Photo Archive– “Mahaneh Israel” Settlement – “Agudat Israel” Pioneers in the Jezreel Valley, 1925-1926

Photo Archive– “Mahaneh Israel” Settlement – “Agudat Israel” Pioneers in the Jezreel Valley, 1925-1926
Archive of photographs, documenting the first attempts to build a settlement of “Agudat Israel” Pioneers in the Jezreel Valley, 1925-1926.
An important collection that includes thirty seven unknown photographs, that tell the forgotten story of the first pioneering attempt of its kind of Haredi Jews to establish an agricultural settlement in the Jezreel Valley.
At the first Large Conference of “Agudat Israel” in Vienna in 1923, among the resolutions passed, were the decisions to encourage settlement in Eretz Israel. A year later, “Agudat Israel” purchased about 4000 dunams of land in the Jezreel Valley, north of Afula, close to the Arab village Achsal. The land was divided into small plots and sold to Haredi buyers, mainly from Poland. In July 1925 the first group of pioneers settled the land and the settlement was named “Mahaneh Israel". Within a few months,the basic infrastructure was created, a carpentry workshop was established and residential huts were built. Wells were dug and a road was built to the place, and the land was made suitable for agriculture. During the same year, the “Agudat Israel” center in Frankfurt published a printed album containing photographs of the new settlement, to encourage additional buyers. (See below.) At the end of the year the place already had some 90 pioneers, mainly Hassidic youngsters from Poland, but various problems caused by lack of preparation and resources led to the official closure of the place in October 1926. After a second unsuccessful attempt the lands were rented out to Arabs and in the end the place was abandoned in 1932. In later years “Agudat Israel” made further attempts to return and settle the place, the last being in 1938 by the “Hafetz Hayim” group from Gedera and the “Kibbutz HaNoar HaAguddati” from Kfar Saba. The year was a Shemitta year and in the background were internal disagreements and various problems. The place was finally abandoned. Then the huts, the cow shed and the stables were dismantled, leaving only one stone building standing. [See attached material: Joseph Kopilevitz – "Agudat Israel Olah BeHomah – Hayishuv Mahaneh Israel Be Emek Yizreel", "Et-Mol", Issue 227, February 2013, pp. 21-24].
Here are rare photographs of the first attempt at settlement in the years 1925-1926. The collection includes photographs of the activities of the settlers, erection of houses, digging wells, and work in the fields; general view of houses in the settlement; group photo of the settlers, photographs of children and other residents; photographs of the synagogue and the “Heder”.
To the photographs is attached a printed booklet, “Album of the 'Agudat Israel' center for Eretz Israel Matters in Frankfurt am Main” Frankfurt, 1925. In this booklet are photographs of “Mahaneh Israel” (different from those in the photo collection) as well as plans and maps of the settlement. 37 photographs 16.5X17 cm. Good condition. Booklet 17.5X21 cm. poor condition, stains and damage from humidity.