Ma'ayan Baruch () is a

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 ...

in northern

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 ...

. Located near the Lebanese border, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Upper Galilee Regional Council The Upper Galilee Regional Council (, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Mo'atza Azorit HaGalil HaElyon'') is a regional council (Israel), regional council in Israel's Upper Galilee region, bordered by the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council and the ...

. In it had a population of .

History

The kibbutz was founded on 11 March 1947, on the site of Hamara, a

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 ...

established by Jewish farmers in 1919 but abandoned in 1920 due to financial hardship and security issues. It was named for Baruch (Bernard) Gordon, a South African Zionist. The founders were members of other

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 ...

who had met in

Kfar Giladi Kfar Giladi () is a kibbutz in the Galilee Panhandle of northern Israel. Located south of Metula on the Naftali Mountains above the Hula Valley and along the Blue Line (Lebanon), Lebanese border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee ...

; members of the HaTenua HaMeuhedet youth movement, members of Habonim who immigrated to British Mandate of Palestine as

Ma'apilim ''Aliyah Bet'' (, "Aliyah 'B'" – bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, many of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany or other Nazi-controlled countries, and la ...

(illegal immigrants of

Aliyah Bet ''Aliyah Bet'' (, "Aliyah 'B'" – bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, many of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany or other Nazi-controlled countries, and la ...

), and members of a garin of pioneering soldiers from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

who fought in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

, Ma'ayan Baruch took over part of the land belonging to the newly depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village of al-Sanbariyya. During the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, northern Israeli border communities, including Ma'ayan Baruch, faced targeted attacks by

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, and were evacuated.

Development projects

A new neighborhood in Ma'ayan Baruch was built to attract newcomers and bring money into the kibbutz coffers in the wake of the socio-economic problems that have affected many kibbutzim since the 1980s. The newcomers are from other kibbutzim and townships in the region, as well as other parts of the country.

Landmarks

A museum which holds a collection of prehistoric artifacts found in the Hula Valley, the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory, also known as The Prehistoric Man Museum, is located on the kibbutz. The museum collection includes the skeleton of a prehistoric (

Natufian The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even befor ...

) woman, approximately 50 years old, buried with her dog. An

Acheulian Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo ...

site was discovered at Ma‘ayan Baruch.

Historic images

File:מעין ברוך - ביום העליה למעין ברוך החברים מפרקים אתהחמרים מהמכוניות, הקמת הנקודה מתחילה.-JNF028682.jpeg, Ma’ayan Baruch, 11 March 1947 File:מעין ברוך - ביום העליה למעין ברוך הצריפים הראשונים כבר עומדים על תילם, העבודה נמשכת שוטרים אנגלים שו-JNF028674.jpeg, Early construction work on Ma'ayan Baruch on 1 March 1947. The 3 members of the British colonial

Palestine Police Force The Palestine Police Force (, ) was a British colonial police service established in Mandatory Palestine on 1 July 1920,Sinclair, 2006. when High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from ...

pictured here include Amnon Assaf, founder of the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory. File:Ma'ayan Baruch ii.jpg, Ma'ayan Baruch. First buildings 1947 File:מעין ברוך.-JNF028692.jpeg, Ma’ayan Baruch 1947

Notable people

* Menashe Kadishman (1932–2015), sculptor and painter. * Rela Mazali (born 1948), Israeli peace activist and writer. *

Amnon Shamosh Amnon Shamosh (; 28 January 1929 – 1 March 2022) was an Israeli author and poet. Biography Shamosh was born in Aleppo, Syria, France. In his childhood he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and participated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in a P ...

, (1929–2022) Israeli author and poet.

External links

Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory
website, English page (accessed March 2024)

References

{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1947 1947 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Populated places in Northern District (Israel) South African-Jewish culture in Israel