Bet Netofah

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BET NETOFAH

BET NETOFAH (Heb. בֵּית נְטוֹפָה), village in Lower Galilee, north of Sepphoris. It was known in talmudic times as a place where the vetch plant grew later than in other places (Shev. 9:5). Bet Netofah is identified with Khirbat al-Nāṭif, on the northeastern edge of the plain known in Arabic as Sahl al-Baṭṭūf and in Hebrew as the Bet Netofah Valley. Josephus (Life, 207) calls it the Valley of Asochis. High quality clay was found in this valley. In modern times, one of the reservoirs of the National Water Carrier (see *Israel, State of: Economic Affairs – Water and Irrigation) was built in the valley and is now called the Eshkol Reservoir in honor of Levi *Eshkol.

bibliography:

Abel, Geog, 1 (1933), 410; Press, Ereẓ, 1 (1951), 92, 120–1.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]