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Beit Alfa (; also Beit Alpha, Bet Alpha and Bet Alfa) is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, founded in 1922 by immigrants from Poland. Located at the base of the Gilboa ridge, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. As of its population was .
The founding members gained their first experience in 1921, when they participated in the establishment of kibbutz Geva. At first, the settlers suffered from very severe operating conditions in the swamps and malaria was widespread. In April 1927 the kibbutz was visited by the Czechoslovak president Tomáš Masaryk. In 1928 the members of the adjacent kibbutz Heftziba discovered on their grounds the remains of the Beth Alpha synagogue, dating back to the Byzantine period. During the Arab riots of 1929 the kibbutz was attacked and its fields destroyed. When in April 1936 the Arab uprising broke out, the Arabs again set fire to the surrounding fields.
In 1940 some of the members, affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, moved to kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, in exchange for supporters of Mapai from Ramat Yohanan. According to the Jewish National Fund, this move was prompted by an ideological split. In subsequent years the kibbutz was one of the centers used by the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah.
On 1 April 1948 the kibbutz was attacked by Arab mortar fire. The Arabs withdrew as a platoon from the 1st parachute battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division approached.
File:בית אלפא - פנורמה.-JNF043780.jpeg|Beit Alfa 1925 File:בית אלפא - המראה החיצוני של חדר האוכל.-JNF044462.jpeg|Beit Alfa 1935 File:בית אלפא - צילום אויר-JNF009306.jpeg|Beit Alfa 1938 File:בית אלפא - גגות המשק-JNF033694.jpeg|Beit Alfa 1945 After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Gilboa Educational Institute was established in the northern part of the kibbutz. The institute, which served as a school for the surrounding area, offered boarding and had an array of sports facilities and workshops enabling professional training. At the end of 2003 the institute was closed and the complex of buildings has since been used for various educational courses. During the 2006 Lebanon War, the kibbutz took in evacuees from the border villages that had been under rocket attack by Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon. After the war an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants was set up here. Some 600 people are offered boarding, Hebrew language courses, and are prepared for integration in the Israeli society.
Meir Har-Zion built a farm and house, "Ahuzat Shoshana", on a hilltop just north and in sight of Beit Alfa, right next to the ruins of the Crusader castle of Belvoir Fortress. The farm is named after his sister and her name is written on the gate to the farm.
Poultry: Beit Alfa operates three poultry houses in which the eggs are collected centrally on an egg conveyor belt.
Furniture: Beit Alfa Home Furniture builds custom furniture for homes and offices. It is a recognized supplier for Israel's Ministry of Defense.
Special Purpose Vehicles: BAT (Beit Alfa Technologies) began making fire trucks in 1966. Today it manufactures vehicles for rapid airport intervention that eject foam, water, and dry powder. BAT manufacturers Water Restraint Systems for non-lethal crowd control of dangerous inmates and correctional facilities. BAT also expanded to become an international designer and manufacturer of special purpose vehicles for the military, law enforcement, and government and private sectors. BAT has sold riot control vehicles to more than 30 countries. According to The Guardian, BAT "developed a profitable industry selling anti-riot vehicles" to the apartheid regime in South Africa "for use against protesters in the black townships". Brothers in arms - Israel's secret pact with Pretoria, Chris McGreal, The Guardian, 7 February 2006 BAT's vehicles have also been used as riot control vehicles in Burundi to suppress protests against the unconstitutional extension of President Nkurunziza's presidency.
Guest Houses: The kibbutz runs a guesthouse with 37 units, five of them with wheelchair access.
The Beit Alfa Synagogue National Park established at the site contains an ancient Byzantine Empire-era synagogue, with a mosaic floor depicting the lunar Hebrew months as they correspond to the signs of the zodiac.Goldman, Bernard, The Sacred Portal: a primary symbol in ancient Judaic art, Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 1966
Actor, writer, producer, comedian Seth Rogen's parents met in Beit Alfa.
Gabriel "Gavrush" Rapoport (1924–2001) was a Palmach and IDF combat veteran, who helped create Israel's famed heavy equipment rescue unit that has saved lives around the world. Gavrush was one of the first children born on the kibbutz. According to Haaretz, Israeli poet and writer Haim Gouri, a friend of Rapoport, said: "When Gavrush was born, the midwife fainted. Never before had an infant come out of the womb holding a revolver in one hand, and an adjustable wrench in the other".
Israeli novelist Naomi Frankel (1918–2009) joined the kibbutz in her teens and left it in 1970. Although she later changed her political ideology from left to right, she asked to be buried on the kibbutz beside her first husband. Frankel rose to fame with the publication of her trilogy Shaul ve-Yohannah (Saul and Joanna, 1956–1967), which depicted Jewish life in prewar Germany.
Songwriter and composer Nachum Heiman, an Israel Prize laureate, moved to the kibbutz with his second wife, and their two daughters were born there, one of them singer Si Heiman. Nachum Heiman, One of Israel's Greatest Composers, Dies at 82, Haaretz
Israel Zamir (1929–2014), son of Jewish-American author Isaac Bashevis Singer, lived on the kibbutz for 77 years until his death in 2014. After his passing, he was buried at the kibbutz. Like his father, he was also a writer.
Israeli cartoonist Maya Devir was born in Beit Alfa.
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