Kfar Hess was not founded in a single day. On the contrary - it emerged through a long and arduous process, marked by many setbacks and only a few advances. This process began with the establishment of the Yizrael Organization in 1924 and culminated with the construction of the members’ homes and the planting of the first orchards in 1933.
During these ten years the country experienced both a period of great economic prosperity (the Fourth Aliyah and the “prosperity” it brought, 1924–1927) and a severe economic crisis that led to mass emigration and a loss of faith in the chances of Zionism (the crisis of the Fourth Aliyah, 1927–1930). The founders of the moshav were among those pioneers who did not lose heart. They persevered despite all difficulties and succeeded in realizing their vision: the establishment of a Hebrew village on the soil of the Land of Israel.
1919–1924 – The years when most of the founders immigrated to the Land of Israel (the period of the Third Aliyah and the beginning of the Fourth Aliyah).
Most of the founders of Kfar Hess came from territories of the former Russian Empire - Lithuania; Belarus; Volhynia (Ukraine); Russia; Bessarabia (Ukraine, Moldova); and Poland - as well as from the lands of the former Habsburg Empire - Galicia (Ukraine, Poland) and also from Bulgaria.
They were born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and came of age during the harsh and brutal period of the First World War, followed by civil wars and pogroms against Jews. Most were sons and daughters of traditional families from villages and towns in the Jewish Pale of Settlement of Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue was Yiddish, while Hebrew was the language of their studies.
The founders immigrated to the Land of Israel after the Balfour Declaration, as pioneering workers with deep Zionist consciousness, seeking to build the national home in Eretz Israel as a Jewish, secular, modern, national, and socialist society.
Summer 1924 – The establishment of the “Yizrael Organization” for the founding of a workers’ moshav in the Jezreel Valley. The idea began with a group of workers in Petah Tikva, joined by another group from Hadera and Zichron Ya’akov. The members of the organization belonged to the leading workers’ party of the time - Ahdut HaAvoda [later Mapai, and eventually the Labor Party].
Mordechai Te’ani recalled the beginnings in Petah Tikva:
“One evening in the summer of 1924, after a hard day’s work for the farmer Z.P. in Petah Tikva, I sat with my friend [Nissan] Bord, who was my roommate in Petah Tikva, and we spoke of our future: ‘Did we come to this land to be slaves to the farmers?… Are we inferior to the comrades of HaPoel HaTza’ir who established Nahalal?’ My neighbor became excited during our talk and declared: ‘We, members of Ahdut HaAvoda, must prove to the Agricultural Center that we have the strength within us. What they did - we too will do… Within days our number reached fifteen. We turned to the Agricultural Center…’”
(Mordechai Te’ani, in The Book of Kfar Hess, edited by Yaakov Ben-Zioni, p. 21).
Yaakov Ben-Zioni recalled the beginnings in Hadera:
“At about the same time a group was organized in Hadera, numbering nine members… The driving spirit and initiator of the Hadera group was Chaim Segal, while the leader of the Petah Tikva group was Yitzhak Mitrani. These two groups organized independently, without knowing of each other’s existence.”
(The Book of Kfar Hess, p. 14).
1925–1929 – Years of agricultural training in Kfar Yehezkel and in Mahanayim. Wandering across the country, working as hired laborers, and waiting in vain for the purchase of lands in Zer’in [later Kibbutz Yizrael]. Meanwhile, organization continued under the leadership of Aharon Ben-Yosef, with the support of the settlement institutions of the Zionist Organization and the Histadrut, while awaiting permanent settlement.
Nissan Bord recalled this period:
“Supposedly we moved to Mahanayim for training, but we were not treated properly. The farm at Mahanayim collapsed and each of us was given a farm, but these farms yielded almost no income. There was no fodder for the cows. We took them out to pasture. We sowed a little wheat… Supplies for Mahanayim we had to bring from the surrounding area. We brought water in barrels from Rosh Pina and bread from Tzemach.”
(Nissan Bord, in The Book of Kfar Hess, p. 22).
June 18, 1929 – The first group of workers from the “Yizrael Organization,” future founders of Kfar Hess, arrived from Haifa to work on the lands of Tel Mond. Their aim: to establish permanent settlement near Tel Mond as part of the “Settlement of the Thousand” [a plan for 1,000 families].
October 25, 1929 – The first plot was purchased for the Yizrael Organization’s settlement near Tel Mond:
“The Jewish National Fund issued the first deed for our land, 500 dunams.”
(Meeting of the Yizrael Organization, with Aharon Ben-Yosef, 25.10.1929, Tel Mond Settlement Documentation Center).
Spring 1930 – First huts were erected on the land of Kfar Hess; a citrus nursery was established.
November–December 1930 (approx.) – First plowing of Kfar Hess land, carried out with Fowler plows of the Palestine Plantations Company.
December 18, 1930 – The first assembly of founding members on the moshav’s land.
January 5, 1931 – Completion of the first plowing.
1931 – Establishment of the temporary neighborhood in the western part of Kfar Hess (today Natzchya Galer Street, Shoshi and Avner Goren).
1932 – Drilling of the first well; construction of the fence around the moshav, leading to the first clashes with Arab neighbors.
1933 – Settlement in the first 26 permanent homes, built collectively with funding from the “Settlement of the Thousand” program of the Zionist Organization and the Histadrut. Orchards planted for these settlers.
1933 and onward – The remaining 54 families gradually built their own homes with limited help.
1933 – On the initiative of Avraham Herzfeld, chairman of the Agricultural Center of the Histadrut, the settlement was named Kfar Hess after Moses Hess, thinker and early socialist Zionist. That year also saw the establishment of the clinic and the planting of the first orchards.
1935 – Construction of the synagogue; arrival of 23 Dutch cows and the first dairy; establishment of the regional school in Tel Mond.
1936 – First resident wounded by gunfire from the direction of Tira.
1938 – Paving of the road to Tel Mond; connection of the moshav to the electricity grid (individual homes were connected only in 1946).
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Sources
Documents from the Tel Mond Bloc Settlement Documentation Center.
Collected by Ilan Zuckerman.
The Book of Kfar Hess, edited by Yaakov Ben-Zioni.
Written by: Ilan Zuckerman; Ofer Bord
Dates: Dates are approximate unless an archival source is specifically cited.
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The Founding Date of the Moshav?
Based on the above, several dates may be considered significant, all of them valid options.
Recommendation: 1930 or 1931
• October 25, 1929 – JNF completes the purchase of the first 500 dunams.
• Spring 1930 – First huts and citrus nursery established.
• November–December 1930 – First plowing.
• December 18, 1930 – First assembly of founding members on the land.
• January 5, 1931 – Completion of first plowing.
• 1931 – Establishment of the temporary neighborhood.
• 1932 – First well drilled; fence built.
• 1933 – Settlement of the first 26 permanent houses; planting of orchards; subsequent settlement of the remaining 54 families.
Prepared by: Ofer Bord, 10.2.2010