A Brief History of Time

1925–1926: Meetings of activists aimed at establishing cooperative settlements and contributing to land purchases for the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Member Y. Magli is tasked with preparing a settlement plan and recruiting members.
1927–1928: Organization of labor groups from across the country to establish an agricultural settlement based on the following principles: settlement on national land, self-labor, mutual aid, and organized marketing.
27 January 1928: A unanimous decision is made to name the organization and intended settlement “Herut” (Freedom). Most of the members are wage laborers in the orchards of surrounding moshavot, seeking to establish the settlement in the “orchard zone” of the Sharon region, which is rapidly developing due to land acquisitions and citrus planting by Lord Melchett (Mond) and the Palestine Plantations Company.; Herut members collect funds and transfer them to Yehoshua Hankin, representative of the Settlement Foundation, to purchase land. Approximately 1,425 dunams are acquired and transferred to the JNF for the establishment of Moshav Herut.; The Herut organization sets up a citrus nursery in Kfar Saba to ensure ready seedlings are available when settling the land.
1928: Three organizations - Herut, Yizra’el (Kfar Hess), and the Tel Aviv Agricultural Organization (Ein Vered) - join forces in preparation for settlement in the “orchard bloc.”
1929: The Tel Mond colony is established, and citrus planting begins. Workers, including Herut members, take part in the planting and reside in a shared labor camp in the colony.
1930: First settlement and plowing. A central residential shack and a livestock shed are constructed. Communal living begins, including a shared kitchen for members on site.; The new settlement is named “Herut Yehuda” by the settlement authorities to mark 1,800 years since the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The name was taken from ancient coins inscribed with “Herut Yehuda.”
1932: Communal life continues. The first “Shechta Well” is dug. The nursery team from Kfar Saba arrives with shacks and seedlings, and orchard planting begins.; Architect Richard Kaufmann designs the moshav’s layout: residential plots, roads, and public institutions.; One room in the general shack is converted into a kindergarten.
1933: Plots are allocated by lottery. Pioneering members move to their individual plots, constructing residential shacks and usually stone-built cowsheds.; The “commercial center” is established - a large shack serving as a grocery, feed mill, and dairy collection center.
1934: The first water tower is built, along with a concrete kindergarten and clinic for protection against gunfire.
1935: Planting of the second orchard sector on the eastern side of the moshav. Floods bury part of the young orchards under debris.
1936: First citrus fruits are harvested and marketed through Tnuva Export.; The Arab Revolt breaks out - gunfire, sabotage, arson, and theft by local Arab villagers. Members guard property and lives at night. Defensive outposts and barbed wire fences are built around the moshav.; The residential shack is moved to the moshav center and becomes the cultural hall, synagogue, and winter packing house.; High-quality cows are imported from Holland and distributed among members.
1938: Fourteen members from the “Darom” (South) organization join Herut, expanding the moshav eastward.; A second water tower is built, also serving as a lookout post.; Land mines are discovered on the road to Tel Mond. A bridge is built over Nahal Herut, and a new access road is paved, causing friction with local Arab residents.; A special fund is allocated to purchase a communal radio, placed in the culture shack.; First cow theft in Herut and Tel Mond Bloc traced to Tira; British police hesitate to pursue.
1939: World War II begins. Citrus exports to England cease. Fruits are picked and dumped in pits.; A shack is purchased from a family moving to permanent housing and turned into a youth club.; Sports facilities and ornamental trees are added around the club.
1940: Two members, Eliyahu Cohen and Moshe Kurzman, enlist in the British Army and are captured by German forces in Greece.; The economic situation deteriorates. Morale is low due to German and Italian victories in North Africa and growing concern for European Jewry.; Rose cultivation develops in the moshav.
1941: Ten members enlist in the British Army. Some serve locally, others in Egypt and the Western Desert.; The Haganah conducts arms training in preparation for a potential German invasion. Emergency plans are drafted.
1942: Allied forces win the Western Desert Campaign. Thousands of Italian POWs are brought to Palestine. A POW camp is established near the moshav and becomes a logistical base for the British Army, aiding agricultural development and improving economic conditions.
1944: Construction of a permanent grocery building, feed store, and potato storage facility.; Weapons are gathered and hidden in secret caches.; The moshav shelters and absorbs Jewish deserters from General Anders’ Polish Army who wish to stay in Palestine.
1945: World War II ends. POWs return home. Demobilized soldiers resume farm work.; The Holocaust is confirmed. Nearly every moshav family has lost relatives.; An avian flu outbreak forces the destruction of all poultry.
1946: Security preparations intensify. Weapons are collected and members train under British surveillance.; British forces conduct searches and impose curfews in nearby settlements.; Herut women work at the secret arms factory “Machon Sela” near Pardes Ziv.; The first moshav wedding: Shulamit Weisvetter is married in the kindergarten yard.
1947: On the eve of the UN Partition Plan vote, tension rises.; Around 30 child Holocaust survivors from Romania are welcomed into members’ homes.
1948: Israel’s War of Independence.; Fallen soldiers from Herut:

• Zafrir Carmeli (Castel) • Eitan Har-Nesher (near Atlit) • Bezalel Rapoport (Beit ‘Afa, Negev) • Avraham Arieli (Kfar Yabez)

