Yad Mordechai

Infobox_Kibbutz
kibbutz_name = Yad Mordechai

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imgsize = 250
caption = Memorial to Mordechaj Anielewicz next to the destroyed Water tower at kibbutz Yad Mordechai
hebname = יד מרדכי
foundation = 1936 (as Mitzpe Yam)
1943 (as Yad Mordechai)
founded_by = Hashomer Hatzair members
district = south
council = Hof Ashkelon
industry = Agriculture
population = 710
affiliation = Kibbutz Movement
website = [http://www.yadmor.org.il/ www.yadmor.org.il]

Yad Mordechai ( _he. יד מרדכי, "lit." Memorial of Mordechai) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located 10 km south of Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 710.

History

The community was founded in the 1930s by Hashomer Hatzair members from Poland and initially organised themselves in a kibbutz called Mitzpe Yam close to Netanya, which was founded in 1936. However, the 14 dunams allocated to the kibbutz was too little, and insufficient to develop the kibbutz.

As a result, the community moved to an area near Ashkelon in December 1943 and with the new settlement named in honour of Mordechai Anielewicz, who died fighting the Nazis while being the commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the kibbutz was attacked by Egypt in what later became known as the Battle of Yad Mordechai.

The kibbutz hosts a giant statue of Anilewicz clutching a grenade, set on a hilltop next to the kibbutz's water tower which was preserved after being destroyed by the Egyptians. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7385156.stm Sixty years of Middle East division] BBC News, 7 May 2008] The kibbutz also has a museum devoted to Anielewicz and his fighting in the Ghetto, as well as the Battle of Yad Mordechai, one of only two Holocaust museums located on a kibbutz (the other being at Lohamey HaGeta'ot).

Additional reading

*Larkin, Margaret (1968) "The Hand of Mordechai" New York/South Brunswick

References

External links

* [http://www.yadmor.org.il/ Official website] he icon
* [http://www.travelnet.co.il/ISRAEL/TelAviv/tel10-YAD_MORDECHAI.htm Yad Mordechai] Travelnet