Shilo, Mateh Binyamin

For the Biblical location, see Shiloh (Biblical).

View of Shilo

Village emblem

Shilo (Hebrew: שִׁלֹה, שילה‎‎, Šîlô) is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, located 28 miles (45 km) north of Jerusalem on Route 60. It is neighboured by the Israeli settlements Eli and Maale Levona and the Palestinian villages Sinjil, Turmus Ayya and Qaryut. At the end of 2008, Shilo, organized as a communal settlement, had a population of 2,300 people. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

Mishkan Shilo synagogue is a replica of the Biblical Tabernacle

According to the Gush Emunim movement, Shilo was eyed as a potential site for a settlement as early as 1974. In January 1978, a modern community was established adjacent to the ancient biblical site, now called Tel Shilo, when a group affiliated with Gush Emunim returned to the location to assert revenant rights. In 1979 the Israeli government officially authorized Shiloh's status as a recognized village. The village is administrated by the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.

The ownership of the land that makes up Shilo is disputed. Settlers and the Israeli government claim that the settlement is built entirely on state land, owned by the state in 1967 or reverted to it because the owners had fled. Peace Now and local Palestinians claim that more than a quarter of Shilo is built on land privately owned by Palestinians. Shilo was cited by Oslo Peace Accords architect Yossi Beilin as an example of an area that should be turned over to Palestinian control. According to him, "It is one of the settlements which are stuck in a very densely populated Palestinian area, and there is no justification in the world to keep something like that out there."

The population of the village is approximately 2,300, and the community contains educational institutions, a Hesder Yeshiva (see below), medical and dental clinics, grocers, sports fields, a pool and several synagogues, one scale-modeled to the ancient Tabernacle.

On November 27, 2011, the Israeli Defense Ministry approved two plans which would see 119 new housing units built in Shilo, which would expand the settlement by 60%. The approval came as a response to a petition by Peace Now to the Israeli Supreme Court filed eight months before after construction began on 40 new housing units.

Status under international law

Shilo viewed from Tel Shilo

The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Tel Shilo

The city of Shilo held a central place in the Biblical history of the Jewish people. During the period between capturing the Land and building the Temple, thousands of years ago in the days when Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes, the Tabernacle resided in Shilo. Until the death of Eli the High Priest, Shilo was the place of pilgrimage for the Children of Israel. Three times a year the faithful traveled to Shilo to bring their festival offerings.

Tel Shilo is now an archaeological site, where once the spiritual life of the Jewish people was centered for 369 years in the 11th and 12th centuries B.C.E. In addition, there are artifacts from other periods, notably the end of the Second Temple (130 B.C.E. - 70 B.C.E.), the Byzantine period (350 - 618), and the early Muslim period (638-900).

The first archaeological excavations began in the years 1922-1932 by a Danish expedition. The finds were placed in the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen. In 1980, Yisrael Finkelstein, an archeologist from Bar-Ilan University, initiated four seasons of digs and many finds were revealed including coins, storage jars, and other artifacts. Many are preserved at Bar-Ilan University. In 1981-1982, Zeev Yeivin and Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun dug out from the bedrock area of the presumed site of the Tabernacle. Ceramics and Egyptian figurines were found.

In the summer of 2010, excavations at Tel Shilo were carried out under the auspices of the Staff Officer for Archeology in the Civilian Administration Antiquities Unit in cooperation with the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. A portion of the Canaanite period wall from 3700 years ago was uncovered in an attempt to ascertain if this was the first evidence of civilization. One notable find, not far from the wall, was a Roman coin from the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt.

A second season of excavation revealed a large structure, perhaps of an administrative character, originating in the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries) but built on a Roman period floor. An olive press was subsequently uncovered during a cleaning up.

Yeshivat Hesder Shilo

Yeshiva building under construction

Yeshivat Hesder Shilo was founded in 1979 and has over 150 students including 25 Kollel members. Rabbi Michael Brom, founding Rosh Yeshiva, continues to serve in this position. Rabbi Aharon (Arele) Harel served as co-Rosh Yeshiva for five years before resigning from this position prior to the start of 5771 (October 2010). As a hesder yeshiva, the students of Shilo combine intensive studies with service in the IDF.

The Yeshiva emphasizes intellectual Torah study centred on Talmud. It is, however, atypical in its parallel focus on internalization and character development, where there are three daily study sessions focusing on Musar literature and Chassidut.

After completing the five-year program, some students opt to further their rabbinic studies in the kollel and pursue semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Students may also certify as teachers with an academic degree (B.Ed.) in the Lifshitz College of Education, with which the yeshiva is affiliated. Many students and teaching staff choose to settle in Shilo permanently.

Midreshet Binat in Shvut Rachel, a midrasha headed by Rabbi Ronen Tamir, was established in 2000 as a branch of the yeshiva.

Tabernacle Synagogue

The town's main synagogue is designed as a replica of the Biblical Tabernacle.

Notable residents

• Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham

External links

• Shiloh website
• Shiloh English website
• Shiloh yeshiva (Hebrew)
• Shiloh on jewishvirtuallibrary.org
• Tel Shiloh website
• Pictures of Tel Shiloh
• God Israel & Shiloh, David Rubin, Mazo publishers, 2007