Ora ( he, אוֹרָה, lit. ''Radiance'') is a
moshav in central
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 ...
. Located 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 ...
, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The village was established in 1950 by
Jews from Yemen on land that had belonged to 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
al-Jura. The name "Ora" was taken from the
Book of Esther 8:16: "For the Jews it was (a time of) radiance."
[; Hanna Bitan (1999) ''1948-1998: Fifty Years of 'Hityashvut': Atlas of Names of Settlements in Israel'', Jerusalem, Carta, p. 3, ] The residents initially lived in
tents
A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...
and by 1954 only thirteen families remained.
In 1953 Percy Newman, a British Jewish industrialist, donated money to the
Jewish National Fund for the purchase of 3,000 dunams for the moshav.
[ Several ]North African Jews
:''See Mashriqi Jews for more information about Jews in the rest of North Africa and Western Asia.''
Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim'') or North African Jews ( ''Yehudei Tzfon Africa'') are ethnic Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghre ...
later joined the moshav.[
Residents were given tracts of land allocated for poultry farming and continued to live in tents, without running water or electricity, until 1957. Before the establishment of ]Kiryat HaYovel
Kiryat HaYovel ( he, קריית היובל) is a neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem on Mount Herzl. It was built in the early 1950s to house new immigrants. Today, Kiryat HaYovel has a population of 25,000 residents.
Kiryat HaYovel is located ...
, the closest neighborhood was Beit 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 ...
, which was reached on foot or by donkey.immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
to Israel, the moshav increased egg production from 300 million to 500 million eggs a year.
References
{{Authority control
Moshavim
Populated places established in 1950
Populated places in Jerusalem District
Yemeni-Jewish culture in Israel
1950 establishments in Israel