4,000 people perished, including about 2000 Jews and 200 members of the perushim community in Safed. Jerusalem Believing that the catastrophe was a direct product of their neglect of Jerusalem, the surviving members of the perushim community in Safed decided that the only hope for their future in the Land of Israel would be to reestablish themselves in Jerusalem. However, entrance to the Jerusalem could only be gained once the decree against Ashkenazim had been annulled. The perushim could then reclaim ownership of the Hurva Synagogue and its surrounding courtyard and homes, sites that were historically Ashkenazi property. The refugees succeeded in renewing the Ashkenazi presence in Jerusalem, after nearly a hundred years of banishment by the local Arabs. The arrival of the Perushim encouraged an Ashkenazi revival in Jerusalem, which until that time had been mostly Sephardi. By 1857, the perushim community in Jerusalem had grown to 750 people. Rabbi Yisroel of Shklov, who had moved to Jerusalem in 1815, became one of the leaders of the new community. In the interests of strengthening the Yishuv ("settlement") and its economic base, Rabbi Yisroel corresponded with and met Moses Montefiore regarding the establishment and funding of agricultural settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem. As a result, members of the perushim community were among the first to settle in the new neighborhoods of Nahalat Shiv'a and Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the first Jewish areas established outside the old walls of Jerusalem. Influence The aliyah of the perushim had a widespread and ongoing effect on the Jews in Palestine. They spread the teachings of the Vilna Gaon, which had a considerable influence on Jewish thought and religious practice amongst the Ashkenazi community. They also set up several kollels, founded the first dozen or so neighborhoods in the New City of Jerusalem, including the neighborhood of Mea Shearim, and were instrumental in rebuilding the Hurva Synagogue, which had lain in neglected ruin for 140 years. See also Edah HaChareidis Haredi Judaism Neturei Karta Hastening Redemption Avraham Wolfensohn References Encyclopedia Lechaluts Hayishuv Uvonav: Demuyot Utemunot, by David Tidhar (Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Rishonim, 1947–1971). Morgenstern, Arie: Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel. Published in Hebrew, 1997, Jerusalem, Ma'or; Published in English, 2006, Oxford University Press. Encyclopedia Judaica, Ya'ari, Avraham. Talmidei Hagra Vehishtarshutam Ba'aretz. Berman, S. Mishpakhot K"K Shklov. Shklov, 1936. (H) Haredi Judaism in Israel Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Ashkenazi Jews