KEFAR BARUKH (Heb. כְּפַר כָּרוּךְ), moshav near the Kishon reservoir of the National Water Carrier in the Jezreel Valley, Israel, affiliated to Tenu'at ha-Moshavim. It was founded in 1926 by settlers from Kurdistan, Iraq, Romania, Poland, Germany, and also "Mountain Jews" from the Caucasus. In its initial years, Kefar Barukh suffered from a lack of water and difficulty of access (although it was a station on the then-existing Jezreel Valley narrow-gauge railway). Its field crops, dairy cattle, and fruit orchards constituted prominent farming branches. Later on, other farming branches such as flowers, poultry, fishery, and goose fattening were added. The moshav is named after Baruch Kahana of Ploesti, Romania, who dedicated his wealth to the *Jewish National Fund. In 1968 its population was 202; in 2002, 261.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.