Tirat Zvi

Tirat Zvi (Hebrew: טִירַת צְבִי‎‎, lit. Zvi Castle) is a religious kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, ten kilometers south of the city of Beit She'an, Israel, just west of the Jordan River and the Israel-Jordan border. It falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. In 2006, the kibbutz had a population of 654.

Geography

Tirat Zvi sits 220 meters below sea level. On June 22, 1942, it recorded the highest daytime temperature in Asia (53,7ºC; 128,7ºF).^[1]

History

The kibbutz was founded on June 30, 1937 as part of the tower and stockade settlement enterprise. The founders were Jews from Poland, Romania and Germany. The pioneers hailed from two groups: Kvutzat Shahal and Kvutzat Rudges. The kibbutz is named after Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, one of the fathers of the Zionist Movement and a leader of Hovevei Zion. The "tira" refers to a two-storey mud-brick structure purchased from the Arab landowner, Musa al-Almi.^[2]

The kibbutz was attacked on February, 28, 1938 by an armed Arab mob during the Arab revolt. The attack was repelled with many casualties on both sides.^[3]

On June 21, 1942, the highest temperature ever recorded on the Asian continent was observed at Tirat Zvi. The temperature was 53.9°C ^[4].

On February 20, 1948, before the neighboring Arab nations officially joined the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a battalion of the Arab Liberation Army led by Muhammed Safa attacked Tirat Zvi. The Arabs were repelled, after 60 of the attackers were killed. One kibbutz member Naftali Fridlander Z"L was killed in the fighting.

Economy

The kibbutz operates a meat processing factory, Tiv, which sells its products locally and abroad. Tirat Zvi is the largest date grower in Israel, with 18,000 trees.^[5]The kibbutz also has a lulav business. Working with scientists from the Volcani Institute, Tirat Zvi developed a method of preserving the palm fronds for several months, allowing them to be harvested in the spring and sold in the fall, for use on the holiday of Sukkot. In 2009, it produced 70,000 lulavs.^[6]

References

• Edna Margolis, Isidor Margolis, R. Cohen & J. Cohen, Jew and Arab on the Border: A story of Religious Pioneering, Hapoel Hamizrachi of America, 1940, New York, Edited by Aaron Binnun.