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OverviewAI-generated
Beit Shemesh is a city in the Jerusalem District of Israel. Established on January 1, 1950, it covers an area of 34.259 square kilometers. The city has a population of 118,700 and sits at an elevation of 220 meters above sea level. Its official name is בית שמש.
The municipality is twinned with Split, Cocoa, Lancaster, and Nordhausen. Beit Shemesh is classified as a city, tell, and city council. It is located in the Asia/Jerusalem time zone.
Synthesized by Vinony from 46 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
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Place details
- Locality
- בית שמש
- Region
- מחוז ירושלים
- Country
- ישראל
- Population
- 124,957
- Timezone
- Asia/Jerusalem
via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames
Travel guide
Understand
It was mentioned in the Bible, but the modern city was founded in 1950 as a "development town" to house recent Jewish immigrants from other Middle Eastern countries. Many Jerusalem residents have moved here for the cheaper housing prices, including many Haredi ('ultra-Orthodox') Jews. The new neighborhoods in the southern half of the city, known as "Ramat Beit Shemesh", are also a very popular destination for immigrants from English-speaking countries. In parts of Ramat Beit Shemesh, you will hear more English than Hebrew.
Get around
The city is built on a series of hills with open space between them. This makes it pleasantly quiet, but hard to get around on foot. If you are not driving, you will probably want to use the internal city buses.
Do
Surrounding Beit Shemesh in every direction are beautiful forested landscapes which are great for hiking. To the east, in the Jerusalem Hills, are the most rugged hills with the best views. To the north and west are more modest hills which contain many bike paths. To the south is Emek HaElah, the valley in which David fought Goliath according to the Bible.
Buy
Tamari Boutique is a religious women's clothing store.
Gentlemen is a gift shop for the special man in your life.
Big Fashion Beit Shemesh
Naimi Center
Kikar Noiman
Eat
Pinat Hasova: A wonderful pizza and falafel restaurant in RBS A shopping center.
Golda: Ice cream chain in Big Fashion Beit Shemesh.
Kraus Deli: Don't go here lol it freaky
Drink
Tsora winery is a winery located on an moshav on the outskirts of Beit Shemesh.
Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)
~28 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ, lit. 'House of the Sun') is a city located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh had a population of 176,786 as of 2024.
The city is named after Beth Shemesh, a Biblical city of the territory of the Tribe of Judah, and located near Tel Beit Shemesh / Ain Shams, an archeological site with remains going back to an Bronze age Canaanite settlement.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Beit Shemesh” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.