KEFAR BILU (Heb. כְּפַר בִּיל״וּ), moshav in the Coastal Plain of Israel, near Reḥovot. Affiliated to Tenu'at ha-Moshavim, it was founded in 1932 in the framework of the "Thousand Families Settlement Scheme." The village was partly based on intensive farming, but due to the limited farm area at the village's disposal, many settlers held jobs in Reḥovot or in the Tel Aviv area. The village is named after the *Bilu movement. In 1968 its population was 370, rising to 450 in the mid-1990s and 978 in 2002 after residential expansion.
[Efraim Orni /
Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.