Nofekh () is a

community settlement A community settlement (, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of town or village in Israel and in the West Bank. In an ordinary town, anyone may buy property, but in a community settlement, the village's residents are organized in a cooperative an ...

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 ...

. Located in the

Shephelah 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 "Jud ...

, 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

Its name is taken from one of the 12 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, ...

, mentioned in Exodus 28:18. Nearby

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 ...

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 Ahlama (the former name of Beit Arif) were also named after the Hoshen stones.

History

The village was established 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

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in 1949 on the land 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 Rantiya.

References

{{Authority control Community settlements Populated places established in 1949 Populated places in Central District (Israel) 1949 establishments in Israel Moroccan-Jewish culture in Israel