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iran, avraham
his own method of teaching the Bible. For Biram the training
of pupils toward fulfilling their duties as citizens, and the inculcation
of discipline, order, and precision, were educational
principles which could determine the fate of the nation. He
devoted special attention to physical education, military training,
and scouting. Under his direction, the course of studies at
the Reali High School consisted of six years of primary and six
years of secondary education, the latter being divided into two
stages, permitting specialization in the senior grades. Some
of Biram’s reforms were later incorporated into the educational
system of the country. Biram received the Israel Prize
for Education in 1954.
Bibliography: Sefer Biram (1956); Tidhar, 4 (1950), 1696f.
[Joseph Bentwich]
BIRAN, AVRAHAM (1909– ), archaeologist and diplomat.
Born in Petaḥ Tikvah, of a third generation Ereẓ Israel family,
Biran received his education at the Reali Secondary School in
Haifa and at the David Yellin College in Bet ha-Kerem, Jerusalem.
He obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, where he studied with William Foxwell
*Albright.
From 1935 to 1937 he participated in various archaeological
excavations with the University of Pennsylvania in Iraq
and with the American Schools of Oriental Research near Irbid
in Jordan. He also accompanied Nelson *Glueck on his
discoveries along the Gulf of Elath, and in Palestine directed
the excavations of the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah in
Anathoth (1935).
In 1937, Biran was appointed District Officer of the Palestine
Mandatory Government for the area of the Jezreel Valley.
During this period he carried out an archaeological survey of
the area. Transferring to Jerusalem in 1945, he became District
Officer of the Mandatory Government for Jerusalem. He
served as liaison between the United Nations representatives
and the Jewish military authorities during the fighting before
the 1948 Declaration of Independence.
Biran held a variety of positions with the government
of Israel, initially as administrative assistant to Dov *Joseph,
the military governor of Jerusalem, becoming governor of
Jerusalem for several months. From 1949 to 1958 he was Israel
Consul-General in Los Angeles and in 1958 was the director
of the Armistice Affairs in the Foreign Ministry.
Returning to archaeology, Biran took up the position of
director of antiquities and museums of Israel and in 1974 became
director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology
of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
in Jerusalem. In this capacity he directed the excavation
of the Israelite sites of Ira and Aroer in the Negev; the ancient
synagogue of Yesud ha-Ma’alah; and the longest ongoing excavations
in Israel, at Tel Dan. These last excavations revealed
a city founded in the 6th millennium B.C.E.; massive fortifications
of the 2nd millennium, including a unique triple-arched
gate of the 18th century B.C.E. still standing as originally built;
a 14th-century B.C.E. tomb with Mycenean imports; evidence
for the first settlement of the tribe of Dan, their installations
for metal work; the Israelite sanctuary where *Jeroboam had
set the golden calf, the religious center of northern Israel with
its high place, chambers, altars; a royal scepter; and a dedicatory
inscription in Greek and Aramaic – “To the God who is
in Dan.” Biran was chairman of the Israel Exploration Society
from 1978 (in 1999 he was named its president), the Government
Names Committee, and the International Committee
of Museums and Sites (Israel) of UNESCO. In 2002 he was
awarded the Israel Prize.
[Elaine Hoter]
BIRANIT (Heb. תי ִנרי ָ ּב; ִ “small fortress”), kibbutz in Israel,
on the Lebanese border. Biranit was planned as the large rural
center of a group of settlements including Zarit, Netu’ah,
Shetulah, and Yakinton, in the framework of the Central
Galilee Development Project inaugurated in 1963. Its nucleus
was established on Dec. 1, 1964, by a Naḥal group affiliated
with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me’uḥad. The center’s initial tasks
consisted of land reclamation, afforestation, and restoration
of ancient woodlands, planting of fruit orchards, road building,
and other development work. In the course of time the
settlement was abandoned, the site becoming a military
camp.
[Efraim Orni]
BIRIYYAH (Berai) (Heb. הָ ּירי ִ ּב ִ ;ירֵ ָּב),
in the talmudic period
an important Jewish town in Upper Galilee, 1 mi. (1½ km.)
N. of Safed. After Safed’s importance decreased in the first
century C.E. as an outcome of the Jewish war against Rome,
Biriyyah took over its role as a regional center and became
an important place of learning. Both in the Jerusalem and
Babylonian Talmuds (Er. 45a, Git. 34a, TJ Meg. 2:3, 73b et al.)
six sages who were residents of Biriyyah are mentioned. The
Talmud also relates several episodes from the life of “Benei
Berai,” i.e., Biriyyah’s inhabitants. In Biriyyah, R. Abba Sha’ul,
one of the important sages of the Mishnah, is assumedly buried
together with his wife, a fact mentioned by a number of
travelers as late as 1876. According to kabbalist tradition, the
tomb of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, one of the commanders of
King David, is also to be found near Biriyyah. The genizah
literature testifies that Jews lived at Biriyyah also between the
11th and 13th centuries C.E., and it is possible that their descendants
continued to be inhabitants of the village until the 16th
century, when Biriyyah entered a new phase of ascendancy as
many Jews expelled from Spain settled in Safed and its vicinity.
It was then that Joseph *Caro completed at Biriyyah the first
part of the *Shulḥan Arukh on the 2nd of Elul 5315 (1555 C.E.).
The local Jews of that time were farmers and tradesmen, as
were the Jewish inhabitants of neighboring villages. At the
beginning of the 17th century, there were no longer any Jews
living at Biriyyah, but the local synagogue existed until the
18th century, serving the Jewish community of Safed in case
of need; its keys were kept by local Arabs who showed great
reverence for the synagogue.
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