Degania: The First Kibbutz

Degania, on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee where the Jordan River flows out of the lake, is the first kibbutz in the world, founded in 1910. The kibbutz movement, which would become one of the most significant social experiments of the 20th century, began here with a small group of young Jewish immigrants who wanted to create a new kind of community: collective, egalitarian, agricultural, and self-reliant.

The Founders and the Idea

The founders of Degania were young idealists from Eastern Europe , primarily from Russia and the Russian Pale of Settlement, who rejected both the capitalism of the West and the traditional Judaism of the shtetl. They arrived in Ottoman Palestine as part of the Second Aliyah, the wave of immigration between 1904 and 1914, burning with the conviction that a new kind of Jew required a new kind of society. They wanted to build that society on shared labor, shared property, and a return to the land. The group called itself a kvutza, meaning “group,” and chose the name Degania from the Hebrew word dagan , grain, reflecting their agricultural purpose and their hope for abundance.

The early years were brutal: malaria from the swampy Jordan valley, poverty, the backbreaking demands of farming in a subtropical climate with primitive tools, and the isolation of a small community far from the Ottoman towns. The physical and psychological toll broke many of the original settlers. Those who stayed created a model that would be replicated in over 270 kibbutzim across the country, shaping Israeli society, culture, and agriculture for the next century.

Degania Alef and Degania Bet

In 1920, a group of younger members who wanted to raise families in a slightly larger, more flexible community broke away to establish a second settlement immediately adjacent to the original. The original Degania became known as Degania Alef (A) and the new settlement as Degania Bet (B). The two kibbutzim stand side by side to this day, sharing geography and history but functioning as independent communities. Together they represent the founding generation of the kibbutz idea, the experiment that proved the model was viable and launched a movement.

Battle of Degania

On May 20, 1948, six days after the declaration of independence, a column of Syrian tanks advanced on Degania as part of the Syrian invasion. The kibbutz members, armed with little more than rifles and Molotov cocktails, fought the tanks at point-blank range inside the kibbutz perimeter. A 65mm mountain gun, delivered just hours before the attack,, delivered just hours before the attack, knocked out the lead tank at the kibbutz gate. The Syrians withdrew. The tank , a French-made Renault R35, still stands at the entrance to Degania Alef, its hull fused to the earth where it stopped, as a monument to the defenders who held the line with the most basic weapons while the country they were fighting for was only days old. The battle of Degania is one of the foundational stories of Israeli independence, the moment when farming families turned soldiers stopped an armored column at the gate of the world’s first kibbutz.

Famous Residents

Degania’s most famous native son is Moshe Dayan, the one-eyed general who became Israel’s most iconic military figure. Dayan was born in Degania in 1915, the son of founding settlers, and his birthplace is marked within the kibbutz. He would go on to command Israeli forces in the Sinai Campaign of 1956, serve as Chief of Staff during the Suez War, and serve as Minister of Defense during the Six Day War of 1967, when his decision to authorize the assault on the Old Jerusalem became one of the defining moments of modern Jewish history. The image of Dayan walking through the Lions’ Gate hours after its capture , wearing his trademark eye patch, appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

The Jordan Crossing

Degania sits at the point where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee, beginning its long journey south toward the Dead Sea. This is the same river that the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land further south near Jericho: “The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground” (Joshua 3:17). The location of Degania, at the outlet of the lake where the Jordan begins its southward journey, places the first kibbutz at the very starting point of the biblical story of the land. The founders may not have chosen the site for this symbolism, but the resonance of building a new society where the ancient story of return to the land began is difficult to overlook.

The Kibbutz Today

Like most kibbutzim, Degania has changed significantly since its founding. The rigid collective model of shared income and communal dining halls that defined kibbutz life for most of the 20th century has given way to a more privatized structure: members now receive salaries, pay for their own goods, and enjoy greater individual autonomy. Yet the community remains cohesive, the agricultural heritage is maintained, and the grounds , mature trees, gardens, the archaeology museum, and the founding courtyard, retain the feeling of a place shaped by a powerful shared idea. Degania’s transformation mirrors the broader arc of the kibbutz movement: from utopian social experiment to pragmatic community that found a way to survive.

Visit with Hoshen Tours

Degania tells the story of the kibbutz idea from its idealistic beginnings to its military trial by fire. Hoshen Tours visits the tank monument, the founders’ courtyard, and the landscape that inspired a social revolution, connecting the story of the first kibbutz to the broader narrative of Israel’s founding generation.