Dafna
Encyclopedia
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
in the Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, 7 km east of Kiryat Shmona
Kiryat Shmona
Kiryat Shmona is a city located in the North District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley on the Lebanese border. The city was named for the eight people, including Joseph Trumpeldor, who died in 1920 defending Tel Hai....
. It was founded on 3 May 1939, after the tower and stockade
Tower and stockade
Tower and stockade was a settlement method used by Zionist settlers in the British Mandate of Palestine during the 1936–39 Arab revolt, when the establishment of new Jewish settlements was restricted by the Mandatory authorities...
principle, it was the first tower and stockade settlement in the northern Hula Valley. Dan and Dafna are known as "the Ussishkin
Menahem Ussishkin
Menachem Ussishkin was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin was born in Dubroŭna in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire, Ussishkin graduated as a technical engineer from Moscow Technological Institute...
Fortresses".
Three streams of the Dan river surround the evergreen landscape.
Education
Har Vagai (Between the mountain and valley)the junior and senior regional high school is located in kibbutz Dafna.The school has 900-1000 pupils from 7th to 12th grade. The school covers an area of about 1km square and the river Dan runs through the middle of the school grounds.The pupils are drawn from neighbouring kibbutzim, Dan, Hagoshrim, Kfar Szold, Snir and from other settlements such as Rosh Pina, Metula and Yesod Hamala.The school holds a memorial service and educational seminar every year to commemorate the 73 soldiers who were lost in helicopter disaster
1997 Israeli helicopter disaster
The 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster occurred on 4 February 1997. 73 IDF soldiers were killed when two Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion Yas'ur 2000 helicopters, 357 and 903, collided over She'ar Yashuv in northern Israel. The helicopters were supposed to have crossed the border into Israel's "security...
of the 4th February 1997.
The elementary school is Aley Giva which is situated in Kibbutz Kfar Giladi. The children from Dafna are taken by bus there and back every day.
There is a thriving education system of kindergartens for young children from the age of 6 months up to 6 years when they start the first year of school.
Economy
Dafna Industries was founded 1964 and is today one of the leading footwear exporters of Israel. Its products are exported to Europe, North and South America.Due to a downturn in the world economy the factory went through a difficult period as was eventually sold to another Israeli footwear manufacturer Teva Neot with Dafna retaining a percentage of the shares.Additional economic activities, which are part of the revenue producing activities of the kibbutz, are:
Apple, avocado and grapefruit orchards, cotton growing, dairy cattle and commercial fish ponds and renting accommodation.
In addition, the tourist guest house "Ganei Dafna" (Garden of Dafna) offers recreational diversion.
The kibbutz also runs a fish restaurant and camping ground where visitors can pitch their tents next to the river and enjoy a grilled trout in the restaurant nearby.
History
The original settlers were immigrants mostly from PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
.
In 1947, it had a population of 600.
According to a 1949 book by the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, Dafna along with other border settlements of Dan
Dan
Dan is a name. It refers sometimes to the short form of the name Daniel. Dan, or the acronym DAN may refer to the following:Persons* Fyodor Dan, a Russian Marxist revolutionary...
and Kfar Szold
Kfar Szold
Kfar Szold is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee area of Israel.-History:Kfar Szold was founded during the 1940s by Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Austria and Germany and was named after Henrietta Szold, who founded Hadassah, the Women's Zionist organization...
held off the Syria and Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. However, the settlement was often bombarded and was said to have suffered heavy damage.
Dafna cooperated with Dan in establishing the first trout breeding enterprise in the area.
Kibbutz Dafna figures prominently in Leon Uris
Leon Uris
Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...
's book Exodus
Exodus (novel)
Exodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus....
, as the hometown of the protagonist Ari Ben Caanan.
1997 Israeli helicopter disaster
The helicopters disaster: on February 4, 1997, at approximately 19:00, two "Yasur" Sikorsky CH 53 helicopters carrying 73 soldiers and loaded with ammunition collided in mid-air over She'ar YashuvShe'ar Yashuv
She'ar Yashuv is a workers' moshav in the Upper Galilee in the northeastern Hula Valley in northern Israel. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council....
. One of the helicopters smashed into an open field near the cemetery of Kibbutz Dafna.
It is believed that this accident increased the pressure on the IDF to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, finally done in May 2000.
Today a monument next to the cemetery of Kibbutz Dafna commemorates the 73 fallen soldiers. The monument consists of 73 obelisks and a running stream of water that leads, via a path of glass and stone to a huge tree whose leaves symbolize the names of those killed in the disaster.It is visited by many Israelis throughout the year.
External links
Har Vagai Scool