Yavne יַבְנֶה | |
|---|---|
| Hebrew transcription(s) | |
| • ISO 259 | Yabne |
 | |
 Emblem of Yavne | |
  Yavne  Yavne | |
| Coordinates:31°53′N34°44′E / 31.883°N 34.733°E /31.883; 34.733 | |
| Country |  Israel |
| District | Central |
| Founded | 2000 BCE(Canaanite city) 37 BCE(Herodian rule) 7th century Islamic period(Arab village) 1949(Israeli city) |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Roei Gabay |
| Area | |
• Total | 10,700dunams (10.7 km2; 4.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
• Total | 57,725 |
| • Density | 5,390/km2 (14,000/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | |
| • Jews and others | 99.9% |
| • Arabs | 0.1% |
| Website | www |
Yavne (Hebrew:יַבְנֶה) is a city in theCentral District ofIsrael. In 2023 it had a population of 57,725.[1]
Modern Yavne was established in 1949. It is located near the ruins of the ancient town of Yibna (known also as Jamnia and Jabneh), later the village ofYibna, and today the archeological site of Tel Yavne. Ancient Yavne holds a special place inJewish history because of the ancient town's contribution toJudaism's recovery and reconstitution undersagesben Zakkai andGamaliel II following thedestruction of the Second Temple. This period, sometimes known as the "Yavne period", became a crucial mark in the development ofRabbinic Judaism.[2][3][4] The city has a history ofproducing wine throughout much of antiquity, as indicated by both archeological findings and ancient sources.[5]
In many English translations of the Bible, Yavne was known asJabneh/ˈdʒæbnə/. In Greek and Latin-speaking sources, it was known asJamnia (Ancient Greek:ἸαμνίαIamníā;Latin:Iamnia). UnderLate Roman andByzantine rule, it had a mixed population ofChristians, Jews, andSamaritans. Under theCrusaders, the city was known asIbelin, and was where theHouse of Ibelin resided. During the Ottoman and British periods, it was known asYibna (Arabic:يبنى). The ancient site is now found at theTel Yavne archeological site, which is southeast of the modern city.
Yavne was one of the major ancient cities in the southerncoastal plain, situated 20 km (12.43 mi) south ofJaffa, 15 km (9.32 mi) north ofAshdod, and 7 km (4.35 mi) east of theMediterranean.[6]
From excavations of the ancienttell (mound created by accumulation of archaeological remains) known asTel Yavne (Hebrew), which developed on a naturalkurkar hill, the area shows to have been inhabited continuously from either the Bronze or Iron Age until theBritish Mandate. During some periods, especially theByzantine period, the settlement expanded to cover part of the plain and hills surrounding the tell.[6][7][8] Yavne is mentioned in theBible and other ancient texts.[7][8]
In Roman times, the city was known asIamnia orJamnia. It was bequeathed byKing Herod upon his death to his sisterSalome. Upon her death it passed toEmperor Augustus, who ran it as a privateimperial estate, a status retained for at least a century.[9] After Salome's death, Iamnia came into the property ofLivia, the future Roman empress, and then to her sonTiberius.[10][better source needed]
In the 40s AD, a dispute emerged in Jamnia when Gentiles constructed a mud-brick altar to the Emperor, provoking the local Jewish population. The Jews destroyed the altar, which they saw as desecration. This led the Gentiles to complain to Capito, the imperial revenue collector inJudaea, who reported the matter to EmperorCaligula. In retaliation, Caligula ordered a statue of himself as Jupiter to be placed in theHoly of Holies at theTemple of Jerusalem.[11][12]
Iamnia played a role in several events during theFirst Jewish–Roman War. In 66 AD, the Roman tribune Neapolitanus met with KingAgrippa II in Iamnia, to inform him of his mission to investigate the situation in Jerusalem, followingFlorus' seizure of Temple funds andclashes between Jews and Roman troops.[12] Later, in spring 68 AD, after the Roman army underVespasian quelled the insurrection inGalilee, the army marched upon Iamnia andAzotus, taking both towns and stationing garrisons within them.[13]
Following the failure of the revolt and thedestruction of the Second Temple, Judaism underwent significant reform in Yavne.[12] According to rabbinic tradition, RabbiYohanan ben Zakkai and his disciples were permitted to settle in Iamnia during the outbreak of the war, after ben Zakkai, realizing thatJerusalem was about to fall, departed the city and sought the permission ofVespasian, commander of the Roman forces, to settle in Yavne and teach his disciples.[14][15] Upon thefall of Jerusalem, his school functioned as aSanhedrin.[16] It was also theorized for some time to have been the site of a supposedCouncil of Jamnia that established the rabbinic Jewish biblical canon (although current scholarship largely rejects the theory that such a council in fact occurred).
