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ar, عين كارم , settlement_type = Neighborhood of
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, image_skyline = Ein Karem IMG 0624.JPG , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = View of Ein Karem , subdivision_type =
Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
, subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 =
District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...
, subdivision_name1 = Jerusalem District , subdivision_type2 = City , subdivision_name2 =
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, established_title = Founded , established_date =
Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pr ...
, population_footnotes = , population_as_of = 2017 , population_total = 1,620 , area_code_type = Area code Ein Karem ( he, עֵין כֶּרֶם, ''ʿEin Kerem'' lit. "Spring of the Vineyard"; in Arabic ''ʿAyn Kārim'';Sharon, 2004, p
155
/ref> also Ain Karem, Ein Kerem) is a historic mountain village southwest of
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, 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 Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
village during the late
Second Temple period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Je ...
, during which it became important to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
. Christian tradition holds that
John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
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 Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...
". Probably because of its location between
Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...
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 Ottoman and later British rule in Palestine, Ein Karem was a Palestinian Arab village. It was depopulated of its residents during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form Britis ...
.Morris, 2004, p
xx
village #360. Also gives cause of depopulation.
After the war it became, once again, a Jewish settlement. Today, Ein Karem is a vibrant bohemian neighborhood of Jerusalem, with a population of 2,000 (2010). It has retained a very high-level of authenticity, its natural environment remains intact, and its old houses are still inhabited and preserved. It attracts three million visitors a year, one-third of them pilgrims from around the world. Alongside its religious landmarks, Ein Karem is also known for its fine art, culinary, and musical scenes.


Etymology

The name ''Ein Karem'' ''or Ein Kerem'' can be literally translated from both Hebrew and Arabic as "Spring of the Vineyard". Another possible translation would be "Spring of Carem", if derived from an ancient
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stel ...
city called Carem, mentioned as a city in the dominion of the
tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
in the
Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...
version of
Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...
. In Arabic, other than meaning "Spring of the Vineyard", it could be understood as well as "the Generous Spring".Guérin, 1868, pp
84
85


History

A spring that provides water to the village of Ein Karem stimulated settlement there from an early time.G. Ernest Wright, ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' 71 ct. 1938 pp. 28f


Bronze Age

Pottery has been found near the spring dating to the
Middle bronze age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pr ...
.


Iron Age/Israelite period

During the
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
, or
Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stel ...
period, Ein Karem is usually identified as the location of the biblical village of Beth HaKerem ().


Second Temple period

A well-preserved ''
mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (,  ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purifi ...
(''Jewish ritual bath) indicates there was a Jewish settlement in the
Second Temple period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Je ...
along with some other discoveries such as handful of graves, bits of a wall, and an olive press. A reservoir here was mentioned in the
Copper Scroll The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed ...
, one of the
Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...
.Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, 1994, p. 82


Roman and Byzantine periods

During excavations in the Church of Saint John the Baptist, a marble statue of
Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
(or
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
) was found, broken in two. It is believed to date from the
Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
and was probably toppled in
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
times. Today, the statue is at the
Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum located in East ...
. Excavations in front of the same church, which has at its core the cave which Christian tradition identifies as the birthplace of
John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, have unearthed remains of two Byzantine chapels, one containing an inscription mentioning Christian "martyrs", but without any mention of John. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have also been found in Ein Karem. Sources from the Byzantine period are associating Ein Karem with the place where Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, had lived, which is not properly named by the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
. In around 530 CE, the Christian pilgrim Theodosius places Elizabeth's town at a distance of from Jerusalem,Theodosius, 1893, p
10
/ref> which suits Ein Karem.


Early Islamic period

Ein Karem was recorded after the Islamic conquest.
Al-Tamimi, the physician Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Tamimi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن سعيد التميمي), (died 990), known by his kunya, "Abu Abdullah," but more commonly as Al-Tamimi, the physician, was a tenth-century physician, who came to renown o ...
(d. 990), mentions a church in Ein Karem that was venerated by the Christians, also mentioning an old custom of the
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
of Ein Karem to make wreaths from the boughs (branches) of a wild plant belonging to the mint family (
Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
) during the Jewish holiday of Shavu'ot.


Crusader period

It is mentioned under the name St. Jehan de Bois, "Saint John in the Mountains", during the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
. The Crusaders were the first to build here a church dedicated to St John, rebuilt in the 17th century by the Franciscans and still active today, and Moshe Sharon considers it as "almost sure" that the Crusaders are the ones who started the tradition of identifying that particular site as St John's birthplace.


