Rekhasim ( he, רְכָסִים, lit. ''Mountain ridges'')Marks, Yehudah. "The Torah Empire of the North", ''

Hamodia ''Hamodia'' ( he, המודיע – "''the Informer''") is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israe ...

'' Israel News, 19 March 2015, pp. 21-23. is a

Haredi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

town and local council in the

Haifa District Haifa District ( he, מחוז חיפה, ''Mehoz Ḥeifa''; ar, منطقة حيفا) is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of the Districts of Israel, seven administrative districts of Israel, a ...

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 ...

. It is located between

Kiryat Tiv'on Kiryat Tiv'on ( he, קִרְיַת טִבְעוֹן, also Qiryat Tiv'on) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel, in the hills between the Zvulun (Zebulon) and Jezreel valleys. Kiryat Tiv'on is situated southeast of Haifa, on the main road t ...

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata ( he, קִרְיַת אָתָא; also Qiryat Ata) is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of , 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. History The Early Bronze Age site at Qiryat Ata has been extensively excavate ...

, and

Nesher Nesher ( he, נֶשֶׁר) is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of . It was founded in 1923 as a workers town for the Nesher Cement factory, the first cement factory in the country. History Nesher was founded in ...

, next to roads 70, 75, and 762. With a jurisdiction of 2,859

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 amount ...

s (~2.9 km²), it had a population of in . It is ranked low (2 out of 10) on the Israeli socio-economic scale.

Etymology

The town was named after a verse in the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

(Isaiah 40:4), because it is located on four mountain ranges.

Geography

Rekhasim lies on four hills near

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

, labelled with Hebrew letters (Hill

Alef Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez . These letter ...

Bet Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

Gimel Gimel is the third letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Gīml , Hebrew Gimel , Aramaic Gāmal , Syriac Gāmal , and Arabic (in alphabetical order; fifth in spelling order). Its sound value in the original Phoenician and in all d ...

and

Dalet Dalet (, also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Dālet 𐤃, Hebrew Dālet , Aramaic Dālath , Syriac Dālaṯ , and Arabic (in abjadi order; 8th in modern order). Its sound value is t ...

). It borders two villages in the

Zvulun Regional Council Zevulun Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית זבולון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Zvulun'') is a regional council (Israel), regional council in the Haifa District of Israel. Founded in 1950, it had a population of 10,900 in 2006. The council ...

: the Jewish

Kfar Hasidim Kfar Hasidim ( he, כְּפַר חֲסִידִים, ''lit.'' Village of Hasidim), also known as Kfar Hasidim Alef to distinguish it from Kfar Hasidim Bet, is a moshav in northern Israel. Located near Kiryat Ata, it falls under the jurisdiction of ...

and Arab

Ibtin Ibtin ( ar, إبطن; he, אִבְּטִין) is a Bedouin village in northern Israel. Located in the Lower Galilee around half a kilometre from Kfar Hasidim, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council Zevulun Regional Council ...

. Its lowest elevation is only above sea level, while the highest is at . The average temperature in January is , and in August. The average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is .

History

Rekhasim was founded in 1951 by released soldiers and residents of nearby

ma'abarot Ma'abarot ( he, מַעְבָּרוֹת) were immigrant and refugee absorption camps established in Israel in the 1950s, constituting one of the largest public projects planned by the state to implement its sociospatial and housing policies. T ...

. It initially absorbed large numbers of immigrants from India, Morocco, Romania, Russia, and Yemen. In 1955 the

Knesses Chizkiyahu Knesses Chizkiyahu was one of the first Litvak yeshivas founded after the establishment of the State of Israel and one of the first Torah institutions in the northern part of the country. Founded in Zikhron Ya'akov in 1949, it relocated to Kfar Ha ...

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

relocated here from

Zikhron Ya'akov Zikhron Ya'akov ( he, זִכְרוֹן יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' "Jacob's Memorial"; often shortened to just ''Zikhron'') is a town in Israel, south of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mounta ...

. The yeshiva purchased a lot on the outskirts of the village and five buildings containing a

beth midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth kness ...

, dining hall, dormitories and offices, moving into its new home at the end of April 1955. A small Haredi community developed around the yeshiva, but the majority of residents remained non-Haredi into the 1990s. In 1995 the secular school closed, many non-religious residents left, and the village developed a Haredi majority, with both

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

and

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

neighborhoods. It is now considered a desirable and growing community for young Haredi families. Educational offerings include tens of kindergartens, six

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educat ...

s, three girls' schools, three yeshiva ketanas, three yeshiva gedolas, and numerous

kolel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

s. In addition to the Knesses Chizkiyahu yeshiva system, there is the Sephardi Yeshivat Rechasim, with 400 students. Rekhasim has more than 80

synagogues A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and numerous

chesed ( he, חֶסֶד, also Romanized: ) is a Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity. It is frequently used in Psalms i ...

and

gemach Gemach ( he, גמ"ח, plural, , ''gemachim'', an abbreviation for , ''gemilut chasadim'', "acts of kindness") is a Jewish free-loan fund that subscribes to both the positive Torah commandment of lending money and the Torah prohibition against cha ...

organizations.

References

{{Haifa District Haifa District Local councils in Haifa District 1951 establishments in Israel Populated places established in 1951