JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

THE AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, 1 (1942), 294–6; 5 (1947), 261–2;
L. Rabinowitz, in: JQR, 58 (1967/68), 143–61.
BETHULIA, the home of *Judith, the heroine of the apocryphal
Book of Judith, in which it is described as a Jewish city
that was besieged by the Assyrian general Holofernes. His
death brought the siege to an abrupt end. The name of the
city is apparently a form of Beth-El (“House of God”), and
the geographic context of the story indicates a location on
the northern edge of the hills of Samaria, near Dothan, and
Ibleam. Some scholars have identified Bethulia with Jerusalem,
Bemeselis (Mithiliyya), or with other localities such
as Shechem or Sheikh Shibl above Kafr Qūd. It seems most
probable, however, that Bethulia was an imaginary city that
was endowed with a theophoric name for the purposes of a
historical romance.
Bibliography: Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 283; J.M. Grintz, Sefer
Yehudit (1957), 30ff.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BET (Bayt) IKSA (ﺎﺴﻛا ﺖﻴﺑ), Muslim-Arab village in the
Judean Hills, west of Jerusalem; population (1967) 633. Located
in mountainous terrain, its economy is mainly based
on orchards of olives, almonds, and other fruit trees. In the
Israel War of Independence (1948), hard battles were fought
over the village which lies close to the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv
highway. Israel forces captured Bet Iksā but under the terms
of the 1949 Armistice Agreement the village was returned to
Jordan, in exchange for small areas elsewhere given to Israel.
The stipulation to keep the village demilitarized was not observed
by the Jordanians. Bet Iksā was taken by Israeli forces
in the Six-Day War.
[Efraim Orni]
BET KESHET (Heb. תֶׁ שֶ ק תי ּב), ֵ kibbutz north of Mount Tabor,
affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me’uḥad. Bet Keshet was
founded on Aug. 15, 1944, as the first settlement of the then
clandestine *Palmaḥ. Most settlers had received agricultural
training in the nearby Kadoorie School, while others were
demobilized soldiers who had served in World War II. South
African immigrants and others joined the kibbutz after 1948.
In the War of Independence (1948) hard battles raged around
Bet Keshet and a monument was subsequently erected to its
members who fell. Its economy was based on field crops, deciduous
fruit, vines, beef cattle, and other farm products. In
2002 the population of Bet Keshet was 297. The name, “House
of the Bow,” refers to the village being founded by pioneer soldiers
(cf. II Sam. 1:18).
[Efraim Orni]
BET(H) LEḤEM (Ha-Gelilit), place located in western Galilee,
near Kiryat Tivon, in the lower Zebulun region (Jos. 19:15;
perhaps also Judges 12:8f.). It is referred to as Beth-Leḥem
Ẓeriyah (TJ, Meg. 1, 70a), however this name has not yet been
given a definitive explanation. Dalman believes that it means
the Beth Leḥem which once belonged to Tyre. According to
bet-midrash
the list of priestly places of residence in Galilee, members of
the Malkiya priestly division lived in Beth Leḥem in the 3rd
and 4th centuries; it may also have been the home of the amora
Kahana bar Malkiya (of the Malkiya priestly division). The
biblical name was preserved by an Arab site called Beit Laḥm,
southeast of Haifa. At present there is a moshav affiliated with
Tenu’at ha-Moshavim near the site. This was founded in 1948
on the land of the former German Templar colony Bethlehem
whose inhabitants were interned during World War II and
later deported from the country. The population was composed
of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe and
native-born Israelis. Its population in 1968 was 270, rising to
around 425 in the mid-1990s and 570 in 2002. The moshav’s
residents earned their living in farming, tourism, and employment
outside the moshav.
Bibliography: IDB, 1 (1962), S.V. Bethlehem, no. 2; Enẓi klope
diyah le-Geografiyah Mikra’it 1 (1963), 281–2.
[Efraim Orni]
BET(H)-MAON (Heb. ןֹ ועָמ תי ּב). ֵ
(1) See *Baal-Meon.
(2) A locality ½ mi. (¾ km.) from Tiberias (Tell Māʿūn)
where Josephus conferred with the men of Tiberias during the
Jewish War in 66 C.E. (Life, 64, 67). In talmudic times Beth-
Maon is frequently mentioned as a center of opposition to the
Patriarchs residing in Tiberias and as a refuge for rabbis antagonistic
to them (Gen. R. 80:1, 24; 31:2). The priestly family
of Huppah settled there after the destruction of the Temple
(ha-Kallir: Yashevah Eikhah). The sources mention a synagogue
there (cf. TJ Ta’an, 4:2, 68a).
Bibliography: Avi-Yonah, Geog, 139; Press, Ereẓ, 1 (1951),
90. Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea
– Palaestina. Maps and Gazetteer (1994), 84.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BET MEIR (Heb. ריאִ ֵמ תי ּב), ֵ Israel moshav in the Judean
Hills, west of Jerusalem, affiliated with Ha-Po’el ha-Mizrachi
moshavim association. In the War of Independence (1948) the
Arab garrison entrenched in the then-Arab village had cut off
Jewish Jerusalem. The capture of the village by Israel forces
opened the “Jerusalem Corridor.” Bet Meir was founded in
1950. Its inhabitants came mainly from Hungary, Romania,
and Poland. The settlers made use of hydroponics in order
to conform with the religious prescription of the *sabbatical
year. In 2002 the population of Bet Meir was 527. The moshav
lies in the center of the Martyrs’ Forest. It is named after Meir
*Bar-Ilan.
[Efraim Orni]
BET (HA)-MIDRASH (pl. battei (ha)-midrash) (Heb.
שָ ׁרְ
דִמ( ַה) תי ּב, ֵ pl. שָ ׁרְ
דִמ( ַה) יֵּ תָ ּב; “house of study”), study center
where people assembled to listen to words of wisdom and
exposition of the Law from very early in the Second Temple
period. Esau and Jacob are said to have attended beit ha-sefer
together until the age of 13, when Jacob continued his studies
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 537