Jewish Roots in the Jezreel Valley: The Untold Story of First Settlements

In the year 1910 (5670), Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wrote in his diary: "We departed from Jenin... Along the way, Arabs we encountered asked about Fula, bought by Jews, some with restrained resentment, and most with amazement. Even in distant villages three and four hours away, everyone spoke about it. Some were angry at Sursock for selling his land to the Jews. By the spring of Makbala, we met an old man who brought up the subject of Fula. When I asked him, 'What's the fuss over Jews buying a village?' he replied, 'It's certain, as we've been told by our ancestors, that if the Jews buy four paces and take a step in the Emeq Ibn Amar (Jezreel Valley), eventually the whole valley will be in their hands!".

So, why was the purchase of the land in Fula such a big deal?

The Jezreel Valley has been fertile since the era of the Judges, full of fields and vineyards, as well as many springs, like a paradise, praised by prophets. It was the center of King Ahab's reign, who was a great and successful king in physical terms.

However, after the destruction, our enemies laid the land to waste as the Torah promised, turning the great and fertile valley into ruins and barren land, as described by Mark Twain in 1867: "Not a single village is found along the entire Jezreel Valley, for a distance of thirty miles this way or that. Indeed, you may find two or three clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a permanent settlement—you could ride ten miles in this area without encountering even ten people. Regarding this area, one prophecy declared: 'I will make the land desolate'... No one can stand here by the desolate Ain el Malha and say that the prophecy has not been fulfilled".

The few Arabs who were here at the beginning of the 19th century did not succeed in settling in the valley. They lived on the mounds surrounding it, in poverty and with nothing, not knowing how to properly cultivate the land.

In 1910, Zionist activists succeeded in purchasing 10,000 dunams of "El-Fula" lands, owned by the Sursock family from Lebanon, but after the purchase, they had to endure further hardships with the Ottoman authorities. Before everything else, they had to find brave and daring settlers who would agree to settle in the heart of the great desolation, surrounded by Bedouins seeking their lives.

Yitzhak Elchanan Lebkov was born in Poltava, Ukraine, the town of the writer Sholom Aleichem. Raised religiously, the pogroms and persecutions of the late 19th century drove him to flee from this land of blood, where, every few years, rioters acted as they pleased against Jews. Thus, he rose and made his way to America. He financed the journey by working as a deckhand throughout the long voyage. Upon arriving in America, he declared himself a cobbler, as without a trade, entry was impossible. He was directed to Texas in the South, where cobblers were needed. After a long journey, repairing horse saddles to sustain himself, he arrived in Texas. It turned out that with horseback riding being important in Texan culture, he had plenty of work, and he amassed considerable money. He forgot his history and origins, living the American dream of a hundred years ago: horses and dollars...

Two months after his stay in Texas, while walking down one of the less traveled streets of the city, he suddenly heard a familiar melody: "To Him who examines hearts on the Day of Judgment... to Him who reveals the depths in justice...". It was Yom Kippur! And he was unaware... At that moment, he decided: if he's forgotten even Yom Kippur, he has no place on this continent, he'll go to the Land of Israel.

He said and did so. He ascended to the Land of Israel; the community leaders were impressed by his talents and abilities and appointed him to be one of the first group of settlers in El-Fula. Now they needed the local qaimakam's approval, the Turkish official, to measure the land. The delegation presented themselves to him repeatedly, but he postponed them time after time until he had an idea: he set the time for Erev Yom Kippur, thinking the Jews would not come, and he could blame them.

But Yitzhak Elchanan, who remembered how Yom Kippur brought him to the Land of Israel, decided he would not let the wicked gentile stall the settlement of the Land of Israel and came to the meeting on Erev Yom Kippur. The qaimakam knew that on this day, Jews pray Kol Nidre, but didn't know that before sunset, work was still permitted. Yitzhak Elchanan and his friend, Yirmiyahu Makler, arrived for the meeting, to the shock of the qaimakam. Time passed, and sunset approached. Yitzhak Elchanan decided that settling the Land of Israel took precedence (we will not delve here into whether he did right according to Jewish law; theoretically, there is a law permitting writing a document on Shabbat to purchase land in Israel, though in any case, a halachic authority's decision is needed. Our purpose here is merely to recount the story of a simple Jew, motivated by Jewish feeling), and declared loudly: "May it be Your will, Hashem, my God and God of my ancestors, that everything I do now to settle Your holy land be considered to me as the Yom Kippur fast, as the five afflictions and abstention from all work and rest." The measurements were completed, and approval was granted.

The settlement "El Fula", the first on the land of the Jezreel Valley, the first Jewish purchase in the Land of Israel, was established. Some of the first settlers had traditional leanings, but as difficulties increased, immigrants from "Hashomer Hatzair" were brought in, giving the place a secular character. On the lands of "El –Fula" later developed Kibbutz Merhavia on one hand, and the city of Afula on the other, carrying the Arabic name within it. Afula began as a secular city but absorbed many immigrants of Eastern heritage who maintained tradition, and today the sound of Torah can be heard within it, in Haredi neighborhoods, kollels, and yeshivas, may they continue to grow.