Ein-Harod - The Tobacco Cultivation

Ein-Harod. The Tobacco Cultivation at the New Colony, Founded by the J.N.F. Eliahu Bros—Jaffa & Tel-Aviv.

Established in 1921, Ein Harod, located 25 kilometres southeast of Nazareth, close to Mount Gilboa, was a pioneering kibbutz and for many years home to one of the largest kibbutz associations, Hakibbutz Hame’uhad (United Kibbutz, established in 1927). It sought to foster kibbutzim combining the advantages of rural and urban existence and offering an ambitious intellectual and cultural life. Ein Harod created one of the first art museums—and the first purpose-built museum—in the Yishuv. Overseen for many years by the painter Haim Atar (1902–1953), it focussed on avantgarde rather than folk art. Its purpose-built premises were erected during the War of Independence—indicating how doggedly the project was pursued even at times of crisis. It houses works—often rescued before the Germans could loot them—by Jozef Israëls, Szmul Hirszenberg, Max Lieberman, Leonid Pasternak, Hermann Struck and Ephraim Moshe Lilien. The museum, which has since been enlarged, exists to this day.

The brothers Matityahu and Yossef Eliyahu were originally from Corfu. They ran the largest postcard business in the Yishuv prior to the Second World War.

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