Meir Shfeya

Meir Shfeya (Hebrew: מֵאִיר שְׁפֵיָה‎‎) is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in northern Israel. Located near Zikhron Ya'akov, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2006 it had a student population of 300.

History

Meir Shefya, 1925

The village was established in 1891 as a moshava adjacent to Zikhron Ya'akov. The name is a combination of Meir, named for Amschel Mayer (Meir) Rothschild, the grandfather of Baron Rothschild, and a distortion of Shveia, a nearby village.^[1]

In 1904 Israel Belkind, a founder of Bilu, established an educational institute in the village, which took in orphans from the Kishinev pogrom. This made it the first youth village in the country. He called it Kiryat Sefer.^[1]

In 1917 the Herzliya Hebrew High School was temporarily moved to the village due to the expulsion of Jews from Tel Aviv and Jaffa during World War I. World War I left many orphaned children in Jerusalem. A girls school called Aliza's care center, established in the yard of the Diskin Orphanage on Neviim Street with funding from the American Zionist women's organization, Hadassah, moved to Shfeya in 1923.^[1]

The village was used as a training base by the Hagana due to its remote location in a mountainous area. In 1957 it was made a partnership between the State and the organisation, and today exists as a youth village.

Notable residents

• Sara Levi-Tanai (1910-2005), choreographer and song writer

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Orphanage which became a youth village

External links

• Meir Shfeya Youth Village Ministry of Education

Coordinates: 32°35′25.22″N 34°58′14.3″E / 32.5903389°N 34.970639°E / 32.5903389; 34.970639