a residence for Jews before the War of Independence, even before it fell to the Jordanian rule, and in recent years we have been privileged to restore the old crown of this property and resettle Jewish families in it."
He added, "Now is the time to also thank the many donors who gave a hand for the redemption of Jerusalem in the mass fundraising campaign that took place on Israel National News on the last Jerusalem Day. It is your merit that we could managed to have the privilege to expand the complex for the benefit of its population by families living in the area."