Hatzor HaGlilit ( he, חָצוֹר הַגְּלִילִית lit. "Hatzor of Galilee") is a town in the

Korazim Plateau The Korazim Plateau ( he, רמת כורזים, ''Ramat Korazim'', also spelled Corazim), is a volcanic plateau, located in northern Israel. The plateau is bounded between by the Hula Valley in the north, Sea of Galilee in the south, the mountai ...

in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

near

Rosh Pinna Rosh Pina or Rosh Pinna ( he, רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה, lit. ''Cornerstone'') is a local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District of Israel. It was established as Gei ...

and Safed. It is named for the nearby biblical site of

Tel Hazor Tel Hazor ( he, תל חצור), also Chatsôr ( he, חָצוֹר), translated in LXX as Hasōr ( grc, Άσώρ), identified at Tell Waqqas / Tell Qedah el-Gul ( ar, تل القدح, Tell el-Qedah), is an archaeological tell at the site of anci ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Ancient Hazor

Hatzor HaGlilit is named after the biblical city of Hazor, a Canaanite and later

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 Stele o ...

city belonging to the

tribe of Naphtali The Tribe of Naphtali () was one of the northernmost of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Biblical narratives In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, Joshua al ...

(Joshua 19:36). In 732 BCE, it was conquered by

Tiglath-Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

of the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

, and its population was deported, while the city was burnt to the ground. Israel Finkelstein, ''

The Bible Unearthed ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'', a book published in 2001, discusses the archaeology of Israel and its relationship to the origins and content of the Hebrew Bible. The author ...

'' Ancient Hazor was discovered in

, a tell located near kibbutz

Ayelet HaShahar Ayelet HaShahar ( he, אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר) is a kibbutz in northern Israel acquired in 1892 and settled in the second Aliyah, located on the Korazim Plateau, by the Rosh Pina – Metulla road, it is approximately south of Kiryat S ...

, few kilometers north of Hazor HaGlilit.

Modern Hatzor HaGlilit

Hatzor HaGlilit was founded in 1952–1953 as a transit camp. The new camp was located on the land of the depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village of Mughr al-Khayt, 1 km southeast of the village site.Khalidi, 1992, p479 The two adjacent transit camps were initially named "Hatzor A" and "Hatzor B", named for the nearby biblical site of Tel Hatzor, and housed immigrants and refugees, primarily Jews from North Africa. In 1956, Hatzor HaGlilit was given the status of local council. By 1958, Hatzor HaGlilit had a population of 4,000 and received

development town Development towns ( he, עיירת פיתוח, ''Ayarat Pitu'ah'') were new settlements built in Israel during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing for a large influx of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries, Holocaust survivors from E ...

status. Over time, the city preserved its Jewish religious-traditional demographic status and later a Jewish Ultra-orthodox neighbourhood was also established, housing Gur Hassids. In December 2011, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Hazor was populated by 8,705 residents, with 0.0% population growth.

Landmarks

One of the town's most well-known landmarks is the tomb of Honi the Circle-Maker, adjoining the burial sites of two of his grandsons, Abba Hilkiyah and Hanan HaNihba. According to Jewish legend, Honi HaM'agel had the power to bring rain through his prayers. The presence of this shrine attracted a large Gerrer

hassid Ḥasīd ( he, חסיד, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observ ...

population to the town.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{North District (Israel) Orthodox Jewish communities Development towns Populated places established in 1953 Local councils in Northern District (Israel) Jewish pilgrimage sites 1953 establishments in Israel Tel Hazor