Kfar Kama Explained

Kfar Kama
Native Name:

Кфар Кама
Settlement Type:Local council (from 1950)
Translit Lang1:Hebrew
Translit Lang1 Type1:ISO 259
Translit Lang1 Info1:Kfar Kamaˀ
Translit Lang1 Type3:Also spelled
Translit Lang1 Info3: (official)
Blank Emblem Type:Coat of arms
Pushpin Map:Israel northeast#Israel
Pushpin Label Position:left
Coordinates:32.7219°N 35.4408°W
Grid Name:Grid position
Grid Position:191/236 PAL
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Northern
Established Title:Founded
Established Date:1878
Unit Pref:dunam
Population Density Km2:auto
Blank Name Sec1:Name meaning
Blank Info Sec1:The village of truffles[1]

Kfar Kama (he|כְּפַר כַּמָא, ar|كفر كما,) is a Circassian town located in the Lower Galilee of Israel's northern district, located along road 767, that leads from Kfar Tavor to the Kinneret. It is one of the only two Circassian towns in Israel, the other being Rehaniya. The residents of the town are descended from Shapsug tribe exiles from Circassia. In 2008, the town had a population of 2,900.[2]

Name

The town's name has an uncertain origin, and several possible interpretations exist. It could potentially signify a heap of wheat, derive from "qama" meaning grain, or even have roots in Arabic, such as "kama," signifying a hilltop or a hilltop village, or "qama", denoting a fertile pasture for sheep and cattle.[3]

History

Antiquity

The modern village of Kfar Kama is built on an ancient site. Ruins and parts of five limestone columns were found in addition to a circular basalt olive-press and cisterns.[4] In 2020, a team of archaeologists led by Nurit Feig of the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered 6th-century church remains. The excavators also revealed painted floor mosaics showing geometric shapes and blue, black, and red floral patterns. The dimensions of the main part of the church are 12 by 36 metres. Several other rooms were unearthed near the church. According to archeologist Shani Libbi, additional rooms in the area have been revealed by ground penetrating radar.[5] [6]

Archaeologists have proposed that Kfar Kama was the village Helenoupolis that Constantine established in honor of his mother Helen.[7] Excavations carried out in 1961 and 1963 revealed 4th century tombs.[8] Two churches dated to the early 6th century, one dedicated to Saint Thecla, were uncovered, with multicolored mosaics of floral, animal and geometric patterns.[8]

Middle Ages

In the Crusader period it was known as Kapharchemme or Capharkeme.[9]

Ottoman Empire

In 1596, Kfar Kama appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Tiberias in the Liwa of Safad. It had a population of 34 Muslim households and paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, summer crops, cotton, and goats or beehives; a total of 5,450 akçe.[10] [11]

In 1838, it was mentioned as a village in the Tiberias district.[12]

In 1870s, the village was described as having basalt stone houses and a population of 200 Moslems living on a plain of arable soil.[13]

In 1878, a group of 1,150 Circassian immigrants from the Adyghe tribe Shapsugs who were exiled from the Caucasus by the Russians to the Ottoman Empire due to the Russian-Circassian War settled in the village. Initially they made their living by raising animals, but later became farmers. The first school was established about 1880.[14]

A population survey in 1887 found 1,150 inhabitants, all Circassian Muslims.[15]

British Mandate

At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine by the British Mandate authorities, Kfar Kama had a population of 670 Muslims and 7 Christians,[16] decreasing slightly in the 1931 census to 644, one Christian and the rest Muslims, in a total of 169 houses.[17]

In 1945 census by the Mandate, the population was 660 people (all Muslims)[18] and the land area was 8,819 dunams.[19] [18] Of this, 8,293 dunams were allocated to cereal farming,[20] [18] while 108 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[21] [18]

Israel

Kfar Kama is one of two Circassian villages in Israel. The other one is Rehaniya. The Circassians are Muslims who, unlike the main Israeli Arab Muslim minority, are obligated to perform military service in the Israeli Defense Forces.[22] [23] The village school teaches in Circassian, Hebrew, Arabic and English.[24]

A Center for Circassian Heritage is situated in the village.

Notable people

Shapsug families

Other families

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 127
  2. Web site: Population of Localities Numbering above 2,000 Inhabitants and Other Rural Population . 2008-12-31 . Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.
  3. Book: Hareuveni, Imanuel . Eretz Israel Lexicon . CET . 2010 . 507.
  4. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 391
  5. News: Sixth-century church found by Circassian village near Mount Tabor . en . Haaretz . 2020-08-16.
  6. Web site: Amanda Borschel-Dan . Large 6th century church compound uncovered near site of Jesus' transfiguration . 2020-08-16 . www.timesofisrael.com . en-US.
  7. Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, 1994, 142
  8. Dauphin, 1998, p. 727
  9. Pringle, 1997, p. 117
  10. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 190
  11. Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied from the Safad-district was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
  12. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd Appendix, p. 131
  13. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 360
  14. Nirit Reichel. 2010. The role of the educational system in retaining Circassian identity during the transition from Ottoman control to life as Israeli citizens (1878–2000). Israel Affairs. 16. 2. 251–267. 10.1080/13537121003643896. 143844303.
  15. Schumacher, 1888, p. 185
  16. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. 39
  17. Mills, 1932, p. 84
  18. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 72
  20. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 122
  21. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 172
  22. News: Gilad. Moshe. A Slightly Rarefied Circassian Day Trip. 2012-07-05. Haaretz. en.
  23. https://web.archive.org/web/20071215180748/http://www.circassianworld.com/CCAS_ChenBRAM.pdf Muslim revivalism and the emergence of civic society. A case study of an Israeli-Circassian community
  24. News: Yulie Khromchenko . 22 March 2005 . http://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1512329 . he:מדברים פה בהרבה שפות? נקרא לזה "בית ספר רב לשוני . he . They talk a lot of languages? Called it 'a multilingual school' . . 25 August 2014.

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