Reshafim

Infobox_Kibbutz
kibbutz_name = Reshafim
foundation = 1948
founded_by = nowrap|Hashomer Hatzair members
region = Beit She'an Valley
industry = Agriculture, manufacturing
affiliation = Kibbutz Movement
website = [http://www.reshafim.org.il www.reshafim.org.il]

Reshafim ( _he. רשפים, lit. "Sparks") is a kibbutz in northeastern Israel. Located two kilometres to the south of the town of Beit She'an in the Beit She'an Valley, it falls under the juridiction of Beit She'an Valley Regional Council. The kibbutz has about 270 members, 50 non-member residents, and 100 children.

History

The community was established by Hashomer Hatzair members movement in 1947 at Kiryat Haim. In 1948 land was allocated from the state owned Ashrafieh area south of Beit She'an whose Arab inhabitants had fled the country during 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Temporarily for the first few months at the site, the future members of Reshafim lived in a camp jointly with the future members of Shluhot which belonged to the Orthodox Religious Kibbutz Movement. The camp was later broken up when both kibbutzim were established adjacent to each other.

The founder members were mostly Holocaust survivors from Romania and Poland. They were joined by a small group of Israeli-born Sabras. In the 1950s a group of Argentine Jews and another group comprised mostly of Sephardic Jews joined the kibbutz. In the 1960s members were recruited from the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement and the Nahal from among the descendants of kibbutz members. With the decline of Western socialism and growing economic difficulties in the 1980s and 1990s population numbers stagnated.

Economy

At its inception Reshafim was a classical kibbutz where all the means of production belonged to the commune and members received equal shares of services, products, and money as remuneration. During the 1990s a process of privatization began, culminating in members receiving salaries and having to pay for services.

In 2007 the commune still owns a dairy, orchards, a chickenfarm, and a fresh-water fishery, is partner in an agricultural co-operative and part-owner of the Terraflex plastics factory.

External links

* [http://www.reshafim.org.il Official website]