Shoresh (, ''Root / source'') is a

moshav shitufi A moshav shitufi (, lit. ''collective moshav'', pl. ''moshavim shitufiim'') is a type of cooperative State of Israel, Israeli village, whose organizational principles place it between the kibbutz and the moshav on the scale of cooperation. Ideolo ...

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 five kilometres from Sha'ar HaGai in the Jerusalem corridor, it falls under the jurisdiction of

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 .

History

On 15 April 1948, the

Harel Brigade The 10th "Harel" Brigade (, ''Hativat Harel'') is a reserve infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Southern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Palestine war. It is one of the former divisions of the Palmach ...

captured the Arab village of Saris overlooking the highway to Jerusalem. The strategic hilltop position had been used to fire on Jewish vehicles travelling on the road below. Later that year, a group of

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

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

founded a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

on the site, they called him 'Shoresh' after the biblical village of Soris, which was, according to the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

translation of 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 ...

, located in the territory 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 ...

. The biblical name was preserved in the name of the nearby Arab village, Saris. Four years later, it became 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 ...

. Today Shoresh operates a hotel, conference center and banquet hall. In July 1995, a fire destroyed the moshav's poultry and orchard industries, damaged the hotel, and left over half the moshav members homeless.Moshav Shoresh: After the Fire
The Jerusalem Post, 24 July 1995

Notable residents

* Anastasia Gloushkov, Olympic synchronized swimmer *

Matan Vilnai Matan Vilnai (; born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A former Knesset member and government minister, he was appointed ambassador to China in 2012. Since 2017 Vilnai serves as ...

* Eli Avidar

References

{{Authority control Moshavim Former kibbutzim Populated places established in 1948 Populated places in Jerusalem District 1948 establishments in Israel