Benebarak was a biblical city mentioned in the Book of 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....

. According to the biblical account it was allocated to 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...

.

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....

ic era, Beneberak became the seat of the court of Rabbi Akiva, and is identified as the site of his all-night seder

Seder

Seder is a Hebrew word meaning "order" or "sequence", and can have any of the following meanings:For Jewish holidays*Passover Seder, a ritualized dinner observed during Passover...

in the Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 Haggadah

Haggadah of Pesach

The Haggadah is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the Scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah...

.

Benebarak was also associated with agriculture, as evident from the Talmudic account of the sage Rami bar Yehezkel, who declared that he understood the meaning of the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

's description of the Land of Israel

Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

as a "land flowing with milk and honey" after a scene he witnessed in Beneberak. He saw goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s grazing beneath fig

Common fig

The Common fig is a deciduous tree growing to heights of up to 6 m in the genus Ficus from the family Moraceae known as Common fig tree. It is a temperate species native to the Middle East.-Description:...

 trees and the honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 oozing from the very ripe figs merged with the milk dripping from the goats and formed a stream of milk and honey.

Ibn Ibraq/al-Khayriyya

The Palestinian village of Ibn Ibraq ("Son of Ibraq/Barak") preserved the name of the ancient site. Its Arab villagers renamed it al-Khayriyya

Al-Khayriyya

Al-Khayriyya was a Palestinian village located 7.5 kilometers east of Jaffa. Its inhabitants fled as a result of a military assault by the Alexandroni Brigade of the pre-state Israeli forces in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.-History:...

, to distinguish it from the Jewish agricultural settlement of Bnei Barak established 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the south in 1924. Al-Khayriyya was depopulated during a military assault as part of Operation Hametz

Operation Hametz

Operation Hametz was a Jewish operation towards the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. It was launched at the end of April 1948 with the objective of capturing villages inland from Jaffa and establishing a blockade around the town.-Background:...

 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

.

A large waste transfer

Transfer station

A transfer station is a building or processing site for the temporary deposition of waste. Transfer stations are often used as places where local waste collection vehicles will deposit their waste cargo prior to loading into larger vehicles...

 station, known as Hiriya

Hiriya

Hiriya is a former waste dump located southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:Hiriya takes its name from the pre-1948 Arab village of al-Khayriyya, which was built on the site of the ancient biblical town of Beneberak....

, was built at the ancient/modern site.