The moshav fortifies itself. Residents fight on various fronts. Youth assist in security tasks.
1949: The war ends. The hostile village of Tira is incorporated into Israel; Miski village is erased.; Herut’s land expands from 1,500 to 3,850 dunams.
1950: The moshav expanded both in land and in membership. Twenty new families—Holocaust survivors and immigrants from Egypt—joined the community. Until their permanent homes were built, they were housed in tents and tin shacks located at the center of the village. During this period, the general store (consumer cooperative) moved into a permanent structure.; A heavy snowfall blanketed Herut and the entire region. Due to severe flooding, children from nearby transit camps were hosted by families in the moshav.; The area of irrigated farmland increased, and new vegetable crops were introduced to meet the growing demand driven by a rising national population following the waves of immigration. Poultry houses and new agricultural buildings were constructed. A shared workshop and garage were established to service tractors and agricultural equipment, centralizing the tools required to work the newly acquired fields.
1951: A central packing house was constructed in the heart of the moshav, replacing the small, scattered packing facilities previously located within the orchards. Members of the expansion group moved into the homes built on their designated agricultural plots. To support the growing dairy and poultry sectors, the moshav began cultivating field crops in southern Israel, ensuring a reliable supply of wheat and barley.; This period in Israel was marked by austerity and rationing—basic foodstuffs and clothing were distributed according to an allocated points system.
1952: The Youth Club is built and named in memory of the sons who fell in the war. A grove is planted around the clubhouse. Local youth volunteer for paid work, donating their wages toward the construction of the new facility.
1953: Members and children of the moshav volunteer to assist and guide residents of new immigrant moshavim.
1953–1954: Extensive planting of citrus orchards across members’ plots. The agricultural sector experiences significant growth. There is a wave of thefts—especially cattle—by infiltrators crossing the border.
1955: The moshav celebrates its 25th anniversary.
1956: Increased incidents of cross-border infiltration for theft and attacks lead to IDF reprisal operations and the Sinai Campaign. Gideon Pick falls in the battle of Qalqilya; Roni Fishbein is killed in the Mitla Pass battle during the Sinai Campaign.
1957: The community center (Beit Ha’am) is built. Film screenings, which had previously rotated through the moshav—in summer projected on the walls of the supply shed and youth club, in winter held indoors—are now centralized in the new facility.
Beit Ha’am becomes the hub for communal events and holiday celebrations. The supply depot is upgraded and relocated; a grain silo is constructed. Citrus fruit packing is transferred to more modern regional packing houses. A period of “Cattle Survey” begins, marked by disputes and stormy meetings concerning poultry feed prices.
1958: Following a proposal by the Moshav Movement to legislate a “Moshav Law” in the Knesset, strong opposition arises among members of Moshav Herut.
1958–1963: Rapid agricultural development. Moshav Herut becomes the largest citrus grower among moshavim. Extensive vegetable farming, especially autumn tomatoes, flourishes—no land lies fallow.
Tractors replace draft animals, eliminating the need for a central repair garage. The former garage is converted into a central sorting shed for tomatoes. The moshav purchases approximately 120 dunams of fruit-bearing orchards from “Matai Eretz Yisrael” in Tel Mond, enabling expansion members to earn immediate income. The land is transferred to KKL-JNF.
1964
1967
1968–1970
1971: Naftali Levin falls in the line of duty. Zeev Ofer falls during an operational mission over Sinai.
1973: Yom Kippur War. Most men are mobilized; women manage the farms. Labor shortages lead local schoolchildren to volunteer for tomato harvesting.
1976: The swimming pool is established. The chick hatchery and breeding operations shut down. The vacant structure is converted into the “Beit HaHever” (Community House) and a synagogue, which until then had rotated between various buildings.
1977: Yossi Yafe falls in the line of duty.
1980: Floriculture for export begins. The fields are filled with greenhouses covered in plastic sheeting.
1981: The moshav celebrates its 50th anniversary. The outdoor stage and amphitheater are constructed.
1987: A hidden underground weapons cache (“silik”) from the British Mandate period is discovered in the moshav’s fields.
1992: A decision is made to establish a “Sons’ Neighborhood.” Every farming household in the moshav is entitled to a plot.
1997–1998: A lottery for neighborhood plots is held in the presence of the moshav’s attorney, Tzipi Livni. Construction begins and the neighborhood is populated.
1999: “Hadar HaSharon” elementary school, including a kindergarten wing, is established on moshav land. A joint municipal committee is formed between the agricultural society and the residents of the new neighborhood.
2000: With the addition of new residents, another preschool for ages 4–5 is opened.
2002: First elections are held for the local committee. The moshav landfill site is closed and replaced by the “Hill Garden” park. A decision is made to add 25 more housing units to the neighborhood.
2003: “Beit HaHever” is renovated and upgraded. A memorial corner is established in honor of the fallen.
2005: Development in the original moshav includes sidewalk paving and road resurfacing. Street names are officially assigned. The new neighborhood begins to be populated.
2006: Ran Kochva falls in battle during the Second Lebanon War.
2007: New residents bring a rise in the number of preschoolers, leading to the opening of a third preschool class for ages 4–5. Elections are held for a second term of the local committee.
2008–2009: The original moshav is connected to the central sewage system. Infrastructure improvements—including lighting, sidewalks, and roads—are completed throughout the moshav. Water systems are separated for drinking water and agricultural use.
2010: The poultry industry declines. The feed warehouse is shut down. The moshav marks its 80th anniversary with a year full of celebratory events.

- Written by: Asa Bartov, Moshav Herut, 2004