Hatzor HaGlilit is a town in northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 near Rosh Pina and Safed

Safed

Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...

. In 2008, Hatzor HaGlilit had a population of 8,700. It is named for the nearby biblical site of Tel Hazor.

History

Hatzor HaGlilit was founded in 1952–1953 as an immigrant camp

Ma'abarot

The Ma'abarot were refugee absorption camps in Israel in the 1950s. The Ma'abarot were meant to provide accommodation for the large influx of Jewish refugees and new Olim arriving to the newly independent State of Israel, replacing the less habitable immigrant camps or tent cities...

, located on the land of the depopulated Palestinian village of Mughr al-Khayt

Mughr al-Khayt

Mughr al-Khayt was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Safad. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 2, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 4.5 km northeast of Safad. In 1945 it had a population of...

, 1 km southeast of the village site. By 1958, it had a population of 4,000 and received development town

Development town

Development town is a term used to refer to the new settlements that were built in Israel during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing to a large influx of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Holocaust survivors from Europe and new immigrants , who arrived to the newly established State...

 status.

Landmarks

One of the town's most well-known landmarks is the tomb of Honi the Circle-Maker

Honi HaM'agel

Honi Ha-Ma'agel , was a Jewish scholar prior to the age of the tannaim, the scholars from whose teachings the Mishnah was derived....

, adjoining the burial sites of two of his grandsons, Abba Hilkiyah and Hanan HaNihba. According to Jewish legend, Honi HaM'agel had the power to bring rain through his prayers.The presence of this shrine attracted a large Gerrer

Ger (Hasidic dynasty)

Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....

 hassid

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

population to the town.