Shafir ( he, שָׁפִיר) is a

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 an ...

in southern

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 in the

Shephelah The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" ( hbo, הַשְּפֵלָה ''hašŠǝfēlā'', also Modern Hebrew: , ''Šǝfēlat Yəhūda'', the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel str ...

near

Kiryat Malakhi Kiryat Malakhi ( he, קִרְיַת מַלְאָכִי, also Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi) is a city in the Southern District of Israel, from Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2). Histor ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Shafir Regional Council Shafir Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית שפיר, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shafir'') is a List of regional councils in Israel, regional council in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel near the city of Kiryat Gat. The c ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Shafir was founded on 15 August 1949 by immigrants from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and was built on land that had belonged to the

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-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 18, 1948, as part of the second stage of Operation Barak. The village was located 32 km northeast of Gaza. Histor ...

, which had been depopulated during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

. It was named after the Biblical city of Shafir that is mentioned in the

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the Twelve Minor Prophets, twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah (prophet), Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Y ...

1:11, which also means "good and beautiful". Today Shafir is made up of a mixture of Czechoslovakian/ Hungarians, and Persians.

References

{{Shafir Regional Council Moshavim Populated places established in 1949 Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1949 establishments in Israel Czech-Jewish culture in Israel Hungarian-Jewish culture in Israel Slovak-Jewish culture in Israel