Kfar Menahem

Kfar Menahem (Hebrew: כְּפַר מְנַחֵם, lit. Menahem Village) is a kibbutz in Israel located about 7 km east of Kiryat Malakhi in south-central Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council.

Kibbutz Kfar Menahem has gained some recognition as the farming community the American comedian Sandra Bernhard worked as a volunteer in the early 1970s.

History

The community was founded as a moshav named "Irgun Menachem" in 1935 by a Rehovot group of activists that was also named "Irgun Menachem" (after Menachem Osishkin). During the Arab revolt in 1936, the place was abandoned by Jews and destroyed by Arabs.

On 28 July 1937, the moshav was re-established as part of the tower and Stockade program, but did not take hold. In 1939, the institutions for creating new settlements replaced the members of "Irgun Menahem" with the nucleus "Kibbutz Krit", pioneers from the United States and members of Hashomer Hatzair, who were training in the moshava of Kfar Hadar, near Ramatayim. (The people of "Irgun Menachem" who left founded the moshav Kfar Warburg on 31 October 1939.)

On 6 December 1939, a holiday to celebrate the kibbutz, now called "Kfar Menahem", was held by the founders from Israel and the members of "Kvutzat Krit". After a year, they left the walls (of the tower and stockade) and founded a permanent settlement on a nearby hill, south of the wall. The wall continued to hold the first of the kibbutz's three water wells, as well as the kibbutz bakery.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the kibbutz expanded onto about 9,000 dunams on land of the depopulated Palestinian village of Idnibah.

Today the kibbutz hosts Yoav Regional Council's high school named "Tzafit", as well as a regional museum. There is a reconstruction of the original tower and stockade.

External links

• Official website (Hebrew)
• Joel Rohr - Israeli Artist former member of Kfar Menauchem

Coordinates: 31°43′54.12″N 34°50′9.59″E / 31.7317000°N 34.8359972°E / 31.7317000; 34.8359972