Gischala

Jish ( ar, الجش; he, גִ'שׁ, גּוּשׁ חָלָב, Jish, Gush Halav) is a local council in Upper Galilee, located on the northeastern slopes of Mount Meron, north of Safed, in Israel's Northern District. In it had a population of , which is predominantly Maronite Catholic and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians (63%), with a Sunni Muslim Arab minority (about 35.7%).YNE

''On the slopes of a hill, at an elevation of 860 meters surrounded by cherry orchards, pears and apples, built houses, especially church building looks from afar. Number of inhabitants 3,000 divided by 55% Maronite Christian, 30% Greek Catholics and the rest are Muslims.''

The city has been inhabited since Canaanite religion, Canaanite times; later archaeological finds in Jish include two historical synagogues, a unique mausoleum and burial caves from the classic era. According to the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, Gischala was the last city in the Galilee to fall to the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War (War 4:93).''Encyclopedia Judaica,'' Jerusalem, 1978, "Giscala," vol. 7, 590 Historical sources dating from the 10th-15th centuries describe Jish (''Gush Halav'') as a village with a strong Jewish presence. In the early Ottoman era Jish was wholly Muslim. In the 17th century, the village was inhabited by Druze. In 1945, under British rule, Jish had a population of 1,090 with an area of 12,602 dunams. It was largely depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, but was resettled not only by the original inhabitants, who were largely Maronite Christians, but also by some Maronite Christians who were expelled from the razed villages of Kafr Bir'im and some Muslims who were expelled from Dallata.Morris, 2004, p.
508
/ref>

In 2010, the population of Jish was 3,000.

Etymology

Jish is the ancient Giscala. The Arabic name ''el-Jish'' is a variation of the site's ancient name ''Gush Halav'' in Hebrew, literally "a lump of milk," which may be a reference to either the production of milk and cheese (for which the village has been famous since at least the early Middle Ages) or else to the fertile surroundings, which are well-suited for various forms of agriculture. Other scholars believe the name ''Gush Halav'' refers to the light color of the local limestone, which contrasts with the dark reddish rock of the neighboring village, Ras al-Ahmar.

History

Ancient period

Settlement in Jish dates back 3,000 years. The village is mentioned in the Mishnah as ''Gush Halav'', a city "surrounded by walls since the time of Joshua Ben Nun" (m. Arakhin 9:6). Canaanite and Israelite remains from the Early Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found there.

Classical antiquity

During the Classical period, the town was known as ''Gischala'', a Greek transcription of the Hebrew name ''Gush Halav''. Both Josephus and later Jewish sources from the Roman-Byzantine period mention the fine olive oil for which the village was known.''The Guide to Israel'', Zev Vilnay, Jerusalem, 1972, p. 539. According to the Talmud, the inhabitants also engaged in the production of silk. Eleazar b. Simeon, described in the Talmud as a very large man with tremendous physical strength, was a resident of the town. According to one version of events, he was initially buried in Gush Halav but later reinterred in Meron, next to his father, Shimon bar Yochai.el-Jish/Gush Halav
/ref> Jerome recorded that Paul the Apostle lived with his parents in "Giscalis in Judea," which is understood to be Gischala.

After the fall of Gamla, Gush Halav was the last Jewish stronghold in the Galilee and Golan region during the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE), and the home of John of Giscala.Redefining ancient borders: The Jewish scribal framework of Matthew's Gospel, Aaron M. Gale
/ref>''Excavations at the ancient synagogue of Gush Ḥalav'', Eric M. Meyers, Carol L. Meyers, James F. Strange
/ref>

In addition to Jewish burial sites and structures dated to the 3rd through 6th centuries, both Jewish and Christian amulets have also been discovered nearby.The missing century: Palestine in the fifth century: growth and decline, Zeev Safrai
/ref> Christian artifacts from the Byzantine period have been found at the site. The synagogue of Gush Halav went through several phases of construction and reconstruction, one destruction being dated by excavator Eric M. Meyers to the earthquake of 551.

