Yad Mordechai יַד מָרְדְּכַי |
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Memorial to Mordechai Anielewicz next to the destroyed Water tower at Yad Mordechai
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Coordinates: 31°35′19″N 34°33′30″E / 31.58861°N 34.55833°ECoordinates: 31°35′19″N 34°33′30″E / 31.58861°N 34.55833°E | |
District | Southern |
Council | Hof Ashkelon |
Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
Founded | 1936 (as Mitzpe Yam) 1943 (as Yad Mordechai) |
Founded by | Hashomer Hatzair members |
Population (2015) | 678 |
Website | www.yadmor.org.il |
Yad Mordechai (Hebrew: יַד מָרְדְּכַי, lit. Memorial of Mordechai) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located 10 km south of Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2015 it had a population of 678.
The community was founded in the 1930s by Hashomer Hatzair members from Poland and initially organized themselves in a kibbutz called Mitzpe Yam close to Netanya, which was founded in 1936. However, the 14 dunams allocated to the kibbutz were insufficient to develop the kibbutz. As part of settlement in the Negev, the community moved to its site near Ashkelon in December 1943. The kibbutz was renamed in memorial to Mordechai Anielewicz, who was the first commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the kibbutz was attacked by Egypt in the Battle of Yad Mordechai.
Among the many Holocaust memorials in Israel, the “From Holocaust to Revival Museum" especially commemorates Jewish resistance against the Nazis as well as the 1948 Battle of Yad Mordechai. The statue of Anielewicz by Nathan Rapoport clutching a grenade, next to the water tower which was destroyed by the Egyptians in May 1948, is a noted symbol of the kibbutz.