Sharonah

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SHARONAH

SHARONAH (Heb. הָנֹורש), moshav in northern Israel, in Lower Galilee, 3 mi. (5 km.) W. of Yavne'el, affiliated with Tenu'at ha-Moshavim. The village's land was acquired in 1913 by American Jews and a year later, in World War i, the ground was abandoned. After the land passed over to the Jewish National Fund, moshav Sharonah was founded (1938) by a Gordonia pioneer group from Eastern Europe, as part of an endeavor to reinforce the "settlement bridge" between the Jezreel and Kinnarot valleys. In 1970 Sharonah had 178 inhabitants, increasing to 441 in 2002. Its farming was based on field crops, fruit orchards, and cattle. The name is mentioned by Eusebius (Onom. 162:4, 5).

[Efraim Orni]