Ben Shemen Youth Village

History

The village was established in 1927 on the land of the Hadid factory by Siegfried Lehman. Lehman had previously intended to establish the village in the Harod Valley,

Its aim was to endow children with a Zionist ethic, teach them to work the land, and install an appreciation of responsibility. Lehman instilled that the students should respect their Arab neighbours and their culture.{{cite book |access-date = |access-date =

The school's first students were from Kaunas in Lithuania.The youth village began with an enrolment roll of 15 students in 1927, increasing to 220 in 1931, and around 600 by 1946.{{cite book |access-date =

In January 1940 British forces found an arms cache at the village. In 1947 it had a population of roughly 1,000. In June of that year, it was visited by the 11-person United Nations inquiry commission prior to their endorsement of a partition plan.{{cite book |access-date =

In June 1957 the Elsa and Albert Einstein Agricultural School was opened in the youth village. At the time, the school anticipated serving 700 day students and 300 attending night school. Albert Einstein allowed his name to be used and sent a message of greeting to the cornerstone ceremony in May 1954.

Notable graduates include Shimon Peres, Shulamit Aloni, Moshe Katsav, Dan Ben Amotz, Micha Tomkiewicz, Amitai Etzioni, Maru Teferi and Haim Saban. Peres met his future wife Sonia Peres in the village, as they were living there at the same time.

Today it has around 1,000 students, of which 400 live in the village.

References

References

1. but decided against it after learning that [[Anopheles]] mosquitoes in the marshes could pose a deadly hazard to future students. Joseph Jacobson, uncle of the philanthropist [[Eli Broad]], was one of the community’s early founders.[https://forward.com/news/468799/i-saw-the-jewish-side-of-las-greatest-philanthropist-eli-broad/ I saw the Jewish side of L.A.’s greatest philanthropist, Eli Broad] The Forward. 2 May 2021
2. [https://www.broadfoundationreport.org/peres-center Peres Center for Peace] Broad Foundation. 2003
3. Loffhagen, Matthew. (20 December 2023). "Tilbury Tank steam locomotive takes up residence at Bury Transport Museum". Rail Advert.
4. Jewish National Fund. (1949). "Jewish Villages in Israel". Hamadpis Liphshitz Press.
5. [https://www.jta.org/archive/einstein-agricultural-school-opened-in-israel-will-train-youth Einstein Agricultural School Opened in Israel: Will Train Youth] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 4 June 1957
6. [https://www.jta.org/archive/cornerstone-for-einstein-agricultural-school-laid-in-israel Cornerstone for Einstein Agricultural School Laid in Israel] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
7. [https://forward.com/news/134964/sonia-peres-intensely-private-wife-of-israel-s-p/ Sonia Peres, Intensely Private Wife of Israel’s President, Shunned the Spotlight] The Forward. 26 January 2011