Sde Nahum ( he, שְׂדֵה נַחוּם, ''lit.'' Nahum Field) is a
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
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 ...
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 ...
. Located around 4 km northwest of
Beit She'an
Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below se ...
, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Valley of Springs Regional Council
Emek HaMa'ayanot Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית עמק המעיינות, ''Mo'atza Azorit Emek HaMa'ayanot'', lit. ''Valley of the Springs Regional Council'') is a regional council (Israel), regional council in the Northern Distric ...
. In it had a population of .
History
The kibbutz was founded on 5 January 1937 by members of the Sadeh group from the
Mikveh Israel
Mikveh Israel ( he, מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, 'Hope of Israel') is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Isra ...
agricultural school, as well as immigrants from
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. It was the third kibbutz established as part of the
tower and stockade settlement movement. Initially called "Kibbutz HaSadeh," it was later renamed in honour of
Nahum Sokolov
Nahum ben Joseph Samuel Sokolow ( he, נחום ט' סוקולוב ''Nachum ben Yosef Shmuel Soqolov'', yi, סאָקאָלאָוו; ) was a Zionist leader, author, translator, and a pioneer of Hebrew journalism.
Biography
Nahum Sokolow was born ...
, a Hebrew writer and
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.
Ruins of a 5th–6th century
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
church has been found in the kibbutz.
The nearby
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
Saffuriya
Sepphoris (; grc, Σέπφωρις, Séphōris), called Tzipori in Hebrew ( he, צִפּוֹרִי, Tzipori),Palmer (1881), p115/ref> and known in Arabic as Saffuriya ( ar, صفورية, Ṣaffūriya) since the 7th century, is an archaeolog ...
had been almost emptied of its 4000 inhabitants in July 1948. By early January, 1949, about 500 villagers had filtered back, but "neighbouring settlements coveted Saffuriya lands". The "Northern Front" ordered their eviction, which was carried out the 7th of January 1949. The Saffuriya land was then distributed to its neighbouring Jewish settlements.
[
In February 1949, 1,500 ]Dunam
A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...
s of Saffuriya land was given to Sde Nahum.
File:שדה נחום - ביום העליה.-JNF032956.jpeg, Sde Nahum day of the Aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
1937
File:שדה נחום - ביום העליה.-JNF032957.jpeg, Sde Nahum founders 1937
File:שדה נחום - בעליה לשדה נחום, בן לילה הוקמה חומת הגנה לשדה נחום.-JNF032961.jpeg, Sde Nahum construction of stockade wall 1937
File:שדה נחום - מראה-JNF004510.jpeg, Sde Nahum wall construction 1937
File:מגדל הצופים בשדה-נחום-JNF004508.jpeg, Sde Nahum 1937
File:מגדל הצופים והאוהלים סביבו בשדה-נחום-JNF004509.jpeg, Sde Nahum 1939
File:שדה נחום - מראה-JNF004507.jpeg, Sde Nahum 1939
File:המשדדה בשדה-נחום-JNF004517.jpeg, Sde Nahum 1940
File:Nahum 1947.jpg, 1947 photo of Nahum classroom from Palmach archive
Economy
The main economic activity is agriculture but the kibbutz also has a factory for the manufacture of plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
materials and an elderly care facility.
Notable people
*Arieh Warshel
Arieh Warshel ( he, אריה ורשל; born November 20, 1940) is an Israeli-American biochemist and biophysicist. He is a pioneer in computational studies on functional properties of biological molecules, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry ...
, Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winning chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
(2013) and professor at the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
was born in Sde Nahum in 1940
References
External links
Official website
{{Valley of Springs Regional Council
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Populated places established in 1937
Archaeological sites in Israel
Populated places in Northern District (Israel)
1937 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Austrian-Jewish culture in Israel
German-Jewish culture in Israel
Polish-Jewish culture in Israel