Afikim () is an Israeli
kibbutz affiliated with the
Kibbutz Movement
The Kibbutz Movement ( he, התנועה הקיבוצית, ''HaTnu'a HaKibbutzit'') is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi and is made u ...
located in the
Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...
three kilometers from the
Sea of Galilee. It is within the jurisdiction of the
Emek HaYarden Regional Council
Emek HaYarden Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית עמק הירדן, ''Mo'atza Azorit 'Emeq HaYarden'', ''lit.'' Jordan Valley Regional Council) is a regional council comprising much of the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, the south ...
. In it had a population of .
Etymology
The name Afikim means "riverbeds", and refers to the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
and its tributary, the
Yarmuk River
The Yarmuk River ( ar, نهر اليرموك, translit=Nahr al-Yarmūk, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; la, Hieromyces or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk), is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel ...
, and is also taken from the Bible, Ezekiel 34:13:
"I will pasture them ... in the riverbeds."
History
Russian Jews affiliated with the
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...
movement organised in 1924 and settled in the area of Wazia in the
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee ( he, הגליל העליון, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; ar, الجليل الأعلى, ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period. It originally referred to a mountai ...
. In 1932 the group moved to its current location on a tract of land belonging to
Degania Bet, where it absorbed groups from the
Poale Zion
Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist– Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century a ...
movement and
Hechalutz
HeHalutz or HeChalutz ( he, הֶחָלוּץ, lit. "The Pioneer") was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. It became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movem ...
. The name "Afikim" was officially adopted in 1936. Yisrael Hofesh, one of the founders of the kibbutz, who died in 2011 at the age of 107, helped to establish the banana industry and worked in the plywood factory run by the kibbutz.
File:אפיקים - פנורמה של עמק הירדן.-JNF037090.jpeg, Afikim, 1937
File:מגדל תצפית באפיקים בעמק הירדן-JNF034675.jpeg, Afikim watchtower 1939
File:Afikim ii.jpg, Afikim, 1948. Photograph from Palmach archive
During the
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
, Afikim was subjected to frequent shelling by
Syrian and
Iraqi forces,
and was a stronghold of
Palmach activity. Afterwards it was a center for agricultural training for
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
*Irish Defence Forces
*Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
*Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
*Israeli Diving Federation
*Interaction ...
soldiers who planned to join kibbutzim after demobilization. During the split of the ''Kibbutz Meuhad'' movement, Afikim, unlike many other kibbutzim, did not split up into two villages. Rather it joined the
Mapai-affiliated faction which went on to found the ''Ihud Kibbutzim''. In 1977, Afikim hosted 66
refugees from
Vietnam. In 2011, the kibbutz accepted 100 new members.
Economy
Afikim grows
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s,
date palms,
avocados,
olives,
subtropical flora, and
grains. It also engages in
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
and
dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history tha ...
. The kibbutz has 400 cows. It operates ''Afimilk'', a dairy equipment company, and ''Afikim Electric Vehicles'', a producer of
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes ch ...
s. In the 1980s, Afikim went through an economic
crisis
A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
and was partially privatized.
In 2010, Afikim announced its partnership in a half-billion-dollar milk production project in
Vietnam. The project involved establishing a dairy operation of 30,000 cows to supply 500,000 liters of milk a day, about 40% of Vietnam's present milk consumption. Afikim was responsible for all stages of the enterprise, including breeding and preparing land for crops used as feed. In addition to a demonstration farm with 174 cows established for educational purposes, a commercial milk farm with 20,000 cows, the TH Milk facility, was built in stages by 2015. The milk output per cow is 9,300 liters of milk annually despite tropical conditions.
Inventions
The first electronic milk meter, which measures how many liters of milk a cow has produced, was invented at Afikim. Other inventions include the pedometer, which counts the number of steps a cow takes, indicating the right time for insemination; AfiFarm, a milking and dairy herd management software program; AfiAct, a fertility detection system; and AfiLab, a device that analyses the components of the milk and detects bacteria.
Awards and recognition
In 2009,
Assaf Inbari, a writer who grew up on the kibbutz, published ''
Home'', a novel based on the history of Afikim. It was awarded the 2010 Israel Book Publishers Association's Platinum Prize and was on the shortlist of finalists for the
Sapir Prize for Literature.
In 2011, Afikim Electric Vehicles' Breeze-S scooter won Germany's
Red Dot
The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...
design award in the life science and medicine category.
Afikim wins German design award
/ref>
Notable people
* Assaf Inbari
*Yoel Palgi
Yoel Palgi ( he, יואל פלגי; born Emil Nussbacher 19181978) was a Palmach parachutist who was dropped by Britain into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist in the rescue of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust and RAF pilots captur ...
* Leo Roth
*Zvi Brenner
Zvi Brenner (1915-1999) was a Jewish soldier in Palestine before and during World War II and the early days of the State of Israel. He trained under Orde Wingate and served alongside Moshe Dayan. He was one of the founders of the Israeli Defense ...
See also
*Agricultural research in Israel
Agricultural research in Israel is based on close cooperation and interaction between scientists, consultants, farmers and agriculture-related industries. Israel's semi-arid to arid climate and shortage of high quality water are major constraints f ...
*Israeli inventions and discoveries
This is a list of inventions and discoveries by Israeli scientists and researchers, working locally or overseas. There are over 6,000 startups currently in Israel. There are currently more than 30 technology companies valued over US$1 billion (un ...
*Israel–Vietnam relations
Israel–Vietnam relations (Hebrew: יחסי ישראל-וייטנאם; Vietnamese: Mối quan hệ giữa Israel và Việt Nam) refers to the bilateral relations between the State of Israel and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam and Isr ...
References
Further reading
Afikim: Story of a Kibbutz
{{Authority control
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine
Populated places established in 1932
Populated places in Northern District (Israel)
Russian-Jewish culture in Israel
1932 establishments in Mandatory Palestine