The building that currently houses the Secretariat and Members’ Club was originally a private agricultural homestead.
Due to the challenges of farming and livelihood, the original owners abandoned the property and relocated to the city. In exchange for the outstanding debt, the local cooperative society acquired the homestead for public use.
The house originally consisted of two rooms, a kitchen, and an open veranda. In the yard were an outhouse, a chicken coop, and a cowshed. Over the years, the house served a variety of functions. One room was used to store the moshav’s legal firearms; the kitchen became the library; and the open veranda was enclosed and converted into the secretariat office. Later, the weapons room was relocated to the renovated cowshed, and the partition wall between the two rooms was removed to create a reading and event hall.
The moshav’s first telephone, with the number 207, was also installed in this building. To place an external call, one had to dial 0 to reach the operator in Ra’anana and request a connection.
During the War of Independence, the hall served as the headquarters for the local Palmach standby squad, composed of armed residents of Herut. After the war, the hall was repurposed as the moshav’s hatchery, where eggs were incubated and chicks hatched. Eventually, the hatchery moved to a separate building in the yard, which today serves as the Community House and synagogue. The library, once located in the kitchen, was moved to the youth club, and the previously removed wall between the rooms was rebuilt. For a period, part of the house also served as staff housing for public workers.
Since the early 1950's, the building has served exclusively as the Secretariat of Moshav Herut, in its current form.
- Assa Bartov