Amuka is a communal settlement

Communal settlement (Israel)

A community settlement is a type of town in Israel. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the town's residents, who are organized in a cooperative, can veto a sale of a house or a business to an undesirable buyer....

 near 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 the Upper Galilee

Upper Galilee

The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...

 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...

. It belongs to the Merom HaGalil Regional Council

Merom HaGalil Regional Council

The Merom HaGalil Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Galilee of northern Israel. The regional council was established in 1950...

. It is named for the Biblical city of the same name, which presumably was located near the present-day settlement.

The community was founded in 1980 as part of the Mitzpim Program in the Galilee (Hebrew: תוכנית המצפים בגליל). The population is about 54 families and 230 people. The residents earn their livelihood from tourism and free professions. Near the community is the burial place of Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel

Jonathan ben Uzziel

Jonathan ben Uzziel is known as the author of Targum Jonathan. He is also said to have written a book of kabbalah known as Megadnim. He was one of the 80 tannaim who studied under Hillel the Elder. His tomb is in Amuka, Galilee near Tzfat, Israel...

, to whom some people attribute special powers (segulot).

Children in the community learn in external schools: "Nof Harim" elementary school in Sasa

Sasa

Sasa may refer to: menina linda com pernas jeitosas ;)* Samoan Sasa* Saša, a given name* Sasa - a genus of bamboo* Sasa, Israel - a kibbutz in Galilee, Israel* Sa'sa' - a Palestinian village, depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war....

, "Anne Frank

Anne Frank

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...

" high school in Sasa, "Har VeGai" high school, and Einot Yarden high school.

The synagogue

There is a large ruined building above the burial place of Jonathan ben Uzziel

Jonathan ben Uzziel

Jonathan ben Uzziel is known as the author of Targum Jonathan. He is also said to have written a book of kabbalah known as Megadnim. He was one of the 80 tannaim who studied under Hillel the Elder. His tomb is in Amuka, Galilee near Tzfat, Israel...

. Its remnants are located east of the valley where the old village "Amikin" was located. In the 19th century the researcher Geren saw there "the base of a pillar and a number of hewn stones - the remnants of an old structure, possibly a synagogue." Tzvi Ilan writes that today that some of the hewn stones are centralized in the center of the ruin like a platform for worship. West of the platform is a rectangular area of 20 by 30 meters appropriate for a synagogue. In the past there was a marble board with a figure of a grapevine.

Further reading (Hebrew)

• זאב וילנאי, מדריך הגליל, הוצאה מחודשת של אחיעבר - ירושלים, 1980.
• מנחם מיכלסון, יהודה סלומון, משה מילנר, מקומות קדושים וקברי צדיקים בארץ ישראל, משרד הביטחון - הוצאה לאור, 1986
• צבי אילן, בתי כנסת קדומים בארץ ישראל, משרד הביטחון - הוצאה לאור, 1991.