Beneberak

Benebarak ("Sons of Barak") (Hebrew: בְּנֵי בְּרַק‎) was a biblical city mentioned in the Book of Joshua. According to the biblical account it was allocated to the Tribe of Dan.^[1]

In the Talmudic era, Beneberak became the seat of the court of Rabbi Akiva,^[2] and is identified as the site of his all-night seder in the Passover Haggadah.^[3]

Benebarak was also associated with agriculture, as evident from the Talmudic account of the sage Rami bar Yehezkel, who declared that he understood the meaning of the Torah's description of the Land of Israel as a "land flowing with milk and honey" after a scene he witnessed in Beneberak. He saw goats grazing beneath fig trees and the honey oozing from the very ripe figs merged with the milk dripping from the goats and formed a stream of milk and honey.^[4]

Ibn Ibraq/al-Khayriyya

The Palestinian village of Ibn Ibraq ("Son of Ibraq/Barak") preserved the name of the ancient site. Its Arab villagers renamed it al-Khayriyya, to distinguish it from the Jewish agricultural settlement of Bnei Barak established 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) to the north in 1924.^[5] Al-Khayriyya was depopulated during a military assault as part of Operation Hametz during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

A large waste transfer station, known as Hiriya, was built at the ancient/modern site.

Coordinates: 32°2′12.03″N 34°49′39.61″E / 32.0366750°N 34.8276694°E

References

1. Joshua 19:45
2. Sanhedrin 32b
3. "Love of the Land - Bnei Brak". Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
4. Ketubot 111b
5. Cancik, Hubert, Peter Schäfer and Hermann Lichtenberger (1996), Geschichte-Tradition-Reflexion: Festschrift Für Martin Hengel Zum 70. Geburtstag. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 3-16-146675-6. p. 484.