A modern miracle is marked near the spot where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee, about 8km south of Tiberias. Founded in 1910, Deganya Alef is Israel’s oldest kibbutz, the first Jewish settlement in the Jordan Valley, and the birthplace of Moshe Dayan. On May 19, 1948, a few days after the State of Israel was declared, Syria took the nearby town of Tzemah and tried to overrun Deganya.

The kibbutzniks, with only small-caliber rifles and Molotov cocktails, held them off until one tank pierced the perimeter. The interloper was stopped by a Deganya settler with a homemade grenade, and the other tanks retreated, never to return. The gutted chassis of the Syrian tank rests at an angle on the lawn of the kibbutz, commemorating Deganya’s victory. Deganya’s diamond too! factory has since made it a wealthy industrial community. The kibbutz also has two small museums at Beit Gordon (tel. 75 00 40), one devoted to the archeology of the Kinneret area, the other to its natural history, replete with exhibits of taxidermal treasures. (Open Sun.-Thurs. 9am4pm., Sat. 9am-2pm. Admission NIS6, students N1S5.)

Deganya’s size and uniformity are conducive to easy misdirection. Take a right after the tennis courts and ambulances and ask directions immediately. Next to Beit Gordon is an ebullient SPNI office and Kinorot Field School (tel. 75 23 40; open Sun.-Thurs. 8am-3pm. Fri. 8am-lpm.) The field school has the same guides for hire and hiking maps for sale. Deganya can be reached by bus #24 to Hammat Gader or bus #23, 26, 27. 28, or 29 headed for Beit She’an and the Jordan River Valley.