Eshtaol () 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 central

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 ...

, and a

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

location mentioned in the Books of Joshua and

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

and in the

first Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

. Located north of the city of

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

, it falls under the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Mateh Yehuda Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Yehuda'', ) is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in the Jerusalem District of Israel. In 2024 it was home to 51,125 people. The name of the regional council stems from the fact t ...

. In , it had a population of .

Hebrew Bible

was in the territory allotted 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 ...

(), and located on the border of the

tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah (son of Jacob), Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was one of the tribes to take its place in Canaan, occupying it ...

. Although listed in as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain. According to the biblical narrative,

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

began to be agitated by the Spirit of God in the locality of Mahaneh Dan (the camp of Dan), the district "between

Zorah Zorah () or Tzorah (), was a biblical town in the Judaean Foothills. It has been identified with the former village of Sar'a, now often referred to as Tel Tzora. Location Zorah was situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the valley of So ...

and " (). After his death in Gaza, Samson's body was brought back for burial in the tomb of his father

Manoah Manoah ( ''Mānoaḥ'') is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible. His name means "rest". He is the father of the judge Samson. Family According to the Bible, Manoah was of the tribe of Dan and lived in the cit ...

between and Zorah (). Five scouts from and Zorah were sent out to find a land suitable for the tribe of Dan. ().

History and archaeology

Neolithic settlement

In 2013, archaeological excavations conducted by the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

near discovered the oldest structure ever found in the

Shfela The Shephelah () or Shfela (), or the Judaean Foothills (), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel stretching over between the Judaean Mountains and the Coastal Plain. The different use of the term "Jude ...

region of the

Judean Hills The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills (, or ,) are a mountain range in the West Bank and Israel where Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and several other biblical sites are located. The mountains reach a height of . The Judean Mountains can be div ...

, dating back to the first permanent human settlement in the area some 10,000 years ago. Excavations at the site continued into 2014, led by A. Yaroshevich on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Modern Eshtaol

Eshtaol was founded on the lands of the depopulated

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

villages of and after the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

. It was part of a plan to establish villages in the Jerusalem corridor to create a contiguous bloc between the coastal plain and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The first residents were Jewish

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

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 ...

, who settled there in December 1949. They worked in land reclamation and forestry. The

Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

(JNF) established a 45-

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

nursery in to supply saplings for JNF forests. Later, the moshav branched out into poultry and other agricultural enterprises. At the end of the 1990s, the moshav absorbed 100 new families.

References

Bibliography

*Golani, Amir (27 November 2008)
Eshta’ol
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 120. *Solimany, Gideon (11/03/2009)
Eshta’ol Junction
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 121. *Golani, Amir and Dan Storchan (1 January 2009)
Eshta’ol
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 121. *Freikman, Michael (23 July 2010)
Eshta’ol
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 122. *Storchan, Dan (20 December 2010)
Eshta’ol, Survey of Sha‘ar Ha-Gāy–Hartuv Junctions
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 122. *Storchan, Dan (22 November 2012)
Eshta’ol
''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'', No. 124.

External links

Official website
{{Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Moshavim Populated places established in 1949 Populated places in Jerusalem District Yemeni-Jewish culture in Israel Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea 1949 establishments in Israel