Rosh Pinna - History

History

Rosh Pinna (Hebrew: ראש פנה‎, lit. Cornerstone, alternate spelling: Rosh Pina) was one of the first modern Jewish agricultural settlements in history of the Land of Israel, then part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Rosh Pinna was established near the Arab village of al-Ja'una. In 1883, it became the first Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel to come under the patronage of the Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.

Gei Oni was founded in 1878 by Jews from Safed, some of whom were descended from Spanish Jews exiled in 1492. However it was abandoned after three years of drought. A year later, in 1882, a group of Romanian Jews built Rosh Pinna named for Psalm 118:22: "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner."

Laurence Oliphant collected funds for the settlement from Christadelphians and other sympathizers in Britain. He wrote about his visit to Rosh Pinna in 1886, "Jauna, which was the name of the village to which I was bound, was situated about three miles (5 km) from Safed, in a gorge, from which, as we descended it, a magnificent view was obtained over the Jordan valley, with the Lake of Tiberias lying three thousand feet below us on the right, and the waters of Merom, or the Lake of Huleh, on the left. The intervening plain was 3. rich expanse of country, only waiting development. The new colony hall been established about eight months, the land having been purchased from the Moslem villagers, of whom twenty families remained, who lived on terms of perfect amity with the Jews. These consisted of twenty – three Roumanian and four Russian families, numbering in all one hundred and forty souls. The greater number were hard at w ork on their potato-patches when I arrived, and I was pleased to find evidences of thrift and industry. A row of sixteen neat little houses had been built, and more were in process or erection. Altogether this is the most hopeful attempt at a colony which I have seen in Palestine. The colonists own about a thousand acres of excellent land, which they were able to purchase at from three to four dollars an acre. The Russians are establishing themselves about half a mile from the Roumanians, as Jews of different nationalities easily get on well together. They call the colony Rosch Pina, or "Head of the Corner," the word occurring in the verse," The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the comer."