District Northern Founded by Soviet immigrants Name meaning Simeon bar Yochai Local time Thursday 7:03 AM | Council Merom HaGalil Population (2015) 921 Founded 1977 | |
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Weather 9°C, Wind E at 2 km/h, 93% Humidity | ||
Bar Yohai (Hebrew: בַּר יוֹחַאי) is a religious Jewish communal settlement in northern Israel. Located near Mount Meron, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council. In 2015 its population was 921.
Contents
Map of Bar Yohai, Israel
History
Bar Yohai was founded in 1977 as a settlement for immigrants from the Soviet Union. However, the immigrants were not interested in living such a distance from a city nor in such austere conditions (each side of a duplex was less than 650 square feet). Sochnut officials then offered the failing settlement to Religious Zionist families and members of nearby moshavim. This move was very successful as Bar Yohai grew to over 100 families, including a small group of Canadian immigrants.
The village is situated on the land of the depopulated Arab village of Safsaf, whose villagers fled to Lebanon after the Safsaf massacre in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.
The community is named after rabbi Simeon bar Yochai who according to Jewish tradition was buried on Mount Meron nearby.