Beit Hashita
Encyclopedia
Beit HaShita is a kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 between Afula
Afula
Afula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:...

 and Beit She'an, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 founded on 4 December 1928 by members of "Kvuzat HaHugim" and members of "Tnuat HaMahanot HaOlim" from Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

 and Jerusalem. The kibbutz was named after the biblical town of the same name, where the Midianites fled after being beaten by Gideon (Judges 7:22), probably situated nearby. It is under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council
Gilboa Regional Council
Gilboa Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlements as of 2007...

.

The kibbutz has been privatized and today has a population of approximately 1,000. Many of the member families of the kibbutz are secular, therefore the kibbutz is defined as a secular kibbutz.

Eleven kibbutz members fell during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

, the largest number as a percentage of the population than any other town in Israel.

Beit Hashita served as the basis for the 1981 English language book Kibbutz Makom, which described the kibbutz society.

Between 1985 and 2002, the kibbutz hosted the American Class, a year-long program of High School in Israel for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders from abroad.
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