Ha-Zore'a

views updated

HA-ZORE'A

HA-ZORE'A (Heb. הַזּוֹרֵעַ; "the Sower"), kibbutz on the western outskirts of the Jezreel Valley, Israel, affiliated with Kibbutz Arẓi Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir. It was founded in 1936, during the Arab riots, by a group of the Zionist pioneer Werkleute movement from Germany. Later, immigrants from Bulgaria, Syria, and other countries joined the settlement, which in 1968 had 610 inhabitants. The population rose to approximately 1,030 in the mid-1990s but declined to 915 in 2002. Its economy has been based on highly intensive farming, including the breeding of ornamental fish and water lilies, a Quality Control Center with a laboratory for calibration tests, and a factory for polyethylene packaging material. Its well-known furniture factory was closed down. The Manasseh Forest, one of Israel's largest forests, is located nearby. Ha-Zore'a has an art and antiquities museum, Bet Wilfred Israel, housing inter alia Wilfred *Israel's Far Eastern art treasure collection.

website:

www.hazorea.org.il.

[Efraim Orni /

Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]