Yodfat is a moshav shitufi

Moshav shitufi

A Moshav shitufi is a type of cooperative village in Israel whose organizational principles place it between the kibbutz and the moshav on the scale of cooperation...

 in the Lower Galilee, south of Carmiel, Israel

Israel

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

. Part of the Misgav Regional Council

Misgav Regional Council

The Misgav Regional Council is a regional council in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The regional council is home to 22,000 people, and comprises 35 small towns, mostly community settlements but also several Kibbutzim and Moshavim. The population of 29 of these is primarily Jewish, and 6...

 and located in the vicinity of the Atzmon mountain ridge, north of the Beit Netofa Valley

Beit Netofa Valley

The Beit Netofa Valley is a valley in the Lower Galilee region of Israel, midway between Tiberias and Haifa. Covering 46 km2, it is the largest valley in the Galilee and one of the largest in the southern Levant...

, Yodfat is named after the Second Temple

Second Temple

The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

-era town of the same name. It is situated north of the archaeological mound. Yodfat was established in 1960 by graduates of the Hebrew Reali School

Hebrew Reali School

The Hebrew Reali School of Haifa , located in Haifa, Israel, is one of the country's oldest private schools.-History:...

 of Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

.

Antiquity

Ancient Yodfat (Jotapata), situated to the south east of the modern moshav, is mentioned in the Mishna as a fortified Jewish village dating from the time of Joshua

Joshua

Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...

, corresponding with the Iron Age. It has also been linked to [Ia]-at-bi-te of the Assyrian Annals or Jotbah mentioned in the Bible (2 Kings 21:19). Archaeological exploration of the site, however, have thus far revealed a modest village established some time during the Hellenistic period, between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. As the Hasmonean

Hasmonean

The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...

 kings extended their influence into the Galilee during the last decades of the 2nd century BCE, a change of population occurred at Yodfat and the village was populated by Jews.
By the first century AD Yodfat had expanded to encompass an area of 50 dunams (13 acres). Its siege and subsequent destruction in 67 CE are described in Josephus Flavius' The Wars of the Jews

The Wars of the Jews

The Jewish War , in full Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans , also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews and The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, is a book written by the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus.It is a description of Jewish...

, his chronicle of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans. Led by future emperor Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

, three Roman legion

Roman legion

A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...

s — Legio V Macedonica

Legio V Macedonica

Legio quinta Macedonica was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Octavian in 43 BC, and it was stationed in Moesia at least until 5th century. Its symbol was the bull, but the eagle was used as well...

, X Fretensis

Legio X Fretensis

Legio X Fretensis was a Roman legion levied by Augustus Caesar in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic...

, and XV Apollinaris

Legio XV Apollinaris

Legio quinta decima Apollinaris was a Roman legion. It was recruited by Octavian in 41/40 BC. The emblem of this legion was probably a picture of Apollo, or of one of his holy animals....

 — besieged Yodfat, meeting strong Jewish resistance. After 47 days the city fell by treachery, and Josephus describes the death of 40,000 Jews and the enslavement of 1,200 women and children. Yodfat was razed and burnt on the first of the Hebrew month of Tammuz.
While a few dozen remaining fighters committed suicide, Josephus managed to survive this pact and was captured by the Romans.

After the fall

After its capture by the Romans, Yodfat was re-established at a nearby site by refugees from Jerusalem, among them the priestly family of Miyamin. This town is mentioned in the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 as the home of Rabbi Menachem of Jotapata (Zev. 110b).

Archaeology

Ancient Yodfat was first identified by E. G. Schultz in 1847, using the geographical and topographical descriptions provided by Josephus, as well as by the phonetic similarity to the adjacent ruin of Khirbet Shifat. Six excavation seasons were carried out at the site between 1992 and 2000, under the direction of Mordechai Aviam on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Israel Antiquities Authority

The Israel Antiquities Authority is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservation, and promotes research...

 and the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

. These have revealed remains of fortifications, cisterns and extensive evidence of the large scale battle which took place at Yodfat, including a mass grave containing human remains.

Economy

In 1968, Yodfat established a flower bulb nursery which exports millions of bulbs throughout the world. The nursery employs forty people and has an R&D facility for developing new hybrids, including the Ornithogalum dubium

Ornithogalum dubium

Ornithogalum dubium, also known as Sun Star, is a perennial bulbous flowering plant of the family Hyacinthaceae. It is a South African endemic.-Description:...

 and Cyclamen persicum

Cyclamen persicum

Cyclamen persicum, the Persian cyclamen, is a perennial growing from a tuber, native to rocky hillsides, shrubland, and woodland up to above sea level from south-central Turkey to Israel and Jordan. It also grows in Algeria and Tunisia and on the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Crete,...

. Yodfat's Jerusalem hybrid F1 anemones and Galilee hybrid F1 anemones are hand-pollinated and unique in the cut-flower trade.

A short walk from Yodfat is "Goats with the Wind farm", a family-run organic

Organic farming

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...

 goat cheese farm and restaurant founded in 1993 by former residents of Yodfat. The farm's walls and buildings were constructed over time out of stones collected from the surrounding area.

External links

• Goats with the Wind farm