Kfar Hanassi
| Kfar Hanassi | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| hebrew : | כפר הנשיא | ||
| State : |
 Israel
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| District : | North | ||
| Founded : | 1948 | ||
| Coordinates : | 33 ° 1 ' N , 35 ° 36' E | ||
| Height : | 265 m | ||
| Residents : | 864 (as of 2018) | ||
| Community code : | 0443 | ||
| Time zone : | UTC + 2 | ||
| Website : | |||
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Kfar Hanassi ( Hebrew כְּפַר הַנָּשִׂיא Kfar ha-Nassī , German for 'President's Village' ) is a kibbutz in Upper Galilee in the northern district of Israel . It is located west of the Golan Heights and above the eastern bank of the Jordan , 35 KM north of the Sea of Galilee and 6 KM east of Rosh Pina.In the hills above Kfar Hanassi , about 25 km to the west, is the old town of Safed , the spiritual center of the Kabbalah . The kibbutz had 864 inhabitants in 2018.
history
Kfar Hanassi was founded in 1948 by members of Habonim , a British youth organization that also included former participants in the Kindertransport from Germany, Austria and Poland. Other founding members were a small group of French youth and some Australian Habonim members. One of the founding members was Thomas Welkanoz , who had adopted the name Tommy Amit. He had emigrated to England in mid-May 1939, attended various schools there and finally prepared for the 1947 emigration to Palestine.
The kibbutz was first called Kibbutz HaBonim . However, since not all of the founding members were also Habonim members, the kibbutz was later named Kfar Hanassi in honor of the first Israeli president, Chaim Weizmann .
The Habonim factory was founded in 1949 and continues to develop and manufacture valves and actuators for industrial use to this day. A flock of sheep was purchased for the farm.
In 1952 the first primary school was opened.
In 1957, another group of settlers joined the kibbutz. They were British Habonim members, also known as Garin Hey .
In 1961, a social center with offices, a library, a club room and a self-service dining room was opened in Kfar Hanassi . In the center of this dining room, which was also the first dining room in a kibbutz that was operated as a self-service facility, there was a pond in which koi swam.
Another break with the kibbutz tradition occurred in 1964 after the self-service dining room was set up. From then on, the children slept in their parents' homes instead of in children's homes.
In 1988 the kibbu's own elementary school closed. From now on the children have to attend regional schools. The background for this was probably an economic crisis that rocked the kibbutz in 1988 and that had gradually developed over the previous three years. The kibbutz was in enormous debt and apparently found no way to counter it. The result was a bankruptcy, through which only the name was retained and which led to far-reaching processes of change.
“At first it was important not to spend more than we earned. The finances of the business side of the kibbutz were separated from the costs of running the community, which now had to live on income from work and profits. This meant, among other things, that wages for work were assessed realistically, rather than paying an equal amount to the community for each working day of a member. The concept that some people's work is worth more than others was a giant frog that had to be swallowed. It was just as difficult to get familiar with the idea that there is a direct connection between what the members of the kibbutz earn and what they can spend. "
The initiated process meant that more and more community services were returned to private responsibility and were no longer paid for from the community fund - from electricity for one's own house to postage to telephone costs. Two years later, another radical step followed:
“Each member now receives their wages and pays their living expenses. Today (early 2004) most services are paid for by the individual. This also includes the food: the dining room, once the center of kibbutz life, is now only used for lunch, although it is still subsidized. We pay individually for clothing, furniture, house repairs and all health and education costs that are not covered by the Ministry of Health or Education. We pay the real cost of using the kibbutz's fleet of vehicles, we pay a municipal tax on our homes, some optional insurance, and so on. The other services - administration, infrastructure, etc. - are paid for by a local tax that is assessed in proportion to the member's income. "
This process, which meant a massive departure from the traditional kibbutz tradition and its socialist core, was by no means complete in 2004. In 2007, the kibbutz secretary was only a manager who no longer had to take care of the social affairs of the kibbutz, the management of the factory was also transferred to an employee, assets and foreign pensions remained privately owned, and there was even thought about also to privatize the houses. There was also a stronger opening to the outside world, patients who did not come from Kfar Hanassi were admitted to the nursing home for a fee, and houses were rented to non-kibbutz residents. At the same time, a social network was maintained for the former kibbutznikim, for example a minimum income that primarily protects pensioners from impoverishment, so that Kfar Hanassi seems to have remained a place where it is easy to live. And last but not least, the influx from outside was also essential for the survival of the kibbutz, because in 2007 50% of its members were older than 70 years.
In 2008 the time had come for the first families from outside to buy their way into the kibbutz, and in 2010 the first economically independent members of the kibbutz were accepted.
On the official website, today's Kfar Hanassi flirts with its alleged reputation of being the last outpost of the British Empire, where the drink of choice in many households is still tea with milk. In addition, reference is made to a separate swimming pool and a wide range of leisure and entertainment offers that make the kibbutz appear to be an attractive tourist location (bed & breakfast).
In 2002, the German co-founder of the kibbutz, Tommy Amit, who was mentioned above, had to endure a severe blow of fate. His granddaughter, 25-year-old Moranne Amit, was stabbed by four Palestinians between the ages of 14 and 16 while walking in Jerusalem in early February 2002 and died of the injuries inflicted on her. Moranne Amit, who studied law in Haifa, was born and raised in Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi .
Tommy Amit continued to live in Kfar Hanasi . In the village news there, there are repeated references to his activities, the last time on April 3, 2015, when he reported on a guided tour of the historical buildings of the kibbutz.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 .
- ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e Official website of Kfar Hanassi
- ↑ About Habonim ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ On a USHMM website , they are described as a Zionist agricultural collective. ( Explanation of the photo Jewish DPs who have just arrived in Haifa on board the Mala immigrant ship, walk along the pier with their total belongings )
- ↑ Change processes in Kfar Hanassi . "First of all, it was essential to stop spending more than we earned. The finances of the business side of the kibbutz were separated from the costs of running the community, which now had to live within the income from work and from profits. This meant, among other things, costing wages for work realistically, instead of paying an equal sum to the community for every member's working day. The concept that some people's work is worth more than others' was a huge frog to swallow. Just as difficult was to instill the notion that there is a direct link between what members of the kibbutz earned and what they could spend. "
- ↑ Change processes in Kfar Hanassi . "Each member now receives his wages and pays for his living expenses from them. Today (early in 2004), most services are paid for by the individual. These include food: the dining hall, once the center of kibbutz life, now only serves the midday meal, which is admittedly still subsidized. We pay individually for clothes, furniture, house repairs and any health and education costs that are not covered by the Health Service or Ministry of Education. We pay the real cost of using the kibbutz's fleet of cars, we pay a municipal tax on our houses, for some optional insurance schemes, and so on. The remaining services - administration, infrastructure, etc., - are paid for by a local tax, which is assessed in proportion to the member's income. "
- ↑ Change processes in Kfar Hanassi
- ↑ The murder of Moranne Amit
- ^ Village News - Kfar-Hanassi, April 3, 2015, p. 12
