Kfar Saba
Encyclopedia
Kfar Saba officially Kfar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Center District
Center District (Israel)
The Central District of Israel is one of six administrative districts, including most of the Sharon region. The district capital is Ramla. It is further divided into 4 sub-districts: Petah Tikva, Ramla, Sharon and Rehovot. The district's largest city is Rishon LeZion. Its population as of 2008 was...

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

. At the end of 2009, Kfar Saba had a total population of 83,600.

History

Kfar Saba (ancient Capharsaba) was an important settlement during the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

 period, and is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

, in his account of the attempt of Alexander Jannaeus
Alexander Jannaeus
Alexander Jannaeus was king of Judea from 103 BC to 76 BC. The son of John Hyrcanus, he inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus I, and appears to have married his brother's widow, Shlomtzion or "Shelomit", also known as Salome Alexandra, according to the Biblical law of Yibbum...

 to halt an invasion from the North led by Antiochus
Antiochus
-The Seleucid Empire:* Antiochus , father of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Hellenstic Seleucid Empire* Antiochus I Soter , king of the Seleucid Empire...

 (Antiquities, book 13, chapter 15). Kfar Saba also appears in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 in connection to corn tithing and the Capharsaba sycamore fig tree. The settlement was probably named after a person called Sava, though this person's importance is not known.

Excavations on the site have revealed the remains of a large Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 bathhouse. In the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 periods the ruins of the bathhouse were first converted into fish pools, and later into some form of industrial installation.

In 1596, the Arab village of Kafr Saba
Kafr Saba
Kafr Saba was a Palestinian-Arab village famous for its shrine dating to the Mamluk period and for a history stretching back for more than a millennium...

 was inhabited by 42 Muslim families.
In the 1870s it was described as "a mud village of moderate size with mud-ponds around it and good water in the wells of Neby Yemin, to the east." The Jewish town of Kfar Saba was established in 1898 on 7,500 dunams of land purchased from the Arab village. Despite attractive advertisements in Jerusalem and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, attempts to sell plots to private individuals were unsuccessful, as the land was located in a desolate, neglected area far from any other Jewish settlement. The Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 pasha of Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

, to whose governorate the land belonged, refused to give building permits, therefore the first settlers lived in huts made of clay and straw. They earned their living by growing almonds, grapes and olives. Most of the manual laborers on the land were peasants from Qalqilya. Only in 1912 were permits given and the settlers moved to permanent housing.

In the Palestine campaign of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Kfar Saba was on the front line between General Allenby's British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and the Ottoman army, and was destroyed. At the same time about a thousand residents of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 and Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

 came to live in the town. They had been forcibly deported from their homes by the Ottomans.

Due to the Jaffa riots
Jaffa riots
The Jaffa riots were a series of violent riots in Palestine on May 1–7, 1921, which began as a fight between two Jewish groups but developed into an attack by Arabs on Jews during which many were killed...

 of 1921 these deportees returned to their original cities. In 1922 the original residents returned and in 1924 additional settlers joined them. In this period the cultivation of citrus fruit developed. The first elections for the local council
Local council (Israel)
Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...

 were held.

In the time of the Arab Revolt
Great Uprising
The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine or Great Arab Revolt was a nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandate Palestine against British colonial rule and mass Jewish immigration.The revolt consisted of two distinct phases...

, in 1936-1939, as in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

, Kfar Saba's population suffered from attacks by Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

s from the Arab village of Kafr Saba
Kafr Saba
Kafr Saba was a Palestinian-Arab village famous for its shrine dating to the Mamluk period and for a history stretching back for more than a millennium...

 and other villages in the area. A short time before the Israeli declaration of independence these villages were taken in Operation Medina. In 1962 Kfar Saba was awarded city status, with head of the local council, Mordechai Surkis
Mordechai Surkis
Mordechai Surkis was an Israeli politician who was the first mayor of Kfar Saba, as well as serving as a member of the Knesset for Rafi and its successors between 1965 and 1974.-Biography:...

, becoming its first mayor.

Demographics

The census of 1922 listed the population of Kfar Saba as 14 Jews. By the census of 1931 it had grown to 307 Jews, 9 Christians, and one female of "no religion". In 1945, the town had a population of 4,320 Jews.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure.It is headed by a...

 (CBS), in 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.9% Jewish and 0.1% Others. Additionally, there were 523 immigrant residents. Also according to the CBS, there were 37,000 males and 39,600 females in 2001. The population of the city was spread out with 31.1% 19 years of age or younger, 16.3% between 20 and 29, 17.7% between 30 and 44, 20.2% from 45 to 59, 3.5% from 60 to 64, and 11.3% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate was 2.0% for that year.

