Rosh Pina

Rosh Pina—literally "cornerstone"—gets its name from Psalm 118:22: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." This verse inspired the Galilee's first Zionist pioneers, who came from Romania in 1882, determined to build a village. They bought this land, 1,500 feet above sea level at the foot of the mountain ridge east of Tzfat, and arrived with all they needed for their new home, right down to the timber for construction.

The Romanians derived their main livelihood at Rosh Pina from the production of silk by silkworms; the philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild donated the necessary mulberry trees. However, the rewards of their efforts were elusive: residents walked around in silk scarves and socks but had nothing to eat. Eventually, the immigrants moved away to other settlements, and for decades the village was inhabited only by squatters.