Ein Karem
Ein Karem
Middle Bronze Age | |
---|---|
Population (2017)[1] | |
• Total | 1,620 |
Ein Karem (Hebrew: עֵין כֶּרֶם, ʿEin Kerem lit. "Spring of the Vineyard"; in Arabic ʿAyn Kārim;[2] also Ain Karem, Ein Kerem) is a historic mountain village southwest of Jerusalem, presently a neighborhood in the outskirts of the modern city, within the Jerusalem District. It is the site of the Hadassah Medical Center.
Ein Karem was an important Jewish village during the late Second Temple period,[3][4] during which it became important to Christianity. Christian tradition holds that John the Baptist was born in Ein Karem, following the biblical verse in Luke saying John's family lived in a "town in the hill country of Judea". Probably because of its location between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, this location was a very comfortable one for a pilgrimage, and this led to the establishment of many churches and monasteries in the area.
During the years of
Etymology
The name Ein Karem or Ein Kerem can be literally translated from both Hebrew and Arabic as "Spring of the Vineyard". It is derived from the springs and vineyards established on the village's terraced slopes.[10] Another possible translation would be "Spring of Carem", if derived from an ancient Iron Age Israelite city called Carem, mentioned as a city in the dominion of the tribe of Judah in the Septuagint version of Book of Joshua.[11] In Arabic, other than meaning "Spring of the Vineyard", it could be understood as well as "the Generous Spring".[12]
History
A spring that provides water to the village of Ein Karem stimulated settlement there from an early time.[13]
Bronze Age
Pottery has been found near the spring dating to the
Iron Age/Israelite period
During the Iron Age, or Israelite period, Ein Karem is usually identified as the location of the biblical village of Beth HaKerem (Jeremiah 6:1; Nehemiah 3:14).[14]
Second Temple period
A well-preserved mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) indicates there was a Jewish settlement in the Second Temple period along with some other discoveries such as handful of graves, bits of a wall, and an olive press.[3][15] A reservoir here was mentioned in the Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls.[16][17]
Roman and Byzantine periods
During excavations in the
In the Byzantine period, as part of the establishment of the “Liturgy of Jerusalem", Ein Karem was identified with the "
Early Islamic period
Ein Karem was recorded after the
Crusader period
It is mentioned under the name St. Jehan de Bois, "Saint John in the Mountains",
Ayyubid and Mamluk periods
After conquering Jerusalem in 1187, Saladin granted the village of Ein Karem to Abu Maydan, a renowned Sufi teacher from Seville, Andalusia. Abu Madyan had fought in the 1187 Battle of Hattin against the Crusaders before returning to the Maghreb, where he eventually died in Tlemcen, in what is today Algeria. A document, drafted in Jerusalem in 1320 (720 AH) by Abu Maydan's great-grandson, outlines the waqf's holdings, beginning with Ein Karem:[10]
"A village known by the name of Ein Karem, one of the villages adjacent to Jerusalem. This village includes farmed and fallow lands, both cultivated and abandoned, slopes and plains, unproductive bare rock, buildings in ruins, farmhouses, buildings in good repair with their surrounding fields, a little garden, pomegranate trees and other kinds irrigated with water from springs on the property, olive trees of a “rumi” or western variety, carob trees, fig trees, sessile oaks, qiqebs (hardwoods). This village is bounded on all sides: to the south by the great Maliha (salt pan); to the north by properties belonging to Ein-Kaout, Qalunya, Harash, Sataf, and Zawiya el-Bakhtyari; to the west by Ein Esheshqqaq, and to the east by properties belonging to the Maliha and to Beit Mazmil. This village is established as a waqf, with all attendant rights, appurtenances, fields, cultivated lands, threshing floors, loamy earth, with freshwater springs on location, prairies, planted trees, disused wells, vineyards, in a word, with all rights relating thereto, both within and without. However, the mosque, house of God, the path and the cemetery intended for use by Muslims, are not included in the present waqf."[10]
The Waqf Abu Maydan endowment, which included the Mughrabi Quarter in Jerusalem, has been supported by agricultural and property revenues from the village of Ein Karem until the 1948 war.[10]
A coin from the reign of
Ottoman period
Most of the village – some 15,000
In 1517, the village was included in the
In the course 17th century, the Franciscans manage to recover the ruins of the church raised by the Crusaders over the traditional birth cave of St. John and, in spite of local Muslim opposition, to rebuild and fortify it as the Monastery of St. John in the Mountains.
