Beit Hillel () is a

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

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 ...

. Located on the west bank of the

Hasbani River The Hasbani ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Ḥāṣbānī''; ''Ḥatzbaní'') or Snir Stream ( / ''Nahal Sənir''), is the major tributary of the Jordan River that flows in Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Israel. In the mid-19th century, what the Westerners wo ...

, about 5 kilometres from

Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona () is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanon, Lebanese border. In it had a population of . Located near the Blue Line (withdrawal line), Israel ...

, its 3,500

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s fall under the jurisdiction of

Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mevo'ot HaHermon'') is a Regional Council in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It encompasses 13 moshavim and Community settlement (Israel), community settlements, f ...

. As of , it had a population of .

History

The moshav was founded in 1940 as one of the "

Ussishkin Fortresses Menachem Ussishkin ( ''Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin'', ; August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund. Biography Menachem Ussishkin was born in Dubrowna in the Belarusian p ...

", named after

Menahem Ussishkin Menachem Ussishkin ( ''Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin'', ; August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund. Biography Menachem Ussishkin was born in Dubrowna in the Belarusian ...

, by a mixed group of immigrants from Europe and native Sabras (Palestine-born Jews), for workers in the tower and stockade settlements in the

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...

. It was named after

Hillel Yaffe Hillel Yaffe (; 1864–1936) was a Russian Jewish physician and Zionist leader who immigrated to the Land of Israel in the First Aliyah during the Ottoman Empire. In the early 20th century he was instrumental in curing malaria, which at that tim ...

, a doctor who immigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

during the

Second Aliyah The Second Aliyah () was an aliyah (Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel) that took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 35,000 Jews, mostly from Russia, with some from Yemen, immigrated into Ottoman Palestine. The Sec ...

. During the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

Beit Hilel was temporarily abandoned due to the battles in the area; at that time, the village had a population of 98 and settled on an area of 1,085

s. Settlement was resumed in 1950, with the village receiving land from the depopulated Palestinian village of Al-Zuq al-Tahtani; the new inhabitants were mainly Jews from Europe who survived the Holocaust.About us
Beit Hillel Today the inhabitants of the moshav make their livelihood from agriculture, cattle farming, and tourism.

Geography

Beit Hillel is situated at an altitude of 85 meters in the northernmost tip of Upper Galilee in the Hula valley at the top of the Jordan River. The village is located about 3 kilometers east of the town of

, about 147 kilometers northeast of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and about 72 kilometers northeast of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. Beit Hillel is connected to the transport network via the local road number 9888, which leads north of the village to the 99 motorway leading to the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

. In Beit Hillel, pre-school care facilities are available. The primary school is in nearby

Kfar Gil'adi Kfar Giladi () is a kibbutz in the Galilee Panhandle of northern Israel. Located south of Metula on the Naftali Mountains above the Hula Valley and along the Lebanese border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. ...

, and the high school is in

Kfar Blum Kfar Blum () is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Kib ...

. Beit Hillel has a synagogue, a health center and a grocery store.

Demography

The population of Beit Hillel is secular. According to the 2014 data, the vast majority of Beit Hillel Jews (including the "other" statistical category, which includes non-Jewish inhabitants of Jewish origin but without formal jurisdiction over the Jewish religion), formed the vast majority of the population.

Notable residents

Ido Kozikaro Ido Kozikaro (; originally Cojocaru) (born January 8, 1978) is an Israeli tall center former basketball player. He is mostly known for his tenure playing for Maccabi Haifa BC. In 2002-03 he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premi ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Moshavim Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1940 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Populated places established in 1940