{{Short description|Kibbutz in northern Israel}} {{Infobox Kibbutz | name = Kfar Ruppin | hebname = כפר רופין | image = PikiWiki Israel 40216 Settlements in Israel.JPG | foundation = 1938 | founded_by = Massad members | country = {{ISR}} | district = north | council = Valley of Springs | affiliation = Kibbutz Movement | popyear = {{Israel populations|Year}} | population = {{Israel populations|Kefar Ruppin}} | population_footnotes={{Israel populations|reference}} | pushpin_map =Israel jezreel#Israel | pushpin_mapsize =250 |pushpin_label_position = left | coordinates = {{coord|32|27|27|N|35|33|22|E|display=inline,title}} | meaning = Ruppin Village | website = {{url|www.kfar-ruppin.org.il}} }}
'''Kfar Ruppin''' ({{langx|he|כפר רופין||Kfar Ruppin}}) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, about {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Beit She'an in northern Israel. A member of the Kibbutz Movement, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. In {{Israel populations|Year}} it had a population of {{Israel populations|Kefar Ruppin}}.{{Israel populations|reference}}
==History== The kibbutz was founded in 1938 by the "Massad" group as part of the Tower and Stockade enterprise. The first residents were members of the Noar Haoved youth movement immigrants from Nazi Germany, German-speaking Bohemia in Czechoslovakia, and the Federal State of Austria,<ref>p. 211, Gavron, Daniel, The Kibbutz: Awakening from Utopia, Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Inc., 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-8476-9526-3}}.</ref> and former members of a labour group from Herzliya.<ref name="birdwatching">[https://www.birdwatching.org.il/en/the-history-of-kfar-rupin/ The history of Kfar Rupin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203194659/https://www.birdwatching.org.il/en/the-history-of-kfar-rupin/ |date=2019-12-03 }}, on the homepage of the Jordan Valley Birding Center. Accessed 3 December 2019.</ref> It was named in honour of Arthur Ruppin, a Zionist leader who was at the time the head of the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency and who helped the group with establishing the kibbutz<ref name="birdwatching"/> as part of his effort to develop Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. The small group of settlers was facing very harsh living conditions, which led their parent movement to direct some 80 members of the "BeNativ" group to join them in 1942.<ref name="birdwatching"/> Most of these had arrived from Czechoslovakia via illegal immigrant ships in the Fifth Aliyah.<ref name="birdwatching"/>
Kfar Ruppin uses lands that belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of Masil al-Jizl.<ref>{{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5|page=56}}</ref>
Since 2017, the Mekhinat HaEmek ({{lang|he|מכינת העמ״ק}}) pre-army preparatory academy has been located in the kibbutz, rather than the nearby moshav Tel Te'omim. The ''mechina'' was established in 2006 and admits both religious and secular men and women.<ref>[https://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpedia/army-national-service/pre-army-mechinot/mechina-beit-shean/ Beit Shean], on Nefesh B'Nefesh website, accessed 2019-12-3</ref> It is now{{when|date=December 2019}} in its twelfth session; learn and volunteer on the kibbutz and the surrounding area.{{dubious|Google-translated? Makes no sense.|date=December 2019}}
<gallery> File:כפר רופין - ביום העליה למסד, עבודה בצוותא-JNF029071.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin under construction 1938 File:מגדל הצופים בכפר-רופין-JNF004466.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin tower 1938 File:מגדל הצופים בכפר-רופין-JNF004468.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin stockade under construction 1938 File:כפר רופין - המשוריין ביום העליה-JNF034770.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin Settlement Police 1938 File:כפר רופין - צילום אויר-JNF009498.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin 1946 File:כפר רופין - מראה.-JNF032840.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin 1946 </gallery>
==Economy== As of 2016, Kfar Ruppin's economy was fully privatised.<ref name="AJT"/>
In 2016, the largest part of the kibbutz revenue came from the privately managed<ref name="AJT">{{cite news |author= Eli Sperling |title= Changing the Kibbutz Movement in Israel |date= 22 November 2016 |publisher= Atlanta Jewish Times |url= https://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/changing-kibbutz-movement-israel/ |access-date= 3 December 2019 }}</ref> "Palkar" factory, established in 1978<ref name="birdwatching"/> for the production of plastic goods and already managed by an external company in 2000.<ref>p. 215, Gavron, Daniel, op. cit.</ref>
Kfar Ruppin still has strong agricultural activities, with fish farming including ornamental fish breeding, dairy and chicken farms, date and red grapefruit plantations, and wheat and maize crops.<ref name="birdwatching"/>
==Birdwatching== The area is known for birdwatching due to its location on one of the most important bird migration flyways between Europe and Africa.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20011031210348/http://www.geocities.com/jelbaum/birdnorth.html Leiah Elbaum's Israeli Birdwatching site]. Retrieved on 25-08-2009.</ref> A bird ringing station is also located there.<ref>[http://www.birdwatching.org.il/ringact222.asp International Birdwatching Center of the Jordan Valley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129203904/http://www.birdwatching.org.il/ringact222.asp |date=2010-11-29 }}. Retrieved on 25-08-2009.</ref> The kibbutz culture hall, built in 1965 on a hill near the original tower and stockade structures, is being converted into a birdwatching observatory and research center.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/2012-12-13/ty-article/.premium/disused-kibbutz-hall-comes-back-to-life/0000017f-f057-d8a1-a5ff-f0df0ddb0000 Disused kibbutz hall gets new life as birdwatching center], Haaretz</ref>
==Landmarks== Kfar Ruppin has a {{convert|50|acre|m2}} public garden on the grounds of the kibbutz.<ref>[http://www.jewishvilkaviskis.org/kf%20gardens%20home%20page%20.html Kfar Ruppin Gardens]</ref>
Near the kibbutz is an archaeological site called Tel Tsaf, a 7,000-year-old prehistoric village which has produced the largest database of materials from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic periods.<ref>[http://web.grinnell.edu/anthropology/Fieldschool/ArchaeologyAbroadGuide/2007/AA2007.pdf The Guide to archaeological fieldwork opportunities outside the UK] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801101810/http://web.grinnell.edu/anthropology/Fieldschool/ArchaeologyAbroadGuide/2007/AA2007.pdf |date=2010-08-01 }} Archaeology Abroad</ref>
==Notable people== * Efrat Natan
==See also== *Wildlife in Israel *Tourism in Israel
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20190616163751/http://www.kfar-ruppin.org.il/ Official website] {{in lang|he}} *[http://www.jewishvilkaviskis.org/kf%20gardens%20home%20page%20.html Gardens of Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin] *[http://www.birdwatching.org.il/en.asp Kfar Ruppin Birdwatching Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921190858/http://www.birdwatching.org.il/en.asp |date=2009-09-21 }}
{{Valley of Springs Regional Council}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Populated places established in 1938 Category:1938 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Category:Kibbutzim Category:Kibbutz Movement Category:Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Category:Austrian-Jewish culture in Israel Category:Czech-Jewish culture in Israel Category:German-Jewish culture in Israel