Shefa-Amr or Shefar'am (; ) is an Arab city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of with a Sunni Muslim majority and large Christian Arab and Druze minorities.
Etymology Palmer writes that the name meant: "The margin or edge of 'Amr. Locally and erroneously supposed to mean the healing of 'Amer (ed Dhaher)."Palmer, 1881, p.116 The city is identified with Shefar'am, an ancient Jewish town of great significance during Talmudic times. Some have proposed that its original meaning may be linked to the Hebrew words "Shefer" (שֶׁפֶר), signifying something nice, beautiful or good, and "'Am", (עַם) which translates to people.
History Ancient period
Walls, installations and pottery sherds from the Early Bronze Age IB and the Middle Bronze Age IIB, Iron, Hellenistic and Roman periods have been excavated at Shefa-ʻAmr.Feig, 2014, ‘En Shefar‘am, Final report
Shefa-Amr is first mentioned under the name Shefar'am () in the Tosefta (Tractate Mikvaot 6:1), followed by the Talmud redacted in 500 CE where it is mentioned in several places, in Tractate Avodah Zarah 8b and Rosh Hashanah 31b, et al.
Settlement has existed there without interruption since the Roman period, when it was one of the cities mentioned in the Talmud as containing the seat of the Jewish Sanhedrin during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.Zaharoni (1978), p. 125 The seat of the Sanhedrin was traditionally thought to be where the Old Synagogue "Maḥaneh Shekhinah" was built in later times. Old Shefa-'Amr was settled in the area where are now built the Police Station, the various Churches and Jews' Street.Zaharoni (1978), p. 126 Decorated burial caves were documented by the Survey of Western Palestine in the late nineteenth century; they were found to be Christian tombs from the Byzantine era, dating to the 5th and 6th century CE. Greek inscriptions were also found.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, 339 -343
Archaeological excavations of a cave and quarries revealed that they were used in the Roman and Byzantine eras.Atrash, 2016, Shefar‘am, Highway 79 Shefa-ʻAmr contains Byzantine remains, including a church and tombs.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 343; Guérin, 1880, p 414, TIR, 230. All cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 276
A salvage dig was conducted in the southern quarter of the old city exposing remains from five phases in the Late Byzantine and early Umayyad periods. Finds include a tabun oven, a pavement of small fieldstones, a mosaic pavement that was probably part of a wine press treading floor, a small square wine press, handmade kraters, an imported Cypriot bowl and an open cooking pot. Also discovered were glass and pottery vessels.Abu Raya, 2010, Shefar‘am Final Report
Middle Ages Under the Crusaders the place was known as "Safran", "Sapharanum", "Castrum Zafetanum", "Saphar castrum" or "Cafram".Pringle, 1997, p. 115 The Crusaders built a fortress, used by the Knights Templar, in the village. At the foot of the castle was a fortified settlement with a church, inhabited either by local Christians or Crusaders.Ellenblum, 2003, p. 143 The village, then called "Shafar 'Am", was used by Muslim leader Saladin between 1190–91 and 1193-94 as a military base for attacks on Acre.Abu Shama RHC (or.), IV, p. 487. Yaqut, p. 304, Both cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 277
By 1229, the place was back in Crusader hands; this was confirmed by Sultan Baybars in the peace treaty of 1271, and by Sultan Qalawun in 1283.Barag, 1979, p. 207, No. 63. Italian monk Riccoldo da Monte di Croce visited the village in 1287–88, and noted that it had Christian inhabitants.Ellenblum, 2003, p. 144 It apparently was under Mamluk control by 1291,Ibn al-Furat, Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 277Pringle, 1998, pp. 301-304 as it was mentioned in that year when sultan al-Ashraf Khalil allocated the town's income to a charitable organization in Cairo.Barag, 1979, p. 203
Ottoman period Early Ottoman period The region became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the Ottoman tax census of 1525–26, Shefa-Amr had a population of 150, 90% of whom were Muslims and 10% Jews. The population increased to 388 in the 1538–39 census, with Jews constituting 13% of the inhabitants. According to the records of 1547–48 and 1555–56, Shefa-Amr had a population 423 and 594 respectively, all Muslims. In 1564, the revenues of the village of Shefa-Amr were designated for the new waqf (endowment) of Hasseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem, established by Hasseki Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.Singer, 2002, p. 126
In the census of , the village had a population of 510 Muslims. A 1573 firman (decree) mentioned that Shefa-Amr was among a group of villages in the nahiya (sub district) of Acre in rebellion against the state. By 1577, the village had accumulated an arsenal of 200 muskets.Heyd, 1960, pp. 84-85, no. 2. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 277 In the 1596 tax records, Shefa-Amr was part of the nahiya of Acre, part of Safed Sanjak, with a population of 83 households (khana), and eight bachelors, all Muslims. The total revenue was 13,600 akçe, most of which was given in fixed amounts.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192 The taxable produce also comprised occasional revenues, goats and beehives, and the inhabitants paid for the use or ownership of an olive oil press.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192. Also quoted in Petersen, 2001, p. 277Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9.