Israeli geographer Yehoshua Ben-Arieh described Ein Karem as "the most important village west of Jerusalem" in the 19th century.[10]
James Silk Buckingham visited in the early 1800s, and found he was "more pleased with this village [...] than with any other place I had yet visited in Palestine."[27]
In 1838, Ain Karim was noted as a Muslim and Latin Christian village in the Beni Hasan district.[28][29]
In 1863 Victor Guérin noted a thousand inhabitants "of whom there are barely two hundred and fifty who are Catholics; the others are Muslim."[30] The ancestors of the latter were held to descend from Maghrabins, that is to say, originating from the Maghreb (North Africa).[31] Guérin describes them as rowdy and fanatical, until a few years before his visit having very often attacked the Catholic monks at the Monastery of St John in order to extort from them food and money, a habit that had subsided only lately.[31][2]
An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Ain Karim had 178 houses and a population of 533, though the population count included only men. The population consisted of 412 Muslims in 138 houses, 66 Latin Christians in 18 houses, and 55 Greek Christians in 12 houses.[32][33]
In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Ain Karim as: "A flourishing village of about 600 inhabitants, 100 being Latin Christians. It stands on a sort of natural terrace projecting from the higher hills on the east of it, with a broad flat valley below on the west. On the south below the village is a fine spring ('Ain Sitti Miriam), with a vaulted place for prayer over it. The water issues from a spout into a trough."[34]
In 1896 the population of 'Ain Karim was estimated to be about 1,290 persons.[35]
British Mandate period
'Ayn Karim
Arabic: عين كارم | |
---|---|
Village | |
Palestine grid | 165/130 |
Date of depopulation | 10 and 21 April 1948, 16 July 1948[36] |
Area | |
• Total | 15,029 dunams (15.029 km2 or 5.803 sq mi) |
Elevation | 650 m (2,130 ft) |
Population (1948[39]) | |
• Total | 3,689 |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
Secondary cause | Arab–Israeli War |
Current Localities | Ein Karem[40] Beit Zayit,[41] Even Sapir[41] |
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of 'Ain Karim was 1,735; consisting of 1,282 Muslims and 453 Christians,[42] increasing in the 1931 census to 2,637, in 555 houses.[43]
During the 1929 riots in Palestine, Arab residents of 'Ain Karim launched raids against the nearby Jewish neighborhood of Bayit VeGan.[44]
In the 1945 statistics, Ein Karim had a population of 3,180; 2,510 Muslims and 670 Christians,[45] The total land area was 15,029 dunams,[37] of this, a total of 7,960 dunums of land were irrigated or used for plantations, 1,199 were used for cereals;[46] while a total of 1,704 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[47]
The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine placed 'Ayn Karim in the Jerusalem enclave intended for international control.[48]
1948 Arab–Israeli War
When the
The village was finally captured by Israeli forces during the ten-day campaign of July 1948. The remaining residents fled on July 10–11. The Arab Liberation Army forces which had camped in the village left on July 14–16 after Jewish forces captured two dominating hilltops, Khirbet Beit Mazmil and Khirbet al-Hamama, and shelled the village. During its last days, 'Ayn Karim suffered from severe food shortages.[51]
State of Israel
After the war ended, Israel incorporated the village into the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
In 1961, Hadassah built its medical center on a nearby hilltop, including the Hadassah Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology.[52]
Biblical connections
Old Testament
Only the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, the base for the Christian Old Testament, names a place in the hills of Judah as "Carem" (Joshua 15:30).[2][53]
New Testament
According to the
During the
The Jerusalem Calendar (Kalendarium Hyerosolimitanum) or the Georgian Festival Calendar, dated by some before 638, the year of the Muslim conquest, mentions the village by name, "Enqarim," as the place of a festival in memory of Elizabeth celebrated on the twenty-eighth of August.[54]
The English writer
Landmarks
Church of the Visitation
The
Monastery of St. John in the Mountains
The
In 1941–1942 the Franciscans excavated the area west of the church and monastery. The southernmost of the rock-cut chambers they found can probably be dated to the first century CE.
