Moshava remnants in Kfar Malal

The Ein Hay Museum building in Kfar Malal, which is responsible for the project of preserving the remnants of the historic Moshava.

The remnants of the historic Moshava in Kfar Malal are buildings and items that were preserved from the Zionist Moshava established there in 1912, originally called Ein Hay. Between 1918 and 1921, the settlement's buildings were destroyed twice by the Ottomans and Arab rioters respectively. However, despite the difficulties, the settlement was rebuilt three times in total, and eventually expanded and thrived.

Despite the destructions the Moshava experienced in its early days, some of the ancient buildings survived for many years. In the early 21st century, they were preserved as part of the Ein Hay Museum project in Kfar Malal.

The history of the Moshava is intertwined with the history of settlement in the land of Israel in the years 1910–1960. The settlement was among the first worker's colonies ever established, and according to Dr. Yoel Pixler's estimate, it was the first actual worker's Moshava in the world already in 1919, even though it was not officially recognized as such, and the title is given to Nahalal.

The first settlement attempt

The first incarnation of the historic Zionist Moshava began in the summer of 1912 by 12 farmers of the Second Aliyah, who built five large workers' huts on land allocated to the Moshava by the Odessa Committee of Lovers of Zion.

The Moshava was founded on the ruins of an ancient settlement. About 1,300 years before the Moshava was founded, it was a Byzantine-Greek settlement which left remains of an industrial olive oil press. Afterward, an Arab settlement called "Al Hayya", or Ruins of the Snakes, was built on its ruins, which was eventually abandoned due to malaria. At that time, it was common to name Zionist settlements with an ancient historic name similar to an ancient settlement that was nearby, and so in 1913 the members of the Moshava decided its name would be Ein Hay, and the settlement was founded as a workers' Moshav.

In 1914 the Moshava included about 4,800 dunams of land. At the beginning of the year several plans were put together to expand the Moshava and make other changes, such as turning the Moshava into a workers' Moshav, however these plans were not carried out due to the outbreak of World War I. A change that did take place was the name change of the Moshava to Kfar Malal, in memory of Moshe Leib Lilienblum.

In 1916, the Moshava was abandoned due to the difficulties in maintaining it during the war, and in 1918, the Ottomans destroyed the huts that were there.

Agricultural Development and Second Destruction

In 1919 it was decided to rehabilitate the colony and resettle it, with the goal of establishing a workers' Moshav according to the vision of Eliezer Yaffe. For this purpose a new group of 18 settlers was organized, including two who were also part of the original founding nucleus in 1912, and returned to resettle Kfar Malal. They built the new buildings around the village well, which at this stage was very deep at 62 meters, forcing the settlers to descend to its depth and filter the water before they could raise the bucket up with a rope.

With the renewal of the settlement, its members grew food for themselves, and also worked to cultivate various crops that would be suitable for agricultural activity in all seasons, including Oat, Vicia, watermelon fields, beehives and Vineyards. During this period the members also built the first stone houses of the settlement, and the dairy. Meanwhile, the Jewish National Fund expanded its lands in the area under its possession, by the end of 1920 there were about 1,250 dunams under the ownership of the Jewish National Fund in the areas of Kfar Malal.

On May 3, 1921, the settlement residents learned of a planned raid by Arab rioters on Kfar Malal and Kfar Saba, as part of the 1921 Jaffa riots. The settlement residents fled to Petah Tikva, and that night the raiders looted and burned down both settlements.

External links

• Museum Ein Hay, Kfar Malal
• Kfar Malal, A 100-year-old piece of history