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Kfar Saba
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Kfar Saba (Kfar Sava, lit. "Grandfather's Village" or "Saba's Village") is a city in the Sharon region, of the Center District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2007, Kfar Saba had a total population of 81,600.
Saba (ancient Capharsaba) was an important settlement belonging to the Tribe of Ephraim in the southern Sharon during the Second Temple period. It is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Josephus, in his account of the attempt of Alexander Jannaeus to halt an invasion from the North led by Antiochus (Antiquities, book 13, chapter 15).
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Encyclopedia
Kfar Saba (Kfar Sava, lit. "Grandfather's Village" or "Saba's Village") is a city in the Sharon region, of the Center District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2007, Kfar Saba had a total population of 81,600.
History
Kfar Saba (ancient Capharsaba) was an important settlement belonging to the Tribe of Ephraim in the southern Sharon during the Second Temple period. It is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Josephus, in his account of the attempt of Alexander Jannaeus to halt an invasion from the North led by Antiochus (Antiquities, book 13, chapter 15). Kfar Saba also appears in the Talmud in connection to corn tithing and the Capharsaba sycamore fig tree. The settlement was likely named after a person called Saba, though this person's importance is not known.
The land that became the modern city of Kfar Saba was purchased by a Jewish settlement society in 1898. Despite attractive advertisements in Jerusalem and London, 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 pasha of Nablus, to whose governorate the land belonged, refused to give building permits, therefore the first settlers were forced to live 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 Arabs from Qalqilya, who made a habit of uprooting crops and beating the Jewish residents. Only in 1912 were permits given and the settlers moved to permanent housing.
In World War I, Kfar Saba was on the front line between the British army and the Ottoman army, and was destroyed. At the same time about a thousand residents of Tel Aviv and Jaffa came to live in the town. They had been forcibly deported from their homes by the Ottomans. Due to the pogroms 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. In 1937 Kfar Saba was declared a local council.
In the time of the Arab Revolt, in 1936-1939, as in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Kfar Saba's population suffered from attacks by Arabs from the Arab, Saba village 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.
Demographics
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (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.
Health
The population of Kfar Saba is served by Meir Hospital.
Landmarks
Benjamin's Tomb
A burial complex on the outskirts of Kfar Saba is believed to be the tomb of Benjamin, son of Jacob. North of this complex is a smaller tomb whose kippah (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, son of Jacob, lies close to Kfar Saba. It is a small domed structure that sits in a field not far from kibbutz Eyal. According to Meron Benvenisti, the site was until 1948 only holy to Muslims, and Jews ascribed no holiness to it. Today the dedicated inscriptions from the Mamluk period remain engraved on the stone walls of the tomb [but] the cloths embroidered with verses from the Qur´an, with which the gravestones were draped, have been replaced by draperies bearing verses from the Hebrew Bible.
The first well
The 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 Western Samaria (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 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 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.
Archeology
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 from the Palestinian town of Kalkilya, has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks. In May 1991, a Palestinian suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed a doctor and wounded 50 at a bus stop in Kfar Saba. In March 1992, 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 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
Sister cities
Bibliography
Meron Benvenisti, Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta (translator) (2002): Sacred Landscape: , ISBN 0520234227, 9780520234222
External links
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