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Zanoah

Coordinates: 31°43′56″N 34°59′57″E / 31.73222°N 34.99917°E / 31.73222; 34.99917
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Zanoah
זנוח
زنواح
Zanoah is located in Jerusalem
Zanoah
Zanoah
Coordinates: 31°43′56″N 34°59′57″E / 31.73222°N 34.99917°E / 31.73222; 34.99917
Grid position150125 PAL
CountryIsrael
DistrictJerusalem
CouncilMateh Yehuda
AffiliationPoalei Agudat Yisrael
Founded1950
Founded byYemenite Jews
Population
 (2022)[1]
530

Zanoah (Hebrew: זָנוֹחַ) is a moshav in central Israel. Located adjacent to Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 530.

Modern history

The village was established in 1950 by immigrants from Yemen, and was initially named Dayraban Gimel after the nearby depopulated Palestinian village of Dayr Aban.[2] In the following years the founders left and were replaced by immigrants from Morocco.

Education

The Beit Shemesh Yeshiva is located in Zanoah. Most of the students are from Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef. Aside from Talmud study, the curriculum includes English language and mathematics, and unlike many such institutions in Israel today, students study for the Bagrut matriculation exams.[3] From 2004 to 2015, when it closed, Zanoah was also the home of Yeshivat Yesodei HaTorah, which offered a gap year program for international English-speaking students.

History of archaeological site

The old site lies on a hill, adjacent to the watercourse Nahal Zanoah, a stream that runs north and drains into Nahal Sorek.[4] Although listed in Joshua 15:34 as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain.

The ruins of Khurbet Zanuʻ which lie on a high hill south of the moshav are thought to be the ancient village of Zanoah,[5][6] mentioned in Egyptian letters, later part of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:34), and in the "Second Temple period ... reinhabited,"[7][8] as recorded in the Bible (Nehemiah 3:13).[Note 1] During the 1st-century CE, the village was known by the name Zenoha.

An overhead power line now runs through the ancient site. The site reeks with antiquity, with the signs of an old settlement everywhere. The area of the old settlement is extensive, with razed structures that once stood as walls and houses. Shards of broken pottery are strewn extensively throughout the grounds, with several open-mouthed cisterns and antres.

Zanoah is mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah as one of the towns resettled by the Jewish exiles returning from the Babylonian captivity and who helped to construct the walls of Jerusalem during the reign of the Persian king, Artaxerxes I (Xerxes).[11][12] Nehemiah further records that those returnees were the very descendants of the people who had formerly resided in the town before their banishment from the country, who had all returned to live in their former places of residence.[13] Whether the reference there refers to the Zanoah in the Shefelah (Joshua 15:34) or to the Zanoah in the Judaean mountains (now known as Khirbet Zanuta[14]) is now unclear, as there were two places by the same name. Based on the archaeological evidence, Zanoah in the Shefelah was a settled village during the Persian period.[15]

According to the Mishnah, compiled in the 2nd-century CE (Munich MS., Menahot 83b),[16] the finest of the wheat used to grow in the valley adjacent to Zanoah, from whence it was taken for the Omer offering in the Temple.

Eusebius (3rd–4th century CE) mentions Zanoah in his Onomasticon as a village "within the borders of Eleutheropolis (Beit Gubrin) on the way to Ailia (Jerusalem)," and which was still inhabited in his day.[17]

C.R. Conder and H.H. Kitchener described the ruins of Khurbet Zanûa, visited by them in 1881.[18]

An archaeological survey of the site was conducted in 2008 by Pablo Betzer on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).[19] The site has never been excavated.

