{{Short description|Kibbutz in central Israel}} {{Infobox Kibbutz | name = Shefayim | hebname = {{Script/Hebrew|שְׁפָיִים}} | foundation = 1935 | founded_by = [[Polish Jews]] | image = Risjpon018.jpg | district = center | council = [[Hof HaSharon Regional Council|Hof HaSharon]] | affiliation = [[Kibbutz Movement]] | popyear = {{Israel populations|Year}} | population = {{Israel populations|Shefayim}} | population_footnotes={{Israel populations|reference}} | pushpin_map = Israel center ta#Israel |pushpin_mapsize=250 | coordinates = {{coord|32|13|2|N|34|49|28|E|display=inline,title}} | website = {{URL|http://www.shefayim.co.il/english.html}} {{in lang|en}} }} '''Shefayim''' ({{langx|he|שְׁפָיִים}}, ''lit.'' High Hills) is a [[kibbutz]] in central [[Israel]] located 2.5 miles north of [[Herzliya]] along the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coast. Shefayim falls under the jurisdiction of [[Hof HaSharon Regional Council]]. In {{Israel populations|Year}} it had a population of {{Israel populations|Shefayim}}.{{Israel populations|reference}}
==History== Kibbutz Shefayim was established in 1935 by [[aliyah|Jewish immigrants]] from Poland.<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0018_0_18267.html Shefayim] at Jewish Virtual Library</ref> The name is taken from the [[Book of Isaiah]]: "I will open rivers in high hills.<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|41:18}}</ref>" During the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]], Shefayim was a base for [[Aliyah Bet|clandestine immigration]]. [[File:Shfayim ii.jpg|thumb|Members of [[Palmach]] loading gravel in Shefayim, July 1947]]
In the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], it absorbed refugees from the abandoned kibbutz [[Beit HaArava]] near the [[Dead Sea]]. [[File:Shefayim 1944.jpg|thumb|Shefayim 1944 1:20,000 (bottom left)]]
In the early 1970s, the kibbutz established Polycad, a plastics factory. In the early 1980s, it established the Shafit [[biotechnology]] plant. In the mid-1990s, it acquired the Zirei Israel plant, which has become a leader in the Israeli [[Cotton gin|cotton-ginning]] industry.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shefayim.co.il/english.html |title=Kibbutz Shefayim history |access-date=2008-03-27 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924101201/http://www.shefayim.co.il/english.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 2012 [[IBM]] acquired New York- and Shefayim-based [[Mobile application development|mobile application developer]] Worklight Ltd., founded in 2006 by Shahar Kaminitz, formerly of [[Amdocs]].<ref>{{cite news |title= IBM acquires mobile app co Worklight for $50-60m |url= https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-1000720723 |access-date=7 May 2019 |newspaper=[[Globes (newspaper)|Globes]] |date=31 January 2012}}</ref>
==Economy== [[File:PikiWiki Israel 33590 Culture center in Kibbutz Shefayim.JPG|thumb|Shefayim cultural center]] Kibbutz Shefayim is among the wealthiest kibbutzim and was one of the few that did not require debt assistance from the state and banks during the recession in the 1980s. On the contrary, Shefayim contributed NIS 4 million to help failing kibbutzim. The main income source of the kibbutz is Hutzot Shefayim, a shopping mall, on real-estate previously classified as agricultural land. Other sources of income are a hotel and conference center, and a water park.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Amiram |title=The ideology is dead. Long live the deal. |date=April 13, 2009 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5036611 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507124329/https://www.haaretz.com/1.5036611 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 7, 2019 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=May 7, 2019}}</ref>
==Notable people==
* [[Orit Noked]] (born 1952), former member of the Knesset * [[Rachel Shapira]] (born 1945), songwriter and poet * [[Uri Ben-Ari]] (1925-2009), armored corps commander, diplomat and author; buried at the kibbutz cemetery * {{ill|Hirsch Smolar|de}} (1905-1993), Yiddish writer and journalist and social activist in Poland, buried at the kibbutz cemetery
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.shefayim.co.il/english.html}} *[http://www.waterpark.co.il/ Shefayim water park] {{in lang|he}} and [http://www.shefayim.co.il/engpark.htm on the kibbutz homepage] in English *[[File:Kibbutz Shefayim Aerial View.jpg|thumb|Kibbutz Shefayim Aerial View]][https://web.archive.org/web/20060207071916/http://h-shefayim.co.il/ Hotel Shefayim]
{{Hof HaSharon Regional Council}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Kibbutzim]] [[Category:Kibbutz Movement]] [[Category:Populated places established in 1935]] [[Category:Populated places in Central District (Israel)]] [[Category:1935 establishments in Mandatory Palestine]] [[Category:Polish-Jewish culture in Israel]]