The Water Tower

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At the beginning of the last century, a water tower was usually built in every town, in order to collect water in case of an emergency. 

The tower was built in a high location in order to increase the water pressure. Due to the height of these towers, they were also used as lookout points and signaling towers. The tower in front of us is located at the highest point in the moshav. 

It was built in 1929, two years after the moshav was founded. The identity of the tower’s planner is unknown, and it may have been planned by the builders themselves, farmers who lived in the moshav who were skilled in construction. Its design is especially elaborate, in contrast with the simple model by which water towers were built during those times. The base of the tower is octagonal, and there are three levels. The top level - shaped like a barrel - was used as the pool. 

The two first levels were used to elevate it. Their shape - pillars and arches - is reminiscent of ornate buildings from ancient times and from the Renaissance period, like the Colosseum in Rome. By the way, the arches were not included for any engineering purpose, since the tower was not built of stone bricks, but rather cast of cement. In fact, building these arches required special effort, because special molds were needed made of rounded boards. 

The pillars of the tower are also uniquely shaped: their profile is not square, but rather graded, with three layers. Their beautiful shape and the extensive height of the pillars create a cathedral-like atmosphere. In the middle level, above the arch, the date was cast out of cement - 1929, as well as a Star of David, giving the structure a historical, Jewish, and Zionist identification mark. The complex temple-style design of the structure, and the intensive efforts that were put into its construction during difficult days of economic distress, express the historical mindset of the pioneers and the sense of renewal and optimism that characterized them. 

In his testimony, one of the founders, Eliyahu Amitzur, related: “Our tower is not like the simple tower of Nahalal. When we built it, we felt as if we were building a structure that resembles ancient synagogues in the land of Israel, like the Hurva of Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid in Jerusalem.”