| Birya | ||
|
||
| Hebrew | בִּירִיָּה | |
| (Translit.) | Biriya | |
| Founded | 1946 (original), 1971 (current) |
|
| Founded by | Religious Kibbutz Movement | |
| Council | Merom HaGalil | |
| Region | Upper Galilee | |
| Coordinates | ||
|
Birya
|
||
Birya (Hebrew: בִּירִיָּה), also Biriya, is an agricultural village adjacent to Safed, Israel, under the jurisdiction of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council in the Upper Galilee.
In 1946, a group of pioneers affiliated with the Religious Kibbutz Movement established a pre-existing settlement near the Birya Fortress.[1] According to the Jewish National Fund in a 1949 book,[2]
| “ | The name is historic; there were Jewish peasants in this and several other villages in the vicinity until two or three centuries ago. It is known that the author of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Joseph Caro, completed one of his works at Biria. | ” |
Although it lasted only two years, before being destroyed in the Israeli War of Independence it had a short but interesting history.
Again according to the Jewish National Fund, Biria was frequently attacked both by Syrian troops and by Kaukji's men. 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, "whereupon thousands of young Jews from all parts of the country re-established the settlement not far from the original site." [2] The British withdrew their military two months later, although the villagers were not released until the following summer.[2] In 1947 the village had a population of 150.[2]
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 have been made to resuscitate the forest on its outskirts, which suffered severe damage in the war.[3] 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. [2]
|
||||||||||||||