A moshava ( he, מושבה, plural: ''moshavot'' , lit. ''colony'') was a form of rural Jewish settlement in
Ottoman Palestine, established by the members of the
Old Yishuv since late 1870s and during the first two waves of Jewish Zionist immigration – the
First and
Second Aliyah.
History
In a moshava, as opposed to later communal settlements like the
kibbutz and the
moshav (plural ''moshavim''), all the land and property are privately owned. The first moshavot were established by the members of the
Jewish community
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
already living in, and by pioneers of the
First Aliyah
The First Aliyah (Hebrew: העלייה הראשונה, ''HaAliyah HaRishona''), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (''aliyah'') to Ottoman Syria between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave came ...
arriving to,
Ottoman Palestine.
The economy of the early moshavot was based on agriculture and resembled the grain-growing villages of eastern Europe in layout. Farms were established along both sides of a broad main street.
Petah Tikva, known as the "Mother of the Moshavot" (''Em HaMoshavot''), was founded in 1878 by members of the Old Yishuv, as well as Gai Oni, which later became
Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pina or Rosh Pinna ( he, רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה, lit. ''Cornerstone'') is a local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District of Israel. It was established as Gei ...
with the arrival of the First Aliyah. The first four moshavot of the First Aliyah period were
Rishon LeZion,
Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pina or Rosh Pinna ( he, רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה, lit. ''Cornerstone'') is a local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District of Israel. It was established as Gei ...
,
Zikhron Ya'akov and
Yesud HaMa'ala.
The driving force behind these early settlements was the
Hovevei Zion movement in Europe, whose branches operated as financially independent settlement societies.
The moshava was governed by a charter outlining communal principles that established a covenant or bond between the residents.
Contemporary Israel: New Insights and Scholarship edited by Frederick E. Greenspahn
/ref>
Old Yishuv and First Aliyah moshavot
Chronological list by year of establishment.
* Rishon LeZion (1882)
*Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pina or Rosh Pinna ( he, רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה, lit. ''Cornerstone'') is a local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District of Israel. It was established as Gei ...
(1882, taking over and renaming the colony of Gei Oni established in 1878 and down to three families by 1882)
* Zikhron Ya'akov (1882)
* Petah Tikva (1882; reestablished after first attempt in 1878)
*Mazkeret Batya
Mazkeret Batya ( he, מַזְכֶּרֶת בַּתְיָה) (lit. "Batya Memorial") is a local council in central Israel located southeast of Rehovot and from Tel Aviv. Mazkeret Batya spans an area of 7,440 dunams (7 km²). In it had a pop ...
(1883 established as "Ekron")
*Ness Ziona
Ness Ziona ( he, נֵס צִיּוֹנָה, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a town in central Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams ().
History Early history
Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of an Arab vi ...
(1883; began as "Nahalat Reuven")
* Yesud HaMa'ala (1883)
* Gedera (1884)
*Bat Shlomo
Bat Shlomo ( he, בָּת שְׁלֹמֹה, ''lit.'' Salomon's Daughter) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located on the southern slopes of Mount Carmel near Binyamina and Zikhron Ya'akov, it originally was built on 8,068 dunams of land. It falls ...
(1889)
*Meir Shfeya
Meir Shfeya ( he, מֵאִיר שְׁפֵיָה) is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in northern Israel. Located near Zikhron Ya'akov, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of .
...
(1889)
* Rehovot (1890)
* Mishmar HaYarden (1890)
*Hadera
Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...
(1891)
* Ein Zeitim (1892)
* Motza (1894)
*Hartuv
Hartuv ( he, הרטוב) or Har-Tuv (lit. "Mount of Goodness") was an agricultural colony in the Judean Hills established in 1883 on land purchased from the Arab village of Artuf by English missionaries. It was destroyed in the 1929 Palestine ri ...
(1895)
*Metula
Metula ( he, מְטֻלָּה) is a town in the Northern District of Israel. Metula is located next to the northern border with Lebanon. In it had a population of . Metula is the northernmost town in Israel.
History Bronze and Iron Age
Metu ...
(1896)
* Be'er Tuvia (1896 reestablished and renamed by Hovevei Zion; first settled in 1887 as Castina)
*Bnei Yehuda (1898; not identical with the new Bnei Yehuda)
* Mahanayim (1898–1912)
*Sejera
Ilaniya ( he, אִילָנִיָּה) is a moshav in northern Israel. Also known as Sejera, after the adjacent Arab village al-Shajara, it was the first Jewish settlement in the Lower Galilee and played an important role in the Jewish settlement o ...
(1899–1902), now Moshav Ilaniya
*Mas'ha (1901), renamed Kfar Tavor
Kfar Tavor ( he, כְּפַר תָּבוֹר, ar, كفر تافور) is a village in the Lower Galilee region of Northern Israel, at the foot of Mount Tabor. Founded in 1901, it was awarded local council status in 1949. In it had a population ...
in 1903
*Yavne'el
Yavne'el ( he, יַבְנְאֵל, ar, يفنيئيل) is a moshava and local council in the Northern District of Israel. Founded in 1901, it is one of the oldest rural Jewish communities in the country. According to the Israel Central Bureau o ...
(1901)
* Menahemia (1901)
* Beit Gan (1903; next to Yavne'el
Yavne'el ( he, יַבְנְאֵל, ar, يفنيئيل) is a moshava and local council in the Northern District of Israel. Founded in 1901, it is one of the oldest rural Jewish communities in the country. According to the Israel Central Bureau o ...
)
*Atlit
Atlit ( he, עַתְלִית, ar, عتليت) is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. The community is in the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in the Haifa District of Israel.
Off the coast of Atlit is a submerged Neolithic village. At ...
(1903)
* Giv'at Ada (1903)
* Kfar Saba (1904)
Colonies were also established in the Hauran on lands bought by Baron Edmond de Rothschild
Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...
in the area of the villages of Sahem al-Jawlan, Jileen and Nafa’a, by immigrants of the First Aliyah
The First Aliyah (Hebrew: העלייה הראשונה, ''HaAliyah HaRishona''), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (''aliyah'') to Ottoman Syria between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave came ...
in a total of nine outposts, but the main five colonies, founded in 1895, had to be abandoned within a short while:
* Tiferet Binyamin (1895)
*Zichron Menachem (1895)
*Nahalat Moshe (1895)
*Achvat Yisrael (1895)
*Beit Ikar (1895).
Later moshavot
* Kinneret (1908, Second Aliyah)
*Binyamina
Binyamina-Giv'at Ada ( he, בִּנְיָמִינָה-גִּבְעַת עָדָה) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. It is the result of the 2003 merger between the two local councils of Binyamina and Giv'at Ada. In its population was . ...
(1922, Second and Third Aliyah)
References
{{reflist
Further reading
*Ran Aaronsohn, ''Rothschild and Early Zionist Colonization'', Rowman & Littlefield and Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 2000
Rural community development
Agriculture in Israel
Jews and Judaism in Ottoman Palestine
Establishments in Ottoman Syria
Jews and Judaism in Ottoman Galilee