Shalom friends,

What can you find only in Israel? A unique way of living – romanticized by many yet criticized by others? Of course, the Kibbutz -a special cooperative settlement which put into practice theories about equality and social change. It all began a hundred years ago on a deserted area near the Jordan River.

On October 29th, 1910 ten men and two women who arrived originally from Romany in White Russia established the mother of the collectives and the kibbutzim (אֵם הַקְּבוּצוֹת, em hakvutzot) - Degania A (דְּגַנְיָה אָלֶף). This inspiring group established the first Zionist farm on lands bought by the “Jewish National Fund” (קק"ל – קֶרֶן קַיֶּמֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, kaka”l – Keren Kayemet Leyisra’el). They crossed the Jordan River to its east bank on an assignment for the Land of Israel Office, under the direction of Dr. Arthur Ruppin. They camped at Umm Juni, south of the Sea of Galilee.

"We came to establish an independent settlement of Hebrew laborers, on national land, a collective settlement with neither exploiters nor exploited – a commune” – they wrote. They revived the people in the Land of Israel as a working people, returning to nature and to the tilling of the land, living from the fruits of its own labor.

The settlers named the place “Degania” after the five varieties of grains growing there (wheat, barley, oats, corn and sorghum). On 1912, during the harvest days between Pesach and the Shavuot holidays, the group moved from the woods of Umm Juni to the area where the Jordan emerges from the Sea of Galilee.

The group of settlers not only established Degania, they established the principles of independent work and collective life – they established the basic principles of the kibbutz. They also trained many members of the kibbutzim that followed them. Degania, however, was different from the rest of kibbutzim as their children never slept in special quarters, (called children homes – בָּתֵּי יְלָדִים), but slept in their family units.

During the War of Independence, on May 1948, the Syrians attacked Degania in an attempt to gain control over the Jordan River Bridge north of the kibbutz. Seventy people from Degania, the surrounding settlements and some additional reinforcements stood against the armored Syrian brigade. One of the Syrian tanks even succeeded in breaking through Degania’s fence but the defenders hit this tank with “Molotov cocktails” and caused heavy casualties to the infantry behind the armor. The failed attempts eroded the confidence of the Syrian army and they withdrew from the Degania line.

Ever since Degania continued being in the front line of attacks from the surrounding countries. These attacks not only endangered the security and the wellbeing of the settlers, the kibbutz also suffered from it morally and economically.

In 1981, Kvutzat Degania Alef was awarded the Israel Prize, for its special contribution to society and the State in social-human pioneering. This year Degania is at the center of the 100th anniversary of the Kibbuts.

לְהִתְרָאוֹת,

Lehitra’ot,

See you,

שִׁירָה כֹּהֵן-רֶגֶב

Shira Cohen-Regev

The eTeacherHebrew Team