Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

Arthur Ruppin Arthur Ruppin (; 1 March 1876 – 1 January 1943) was a German Zionist and one of the founders of the city of Tel Aviv.Todd Samuel Presner, ’German Jewish Studies in the Digital Age:Remarks on Discipline, Method nand Media,' in William Collin ...

moshava A moshava (, plural: ''moshavot'' , ''colony'' or ''village'') was a form of agricultural Jewish settlement in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine (now Israel), established by the members of the Old Yishuv beginning in the late 1870s ...

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Established in 1908, the Kinneret farm has been active for four decades in preparing Jewish Zionist farmers for settling and working the land. During this time, among other achievements, five groups from the farm have established the

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

settlements of Degania (1909/1910), Kinneret (1913), Afikim (1932),

Ein Gev Ein Gev () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee near the ruins of the Greco-Roman settlement of Hippos, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In its population was . ...

(July 1937) and Ma'agan (1949). After the

establishment of the State of Israel The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

in 1948, for the next 25 years the place was used as a military camp by

Nahal Nahal () (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training in entrepr ...

's 902nd Battalion. After being abandoned for a decade and reaching an advanced state of decay, the farm's buildings and courtyard have been in a process of restoration and rehabilitation of another almost three decades.

Under Ottomans and Mandate (1908-1948)

The farm was created in June 1908 as an experiment by the of the Zionist Organisation, and although it shared infrastructure and some activities with the moshava (health, security, cultural life), it was separate and autonomous from it as it served different practical and sometimes ideological purposes. The new Kinneret village and the farm standing at its southern extremity were built on site known in Arabic as ''Mallāha''. Arthur Ruppin, the head of the Palestine Office of the Zionist Organisation and one of the leading Zionists of the time, was the initiator and man in charge. Unlike the ''moshava'', the farm was meant as a training facility for agricultural work and became a laboratory for social and economic experiments, many of the structures and organisations on which pre-State Jewish and post-1948 Israeli society relied and still relies being initiated here. Such are the communal settlement forms of the

kvutza A kvutza, kvutzah, kevutza or kevutzah ( "group") is a form of cooperative settlement that was founded in the Second Aliyah and developed in the Third Aliyah, its principles are based on the existence of a cooperative, communal, small and intima ...

,

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

and

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

, the women's rights movement—beginning with an agricultural training farm for women in 1911 and continuing with the first assembly of women farmers in 1914—, the cooperatives

HaMashbir Hamashbir Lazarchan () is an Israeli chain of department stores. Hamashbir consists of 33 branches across the country.World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

; est. 1916),

Tnuva Tnuva, or Tenuvah, (, ''fruit'' or ''produce'') is an Israeli food creation and marketing company. The company holds in Israel a significant market share in the field of drinking milk production, dairy products and its marketing. It was for its ...

(milk and dairy products; est. 1926), and Batz construction company (est. 1921), later renamed

Solel Boneh Solel Boneh (, lit. ''Paving and Building'') is the oldest, and one of the largest, construction and civil engineering companies in Israel. History During British rule (1921–1948) Solel Boneh was founded in 1921 in British-ruled Palestine, ...

, which emerged from the Work Battalion, the

Bank Hapoalim Bank Hapoalim ( lit. ''The Workers' Bank'') is one of the largest banks in Israel, established in 1921. The bank offers a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate, and institutional customers, with a focus on retail banking services. ...

or "workers' bank", the ''kupat holim'' public health care system, and last not least the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

paramilitary organisation. The Farm residents also had a major role in establishing and shaping the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

labor union (overview see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

). In its early years it was joined by local Jewish farmers from the surrounding villages, and very soon after by the very young pioneers of the

Second Aliyah The Second Aliyah () was an aliyah (Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel) that took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 35,000 Jews, mostly from Russia, with some from Yemen, immigrated into Ottoman Palestine. The Sec ...

. The original Jewish settlers stayed in the so-called Khan, a word meaning caravansary, and being no more than a storage building bought from a local Bedouin tribe. The early days were marked by poverty,

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

,

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

attacks and ideological conflict. After a workers' strike in October 1909, Ruppin allowed the workers on the farm to split in two: the farm went on being run by a rather authoritarian agronomist, while seven pioneers were given autonomy and founded the first ''kvutza''. They were a young group who received from the national Zionist organisations a plot of land to toil, which they managed to do more successfully than the hierarchically run Kinneret farm. They eventually settled down, naming their commune Degania. This group was part of an influential, if small wave of young Zionists who derived inspiration from

Ber Borochov Dov Ber Borochov (; – 17 December 1917) was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement. He was also a pioneer in the study of the Yiddish language. Biography Dov Ber Borochov was born in the town of Z ...