The church is mentioned in the Book of the Demonstration, attributed to
The site of the Crusader church built above the traditional birth cave of St John, destroyed after the departure of the Crusaders, was purchased by
Convent of the Sisters of Zion
The monastery of Les Sœurs de Notre-Dame de Sion (Sisters of Our Lady of Zion), built in 1860,[2] was founded by two brothers from France, Theodore and Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, who were born Jewish and converted to Christianity.[64] They established an orphanage here. Alphonse himself lived in the monastery and is buried in its garden.
Gorny or "Moscobia" Convent
The convent was established by the
Mary's Spring
According to a Christian tradition which started in the 14th century, the Virgin Mary drank water from this village spring, and here is also the place where Mary and Elizabeth met. Therefore, since the 14th century the spring is known as the Fountain of the Virgin. The spring waters are considered holy by some Catholic and Orthodox Christian pilgrims who visit the site and fill their bottles. What looks like a spring is actually the end of an ancient aqueduct. The former Arab inhabitants built a
St. Vincent
Other churches and religious institutions
Catholic
- The Convent of the Franciscan Sisters[22]
- The Convent of the Rosary Sisters, built in 1910[22]
- Casa Nova, a guesthouse for pilgrims reopened in 2014[56]
Greek Orthodox
- The Greek Orthodox Church of St John,[56] built in 1894 on the remnants of an ancient church[citation needed]
Related sites in the area
Monastery of St. John in the Wilderness
The
Notable residents
- Shlomo Aronson (1936–2018), Israeli landscape architect
- Erel Margalit (born 1961), Israeli high-tech and social entrepreneur
- Naomi Henrik (1920–2018), Israeli sculptor
See also
- 1948 Palestine War
- Beit HaKerem, a biblical fortress in Judah identified with either the later Herodium site, Ramat Rachel, or Ein Kerem
- Carem, a town mentioned only in the Septuagint
- Ein Kerem Agricultural School
- Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict
- Hadassah Medical Center
References
- ^ "Table III/14 – Population of Jerusalem, by Age, Quarter, Sub-Quarter and Statistical Area, 2017" (PDF). jerusaleminstitute.org.il. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Sharon, 2004, p. 155
- ^ a b "Jerusalem family finds 2,000-year-old ritual bath under living room". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ a b "Ein Karem, a village and its cultural landscape". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #360. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^ "'Ayn Karim – عين كارم –Jerusalem – Palestine Remembered". palestineremembered.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Ein Karem, a village and its cultural landscape". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
- ^ a b Dvir, Noam (25 August 2010). "Ein Karem Under Threat". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "Visiting Ein Karem". iTravelJerusalem. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
- ^ ISBN 9781503615397.
- ^ "Joshua 15 Brenton's Septuagint Translation". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
- ^ Guérin, 1868, pp. 84–85
- ^ a b G. Ernest Wright, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 71 [Oct. 1938], pp. 28f
- ISBN 965-220-186-3(English)
- ^ Re'em, 2016, Jerusalem, 'En Kerem
- ^ Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, 1994, p. 82
- ^ "Qumran Copper Scroll". Archived from the original on 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2017-09-09. (line 46)
- ^ "Ein Kerem". My Holy Land. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 906
- ^ a b Theodosius, 1893, p. 10
- ISBN 965-226-252-8(Hebrew)
- ^ a b c d e f Sharon, 2004, p. 156
- ^ Landes-Nagar, 2017, Jerusalem, ʽEn Kerem
- ^ Kark & Oren-Nordheim 2001, p. 212.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 118
- ^ NB: Clerical persons, whether Muslim, Jewish or Christian, were not included
- ^ Buckingham, 1821, pp. 227–229
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. 123
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 2, pp. 141, 157
- ^ Guérin, 1868, pp. 83–96
- ^ a b Guérin, 1868, p. 84
- ^ Socin, 1879, p. 143. It was also noted to be in the Beni Hasan district
- ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 122 noted 144 houses
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. 19–21
- ^ Schick, 1896, p. 125
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #360. Also gives the cause for depopulation
- ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 57
- ^ Ein Karem Elevation (649.83 M), on Distancesto.com
- ^ Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Depopulated Jerusalem Localities of the year 1948 by Selected Variables
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, settlement #107. 1949
- ^ a b Khalidi, 1992, p. 273
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 39
- ^ נאור, מרדכי (1986). ימי חומה ומגדל (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Yitzhak Ben Tsvi. p. 8.
