Kfar Blum

Kfar Blum (Hebrew: כְּפַר בְּלוּם‎, lit. Blum Village) is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about 6 km (4 mi) southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2018 it had a population of 771.[1]

Kfar Blum
Kfar Blum
Coordinates: 33°10′20″N 35°36′35″E
CountryIsrael
DistrictNorthern
CouncilUpper Galilee
AffiliationKibbutz Movement
FoundedNovember 1943
Founded byHabonim members
Population
 (2018)[1]
771

History

Kibbutz Kfar Blum was founded in November 1943 [2] by the Labor Zionist Habonim (now Habonim Dror) youth movement. The founding members of the kibbutz were primarily from the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United States and the Baltic countries. The kibbutz was named in honor of Léon Blum, the Jewish socialist former Prime Minister of France who was the focus of a widely publicized, and ultimately unsuccessful, show trial in 1942 mounted by the collaborationist Vichy regime.

Economy

Agriculture (cotton, dairy, fruit) and light industry (metal working) have formed the primary economic basis for the kibbutz. In recent years this has been supplemented increasingly by tourism. Kfar Blum's location near the Jordan River at the foot of Mount Hermon has made it a center for outdoor recreational activities including walking, hiking, kayaking, rafting and bird watching.

Education and culture
Leon Blum memorial in kibbutz Kfar Blum

The kibbutz has a regional school, a sports arena and a hotel. It was also home to Hapoel Galil Elyon, a top division basketball team, which in 1993 became the first club from outside Tel Aviv to win the championship.

Between 1969 and 1993, Kfar Blum was home to 24 years of the American Class, an academic-year-long program for an annual cohort of 15 to 30 U.S. and Canadian 10th-graders.[3] Founded by Kfar Blum member Pinchas Rimon, American Class participants lived with kibbutz teenagers, held kibbutz jobs, were “adopted” into kibbutz families, and attended school in a classroom of the Emek Hahula High School.

Since 1985 Kfar Blum has been the site of the annual Voice of Music Festival in Upper Galilee, also referred to as the Kfar Blum Festival, a chamber music festival that is held in mid-summer. This week-long event has grown to become the premier chamber music festival in Israel, drawing 15,000 visitors in recent years.[4]

Notable residents
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References
  1. "Population in the Localities 2018" (XLS). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  2. David Breslau, ed., Arise and Build: The Story of American Habonim, Ichud Habonim Labor Zionist Youth, New York, 1961.
  3. "KfarBlumAC". Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. Daniel Felsenstein and Aliza Fleischer, "Local Festivals and Tourism Promotion: The Role of Public Assistance and Visitor Expenditure", Journal of Travel Research, May 2005, pp. 385-392
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