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Merhavia (moshav)

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Merhavia
CountryIsrael
CouncilJezreel Valley
RegionGalilee
AffiliationMoshavim Movement
Founded1911/1922
Founded byKvutzat Kibush members and Second Aliyah immigrants
Websitewww.merhavia.co.il
This article is about Moshav Merhavia. For the nearby kibbutz, see Kibbutz Merhavia

Merhavia (Template:Lang-he-n, lit. "Great Enlargement - God") a moshav in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council and in 2006 had a population of 722. Founded in 1911, it was the first modern Jewish settlement in the Jezreel Valley.

Name

The name Merhavia is derived from the Book of Psalms 118:5.

Out of my straits I called upon the LORD; .. answered me with great enlargement - God.

In the metaphorical sense: "God set me free" - the experience of the Jews immigrating to the Land of Israel and achieving a new homeland without the straits of persecution.

Establishment

The village was established as the Co-operative in Merhavia, a co-operative farm, at the beginning of 1911, based on the ideas of Franz Oppenheimer.[1] The founders had arrived in the area in 1910 and consisted of members of Kvutzat Kibush and workers of the Second Aliyah. It was supposed to operate as a co-operative farm with differential wages, and was founded with the assistance of Arthur Ruppin, Yehoshua Hankin, the Anglo-Palestine Bank and Eliyahu Blumenfeld. Alexander Baerwald designed and built the first solid buildings and the road net with a central square in 1915.[2]

In 1922 it was converted to a moshav ovdim after being joined by Polish immigrants and residents of Tel Aviv who wanted to work in agriculture.

In 1929 a kibbutz, also by the name of Merhavia, was established next to the moshav.

Notes

  1. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0F1FFA385A12738DDDAE0994DB405B848DF1D3
  2. ^ Myra Warhaftig Template:De icon (Template:Lang-he), "Alex Baerwald", in: id., Sie legten den Grundstein. Leben und Wirken deutschsprachiger jüdischer Architekten in Palästina 1918-1948, Berlin and Tübingen: Wasmuth, 1996, pp. 34-41, here p. 35. ISBN 3-8030-0171-4