Yesod HaMa’ala, founded in 1883 on the western edge of the Hula Valley, is one of the oldest Jewish agricultural settlements in the Galilee. Like its neighbor Rosh Pina, it was established by First Aliyah immigrants who came to farm a land they barely knew. The settlement’s name means “Foundation of the Ascent,” reflecting both the physical climb into the Galilee and the spiritual aspiration of returning to the Land of Israel.
The Early Struggle
The founders, mostly religious Jews from Romania, faced the same brutal conditions as other early settlements: malaria from the nearby Hula swamps, rocky soil, hostile neighbors, and chronic lack of funds. Baron Rothschild‘s financial support was essential to the settlement’s survival, as it was for most of the First Aliyah colonies.
The Hula Connection
Yesod HaMa’ala’s location on the edge of the Hula Valley meant that its farmers were among the first to work the valley’s rich but malaria-plagued land. The draining of the Hula swamps in the 1950s transformed the area from a death trap into one of Israel’s most productive agricultural regions.
Today, Yesod HaMa’ala is a quiet moshava with a small museum documenting its founding and a view of the Hula Valley that its founders would recognize, minus the malaria.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Hoshen Tours includes Yesod HaMa’ala in pioneer-themed itineraries that trace the story of Jewish settlement in the Galilee, from the first colonies to the modern communities of the north.