In 1873, Orthodox Jews founded a settlement a short distance from the Old City , just north of Jaffa Road. It was just the second neighborhood built outside the city walls, and was initially home to 100 families. Today, Mea She'arim is a unique neighborhood where strict interpretations of Jewish tradition rule and people dress in a manner common to Jewish ghettos of 18th and 19th century Europe. The men wear long black coats and fedoras or round, fur-covered shtreimels . Some have long white stockings and knicker-like pants, and most have tzitzit hanging below their shirts.
People are constantly in the street, coming to or from shul.
Men and women sit separately, usually on different floors of the bigger shuls. Go inside and you may find yourself in a world you don't recognize, where the prayers, songs and rituals are very different from those in even Orthodox synagogues elsewhere. This is also the home of some of the more ardent guardians of Judaism, who put up barricades to prevent cars from driving by on Shabbat and protest the building of roads or archaeological excavations in areas they believe may have been Jewish burial sites. Whatever your views on Orthodoxy, you should behave respectfully when in Mea She'arim and other religious neighborhoods. Signs are posted on buildings saying the Torah obligates women to dress appropriately.