Yakum

Yakum lies in the southern Sharon, roughly 11 kilometers south of Netanya and between Herzliya to the south and Netanya to the north, placing it within easy reach of the Tel Aviv metropolitan conurbation.[1][5] The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics registers the community under the locality code 0417 and records its official transliterated name as "YAQUM."[6] A Government of Israel document listing kibbutzim with older-form long-term lease agreements places Yakum under the Central District.[7]

The kibbutz is affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Arẓi ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir, the national kibbutz federation associated with the Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir movement.[1] Its natural surroundings include Poleg Gate Nature Reserve to the north, a 136-dunam protected area lying between Yakum to the south, Udim to the north, and Route 2 and the Wingate Institute to the west.[8] Within and adjacent to the reserve are an abandoned kurkar quarry, Yakum Lake — which fills seasonally in winter — sand dunes, a kurkar ridge, a pine grove, and the Poleg Stream.[8][9] Researchers estimate that a Canaanite settlement was established on the kurkar ridge during the Bronze Age; the site is known today as Tel Poleg.[8]

Yakum was established in 1947, during the period of the yishuv's struggle with the British Mandatory government.[1] Its founders were Israeli-born graduates of the Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir youth movement, joined principally by immigrant youth from Holland, Bulgaria, and France.[1] The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics confirms 1947 as the year of Jewish settlement at the locality.[6]

A Hebrew New Year greeting card from the kibbutz, dated 1956 (Hebrew year 5716) and preserved in the Yad Yaari Archive at Givat Haviva, offers an early documentary glimpse of communal life at Yakum in its first decade.[10] Children at the kibbutz from 1947 through 1960 were documented in a 201-page photographic volume published by Kibbutz Yakum in 2017, edited by Uzi Varon and featuring the work of photographer Mordo Abrahmov.[4] The book's foreword recounts how, after Abrahmov's death, his son Shlomo initiated a project to gather the photographs for an exhibition focused on children depicted in the 1950s — a project discussed with the family during the shiva.[4]

In the decade preceding 2017, the kibbutz underwent full privatization, a process that brought positive migration and economic development.[5] Formerly shared residential rooms used by young families or single members became the property of individual kibbutz members, who were free to renovate them or demolish them and build new homes.[5] The transformation of the built environment was substantial: Euro Park, an industrial zone designed by architects Rafi and Edna Lerman, was developed east of the kibbutz, while a community expansion neighborhood with villas was established to the west.[5]

Yakum's population has grown steadily since its founding. The kibbutz had 358 inhabitants in 1970, a figure that rose to 470 by the mid-1990s and reached 523 by 2002.[1] The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics' locality listing records a population of 790 as of December 31 of its reference year, reflecting continued growth in the years following privatization.[6]

Yakum's economic base began with agriculture — primarily plantations and dairy cattle — alongside a factory producing specialized plastics products.[1] The kibbutz also developed interests in a nearby gas station and the operation of a convention center, and proximity to the Tel Aviv conurbation has shaped its commercial opportunities.[1]

The plastics operation evolved into the Plassiv factory, which produces plastic bottles and containers. In 2008 the kibbutz sold half its rights in Plassiv to Shalem Products, a company that makes complementary products, for 30 million shekels.[2]

Euro Park, an industrial and office complex established in the early 2000s through a partnership between the kibbutz and businessman Eliezer Fishman, became Yakum's most substantial asset.[2] Yakum holds a 50% ownership stake in the complex, with the remaining half held through the company formerly known as Jerusalem Economy and its subsidiary Darban.[2] The net value of Yakum's share was reported as 229 million shekels in 2012, rising to 343 million shekels by June 2017 — an increase of approximately 50% over five years — driven by natural expansion, new tenants, and strong demand for office space.[2] Tenants at Euro Park have included Intel, HOT, Samsung, Broadcom, Dor Alon, and Paz.[2]

In March 2018, the kibbutz entered the ownership of renewable-energy company Doral for the first time, acquiring a 3% stake with an option to purchase an additional 3% in the following weeks; the transaction valued Doral at approximately 235 million shekels.[11] Yakum's chief executive, Miriam Druk, stated that the investment aligned with the kibbutz's aim of diversifying its business mix in infrastructure and especially green energy.[11]

In May 2025, Ispro-Tnufort and Dahari Investments acquired five dunams of land in western Ra'anana from Yakum. Under the arrangement, Yakum returned the land to the Israel Land Authority and received 50 million shekels; the acquiring companies planned to develop three residential buildings comprising 158 apartments and a commercial center on the site, located near some of the kibbutz's orchards.[12]

Yakum has attracted scholarly interest as a subject of architectural and media studies. A 2015 article by Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler, published in Israel Studies Review (volume 30, issue 1, pages 101–129), examined kibbutz landscape and architecture as represented in film and television, with Yakum as its central case study.[3]

The kibbutz's early visual history was documented in the 2017 volume Mordo Abrahmov: Photographs of the Children of Kibbutz Yakum: 1947–1960, a 201-page illustrated book edited by Uzi Varon and published by Kibbutz Yakum itself.[4] The project originated when Shlomo Abrahmov, son of the late photographer Mordo Abrahmov, gathered his father's images to create an exhibition centered on children photographed during the 1950s.[4] The kibbutz also appears in the National Library of Israel's archival holdings, including the 1956 New Year greeting card held at the Yad Yaari Archive in Givat Haviva.[10]

Yakum Park and the adjacent Poleg Gate Nature Reserve together form one of the area's main recreational destinations. A roughly four-kilometer walking route begins at the Yakum Park parking lot near the kibbutz and can take between one and three hours to complete, with options to shorten the circuit.[9] The route encompasses Yakum Lake, the Poleg Stream, sand dunes, a kurkar ridge, and a pine grove.[9] The reserve's 136 dunams are bounded by Yakum to the south, Udim to the north, and Route 2 and the Wingate Institute to the west.[8] Tel Poleg, the kurkar ridge within the reserve, is considered by researchers to overlie a Canaanite Bronze Age settlement.[8]