Kfar Tapuach ( he, כְּפַר תַּפּוּחַ, ''lit.'', Apple-village) is an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, founded in 1978. It sits astride Tapuach Junction, one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder, and the chief rabbi is Shimon Rosenzwieg. In , it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

According to ARIJ, Kfar Tapuach was established in 1978 on land which Israel had confiscated from the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

town of

Yasuf Yasuf ( ar, ياسوف) is a Palestinian village located in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, northeast of Salfit, southwest of Nablus and adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach. According ...

Demographics

Although its population consists entirely of Jews, Kfar Tapuach is one of the more diverse Israeli settlements, with its population coming from a range of backgrounds. Founded by a core of Habbani

Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, th ...

from the moshav of

Bareket Bareket ( he, בַּרֶקֶת, , Emerald) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah around five kilometres north-east of Ben Gurion International Airport and covering 2,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in ...

, it has since absorbed Jewish immigrants from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, a large group of Peruvian converts to Judaism from

Trujillo, Peru , population_note = , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 13001 , area_code = 044 , website Municipality of Trujillo, footnotes ...

, and others. Between February 2004 and August 2009, over 90 new families moved to Kfar Tapuach.

Public services

*Four

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

s, two of which have three ''minyanim'' (prayer gatherings) daily and evening

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "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. In that sense, Torah means the ...

classes; all four are fully functional on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stori ...

. *Two ''Mikvaot'' (ritual baths), one for women and one for men. *A nursery school, and three kindergartens with a playground. *A qualified and experienced volunteer emergency medical and anti-terrorist team.

Private businesses

Private businesses include a grocery store, mechanic garage, moving company, goat farm, honey bee farm, Klaf (leather parchment) factory, and a perfume factory.

Biblical Tappuah

Kfar Tapuach is located near the archaeological site of Tapuach (Tappuah or Tapuah), which appears in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

() as one of the first 31 cities conquered by

Joshua Bin-Nun Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

and the children of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. places Tapuach at the border between the territory of the two sons of

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

, i. e., the tribes of

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * Jacob Manasseh (die ...

and

Ephraim Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughte ...

: :''The border f Manassehwent along south to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. Manasseh had the

ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...

land of Tappuah, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim''.

Kahanism

Kfar Tapuach is noted for its concentration of followers of the late Rabbi

Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane (; he, רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who serv ...

References

External links

Tapuach Playground Project

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tcl5w Olive wars 2014, BBC {{Authority control Kahanism Populated places established in 1978 Religious Israeli settlements Shomron Regional Council 1978 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Peruvian diaspora