Shefayim

Shefayim
שְׁפָיִים‬
Shefayim
Coordinates: 32°13′0.84″N 34°49′28.55″E / 32.2169000°N 34.8245972°E / 32.2169000; 34.8245972Coordinates: 32°13′0.84″N 34°49′28.55″E / 32.2169000°N 34.8245972°E / 32.2169000; 34.8245972
District Central
Council Hof HaSharon
Affiliation Kibbutz Movement
Founded 1935
Founded by Polish-Jewish immigrants
Population (2017)[1] 1,266
Website www.shefayim.co.il

Shefayim (Hebrew: שְׁפָיִים‬, lit. High Hills) is a kibbutz in central Israel located 2.5 miles north of Herzliya along the Mediterranean coast. Shefayim falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council. In 2017 it had a population of 1,266.[1]

History

Kibbutz Shefayim was established in 1935 by Jewish immigrants from Poland.[2] The name is taken from Isaiah 41:18: "I will open rivers in high places." During the British Mandate for Palestine, Shefayim was a base for clandestine immigration.

Palmach camp in Shefayim, 1944
Members of Palmach loading gravel in Shefayim, July 1947

In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it absorbed refugees from kibbutz Beit HaArava.

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-ginning industry.[3]

In 2012 IBM acquired New York- and Shefayim-based mobile application developer Worklight Ltd., founded in 2006 by Shahar Kaminitz, formerly of Amdocs.[4]

Kibbutz Shefayim is one of the wealthiest members of the kibbutz movement and was one of the few kibbutzim 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.[5]

Notable residents

References

  1. 1 2 "List of localities, in Alphabetical order" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  2. ↑ Shefayim
  3. ↑ Kibbutz Shefayim history
  4. ↑ "IBM acquires mobile app co Worklight for $50-60m". Globes. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  5. ↑ The ideology is dead. Long live the deal, Haaretz
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