Sde Nehemia ( he, שְׂדֵה נְחֶמְיָה, ''lit.'' Nehemia's Field) (Sde Nehemya) 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 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 in the Upper Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Upper Galilee Regional Council The Upper Galilee Regional Council ( he, מוֹעָצָה אֲזוֹרִית הַגָּלִיל הַעֶלְיוֹן, translit. ''Mo'atza Azorit HaGalil HaElyon'') is a regional council in Israel's Upper Galilee region, bordered by the Mevo'ot Ha ...

. In it had a population of . The Banias and Hasbani Rivers converge on the grounds of the kibbutz.

History

Sde Nehemia was founded on 19 December 1940 by

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

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 ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, on land bought from the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

village of

al-Dawwara Al-Dawwara ( ar, الدوّارة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 27 km northeast of Saf ...

. It was originally known as Kvutzat Huliot, but later renamed after Nehemia de Lieme, a Dutch banker and Zionist activist who served as head of the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

. In the early days of the kibbutz, the pioneers lived in tents in the midst of malaria-infested swampland. One of them, Yehuda Abas, a physician, distributed anti-malarial pills free of charge to the local Arab population but discovered they were being cut into four and sold for large sums of money to Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. Abas's solution was to introduce injections. Rafael Reiss from Sde Nehemia was one of seven parachutists sent into Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944. He was captured by the Nazis and executed on 20 November 1944. In May, 1948, the kibbutz requested, "somewhat shamefacedly", 1,700 dunams of land from the newly depopulated Palestinian village of

Al-'Abisiyya Al-'Abisiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Safad. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 29, 1948, by The Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 28.5 km northeast of Safad nea ...

. Differential salaries were implemented in 2003, ending the kibbutz tradition of economic equality. File:שדה נחמיה - מראה-JNF027671.jpeg, Sde Nehemia 1944 File:שדה נחמיה - מראה-JNF027673.jpeg, Sde Nehemia 1944 File:שדה נחמיה - מראה.-JNF036632.jpeg, Sde Nehemia 1945 File:KIBBUTZ SDE NEHEMIA. קיבוץ שדה נחמיה בגליל העליון.D833-092.jpg, Sde Nehemia, 1946

Economy

Located in the fertile Hula Valley between the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, agriculture is a significant source of income. The kibbutz also owns a plastics factory, Huliot, a leading manufacturer of pipe systems and plastic products. Huliot specializes in flow products for water supply, drainage, sewage and

greywater Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from ...

recycling which it sells on the local and global markets. The factory was established in 1947.Made in Israel Portal
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References

External links

Facebook page for former volunteers
{{Upper Galilee Regional Council Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Upper Galilee Regional Council Populated places established in 1940 Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1940 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Austrian-Jewish culture in Israel Czech-Jewish culture in Israel Dutch-Jewish culture in Israel Slovak-Jewish culture in Israel