's

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

-

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

ideas as much as from the mystical "religion of labour" of A.D. Gordon, a man morally influenced by ideas he had brought with him from his native Russia, the

agrarianism Agrarianism is a social philosophy, social and political philosophy that advocates for rural development, a Rural area, rural agricultural lifestyle, family farming, widespread property ownership, and political decentralization. Those who adhere ...

of the

Narodniks The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

and

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

's spirituality.

"Maidens' Farm"

Historical images of Kinneret Farm P1180687

Beit Ha'almot or Havat Ha'almot (lit. the Maidens' House or Maidens' Farm), an agricultural training farm for women, was established within the colony in 1911; it had to be closed in 1917 due to the hardships of World War I.

Kkvutza, kibbutz, moshav, agriculture

Pioneers from the Kinneret Farm founded the first

kvutzot A kvutza, kvutzah, kevutza or kevutzah ( "group") is a form of cooperative settlement that was founded in the Second Aliyah and developed in the Third Aliyah, its principles are based on the existence of a cooperative, communal, small and intimat ...

or small farming communes, Degania in 1910 and Kvutzat Kinneret in 1913, as well as the first large farming commune or kibbutz,

Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...

, and the first communal agricultural village or

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

,

Nahalal Nahalal () is a moshav in Northern District (Israel), northern Israel. Covering , it falls under the jurisdiction of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . Nahalal is best known for its general layout, as designed by ...

, both in 1921. One of the founders of the Kinneret Farm, (1887–1984), helped reintroduce

date palm ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...

s to Palestine by travelling to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

,

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in the 1930s where he identified suitable varieties of which he bought and adventurously brought back large quantities of saplings. In 1919, Kvutzat Hashishim ('the Group of 60') joined the farm. Their combination of farming and contract work inspired Kinneret member Shlomo Lavi's concept of the large kibbutz. In 1929, the Kinneret Group moved from the Farm where it had been based since 1913 to its permanent location, and the farmhouse became a temporary residence for different other groups before they too settled in their permanent localities.

National projects initiated at the Farm

Many of the initiatives had to do with the activity of

Berl Katznelson Berl Katznelson (; 25 January 1887 – 12 August 1944) was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism and was instrumental to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, establishment of the modern state of Israel. He was also the editor of ' ...

. * The

kvutza A kvutza, kvutzah, kevutza or kevutzah ( "group") is a form of cooperative settlement that was founded in the Second Aliyah and developed in the Third Aliyah, its principles are based on the existence of a cooperative, communal, small and intima ...

type of communal settlement ** Degania, the first ''kvutza'', est. 1909 by pioneers trained at Kinneret Farm * The

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

type of communal settlement **

Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...

, the first ''kibbutz'', est. 1921 by pioneers trained at Kinneret Farm * The

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

type of communal settlement **

Nahalal Nahalal () is a moshav in Northern District (Israel), northern Israel. Covering , it falls under the jurisdiction of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . Nahalal is best known for its general layout, as designed by ...

, the first ''moshav'', est. 1921 by pioneers trained at Kinneret Farm * The women's rights movement in pre-state Israel ** Beit Ha'almot or Havat Ha'almot agricultural training farm for women, active 1911–1917 at Kinneret Farm ** The first assembly of women farmers (1914) *

HaMashbir Hamashbir Lazarchan () is an Israeli chain of department stores. Hamashbir consists of 33 branches across the country.World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, est. 1916 *

Tnuva Tnuva, or Tenuvah, (, ''fruit'' or ''produce'') is an Israeli food creation and marketing company. The company holds in Israel a significant market share in the field of drinking milk production, dairy products and its marketing. It was for its ...

cooperative for milk and dairy products, est. 1926 *

Solel Boneh Solel Boneh (, lit. ''Paving and Building'') is the oldest, and one of the largest, construction and civil engineering companies in Israel. History During British rule (1921–1948) Solel Boneh was founded in 1921 in British-ruled Palestine, ...

construction company, est. as Batz in 1921; emerged from the Work Battalion *

Bank Hapoalim Bank Hapoalim ( lit. ''The Workers' Bank'') is one of the largest banks in Israel, established in 1921. The bank offers a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate, and institutional customers, with a focus on retail banking services. ...

