Ayelet HaShahar ( he, אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר) is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

acquired in 1892 and settled in the second Aliyah, located on the Korazim Plateau, by the Rosh Pina – Metulla road, it is approximately south of

Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona ( he, קִרְיַת שְׁמוֹנָה, ''lit.'' Town of the Eight) is a city in the Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanese border. The city was named after the eight people, includin ...

and falls under the jurisdiction of

Upper Galilee Regional Council The Upper Galilee Regional Council ( he, מוֹעָצָה אֲזוֹרִית הַגָּלִיל הַעֶלְיוֹן, translit. ''Mo'atza Azorit HaGalil HaElyon'') is a regional council in Israel's Upper Galilee region, bordered by the Mevo'ot Ha ...

. In , it had a population of . Named after the introduction of

Psalm 22 Psalm 22 of the Book of Psalms (the hind of the dawn) or My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? is a psalm in the Bible. The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In th ...

, and means "hind of the dawn".

History

The name of the kibbutz, literally ''"hind of the dawn"'', is taken from the first line of

in reference to ''Najmat es-Subh'' ( ar, نجمة الصبح, lit=star of the dawn), the original name of the land on which the kibbutz is located. The land was bought by the Jewish Colonization Association in 1892, and first settled by immigrants from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

in 1915 during the Second Aliyah period. A

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, recorded a population of 78 Jews.Barron, 1923, p
41
/ref> During the end of the British mandate, the kibbutz was the staging ground for

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmac ...

operations: Night of the Bridges and the bombing of the Yarmuk Bridge (16–17 June 1946). After the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, Ayelet HaShahar took over the land from the newly depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village of

Yarda Yarda is a village situated in Tanout Department, Zinder Region, Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages

. File:קיבוץ אילת השחר בגליל העליון-JNF022486.jpeg, Ayelet HaShahar, 1919 File:איילת השחר - מראה.-JNF044835.jpeg, Ayelet HaShahar, 1937 File:איילת השחר - צילום אויר-JNF009502.jpeg, Ayelet HaShahar, 1939 File:Historical map series for the area of Kirad al-Ghannama (1940s).jpg, Aiyelet hash Shahar near Kh. Najmat es Subh, 1942 File:Ayelet Hashahar.jpg,

youth group at Ayelet Hashahar, 1946 File:AyeletShahar.jpg, Yiftach 3rd Battalion. Ayelet HaShahar. 1948 File:Ayelet HaShahar.jpg, Collecting stray camels. Ayelet HaShahar. 1948

Economy

Ayelet HaShahar is one of the larger fruit producers in Israel. They also raise dairy cattle and poultry, and manage beehives (the kibbutz is a major producer of Israel's honey). There are fish ponds, which take water from canals that drain the nearby

Hula Valley The Hula Valley ( he, עמק החולה, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Emek Ha-Ḥula''; also transliterated as Huleh Valley, ar, سهل الحولة) is an agriculture, agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water, ...

swamps.

Landmarks

Tel Hazor Tel Hazor ( he, תל חצור), also Chatsôr ( he, חָצוֹר), translated in LXX as Hasōr ( grc, Άσώρ), identified at Tell Waqqas / Tell Qedah el-Gul ( ar, تل القدح, Tell el-Qedah), is an archaeological tell at the site of anci ...

, the capital of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite Galilee, lies opposite the kibbutz. The Archaeological Museum of Hatzor is located at the kibbutz. Antiquities from Tel Hazor are displayed, but many of the original artifacts are actually at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Notable people

Tzruya Lahav Tzruya (or Tsruya) "Suki" Lahav ( he, צרויה להב, born 1951) is an Israeli violinist, vocalist, actress, lyricist, screenwriter, and novelist. Lahav was a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band from September 1974 to March 1975, then re ...

, songwriter, singer, and novelist * Avshalom Okashi, artistIsrael Museum Israeli Art Information Center
/ref>

References

Bibliography

External links

Kibbutz website

article written by Ellis Shuman, June 16, 2004, mentions the vote by members of Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar to transform their cooperative into a

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...

.
Mevo HaGalil Elementary School
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1915 1915 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Jewish villages in the Ottoman Empire 1910s establishments in Ottoman Syria