Ben Shemen

Ben Shemen (Hebrew: בֶּן שֶׁמֶן) is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In 2014 it had a population of 824.

Etymology

The village's name is taken from Isaiah 5:1;

and also reflects the JNF's planting of olive trees in this area.

History

The moshav was originally founded in 1905, and was one of the first villages established on Jewish National Fund land; the first Jewish National Fund forest is also located in Ben Shemen. In 1923 it was split in two, with a group of trial farms eventually becoming a separate moshav, Kerem Ben Shemen.

The Ben Shemen Youth Village was established adjacent to the moshav in 1927 and is today a large agricultural boarding school.

During World War II, Ben Shemen was the site of a British search for weapons. Similar searches were a common British response to Jewish opposition to the White Paper of 1939. In 1947 Ben Shemen had a population of 75. The village experienced extensive damage during the early days of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war and had to be reconstructed.Immigrants from Romania joined the moshav in 1952. Some houses were built by Bezalel Academy of Art and Design founder Boris Schatz.