The city is ranked high on the socio-economic scale (8 out of 10)

Economy

According to CBS, there were 31,528 salaried workers and 2,648 self-employed in Kfar Saba in 2000. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker was ILS 7,120, a real change of 10.1% over the course of 2000. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of ILS 9,343 (a real change of 9.9%) versus ILS 5,033 for females (a real change of 9.7%). The mean income for the self-employed was 8,980. 1,015 people received unemployment benefits and 1,682 people received an income guarantee.

In May 2004 the exploration company Givot Olam said that the Meged-4 oil well, located northeast of Kfar Saba, has exceeded original predictions and contains an extremely valuable deposit of oil.

Education

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Kfar Saba has 37 schools with a student population of 15,598. There are 20 elementary schools (6,684 students) and 21 high schools (8,914 students). 72.2% of Kfar Saba's 12th grade students earned a matriculation certificate in 2001. There are also two ulpans in Kfar Saba for new immigrants wanting to learn Hebrew.

Nabi Yamin

A Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 caravanserai
Caravanserai
A caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...

 complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, is located by the Kfar Saba – Qalqilyah
Qalqilyah
-Bibliography: p. -External links:**...

 road. The site contains an inscription dated to the 14th century. The site is believed to be the tomb of Benjamin
Benjamin
Benjamin was the last-born of Jacob's twelve sons, and the second and last son of Rachel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. In the Biblical account, unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan. He died in Egypt on...

, son of Jacob. North of this complex is a smaller tomb whose cupola has been painted green and is being maintained by local Palestinian Muslims, who consider it the "real" tomb. Jews and Muslims venerate Benjamin. Kfar Saba is in the heart of Dan's tribal area, but there are traditions that explain why Benjamin's tomb is located in the land of the tribe of Dan. The traditional burial place of Simeon
Simeon (Hebrew Bible)
According to the Book of Genesis, Simeon was, the second son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Simeon. However, some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an etiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...

, son of Jacob, lies close to Kfar Saba. It is a small domed structure that sits in a field not far from kibbutz Eyal
Eyal
Eyal is a kibbutz in the Centre District of Israel close to the Green line. It is under the jurisdiction of the Drom HaSharon Regional Council-Geography:...

. According to Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti is an Israeli political scientist who was Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, during which he administered East Jerusalem and served as Jerusalem's Chief Planning Officer. He is a medieval scholar and published books and maps on the Crusader period in...

, the site was until 1948 only holy to Muslims, and Jews ascribed no holiness to it. Today the dedicated inscriptions from the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 period remain engraved on the stone walls of the tomb [but] the cloths embroidered with verses from the Qur´an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

, with which the gravestones were draped, have been replaced by draperies bearing verses from the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

.

First well

The modern development of Kfar Saba started when water was discovered by Jewish settlement institutions. The machinery is conserved in the khan (the first "hostel" built in Kfar Saba which serves as City Hall). The borehole exploits the Mountain Aquifer, providing excellent quality drinking and irrigation water to the early farmers. The nearest natural surface flow is the Shiloh river, which drains from the West Bank (from biblical Shiloh, nowadays a Ramallah neighborhood) into the Yarkon River, but its waters had been contaminated since historical times by malaria. Kfar Saba, therefore, was built on higher land, healthier but waterless.

Amrami's dairy farm

The dairy farm of Baruch Amrami – who transferred the administration of the Kfar Saba settlement from Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...

 to a local committee and founded the water company and the first bank of the village in the 1920s - still stands in the Amrami and Rothschild Street Corner. No memorial plaque signals the place, but the cowshed and Amrami's "office" is still standing.

Nordenstein house

Due to the lack of security during World War I, the settlement was abandoned. In 1922, the Nordenstein family returned and built the first defensible stone house. It took another two years for other families to return (mostly from Petah Tikva). The Nordenstein House is still standing on HaEmek Street, near the central bus station.

Kibbutz HaKovesh dining hall

A stone house on Tel Hai
Tel Hai
Tel Hai is the modern name of a settlement in northern Israel, the site of an early battle in the Arab–Israeli conflict, and of a noted monument, tourist attraction, and a college...

 Street designed for defense (outlooks and sharp-shooting parapets) served as the communal dining room of Kibbutz HaKovesh. The pioneers themselves lived in tents. In 1948, the kibbutz moved north to secure the Kalkiliya front. The building now houses the Kfar Saba Civil Guard.

Archaeology

Remnants of an ancient Israelite village were discovered east of the city, and are believed to be the ruins of biblical Capharsaba. Some of archeological finds may be observed near the abandoned steel factory (Tzomet Pladah).

