Ein Harod (Meuhad)

Ein Harod (Meuhad)
Ein Harod (Meuhad)
Coordinates:
Region	Jezreel Valley
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1921
Founded by	Mapam supporters from Ein Harod
Population (2008)	716

Ein Harod (Meuhad) (Hebrew: עֵין חֲרוֹד מְאֻחָד‎) is a kibbutz situated in the Jezreel Valley near Mount Gilboa in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. The kibbutz has over 500 members and a total population of 716. It was the home of Yitzhak Tabenkin, one of founders of the United Kibbutz Movement, and was a symbol of the kibbutz collectivist ideology. In 2009 it began a process of privatization.

The kibbutz is named after the nearby biblical spring of Ein Harod, known in English as the Well of Harod. The kibbutz is close to the site of the crucial battle of Ain Jalut from the year 1260, the first major Mongol defeat in the Middle Ages (Ein Jalut being the Arabic name of the spring).

File:2010.11.06 01 Ein Harod M Dining Hall.JPG

Kibbutz Ein Harod dining hall

History

In 1921, 35 young people from Gdud HaAvoda pitched tents at the Harod Spring. The group, led by Shlomo Levkovitch (Lavi), began to farm land which the Palestine Land Development Company had purchased from the Arab village of Nuris, in the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley.

In 1923, the group established a kibbutz named for the spring, which is mentioned in the Bible as a place of judge Gideon (Judges 7:1). In 1924, they were joined by members of the Havurat HaEmek group. In 1925, under the leadership of Yitzhak Tabenkin, Ein Harod became the center of countrywide kibbutz movement joined by members of Yagur, Ashdot Yaakov and Ayelet HaShahar, forming the basis of HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. Ein Harod became the organizational headquarters of the movement. In 1930, when the collective moved to a permanent location at the foot of Kumi Hill, the kibbutz had 239 members.

The kibbutz played an important role in the defense of the area during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. It was the base of Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads.

In 1945 the Haganah had a small prison there in which they detained members of the Irgun during the Saison.

In 1952, in the wake of an ideological split, Mapai supporters broke away to create Ein Harod (Ihud). Mapam supporters, who stayed on, took the name Ein Harod (Meuhad). When the ideological rivalry between the movements subsided and the United Kibbutz Movement was established in 1981, both kibbutzim joined. The first kibbutz movement haggadah was written at Ein Harod.

Privatization

In September 2009, the members decided to privatize the kibbutz. The kibbutz movement newsletter, Hadaf HaYarok, reported that the general assembly of the community's members, in which 335 of its 350 voting members took part, approved the decision by a majority of 79%. A special members committee was to determine the criteria for determining the differential salaries of those members who work in the kibbutz based on their contributions and the economic success of their respective enterprises. Each member's incomes was to be transferred to his or her own private account instead of the kibbutz's joint account. Members who work outside the kibbutz were to be no longer obligated to transfer their income to the cooperative, and the same was to go for retirement money, inheritances, and other kinds of financial compensation. Each member reaching pension age was to be provided with a monthly retirement compensation of NIS 2,743. Retired members were to receive an old-age allotment of NIS 1,800 from the National Insurance Institute, funds that until the privatization had been placed in a joint account. The new regulations were to take effect in early 2010. Iftah Amami, the director of the kibbutz, said from that point onward, members were to be responsible for paying with their private money for education and health costs, but the kibbutz was to continue to subsidize those services.

Art museum

File:Mishkan eynharod.JPG

Mishkan LeOmanut art museum

Mishkan LeOmanut, located in Ein Harod Meuhad, was the first rural museum in Israel and the first museum run by a kibbutz. One of the kibbutz members, painter Chaim Atar, organized an "art corner" in a small wooden hut which developed into a museum specializing in the work of Jewish artists from the Diaspora and Jewish folk art. Today it is one of Israel's major art institutions.

Today, Mishkan LeOmanut is the largest museum in northern Israel, with a panoramic view of the Jezreel Valley and Mount Gilboa.

External links

• Beit Shturman ilmuseums
• Ein Harod, circa 1921
• Ein Harod, circa 1925
• Railway station near Ein Harod, circa 1929
• Mishkan LeOmanut, Ein Harod at ilMuseums.com
• The Road to Ein Harod, Amos Kenan