Even Sapir אבן ספיר إيفن سابير | |
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Coordinates:31°45′47″N35°8′5″E / 31.76306°N 35.13472°E /31.76306; 35.13472 | |
Country | Israel |
District | Jerusalem |
Council | Mateh Yehuda |
Affiliation | Moshavim Movement |
Founded | 1950 |
Founded by | Kurdish Jews |
Population (2022) | 699[1] |
Even Sapir (Hebrew:אֶבֶן סַפִּיר, lit.Sapphire) is amoshav in centralIsrael. Located on the outskirts ofJerusalem, it falls under thejurisdiction ofMateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 699.[1]
Even Sapir was established in 1949 on land that had belonged to the depopulatedPalestinian village of'Ayn Karim.[2]
The moshav was founded byHebrew repatriants returning fromKurdistan. The name was either taken fromEven Sapir, a book written in 1864 byYaakov Halevi Sapir, a Jerusalem rabbi and emissary,[3] which describes his travels toYemen in the 19th century,[4] or it was named afterPinchas Sapir, Israel's finance minister, who encouraged Jewish businessmen from the Diaspora to invest in Palestine and the nascent state.[5]
To the north of the moshav is theMonastery of St. John in the Wilderness and a cave attributed toJohn the Baptist.[6]
Even Sapir is one end point of theJerusalem Trail, a 42-kilometer walking route around and through Jerusalem, which intersects with theIsrael National Trail. The point of intersection is just outside Even Sapir at theEin Hindak spring.[7]
Even Sapir is a home to "Ben Gurion Institute of Science & Technology", Jerusalem Campus, a housing estate designated for 430 local and international students.[8]