KIBBUTZ DEGANIA

Degania, Israel, courtesy, Pinterest

On the southern shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel is the community of Degania. Actually, there are two Deganias – A and B (Aleph and Bet in Hebrew). During the days of the Second Temple when the Land of Israel was ruled by the Roman Empire, these places possibly made up the village of Homonoea as described by Josephus. In the Talmudic period (4^th century), it was referred to as Kfar Gun. Modern Degania however, had its beginning at the start of the 20^th century. The land on which Degania is located was acquired by the Jewish National Fund as one of its first landholdings. The initiative to settle there came from a group of farmers – ten men and two women belonging to the second wave of Jewish pioneers who settled and developed the Land of Israel, known as the Second Aliyah – who were working as wage earners at the neighboring farm of Kinneret. They were Russian Jews, inspired by the socialist uprisings in Russia as well as the teachings of labor leader Aaron David Gordon (himself a Russian Jew) who advocated working the land communally in a socialist type utopia. Motivated by their ideology, they applied to Arthur Ruppin, chairman of the Palestine Office in Jaffa, which represented the World Zionist Organization based in Europe, to farm a plot of land on their own responsibility. Ruppin decided to accord them a trial period on part of the land east of the Jordan named Umm Jūnī. Surprisingly, the experiment succeeded economically and as a collective. Thus was born Degania, the first kibbutz. It was followed in 1911 by the "Haderah Commune" whose members worked out the principles of collective settlement and made Degania the "Mother of the Kevutzot." 

In June 1912, the group moved from the mud huts and wooden shack of Umm Juni to the new stone-built compound at its permanent location where the Jordan River meets the Sea of Galilee.

The poetess Rachel Bluwstein and paramilitary commander Joseph Trumpeldor were among those who worked in Degania. Zionist pioneer and future Israeli politician Yosef Baratz, among the founders of Degania, married and started the kibbutz’s first family. His first child, Gideon Baratz (1913-1988), was born there, becoming the first child born in a kibbutz. The second native-born child was the future general and politician Moshe Dayan. Dayan was named after Moshe Barsky, a member of Degania who, in 1913, was the first kibbutz member killed in an Arab attack.

After World War I, Degania's intensified farming created a need for more hands and the third wave of Jewish pioneers arriving in the country, the Third Aliyah, was a major source. But preferring to maintain the frame of the small "family" kevutzah, in 1920, the settlers ceded part of the land for a new kibbutz but as an extension of the existing one. It was founded mainly by veterans of the Second Aliyah led by kibbutz pioneer and leader Levi Brevda, later known as Levi ben Amitai, and Levi Eshkol, future prime minister of Israel. It was called “Degania Bet”, the original kibbutz being renamed “Degania Aleph”. It was the first planned kibbutz and was designed and built by the German Jewish architect Fritz Kornberg. Degania Gimel was established soon after, later becoming Kibbutz Bet Zera.

During the Arab riots of 1920, the Deganias were attacked and Degania Bet was abandoned for several months. Reconstruction was swift however and the settlements further intensified their farming techniques. In time, they recognized the need, both economic and social, to absorb more members, but even so, in 1932, they were able to give part of their land for a third settlement, Afikim. During the Arab riots of 1936–39, Degania Bet served as a base for establishing “tower and stockade” settlements as a means of protecting Jewish lives throughout the country. During the War of Independence in 1948, the kibbutz served as a training center for soldiers of the Yiftach Brigade from the Upper Galileean village of Kfar Blum. In the meantime, in a bid to conquer the Jordan Valley, the nearby villages of Shaar haGolan and Masada were attacked by the Arab army of Arab-occupied Syria and the village of Zemah, fell. On May 20, 1948, during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley, in one of the first battles of the war, the residents of Degania Alef and Bet, assisted by a small number of military personnel, repelled a Syrian Arab attack and succeeded in halting the advance of the Syrian Arabs into the Jordan Valley. After the battle, one of the Syrian tanks remained stuck in the settlement's perimeter; it remained there as a memorial and Defenders’ Park, Gan haMeginim, was established in memory of Degania’s fallen members.   

In addition to its 350 cow dairy herd, crop fields, almond orchards, banana, date and avocado plantations, Degania Bet industrialized in the 1960s with Degania Sprayers, now a green industry; in 1984 it opened the Degania Silicone factory. An additional source of income is its kibbutz cottage tourist accommodation, and it specializes in organized bicycle tours. Deganyah Alef has operated the Toolgal industrial diamond plant since the early 1970s.

In 1981, Degania Alef was awarded the Israel Prize, for its special contribution to society and the State in social pioneering.

In 2007, in a sign of the times, Degania Alef moved to undergo privatization. The local economy was now more capitalistic but still offers a form of a social "safety net" supplement for members whose livelihood is inadequate to meet their expenses.

The Bet Gordon Museum and Study Center for natural sciences and agriculture is located at Degania Alef. Arthur Ruppin, botanist Otto Warburg, journalist Leopold Greenberg, and other personalities are buried at Degania Alef, alongside Aaron David Gordon, Joseph Busel, and other founders of the labor settlement movement.