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 102
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 152
- ^ UN map of Jerusalem Corpus Separatum Archived 2006-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gelber, Yoav (2006). Palestine, 1948: war, escape and the emergence of the Palestinian refugee problem. p. 308.
- ^ Efraim Karsh, Palestine Betrayed (2010) p182.
- ^ a b c Morris, 2004, p. 436, quoting: Entries for 10 and 11 July 1948, General Staff\Operations Logbook, IDFA\922\75\\1176; and Mordechai Abir, 'The local Arab Factor in the War of Independence (Jerusalem Area)' 18–19, IDFA 1046\70\185\\; and Yeruham, 'Arab Information (from 14.7.48)', 15 July 1948 HA 105\127aleph.
- ^ "Hadassah opens new pediatric bone marrow transplantation unit – Israel News – Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ Guérin, 1869, pp. 2–3
- ^ Sharon, 2004, p. 157
- ^ Pringle, 1993, pp. 38–46
- ^ a b c The Ain Karem Casa Nova is Back, Custodia Terrae Sanctae, 30 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2019
- ^ Ain Karem: Saint John the Baptist, at custodia.org. Retrieved 21 May 2019
- ^ Abel, 1938, pp. 295f
- ^ Pringle, 1993, pp. 30–38
- ISBN 9781400863181. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ^ Pringle, 1993, p. 32
- ^ Sharon, 2004, pp. 156–157
- ^ Maundrell, 1703, p. 92
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Maria Alphonse Ratisbonne". newadvent.org. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "Bible Gateway passage: Luke 1:39–56 – New International Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Petersen, 2001 pp. 100–103
- ^ טיולי, אתר. "ירושלים עין כרם - אתר טיולי". tiuli.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Sisters of mercy Haaretz, 8 November 2007
Bibliography
- Abel, F.M. (1938). Geographie de la Palestine. Vol. 2 Geographie Politique. Les villes. Librairie Lecoffre.
- Avner, Rina (2006-01-08). "Jerusalem, 'En Kerem" (118). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
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(help) - Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Buckingham, J.S. (1821). Travels in Palestine Through the Countries of Bashan and Gilead, East of the River Jordan, Including a Visit to the Cities of Geraza and Gamala in the Decapolis. London: Longman.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ISBN 0-860549-05-4.
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1868). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Centre.
- Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- ISBN 978-0-814-32909-2.
- ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Landes-Nagar, Annette (2017-05-14). "Jerusalem, 'En Kerem" (129). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
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(help) - Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Petersen, Andrew (2001). A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). Vol. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-727011-0.
- ISBN 0-521-39036-2.
- Radashkovsky, Igal (2018-02-27). "Jerusalem, 'En Kerem" (130). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
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(help) - Re'em, Amit (2016-06-05). "Jerusalem, 'En Kerem" (128). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
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(help) - Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Schick, C. (1896). "Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19: 120–127.
- Schick C. (1899). "Ancient Rock-cut Wine-presses at 'Ain Karim". Quarterly Statement – Palestine Exploration Fund. 31: 41–42.
- Schick C. (1905). "The birthplace of St. John the Baptist". Quarterly Statement – Palestine Exploration Fund. 37: 61–69.
- ISBN 90-04-13197-3.
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
- Theodosius (1893). Theodosius (A.D. 530). Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society.
- Tobler, T. (1854). Dr. Titus Toblers zwei Bucher Topographie von Jerusalem und seinen Umgebungen (in German). Vol. 2. Berlin: G. Reimer. pp. 344 ff)
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Further reading
- Olivier Rota, « L'exode arabe d'Eïn-Kerem en 1948. La relation des événements par les sœurs de Notre-Dame de Sion, St. Jean in Montana », in Tsafon, n°46, winter 2003, pp. 179–195.
External links
- Welcome To 'Ayn Karim, from Palestine Remembered
- Ayn Karim, Zochrot
- Ein Kerem (Ein Karem), biblewalks
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons