Kfar Menahem (Hebrew: כְּפַר מְנַחֵם, lit. Menahem Village) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located about 7 km east of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,371.[1]
History
Kfar Menahem (originally Irgun Menahem) was founded in 1935 by a group of pioneers from Rehovot. The village was named for Menachem Ussishkin. During the Arab revolt in 1936, the place was abandoned by Jews and destroyed by Arabs. On 28 July 1937, it was re-established as a moshav but could not sustain itself. In 1939, the Irgun Menachem group was replaced by the Kvutzat Krit group from the United States, members of Hashomer Hatzair who were training in the moshava of Hadar, near Ramatayim. That year, members of the Irgun Menachem group who had left Kfar Menahem founded Kfar Warburg.
Kfar Menahem was established as a Tower and Stockade colony on December 6, 1939 on a 3,650 dunam tract which had been purchased in 1935. The founders were a group of 32 American immigrants. By 1943, there were 245 inhabitants who worked in mixed farming (grains, vegetables, cattle, sheep and poultry) and industry (carpentry and garage).[2]
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the kibbutz expanded onto about 9,000 dunams on land of the depopulated Arab village of Idnibba.
The Yoav Regional Council high school "Tzafit" is located in Kfar Menahem. The kibbutz also operates a regional museum with a model of the original tower and stockade.