According to theJerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:4), when the rabbis argued over some fine point of Jewish law, a Divine voice (Hebrew:bat ḳol) was heard in Yavne, ruling in favor of theSchool of Hillel. To counter a perceived threat to rabbinical authority, the Talmud states thatShmuel ha-Katan of Yavne enacted the "twelfth benediction" in thedaily prayer, i.e., the benediction againstapostates andheretics (Hebrew:minim).[17]
TheCrusaders renamed the cityIbelin and built itscastle there in 1141. An excavation led by ProfessorDan Bahat in 2005[18][better source needed] revealed the main gate.[19] Its namesake noble family, theHouse of Ibelin, was important in theKingdom of Jerusalem and later in theKingdom of Cyprus. Salvage excavations at the west of the tell unearthed a stash of 53 Crusader coins of the 12th and 13th centuries.[20]
TheIslamic historianal-Baladhuri (died 892 AD) describesYibna as one of ten towns inJund Filastin conquered by theRashidun army led by'Amr ibn al-'As in the early 7th century.[21] Ibelin was first sacked bySaladin before his army was routed at theBattle of Montgisard in late 1177. In August 1187, it was retaken and burnt to the ground, and ceased for some time to form part of the Crusaders' kingdom.[22]
Ibelin's parish church was converted into amosque, to which a minaret was added during the Mamluk period in 1337. The minaret is still standing, although the mosque itself (the former Crusader church) was blown up by the IDF in 1950.[7][23]
TheMausoleum of Abu Huraira, known in Arabic asMaqam Abu Hurayra, described as "one of the finest domed mausoleums in Palestine", dates back to the 12th century. It was said to be the tomb ofAbu Hurairah, a companion (sahaba) of the Islamic prophetMuhammad.[24][25] Abu Hurairah however is buried inMedina,Saudi Arabia, but he[clarification needed] was also venerated in various places in Palestine, namely inRamle and Yavne.[26] After 1948 the shrine was adopted byMizrahi Jews who believe the tomb is the burial place of RabbiGamaliel of Yavne.[24][25] Jewish worshippers say that it was a Jewish burial site that was Islamized later, although there is no record of Jewish pilgrimage there before 1948.[27]
In mid-March 1948, a contingent of Iraqi soldiers moved into the village. In aHaganah reprisal on 30 March, two dozen villagers were killed. On April 21, the Iraqi village commander was arrested inJaffa for drunkenly shooting two Arabs.[28]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, residents ofZarnuqa sought refuge in Yibna, but left after the villagers accused them of being traitors.[29]
On 27 May, following the fall ofAl-Qubayba andZarnuqa, most of the population of Yibna fled toIsdud, but armed males were refused entry. On 5 June, when Israeli troops arrived, they found the village almost deserted apart from a few old people who were ordered to leave.[29]
In the 1930s, a plan was proposed to rebuild the ancient Talmudic academy founded by Yochanan Ben Zakkai. In 1941, an agreement was reached between theJewish National Fund and the Mizrachi/Hapoel Mizrachi movements, allocating five hundred dunams in Yavne area for a yeshiva. In 1948, the building was used as a forward post byYigal Alon, commander of the southern front, because of its commanding view of the coastal plain.[30]
Yavne was established in October 1948 as atransit camp forJews from Arab countries, Iran and Europe. The first neighbourhood was established in early 1949. In the early years, the inhabitants were shopkeepers, farmers and construction workers. In 1953, the population was 1,600. In the 1960s, several enterprises moved from Tel Aviv to Yavne, establishing leather, textile, and metallurgy industries. By 1970, the population had grown to 10,100.[31] Other Israeli villages were founded on Yibna land wereKfar HaNagid andBeit Gamliel in 1949,Ben Zakai in 1950,Kfar Aviv (originally: "Kfar HaYeor") in 1951,Tzofiyya in 1955.[32] According toWalid Khalidi, a railroad crosses the village. The old mosque andminaret, together with ashrine can still be seen, and some of the old houses are inhabited by Jewish and Arab families.[citation needed][clarification needed]
