Givat Brenner

Givat Brenner גִּבְעַת בְּרֶנֶר‎
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Givat Brenner
Coordinates:
Council	Brenner
Region	Centre
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1928
Founded by	Jewish pioneers from Russia, Poland and Germany
Website	www.gbrener.org.il

Givat Brenner (Hebrew: גִּבְעַת בְּרֶנֶר‎, lit. Brenner Hill; Arabic: غفعات برينر‎‎), also written Giv'at Brener, is a kibbutz in the Center District of Israel. Located around two kilometres south of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional Council. Founded in 1928, it is named after writer Yosef Haim Brenner, killed in the Jaffa riots of 1921.

With approximately 1,700 people living at the kibbutz, it is one of the largest kibbutzim in the country.

History

Givat Brenner was founded in 1928 by immigrants from Lithuania, Poland and Germany. During World War II, Givat Brenner supplied products such as jam to the British Army, which laid the foundation for its export business. The establishment of an irrigation equipment factory led to the creation of a foundry. The foundry evolved into a specialized aluminum die-casting company, which has produced, among other things, the housings for emergency phones along the New Jersey Turnpike.

Education

Givat Brenner Regional School serves the communities of the Regional Council.

Economy

File:Givat Brenner factory.jpg

Food canning factory, Givat Brenner, 1939

Givat Brenner has a plant nursery, which produces turf for lawns and parks. The kibbutz grows cotton, avocado, wheat and corn, and maintains a dairy farm. Industrial endeavors included a furniture factory, a metal factory, canned foods and irrigation equipment but all were closed as they were no longer economic. The kibbutz established the 'House of Dreams' amusement park to offset the waning income from the orchards, plant nurseries and factories.

Attractions

The Treasure Museum is located in the heart of the kibbutz. It was built on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the community. It has a collection of original objects and pictures that tell the story of the kibbutz's settlers.

Notable residents

• Achi Brandt, an Israeli mathematician, noted for his pioneering contributions to multigrid methods, and professor at the Weizmann Institute, was born in 1938, in Givat Brenner.
• Jacob Loutchansky, a sculptor. His work, inspired by events in the history of Israel, is on display throughout the kibbutz.
• Yitzhak Sadeh, a writer and officer in the Haganah, died in 1952 and is buried in the kibbutz.
• Jessie Sampter, poet, close friend of Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, she established a vegetarian convalescent home at kibbutz Givat Brenner, where she died, November 11, 1938.
• Haim Seligmann, a research fellow and lecturer at the Kibbutz Movement's Yad Tabenkin Institute and at Seminar Ef'al. His book, on the educational activities of the high school teachers in the Weimar Republic, was published in Germany. Haim was born in Karlsruhe and died in Givat Brenner in September 2009.

Further reading

• Gavron, Daniel. The Kibbutz: Awakening from Utopia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.

External links

• Official website (Hebrew)
• From Socialist Dream to Capitalist Reality New York Times, April 1998