Kfar Kama

Kfar Kama lies about 4½ kilometers northeast of Kefar Tavor in the eastern Lower Galilee, near Mount Tabor.[2][5] Its setting places it between Nazareth and Tiberias, while its cultural connections extend to the Circassian homeland in the northwestern Caucasus.[1] The village’s area is given as approximately 10 square kilometers, or four square miles.[2]

Together with Rehaniya, Kfar Kama forms the principal settlement base of Israel’s Circassian community.[6] Rehaniya is in the Upper Galilee, whereas Kfar Kama is the larger of the two villages.[2] Most Israeli Circassians live in these two communities, although Circassian families also live in other Israeli towns and cities.[6][7] The two villages are the surviving examples of three principal Circassian settlements established in the Land of Israel during the Ottoman period.[1]

The village combines a preserved historic neighborhood with institutions devoted to maintaining Circassian language, customs, and historical memory.[1] Its residents are Muslim Circassians, a community distinct from Arabs, and maintain traditions rooted in the Caucasus while participating in Israeli education, military service, and employment.[3][8] The Circassians call themselves Adyghe, a name also used for their language.[1]

Kfar Kama’s significance also rests on the survival of its built environment: the Old Village retains the closely grouped houses and enclosed spaces associated with traditional Circassian settlement.[1] Alongside that architectural inheritance, the community offers guided visits, cultural performances, food experiences, and a heritage center.[5] Its international tourism recognition in 2022 connected these local preservation efforts with a program supporting rural development through tourism that safeguards tradition and culture.[4]

Archaeological discoveries indicate settlement in the Kfar Kama area from the Middle Bronze Age, around 2000 BCE, as well as during the Roman and Byzantine periods, particularly from the second through sixth centuries CE.[9] The modern village stands over an earlier settlement whose remains extend from the Roman into the Early Arab period.[2] Its ancient remains include churches, buildings, pottery, coins, metal objects, and animal bones that illuminate successive periods of habitation.[9][10]

Evidence of activity continued into the early Islamic period.[9] In an excavation involving pre-military academy students, a gold coin dated to 776–777 CE was found together with silver coins.[9] Associated buildings and material remains dated to the seventh and eighth centuries pointed to active life at the site during that period.[9] When Circassian settlers later built their homes, they reused stones from the ancient village.[11]

The Circassian population originated in the North Caucasus, including territories near the Black Sea.[1] During the final stages of the war in the Caucasus, from 1860 to 1864, Russian forces burned hundreds of Circassian villages, and most survivors were expelled.[1] Approximately a million people found refuge in Ottoman territories, including the Land of Israel.[1] Kfar Kama emerged from this late-nineteenth-century migration and Ottoman resettlement.[2][5]

Sources differ on the settlement chronology. The Old Village complex dates to 1878 under Ottoman rule, while an archaeological account places the arrival of Shapsug Circassian settlers in 1876.[1][10] A travel report dates the original streets preserved in the historic neighborhood to the 1880s.[12] These dates may refer to different stages of settlement and construction during the closing decades of Ottoman rule.

Three principal Circassian settlements were established in the Land of Israel: Kfar Kama, Rehaniya, and a community near Hadera.[1] The settlement near Hadera was abandoned following a malaria outbreak, leaving the two Galilee villages as the principal enduring communities.[1] The settlers’ homes incorporated defensive arrangements familiar from Circassian village life, with buildings grouped closely together and family compounds enclosed by walls.[1][8]

During the nineteenth century, the eastern Lower Galilee was under the de facto control of Bedouin tribes.[1] Ottoman efforts to extend effective control included settling migrants from Algiers and sending Kurdish battalions against the Bedouin, but these measures had little success.[1] The National Library of Israel account argues that Circassian arrival altered local conditions and paved the way for Jewish settlement in the area about twenty years later.[1] The early Circassian compounds were arranged in part to provide protection against Bedouin attacks.[8]

Kfar Kama became an important regional center in the late Ottoman and Mandatory periods.[1] A modern mill constructed in a central part of the Old Village drew Arab peasants, Bedouins, Jews, and Circassians from the surrounding area.[1] Beyond its economic function, the mill served as a meeting place among these different local populations.[1] David Ben-Gurion, visiting nearby Sejera, praised the neighboring Circassians as “resolute and gallant of spirit, excelling in bravery and courage,” and repeated the Arabic saying “None are greater than the Circassian.”[1]

