Sasa, Israel

Sasa סָאסָא‎
Sasa Show map of Northeast Israel Sasa Show map of Israel
Coordinates: 33°1′37″N 35°23′40″E / 33.02694°N 35.39444°E / 33.02694; 35.39444
Country	Israel
District	Northern
Council	Upper Galilee
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	January 1949
Founded by	Hashomer Hatzair members
Population  (2022)	396[1]
Website	www.sasa.org.il

Sasa or Sassa (

The modern kibbutz was founded in January 1949 by a

On the grounds of the kibbutz is the alleged tomb of Levi ben Sisi, who is usually believed to have died in far-away Babylonia during the first half of the third century.^[4]

In 1950, the American correspondent Kenneth W. Bilby started his book "New Star in The Near East" - depicting the 1948 war and its aftermath - with an eyewitness account of Sassa: "Face Lifting". The Mukhtar of Sassa had fled, and his 2000 Arab villagers with him. By November 1949, 120 young American-born Jews had supplanted them, and the old village roosting on a Galilean hilltop had begun to acquire a Western flavor. The Mukhtar's home was being plastered and cemented into a communal shower. Power-driven lathes, imported from the United States, were turning out furniture for the new Jewish settlements which mushroomed in the Galilee. Prefabricated barracks with beaverboard interiors, fresh-painted American tractors, and an experimental windmill which resembled a radar antenna provided more accouterments of progress. Sassa, which had existed unchanged for over a thousand years, was on the altar - an offering, like the lambs of Abraham, for the betterment of the people of Israel".^[5]

In 1992, the

Sasa operates Plasan, a plastics factory that manufactures vehicle armour. The company, which is shared between some 100 families, is now a world leader in armor protection technology for vehicles. The kibbutz has signed contracts worth billions of dollars with major clients,^[7] including the U.S. military.^[8]

Other branches of the economy include a dairy, in cooperation with kibbutz Tuval; a beef herd; fruit trees (kiwi, apple, avocado and grapefruit); Bereshit, a fruit marketing company in cooperation with three other kibbutzim; and Sasa Tech, a manufacturer of technical and home care products.^[9] Buza, a chain of ice cream shops founded by a Sasa resident, runs a branch on the kibbutz and offers ice cream workshops.^[10]

Gallery

• 
  Members of kibbutz Sasa in 1948
• 
  Kibbutz Sasa in 1949
• 
  U.S. Ambassador

  Dan Shapiro

  visiting Plasan, 2012

References