Motza, An Idyllic Getaway Spot Just Outside Jerusalem
This ancient settlement just a stone’s throw from Jerusalem now sports a café providing organic, locally-produced fare as well as a vineyard and synagogue
After a busy week on the writing front, I took a few hours out of the city yesterday to explore Motza in the Jerusalem Hills.
Motza is located on the south side of highway 1 — the enormously busy traffic artery that links Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
While the enormous concrete edifice of the overpass now dominates its northern skyline (Mevesseret Tsion, another Jerusalem commuter town, lies on the other side of the bridge) it is nevertheless blessed with a historical synagogue, a fantastic garden café that sells artisan cider and perry (as well as amazing sandwiches!), and beautiful vineyards which visitors are free to walk through.
The neighborhood itself has an interesting history. Successive excavations at and near the site have thrown light on the village’s interesting history as a place of worship — and liturgical supply — during the Temple Period.
According to Wikipedia:
“Motza was the first Jewish farm founded outside the walls of the Old City in the modern era. It is believed to be located on the site of a Biblical village of the same name [mentioned in the Book of Joshua].”
According, again, to Wikipedia (interestingly enough all these eons later the village’s residents take pride in this fact!):
“During the Second Temple period, Motza was the place whence willow branches were cut down for the abundance of willows that grew in the valley … and brought to the Temple for ceremonial worship.”
Excavations led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in 2012 unearthed the Tel Motza temple, a large building which revealed clear elements of ritual use.
During these more modern times, Motza is a small aggregation of houses adjacent to Highway 1 with a visitor center, an old synagogue, and a charming café, Alloro, that serves sandwiches with locally sourced organic ingredients.
For those who read Hebrew, its menu is accessible here:
The village is located just a few hundred meters to the north of Beit Zayit which contains a crescent-shaped man-made reservoir, constructed in the 1950s following the building of Ein Karem. The drive there, from South Jerusalem, took roughly 20 minutes.
Those hoping to catch a glimpse of its waters at Bayt Zayit during the dry season will be left as disappointed as I was — during those months the reservoir is in fact totally dry and essentially forms an (artificial) wadi (river bed) overlooking a forest to its immediate west.
The synagogue which Motza is well-known for was opened in 1905 in the basement of the 1871-build Khan (Wikimedia Commons). The place of worship was closed after the 1929 anti-Semitic riots and reopened in 1973.
Photos and videos both of the fare on offer and of the gardens are below. Worth a trip!