During the War of Independence in 1948, Circassians fought alongside Jews, and the community subsequently fulfilled compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces.[1] Kfar Kama’s inhabitants maintained relations with their Jewish neighbors, and good economic relations developed after the war.[2] The village received municipal council status in 1950.[2] Military service, schooling, and participation in the Israeli workforce later became important features of community life alongside the preservation of a separate Circassian identity.[3]

Kfar Kama had 1,330 residents in 1968 and 2,710 in 2002; a 2023 report placed its Circassian population at about 3,300.[2][3] These village figures are distinct from estimates of approximately 5,000 Circassians in Israel as a whole.[1][6] Most of that national community lives in Kfar Kama and Rehaniya.[6] Kfar Kama is the larger of the two Muslim-Circassian villages.[2]

The community includes Shapsug Circassians, whose presence connects the village with a particular Circassian group from the Caucasus.[10][7] An undated account gives approximately 2,000 Shapsug Circassians in Kfar Kama, rather than a dated total for all village residents.[7] Circassian families also live elsewhere in Israel, so neither the village population nor the combined populations of the two principal villages encompasses every Israeli Circassian household.[7]

Residents maintain Circassian customs through language, traditional dress, dance, food, and marriage within the community.[4] Ties with Circassian relatives and communities elsewhere in Israel and abroad accompany integration into Israeli life.[1] The community observes May 21 as a Day of Mourning commemorating the genocide and expulsion from its homeland.[1] Preservation of historical memory is also a central concern of the village’s heritage institutions.[1]

Children attend village schools and continue into regional education, including Kadoorie High School.[7][3] Circassian men are subject to mandatory IDF enlistment, and residents participate in the wider Israeli workforce.[3] These connections do not replace the community’s distinct religious and ethnic affiliations: a nineteen-year-old dance-troupe volunteer, Nafna Napso, expressed the combination as, “We’re Circassian, we’re Muslim, and we’re Israeli. I live all three lives together.”[3]

Language is a particularly visible expression of this identity.[1] Street signs display names in Hebrew, English, and Circassian, while another account notes the use of Cyrillic lettering for Circassian signs.[3][8] Within the village, the maintenance of Adyghe accompanies the practical use of Hebrew and other languages in education and wider Israeli society.[1][1]

Agriculture in Kfar Kama includes field crops and livestock, while tourism draws on the village’s architecture, food, and Circassian cultural heritage.[2][5] Its historical role as a regional economic center was embodied by the Old Village mill, where people from several surrounding communities gathered.[1] Contemporary visitor activities include guided walks, restaurants, cheese-making workshops, horseback riding, dance performances, festivals, and a nighttime sound-and-light show.[13][5]

In December 2022, Kfar Kama was named to the UN World Tourism Organization’s Best Tourism Villages list.[4] It was one of 32 villages selected from 136 nominations submitted by member states.[4] The program recognizes rural communities that use tourism for development while preserving local traditions and culture; selected villages join a network offering tourism training and international recognition.[13] Eligibility extended to villages with populations of up to 15,000.[5]

Kfar Kama was one of three Israeli candidates, alongside Zippori and Ne’ot Smadar.[5] Ne’ot Smadar entered the organization’s upgrade program, while Zippori did not receive recognition.[5] Israel’s Tourism Ministry supported renovation work intended to preserve Kfar Kama’s heritage and attract visitors.[13] The village’s visitor program has included guided walks through the old lanes, an audiovisual presentation, and tastings of Circassian food.[5]

Food is both a household tradition and a public-facing part of the village economy.[1][14] Circassian cheeses and pastries are sold locally, and restaurants serve Circassian cuisine.[1][13] Noah and Sarah Tahauko opened the Elbrus dairy in 2010, making cheeses previously produced in home kitchens available to a wider public.[14] The business was described at its opening as Israel’s first Circassian dairy.[14]

The dairy’s traditional semi-hard cheese is made from cow’s milk and is used in Circassian pastries and filled dumplings.[14] It also produces a smoked version.[14] Cheese-making workshops allow visitors to encounter this food tradition through a practical activity rather than only through restaurant meals or purchases.[13][5] Along with pastries and other dishes, the dairy products form part of the village’s heritage-oriented tourism offering.[1][5]

