Yad HaShmona ( he, יַד הַשְּׁמוֹנָה, ''lit.'' Memorial of the Eight) is a small

moshav shitufi A moshav shitufi ( he, מושב שיתופי, lit. ''collective moshav'', pl. ''moshavim shitufiim'') is a type of cooperative Israeli village, whose organizational principles place it between the kibbutz and the moshav on the scale of cooperation ...

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 in the

Judean Mountains The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...

near

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 Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of .

History

Yad HaShmona was founded in 1971 by a small group of Finnish Christians and was named for eight

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish refugees from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

who escaped to Finland in 1938. The Finnish government, collaborating with the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

, handed the refugees over to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in 1942. Seven of them were murdered in Auschwitz; the only survivor, Georg Kollmann, who lost his family in extermination camps, later immigrated to Israel. YadHaShmonaJan192022 05

Activities

Yad HaShmona is a community and centre for

Messianic Jews Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier ...

in Israel, with around 260 residents. The area is home to the Yad Hashmona Country Hotel and Restaurant and the Home of the Bible Translators.

Biblical garden

In 2000, a

biblical garden Biblical gardens are Horticulture, cultivated collections of plants that are named in the Bible. They are a type of theme garden that botanical gardens, public parks, and private gardeners maintain. They are grown in many parts of the world, with ma ...

was built at Yad Hashmona in cooperation with the Swiss Beit Shalom Association and the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

(IAA). The garden gives visitors a glimpse into the spiritual, physical and agricultural world of the Jewish people in Biblical times. It displays a variety of biblical plants and trees as well as reconstructed farms from biblical times. The garden includes an ancient wine press, an olive oil press, a 'mikveh' (ritual bath), a burial cave, an agricultural watchtower, a Galilean-style synagogue and a Bedouin tent.

Economy

The community runs a guesthouse (Yad Hashmona Country Hotel), convention center and banquet hall. In 2000, a biblical village was inaugurated with the assistance of the Swiss Beth Shalom society and the Israel Antiquities Authority. A Biblical garden planted on the hillside replicates agriculture in ancient times. Apart from tourism, the economy is based on carpentry. Jad-Hashmonan ystävät r.y (Friends of Yad HaShmona) supports Yad HaShmona with prayers from Finland and helps the village financially to implement mutually agreed projects.

Litigation

In 2008, a lesbian couple married in the UK wanted to hold a wedding party for their friends and family at the banquet hall in Yad HaShmona. After Yad HaShmona learned the couple was not a straight couple, the venue cancelled the reservation, calling homosexuality "an abomination", among other things. The couple filed a lawsuit on grounds of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The lower court judge ruled in favour of the couple based on a year 2000 law forbidding discrimination in public places. In June 2014, the appeal by Yad HaShmona was denied by the Jerusalem District Court, which upheld the lower court's ruling on the case with a compensation 80,000 ₪ (around €20,000).

Demography

According to 2014 data, the vast majority of the population in Yad ha-Shmona was Jewish (including the statistical category "other", which includes non-Arab residents of Jewish origin but without formal affiliation to the Jewish religion). Almost all the inhabitants are

. It is a small village-type community with a long-standing stagnant population. As of 31 December 2014, 114 people lived here. During 2014, the population decreased by 1.7%.

References

External links

Official website
{{Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Christianity in Israel Moshavim Agricultural Union Populated places established in 1971 Populated places in Jerusalem District 1971 establishments in Israel Finnish diaspora