Bethlehem of Galilee
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Bethlehem of Galilee (Hebrew: בית לחם הגלילית), known as Beit Lechem Haglilit is a semi-cooperative moshav in the Galilee near Kiryat Tivon, 10 kilometers northwest of Nazareth and 30 kilometers east of Haifa, Israel. [1]It is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (19:15) as the city of the Tribe of Zevulun.
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[edit] Early history
To distinguish Beit Lechem Haglilit from the city of Bethlehem near Jerusalem, the Galilean town was called "Beit Lechem of Zevulun," and the town near Jerusalem was called "Beth Lehem of Judea." Bethlehem of Zevulun was the hometown of the judge Ibzan. Beth Lehem Haglilit was inhabited by Jews until some time after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. In the Jerusalem Talmud it is referred to as "Beth Lechem Zoria", as it was part of the kingdom of Tyre at the time.
During the Crusades, Beit Lechem Haglilit was a small Christian town, later abandoned.
Due to its proximity to Nazareth, some historians believe that this is the Bethelehem where Jesus was born. Aviram Oshri, a senior archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority, supports this claim. Until the late 19th century, ruins of a church and a synagogue could be seen there, and archeological findings show it was a prosperous city. Some scholars regard Beth Lechem of Galilee as one of the birthplaces of Rabbinical Judaism.[citation needed]
[edit] Templer colony
In 1906, the German Templers established a colony in Beit Lechem Haglilit In 1939, the Templers were deported to Australia by the British authorities on account of their Nazi sympathies. They openly supported the Third Reich and ran a Nazi youth movement.
[edit] Moshav
On April 17, 1947, the Haganah captured the village and it was resettled by Jewish farmers. Much of the original Templer architecture survives, and is similar in style to the homes built by the Templers in other parts of the country, such as Sarona in Tel-Aviv, and the German colonies of Haifa and Jerusalem.
Some 500 families live on the moshav. In recent years, tourism has replaced agriculture as the main economic branch. A dairy, an herb farm, restaurants and country-style accommodation are among the tourist-oriented businesses in Beit Lechem Haglilit today[2].
