Zorah


Zorah or Tzorah , perhaps "place of wasps," was a biblical town in the lower hill country of Judah. The site lies at an elevation of about above sea-level.

Location

Zorah was situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the valley of Sorek, and was fortified by Rehoboam. It has been identified with Sar'a, 23 kilometers west of Jerusalem near Nahal Sorek, now often referred to as Tel Tzora.

History

Zorah was mentioned together with Ajalon in the Amarna letters as a city attacked by the Apiru. Zorah has been identified with the biblical Zoreah, and is the birthplace of Samson. states:
Samson's grave is recorded as being near there, and which the historian Josephus says was in a village called Sarasat.
In, Zorah is mentioned in the allotment of the Tribe of Judah, on the border with the Tribe of Dan. It was most likely the Danites who occupied Zorah.
Zorah is also the name of an Egyptian sun god which is in line with other sun-worshiping villages in the area, Eshtaol and Beit Shemesh.
The Palestinian village Sar'a was located in the presumed location of the ancient town. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Conder and Kitchener, describing the site in 1881, said that, with the exception of the olive groves to the north of the village, the low hill on which the village lies is "bare and white," a place now planted with a pine forest by the Jewish National Fund.
Kibbutz Tzora is now located nearby, at the foot of Zorah mountain, on its southern side.