This weeks destination is Moshav Kfar Malal, situated about 25 kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv between Raanana and Hod Hasharon.
Kfar Malal was founded in 1911 as a small farming settlement named Ein Hai, composed of individually owned plots of land which had been purchased for them by the Hovevei Zion movement.
The village of Ein Hai was renamed as Kfar Malal in 1914 in honour of a leading Hovevei Zion member, Moshe Leib Lilienblum (1843-1910), whose acronym was MLL.
Kfar Malal has had an extremely violent and traumatic history, having been occupied and destroyed on three separate occasions, with the residents returning each time to rebuild their homes.
During the First World War, the village was occupied by the Ottoman Turko/German forces in May 1918, which resulted in 12 residents being expelled and exiled on suspicion of them being enemy agents. Kfar Malal was later the site of a battle between the Ottoman army and the British led Egyptian Expeditionary Force in September 1918, during which the residents fled while all their buildings were destroyed. During July 1919 the residents returned and the village was reestablished, with each resident receiving a 10-acre plot of land, rather than the 2 acres that they had previously owned.
Trauma returned on 3 May 1921 in the form of Arab riots that had broken out with attacks on Jews in Jaffa, rapidly spreading to include attacks on Jewish settlements across Palestine, with Kfar Malal once again totally destroyed. Following the riots, the Jewish National Fund acquired the land and reestablished the village as Moshav Kfar Malal, with the residents once again rebuilding their homes on the newly established moshav.
The moshav was allowed to progress and grow in relative peace until the outbreak of new Arab riots in August 1929. Kfar Malal was once again attacked with the residents having to defend themselves and their property against the marauders who partially destroyed buildings on the moshav, which was subsequently rebuilt for a third and last time.
Eighteen months before the 1929 riots another event took place on Kfar Malal that would have a profound effect on the State of Israel. Shmuel and Vera Sheinerman welcomed a baby boy, born on 26 February 1928, who was named him Ariel.
Ariel Sheinerman would grow up to become Ariel (Arik) Sharon, a legendary soldier turned politician, eventually serving from 7 March 2001 – 14 April 2006 as Israel’s 11th prime minister.
Sharon suffered a severe stroke on 4 January 2006, although his term as prime minister officially ended just over 3 months later on 14 April 2006. Sharon remained in a permanent coma until his passing on 11 January 2014. The date was also Tu Bishvat of that year and the analogy can be made that a tree of Israel had fallen on that day to be returned to the earth.
Other notable dates in the annals of Kfar Malal
1930 - The Kfar Malal school housed in a newly built double-storey building was established, providing schooling for children from the surrounding villages.
1934 - The village dairy joined the Tnuva Dairy farmers cooperative. The first branch of the Ein Hai Bank to serve moshav residents was opened the same year. The bank was later acquired by Bank Hapoalim.
1935 - The Aharonovich Education House, later the Aharonovich Sharon Primary School was opened on Kfar Malal. The school which is now situated on Moshav Newe Yarak close to Kfar Sava is the oldest school in the Southern Sharon regional Council.
2006 - Kfar Malal Park Industries Ltd., which is owned by the members of Moshav Kfar Malal participated in the redevelopment of Park Azorim in Petah Tikvah. The Ofer Park (previously Park Azorim), is co-owned by Melisron Ltd. and Kfar Malal and compares with leading Hi-tech parks in Israel and Europe. The park is home to a variety of the world's largest international companies.
Kfar Malal is also home to several companies in the medical technology and pharmaceutical fields.
The moshav also has a museum and several buildings that have been declared Heritage Sites, well worth visiting when you’re in the area.