Back to Ludza Home PageThe Baron was trying to save the settlement, and therefore there was more planting: 40,000 grapevines – in place of those that had died, 5,500 strawberries, 2000 olive trees, 2,000 fig trees. About 2,300 Malaga grapevines were grafted, some of the grapes were already eatable (aralala) [74]. Twelve families from Safed came to settle. During the next ten years, the number of families reached 18, and they lived in six stone houses [75]. In 1897, a few of the members of the organization from Rezekne came on Aliyah and there was again a problem about whom the property belonged to. The ICA [76] pressed that the members of the organization who still lived in Rezekne should give up their rights or come on Aliyah and use them. It was felt that it was a shame to reject worthy settlers who already lived on the land. This dispute continued for quite a for years. The two groups continued to live together, but the number of residents on the whole dwindled. In 1910, there were only four farmers left. In 1912, the RIDBAZ (Rabbi David Ben Zev Vilovsky) settled here. He was previously the Rabbi of Slozak and the head of a Yeshiva in Safed [77].
Because of the enthusiasm of Rabbi Fishman-Maimon, there was a new interest in Ein Zeitim. Rabbi Fishman Maimon, who was one of the great (religious) Zionist leaders, became fascinated with Ein Zeitim. He was among those who tried to help this settlement in order to make a historical sight reborn.
This connection began when Raskin was a guest of Rabbi Mimon. He sold him a few hundred dunam of land in Ein Zeitim, for the Jews of Bessaraabia. Then the Rabbi also became a potential settler in the settlement. Rabbi Berenblat who was influenced by Rabbi Maimon, came to Ein Zeitim, and others were to follow. Rabbi Maimon visited the settlement a few times, when he visited Safed, and dreamed of the past and the future of this place. He visioned the great Rabbis in Safed of the sixteenth century among them Rabbi Jacob Berb. It is possible that this was what caused him to fight for the rebirth of the Sanhedrin (the ancient law making body) [78].
The first stage of abandonment officially took place during World War One, because of the security situation, in addition to taxes, a dwindling population, and agricultural problems [79]. During the British Mandate, Ein Zeitim signified a dangerous place for the travelers to and from Safed [80]. Yet, it is known of an Aliyah from Rezneke at this period, by members of families that had previously acquired the land. A member of the Harmatz family came to live in Ein Zeitim [81]. More members of the Mann (Mantipol) family planned to come, and had three portions of land reserved for them; but they were killed in the Russian Civil War of 1917 [82]. The Feliner Family came on Aliyah to Ein Zeitim and the husband was in charge of the land that belonged to the Rezekne community [83]. A member of theLieb Vachnin Family came to settle in Ein Zeitim in 1925, but moved on to Tel Aviv a while later. Their daughter [84] and her husband tried to receive the money for the value of their land in Ein Zeitim after the State was founded. The matter was checked out in the “Tabu” office in Tiberius. It seems that people from Safed took over the property and, in the end nothing could be done [85].
A few attempts were made to resettle Ein Zeitim, but none of them have been successful. Some of the old settlers and some new ones from Safed resettled it in 1925. They renovated the houses, cared for the planted trees, and dug a well in the neighboring valley. The settlement was gaining strength [86]. Before the settlement took root it abandoned again during the riot of 1929. On the day of the riot, the Arabs of Safed and Ein Zatun attacked it. Then there were only a few residents there, for some had gone to help the police in Safed. An old couple was burned to death inside their house, which was tied with a metal cord [87]. It is known that Haim Feliner and his wife were burned to death in this riot, as was Hornheim. There was a memorial service for the couple in Rezekne [88]. All the houses were ruined. A few of the residents managed to escape. Only after a week, was it possible to examine the damage done [89].
It was resettled again in 1932 [90], by a group of young people from Safed; and again abandoned in 1936 because of the riots. It was resettled again in 1946 by Kibbutz Maganim of the Kibbutz HaMa'uchad organization Members of the Palmach founded Kibbutz Ein Zeitim. The kibbutz was located nearby and not actually on the site of the original settlement. It was a stronghold of the Palmach, which captured the land of the original settlement of Ein Zeitim during the beginning of May, 1948 and then from here, succeeded in freeing Safed [91]. Then it was again abandoned during the War of Independence, when it was almost completely destroyed, as it was associated with the blockade on Safed [92]. The Palmach abandoned their Kibbutz,, for they had come as soldiers , and not as settlers [93]. In 1955 Ein Zeitim was resettled again as a Moshav Ovdim, but was again abandoned due to agricultural problems [94], and was the turned into a Gadna base [95] - but this also failed [96]. A large part of the area that was once Ein Zeiim is now a part of the Biryah forest [97].