Beit Nekofa is a 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...

 in the Jerusalem District

Jerusalem District

The Jerusalem District is one of six administrative districts of Israel. The district capital is Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District has a land area of 652 km². The population of 910,300 is 67.8% Jewish and 30.6% Arab...

 of Israel

Israel

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

, subordinate to the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council is a regional council in the Jerusalem District of Israel. In 2008 it was home to 36,200 people.The name of the regional council stems from the fact that its territory was part of the land allotted to the Tribe of Judah, according to the Bible.-Places and...

. It was founded in August 1949 by seven families that immigrated from Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

.

Beit Nekofa is located about 10 km west of central Jerusalem, next to Highway 1

Highway 1 (Israel)

Highway 1 , is the main highway connecting Tel Aviv with Jerusalem.-History:The section between Latrun and Jerusalem roughly follows an ancient path connecting Jaffa and Jerusalem...

 and the Hemed Interchange, between Mevaseret Zion

Mevaseret Zion

Mevaseret Zion is a suburb of Jerusalem, Israel. Mevaseret Zion is composed of two distinct townships, Maoz Zion and Mevaseret Yerushalayim—under the jurisdiction of one local council. The newer neighborhoods of Mevaseret Zion were not part of either settlement.Mevaseret Zion is located on a...

 and Kiryat Ye'arim, and just south of Kiryat Anavim.

Name

According to Immanuel HaReuveni, Beit Nekofa's name comes from the ancient settlement Nukveta of Benjamin

Tribe of Benjamin

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Benjamin בִּנְיָמִין was one of the Tribes of Israel.From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BCE, the Tribe of Benjamin was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes...

, 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....

, from where the ancestors of Rabbi Jeuda the Prince

Judah haNasi

Judah the Prince, or Judah I, also known as Rebbi or Rabbeinu HaKadosh , was a 2nd-century CE rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea . He was of the Davidic line, the royal line of King David, hence the...

 are said to come from. Nukveta's name, in turn, comes from the long tunnel in the area.

According to Zev Vilnay

Zev Vilnay

Zev Vilnay was an Israeli geographer, author and lecturer.-Biography:Zev Vilnay was born in Kishinev. He moved to Palestine with his parents at the age of six and grew up in Haifa. He served as a military topographer in the Haganah, and later in the Israel Defense Forces. Vilnay and his wife...

, Beit Nekofa was mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud

Jerusalem Talmud

The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...

 as the place of residents for a family of Kohanim

Kohen

A Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....

. The Hebrew root of the name is Nakaf ' onMouseout='HidePop("33224")' href="/topics/Book_of_Joshua">Joshua

Book of Joshua

The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....

 17:6), referring to the collection of olives by means of hitting the tree, as opposed to harvest by hand (the Hebrew root Masak).

The Arabs, however, take the name to come from the word Naqb, meaning (mountain) passage. An Arab village, Bayt Naqquba

Bayt Naqquba

Bayt Naqquba was a Palestinian village in British Mandate Palestine, located 9.5 kilometers west of Jerusalem, near Abu Ghosh. Before Palmach and Haganah troops occupied the village during Operation Nachshon on April 1, 1948 approximately 300 Palestinian Arabs lived there...

, existed in the same location until the 1948 Arab–Israeli War when the area came under Israeli control and the villagers were expelled.