Ayyelet Har-Shahar

AYYELET HA-SHAḤAR (Heb. אַיֶּלֶת הַשַׁחַר; "Morning Star," deriving from the Arabic name for the site, Nijmat-al-Ṣubḥ), kibbutz in northern Israel, near ancient *Hazor . Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar, affiliated with Iḥud ha-Kevuẓot ve-ha-Kibbutzim, was founded in 1918 by Second Aliyah pioneers who were joined by members of *Gedud ha-Avodah to secure exposed land holdings of *ICA and increase food production for the Jewish urban population which during World War I suffered severe hunger. The existence of Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar, together with *Tel Ḥai and *Kefar Giladi , resulted in the inclusion of the Ḥuleh Valley in the borders of Palestine after World War I. The kibbutz economy was based on intensive mixed farming – industrial field crops, fodder, dairy cattle, carp ponds, and particularly fruit (mainly apple) orchards. It operated a museum of the findings from nearby Hazor and a popular guest house. Its population in 1967 was 710, increasing to 925 in the mid-1990s and 1,270 in 2002.

[Efraim Orni]