Birya

Birya (Hebrew: בִּירִיָּה, also Biriya) is an agricultural village in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council. As of 2024 its population was 956. Biriya existed in the Classic Era, as Jews lived in Birya and environs in Talmudic times. In early Ottoman era, the village had a mixed Muslim and Jewish population. The Jewish community abandoned the location in the late 16th century. By the late 19th century, the village of Biriyya housed an Arab Muslim community. The Jewish village was founded in 1946 on a site adjacent to the Arab town of Biriyya. Both Arab and Jewish locations were depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1971, Under Israeli governance, a Jewish agricultural village was re-established at the site.