Ein Tzurim (, ''lit.'' Rock Spring) is a religious

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 southern

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 south of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council and is a member of the Religious Kibbutz Movement. In it had a population of .

History

Original kibbutz

The kibbutz was founded on 23 October 1946 as a new settlement in Gush Etzion (east of the present-day location). Its founders were Palestine-born members of the fifth gar'in of Bnei Akiva that had formed in Tirat Zvi. By 1947 the kibbutz had a population of 80. However, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, it was destroyed by the Jordanian army along with all the other settlements in Gush Etzion. The men who stayed to fight were captured as prisoners of war and taken to the Mafrak Prisoner of War camp. With the renewal of Jewish settlement in Gush Etzion after the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, a new kibbutz called Rosh Tzurim was founded on the original location of Ein Tzurim.

Relocation

In 1949 the people who left Ein Tzurim founded a new kibbutz in south-central Israel near the existing villages of Zerahia, Shafir and Merkaz Shapira, and they named it "Ein Tzurim" as a symbol of continuity. It was founded on land belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya. In the 1980s two major educational centers were built in the area of the kibbutz; Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDati and the Yaakov Herzog Center for the Study of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. However, in 2008 the yeshiva closed due to insufficient enrollment.Swan song for kibbutz yeshiva
Ynetnews, 3 October 2008 Every Yom Kippur former students return to pray together. After the Gaza disengagement in 2005, some evacuees from

Gush Katif Gush Katif () was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces removed the 8,600 Israeli residents from their homes after a decision from the Cabinet of Israel. The communities were demo ...

moved into a trailer park near the kibbutz and plans were drawn up for permanent housing.

Economy

The economy is based on fruit orchards (

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

and persimmon), vegetable crops ( artichokes), dairy farming and

turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

-breeding. The kibbutz also has an air-conditioner factory and runs a guesthouse.

Historic images

File:The four kibbutzes of the Gush Etzion Bloc (Kfar Etzion, Ein Zurim, Massuot Yitzhak, Revadim) overlaid on the 1943 Survey of Palestine map of Beit Fajjar.jpg, The four kibbutzes of the Gush Etzion at the time of the 1948 war ( Kfar Etzion, Ein Zurim, Massuot Yitzhak, Revadim) overlaid on a 1943 Survey of Palestine map File:עין צורים - מראה כללי-JNF026903.jpeg, Ein Tzurim 1947 File:Ein Tzurim 1947.jpg, Kibbutz Ein Tzurim, 1947 File:עין צורים - "בני עקיבא" - ביום העליה לבני-עקיבא (אבו-זייד) בהרי חברון - הקמת המחנה.-JNF001825.jpeg, Ein Tzurim under construction October 1946 File:עין צורים - "בני עקיבא" - חגיגת העליה לבני-עקיבא (אבו-זייד) בהרי חברון .-JNF001831.jpeg, Ein Tzurim Aliyah celebrations October 1946

References

External links

Information about the original Kibbutz Ein Tzurim
Etzion Bloc
Yaakov Herzog Center for Jewish Studies
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Religious Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1946 Populated places established in 1949 Jewish villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1946 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1949 establishments in Israel