Brook of Sorek
Encyclopedia
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...
16:4 of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
as the border between the ancient Philistines
Philistines
Philistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
and the Tribe of Dan
Tribe of Dan
The Tribe of Dan, also sometimes spelled as "Dann", was one of the Tribes of Israel. Though known mostly from biblical sources, they were possibly descendants of the Denyen Sea Peoples who joined with Hebrews...
of the ancient Israelites. It is known in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
as Wadi Surar.
Etymology
The MidrashMidrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
(Numbers Rabbah 9) states that the sorek is a "fruitless tree" (the word רק req means "empty" in Hebrew), implying a moral lesson and metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
suggesting that Samson's involvement in his affair with Delilah was eventually "fruitless". However, another etymology suggests that "sorek" means "special vine" and refers to the grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s and wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
s grown in the area.
Biblical history
Nahal Sorek was the place where DelilahDelilah
Delilah appears only in the Hebrew bible Book of Judges 16, where she is the "woman in the valley of Sorek" whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall...
lived, and Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
came to meet her for the first time. It was also the place she enticed him to tell her the secret of his strength, and where he was eventually captured by the Philistines:
Modern history
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
and Jerusalem. Because railways at the time were reliant on water sources, several surveyors who planned the first railway in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, the Jaffa–Jerusalem line
Jaffa–Jerusalem railway
The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway is a railroad that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in Ottoman Palestine by the French company Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et Prolongements and inaugurated in 1892, after previous attempts by the Jewish philanthropist Moses...
, decided to use Nahal Sorek as the main route for the line.
While at that time the route was logical, when plans were made to renovate it in 2001, the digging of numerous tunnels was proposed to mainly avoid the Nahal Sorek route and shorten the line. Due in part to the opposition from the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority
Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority is a government organization in Israel that manages the country's nature reserves and national parks...
, this plans was never materialized, and the old route on Nahal Sorek was refurbished complete and is still in use today.
Today
While still being adjacent to the Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
–Jerusalem railway today, Nahal Sorek mainly serves as a tourist attraction. Several small water reservoirs exist along its route, notably near Tal Shahar
Tal Shahar
Tal Shahar is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Gederot , it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. According to the 2009 census it had a population of 1,057....
and Yesodot
Yesodot
Yesodot is a religious moshav shitufi in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Nahal Sorek Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 434....
. Waterfalls are located on several of its tributaries, including Ayanot Dekalim in Beit Shemesh, Ein Sifla on Nahal HaMe'ara, and others.
The Nahal Sorek Nature Reserve, first declared in 1965, and since expanded, spans over 11000 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s, from the Avshalom Cave
Avshalom Cave
Avshalom Cave , also known as Soreq Cave or Stalactites Cave , is a 5,000 sq m cave on the western side of Mt.Ye'ela, in the Judean hills, in Israel, unique for its dense concentration of stalactites....
Nature Reserve near Beit Shemesh, to moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
Nes Harim
Nes Harim
Nes Harim is a moshav in Israel, eight kilometers from Jerusalem. Located in the Judean foothills near Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council...
.
Israel maintains one of its two nuclear reactors
Soreq Nuclear Research Center
The Soreq Nuclear Research Center is a research and development institute located near the localities of Palmachim and Yavne in Israel. It operates under the auspices of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission...
at Nahal Sorek (the other being Negev Nuclear Research Center
Negev Nuclear Research Center
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about thirteen kilometers to the south-east of the city of Dimona. The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have...
near Dimona
Dimona
Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. Its population at the end of 2007 was 33,600.-History:...
). It was provided to Israel by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Unlike the nuclear reactor at Dimona, where Israel refuses to allow any IAEA inspections, the reactor at Nahal Sorek is inspected by IAEA twice a year.
See also
- Nahal Sorek Regional CouncilNahal Sorek Regional CouncilNahal Sorek Regional Council is a regional council in the Center district of Israel. The seat of the council is Yad Binyamin. The council is named for the Sorek stream.-List of settlements:...
- TimnahTimnahTimnath or Timnah was a Philistine city in Canaan that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in . It has been identified with Tel Batash , a tel located in the Sorek Valley, near moshav Tal Shahar, Israel....
- ZorahZorahZorah or Tzorah, perhaps "place of wasps," was a biblical town in the low country of Judah.-Location:Zorah was situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the valley of Sorek, and was fortified by Rehoboam...