Kfar Ruppin ( he, כְּפַר רוּפִּין, ''lit.'' Ruppin Village) is a
kibbutz in the
Beit She'an Valley
The Beit She'an Valley ( he, בקעת בית שאן or he, עמק בית שאן) is a valley in Israel.
The valley lies within the Beit She'an rift, part of the Afro-Syrian Rift (Jordan Rift Valley), which opens westwards to the Harod Valley. I ...
, about southeast of
Beit She'an in northern
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. A member of the
Kibbutz Movement, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Valley of Springs Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The kibbutz was founded in 1938 by the "Massad" group as part of the
tower and stockade enterprise. The first residents were members of the
Noar Haoved youth movement immigrants from
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Bohemia and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and former members of a labour group from
Herzliya.
[The history of Kfar Rupin](_blank)
on the homepage of the Jordan Valley Birding Center. Accessed 3 December 2019. It was named in honour of
Arthur Ruppin
Arthur Ruppin (1 March 1876 – 1 January 1943) was a German Zionist proponent of pseudoscientific race theory and one of the founders of the city of Tel Aviv.Todd Samuel Presner, ’German Jewish Studies in the Digital Age:Remarks on Discipline ...
, a
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
leader who was at the time the head of the Settlement Department of the
Jewish Agency and who helped the group with establishing the kibbutz
as part of his effort to develop
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish settlement in the
Land of Israel. The small group of settlers was facing very harsh living conditions, which led their parent movement to direct some 80 members of the "BeNativ" group to join them in 1942.
Most of these had arrived from Czechoslovakia travelling on
illegal immigrant ships.
Kfar Ruppin uses lands that belonged to the depopulated
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village of
Masil al-Jizl
Masil al-Jizl was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated by the Israel Defense Forces during the Arab-Israeli War. It was attacked and depopulated on May 31, 1948, as part of Operation Gideon. History
There were ...
.
From 2017, the Mekhinat HaEmek (מכינת העמ"ק) pre-army preparatory academy moved to the kibbutz from the close by
moshav
A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
Tel Te'omim. The ''
mechina
A Mechina Kdam-Tzvait ( he, מכינה קדם צבאית; "pre-military preparatory", plural Mechinot) is an autonomous unit of specialized educational institutions valuing non-formal education and pre-military training in Israel. Funded and su ...
'' was established in 2006 and admits both religious and secular men and women. It is now in its twelfth session; learn and volunteer on the kibbutz and the surrounding area.
File:כפר רופין - ביום העליה למסד, עבודה בצוותא-JNF029071.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin under construction 1938
File:מגדל הצופים בכפר-רופין-JNF004466.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin tower 1938
File:מגדל הצופים בכפר-רופין-JNF004468.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin stockade under construction 1938
File:כפר רופין - המשוריין ביום העליה-JNF034770.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin Settlement Police 1938
File:כפר רופין - צילום אויר-JNF009498.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin 1946
File:כפר רופין - מראה.-JNF032840.jpeg, Kfar Ruppin 1946
Economy
As of 2016, Kfar Ruppin's economy was fully
privatised
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
.
In 2016, the largest part of the kibbutz revenue came from the privately managed
"Palkar" factory, established in 1978
for the production of plastic goods and already managed by an external company in 2000.
Kfar Ruppin still has strong
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
activities, with
fish farming
upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Fish farming or ...
including
ornamental fish
Lists of aquarium life include lists of fish, amphibians, invertebrates and plants in freshwater, brackish and marine aquariums.
In fishkeeping, suitable species of aquarium fish, plants and other organisms vary with the size, water chemistry an ...
breeding, dairy and chicken farms, date and
red grapefruit plantations, and wheat and maize crops.
Birdwatching
The area is known for
birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...
due to its location on one of the most important
bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...
flyway
A flyway is a flight path used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering quarters. Flyways generally span continents and often pass over oceans. Although applying to any species of migrati ...
s between Europe and Africa. A
bird ringing
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...
station is also located there. The kibbutz culture hall, built in 1965 on a hill near the original tower and stockade structures, is being converted into a birdwatching observatory and research center.
Landmarks
Kfar Ruppin has a public garden on the grounds of the kibbutz.
Near the kibbutz is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
called
Tel Tsaf
Tel Tsaf ( he, תל צף) is an archaeological site located in the central Jordan Valley, south-east of Beit She'an. It was first tested in 1978–1980 by Ram Gophna of Tel Aviv University. In 2004–2007 a large excavation project was conducted a ...
, a 7,000-year-old
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
village which has produced the largest database of materials from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
to the
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
periods.
The Guide to archaeological fieldwork opportunities outside the UK
Archaeology Abroad
Notable people
* Efrat Natan
Efrat Natan is an Israeli artist.
Biography
Efrat Natan was born and grew up on Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin in the Beit She'an Valley. She studied with Raffi Lavie. Her art was influenced by life on the kibbutz and utopian ideals.
Her sculpture "Swi ...
See also
*Wildlife in Israel
The wildlife of Israel includes the flora and fauna of Israel, which is extremely diverse due to the country's location between the temperate and the tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. Spe ...
*Tourism in Israel
Tourism in Israel is one of Israel's major sources of income, with a record 4.55 million tourist arrivals in 2019, and, in 2017, contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy making it an all-time record. Israel offers a plethora of historica ...
References
External links
Official website
Kfar Ruppin Birdwatching Center
{{Authority control
Populated places established in 1938
1938 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Populated places in Northern District (Israel)
Austrian-Jewish culture in Israel
Czech-Jewish culture in Israel
German-Jewish culture in Israel