Beit Arif () is a

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

in the Central District of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located adjacent to the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Shoham Shoham () is a town in the Central District of Israel. The name relates to one of the 12 stones on the Hoshen, the sacred breastplate worn by a Jewish high priest (Exodus 28:20), similar to other nearby towns: Nofekh, Bareket, Leshem and Ahlam ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Hevel Modi'in Regional Council Hevel Modi'in Regional Council () is a regional council (Israel), regional council located partly in the Shephelah region and partly in the Central Coastal Plain region of the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. It was founded i ...

. In it had a population of .

Etymology

The moshav was originally named Ahlama () (Exodus 28:19), after one of the twelve stones in the

Hoshen The priestly breastplate or breastpiece of judgment ( ''ḥōšen'') was a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest of the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account, the breastplate is termed the ''breastplate of jud ...

, the sacred breastplate worn by a

Jewish high priest In Judaism, the High Priest of Israel (, lit. ‘great priest’; Aramaic: ''Kahana Rabba'') was the head of the Israelite priesthood. He played a unique role in the worship conducted in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem, ...

. Four other nearby settlements,

Bareket Bareket () is a religious Zionist moshav in the Central District of Israel. Located near the town of Shoham and the Judean Foothills, around five kilometres north-east of Ben Gurion International Airport and covering 2,500 dunams, it falls und ...

, Leshem and Nofekh, are also named after such stones. It was subsequently renamed Beit Arif, which is presumably derived from the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

Byt Ḥrp, with the name of the ancient site being migrated from its original location in the neighboring youth village of

Ben Shemen Ben Shemen (, ''lit.'' very fruitful) is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymology The village's name is take ...

History

During the 18th and 19th centuries Beit Arif was the site of the village of Dayr Tarif. It belonged to the Nahiyeh (sub-district) of

Lod Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

that encompassed the area of the present-day city of

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( ''Mōdīʿīn-Makkabbīm-Rēʿūt'') is a city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In the population was . The populati ...

in the south to the present-day city of

El'ad El'ad () is a city in the Central District of Israel. In the 1990s, it was built for a Haredi population and to a lesser extent, it was also built for a Religious Zionist Jewish population. Located about east of Tel Aviv on Route 444 between R ...

in the north, and from the foothills in the east, through the Lod Valley to the outskirts of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

in the west. This area was home to thousands of inhabitants in about 20 villages, who had at their disposal tens of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land. The moshav was founded in 1949 by

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

on the ruins of the depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village of Dayr Tarif. In the early 1950s some

Jewish refugees This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...

from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

arrived in the area, and built homes about half a kilometre away. After disagreements between the two groups, in 1953 the original residents left and moved to

Ginaton Ginaton () is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Ben Shemen, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The village was established in 1949 by immigrants from Bulgaria, near the a ...

(a moshav also founded by Bulgarian-Jewish immigrants).''Place Names in Israel. A Compendium of Place Names in Israel compiled from various sources'', Israel Prime Minister’s Office. The Israeli Program for Scientific Translations 1962, pp27–28

References

{{Authority control Moshavim Populated places established in 1949 Populated places in Central District (Israel) 1949 establishments in Israel Bulgarian-Jewish culture in Israel Yemeni-Jewish culture in Israel