Meir Shfeya is a youth village

Youth village

A youth village is a boarding school model first developed in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis...

 and agricultural boarding school

Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

 in northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Located near Zikhron Ya'akov, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council

Hof HaCarmel Regional Council

Hof HaCarmel Regional Council is a regional council located in the northern Israeli coastal plain. The council serves a large area, from Tirat HaCarmel in the north to Caesarea in the south. Its offices are located in Ein HaCarmel to the south of Haifa. The Chairman of the council is Carmel Sela...

. In 2006 it had a student population of 300.

History

The village was established in 1891 as a moshava

Moshava

A moshava , plural: Moshavot is a form of rural settlement in Israel.In a moshava, as opposed to communal settlements like the kibbutz and the moshav, all the land and property are privately-owned. The first moshavot, described as "colonies" in professional literature, were established by...

 adjacent to Zikhron Ya'akov. The name is a combination of Meir, named for Amschel Mayer (Meir) Rothschild

Amschel Mayer Rothschild

Amschel Mayer Rothschild was a German Jewish banker of the Rothschild family financial dynasty.He was the second child and eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild , the founder of the dynasty, and Gutlé Rothschild née Schnapper .On the death of Mayer Amschel in 1812, Amschel Mayer succeeded as head...

, the grandfather of Baron Rothschild

Edmond James de Rothschild

Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild was a French member of the Rothschild banking family. A strong supporter of Zionism, his generous donations lent significant support to the movement during its early years, which helped lead to the establishment of the State of Israel.- Early years :A...

, and a distortion of Shveia, a nearby village.

In 1904 Israel Belkind

Israel Belkind

Israel Belkind was a Jewish educator, author, writer, historian and founder of the Bilu movement. A pioneer of the First Aliyah, Belkind founded the Biluim, a group of Jewish idealists aspiring to settle in the Land of Israel with the political purpose to redeem Eretz Yisrael and re-establish the...

, a founder of Bilu

Bilu

Bilu was a movement whose goal was the agricultural settlement of the Land of Israel. "Bilu" is an acronym based on a verse from the Book of Isaiah "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Venelkha...

, established an educational institute in the village, which took in orphans from the Kishinev pogrom

Kishinev pogrom

The Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Chişinău, then the capital of the Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire on April 6-7, 1903.-First pogrom:...

. This made it the first youth village in the country. He called it Kiryat Sefer.

In 1917 the Herzliya Hebrew High School

Herzliya Hebrew High School

The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium , originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit is a historic high school in Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:...

 was temporarily moved to the village due to the expulsion of Jews from Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 and Jaffa

Jaffa

Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. World War I left many orphaned children in Jerusalem. A girls school called Aliza's care center, established in the yard of the Diskin Orphanage

Diskin Orphanage

The Diskin Orphanage was an orphanage in the Old City of Jerusalem, establishedin 1881 by Yehoshua Leib Diskin. From the Jewish Quarter, it moved to Street of the Prophets outside the walls of the Old City...

 on Neviim Street with funding from the American Zionist women's organization, Hadassah

Hadassah

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with around...

, moved to Shfeya in 1923.

The village was used as a training base by the Hagana due to its remote location in a mountainous area. In 1957 it was made a partnership between the State and the organisation, and today exists as a youth village.

External links

• Meir Shfeya Youth Village Ministry of Education