ẒORAH

ẒORAH (Heb. צָרְעָה), Canaanite city mentioned in Tell-el-Amarna letter no. 273; later a Danite city mentioned with Eshtaol and Ir (Beth)-Shemesh in one of the city lists (Josh. 19:41). According to the later enumeration of the districts of Judah, Zorah passed to that region, where it was located in the northern district of the Shephelah (Josh. 15:33). The fame of Zorah derives from the story of samson . The Danite camp in which his father Manoah lived is defined as situated between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judg. 13:25); Manoah himself is described as a Zorite (Judg. 13:2). Samson was buried between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judg. 16:31). The 600 Danite warriors went forth from the same camp to search for living space for their tribe, hard pressed by the Amorites (Judg. 8:11). According to I Chronicles 2:53, 54, and 4:2, it was settled by families of Judah. It is listed with Aijalon among the fortifications of Rehoboam (11 Chron. 11:20). It appears with Jarmuth in the list of places resettled by Jews returning from Babylonian exile (Neh. 11:29). In the Byzantine period, it belonged to Eleutheropolis (Onom. 156:15ff.). It is identified with the former Arab village of Ṣarʿa, situated on a dominating hill north of Beth-Shemesh   near the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv highway, about 15 mi. (25 km.) from Jerusalem. (Michael Avi-Yonah) Kibbutz Ẓorah in the Jerusalem Corridor west of Beth-Shemesh is affiliated with Iḥud ha-Kevuẓot ve-ha-Kibbutzim. It was founded in December 1948 by Israeli youth, who were later joined by settlers from South Africa. In 1970 Ẓorah had 431 inhabitants, more than doubling to 945 in the mid-1990s but then dropping to 701 in 2002. In addition to farming (field crops, plantations, turkey, and dairy cattle), the kibbutz manufactured mobility and rehabilitation aids for the handicapped and operated a furniture factory, winery, silk-screen printing studio, and guest house and youth hostel. (Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.) -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aharoni, Land, index; Avi-Yonah, Geog, index. WEBSITE: www.tzora.co.il .