Neve Michael

Neve Michael
נְוֵה מִיכָאֵל
Moshav
Neve Michael from a hill overlooking the Elah Valley
Etymology: "Michael's Haven"
Interactive map of Neve Michael
Neve Michael
Location of Neve Michael in Jerusalem District, Israel
Coordinates: 31°40′22″N 35°0′22″E / 31.67278°N 35.00611°E / 31.67278; 35.00611
Country Israel
DistrictJerusalem District
Regional CouncilMateh Yehuda Regional Council
Founded29 July 1958
Founded byKurdish Jews
Population
[1]
 • Total
975

Neve Michael (Hebrew: נְוֵה מִיכָאֵל, lit. 'Michael's Haven')[2] also known as Roglit, is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Adullam region and built upon an eminence in the far south-east end of the Elah Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2024 it had a population of 975.[1]

Background

Archaeology

Archaeological finds range from the Early Hellenistic period to the Umayyad period with evidence of a Jewish settlement in the first century CE.[3]

Near the moshav are the ruins of Adullam and Hurvat Itri.

Arab village

The moshav was preceded by the Palestinian Arab village of Bayt Nattif, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. [4] The place where the moshav stands was known in the 19th century as Khirbet Jurfah.[5]

Moshav history

Roglit

The village of Roglit was established on 29 July 1958 (12 Av 5718 anno mundi) by a group of Jewish immigrants from Iranian Kurdistan, on farm land that had belonged to Bayt Nattif.[6][4] In 1958, the newly restructured Jewish National Fund (JNF), working in concert with the Hitahdut HaIkarim agricultural organisation, settled new immigrants on the site giving to the place the name Roglit (Hebrew: רוֹגְלִית), meaning "tiller [of the grapevine]". The new immigrants were initially employed as laborers for JNF land reclamation. The founders were joined by immigrants from North Africa, mainly Morocco.[6]

An Israel Border Police outpost was also built in Neve Michael, which was later abandoned in 1962.

After the JNF-related years, the village economy was based on agriculture (citrus fruit) and poultry, which phased out in the late 1980s.

Neve Michael

A newer regional community center built alongside it was given the name Neve Michael, in memory of American philanthropist, Michael M. Weiss,[7] who was a donor to the JNF. The newer section had a regional elementary school which catered to children from the surrounding communities of Roglit, Aderet and Aviezer, but closed its doors in the early 1980s. Today, the grounds of the old school serve as a home for the mentally and physically disabled.[8]

1983 merger; new Neve Michael

When the new settlement of Neve Michael failed to attract new residents, it was merged with Roglit in 1983.[8]

In 2005 the village started an expansion plan attracting many younger families to the moshav. The moshav has a mixed population with people of different ages, ethnic background and Jewish religious observance.

  • Vineyard at Neve Michael
  • View of Valley from the Moshav
  • Sunrise over the Elah Valley
  • Houses in Neve Michael
  • Terebinth tree (Pistacia atlantica) in the Elah valley, on south side of Neve Michael
  • Beneath the shady boughs of a terebinth
  • Terebinth (Pistacia atlantica) growing in the Elah Valley
  • Wheat fields in the Valley of Elah
  • Almond tree with blossoming flowers
  • The Community Center in Moshav Neve Michael
  • Neve Michael looking out over Wadi Sur
  • Moshav as seen from eastern mountain
  • Wheat fields in valley
  • Dominican sage (Salvia dominica) and Neve Michael in background

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neve Michael.
  1. ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
  2. ^ English translation follows the Judeo-Arabic translation of the Hebrew "neve" = מאוא (مأوى), in Jeremiah 50:7, published in Yosef Tobi's Poetry, Judeo-Arabic Literature and the Geniza, Tel-Aviv 2006, p. 59 (Hebrew)
  3. ^ Avner, Rina (2006). "Rogelit". Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. 118. Israel Antiquities Authority.
  4. ^ a b Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 212. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  5. ^ In the Survey of Western Palestine (Arabic and English Name Lists), London 1881, p. 307, E.H. Palmer calls the site Khŭrbet Jurfa. According to Payne-Smith's lexicon of the Aramaic/Syriac language, the name "Jurfa" (ܓܘܪܦܐ), means "a cutting or slip of the olive-tree; a hollow in a tree." See Payne Smith, J. (1903). A compendious Syriac Dictionary: founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (in Syriac and English). Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 251355373., p. 66.
  6. ^ a b "About Moshav Neve Michael". homee.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 9 January 2026.
  7. ^ Stone Monument in Neve Michael, in memory of Michael M. Weiss; Plaque in recognition of Michael M. Weiss
  8. ^ a b Hareuveni, Imanuel (2010). Eretz Israel Lexicon (in Hebrew). Israel Ministry of Education and The Center for Educational Technology (CET). p. 862. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
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