Zaydani period
During the 18th century Shefa-Amr was the center of its own (fiscal district) in the province of Sidon. Its importance derived from its position in the heart of the Galilee's cotton-growing area and its natural and man-made defenses. The significance of cotton to the growth of Shefa-Amr was fundamental. Tax returns for the village attest to the large returns expected of this crop.Cohen, 1973, p. 128. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 277 Its local prominence was headed by the sheikhs of the Zayadina (sing. Zaydani), a local family of (tax farmers), in charge of collecting taxes for the governor of Sidon. As early as 1704, the village was held as a tax farm by the Zaydani sheikh Ali ibn Salih, along with other villages in the Lower Galilee. At an unknown point after, the Zayadina lost Shefa-Amr but Ali's son Muhammad of al-Damun had regained control of it by , during a period when the Zayadina were expanding their holdings across the Galilee under the leadership of Daher al-Umar (Muhammad's first cousin).
It is known that there was a castle in the village by this time, suggesting it was originally founded by Daher's uncle Ali ibn Salih. Its fortifications were strengthened by the Zayadina in during a respite in the sieges of the Zaydani stronghold of Tiberias by the governor of Damascus. Afterward, in 1743, Muhammad was arrested and executed by Daher's order to remove him as an obstacle to Daher's regional ambitions. Giovanni Mariti visited the village in 1761 and noted that Daher had appointed a member of one of its leading Christian families as the sheikh of Shefa-Amr, subleasing its tax farm to him. It was "very populous" and most of the inhabitants were Greek Catholics. Its cotton was still considered the region's best and was marketed to the merchants of Acre.
At another point in 1761, Daher had offered to grant Shefa-Amr to his son Uthman in exchange for the latter assassinating Daher's brother Sa'd. Although Uthman complied, Daher reneged following protestations by Shefa-Amr's inhabitants. Uthman and his brothers Ahmad and Sa'id besieged the village in 1765 but were repulsed by its local defenders with Daher's support. Uthman was nevertheless granted Shefa-Amr at some point by Daher. The old mosque of Shefa Amr was founded at this time, with a dedicatory inscription dating it to 1761–1762. Uthman is generally credited as the builder of its large fortress, though Petersen suggests he more accurately expanded it to its current large size. Sabbagh recorded a now lost dedicatory inscription from the fortress dated to 1768–1769:
Stop at a house in which charity manifested themselves increasingly It was constructed by the generous Uthman who was given to be a lord His house is the full moon upon which the lion sat Look at the chronogram; verily this is the abode of happiness
After Daher's death in 1775, the Ottoman-appointed governor Jazzar Pasha allowed Uthman to continue as subgovernor of Shefa-Amr in return for a promise of loyalty and advance payment of taxes. Jazzar Pasha ignored orders from Constantinople to demolish the village's fortress. Several years later Uthman was removed and replaced by Ibrahim Abu Qalush, an appointee of Jazzar Pasha, who rebelled against him in 1789.
Later Ottoman period
A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as Chafa Amr.Karmon, 1960, p. 162 (PDF)
A Jewish community had been established in the village under the auspices of Daher's rule. In 1839, Moses Montefiore counted 107 Sephardic Jews living in Shefa-Amr.Zaharoni (1978), p. 127 Their condition worsened with the departure of the autonomous leader of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, during which time Shefa-Amr was nearly emptied of its Jewish residents, who had opted to move to Haifa and Tiberias.Zaharoni (1978), p. 127–128 James Finn wrote in 1877 that "The majority of the inhabitants are Druses. There are a few Moslems and a few Christians; but [in 1850] there were thirty Jewish families living as agriculturists, cultivating grain and olives on their own landed property, most of it family inheritance; some of these people were of Algerine descent. They had their own synagogue and legally qualified butcher, and their numbers had formerly been more considerable." However, "they afterwards dwindled to two families, the rest removing to [Haifa] as that port rose in prosperity."Finn, 1877, p. 243
Conder and Kitchener, who visited in 1875, was told that the community consisted of "2,500 souls—1,200 being Moslems, the rest Druses, Greeks, and Latins."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 272 The town's Druze community dwindled considerably in the 1880s as its members migrated east to the Hauran plain to avoid conscription by the Ottoman authorities.Firro, 1992, p. 168. A population list from about 1887 showed that Shefa-Amr had about 2,750 inhabitants; 795 Muslims, 95 Greek Catholics, 1,100 Catholics, 140 Latins, 175 Maronites/Protestants, 30 Jews and 440 Druze.Schumacher, 1888, p. 175 That year, some 42 Jewish families from Morocco settled in Shefa-Amr.Zaharoni (1978), p. 128
British Mandate
The British Mandate of Palestine was established in 1920. By then, all of Shefa-Amr's Jews had moved out. According to the 1922 census of Palestine, Shefa-Amr had a population of 2,288: 1,263 Christians, 623 Muslims, and 402 Druze.Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p.33 Of the Christians, 1,054 were Melkites (Greek Catholics), 94 Anglicans, 70 Roman Catholics, 42 Greek Orthodox and three Maronites.Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p.49 By the 1931 census, Shefa-Amr had 629 occupied houses and a population of 1,321 Christians, 1,006 Muslims, 496 Druze, and one Jew. A further 1,197 Muslims in 234 occupied houses was recorded for "Shafa 'Amr Suburbs".Mills, 1932, p. 96 (PDF)
Statistics compiled by the Mandatory government in the 1945 statistics showed an urban population of 1,560 Christians, 1,380 Muslims, 10 Jews and 690 "others" (presumably Druze) and a rural population of 3,560 Muslims.Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 15Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 49
Israel 20th century