Mamluk period

A coin from the reign of
As-Salih Hajji Al-Salih Hajji (Epithet: Al-Salih Salah Zein al-Din Hajji II), also Haji II, was a Mamluk ruler, and the last ruler of the Bahri dynasty in 1382. He briefly ruled again in 1389, during the advent of the Burji dynasty. He fell hostage to Barquq ...
(1389 CE.) was found here, together with pottery, glassware and other coins from the
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
era.Landes-Nagar, 2017
Jerusalem, ʽEn Kerem
/ref>


Ottoman period

Most of the village - some 15,000
dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amou ...
s - was
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
land set aside charitably to benefit the Moroccan Muslim community in Jerusalem, belonging to the endowment established by Abu Madyan in the 14th century. In 1517, the village was included in the
Ottoman empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
with the rest of Palestine and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Ain Karim'', located in the ''
Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' of Jabal Quds of the '' Liwa'' of Al-Quds. The village had at this time 29 households, all
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, grape syrup/molasse, goats and beehives in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 5,300
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is der ...
. All of the revenue went to a
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
. 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. 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." In 1838, ''Ain Karim'' was noted as a Muslim and Latin Christian village in the ''Beni Hasan'' district. In 1863
Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...
noted a thousand inhabitants "of whom there are barely two hundred and fifty who are Catholics; the others are Muslim." The ancestors of the latter were held to descend from Maghrabins, that is to say, originating from the
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
(North Africa).Guérin, 1868, p
84
/ref> 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. 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. 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." In 1896 the population of Ain Karim'' was estimated to be about 1,290 persons.


British Mandate period


ar, عين كارم , settlement_type = Village , image_skyline = Ein karem 1906.jpg , imagesize = 250 , pushpin_map = Israel , pushpin_mapsize = 200 , grid_name = Palestine grid , grid_position = 165/130 , subdivision_type = , subdivision_name = , established_title1 = Date of depopulation , established_date1 = 10 and 21 April 1948, 16 July 1948 , established_title2 = Repopulated dates , unit_pref = dunam , area_footnotes = , area_total_dunam = 15,029 , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 650 , population_as_of = 1948 , population_total = 3,689 , blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation , blank_info_sec1 = Influence of nearby town's fall , blank1_name_sec1 = Secondary cause , blank1_info_sec1 = Arab - Israeli War , blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities , blank3_info_sec1 = Ein Karem
Beit Zayit Beit Zayit ( he, בֵּית זַיִת, , House of Olives) is a moshav in Israel. Located just outside the Jerusalem municipal border to the west, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of . B ...
,Khalidi, 1992, p. 273 Even Sapir In the
1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...
, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of 'Ain Karim was 1,735; consisting of 1,282 Muslims and 453 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p
14
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 2,637, in 555 houses.Mills, 1932, p
39
/ref> During the 1929 riots in Palestine, Arab residents of 'Ain Karim launched raids against the nearby Jewish neighborhood of
Bayit VeGan Bayit VeGan ( he, בית וגן, lit. ''House and Garden'') is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat HaYovel and Givat Mordechai. History Bronze Age A 4 ...
. In the 1945 statistics, Ein Karim had a population of 3,180; 2,510 Muslims and 670 Christians,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
24
/ref> The total land area was 15,029 dunams,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
57
/ref> of this, a total of 7,960 dunums of land were irrigated or used for plantations, 1,199 were used for
cereal A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food ...
s;Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
102
/ref> while a total of 1,704 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas. The 1947
United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as R ...
placed 'Ayn Karim in the Jerusalem enclave intended for international control.


1948 Arab-Israeli War

When the 1947-1949 Palestine war started, 'Ain Karim became a major base of operations against nearby Jewish neighborhoods. In February 1948, the village's 300 guerilla fighters were reinforced by a well-armed
Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; ar, جيش الإنقاذ العربي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the ...
force of mainly
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n fighters, and on March 10 a substantial
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i detachment arrived in the village, followed within days by some 160
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
ian fighters. On March 19, the villagers joined their foreign guests in attacking a Jewish convoy on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road. Immediately after the April 1948 massacre at the nearby village of
Deir Yassin Deir Yassin ( ar, دير ياسين, Dayr Yāsīn) was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 inhabitants about west of Jerusalem. Deir Yassin declared its neutrality during the 1948 Palestine war between Arabs and Jews. The village was razed ...
( to the north), most of the women and children in the village were evacuated. 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.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.


