Zrahia () is a religious

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 southern

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 near

Kiryat Malakhi Kiryat Malakhi () also spelled Kiryat Malahi, Kiryat Malachi, or Qiryat Mal'akhi, is a city in the Southern District of Israel, northeast of Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2). History Q ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Shafir Regional Council Shafir Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shafir'') is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel near the city of Kiryat Gat. The council is bordered on the north by the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council, on the east by Yoav Regional ...

. In it had a population of .

History

The village was established in 1950 on land that had belonged to 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

al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Gaza Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 1948 War on May 18, 1948, as part of the second stage ...

. Most of the founders were

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

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, although there were also some from the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

, particularly Morocco. It was named after Zrahia, an ancestor of

Ezra Ezra ( fl. fifth or fourth century BCE) is the main character of the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an important Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen'') in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, t ...

(Ezra 7:4), who came to the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

after the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

References

{{Authority control Moshavim Religious Israeli communities Populated places established in 1950 Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1950 establishments in Israel Iranian-Jewish culture in Israel Moroccan-Jewish culture in Israel