Mahseya

Mahseya מחסיה
Mahseya
Coordinates: 31°44′54″N 35°0′23″E
Country	Israel
District	Jerusalem
Council	Mateh Yehuda
Affiliation	Hapoel HaMizrachi
Founded	1950
Founded by	Moroccan and Yemenite Jews
Population  (2022)	498

Mahseya (Hebrew: מַחְסֵיָה) is a moshav in central Israel. Located about two kilometers east of Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council in the Jerusalem District. In 2022 it had a population of 498.

History

The village was established in 1950 by Jewish immigrants and refugees from Morocco and from Yemen and Aden, on the land of depopulated Palestinian Arab village of Dayr Aban. Although it too was later abandoned, it was re-settled by Cochin Jews. Its name is taken from Jeremiah32:12:

And I delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel mine uncle['s son], and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the guard.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to the south of the current site of the moshav, there was a military outpost for the Egyptian army (within Dayr Aban), known as the 'Joint' Command Post, and which place was taken in armed conflict during Operation Ha-Har.

Archaeology

In 2004 archaeologists uncovered a large stone building, 40 × 80 m, with floors composed of chalk, stone and mosaic. An olive press was built to the west. Pottery vessels and coins date the building to the sixth–eighth centuries CE. From the size and nature of construction, it is believed to have been a monastery.