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Meron (, ''Meron'') is a moshav in northern
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 on the slopes of Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee near
Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council. Meron is most famous for the
tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...
of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and is the site of annual mass public commemoration of Lag Ba'Omer. The association of Meron with the ancient Canaanite city of ''Merom'' or ''Maroma'' is generally accepted by archaeologists. According to Avraham Negev, by the
Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...
, Merom was known as Meron. Meron is mentioned in the Bible as the site of
Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
's victory over the Canaanite kings. In the 12th century, Benjamin de Tudela visited Meron and described a cave with tombs, believed to hold the remains of Hillel,
Shammai Shammai (c. 50 BCE – c. 30 CE, , ''Šammaʾy'') also known as Shammai the Elder (שַׁמַּאי הַזָּקֵן) was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. ...
, and "twenty of their disciples and other Rabbis". In 1931, Meron consisted of an Arab and Jewish quarter (see Meiron). The current town was founded by the Hapoel HaMizrachi movement in 1949 on the ruins of the depopulated Palestinian village of Meiron, with an initial population of Orthodox soldiers discharged after the war.See below. In it had a population of . On 30 April 2021, the deadliest civil disaster in the history of Israel occurred at Meron. 45 people were crushed to death while trying to exit through a narrow passage, at the mass gathering to celebrate the holiday of Lag BaOmer.


Geography

Meron is noted for its mountainous terrain and valleys. Among the local attractions are the Meron Vineyards. Meron is conducive to growing grapes for wine as a result of its 600-meter altitude and chalky soil. The vineyard was first planted in 2000 and is part of the Galil Mountain Winery, headquartered in nearby Kibbutz Yiron.


History


Bronze and Iron Ages

The association of Meron with the ancient Canaanite city of ''Merom'' or ''Maroma'' is generally accepted, though the absence of hard archaeological evidence means other sites a little further north, such as Marun ar-Ras or Jebel Marun, have also been considered.Aharoni and Rainey, 1979, p. 225.Bromiley, 1995, p. 326. ''Merom'' is mentioned in 2nd milleniun BCE
Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...
sources, and in Tiglath-pileser III's accounts of his expedition to the
Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
in 733–732 BCE (where it is transcribed as ''Marum''). Soundings conducted below the floors of houses excavated in the 1970s indicate the presence of even earlier structures with a different layout. While these lower levels have not yet been excavated, the possibility that they date back to the Early
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
was not ruled out by the archaeologists. A handful of artifacts dating to the Early Bronze Age, including seal impressions and a
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
bowl, were also found during the digs.Negev and Gibson (2001), p. 330.


Classical Antiquity

Excavations at Meron found artifacts dating to the
Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
period at the foundation of the site.Zangenberg et al., 2007, p. 155. The economic and cultural affinities of the inhabitants of the Meron area at this time were directed toward the north, to Tyre and southern
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
in general.
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
fortified the town of ''Mero'' or ''Meroth'' ahead of the First Jewish-Roman War; some however identify this Meroth with a site further north, today's Marun er-Ras in southern Lebanon. Others identify Meroth with Marus. According to Israeli archaeologist Avraham Negev, by the Second Temple period, Merom was known as Meron. It is mentioned in the
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
as being a village in which sheep were reared, that was also renowned for its
olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
.Ben Jonah et al., 1841, pp. 107–108. The Reverend R. Rappaport ventured that
merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...
, the celebrated
wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
, may have its etymological roots in the name for the village. A tower which still stands at a height of was constructed in Meron in the 2nd century CE. In the last decade of the 3rd century CE, a
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was erected in the village. Known as the Meron synagogue, it survived an earthquake in 306 CE, though excavations at the site indicate that it was severely damaged or destroyed by another earthquake in 409 CE.Safrai, 1998, p. 83. "One of the largest Palestinian synagogues in the
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
style", it is the earliest example of the so-called 'Galilean' synagogue, and consists of a large room with eight columns on each side leading to the facade and a three-doored entrance framed by a columned
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
.Urman and Flesher, 1998, pp. 62–63.Stemberger and Tuschling, 2000, p. 123. Artifacts uncovered during digs at the site include a coin of
Probus Probus may refer to: People * Marcus Valerius Probus (c. 20/30–105 AD), Roman grammarian * Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus, consul in 228 * Probus (emperor), Roman Emperor (276–282) * Probus of Byzantium (–306), Bishop of Byzantium from 293 t ...
(276–282 CE) and African ceramics dating to the latter half of the 3rd century, indicating that the city was commercially prosperous at the time. Coins found in Mieron are mostly from Tyre, though a large number are also from Hippos, which lay on the other side of Lake Tiberias. Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell write that Meron was a prominent local religious centre in the period of late Antiquity. Some time in the 4th century CE, Meron was abandoned for reasons as yet unknown.Groh, in Livingstone, 1987, p. 71.


Early Islamic to Mamluk periods

Denys Pringle describes Meron as a " rmer Jewish village", with a synagogue and tombs dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries, noting the site was later reoccupied between 750 and 1399.Pringle, 1997, p. 67. In the 12th century, Benjamin de Tudela, a Navarrese rabbi, visited Meron and described a cave of tombs located there believed to hold the remains of Hillel,
Shammai Shammai (c. 50 BCE – c. 30 CE, , ''Šammaʾy'') also known as Shammai the Elder (שַׁמַּאי הַזָּקֵן) was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. ...
, and "twenty of their disciples and other Rabbis". On his visit to Meron in 1210, Samuel ben Samson, a French rabbi, located the tombs of Shimon Bar Yochai and his son Eleazar b. Simeon there. A contemporary of the second Jewish revolt against Rome (132–135 CE), Bar Yochai is venerated by Jews from all walks of life. From the 13th century onward, Meron became the most frequented site of pilgrimage for Jews in Palestine.Horden and Purcell, p. 446: "From the thirteenth century the most frequented pilgrim shrine for Jews in Palestine was at Meiron in Galilee… While it was a prominent local religious centre in late Antiquity, with a fine synagogue built in a conspicuous position and a much-venerated copies spring, it had then nothing like the status which it would acquire in the Middle Ages." In the early 14th century,
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
geographer al-Dimashqi mentioned Meron as falling under the administration of Safad. He reported that it was located near a "well-known cave" where Jews and possibly non-Jewish locals travelled to celebrate a festival, which involved witnessing the sudden and miraculous rise of water from basins and
sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...
in the cave.


Ottoman period

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in 1517, and by 1596, Meron was a large village of 715 located in the ''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...
'' ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of ''Sanjak Safad''. The village paid taxes on goats, beehives, and a press that processed either grapes or olives.Khalidi, 1992, p.477. All the villagers were Muslim. Meron suffered relatively minor damage in the Galilee earthquake of 1837. It was reported that during the earthquake the walls of the tombs of Rabbi Eleazer and Rabbi Shimon were dislodged, but did not collapse. A number of European travellers came to Meron over the course of the 19th century and their observations from the time are documented in travel journals. Edward Robinson, who visited Meron during his travels in Palestine and Syria in the mid-19th century, describes it as "a very old looking village situated on a ledge of bristling rocks near the foot of the mountain. The ascent is by a very steep and ancient road ..It is small, and inhabited only by Muhammedans."Robinson, 1856
p. 73
The tombs of Shimon bar Yochai, his son rabbi Eleazar and those of Hillel and Shammai are located by Robinson as lying within a khan-like courtyard underneath low-domed structures that were usually kept closed with the keys held in Safad. Robinson indicates that this place was the focal point of Jewish pilgrimage activities by his time; the synagogue is described as being in ruins. Laurence Oliphant also visited Meron sometime in the latter half of the 19th century. His guide there was a
Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
rabbi who owned the land that made up the Jewish quarter of the village. Oliphant writes that the rabbi had brought 6 Jewish families from
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
to till the land, and that they and another 12 Muslim families made up the whole of the village's population at the time.Oliphant, 1886
p.75
Karl Baedeker described it as a small village that appeared quite old with a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
population. By the late 19th century, Meron was a small village of 50 people who cultivated olives.Laurence Oliphant, Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine.


