# Ein Zeitim > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ein_Zeitim > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ein_Zeitim.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Zeitim > Source revision: 1351571160 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Agricultural settlement north of Safed}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Ein Zeitim | native_name = עין זיתים | native_name_lang = he | settlement_type = Agricultural settlement | image_skyline = Ein Zeitim ii.jpg | established_title = First established | established_date = 1891 | founder = Dorshei Zion society from Minsk | population_total = 100 | population_as_of = 1947 | area_total_km2 = 4.3 | pushpin_map = Israel northeast | pushpin_label_position = bottom | coordinates = {{Coord|32|59|50|N|35|29|9|E}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Ottoman Empire (1891–1917) | subdivision_type1 = Subsequent countries | subdivision_name1 = * Mandatory Palestine (1917–1948) * Israel (1948–1951) | other_name = Spring of Olives | footnotes = Eventually ceased to be populated and became part of a military base. }} '''Ein Zeitim''' ({{langx|he|עין זיתים}}, lit. ''Spring of Olives'') was a Jewish agricultural settlement about {{Convert|2|km}} north of [Safed](/source/Safed) established in 1891 that carried on the name of a historic Jewish community dating back to the Middle Ages.{{cite book|author=Jacob Goldstein|title=From fighters to soldiers: how the Israeli defense forces began|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9FjbCXPixYIC&pg=PA9|accessdate=16 May 2011|date=April 1998|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-902210-02-5|pages=9–}} The community ultimately faded out, facing a combination of agricultural challenges, a declining population after [World War I](/source/World_War_I) and the departure of the remaining inhabitants after three residents were killed in the [1929 Palestine riots](/source/1929_Palestine_riots). An [Israel Defense Forces](/source/Israel_Defense_Forces) military base was later established at the site. ==History== thumb| The three locations of Ein Zeitim on a map published in 1952. From bottom to top, medieval ('Ein az-Zeitun), 1891 and 1946. The green highlights show 1940s village boundaries. The original Ein Zeitim was inhabited by Jews in the 11th century. By the 16th century, 40 [Musta'arabi Jewish](/source/Musta'arabi_Jews) families lived there, and a yeshiva was founded there by [Moshe ben Machir](/source/Moshe_ben_Machir). Further Jews moved to Ein Zeitim after the damaging [1837 Galilee earthquake](/source/1837_Galilee_earthquake).{{Cite web |title=EIN ZEITIM |url=https://judaism_enc.en-academic.com/5568/EIN_ZEITIM |access-date=2026-04-24 |website=Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |language=en}}thumb|Villages around Safad, 1945 The new Ein Zeitim was founded in 1891 by members of the Dorshei Zion (Seekers of Zion) society, a [Zionist](/source/Zionist) pioneer group from [Minsk](/source/Minsk).{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10835-007-9045-4 | doi=10.1007/s10835-007-9045-4 | title=Jewish rural settlement in Cyprus 1882–1935: A "springboard" or a destiny? | date=2007 | last1=Ben-Artzi | first1=Yossi | journal=Jewish History | volume=21 | issue=3–4 | pages=361–383 | s2cid=154272861 | url-access=subscription }} [Sender Trovitz](/source/Sender_Trovitz), a merchant and civic leader of nearby Safed, was among those who purchased land and helped develop the Ein Zeitim colony.[https://www.tidhar.tourolib.org/tidhar/view/1/449 Sender Trovitz], ''[Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel](/source/Encyclopedia_of_the_Founders_and_Builders_of_Israel)''. Accessed April 28, 2026. Despite strong opposition by the government of the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire), the settlers established farms with olive groves, orchards and dairy and poultry.{{cite book | title=Jewish Villages in Israel | author=Jewish National Fund | author-link=Jewish National Fund | year=1949 | publisher=Hamadpis Liphshitz Press | location=Jerusalem | pages=40–41}} Ein Zeitim was built {{convert|800|m}} north of the Arab village [Ein al-Zeitun](/source/Ein_al-Zeitun), which had commonly been called Ein Zeitim in Hebrew and had been a mixed Arab-Jewish village during the Middle Ages.{{cite book|author1=Alex Carmel |author2=Peter Schafer |author3=Yossi Ben-Artzi | title = The Jewish Settlement in Palestine, 634-1881 | publisher = Wiesbaden : Reichert | year = 1990 | pages = 94}}; for location, "Safad 1:100000" map by Dept. of Lands & Surveys, 1935. A group of laborers bought {{Convert|430|ha}} of land about {{Convert|3|km}} north of Safed from speculators who had first purchased the land in 1891. Unable to work the land properly, the new owners transferred it to [Baron de Rothschild](/source/Edmond_James_de_Rothschild), with whose assistance 750,000 vines and many fruit-trees were planted in the course of six or seven years, and during this time a number of houses were built. The population in 1898 was 51.{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1901 |title=Agricultural Colonies in Palestine |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=907&letter=A&search=zeitun |last=Rosenthal |first=Herman |volume=1}} The village was abandoned during the [first World War](/source/World_War_I) and only a handful of residents returned at the end of the war.{{cite news|title = Three new villages in N. Palestine | newspaper = Palestine Post | date = 18 January 1946 | page = 1}} The [1922 census of Palestine](/source/1922_census_of_Palestine) recorded a population of 37 inhabitants, consisting of 30 Jews and 7 Muslims.{{cite book | editor = J. B. Barron | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 | publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923 | at = p. 41 Table XI }} During the [1929 Palestine riots](/source/1929_Palestine_riots), three residents were killed and the remainder left. Six Muslims and one Jew were recorded there in 1931, living in four houses.{{cite book | editor = E. Mills | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932 | page = 106}} An attempt to revive the village in 1933 failed. thumb|250px|Builders in Kibbutz Ein Zeitim, 1947 In 1946 the village was reestablished after the [Jewish National Fund](/source/Jewish_National_Fund) acquired the land. It had a population of 100 in 1947, but by the end of 1951 the population had fallen to 40.Government of Israel, ''Government Year-book 5713 (1952)'', Supplement page VI. Eventually, it ceased to be populated and it became part of a military base.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}} thumb|View of Ein Zeitim. 1947 ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * {{Cite book|author1=Frederick Martin|author2=Sir John Scott Keltie|author3=Isaac Parker Anderson Renwick |author4=Mortimer Epstein |author5=Sigfrid Henry Steinberg |author6=John Paxton|title=The Statesman's year-book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TR8NAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1372|accessdate=16 May 2011|year=1922|publisher=St. Martin's Press|pages=1372–}} * {{Cite book|author=Arthur Koestler|title=Promise and fulfilment: Palestine 1917-1949|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KoVtAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 May 2011|year=1983|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-35152-9}} * {{Cite book|author1=Fred Skolnik|author2=Michael Berenbaum|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JD0OAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 May 2011|year=2007|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House|isbn=978-0-02-865943-5}} * {{Cite book|author=J. Bowyer Bell|title=The long war: Israel and the Arabs since 1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubFtAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 May 2011|year=1969|publisher=Prentice-Hall|isbn=9780135406175 }} ==External links== *[http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Ludza/Rezekne/EinZaitim/EZ_history.html Ein Zeitim in history] {{Authority control}} Category:Former kibbutzim Category:Populated places established in 1891 Category:Jewish villages in the Ottoman Empire Category:Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine Category:1891 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Category:1929 Palestine riots --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ein Zeitim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Zeitim) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Zeitim?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.