thumb|The Ein Hay Museum building in Kfar Malal, which is responsible for the project of preserving the remnants of the historic Moshava.

Kfar Malal () is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population of . The history of the Moshava is intertwined with the history of settlement in the land of Israel in the years 1910–1960. The settlement was among the first worker's colonies ever established, and according to Dr. Yoel Pixler's estimate, it was the first actual worker's Moshava in the world already in 1919, even though it was not officially recognized as such, and the title is given to Nahalal.

History

thumb|Historic well of Kfar Malal

Before the 20th century, the area formed part of the Forest of Sharon. It was an open woodland dominated by Mount Tabor Oak, which extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra'anana in the south. The local Arab inhabitants traditionally used the area for pasture, firewood and intermittent cultivation. The intensification of settlement and agriculture in the coastal plain during the 19th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation.

The village was established in 1911 as "Ein Hai" (lit. Fountain of the Living) on privately owned land. The original name was based on the name of ruins previously located there, Khurbet el-Haiyeh.

The first incarnation of the historic Zionist Moshava began in the summer of 1912 by 12 farmers of the Second Aliyah, who built five large workers' huts on land allocated to the Moshava by the Odessa Committee of Lovers of Zion. In 1914 the Moshava included about 4,800 dunams of land. At the beginning of the year, several plans were put together to expand the Moshava and make other changes, such as turning the Moshava into a workers' Moshav, however these plans were not carried out due to the outbreak of World War I. A change that did take place was the name change of the Moshava to Kfar Malal, in memory of Moshe Leib Lilienblum. It was resettled by a group of laborers and ravaged again in the 1921 Jaffa riots.

In 1919 it was decided to rehabilitate the colony and resettle it, with the goal of establishing a workers' Moshav according to the vision of Eliezer Yaffe. For this purpose a new group of 18 settlers was organized, including two who were also part of the original founding nucleus in 1912, and returned to resettle Kfar Malal. With the renewal of the settlement, its members grew food for themselves, and also worked to cultivate various crops that would be suitable for agricultural activity in all seasons, including Oat, Vicia, watermelon fields, beehives and Vineyards. During this period the members also built the first stone houses of the settlement, and the dairy. Meanwhile, the Jewish National Fund expanded its lands in the area under its possession, by the end of 1920 there were about 1,250 dunams under the ownership of the Jewish National Fund in the areas of Kfar Malal.

On May 3, 1921, the settlement residents learned of a planned raid by Arab rioters on Kfar Malal and Kfar Saba, as part of the 1921 Jaffa riots. The settlement residents fled to Petah Tikva, and that night the raiders looted and burned down both settlements.

He also recalled that his mother slept with a rifle under her bed until her dying day due to the trauma of hiding in the cowshed with her children at night to escape roving Bedouin gangs.

In the early 21st century, they were preserved as part of the Ein Hay Museum project in Kfar Malal.

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File:כפר מלל - מראה.-JNF045146.jpeg|Kfar Malal 1943

File:Biyar 'Adas 1942.jpg|Kfar Malal 1942 1:20,000

File:Qalqilya 1945.jpg|Kfar Malal 1945 1:250,000

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Economy

In 2006, Malal Park Industries Ltd, co-owned by members of Kfar Malal, signed an agreement with the German bank Eurohypo AG to refinance Park Azorim in Kiryat Aryeh, Petah Tikva.

In 2009, NI Medical, a biotech company located in Kfar Malal, received approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a device that assesses left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). The device aids physicians in detecting heart failure in its pre-clinical, asymptomatic phase.

Notable people

  • Ariel Sharon (1928–2014), Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel.

References

  • Museum Ein Hay, Kfar Malal
  • Kfar Malal, A 100-year-old piece of history