ROSH PINA

a view of Old Rosh Pina, courtesy, Wikpedia (Hebrew)

Rosh Pina is an Israeli town and local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee. It is situated on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District, roughly 5 miles north of the Sea of Galilee near the city of Safed. In 2019 it had a population of 3,148.

In Biblical times, the site of Rosh Pina was allotted to the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. Centuries later, during the Greek or Roman periods, a synagogue was built for the local inhabitants but it, as well as the rest of the town, was later abandoned, probably during the Byzantine period. Some time after the invasion of the Arabian caliph in the 7^th century, various Arab tribes arrived in the area and settled there. The site of Rosh Pina was then established as the Arab village of al-Jauna. Beginning in 1878, Jews began to return to the area. In 1878, al-Jauna sold half its lands, about 2,500 dunum, to a group of native-born Jews from Safed led by Elazar Rokah. Settling in the newly-purchased lands, they called their settlement Gei Oni ("Valley of my Strength") as a Hebrew adaptation of the Arabic name. They fostered friendly relations with their Arab neighbors and often allied with them when fighting off Bedouin raids. After one year of good harvests, a year of drought saw the Arabs mortgage their lands to money lenders, but the Jews were unwilling to do the same and left. In 1882, the settlement was renewed as a moshavah by immigrants from Romania, who named it Rosh Pina ("cornerstone") after Psalm 118:22: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone". A House of Dignitaries was built as a center of administration and finance for Rosh Pina as well as for other towns in the Galilee region. From this building, a loudspeaker was used to broadcast the local news. In 1883, the town became the first to come under the patronage of the Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. Rothschild's agent Joshua Ossovetski expanded the settlement with not only more land from al-Jauna but also from Safed. Eventually, about half a million grape-vines, and about 20,000 mulberry-trees would be planted. Rothschild's gardens were established in 1886, designed by a French landscape architect, with many plants such as Bougainvilleas and pine trees that were brought from France. Laurence Oliphant, a Christian Zionist and mystic from Britain, had visited Rosh Pina and later collected funds for the village from Christadelphians and other sympathizers in Britain. Good relations between Rosh Pina and al-Jauna had continued to persist over the years and in 1899, a modern Arab school was built in al-Jauna, courtesy of the people of Rosh Pina. Botanist Aaron Aaronsohn, while trekking around Rosh Pina during his 1906 field trip, discovered wild-growing emmer wheat, which was discovered to be the ancestor of most of today’s wheat grains. This was an important find for agronomists and historians of human civilization. The Mer house became the home of Professor Gideon Mer, a Lithuanian Jew who had settled in Rosh Pina in 1914. An expert on malaria and epidemiology, he was an important contributor to the eradication of malaria in the 1930s.

During the War in Independence in 1948, Rosh Pina became the location of Camp Philo of the Yiftach Brigade, a unit of the Palmach, later absorbed into the Israeli Defense Forces.

Today, some of the local sites include: Ben Ya'akov Airport located 1 mile from the town; the Mifne Center, a program for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder; Mitzpe HaYamim, a world-class spa; PICA (Palestine Jewish Colonization Association) House, originally an administrative center and residence for Baron de Rothschild’s clerks, advisors, and agricultural counselors, today, provides an audio-visual presentation of the story of Rosh Pina; the Pioneers National Restoration Site in old Rosh Pina; and the old silk factory.