Zrahia

Zrahia is an Israeli moshav in the Shafir Regional Council near Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi, and Merkaz Shapira.[1][2] Official locality records use the spelling ZERAHYA and assign the community code 0818.[3] Its modern profile combines an agricultural moshav background, a community shaped largely by immigration from Iran, and a public archaeological park centered on a Byzantine winepress.[1][2]

Official locality records give 1950 as Zrahia’s year of Jewish settlement.[3] The moshav later consisted mainly of people who had immigrated from Iran, a migration history also reflected in the Persian-language household of Efraim Ayubi’s parents.[1] Between 2011 and 2024, Israel Antiquities Authority excavations uncovered and documented a major Byzantine wine-production installation, which was subsequently conserved and opened as an archaeological park.[2]

The locality record lists Zrahia with a population of 891 and code 0818.[3] The moshav was composed mainly of immigrants from Iran.[1] In the Ayubi household, Efraim’s parents spoke Persian at home, providing a documented example of the language’s place in the community’s immigrant experience.[1]

Zrahia’s moshav identity has an agricultural dimension. Efraim Eyovi came from a family of farmers from Zrahia and later grew tomatoes in greenhouses in Kfar Darom in Gush Katif.[4]

The community also has a connection to Israeli cinema. Filmmaker Yuval Delshad drew on his childhood memories of Zrahia when writing Baba Joon, a film about a family of Iranian descent, and the production was shot in the moshav.[5]

Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority between 2011 and 2024 uncovered a large Byzantine-era winepress in Zrahia, dated to between the fifth and seventh centuries CE.[2] The installation featured a mosaic-paved industrial floor, a work surface fitted with a place for a pressing screw, four large chambers used for initial fermentation and grape storage, an intermediate pit, and two collection vats for wine after initial fermentation.[2]

Excavation directors Svetlana Talys and Ilan Peretz described the winepress as one of the largest and most sophisticated Byzantine-period examples found in the Judean Shephelah. They said it testified to a prosperous wine industry whose products reached distant markets beyond the immediate region.[2]

The site was subsequently inaugurated as a public archaeological park centered on the roughly 1,400-year-old winepress.[2] Conservation and development work included reconstructing production equipment, preserving the mosaic floor, installing a wooden screw representing ancient pressing technology, displaying replicas of ancient wine jars, and constructing a small shaded amphitheater, benches, an accessible path, bicycle parking, and explanatory signs.[2]

The project forms part of the Heritage Ministry and Israel Antiquities Authority’s "Antiquities Near Home" program, which encourages local authorities to develop archaeological sites with surrounding communities.[2] The inauguration ceremony included Heritage Ministry Director-General Itay Grank, Israel Antiquities Authority Director Eli Escusido, Shafir Regional Council head Adir Naaman, government representatives, and local residents.[2]

Ynetnews reported that an Iranian news network claimed Moshav Zrahia was built in 1955 on the ruins of a Palestinian village.[5] That date differs from the official locality record, which gives 1950 as the year of Jewish settlement.[3] The available sources establish the official 1950 entry but do not independently verify the Iranian network’s claim about the site’s earlier history.[5]