Emek Refaim
Encyclopedia
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It takes its name from the biblical Valley of Rephaim
Valley of Rephaim
Valley of Rephaim - . A valley descending southwest from Jerusalem to the Valley of Elah below, it is an ancient route from the coastal plain to the Judean Hills, probably named after the legendary race of giants.-Biblical story:...
which began its descent from Jerusalem here.
Etymology
Emek Refa’im can be translated as either “the valley of the ghosts” or “the valley of the giants.” The 2nd-century CE Aramaic Targum of Onkelos translates the words as meshar gibaraya, or "plain of the mighty." JeromeJerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
’s 4th-century Latin Vulgate translates the phrase as "vallis Raphaim," and the English King James version follows the Jewish commentators, translating it as “the valley of the giants.”
History
The first residents of Emek Refaim were German TemplersTemplers (religious believers)
Templers are members of the Temple Society , a German Protestant sect with roots in the Pietist movement of the Lutheran Church. The Templers were expelled from the church in 1858 because of their millennial beliefs. Their aim was to realize the apocalyptic visions of the prophets of Israel in the...
, who settled there in the 19th century. Biblical inscriptions in German Fraktur script can still be seen on the lintels of some of the homes. As enemy alien
Enemy alien
In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.-United Kingdom:...
s, the Templers were interned and later deported by the British during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They built one and two storey houses similar in appearance to the homes they left in Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
.
Architecture
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and British Mandate times. Some of the distinctive German Templer buildings are still standing, as are elegant villas that belonged to wealthy Arabs before the establishment of the State of Israel.
Some homes in the area were abandoned by local Palestinians or expropriated after 1948, and many issues of property ownership and displacement have yet to be resolved. A former Arab resident of the Bauerle House, located at 10 Emek Refaim (originally built by the Templers), wrote about a painful visit to her home after 1967.
A movie theater, Smadar, on the corner of Emek Refaim and Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
Street, was built during the British Mandate, when it was known as the Regent or the Orient. At the corner of Emek Refaim, on a hill overlooking the Hinnom Valley, is the Scottish Church of St. Andrew's, built in 1927 and incorporating local Armenian tile-work. Similar tiling can be seen on the facades of some buildings on Emek Refaim.
The residents of Emek Refaim have banded together to protest plans to build a hotel and residential towers in the area, destroying the historic character of the neighborhood.