Beit HaShita
בֵּית הַשִּׁטָּה‎
Beit HaShita
Beit HaShita
Etymology: House of the Acacia
Beit HaShita is located in Jezreel Valley region of Israel
Beit HaShita
Beit HaShita
Beit HaShita is located in Israel
Beit HaShita
Beit HaShita
Coordinates: 32°33′15″N 35°26′15″E / 32.55417°N 35.43750°E / 32.55417; 35.43750
Country Israel
DistrictNorthern
CouncilGilboa
AffiliationKibbutz Movement
Founded12 December 1935[1]
Founded byKvutzat HaHugim/Tnuat HaMahanot HaOlim members
Population
 (2021)[2]
1,258
Websitewww.beithashita.org.il

Beit HaShita (Hebrew: בֵּית הַשִּׁטָּה, lit. House of the Acacia) is a kibbutz in northern Israel, under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. As of 2021 it had a population of 1,258.[2]

Geography

The built-up area of Beit Hashita ranges from 70 meters below sea level to sea level.[3]

History

Source:[4]

Ceramics and coins from the Byzantine era were found in the region of Beit Hashita.[5]

The kibbutz traces its origin to a group meeting held in Hadera in 1928, by "Kvuzat HaHugim" of the HaMahanot HaOlim movement from Haifa and Jerusalem.[6] The first members lived at nearby Ein Harod until 1934, when establishment of the kibbutz began at its present location about 1 km east of Shatta.[6]

The land of the kibbutz was purchased by the Palestine Land Development Company from its Arab owners in 1931.[7][8]

The kibbutz was later named after the biblical town Beit Hashita, where the Midianites fled after being beaten by Gideon (Judges 7:22),[9][10] thought to be located where Shatta was. It falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council.

In the 1945 statistics, Beit hash Shitta had 590 inhabitants, all Jews. It was noted that Shatta was an alternative name.[11][12]

Post-1948

In 1948, Beit HaShita took over 5,400 dunams of land from the newly depopulated Arab villages of Yubla and Al-Murassas.[13]

Eleven kibbutz members fell during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the largest number as a percentage of the population than any other town in Israel.[14]

Economy

Beit Hashita produced cotton, wheat, melons, olives and citrus fruits. There was also a dairy barn, chickens and a fish farm. In the 1960s, Beit HaShita established a pickling factory which produces and markets pickles, olives and pickled vegetables under the brand name Beit HaShita.[15] The factory also produces syrups for making juices under the brand name Vitaminchick. The factory was bought from the kibbutz in 1998 by the Israeli food manufacturer, Osem.[16]

Religion and culture

The Kibbutz Institute for Holidays and Jewish Culture, an organization that preserves the cultural heritage of the kibbutz, was established by kibbutz member Aryeh Ben-Gurion, nephew of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.[17] Beit Hashita served as the basis for the 1981 English language book Kibbutz Makom, which described the kibbutz society.[18] Many of the member families of the kibbutz are secular. There is however a small orthodox synagogue.

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ State of Israel (1952) Supplement page III
  2. 1 2 "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  3. ↑ Survey of Israel, Topographic map
  4. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 80
  5. ↑ Dauphin, 1998, p. 776
  6. 1 2 "Historical summary on kibbutz website". Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-09-08.
  7. ↑ Stein, 1984, pp. 125,134,263–264.
  8. ↑ Kark, 1997
  9. ↑ Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land. (3rd edition 1993) Jerusalem, Carta, p.110 , ISBN 965-220-186-3 (English)
  10. ↑ Yizhaqi, Arie (ed.): Madrich Israel (Israel Guide: An Encyclopedia for the Study of the Land), Vol.8: The Northern Valleys, Samaria and Mount Carmel, Jerusalem 1980, Keter Press, p.401 (Hebrew)
  11. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 6
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 43
  13. ↑ Fischbach, 2012, p. 13
  14. ↑ Friedman, Matti (September 25, 2012). "A Yom Kippur melody spun from grief, atonement and memory". The Times of Israel. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  15. ↑ Frank, Ben (2011). Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond. Guilford, Connecticut: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 283. ISBN 9780762777471.
  16. ↑ "Beit Hashita | Factories Osem". Osem. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  17. ↑ "Kibbutz Institute for Holidays and Jewish Culture". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  18. ↑ Palgi, Michal; Reinharz, Shulamit, eds. (2014). One Hundred Years of Kibbutz Life: A Century of Crises and Reinvention. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 123. ISBN 9781412853149.

Bibliography

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