The 1980 edition of a guidebook published in Jerusalem describes Yavne as home to Israel's first atomic reactor, an image of which appeared on a 0.50 Shekel stamp.[33]
When MayorMeir Sheetrit assumed office in 1974, the city became a low-density suburban satellite of Tel Aviv with new construction targeting middle-class families. Yavne achieved city status in 1986. By the mid-1990s, the population had risen to 25,600.[31]
According to theIsrael Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2021 the ethnic makeup of the city was 99 percentJewish and others, without significantArab population.[34] As of March 2021 the city numbered 53,595 persons, with a high percentage of young people: 37% of the population was in the 0–19 age group and 71% of the total population was younger than 44.[34][35]
Major companies based in Yavne includeOrmat Industries,Aeronautics Defense Systems, Avisar andOrbotech.In 2019,Merck established an incubator in Yavne with a budget of about €20 million over three years that will invest in startups focusing on semiconductor and display crystal technologies.[36] In 2022Recipharm established a new facility in Yavne.[37] MediWound manufacturesNexoBrid in Yavne, a unique product for the treatment of severe burns.[38] It allows saving affected tissue which would otherwise need to be removed, leading to less amputations of hands and feet.[38] ManyOctober 7, 2023 victims have benefitted from it, with the US also buying $20 million worth of NexoBrid for its strategic national stockpile.[38]
In 2012 a new green neighborhood "Neot Rabin" was inaugurated in the south of the city.[39]
Maccabi Yavne is the city's major football club. During the 1980s the club played in the top division and in 1985 won theToto Cup. Today they are inLiga Leumit. The basketball team,Elitzur Yavne, have also played in theLiga Leumit (basketball) since 2007.
Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the National Basketball Association, grew up in the city and played for some of its teams.[40]
Tel Yavne was first excavated in 2005 in a dig headed byDan Bahat, who unearthed the gate room of the Crusader castle of Ibelin, as well as a vault destroyed with gunpowder by theMamluks and deeply embedded Crusader walls east of it, all at or around the top of the tell.[41]
In December 2019, a large number of pottery kilns and 1,200-year-old gold coins which may have been a Palestinian potter's "piggy bank" were unearthed in ajuglet by theIsraeli Antiquities Authority. According to archaeologist Robert Kool, the coins date back to the earlyAbbasid period, about 9th century CE. One of the seven coins was minted by CaliphHarun al-Rashid (786–809 CE). "These are gold dinars issued by theAghlabid dynasty that ruled in North Africa. Without a doubt this is a wonderfulHanukkah present for us," said Kool.[42][43] In August 2020, Israeli archaeologists discovered 425 complete gold coins, most dating to the Abbasid period around 1,100 years ago.[44] In April 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 1,600-year-old multicoloredmosaic dated back to theByzantine period in an industrial area. According toIAA archaeologist Elie Haddad, it was the first time that excavators revealed a colored mosaic floor in Yavne.[45][46][47]
The ancient harbour of Yavne,Yavne-Yam (in ArabicMinet Rubin) was identified on the coast. Excavations have revealed fortification going back to theBronze AgeHyksos.[8] It was in use from the Middle Bronze Age until the 12th century CE, when it was abandoned.[48]2 Maccabees 12:8–9 refers to the burning of the harbour and its fleet on the direction ofJudas Maccabeus.
In 2022, asling bullet was discovered with the Greek inscription "Victory of Heracles and Hauronas", the two gods were the patrons of the city during theHellenistic period.[49]
Yavne istwinned with:
Le Raincy,France
Speyer,Germany
Sunrise, Florida,United StatesEast Brunswick, New Jersey,United StatesUnder the leadership of R. Yohanan ben Zakkai and his circle at Yavneh, Judaism sought to reconstitute itself and find a new equilibrium in the face of the disaster of 70.
Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Jabneh".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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