Ein Harod (Hebrew: עֵין חֲרוֹד) was a kibbutz in Israel. It was located in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. It is notable for being built near the battlefield of Ayn Jalut (the Arabic name for Ein Harod), a battle of huge macro-historical importance where the Mongols were defeated for the first time, in 1260.
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The kibbutz was founded by pioneers of the Third Aliyah, Russian Jews, [1] in 1921 on a tract of land near Ma'ayan Harod (Harod Spring, mentioned in the Bible (Judges 7:1) as a place of judge Gideon), and with it, a railway station on the Jezreel Valley railway. The kibbutz moved to a permanent location at the foot of Kumi Hill in 1931.
The village played an important role in the defence of the area during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, known by the Jews of the era as "the disturbances." It was the base of Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads,[1] and also he felt familiar with the judge Gideon. On June 29th, 1946 the British army occupied the village by force. [1] In 1947 it had a population of 1120.[1]
In 1952, in the wake of ideological differences between supporters of the two main socialist parties, Mapai and Mapam, the kibbutz split, creating two separate kibbutzim:
Today both kibbutzim belong to the same movement, the United Kibbutz Movement.
From its beginning Ein Harod was a place for creators and public figures such as Shlomo Lavi, Haim Shturman (Hebrew Wikipedia on Haim Shturman), Yitzhak Tabenkin, Nahum Benari, Haim Atar (Hebrew Wikipedia on Haim Atar), and Avraham Tarshish (Hebrew Wikipedia on Avraham Tarshish).
Museum "Beit Shturman" with collections of nature, archaeology and history of the area. In the museum also Charles Orde Wingate is honoured, one of the few British soldiers supporting Zionism. He liked the region, because he linked his fate to the Biblical judge Gideon, connected to this area.[2]
