Sdot Yam ( he, שְׂדוֹת יָם, ''lit.'' Sea Fields) 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

Haifa District Haifa District ( he, מחוז חיפה, ''Mehoz Ḥeifa''; ar, منطقة حيفا) is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of the Districts of Israel, seven administrative districts of Israel, a ...

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 on the shore of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Hof HaCarmel Regional Council Hof HaCarmel Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית חוף הכרמל, ''Mo'atza Azorit Hof ha-Karmel'', ''lit.'' Carmel Coast Regional Council) is a regional council located in the northern Israeli coastal plain. The council serves a larg ...

. In it had a population of . It was founded in 1936 and moved to its present site at the southern border of the ancient city and archeological ruins of

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

, in 1940.

History

Northern location (1936–40)

Sdot Yam was established in 1936, in the region, just north of

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, called the Krayot. It was founded at the urging of

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

during the period when the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

were refusing to allow Jews to enter

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. It was ostensibly based on fishing, but was in reality a base for the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

used to smuggle clandestine immigrants, mostly Jewish refugees from Europe, into Palestine.

Yossi Harel Yossi Harel ( he, יוסי הראל; January 4, 1918 – April 26, 2008) was the commander of the operation and a leading member of the Israeli intelligence community. Biography Yossi Hamburger (later Harel) and his twin brother Natan were b ...

, famous for being the commander of ''

SS Exodus ''Exodus 1947'' was a packet steamship that was built in the United States in 1928 as ''President Warfield'' for the Baltimore Steam Packet Company. From her completion in 1928 until 1942 she carried passengers and freight across Chesapeake Bay b ...

'' and three other such ships, is buried at Sdot Yam.

Permanent location (after 1940)

In 1940 the kibbutz was moved to its present location south of

. Its new residents were a

gar'in Gar'in (, ''lit.'' kernel) is a Hebrew term used for groups of people who moved together to Ottoman Palestine, British Palestine, and since 1948, Israel.Joel Beinin The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry- 2005 9774248902 "arrived in Israel while the mi ...

from the Mahanot HaOlim

youth group Youth Group is an Australian rock band based in Newtown, New South Wales. Built around the vocals of singer Toby Martin and production of Wayne Connolly, the sound of Youth Group is reminiscent of indie rock artists such as Teenage Fanclub, Pa ...

Economy

The kibbutz originally based its economy on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, but today concentrates on land-based agriculture. It manages a

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

trees, and a herd of

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

cattle. The kibbutz's major source of income comes from the marketing and manufacturing of engineered quartz surfaces under the

Caesarstone Caesarstone Ltd., or Caesarstone (, ''Even Qeysar''), is a publicly traded company that engages in the production and marketing of quartz surfaces used for kitchen countertops, vanity tops, flooring, wall cladding and general interior design. Th ...

brand. In 2013, the kibbutz owned a 58 percent stake in the company, which makes stone counter tops for kitchens and bathrooms. It sold the majority of it in October 2012. .Israeli kibbutz to sell off marble firm for $600 million
Haaretz

Landmarks

The

Hannah Szenes Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; he, חנה סנש; hu, Szenes Anna; 17 July 19217 November 1944) was a poet and a Special Operations Executive (SOE) member. She was one of 37 Jewish SOE recruits from Mandate ...

house is a study center founded in the name of Hungarian-born Hannah Szenes and the other

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

s who were sent from

to war-torn

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1944 to save Hungarian

Jews 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""The ...

Notable people

Shimshon Brokman Shimshon Brokman (also "Brockman"; he, שמשון ברוקמן; born 16 September 1957) is an Israeli former Olympic sailor. Brokman and Eitan Friedlander won the 1972 420 International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) Youth Sailing World Championship ...

(born 1957), Olympic competitive sailor *

Nola Chilton Nola Chilton (12 February 1922 – 8 October 2021) was an American-born Israeli theater director and acting teacher. She was a pioneer of socially engaged theater in Israel. In 2013, Chilton was awarded the Israel Prize for theater. Biography N ...

, theatre-director, acting teacher, winner of the Israel Prize for Theater, 2013 *

Gal Fridman Gal Fridman (or Friedman, he, גל פרידמן; born September 16, 1975) is an Israeli windsurfer and Israel's first Olympic Games, Olympic gold medalist. Fridman won a bronze medal, Bronze Medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta 1996 Summer ...

, Olympic gold-medal-winning windsurfer *

Aharon Megged Aharon Megged () (10 August 1920 – 23 March 2016) ( Hebrew year 5680) was an Israeli author and playwright. In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Biography Aharon Greenberg (later Megged) was born in Włocławek, Poland. I ...

, author and playwright *

Itzhak Nir Itzhak Nir ( he, יצחק ניר; born December 18, 1940) is an Israeli former Olympic competitive sailor. Sailing career When he competed in the Olympics, he was 6-5 (196 cm) tall and weighed 187 lbs (85 kg). At an international ...

(born 1940), Olympic competitive sailor *

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) paratrooper parachuted by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

into

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to assist in the rescue of

Hungarian Jews The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

about to be deported to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

death camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1940 1940 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Populated places in Haifa District