Nofekh

Nofekh is a small rural settlement in Israel's Coastal Plain, in the Petah Tikvah region.[1] It is within the jurisdiction of the Hevel Modi'in Regional Council.[2] The Central Bureau of Statistics lists it under locality code 257 in the Central District and Petah Tikva subdistrict.[3]

The locality is distinct from the biblical use of Nofekh as the name of a precious stone. That older meaning appears in Exodus and Ezekiel and remains the subject of competing mineralogical identifications.

Nofekh emerged in the period immediately following Israeli independence. A 2013 Israel Land Administration decision states that the Jewish Agency settled immigrants from Morocco in the locality in 1948, while the Central Bureau of Statistics Localities File 2022 records 1949 as its official founding year.[2][3] The cited sources do not resolve the difference between these dates.

The Central Bureau of Statistics locality file reports that Nofekh had 631 residents in 2022, including 627 Jews.[3] As an earlier benchmark, a locality table reported 341 inhabitants on December 31, 2004, indicating substantial population growth over the intervening period.[1]

Nofekh's land arrangements have been the subject of administrative and judicial attention over several decades. Testimony described in a December 1999 report stated that the village had never had a master plan and that homes had been built without permits, with construction continuing without approval.[4] Village committee chair Shimon Eyal testified that in June 1994 the Israel Lands Administration determined Nofekh's land allotment by elimination, covering areas not allotted to the neighboring communities of Rinatya, Mazor, or Be'erot Yitzhak.[4] The judges characterized his account as depicting a situation of "real chaos" over the village's boundaries and planning oversight.[4]

In the same dispute, the Tel Aviv District Court accepted an appeal by the neighboring workers' moshav of Rinatya and ordered Nofekh residents Moses and Dominique Shabbat to vacate their home and transfer possession of it and the disputed land to Rinatya within six months. The court also ordered them to pay Rinatya 16,000 shekels in costs.[4]

In February 2013, the Israel Land Administration addressed unresolved land rights for holders in Nofekh. The decision noted that the occupants had no contractual or other rights vis-à-vis the Administration and that no payments had been received for their occupancy. It approved arranging their rights and signing a 49-year lease, subject to payment for the preceding seven years of use and capitalization fees for the new lease period.[2]

In the Hebrew Bible, Nofekh (נֹפֶךְ) appears most prominently in Exodus 28:18 and 39:11, where it is listed as the first stone in the second row of the priestly breastpiece.[5] That breastpiece held twelve stones in total, arranged in four rows of three, each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.[6] The tribe associated specifically with Nofekh was Judah.[7]

The name also occurs in two passages from Ezekiel. Ezekiel 27:16 places Nofekh among traded goods; the Revised JPS translation renders it "turquoise" and notes uncertainty about its exact identity.[8] Ezekiel 28:13 includes Nofekh in a list of precious stones described as the adornment of a figure said to have dwelt in Eden, with the verse introducing that list: "Every precious stone was your adornment."[9] The Encyclopedia.com article notes that the Ezekiel 28 passage describes the king of Tyre's setting in Eden, while the Ezekiel 27 passage associates the stone with goods brought to Tyre.[6]

The precise mineral identity of Nofekh has never been settled. A JPS footnote on Exodus 28:17, the verse introducing the breastpiece stones, cautions that "the identity of several of the following twelve stones is uncertain." This warning applies to Nofekh despite the Revised JPS rendering the term as "turquoise" in Exodus 28:18.[10][11] The same uncertainty attaches to the Ezekiel occurrences.[8][9]

Multiple competing identifications appear across ancient translations and modern scholarship. The Septuagint and Josephus render the stone as carbuncle, while Exodus Rabbah uses a term glossed as "ruby" or "rose-stone."[7] Onkelos and Targum Yerushalmi I support a green-stone interpretation, pointing toward emerald, whereas Targum Yerushalmi II and Exodus Rabbah support a red-stone reading.[7] Some modern scholars identify Nofekh as pyrope, a red mineral of the garnet group.[6] A comparative analysis on Sefaria labels red garnet the most likely identification, while also presenting turquoise as possible.[5] A proposal by N. Shalem argues for turquoise, citing the Midrash's description: "Judah's was nofekh and the color of his flag was like that of the sky."[6]

The Encyclopedia.com article cautions that the breastpiece stones cannot be identified mineralogically with certainty and that the late Midrash is the only source providing their colors.[6] A possible connection to an Egyptian word associated with malachite or turquoise has also been proposed, though the sources do not resolve the question.[5] In Ezekiel 27:16, the Masoretic text associates the traded goods with Aram or Syria, while the Jewish Encyclopedia notes an alternative reading that would associate them with Edom.[7]