Mata () is a

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

in central

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located in the Jerusalem corridor about eight kilometers southeast of

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Mateh Yehuda Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Yehuda'', ) is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in the Jerusalem District of Israel. In 2024 it was home to 51,125 people. The name of the regional council stems from the fact t ...

. In it had a population of .

Etymology

"The name ''mata'' is also hinted at in Ezekiel (XXXIV, 29)": I will provide for them a grove.

History

The village was established in 1950 by

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

on land that had belonged to the depopulated Arab villages of Allar and Khirbat al-Tannur.Mata
Home Initially the moshav fell under the jurisdiction of until the council was merged into

in 1964. The moshav belongs to the

Hapoel HaMizrachi File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 Poalei Zion rect 152 316 373 502 HaPoel HaMizrachi rec ...

stream, but today the majority of its population is secular.

Archaeology

Along the old

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

(now regional highway 375) are the ruins of a travelers' inn and livery stable, now called "khanut" (formerly, ''Khirbet el-Khan''). A mosaic floor with

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

writing of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

type can still be seen in the remains of the structure, believed to have been used as a church in the

6th century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the prev ...

. In the

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

a rural monastery was established there by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

consisting of several barrel-vaulted buildings, an enclosure wall and a chapel.

Charles Clermont-Ganneau Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist. Biography Clermont-Ganneau was born in Paris, the son of Simon Ganneau, a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Clerm ...

describes the ruins of a church (''el-K'niseh''), partially standing, in the valley below (''Wadi et Tannur''), and which he thought to be of medieval origin. In the valley are various types of trees: Sweet and bitter almonds, olives, grapes, pomegranates, lemons, figs, walnuts, Syrian pears, carobs and hawthorns. To the south-east of the moshav is a natural spring called `Ain Jurish named after a nearby small Arab village (now abandoned) and which was built on the spur of a hill near the town of

Tzur Hadassah Tzur Hadassah () is a Local council (Israel), town located in the Jerusalem Corridor, located southwest of Jerusalem, at an altitude of 755 meters above sea level, located on Route 375 west of Beitar Illit, about one kilometer west of the Green L ...

(Har Kitron). Rock-carved niches used as tombs can still be seen in the abandoned village.

Landmarks

To the west of the

is Wadi Tannur, a riverine gulch with two natural springs - Ein Mata (Spring of the Orchard) and Ein Tannur. At the foot of Ein Tannur ("Oven Spring") is an ancient tunnel dug deeply to catch the water at the source and increase its flow - a spring-flow tunnel. According to a local legend, Noah's oven was located nearby before the flood. When God destroyed the world, Noah's oven began spouting water, proving

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

's great commitment to God. When the flood was over and the water subsided, the oven forgot its original purpose and water continued to flow from it. When Noah passed by in his ark, he only saw the spring rather than his oven, so he continued his journey and finally landed on

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...

Gallery

File:Vineyard in the Judean Mountains.jpg, Vineyard in early Spring, southeast of Moshav Mata File:Ain Tannur - Mata.jpg, Entrance to natural spring (now dry), Ain et-Tannur, in valley below Mata File:Mata - Water Source - Ain et-Tannur.jpg, Entrance to tunnel whence flowed a natural spring, now run-dry File:Natural Spring - Ain Bint Nuh, in Allar es-Sifleh.jpg, A natural spring near Moshav Mata File:Khan - 2.jpg, Remains of caravanserai (Khan), formerly used also as a Byzantine church, near Moshav Mata File:Khan - 3.jpg, Caravanserai (Khan), used also as a 6th-century Byzantine church, near Mata File:Mosaic floor of Khan.jpg, Byzantine mosaic, circa 6th-century CE File:Moshav Mata.jpg, View of Moshav from Wadi Tannur File:Signpost about Roman road.jpg, Signpost describing Roman road, near Mata File:Trekking the Old Roman Road.jpg, Old

, adjacent to regional hwy 375 in Israel File:Broken columns seen above regional highway 375.jpg, Roman period columns, fallen along old Roman road

References

External links

Mata in Antiquity
Archaeological Survey of Israel {{Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Moshavim Populated places established in 1950 Populated places in Jerusalem District Yemeni-Jewish culture in Israel 1950 establishments in Israel