THE LITTLE "MOTZA" THAT COULD.

I never cease to be amazed by the potential heights of fortitude and creativity inherit in human nature and the cyclical nature of human history. Jewish history is no exception. As you drive along Highway 1, the main highway that connects Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the final approach to Jerusalem plows right through the middle of an ancient farming village called Motza. Reading from the book of Yehoshua (18:26), ":גבעון, והרמה, ובאראות: והמצפה והכפירה, והמצה", we find that Motza belonged to the tribe of Binyamin near the border shared with the tribe of Yehudah.  Four of the five other towns listed are recognizable names located nearby north and west of Biblical Jerusalem.  Even today Motza is surrounded by furtile fields and brags of several natural fresh water springs.

A Mishna likely written sometime around the first century CE tells us that the priests would travel to a town down below Jerusalem called Motza (מוצא) to collect willow branches, ערבות,  for the Sukkot holiday ceremonies on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The branches were set up leaning against the sides of the sacrificial alter in order to enhance the holiday spirit.  Willow trees require large quantities of water to thrive so this town of Motza must have been located near sources of water.  Is this the same Motza that is currently found sitting beside Highway 1?  Modern Motza continues to boast of three natural fresh water springs.

The Talmud in the 5th century (Sucha 45:A), while commenting on this Mishna, apparently has trouble identifying the location of this town of Motza.  It makes a blanket statement that this town is now known as Colonia.   The Talmud then asks why was the town caled Motza in the Mishna. The Talmud answers that answers that the name Motza is synonymus with the Hebrew word for removal and Motza was removed from the Tax Roles of the Roman government.  It is interesting that the word Colonia was used in the Roman Empire to indicate a city or town of free Roman Citizens who were thus exempt from Paying taxes.  The rest of Judea was referred to as Provincia which means they were a subjugated people and responsible for paying taxes.  The Arab village situated up on the hill (now a neighborhood of Mevaseret Tzion) next to modern Motza was named Colonia.  

A seemingly casual comment in Josephus may coincidentally shed light on the situation.  He states that (BJ, VII, vi, 6) after the suppression of the Jewish Revolt in Judea,Vespasian, the Roman Caesar, "Assigned a place for 800 men  whom he had just dismissed from his legions and he granted it to them as their own private estate; ..... It is 60 furlongs distant from Jerusalem."  Is it possible that estate outside of Jerusalem given to retired army officers is the same place we now call Motza and that it was exempt from taxes because it belonged to Roman citizens and was thus also called Colonia?

In 1860, when Yehoshua Yellin was inspired to move out of the walled city of Jerusalem and establish an independent self sufficient farm and source of livelihood, he purchased a section of  land, from residents of  Colonia - more than just a coincidence? On the advice of his father, he named the property Motza based on the reference in the Mishna and the Talmud. Nearby is a ruin that perhaps still carries the ancient Jewish name. It was called Bet Mizza. It is important to note that Yehoshua Yellin led an unusual life in other ways as well.  He was married at age 13 to Serach, the daughter of a wealthy family from Bagdahd, who was 12 years old at the time.  Yellin's father David was born in Lomza, Lithuania. Yellin was born in Jerusalem, learned Arabic and adopted many of the customs of his wife's family.  Now about four years later, as young man of seventeen he had convinced his father in law and his father to help him acquire this parcel of land land blessed with water and fertile soil. It was 6 km from the closest Jewish population, in the walled city of Jerusalem. 

At first, Yehosha Yellin did not farm the land himself.  He hired an Arab farmer from Colonia to work the land for him. One day, as the farmer was plowing the field he uncovered a opening in the ground that led to the remains of  the basement of an ancient byzantine building.  A few years later, Yellin decided to go into the motel business and on top of the remains of the 1500 year old Byzantine building he built a small guest house where travelers to Jerusalem could stop over for the night.  This was a lucrative business located right next to the main highway.  In the 19th century the Turks locked up the gates of Jerusalem a sunset and travelers were reluctant to find themselves caught locked out out of the gates of the city and forced to camp outside in the open where they were prey to thieves and robbers.  

Gradually, over the latter part of the 19th century more money was invested in this fertile valley situated just before the final climb up to the city of Jerusalem.  In 1892 there were four farms established in Motza. By 1898 there were 200 Jewish people living in the valley. It was one of the few areas of green in the generally stark and brown landscape of the surrounding mountains. That year the German Kaiser, Wilheim II, came on a visit to Jerusalem and his entourage passed right through Motza.  In his wake, another personality made the trip to Jerusalem trying to arrange a meeting with the Kaiser.  It was the architect of Zionism, Binayamin Zev Herzl.  As Herzl passed through the valley he could not help but be impressed by the orchards and the lush surroundings. One of the successful farm owners of Motza, a man named Shmuel Broza, travelled to Jerusalem to invite Herzl to visit his farm. Herzl did just that and, while he was there, he planted a tree in an emotional ceremony that for him symbolized his dreams for a thriving Jewish homeland for his people.

So the next time you are driving to Jerusalem on Highway number 1 and you reach the Kastel / Mevaseret exit, look out across the valley at Jerusalem in the distance.  Then as the highway descends steeply in front of you into the Sorek valley keep your eyes open as you come down the hill and take note of the farm land, orchards, and lush fields to your right and then slow down a bit and take note of the synagogue building on the left side of the highway just before you reach the bottom of the valley.   Be cognizant that you are driving through a unique farming oasis that has inspired and hypnotized its owners since the Biblical period and perhaps before. As you pass the exit to Ramot Motza and Beit Zayit on the right side of the highway, you will be a stone's throw away from the home of that same Shmuel Broza who entertianed Herzl for a day over 110 years ago. Then just as you start the long climb up into Jeruslaem, give thanks to pioneers like Yehoshua Yellin, and Serach and Shmuel Broza and his wife Masha for their idealism and determination.  In no small part, it is thanks to them that we have a thriving Jewish State today and you are able to visit the modern Jewish city of Jerusalem.  You will be driving through the product of an historic cycle that has repeated itself over and over again through the ages.  You will be driving through Motza.