Beit Oren (, ''lit.'' 'Home of the Pine') 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 ...

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

. It falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In its population was .

Geography

Beit Oren is in the heart of Carmel mountain range, next to the Carmel Nature Reserve national park, an area often called "little Switzerland".

History

In 1934 a single Arab house stood on the site of what is today Beit Oren. It was purchased with the surrounding lands, settled by a group of 15 Jewish workers, and served as a watch tower and camp. The workers intended to build a city and name it Ya'arot HaCarmel, but a number were killed when the site was attacked during the 1936

Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ), also known as the Great Arab Revolt ( ), was an armed uprising by the Hashemite-led Arabs of the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire amidst the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On the basis of the McMahon–Hussein Co ...

. The kibbutz was founded in 1939 by immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, part of the Hebrew Socialist Youth movement. Over time these were joined by other groups from Dror and Aliyat HaNoar, as well as by a group from Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael.. The kibbutz is named after the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

trees that encircle it, as well as after the verse from

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

44:14: "He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it". During the Mandate era the kibbutz served as a Palmach base for underground activities against the British. On 9 October 1945, a Palmach unit set out from Beit Oren to free 208 illegal immigrants detained at the Atlit detainee camp. After overcoming the guards, the freed immigrants were led past Beit Oren to Kibbutz Yagur, where they were hidden from the British. The attack was the first anti-British action undertaken by the Palmach. During the 1980s Beit Oren suffered severe financial problems and many of the middle aged members left, leaving the senior members with debts and no income or means of subsistence. The kibbutz movement stopped financial support to the kibbutz, and a group of young individuals were brought in to make fundamental changes. In 1999, eight members of Beit Oren petitioned the High Court of Justice to abolish the classification of Beit Oren as a kibbutz and classify it as a community village. Beit Oren suffered extensive damage in the 2010 Israel forest fire, which claimed the lives of 41 people and burnt thousands of acres of forestland.

Economy

In 1942, Beit Oren opened a guesthouse which became popular among Europeans seeking respite from the summer heat in other parts of the country. The Beit Oren Hotel, still in operation, has 30 rooms, a yoga center and a swimming pool.

Landmarks

Khirbet Oren (Shalale) is an ancient city in the center of Mount Carmel, on a steep hill overlooking Oren valley. There are few remains at the site indicating that the city flourished during Hellenistic and Roman times. Canaanite findings (25th–10th centuries BC) have also been found in the area.

Flora and fauna

Solomon Wasser, a professor from Haifa University has found six strains of mushroom unknown to science while hunting through the Beit Oren Forest behind the university. Wasser's research found that Cyathus striatus, one of the strains, was effective in treating pancreatic cancer in animal trials.Israeli mushroom may hold key to pancreatic cancer cure
Jspace, 14 May 2013

References

{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Privatized kibbutzim Populated places established in 1939 Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine 1939 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Populated places in Haifa District Polish-Jewish culture in Israel Russian-Jewish culture in Israel Mount Carmel