Meron, Israel
Meron
מירון ميرون | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 32°58′55″N 35°26′25″E / 32.98194°N 35.44028°E | |
Country | Israel |
District | Northern |
Council | Merom HaGalil |
Affiliation | Hapoel HaMizrachi |
Founded | 2000 BCE (Canaanite city) 1200 BCE (Israelite City) 750 CE (Meiron) 1949 (Israeli moshav) |
Population (2022)[1] | 1,136 |
Meron (Hebrew: מֵירוֹן, Meron) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located on the slopes of Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council.
Meron is most famous for the
In 2022 it had a population of 1,136.[1]
On 30 April 2021, the deadliest civil disaster in the history of Israel occurred at Meron. 45 people were
Geography
Meron is noted for its mountainous terrain and valleys. Among the local attractions are the Meron Vineyards. Meron is conducive to growing grapes for wine as a result of its 600-meter altitude and chalky soil. The vineyard was first planted in 2000 and is part of the Galil Mountain Winery, headquartered in nearby Kibbutz Yiron.[8]
History
Bronze and Iron Ages
The association of Meron with the ancient Canaanite city of Merom or Maroma is generally accepted, though the absence of hard archaeological evidence means other sites a little further north, such as
Soundings conducted below the floors of houses excavated in the 1970s indicate the presence of even earlier structures with a different layout. While these lower levels have not yet been excavated, the possibility that they date back to the Early Bronze Age was not ruled out by the archaeologists. A handful of artifacts dating to the Early Bronze Age, including seal impressions and a basalt bowl, were also found during the digs.[11]
Classical Antiquity
Excavations at Meron found
.According to
A tower which still stands at a height of 18 feet (5.5 m) was constructed in Meron in the 2nd century CE.
Early Islamic to Mamluk periods
Denys Pringle describes Meron as a "[f]ormer Jewish village", with a synagogue and tombs dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries, noting the site was later reoccupied between 750 and 1399.[19]
In the 12th century,
In the early 14th century,
Ottoman period
Meron suffered relatively minor damage in the Galilee earthquake of 1837. It was reported that during the earthquake the walls of the tombs of Rabbi Eleazer and Rabbi Shimon were dislodged, but did not collapse.[24]
A number of European travellers came to Meron over the course of the 19th century and their observations from the time are documented in travel journals. Edward Robinson, who visited Meron during his travels in Palestine and Syria in the mid-19th century, describes it as "a very old looking village situated on a ledge of bristling rocks near the foot of the mountain. The ascent is by a very steep and ancient road [...] It is small, and inhabited only by Muhammedans."[20] The tombs of Shimon bar Yochai, his son rabbi Eleazar and those of Hillel and Shammai are located by Robinson as lying within a khan-like courtyard underneath low-domed structures that were usually kept closed with the keys held in Safad. Robinson indicates that this place was the focal point of Jewish pilgrimage activities by his time; the synagogue is described as being in ruins.[20]
British Mandate of Palestine
Towards the end of World War I, the ruins of the Meron synagogue were acquired by the "Fund for the Redemption of Historical Sites" (Qeren le-Geulat Meqomot Histori'im), a Jewish society headed by David Yellin.[27] In 1931, Meron consisted of an Arab and Jewish quarter, with the former being the larger one and the latter being built around the tomb of bar Yochai. That year, there were 259 Arabs and 31 Jews. Sami Hadawi's 1945 survey, conducted toward the end of the British Mandate in Palestine, depicted an entirely Arab population. Meron had a boy's elementary school. Agriculture and livestock was the dominant economic sectors of the village, with grain being the primary crop, followed by fruits. Around 200 dunams of land were planted with olive trees, and there were two presses in the village used to process olives.[22]
1948 War
The Arab inhabitants of Meron, then known as Meiron, were driven out or fled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[4]
State of Israel
Meron was founded as a moshav by the Hapoel HaMizrachi movement in 1949 next to the site of ancient Meiron by eastern European Jews who fought in the 1948 war.[5][6]
Politicians Yehuda Leib Maimon and Dov Yosef attended the moshav's establishment ceremony, which took place on Lag BaOmer in 1949.[6]
2006 Lebanon–Israel War
On July 14, 2006, a Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon exploded in Meron, claiming 2 lives—Yehudit Itzkovich, 57, and her 7-year-old grandson Omer Pesachov—and injuring four others. A new barrage of rockets hit Moshav Meron on July 15; there were no injuries.[28]
Tomb of Shimon Bar Yochai
Meron is most famous for the
Lag BaOmer
During the annual mass public commemoration of Lag BaOmer, hundreds of thousands of Jews make a pilgrimage to the site. With torches, song and feasting, the Yom Hillula is celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people. This celebration was a specific request by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai of his students. It is a custom at the Meron celebrations, dating from the time of Rabbi Isaac Luria, that three-year-old boys are given their first haircuts (upsherin), while their parents distribute wine and sweets.[29]
2021 stampede
On 30 April 2021, 45 people were crushed to death while trying to exit through a narrow passage, at the mass gathering to celebrate the Lag BaOmer, in the deadliest civil disaster in the history of Israel.[7]
References
- ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ Mordecai Schreiber, Alvin I. Schiff, Leon Klenicki. The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia. p. 180
- ^ See below.
