Heftziba is a kibbutz

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 northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Located on the boundaries of the Jezreel

Jezreel Valley

-Etymology:The Jezreel Valley takes its name from the ancient city of Jezreel which was located on a low hill overlooking the southern edge of the valley, though some scholars think that the name of the city originates from the name of the clan which founded it, and whose existence is mentioned in...

 and Beit She'an Valleys between the cities of Afula

Afula

Afula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:...

 and Beit She'an, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council

Gilboa Regional Council

Gilboa Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlements as of 2007...

. Its population is 374.

History

The kibbutz was founded in 1922 by immigrants

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 from Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It was named after the farm adjacent to Hadera

Hadera

Hadera is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel approximately from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along of the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain...

, where the original settlers worked before they relocated and founded the community. Originally the name derives from the Bible, where God speaks about his love for Israel: "My delight in her." (Isaiah 62:4) The remains of the ancient Beit Alfa Synagogue

Beit Alfa Synagogue

The Beit Alfa Synagogue is an ancient Byzantine-era synagogue located in Heftziba, at the foot of Mount Gilboa in northern Israel. It was constructed in the 6th century CE and is famous for its mosaic floor which was uncovered in 1928.-Dimensions:...

 are within the kibbutz's land.

Makuya

Makuya

Makuya

', also called ' and based at the Tokyo Bible Seminary, is a religious movement in Japan founded in 1948 by Ikurō Teshima. To grasp the inner truth of biblical religion, or the “Love of the Holy Spirit” as Teshima puts it, and to extol this existential love by embodying it and living accordingly is...

students have been sent to Israeli kibbutzim to work together with the people of the Bible, and to study Hebrew and the biblical background. Some of them continue their academic studies in universities. The primary kibbutz the Makuya students stay at is Heftziba.