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Kfar Saba, which lies just across the Green Line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...

 from the Palestinian Arab town of Kalkilya, has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks. In May 2001, a Palestinian Arab suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed a doctor and wounded 50 at a bus stop in Kfar Saba. In March 2002, a Palestinian opened fire on passersby at a major intersection, killing an Israeli girl and wounding 16 before being shot dead. In April 2003, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Kfar Saba train station during the morning rush hour, killing a security guard and wounding 10 bystanders.

Notable residents

  • Michael Jerusalem, writer and translator, grandson of the philosopher Wilhelm Jerusalem
    Wilhelm Jerusalem
    Wilhelm Jerusalem was an Austrian Jewish philosopher and pedagogue....

  • Oz Almog
    Oz Almog
    Oz Almog, an Israeli–Austrian artist was born on April 15, 1956, in Kfar Saba, Israel. He comes from a family of Russian/Ukrainian pioneers and Romanian/Russian immigrants...

    , Israeli-Austrian artist
  • Moti Kirschenbaum
    Moti Kirschenbaum
    -Biography:Kirschenbaum was born in Kfar Saba in 1939. He studied in Pardes Hanna Agricultural High School. He served in the parachuted Nahal unit of the IDF. From 1962 to 1968 he studied film and television in UCLA....

    , media personality
  • Gabi Ashkenazi
    Gabi Ashkenazi
    Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.- Background and early life :...

    , IDF Chief
    Ramatkal
    The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf , which is usually...

  • Miki Berkovich
    Miki Berkovich
    Moshe "Miki" Berkovich is a retired Israeli basketball player. He was a 6' 4" shooting guard.- Career :Berkovich is recognized by many Israelis as the best Israeli basketball player who ever played. Berkovich joined Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club's junior team in 1965, and adult team in 1971...

    , basketball player
  • Galit Chait
    Galit Chait
    Galit Chait is a former Israeli ice dancer with partner Sergei Sakhnovski. They competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006.- Personal life :Chait was born in Israel and moved to New Jersey as a child with her parents...

    , ice skater
  • David Klein
    David Klein (governor of the Bank of Israel)
    David Klein served as the governor of the Bank of Israel from January 2000 to January 2005.Reuters . , The New York Times...

    , governor of the Bank of Israel
    Bank of Israel
    The Bank of Israel is the central bank of Israel. It is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem, with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Stanley Fischer.-History:...

  • Idan Raichel
    Idan Raichel
    Idan Raichel is an Israeli singer-songwriter and a musician, known for his Idan Raichel Project , distinctive for its fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew texts, Middle Eastern and Ethiopian music. Prior to the Project, Raichel was a keyboardist, collaborating with artists such as Ivri Lider...

    , musician
  • Pinchas Sapir
    Pinchas Sapir
    Pinchas Sapir was an Israeli politician during the first three decades following the country's founding.He held two important ministerial posts, Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade and Industry as well as several other high-ranking governmental posts...

    , politician
  • Gil Simkovitch
    Gil Simkovitch
    -Biography:Simkovitch is Jewish, and was born in Kfar Saba, Israel. He began shooting when he was 16 years of age, and is coached by Israeli Olympian Guy Starik...

     (born 1982), Olympic sport shooter
  • Harel Skaat
    Harel Skaat
    Harel Skaat is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Milim" ....

    , singer
  • Shelly Yachimovich, journalist and politician
  • Yehoshua Zettler
    Yehoshua Zettler
    Yehoshua Zettler was an Israeli who served as the Jerusalem commander of Jewish paramilitary group Lehi, often also called as the Stern gang...

    , Lehi
    Lehi (group)
    Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...

     commander
  • Hanoch Kalai
    Hanoch Kalai
    Hanoch Kalai was a member of Irgun and Lehi , and an expert on the Hebrew language. He spent three months as Irgun's Commander in Chief while David Raziel was imprisoned by the British Mandate for Palestine police, until his own arrest.-Early Life:Kalai was born in Lithuania, the son of Joseph...

    , Irgun
    Irgun
    The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...

     Commander in Chief

Twin towns and sister cities

Kfar Saba is twinned with:
Beit Jann
Beit Jann
Beit Jann is a Druze village on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel. At 940 meters above sea level, Beit Jann is one of the highest inhabited locations in the country. In 2007, the population was 10,300. The mayor of Beit Jann is Youssef Qabalan.-History:...

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

 Jinan
Jinan
Jinan is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of the region from the earliest beginnings of civilisation and has evolved into a major national administrative, economic, and transportation hub...

, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, USA Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 San José
San José, Costa Rica
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San...

, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

Mülheim
Mülheim
Mülheim an der Ruhr, also called "City on the River", is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Delft
Delft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....

, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 (since 1971) Maracaibo
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...

, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...


External links

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