Degania Alef is a kibbutz in northern Israel. The Jewish communal settlement (kvutza) was founded in 1910, making it the earliest socialist Zionist farming commune in the Land of Israel. Its status as "the mother of all kibbutzim" is sometimes contested based on a later distinction made between the smaller kvutza, applying to Degania in its beginnings, and the larger kibbutz.

A kibbutz is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. In recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle. A member of a kibbutz is called a kibbutznik, the suffix -nik being of Slavic origin.