Education supports the transmission of Circassian identity across generations.[6] Since the mid-1980s, educational institutions in Kfar Kama and Rehaniya have followed a program teaching Circassian language and culture and using Circassian in extracurricular activities.[6] Adyghe is taught in elementary and middle schools, and the language has at least 64 consonants.[1][1] Hebrew is the language of instruction in the villages’ schools, whose pupils are Muslim.[1]

Students learn Hebrew, English, Arabic, and Circassian; some also study Russian and Turkish.[1] This combination brings heritage-language teaching together with languages used in Israeli public life and international communication.[1] The schools in Kfar Kama and Rehaniya are identified as the only schools in the world combining Muslim student populations with Hebrew-language instruction.[1][1] Children’s education subsequently extends beyond the village, including attendance at Jewish schools and the regional Kadoorie High School.[7][3]

Traditional dance remains a prominent cultural practice, performed by volunteers at the heritage center and presented to visitors.[3] It has longstanding associations with social standing and courtship.[3] Clothing, music, language, and food also contribute to the public presentation of Circassian identity, while marriage within the community remains an important social custom.[4] Cultural preservation therefore encompasses both organized performances and the practices of family and community life.[3][4]

Mayor and local council head Zakaria Napso emphasized the community’s sustained efforts to maintain its language, culture, food, and traditions.[3] Heritage-center director Aibek Napso called Kfar Kama “the lighthouse of Circassians all over the world,” describing its role in educating children and preserving identity through teaching and cultural events.[3] The heritage center’s stated priorities likewise place preservation and education at the heart of its work.[15]

The Old Village preserves a substantial concentration of Circassian buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[1] Houses were traditionally built close together so that their outer edges formed a defensive wall around shared public spaces.[1] Other surviving features include broad courtyards enclosed by family boundary walls and separate farm buildings grouped within protective compounds.[8] Black basalt is a defining material of the traditional houses, giving the historic neighborhood its distinctive appearance.[12][3]

The mosque is also built of basalt, with decorative white stone and an onion-shaped feature above its minaret.[12] Its architectural style is associated with the Mamluk period.[1] That reference carries a Circassian historical connection: the Burji dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 132 years, was of Circassian origin.[1] The mosque and nearby traditional homes remain prominent elements of the old village’s built landscape.[3]

The Circassian Heritage Center and museum opened in 2008 and present the history and cultural inheritance of the Adyghe.[1][15] The museum occupies a restored late-nineteenth-century home in the old neighborhood, formerly belonging to an established village family.[16] The building itself preserves features of a Circassian household, including the entrance, kitchen, guest room, water cistern, interior rooms, and high black-basalt enclosing wall.[16]

Its displays include antique furniture, weapons, and traditional Circassian clothing.[15][16] Objects from the Caucasus also include embroidered fabrics, bead ornaments, and musical instruments.[16] These collections place domestic life, dress, and material culture alongside the community’s wider historical narrative.[15][16] The center provides a setting for cultural teaching, guided visits, and traditional dance performances, linking the preserved house with contemporary activities.[5][3]

Archaeological sites beneath and around the modern village reveal a much earlier settlement landscape.[2][10] A smaller church discovered in the early 1960s contained two chapels and inscriptions and was dated to the first half of the sixth century.[10] It was considered the village church.[11] A larger church uncovered before construction of a playground was reported in 2020 as approximately 1,300 years old.[11]

The larger church measured 12 by 36 meters and included a forecourt, an entrance hall or narthex, a central hall, and three apses.[10][11] Portions of its floor mosaics survived, displaying geometric and floral or vegetal patterns in blue, black, and red.[10] Excavators also recovered a small stone reliquary.[10] Rooms adjoining the church, together with ground-penetrating radar indications of additional unexcavated rooms, led researchers to suggest that the complex may have formed part of a monastery.[10]

The newly discovered church was considered probably part of a monastic complex outside the ancient village, in contrast to the smaller church found within the village in the 1960s.[11] Researchers suggested that the two discoveries belonged to the same period.[10] Together with the Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic remains, these churches document the settlement that preceded the Circassian village and supplied some of the stone reused in its first homes.[9][11]