"I'm very proud that I own a home in Jerusalem. As a Jew, it's a wonderful feeling." Photo: BarEl Properties Group © 1995 - 2008 The New York Times. All rights reserved

FROM LONG ISLAND TO JERUSALEM

By JESSICA STEINBERG

For years Leo and Myrna Zisman came to Israel twfice a year for pilgrimages. In the spring, they went to Mount Meron in the north of the country, paying homage at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a revered leader during the age of the Roman Empire. And in the fall, they would head to Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Their base was invariably one of Jerusalem's top hotels, and they would often include their children - and later, their grandchildren - as well as friends who were studying at an Israeli seminary. When they started talking about buying another vacation home in Florida - they already own a condo in Miami Beach - one of their daughters suggested they buy in Israel. "We thought, ‘Why not?' " Mrs. Zisman said.

The Zismans were certainly not strangers to the idea of multiple homes. After raising their children in Brooklyn, they built a home in the Long Island community of Cedarhurst near all three of their daughters. They spend six to seven months a year in that house, which has six bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a living room, dining room that can seat 30, library, den and elevator. They fly down to Florida for long weekends. There also is a country house in Monticello, N.Y., where they often spend part of the summer, and an apartment in the Crown Heights of Brooklyn, where Mr. Zisman, a Holocaust survivor and seventh-generation Lubavitcher, likes to be for the high holidays, in close proximity to the headquarters of the Lubavitch Hasidim.

"We're Jewish, so we have a home in Florida and a place in Monticello," Mrs. Zisman said, laughing.

When they started looking in Jerusalem about two years ago, they limited the search to the neighborhoods they knew, the historical and upper-class enclaves of Rechavia and Talbieh, where many religious American Jews buy second homes. Mr. Zisman, who owns Elzee Construction in New York, wanted a fixer-upper; a house that was in "total disarray, and that he could put together," Mrs. Zisman said.

"I wanted to finish it the way I wanted," Mr. Zisman said.

But when they saw what was on the market, they were discouraged. "What they wanted for a million dollars was awful," Mrs. Zisman said.

Their broker took them to a luxury apartment complex being built in Talbieh; he warned that all the apartments had been sold, but told them the same developer was building a similar complex around the corner. They fell in love with a three-bedroom garden apartment, and the next day the broker called to say the buyers had changed their minds and the apartment was theirs if they wanted it. The apartment was spacious, at about 170 square meters, or 1,800 square feet.

Mrs. Zisman was taken with the garden, which wrapped all the way around. She also liked the ground-floor setting. Mr. Zisman was impressed with quality of construction and the fact that the apartment had no columns, which allowed the couple to reconfigure the space as they wished.

At that point, they called Jeffrey Mark, owner of J. Mark Interiors in Cedarhurst and the interior decorator who had designed their Long Island home. With their shared taste for traditional furnishings, including lots of antiques, wood and wall coverings, both Mr. Mark and the Zismans knew what they wanted for the Israeli home.

"In all our homes, we want a comfortable house," Mr. Zisman said. "It's not for looks. I want to sit in my living room and dining room." At the same time, "We wanted it to reflect the country," said Mrs. Zisman.

She and Mr. Mark are design comrades who have become close friends; their goal was to create an intimate home with art and a color palette that mirrored Israel and Jerusalem. "It had to reflect who they are," Mr. Mark said, "and because it's in Jerusalem, it was going to be better than anything else."

The oil triptych of Jerusalem that centers the rounded wall separating the public living space from the bedrooms is a favorite item. They found the middle painting in the studio of Ben Avram, an artist in the Old City gallery, but the other two were on loan, hanging in the offices of an Israeli public official. The artist provided a replacement for the office space, and now the three complementary pieces hang in the Zismans' apartment.

The classic Baker furniture was imported from the United States, including mohair couches for the living room, which are "very durable and practical for when the grandchildren come," Mr. Mark said. They also imported the wallpaper. Mr. Mark, who commuted weekly from Long Island to work on the project, spent "six weeks straight" bringing in various wallpapers.

There are pieces that Mrs. Zisman and Mr. Mark picked up during their shopping trips around Israel. The bench at the end of the master bed is from the antique market in Old Jaffa, as is the painting hanging in the dining area, which was found in the basement of one of the stall owners. Mr. Mark's favorite pieces are the kitchen island, a massive block of smooth petrified wood found in a factory in Ashdod, as well as the backsplash of agate behind the ritual washing station in the dining room.

The Zismans say they are enjoying the wraparound garden, where they have a spacious table, chairs and grill - perfect for the parties they love to have. In the backyard, aromatic fruit trees, including oranges and pomegranates, frame the cushioned chaises longues. These days, nearby construction mars the quiet afternoons, but Mr. Zisman says he relishes the early morning silence of Jerusalem when he gets up at 5 to go to the Western Wall for morning prayers.

"It's so quiet, you can hear a bird flying across the sky," he said.

"This is our piece of the rock," Mrs. Zisman said. "Now that I have it, I'm very proud that I own a home in Jerusalem. As a Jew, it's a wonderful feeling."