  • Zanoah ruin, old house of recycled stones
    Zanoah ruin, old house of recycled stones
  • Arched doorway, Kh. Zanua (Old Zanoah)
    Arched doorway, Kh. Zanua (Old Zanoah)
  • Voussoir stone in Zanoah
    Voussoir stone in Zanoah
  • Gaping hole in cistern at the Zanoah Ruin
    Gaping hole in cistern at the Zanoah Ruin
  • General view of ruins at the Zanoah ruin (Khurbet Zanua)
    General view of ruins at the Zanoah ruin (Khurbet Zanua)
  • Open cistern at the Zanoah ruin
    Open cistern at the Zanoah ruin
  • Open pit in the Old Zanoah
    Open pit in the Old Zanoah
  • Stone covering of cistern
    Stone covering of cistern
  • Razed blocks of hewn stones at Zanoah
    Razed blocks of hewn stones at Zanoah
  • Stone relics at ruin of Zanoah
    Stone relics at ruin of Zanoah
  • Rock-carved foundation of house in the Zanoah ruin
    Rock-carved foundation of house in the Zanoah ruin
  • General view of ruins at Khurbet Zanua (Zanoah)
    General view of ruins at Khurbet Zanua (Zanoah)
  • Stone relic of Zanoah
    Stone relic of Zanoah
  • House foundation at Kh. Zanoah
    House foundation at Kh. Zanoah

Notes

  1. ^ There were two towns bearing the same name; one in the Shefelah of Judah, called זנוח (Zanoah),[9] and the other in the mountainous district of Judah, also called זנוח (Zanoah)[10]

References

  1. ^ "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ Yalqut Teiman, Yosef Tobi and Shalom Seri (editors), Tel-Aviv 2000, p. 82, s.v. זנוח (Hebrew) ISBN 965-7121-03-5
  3. ^ Ettinger, Yair (September 8, 2019). "Black and White in Color". Haaretz. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Rosenfelder, Reuven (December 22, 2005). "Follow the Red Rock Road". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  5. ^ Tsafrir, Y.; Leah Di Segni; Judith Green (1994). (TIR): Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea, Palestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic , Roman and Byzantine Periods; Maps and Gazetteer. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. p. 261. ISBN 965-208-107-8.
  6. ^ Aharoni, Y. (1979). The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press. p. 443. ISBN 0664242669. OCLC 6250553. (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962))
  7. ^ Robinson, Edward (1856). Biblical Researches in Palestine. Vol. II. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. p. 16 (note 4).
  8. ^ Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land. (3rd edition 1993) Jerusalem, Carta, p.481, ISBN 965-220-186-3
  9. ^ Joshua 15:34
  10. ^ Joshua 15:56
  11. ^ Nehemiah 3:13
  12. ^ Josephus (1981). Josephus Complete Works. Translated by William Whiston. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications. p. 236 (Antiquities 11.5.7.). ISBN 0-8254-2951-X.
  13. ^ Nehemiah 7:6
  14. ^ Ben-Yosef, Sefi [in Hebrew] (n.d.). "Khirbet Zanuta". In Sefi Ben-Yosef (ed.). Israel Guide - Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 9. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. p. 229. OCLC 745203905.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link); cf. Joshua 15:56
  15. ^ Finkelstein, I. (2012). "The Historical Reality behind the Genealogical Lists in 1 Chronicles". Journal of Biblical Literature. 131 (1). The Society of Biblical Literature: 68. doi:10.2307/23488212. JSTOR 23488212.
  16. ^ Danby, H. ed., (1933), Mishnah Menahot 8:1 (p. 502); Jastrow, M., ed. (2006), Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, p. 406, OCLC 614562238, s.v. זנוחא. Both editors have used זנוחה, as found in the Munich MS., as the principalis lectionis, and acknowledging that a scribal error befell the copyist of the Tosefta [Zuckermandel edition] (Menahot 9:2), where he wrote זו לחה, instead of וזנוחה.
  17. ^ Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 92. ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750., s.v. Zanaoua
  18. ^ Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). Survey of Western Palestine – Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. III: Judea. London: The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. pp. 128–129.
  19. ^ Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2008, Survey Permit # S-44
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