workers' bank, est. 1921 * ''kupat holim'' public health care system *

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

paramilitary organisation: at the 2nd assembly of the

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

party held at the Farm in June 1920, the agenda included the founding of the Haganah The Farm residents also had a major role in establishing and shaping the labor union of pre-state Israel: *

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

labor union (est. 1920)

After the establishment of the state

In 1949, the courtyard became a military camp of the IDF. From 1950 to 1974, the farm served as an base before being abandoned. When the IDF base was dismantled in the late 1970s, the location was named a national historic site. It was declared a "national conservation site", eventually restored, and opened to visitors in 2007. It now serves as a museum and educational center.

Notable residents

*

Rachel Bluwstein Rachel Bluwstein Sela (; 20 September (Julian calendar) 1890 – 16 April 1931) was a Hebrew-language poet who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine, in 1909. She is known by her first name, Rachel ( ), or as Rachel the Poetess ( ). She is featu ...

, usually referred to simply as "Rachel", Hebrew-language poet from pre-state Israel * A.D. Gordon (1856–1922), Zionist ideologue *

Berl Katznelson Berl Katznelson (; 25 January 1887 – 12 August 1944) was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism and was instrumental to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, establishment of the modern state of Israel. He was also the editor of ' ...

, Zionist leader * Hana Meisel (1883–1972), Zionist agronomist and feminist * Zalman Shazar (1889–1974), the third President of Israel (1963–1973); politician, author and poetKinneret Courtyard
at the

Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel The Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel (), also the Society for the Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites (SPIHS),SPIHS
COVID-19 ...

website, in Hebrew. Accessed 9 August 2020. *

Yitzhak Tabenkin Yitzhak Tabenkin (; 8 January 1888 – 6 June 1971) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. He was one of the founders of the kibbutz Movement. Biography Yitzchak Tabenkin was born in Babruysk in the Russian Empire (now Belarus) in 188 ...

(1888–1971), Zionist activist and politician, co-founder of the kibbutz movement

Cemetery

Across the road from the restored Kinneret Farm, is the historic Kinneret Cemetery, use mainly by the three Kinneret entities – the moshava, the farm, and after its establishment in 1913, by the kvutza. So many pioneers and leaders of the

Labour Zionist Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the left-wing, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist faction of the historic Jewish ...

movement are buried there, that it has become the target of a kind of Israeli "civil religion", a place of secular pilgrimage. Here one can find the graves going back to 1911, among them those of

Berl Katznelson Berl Katznelson (; 25 January 1887 – 12 August 1944) was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism and was instrumental to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, establishment of the modern state of Israel. He was also the editor of ' ...

,

Nachman Syrkin Nachman Syrkin (also spelled ''Nahman Syrkin'' or ''Nahum Syrkin''; ; 11 February 1868 – 6 September 1924) was a political theorist, founder of Labor Zionism and a prolific writer in the Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, German and English languages. ...

,

Rachel Bluwstein Rachel Bluwstein Sela (; 20 September (Julian calendar) 1890 – 16 April 1931) was a Hebrew-language poet who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine, in 1909. She is known by her first name, Rachel ( ), or as Rachel the Poetess ( ). She is featu ...

,

Ber Borochov Dov Ber Borochov (; – 17 December 1917) was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement. He was also a pioneer in the study of the Yiddish language. Biography Dov Ber Borochov was born in the town of Z ...

,

Moses Hess Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early socialist and Zionist thinker. His theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zionism. Bi ...

, Avraham Herzfeld and Shmuel Stoller.

Visit

Visitors can see the farm buildings set around a courtyard, with the dining room, barn, agricultural training farm for women, the main building improperly known as the khan, and can watch a video about the poet Rachel. Opening hours, entrance fees, contact details etc. at the Conservation Council website. The cemetery on the lake shore has received a large parking lot for visitors.

External links

Hatzer Kinneret - Kinneret Courtyard
at eKinneret.co.il (Google-translated basic info). Accessed August 2020.
Kinneret Courtyard
at the Jewish Charitable Association (ICA) website. Accessed August 2020.

References

{{Emek HaYarden Regional Council Populated places established in 1908 Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1908 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Sea of Galilee

Name

Under Ottomans and Mandate (1908-1948)

"Maidens' Farm"

Kkvutza, kibbutz, moshav, agriculture

National projects initiated at the Farm

After the establishment of the state

Notable residents

Cemetery

Visit

See also

External links

References