BET ALFA AND SYNAGOGUE

mosaic floor of the Bet Alfa Synagogue, courtesy, israel-in-photos.com

The ruins of the ancient Jewish town of Bet Alfa was discovered quite by accident. In 1922, a group of Jews from Czechoslovakia and Germany founded Kibbutz Hefzibah. Its name derived from the Bible, where God speaks about his love for Israel (Isaiah 62:4). In 1928, during irrigation construction on the property of the kibbutz, the floor of the Bet Alfa synagogue was uncovered and excavations began early the following year. The town itself was mentioned in the Talmud but in addition to that, and according to what was uncovered, archaeologists and historians surmise that the town dates to at least the late Roman/early Byzantine periods (4^th - 7^th centuries). Its synagogue was, apparently, built during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (518-527) by the artisans Marianos and his son Hanina who also built the nearby Bet She’an synagogue. It was funded by communal donations. Later, the town was taken over by Arabs, but it remained largely in ruins and abandoned for over millennia during which time, much of the site was buried in dust.   

Shortly after the founding of Hefzibah, the modern Kibbutz Bet Alfa was founded by Jews from Poland belonging to the socialist Hashomer Hatzair movement. It was the first kibbutz founded by members of that movement and was located adjacent to the eastern side of Hefzibah making it the easternmost village in the area.

In 1929, excavations on the synagogue began under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with permission from the Palestinian government’s Department of Antiquities, and led by Israeli archaeologists, Eliezar Sukenik and Nahman Avigad. (In 1962, a second round of excavations covered the surrounding area.) Much later after the discovery of the synagogue, the site, and the surrounding property became a national park. Maps show the synagogue almost at the border between the two kibbutzim, Hefzibah and its namesake Bet Alfa, but at closer look, it is clearly on Hefzibah land, not, as many assume, on the property of the Kibbutz Bet Alfa.

The mosaic floor, as well as some of the exterior were found to be in surprisingly good condition enabling archaeologists and historians to do a theoretical reconstruction of the entire synagogue. The floor itself depicts the lunar Hebrew months as they correspond to the signs of the zodiac. Two inscriptions were found at the entrance to the hall indicating when, and by whom, the synagogue was built. Symbolic animals are depicted on either side of the inscriptions: a lion on the right and a bull on the left. The three mosaic panels in the center of the hall depict (from north to south): (1) The Offering of Isaac, (2) The Signs of the Zodiac, and (3) The Ark of the Synagogue. The simple but strong style of the mosaic pavement represents a folk art that appears to have developed among the Jewish villagers of Galilee.  

In August of 1929, during yet another Arab “uprising”, the kibbutz Bet Alfa was attacked and its fields destroyed. But the kibbutz survived and continued its development. Since the 1930s, one of its members, Hanka Lazarson, was engaged in vegetable breeding; including: cucumber, onion, garlic, aubergine and cauliflower. Between 1931 and 1936 she developed a breed of cucumbers that came to be known as the "Bet Alfa Cucumber". The breed became highly popular worldwide due to its excellent taste and high yield. The vegetable breeding program continued successfully for the next 30 years, constantly improving various varieties.

During the 1936 Arab “uprising”, the Arabs again set fire to Bet Alfa’s surrounding fields. On April 1, 1948 during the War of Independence, Bet Alfa was attacked by Arab mortar fire but they withdrew as a platoon from the 1st parachute battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division approached. After the war, the Gilboa Educational Institute was established in the northern part of the kibbutz. The institute, which served as a school for the surrounding area, offered boarding and had an array of sports facilities and workshops enabling professional training. It was closed in 2003 but still serves as an educational center.

Since 1966, Special Purpose Vehicles, owned by Bet Alfa Technologies (BAT), began their manufacture of fire trucks, later expanding to other forms of such vehicles, especially for the purpose of non-lethal riot control (such as water cannons). These would be sold to more than 30 countries but sometimes, some of these 30 countries would have questionable human rights records. According to The Guardian, a British paper usually associated with vile anti-Semitic propaganda, BAT "developed a profitable industry selling anti-riot vehicles" to the apartheid regime in South Africa "for use against protesters in the black townships". According to an Israeli legislator, "Bet Alfa cars usually end up saving the lives of demonstrators. We would be happy if Saddam Hussein and the Syrians used them. I would be happy if the Chinese in Tiananmen Square had used only water cannons."

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Bet Alfa took in evacuees from the border villages that had been under rocket attack by Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon. After the war an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants was set up. Some 600 people are offered boarding, Hebrew language courses, and are prepared for integration in Israeli society.

Other sites in and around Bet Alfa aside from those mentioned above include: "Ahuzat Shoshana", a farmhouse built on a hilltop just north and in sight of Bet Alfa, right next to the ruins of the Crusader castle of Belvoir; the kibbutz dairy, first in Israel to use robotic milking technology; Bet Alfa Home Furniture which is also a recognized supplier for Israel's Ministry of Defense; the Bet Alfa Guesthouses; Mount Gilboa; Harod Valley and Stream to the west; Beit She'an Valley to the east; the northern Jordan Valley; Gan HaShlosha National Park; the kibbutzim Ma'ale Gilboa,  Reshafim, Sde Nahum, and Nir David; and Shita prison.