Members of Hadassah's National Council on a Youth Aliyah Trip

The Meir Shfeyah Youth Village was founded following World War One as an orphanage for girls. Boys were accepted shortly thereafter. Located in the Jewish colony of Meir Shfeyah, near Zikron Ya’akov, the facility was situated on the site of previous youth facilities. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC, funded the orphanage through its Palestine Orphan Committee until 1925 when Junior Hadassah, a division of Hadassah for young, unmarried women, took over the responsibility after several years of supporting individual orphans. Meir Shfeyah Youth Village, alternately known as Meir Shfeyah Children's Village, became Junior Hadassah’s largest fundraising project. Junior Hadassah financed the institution’s expenses for three decades until turning over primary responsibility to the State of Israel’s Department of Agriculture in 1958. Although Junior Hadassah merged with other Hadassah divisions in 1967, Hadassah continued to provide support to the Meir Shfeyah Youth Village, which still exists today as a residential, comprehensive high school with an agricultural focus.As we enter the garden at Meier ShefeyaDigital imageDigital finding aid