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<\/a>\n\t\tHataklit co-owners, Avi Goldberger, Roy Bar-Tour and Haggai Sternheim, 2025 (Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Goldberger is also a ninth-generation Jerusalemite.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family has deep roots in the city,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
People from outside Jerusalem, Goldberger says, often assume that tension between religious and secular communities defines life here. In his experience, that misses the larger picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn reality, most of the time, that\u2019s simply not the story,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel welcomed and loved in this city by people from all backgrounds, nationalities and faiths.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grew up during the latter years of a period when Jerusalem\u2019s leadership was largely secular, an era symbolized by longtime mayor Teddy Kollek. That period, he says, contributed enormously to the city\u2019s development. But he rejects the idea that Jerusalem can be understood solely through a secular lens.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cJerusalem\u2019s significance, with all due respect to its cultural institutions, stems first and foremost from its history,\u201d he continues. \u201cAnd much of that history is tied to religion.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than viewing religiosity and modernity as opposing forces, Goldberger sees them as two essential currents flowing through the same city.<\/p>\n \u201cThese two currents need to learn how to coexist more successfully within the space called Jerusalem,\u201d he says. \u201cWithout one, there would be no other. In many ways, this is the story of the entire State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n That philosophy is reflected in Hataklit itself.<\/p>\n People walk through its doors looking for a drink, a conversation or a temporary escape. Many have no idea that the building has witnessed more than a century of Jerusalem history.<\/p>\n Among other things, it was the birthplace of Itamar Ben-Avi, the son of Hebrew language revivalist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. During the British Mandate period, it stood near the center of political and communal tensions that helped shape the emerging Jewish state. In later years, it housed a legendary photography studio, a beloved restaurant and some of Israel\u2019s earliest pubs and nightclubs.<\/p>\n During the late Ottoman period, the street was also known as one of the intellectual centers of Jerusalem where Muslims, Christians and Jews would smoke nargileh, play the oud, and discuss philosophy, history, and politics.<\/p>\n \t Yet Goldberger prefers not to dwell on the building\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to create a kind of escapist bubble,\u201d he says. \u201cThe place may be steeped in history, but when you come inside, it\u2019s as if you\u2019ve passed through a portal into another world \u2014 a small utopia where the music is good, everyone is equal, everyone is beautiful, and everyone is having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n Hataklit is, in many ways, an everything-goes oasis \u2014 where customers are given space to take the lead.<\/p>\n \t Over the years, patrons have organized Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas parties there. During Hanukkah, candles are lit each night. During Ramadan, some of the pub\u2019s more secular Muslim patrons who still choose to fast will show up during Iftar. On any given evening, diplomats, students, artists, journalists, religious Jews, secular Jews, Arabs and tourists might find themselves sharing the same space.<\/p>\n \t Goldberger\u2019s hopes for Jerusalem\u2019s future are not only expressed through the pub he helped create, but also through his daughters. If he is the ninth generation of his family in Jerusalem, they are the tenth.<\/p>\n But unlike when he was growing up, he believes that distinction matters less than it once did.<\/p>\n \t \u201cThe most important values I hope to pass on to them are curiosity and openness \u2014 both toward the world and toward other people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n They are growing up, he notes, in a city where religious and secular Jews, Arabs and Jews, longtime residents and new immigrants intersect every day.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope they learn to see that complexity not as a problem but as a source of richness,\u201d he continues. \u201cIf they learn to respect people who are different from them and find common ground with them, I will feel that I\u2019ve done something right as a parent.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Outside, Jerusalem continues arguing, praying, negotiating and enduring.<\/p>\n Inside Hataklit, Bowie plays on.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are plenty of people in Jerusalem trying to change the world,\u201d Goldberger says. \u201cAt Hataklit, we\u2019re simply trying to give them a two-hour break from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
<\/a>
\n\t\tAvi Goldberger spins records at Hataklit, May 2026 (Courtesy)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tA map from the British Mandate period showing the area where Hataklit is now located, date unknown (Courtesy Hataklit Facebook page)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tChristmas at Hataklit, December 2025 (Sarah Tuttle-Singer)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tThe author lights candles on the 7th night of Hanukkah, December 2025 (Courtesy)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tA cat holds vigil at Hataklit, 2025 (Courtesy Avi Goldberger)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tA fun night at HaTaklit, 2024 (Marcus James)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n