LOD

Lod city center, courtesy, Wikipedia

Lod is an Israeli city about 9 miles southeast of Sheikh Munis. In 2019 it had a population of about 77,000. Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion Airport (previously known as Lydda Airport, RAF Lydda, and Lod Airport) is located on the outskirts of the city.

The town of Lod appears in the Hebrew Bible as a town of Benjamin but is not mentioned in the Book of Joshua. It is however, mentioned in the Book of Chronicles as being founded by Shemed the Benjaminite who also founded the town of Ono (1 Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah 7:37; 11:35). In Ezra 2:33, it is mentioned as one of the cities whose inhabitants returned after the Babylonian captivity. From the fifth century BCE until c. the 2^nd century, the city was a center of Jewish scholarship and commerce. During the Hasmonean period, Jonathan Maccabee and his brother Simon conquered the city from the Greeks and enlarged the area under Jewish control. But in 63 BCE, the Land of Israel came under Roman rule and twenty years later, Cassius, the Roman governor of Syria, sold the inhabitants of Lod into slavery. They were set free two years later by Mark Antony. In the New Testament, Lod appears in its Greek form, Lydda, and was the site of Peter's healing of a paralytic man as described in Acts 9:32-38. The earliest Christian community in the town was established at this time. In 66 CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, Lod/Lydda was under the command of John the Essene. The Roman proconsul of Syria, Cestius Gallus, razed the town on his way to Jerusalem which was also razed four years later. But in the period following the destruction, Rabbi Tarfon, who appears in many Tannaitic and Jewish legal discussions, served as the town’s rabbinic authority. During the Kitos War, 115–117 CE, the Roman army laid siege to Lod/Lydda, where the rebel Jews had gathered under the leadership of Julian and Pappos. The distress became so great, that Patriarch Rabban Gamaliel II, who was shut up there (and died soon afterwards), controversially permitted fasting on Ḥanukkah. Lydda was finally taken and many Jews were executed; the "slain of Lydda" are often mentioned in words of reverential praise in the Talmud. Generally speaking however, the town flourished between the first war against Rome and the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE). It had a large market; cattle were raised in the area; and textile, dyeing, and pottery industries were established. It was the seat of a local Sanhedrin; famous scholars, such as R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, R. Akiva, Joshua b. Levi, Judah b. Pazi, Eleazar bar Kappara, and Ḥanina bar Ḥama taught there. Among its synagogues was one specially maintained by a community of Tarsians.  After the Bar Kochba Revolt was crushed, Jews remained in Lydda, though its agricultural hinterland had been destroyed. On the other hand, the patriarch R. Judah I leased estates in its plain. The Samaritan element became more powerful in Byzantine times, although the town became predominantly Christian and had a bishop.

In 1170, Benjamin of Tudela found only one Jewish family there, but after Saladin's re-conquest of the town in 1191, more Jews settled there. The community was even described by the 14^th century geographer Ashtori ha-Parhi. A small community existed sporadically since then but was largely gone for most of the 19^th century. In the second half of the century however, a new community was established, but they were ethnically cleansed by Arabs after the 1921 Jaffa riots. Some returned afterwards. In 1934, an airstrip was built by the British authorities for purposes of trade and travel. In 1973, it was renamed, Ben Gurion Airport. 

In the 1947 United Nations proposal to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, Lydda was allotted to the Arabs. During the bloody Arab onslaughts that triggered the War of Independence, Israeli forces captured the town and it was later incorporated into the State of Israel. The Arab population fled and later, Jewish refugees from “Arab” countries settled there. Beginning in the 70s, they were joined by Jews from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.

In 1996, prior to the widening of HeHalutz Street, a well-preserved mosaic floor dating to the Roman period was excavated as part of a salvage dig conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Municipality of Lod. The mosaic was initially covered over with soil at the conclusion of the excavation, for lack of funds, to conserve and develop the site. It is now part of the Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center.

Although Lod has been plagued by a poor image for decades, as of 2008 dozens of projects were under way to improve life in the city. New upscale neighborhoods are expanding the city to the east, among them Ganei Ya'ar and Ahisemah. In 2010, the Lod Community Foundation organized an event for representatives of bicultural youth movements, volunteer aid organizations, educational start-ups, businesses, sports organizations, and conservation organizations.   

Lod is also active in Israel’s sports scene. The city's major football club, Hapoel Bnei Lod, formed by a merger of Bnei Lod and Rakevet Lod in the 1997, plays in Liga Leumit (the second division). Its home is at the Lod Municipal Stadium. Two other clubs in the city play in the regional leagues: Hapoel MS Ortodoxim Lod in Liga Bet and Maccabi Lod in Liga Gimel. Hapoel Lod played in the top division during the 1960s and 1980s, and won the State Cup in 1984. It folded in 2002. A new club, Hapoel Maxim Lod (named after former mayor Maxim Levy) was established soon after, but folded in 2007.