Ramat Yohanan

Ramat Yohanan (Hebrew: רָמַת יוֹחָנָן, lit. Yohanan Heights) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located near Kiryat Ata, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council. In 2012 it had a population of 870. It is "next door" to kibbutz Kfar HaMaccabi and kibbutz Usha.

The kibbutz was founded in 1932 on land bought by Yehoshua Hankin from the Lebanese in 1925. The founders were a mix of native Jews and immigrants from the United States. It was named after the South African politician Jan Smuts, who was a prominent supporter of Zionism.

It was the location of the Battle of Ramat Yohanan during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The Druze regiment of the Arab Liberation Army were confronted by the Haganah soldiers. Having run out of ammunition, the Druze withdrew to their base in Shefa-'Amr with many casualties. As a result of their defeat, many Druze swapped sides in the conflict, and began co-operating with the Haganah.

In 1941, Yitzhak Rabin joined the Palmach section of the Haganah during his stay at kibbutz Ramat Yohanan.

Yohanan

Yohanan, Yochanan and Johanan are various transliterations to the Latin alphabet of the Hebrew male given name יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), a shortened form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhôḥānān), meaning "Yahweh is gracious".

The name is ancient, recorded as the name of Johanan, high priest of the Second Temple around 400 BCE. It became, however, a very popular Christian given name in reference to either John the Apostle or John the Baptist.

Adaptations

The Hebrew name was adopted as Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs) in Biblical Greek as the name of both John the Baptist and John the Apostle.

In the Latin Vulgate this was originally adopted as Iohannes (or Johannes – in Latin, J is the same letter as I). The presence of an h, not found in the Greek adaptation, shows awareness of the Hebrew origin. Later editions of the Vulgate, such as the Clementine Vulgate, have Ioannes, however.

The anglicized form John makes its appearance in Middle English, from the mid-12th century, as a direct adaptation from Medieval Latin Johannes, the Old French being Jean. The feminine form Joanna is also Biblical, recorded in the form Ἰωάννα as the name of Joanna, wife of Chuza.