Beit Zayit (Hebrew: בֵּית זַיִת, lit. 'House of Olives') is a moshav in central Israel. Located just outside the Jerusalem municipal border to the west, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,621.[1]
Beit Zayit lies on the edge of the Jerusalem Forest. Nearby is a dam, built to collect winter flood waters[2] and create the Beit Zayit Reservoir, meant to slow down the flow of the Soreq Stream and allow water to seep into the Western Mountain Aquifer, a task it seems not to fulfill properly (look here for the Hebrew article).
Name
A village named Beit Zayit is mentioned in the Book[which?] of the Maccabees, but it is believed to have been further north, possibly at the site of the Palestinian Christian town of Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah.[2]
The village was established in 1949 by Jewish immigrants from Egypt, Romania and Yugoslavia. The economy was based on fruit orchards, vegetables, poultry, and other farm products.[2]
With the expansion of the moshav in the late 1990s, including the purchase of land by newcomers and renovation of old homes, Beit Zayit became a trendy alternative to living in Jerusalem.[4]
