Ashdot Ya'akov () is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in northern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Originally founded in 1924 by a

kvutza A kvutza, kvutzah, kevutza or kevutzah ( "group") is a form of cooperative settlement that was founded in the Second Aliyah and developed in the Third Aliyah, its principles are based on the existence of a cooperative, communal, small and intima ...

Hashomer Hashomer (, 'The Watchman') was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded in April 1909. It was an outgrowth of the Bar-Giora group and was disbanded after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. Hashomer was responsible for guarding Je ...

members from

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on the land which is today Gesher, it moved to its current location between 1933 and 1935. It was named after the

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

of the nearby

Yarmuk River The Yarmuk River (, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk) is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are ...

and James "Ya'akov" Armand de Rothschild.

History

Between 1933 and 1935 the kibbutz moved northeast of its original location, onto land which had been bought by the

Palestine Jewish Colonization Association The Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (), commonly known by its Yiddish acronym PICA (), was established in 1924. It played a major role in purchasing land and building Jewish settlement in Palestine and later the State of Israel until t ...

. The children of Ashod Yaacov were evacuated during the

1948 Arab-Israeli war Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, when the kibbutz suffered intensive shelling from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n, Iraqi and Transjordanian forces. In 1953, as a result of the split in the

HaKibbutz HaMeuhad {{refimprove, date=April 2025 HaKibbutz HaMeuhad ({{langx, he, הקיבוץ המאוחד, , The United Kibbutz) was a union of kibbutzim. It had been formed in 1927 by the union of several kibbutz bodies and was associated with Ahdut HaAvoda party. ...

movement, the kibbutz was split in two: *Members of

Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim The Kibbutz Movement (, ''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 up of approximately 230 kibbutzim. I ...

established

Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the south of the Sea of Galilee near the Jordanian border and covering 4,200 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

*Members of

established

Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the south of the Sea of Galilee near the Jordanian border and covering 4,300 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

South of Ashdot Ya'akov, at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers near the island of

Naharayim Naharayim ( literally "Two rivers"), historically the Jisr Majami area ( literally "Meeting bridge" area), is the area where the Yarmouk River flows into the Jordan River. It was the site of the "First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House", con ...

, there is a memorial for the 7 twelve-year-old Israeli girls murdered by a Jordanian border guard in March 1997.

Archaeology

In 1959 a

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

tombstone inscribed in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

was found near Ashdot Ya'akov. The tombstone features a rectangular structure with a gabled roof on a trapezoid base, and bears the name Hagarea (Άγαρέα), with its design aligning with classical,

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

period norms. While the female name's exact origins remains uncertain, it is likely

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, potentially linked to the

biblical name Names play a variety of roles in the Bible. They sometimes relate to the nominee's role in a Books of the Bible, biblical narrative, as in the case of Nabal, a foolish man whose name means "fool". Names in the Bible can represent human hopes, d ...

Hagar According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram (later renamed Abraham) as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Haga ...

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

's concubine.

References

{{Authority control Former kibbutzim Populated places established in 1924 Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine Emek HaYarden Regional Council Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1924 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1953 disestablishments in Israel Populated places disestablished in 1953