Middle Ages

Historical sources from the 10th-15th centuries describe it as a large Jewish village and it is mentioned in the 10th century by Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi. Jewish life in the 10th and 11th centuries is attested to by documents in the Cairo Geniza. In 1172, the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela found about 20 Jews living there. This passage is not present in the edition of Ishtori Haparchi also attended a megilla reading when he visited in 1322.

Ottoman Empire

In 1596, Jish appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''Nahiya'' of ''Jira'', of the Liwa Safad. It had a population of 71 households and 20 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on goats and beehives, but most of its taxes were in the form of a fixed sum: total taxes amounted to around 30,750 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 176

In the 17th century, the village was inhabited by Druze. The Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi, who passed by the village in 1648, wrote:

Then comes the village of Jish, with one hundred houses of accursed believers in the transmigration of souls (''tenāsukhi mezhebindén''). Yet what beautiful boys and girls they have! And what a climate! Every one of these girls has queenly, gazelle-like, bewitching eyes, which captivate the beholder—an unusual sight.

According to Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Maronites first settled in Jish during the early 18th century. This may have happened as a result of the Battle of Ain Dara (1711), in which the Qaysis defeated the Yamanis and drove many of them from Mount Lebanon. Ben-Zvi recorded a local tradition, according which two families in the village preceded the Maronite immigration; One of them—the Hashouls, the oldest family in the village— were Maronites of Jewish ancestry and were originally known by the name Shaul.

The Galilee earthquake of 1837 caused widespread damage and over 200 deaths. Three weeks afterward, contemporaries reported "a large rent in the ground...about a foot wide and fifty feet long." All the Galilee villages that were badly damaged at the time, including Jish, were situated on the slopes of steep hills. The presence of old landslides has been observed on aerial photographs. The fact that the village was built on dip slopes consisting of soft bedrock and soil has made it more vulnerable to landslides.Damage Caused By Landslides During the Earthquakes of 1837 and 1927 in the Galilee Region
/ref> According to Andrew Thomson, no houses in Jish were left standing. The church fell, killing 130 people and the old town walls collapsed. A total of 235 people died and the ground was left fissured. At the time, the village was noted as a mixed Muslim and Maronite village in the Safad district.

At the end of the 19th century, Jish was described as a "well-built village of good masonry" with about 600 Christian and 200 Muslim inhabitants.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
198
/ref>

A population list from about 1887 showed ''El Jish'' to have about 1,935 inhabitants; 975 Christians and 960 Muslims.

British Mandate

At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine, Jish had a population of 721—380 Christians and 341 Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p
41
/ref> The Christians were classified as 71% Maronite and 29% Greek Catholic (or Melchite). By the 1931 census, Jish had 182 inhabited houses and a population of 358 Christians and 397 Muslims.Mills, 1932, p
107
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics, Jish had a population of 1,090; 350 Christians and 740 Muslims,Department of Statistics, 1945, p
09
/ref> and the village spanned 12,602 dunams, mostly Arab-owned.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
70
/ref> Of this, 1,506 dunums were plantations and irrigable land, 6,656 used for cereals, while 72 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Israel

Israeli forces captured Jish on 29 October 1948, in Operation Hiram,Morris, 2004, p.
473
/ref> after "a hard-fought battle."Morris, 2004, pp.
500
��501 Benny Morris reports allegations that ten prisoners of war, identified as Moroccans fighting with the Syrian Army, and a number of villagers, including a woman and her baby, were murdered.Morris, 2004, p.
481
citing Israeli sources but noting their lack of clarity The Israeli prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, ordered an investigation of the deathsGelber, 2001, p.226 but no IDF soldiers were brought to trial.Morris, 2008, p. 345

Elias Chacour, now Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, whose family resettled in Jish, wrote that when he was eight years old he discovered a mass grave containing two dozen bodies.