State of Israel

After the war ended, Israel incorporated the village into the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Ein Karem was one of the few depopulated Arab localities which survived the war with most of the buildings intact. The abandoned homes were resettled with new migrants, many of whom
Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained ...
who fled from the Arab countries who fought the Arab-Israeli War during the war and after it, i.e. Jews from
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
but also from
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...
. Over the years, the bucolic atmosphere attracted a population of artisans and craftsmen. Today it is a vibrant bohemian neighborhood of Jerusalem, attracting many artist, young people and tourists. In 1961, Hadassah built its medical center on a nearby hilltop, including the Hadassah Medical Center and the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology.


Biblical connections


Old Testament

Only the
Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...
translation of the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
, names a place in the hills of Judah as "
Carem Carem or Karem is a place mentioned in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible as being a town situated in the hill country of the tribe of Judah, while the Masoretic Text and Vulgate do not mention the name (see ). Identification Accordin ...
" ().


New Testament

According to the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
,
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
went "into the hill country, to a city of Judah" () when she visited her cousin
Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, the wife of
Zechariah Zechariah most often refers to: * Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah * Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to: People *Zechariah ...
. During the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period, Theodosius (530 CE) gives the distance between Jerusalem and the town of Elizabeth as . The Jerusalem Calendar (''Kalendarium Hyerosolimitanum'') or the
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
n 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.Sharon, 2004, p
157
/ref> The English writer Saewulf, on pilgrimage to Palestine in 1102–1103, wrote of a monastery in the area of Ein Karim dedicated to St. Sabas, where 300 monks had been "slain by
Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...
", but without mentioning any tradition connected to St. John.Sharon, 2004, p
156
/ref>


Landmarks


Church of the Visitation

The
Church of the Visitation The Church of the Visitation (formerly ''Abbey Church of St John in the Woods'') is a Catholic church in Ein Karem, Jerusalem, and honors the visit paid by the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist (). T ...
, or ''Abbey Church of St John in the Woods'', is located across the village to the southwest from St. John's. The ancient sanctuary there was built against a rock declivity. It is venerated as the ''pietra del nascondimento'', the "stone in which John was concealed," in reference to the
Protevangelium of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...
. The site is also attributed to John the Baptist's parental summer house, where Mary visited them. The modern church was built in 1955, also on top of ancient church remnants. It was designed by
Antonio Barluzzi Antonio Barluzzi (26 September 1884 – 14 December 1960) was an Italian architect who became known as the "Architect of the Holy Land" by creating, among many others, the pilgrimage churches at the Garden of Gethsemane, on Mount Tabor (considere ...
, an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
architect, who designed many other churches in the Holy Land during the 20th century.


Monastery of St. John in the Mountains

The
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Monastery of St. John ba-Harim (St. John "in the Mountains"The Ain Karem Casa Nova is Back
Custodia Terrae Sanctae, 30 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2019
in Hebrew) is centered on a church containing the cave identified by tradition as the birthplace of Saint John the Baptist. The church is built over the remnants of a Crusader church and its porch stands over the remains of two
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
chapels, both containing
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
floors. The current structure received its outlook as the result of the latest large architectural intervention, finished in 1939 under the guidance of the Italian architect,
Antonio Barluzzi Antonio Barluzzi (26 September 1884 – 14 December 1960) was an Italian architect who became known as the "Architect of the Holy Land" by creating, among many others, the pilgrimage churches at the Garden of Gethsemane, on Mount Tabor (considere ...
. 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. Some remnants below the southern part of the porch suggests the presence of a ''
mikve Mikveh or mikvah (,  ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...
'' (Jewish ritual bath) that is dated to the
Second Temple Period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Je ...
. The church is mentioned in the ''Book of the Demonstration'', attributed to
Eutychius of Alexandria Eutychius of Alexandria (Arabic: ''Sa'id ibn Batriq'' or ''Bitriq''; 10 September 877 – 12 May 940) was the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria. He is known for being one of the first Christian Egyptian writers to use the Arabic language. H ...
(940): "The church of Bayt Zakariya in the district of Aelia bears witness to the visit of Mary to her kinswoman Elizabeth." 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 Franciscan custos, Father
Thomas of Novara Thomas Obicini of Novara ( it, Tomasso Obicini da Novara; 1585– 7 November 1632) was an Italian Franciscan friar, originally from Novara. As an early orientalist, Arabist and linguist, he translated Arabic texts into Latin and took possessio ...
in 1621.Pringle, 1993, p
32
/ref> After a decades-long struggle with the Muslim inhabitants, the Franciscans finally managed to rebuild and fortify their church and monastery by the 1690s.


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, was founded by two brothers from France, Theodore and Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, who were born Jewish and converted to Christianity. They established an
orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...
here. Alphonse himself lived in the monastery and is buried in its garden.


Gorny or "Moscobia" Convent

The convent was established by the Jerusalem mission of the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
in 1871 (see also Russian Wikipedia page ''here''). The name "Gorny Convent" refers to the visit of the Virgin Mary to her cousin St. Elizabeth "into the hill country, to a town in Judah," ''gorny'' meaning ''mountainous'' in Russian. It was nicknamed "Muskobiya" (Arabic for
Muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula K Al2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavag ...
) by the local Arab villagers, which mutated in Hebrew to "Moskovia." Apart from the structures serving the nunnery and a pilgrims hostel, it now contains three churches, enclosed within a compound wall. The Church of Our Lady of Kazan (''Kazanskaya'') is dedicated to the holy icon of
Our Lady of Kazan ''Our Lady of Kazan'', also called ''Mother-of-God of Kazan'' (russian: Казанская Богоматерь, translit=Kazanskaya Bogomater'), is a holy icon of the highest stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, representing the Virgin Ma ...
and is the oldest among the three churches, being consecrated in 1873. The Cathedral of All Russian Saints, with its gilded domes, was started before the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
and could only be completed in 2007. The cave church of St. John the Baptist was consecrated in 1987.


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
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
and school on the site, of which a
Maqam (shrine) A Maqām ( ar, مقام) is a shrine built on the site associated with a religious figure or saint, typical to the regions of Palestine and Syria. It is usually a funeral construction, commonly cubic-shaped and topped with a dome. Maqams are as ...
and
minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
still remain. An inscribed panel to the courtyard of the mosque dates it to 1828-1829 CE ( AH 1244). The spring was repaired and renovated by Baron
Edmond de Rothschild Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...
.


St. Vincent

St. Vincent-Ein Kerem is a home for physically or mentally handicapped children. Founded in 1954, St. Vincent-Ein Kerem is a non-profit enterprise under leadership of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.Sisters of mercy
Haaretz, 8 November 2007


Other churches and religious institutions


Catholic

*The Convent of the Franciscan Sisters *The Convent of the Rosary Sisters, built in 1910 *Casa Nova, a guesthouse for pilgrims reopened in 2014


Greek Orthodox

*The Greek Orthodox Church of St John, built in 1894 on the remnants of an ancient church


Related sites in the area


Monastery of St. John in the Wilderness

The Monastery of St. John in the Wilderness, containing a cave associated with the saint, is located close to Ein Karem and
Moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...
Even Sapir.


Notable residents

*
Shlomo Aronson Shlomo Aronson may refer to: * (1864–1935), first Ashkhenazi rabbi of Tel Aviv, grandfather of the historian * Shlomo Aronson (landscape architect) (1936–2018), Israeli landscape architect * Shlomo Aronson (historian) Shlomo Aronson (1936 � ...
*
Erel Margalit Erel Margalit ( he, אראל מרגלית; born 1 January 1961) is an Israeli high-tech and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Jerusalem-based venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and the founder ...
* Naomi Henrik


See also

*
1948 Palestine War The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...
* Beit HaKerem, a biblical fortress in Judah identified with either the later Herodium site, Ramat Rachel, or Ein Kerem *
Carem Carem or Karem is a place mentioned in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible as being a town situated in the hill country of the tribe of Judah, while the Masoretic Text and Vulgate do not mention the name (see ). Identification Accordin ...
, 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 Below is a list of villages depopulated or destroyed during the Arab–Israeli conflict. 1880–1946 Arab villages A number of these villages, those in the Jezreel Valley, were inhabited by tenants of land which was sold by a variety of owners, ...
* Hadassah Medical Center


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * pp
344
ff) *


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


Ayn Karim
Zochrot Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 Pa ...

Ein Kerem (Ein Karem)
biblewalks *Survey of Western Palestine
Map 17
IAA,
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{{Authority control History of Israel by location Historic sites in Jerusalem Holy cities New Testament places Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea District of Jerusalem World Heritage Tentative List