Elyashiv

The moshav was founded on a site once occupied by the Arab village Khirbet esh Sheikh Mohammed ("The ruin of Sheikh Mohammed").^[2][3][4] Kh. esh Sheikh Muhammed became settled during the rule of Ibrahim Pasha, either by Egyptians or by hamulas (extended families) from mountain villages.^[5] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found that it consisted of a few adobe huts among ruins.^[6] Ancient glazed pottery has been found there.^[3]

Although Yemenite neighborhoods had been established near many agricultural settlements, it was not until 1930 that independent Yemenite settlements were approved.^[7] After a prolonged struggle by the Yemenite Workers Federation in Palestine, three moshav ovdim were established: Marmorek in 1930, Tirat Shalom in 1931, and Elyashiv on 13 November 1933.^[7][8] Of these, Elyashiv was the largest and the only one that survived as a moshav.^[7] The original fifty families were Yemenite Jews who had been in Palestine since the 1920s.^[7] They belonged to an organization of Yemenite Jews called "Shabazi", founded in Petach-Tikva in 1931.^[9] It is named after a high priest in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:1), and also in a symbolic meaning that God will return Israel back to their land.^[10][11]

The land for the moshav was provided by the Jewish National Fund, which had purchased a very large tract from a Lebanese Maronite in 1929 with the help of a bribe paid to the seller's legal representative.^[12] Agricultural instructors were provided by the Jewish Agency.^[13] However, unlike with other moshavot in the Hefer Valley, no financial assistance was provided by the moshav movement.^[14] The first decades were marked by continual conflict with the Jewish Agency.^[15]

The population was 310 in 1945 and 460 in 1952.^[8][16]

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  Elyashiv 1939
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  Elyashiv 1939 1:20,000
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  Vicinity of Yemenite moshav Elyashiv in 1941, with location of modern roads added in green
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  Elyashiv 1945 1:250,000