Rehaniya

Infobox Israel municipality
name=Reyhaniya

---

imgsize=200
caption=
hebname=ריחניה
arname=الريحانية
meaning= myrtle
founded=1878
type=lc
district=north
population=1000
popyear=2008
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position: right, top
pushpin_mapsize=250
pushpin_map_caption=Location within Israel's North District
latd=33 |latm=2|57|lats=12 |latNS=N
longd=35 |longm=29|11|longs=58 |longEW=E
website=

Rehaniya ( _ar. الريحانية; Hebrew: ריחניה; Circassian: Рихьаные) is a Circassian village about 8 km north of Safed in northern Israel. It belongs to the Merom HaGalil Regional Council.

Background and history

The Circassians arrived in the Middle East after they were chased from their homeland in the northern Caucasus. The Circassians, who fought during the long period wherein the Russians captured the northern Caucasus, were massacred and expelled by Czarist Russia from the Caucasus in an incident that became known as the Circassian Holocaust. The Ottoman Empire, which saw the Circassians as experienced fighters, absorbed them in their territory and settled them in sparsely populated areas, including the Galilee.

The village Rehaniya was established in 1873, but only in 1878 did Circassian familes arrive from the Abazah tribe in the northern Caucasus, a region where today is located the Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia in the Russian Federation.

The village was built in the tradition Circassian style, which has its roots in the Caucasus, and is called "walled village": the houses are built next to one another and form a protective wall around the city, whose remnants remain until today (2008). In the village there is a mosque in the style of Circassian mosques in the Caucasus, and substantially different from Arab mosques. Also, the village contains a museum and a center for Circassian heritage.

Residents of the community helped the illegal immigration (Ha'apala of Jews from Lebanon into Israel and fought on the Israeli side of the Israeli War of Independence. Since the Circassians allied with the Jews, a few Arab and Bedouin residents escaped there, so a few residents today are Arabs. This situation occasionally causes conflicts in the village.

Rehaniya is one of two Circassian villages in Israel. The other one is Kfar Kama, which was recognized as a local council in 1950.

References

*The Circassians in Israel [http://www.circassianworld.com/Israel.html]
*Muslim revivalism and the emergence of civic society. A case study of an Israeli-Circassian community [http://www.circassianworld.com/CCAS_ChenBRAM.pdf]

External links

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlkLgyjZ-iQ Take a tour in Reyhaniya]