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #56.
- ^ a b "Meron". Britannica.
- ^ a b c Palestine Post, 17 May 1949: https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1949/05/17/01/page/1?& Bonfires at Meron: "The feast of Lag B’Omer was celebrated tonight, in austerity and marked by the establishment of a new settlement at Meron... The Minister of Religions, Rabbi J. L. Fishman, and the Minister of Supplies and Rationing, Dr. Dov Joseph, were present at the naming of a new settlement at Meron, to be worked by some 50 families of the Hapoel Hamizrahi."
HaTzofe, 17 May 1949, שני ארגונים של הפועל המזרחי עלו על הקרקע (English: Two Hapoel HaMizrachi settlements are founded) - ^ a b "44 crushed to death, over 150 hurt in stampede at mass Lag B'Omer event in Meron". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
- ^ "יקב הרי גליל - דף הבית".
- ^ a b Aharoni and Rainey, 1979, p. 225.
- ^ a b Bromiley, 1995, p. 326.
- ^ a b c d e Negev and Gibson (2001), p. 330.
- ^ a b Zangenberg et al., 2007, p. 155.
- ^ a b Ben Jonah et al., 1841, pp. 107–108.
- ^ a b c Urman and Flesher, 1998, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Safrai, 1998, p. 83.
- ^ a b Stemberger and Tuschling, 2000, p. 123.
- ^ a b Horden and Purcell, p. 446: "From the thirteenth century the most frequented pilgrim shrine for Jews in Palestine was at Meiron in Galilee… While it was a prominent local religious centre in late Antiquity, with a fine synagogue built in a conspicuous position and a much-venerated copies spring, it had then nothing like the status which it would acquire in the Middle Ages."
- ^ Groh, in Livingstone, 1987, p. 71.
- ^ Pringle, 1997, p. 67.
- ^ a b c d Robinson, 1856, p. 73.
- ^ al-Dimashqi quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 476.
- ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p.477.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 176
- ^ Neman, 1971, cited in "The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel" by N. N. Ambraseys, in Annali di Geofisica, Aug. 1997, p.933,
- ^ Oliphant, 1886, p.75.
- ISBN 978-1-4021-7864-1
- ^ Fine, 2005, p. 23.
- ^ "Woman, grandson killed in Meron rocket attack - Israel News, Ynetnews". ynetnews.com. Jul 14, 2006. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved Apr 28, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b David M. Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson Pilgrimage and the Jews (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006) 89–91, 146–149.
Bibliography
- Aharoni, Yohanan; Rainey, Anson F. (1979), The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 9780664242664
- Benjamin Ben Jonah of Tudela (1841), Adolf (Abraham) Asher (ed.), The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, Asher
- Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: A–Z, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9780802837851
- Fine, Steven (2005), Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521844918
- Friedland, Roger; Hecht, Richard D. (1996), To Rule Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521440462
- Gitlitz, David M. & Linda Kay Davidson. Pilgrimage and the Jews (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006). ISBN 0-275-98763-9
- Horden, Peregrine; Purcell, Nicholas (2000), The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 9780631218906
- Groh, D.E. (1989), Elizabeth A. Livingstone (ed.), Papers Presented to the Tenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 1987, Peeters Publishers, ISBN 9789068312317
- ISBN 0-8264-1316-1
- ISBN 9780521460101
- Stemberger, Günter; Tuschling, Ruth (2000), Jews and Christians in the Holy Land: Palestine in the Fourth Century, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 9780567086990
- Urman, Dan; Flesher, Paul Virgil McCracken (1998), Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, BRILL, ISBN 9789004112544
- Zangenberg, Jürgen; Attridge, Harold W.; Martin, Dale B. (2007), Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee: A Region in Transition, Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 9783161490446