Many of the residents of Jish forced to leave the village in 1948 fled to Lebanon and became Palestinian refugees. Christians from the nearby town of Kafr Bir'im resettled in Lebanon and Jish, where today they are citizens of Israel, but continue to press for their right of return to their former villages. In October 1950, Israeli forces raided Jish and detained seven suspected smugglers who were stripped, bound, and beaten. They were released without charge.Morris, 1993, p. 167

In December 2010, a hiking and bicycle path known as the Coexistence Trail was inaugurated, linking Jish with Dalton, a neighboring Jewish village. The 2,500 meter-long trail, accessible to people with disabilities, sits 850 meters above sea level and has several lookout points, including a view of Dalton Lake, where rainwater is collected and stored for agricultural use.Galilee Coexistence Trail Inaugurated
Jerusalem Post

Jish is known for its efforts to revive Aramaic as a living language. In 2011, the Israeli Ministry of Education approved a program to teach the language in Jish elementary schools. Maronites in Jish say that Aramaic is essential to their existence as a people, in the same way that Hebrew and Arabic are for Jews and Arabs.

Demographics

Today, 55% of the inhabitants of Jish are Maronite Christians, 10% percent are Melkites and 35% percent are Muslims. The population of the village was .

Geography

Jish is located in Upper Galilee, in the Northern district of Israel. The town is close to Mount Meron, the tallest standing mountain of Galilee. Recently, a new road has connected Jish with the nearby Jewish village of Dalton.

Religious sites and shrines

The tombs of Shmaya and Abtalion, Jewish sages who taught in Jerusalem in the early 1st century, are located in Jish. According to tradition, the prophet Joel was also buried there.Gush Halav
/ref>

According to Christian tradition, the parents of Saint Paul were from Jish. John of Giscala, the son of Levi, was born in Jish. Other churches in Jish are a small Maronite Church that was rebuilt after the 1837 earthquake and the Elias Church, the largest in the village, which operates a convent.

Archaeology

Eighteen archaeological sites have been excavated to date in Jish and vicinity. Archaeologists have excavated two synagogues in use since the Roman and Byzantine periods (3rd to 6th centuries CE).Projects - Preservation
/ref> One synagogue is located at the top of the village and the other east of it. Conder and Kitchener (1881), p
224
/ref> On the remains of the upper synagogue, found by Kitchener of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Mar Boutros was built. Jewish-Christian amulets were discovered nearby.

Coins indicate that Jish had strong commercial ties with the nearby city of Tyre. On Jish's western slope, a mausoleum was excavated, with stone sarcophagi similar to those seen at the large Jewish catacomb at Beit She'arim National Park. The inner part of the mausoleum contained ten hewn ''loculi'', burial niches known in Hebrew as ''kokhim''. In the mausoleum, archaeologists found several skeletons, oil lamps and a glass bottle dating to the fourth century CE.

A network of secret caves and passageways in Jish, some of them located under private homes, is strikingly similar to hideaways in the Judean lowlands used during the Bar Kokhba revolt.ERETZ Magazine
/ref>

See also

* Hanna Jubran
*Elinor Joseph
*Arab localities in Israel
* Population displacements in Israel after 1948
* Arameans in Israel

References

Bibliography

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* Gelber, Y. (2001), ''Palestine 1948'', Sussex Academic Press
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94
ff)
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* (reprinted in 1980)
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External links

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*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons



A lintel with an eagle relief from the 3rd century CE in the ancient synagogue in Gush HalavPhotos of the Gush Halav synagogue and church
at the Manar al-Athar photo archive

{{Towns depopulated during the First Jewish–Roman War

Ancient synagogues
Arab Christian communities in Israel
Arab localities in Israel
Archaeological sites in Israel
Jewish pilgrimage sites
Local councils in Northern District (Israel)
Maronite communities
Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Israel
Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee