Birya

Birya (Hebrew: בִּירִיָּה‎, also Biriya) is an agricultural village in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council. In 2019 its population was 839.[1] It was founded in 1946 on a site adjacent to the Palestinian town of Biriyya.

Birya בִּירִיָּה‎
Hebrew transcription(s)
• standard	Biriya
Entrance to Birya
Birya Show map of Northeast Israel Birya Show map of Israel
Coordinates: 32°58′47.56″N 35°29′56.03″E
Country	Israel
District	Northern
Council	Merom HaGalil
Founded	1946 (original) 1971 (current)
Founded by	Religious Kibbutz Movement
Population  (2019)	839[1]

History

Antiquity

The town of Birya is mentioned in the Talmud.[2]According to the Jewish National Fund,[3] Jews lived in Birya and environs in Talmudic times. The author of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Joseph Caro is said to have completed one of his works at Birya.

Ottoman era

In 1908, Baron Rothschild purchased land in Birya for the farmers of Rosh Pina. A group of pioneers settled there in 1922 but when their efforts failed, the land was transferred to the Jewish National Fund and afforestation work began.[4]

British Mandate era

2018 street map overlaid on 1942 map

1942 map without overlay

Streets of modern Birya, a northern suburb of Safed (2018, white text and light grey streets) overlaid on a Survey of Palestine map from 1942 (black text, red urban areas and black streets), showing the relative location of the Palestinian village of Biriyya, as well as Ein al-Zeitun and Ein Zeitim.

In 1945, a group of pioneers affiliated with the Religious Kibbutz Movement settled at a site near Birya Fortress.[5]

In February 1946, after an attack on an Arab Legion camp in the area, the British army searched the village and found arms on the land. All the kvutza members were arrested and the village was occupied by the British military. In response thousands of young Jews from all parts of the country re-established the settlement not far from the original site.[3]

The British withdrew their troops two months later, although the villagers were not released until the following summer.[3] In 1947, Birya had a population of 150.[3]

Birya forest

State of Israel

Modern Birya was founded in 1971. Birya was one of the settlements hit by Katyusha rockets launched by Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Efforts were made to resuscitate the forest on its outskirts, which suffered severe damage in the war.[6]

The forests were planted by the Jewish National Fund in the 1940s with contributions from within Palestine, as well as the Mizrahi Organization of Great Britain, and the Mizrahi Women of Britain and America.[3]

See also

• Biriyya
• Birya affair

References

1. "Population in the Localities 2019" (XLS). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
2. The Territory of Asher Jewish History
3. Jewish National Fund (1949). Jewish Villages in Israel. Jerusalem: Hamadpis Liphshitz Press. p. 191.
4. Tourism and Recreation: Biriya Forest
5. About Kibbutz Hadati Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine Religious Kibbutz Movement
6. Making the North Green Again Ynetnews, 20 February 2007