District Southern Affiliation Kibbutz Movement Population (2015) 1,296 Founded 1939 | Council Yoav Regional Council Founded by Irgun Menachem members Website kfar-menachem.org.il Local time Sunday 10:54 PM | |
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Weather 13°C, Wind S at 6 km/h, 77% Humidity | ||
Kfar Menahem (Hebrew: כְּפַר מְנַחֵם, lit. Menahem Village) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located about 7 km east of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In 2015 it had a population of 1,296.
Contents
Map of Kfar Menahem, Israel
History
Kfar Menachem (originally Irgun Menachem) was founded in 1935 by a group of pioneers from Rehovot. The village was named for Menachem Ussishkin. During the Arab revolt in 1936, the place was abandoned by Jews and destroyed by Arabs. On 28 July 1937 the moshav was re-established as part of the tower and Stockade program, but did not take hold. In 1939 the institutions for creating new settlements replaced the members of "Irgun Menachem" with the nucleus "Kibbutz Krit", pioneers from the United States and members of Hashomer Hatzair, who were training in the moshava of Kfar Hadar, near Ramatayim; the members of "Irgun Menachem" who left founded the moshav Kfar Warburg on 31 October 1939.
On 6 December 1939, a holiday to celebrate the kibbutz, now "Kfar Menahem", was held by the founders from Israel and members of "Kvutzat Krit". After a year, they left the walls (of the tower and stockade) and founded a permanent settlement on a nearby hill, south of the wall. The wall continued to hold the first of the kibbutz's three water wells, as well as the kibbutz bakery. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the kibbutz expanded onto about 9,000 dunams on land of the depopulated Arab village of Idnibba.
Today the kibbutz hosts Yoav Regional Council's high school named "Tzafit", as well as a regional museum. There is a reconstruction of the original tower and stockade.