Benebarak ('Sons of Barak') (, ''Bnei Brak'') was a biblical city mentioned in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

. According to the biblical account it was allocated to the

Tribe of Dan The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe initially settled in the hill lands bordering Tribe of Ephraim, Ephraim and Tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin on the ...

. Its archaeological site is Tel Bnei Brak.

History

The town of Beneberak (''Banaibarka'') is specifically named in the Aramaic stele ( Oriental Institute Prism) among other historical records detailing

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( or , meaning "Sin (mythology), Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705BC until his assassination in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous A ...

's military exploits in the country, along with the towns of Beth-Dagon and Joppa, as places subdued by him. In the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic era, Beneberak became the seat of the court of

Rabbi Akiva Akiva ben Joseph (Mishnaic Hebrew: ; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a '' tanna'' of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second. Rabbi Akiva was a leadin ...

, and is identified as the site of his all-night ''

seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

'' in the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to reco ...

''. Benebarak was also associated with agriculture, as evident from the Talmudic account of the sage Rami bar Yehezkel, who declared that he understood the meaning of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

's description of the ''

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

'' as a "land flowing with milk and honey" after a scene he witnessed in Beneberak. He saw

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s grazing beneath fig trees and the

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

oozing from the very ripe figs merged with the milk dripping from the goats and formed a stream of milk and honey.'' Ketubot'' 111b

Other places

The Palestinian village of ''Ibn Ibraq'' ('Son of Ibraq/Barak') was located on the site of the biblical city and its name was seen as a continuation of the name of the ancient site. In 1924, the Jewish agricultural settlement of

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak ( ) or Bene Beraq, is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1,752 acre ...

, which was named for the ancient city, was established to the north. Ibn Ibraq's Arab villagers subsequently renamed it '' al-Khayriyya'' to distinguish it from Bnei Brak.Cancik, Hubert, Peter Schäfer and Hermann Lichtenberger (1996),
Geschichte-Tradition-Reflexion: Festschrift Für Martin Hengel Zum 70. Geburtstag
'. Mohr Siebeck. . p. 484. Al-Khayriyya was depopulated during a military assault as part of Operation Hametz during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

. A large waste transfer station, known as Hiriya, was built at the ancient/modern site, now converted into the Ariel Sharon Park.

References

{{reflist Hebrew Bible cities Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Talmud places Tribe of Dan