British Mandate of Palestine

Towards the end of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the ruins of the Meron synagogue were acquired by the "Fund for the Redemption of Historical Sites" (''Qeren le-Geulat Meqomot Histori'im''), a Jewish society headed by David Yellin.Fine, 2005, p. 23. In 1931, Meron consisted of an Arab and Jewish quarter, with the former being the larger one and the latter being built around the tomb of bar Yochai. That year, there were 259 Arabs and 31 Jews. Sami Hadawi's 1945 survey, conducted toward the end of the British Mandate in Palestine, depicted an entirely Arab population. Meron had a boy's elementary school. Agriculture and livestock was the dominant economic sectors of the village, with grain being the primary crop, followed by fruits. Around 200 dunams of land were planted with olive trees, and there were two presses in the village used to process olives.


1948 War

The
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
inhabitants of Meron, then known as Meiron, were ethnically cleansed by
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
soldiers during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
.Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #56.


State of Israel

Meron was founded as a moshav by the Hapoel HaMizrachi movement in 1949 next to the site of ancient Meiron by eastern European Jews who fought in the 1948 war. Palestine Post, 17 May 1949
https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1949/05/17/01/page/1?& Bonfires at Meron
"The feast of Lag B’Omer was celebrated tonight, in austerity and marked by the establishment of a new settlement at Meron... The Minister of Religions, Rabbi J. L. Fishman, and the Minister of Supplies and Rationing, Dr. Dov Joseph, were present at the naming of a new settlement at Meron, to be worked by some 50 families of the Hapoel Hamizrahi."
HaTzofe, 17 May 1949
שני ארגונים של הפועל המזרחי עלו על הקרקע
(English: Two Hapoel HaMizrachi settlements are founded)
Politicians Yehuda Leib Maimon and
Dov Yosef Dov Joseph (; 27 May 1899 – 7 January 1980) was an Israeli statesman. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he was in charge of Jerusalem. He later held ministerial positions in nine Israeli governments. Biography Bernard Joseph (later Dov J ...
attended the moshav's establishment ceremony, which took place on
Lag BaOmer Lag BaOmer (, ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Judaism, Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Iyar. Accordin ...
in 1949.


2006 Lebanon–Israel War

On July 14, 2006, a
Katyusha Katyusha () is a diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina or Yekaterina, the Russian form of Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in c ...
rocket fired from
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
exploded in Meron, claiming 2 lives—Yehudit Itzkovich, 57, and her 7-year-old grandson Omer Pesachov—and injuring four others. A new barrage of rockets hit Moshav Meron on July 15; there were no injuries.


Tomb of Shimon Bar Yochai

Meron is most famous for the
tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...
of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a second-century rabbi, who contributed greatly to the
Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
, is often quoted in the
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
, and to whom is attributed authorship of the kabbalistic book of the ''
Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
''.David M. Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson ''Pilgrimage and the Jews'' (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006) 89–91, 146–149. However, the existence of his tomb at Meron is only attested in the 12th Century, besides for mention by the Talmud.


Lag BaOmer

During the annual mass public commemoration of
Lag BaOmer Lag BaOmer (, ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Judaism, Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Iyar. Accordin ...
, hundreds of thousands of Jews make a
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
to the site. With torches, song and feasting, the ''Yom Hillula'' is celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people. This celebration was a specific request by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai of his students. It is a custom at the Meron celebrations, dating from the time of Rabbi
Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria (; #FINE_2003, Fine 2003, p24/ref>July 25, 1572), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as Ha'ari, Ha'ari Hakadosh or Arizal, was a leading rabbi and Jewish mysticism, Jewish mystic in the community of Saf ...
, that three-year-old boys are given their first haircuts (upsherin), while their parents distribute wine and sweets.


2021 stampede

On 30 April 2021, 45 people were crushed to death while trying to exit through a narrow passage, at the mass gathering to celebrate the
Lag BaOmer Lag BaOmer (, ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Judaism, Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Iyar. Accordin ...
, in the deadliest civil disaster in the history of Israel.


See also

* Ancient synagogues in the Palestine region - covers entire Palestine region/
Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
** Ancient synagogues in Israel - covers the modern
State of 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 ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *Gitlitz, David M. & Linda Kay Davidson. ''Pilgrimage and the Jews'' (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006). * * * * * * * {{Authority control Lag BaOmer Populated places established in 1949 Moshavim Religious Israeli communities Jewish pilgrimage sites Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1949 establishments in Israel Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee