Some 155 pages, handwritten by Moshe David Schub, founder of the "moshava" Rosh Pina; draft copies of chapters from the book "Zikhronot LiVeit David…" ("Memories of the House of David: Seventy Years of Labor in the Field of Redemption and Settlement"), along with the manuscript to the second part of the book, never published in Schub's lifetime ("Milhemet HaShihrur MeHa-Apotropsut" – "The Battle for Liberation from Guardianship"). [Palestine, ca. 1930s]. Hebrew.
Moshe David Schub (1854-1938) was the founder of two of the earliest "moshavot" ("colonies") in the modern Land of Israel, Rosh Pina and Mishmar HaYarden. His book of memoirs, in Hebrew, titled "Zikhronot LiVeit David…" ("Memories of the House of David…") contains what is considered to be one of the most important and comprehensive accounts to have survived regarding life in the days of the First Aliyah.
The present manuscript represents a second part of this same book; under the title "Milhemet HaShihrur MeHa-Apotropsut" ("The Battle for Liberation from Guardianship"), it relates to the period in the history of the moshava Rosh Pina when it was under the aegis of "IKA, " the Jewish Colonisation Association. This part was never published during the author's lifetime, and remained unknown for many years.
The manuscript includes texts of protocols contained in record books Schub managed to locate with the assistance of the moshava's secretary. Some of these recovered records were in poor condition (apparently, some of the books Schub used for copying the texts were subsequently lost). Among the items cited in the manuscript are the following: a lengthy letter addressed to IKA's director, Émile Meyerson, describing the situation of Rosh Pina's farmers and their orchards, and mentioning the place names of lands purchased by the farmers, including Hajis, Hajyar, Biriya, and Mt. Canaan; a number of letters sent to the moshava Rishon LeZion; numerous texts copied from minutes of meetings; and more. Schub adds his own comments, prefaces, and explanations to some of the copied texts, and these addenda serve to shed more light on the subject of life in Rosh Pina. Additional versions exist for two of the chapters in the manuscript.
Enclosed alongside the manuscript are a number of draft copies of chapters included in the first, published part of "Zikhronot LiVeit David"; these drafts differ somewhat from the published version, and sometimes contain unpublished segments; for instance, on the journey from Beirut to Palestine ("And it so happened that as the first families of settlers traveled from Beirut via Sidon and arrived at the village of Hulda, behold, one of the ‘halutzot' [female pioneers], wife of R. Moshe Rosenfeld, who was pregnant, was suddenly overcome with birth pangs, and, mazel tov, she gave birth to a daughter"); the struggle over control of Rosh Pina's water sources ("The Sheikh appeared, riding his noble mare, with his sword dangling by his side, and with him was a regiment of horsemen and infantrymen ready for war… and the battle broke out in full force, two heroes, bold in spirit and courageous of heart, encircled the Bedouin… and one of the farmers of Rosh Pina, hero of the day, shot a stone directly at the head of the Sheikh, such that the latter was knocked off his mare and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely"); a description of the workshop run by students of the Bezalel School during the First World War; an intriguing portrayal of the 1929 Palestine riots in Safed ("In the house of Dr. Margaliyot there was one young woman who took shelter […] behind a closet, and the murderers, upon entering the room, violently shattered everything in their path, but the young woman they could not find…"); and more.

Moshe David Schub (1854-1938), among the leaders of the First Aliyah and founder of Rosh Pina and Mishmar HaYarden. Friend of Theodor Herzl. Born with the name Moshe Yankovitz, to a Hasidic family from Moinești (Western Moldavia, Romania). Adopted the name "Schub" as an acronymic reminder of his first profession as a Jewish ritual slaughterer and examiner ("Shochet U-Vodek"). Established the "Society for the Settlement of the Land of Israel by means of Working the Soil" in 1881. One year later, in 1882, he arrived in this country, leading a group of roughly 30 families. Together, they established a Jewish agricultural settlement on the lands of the village of al-Ja'una ("Gei Oni"), and named it "Rosh Pina" (lit. "Corner-Stone"; the name was derived from the biblical verse "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner", Psalms 188:22). Became the first director of the moshava Mishmar HaYarden, and the first teacher to follow the method of "Hebrew taught in Hebrew, " at a time when the dominant spoken language in the moshavot was Yiddish. Once Theodor Herzl's revolutionary book "Der Judenstaat" became available, he traveled to Vienna to pay a visit to Herzl, and a close friendship developed between the two. Indeed, Schub was among the people who came to greet Herzl when he arrived for his historic visit to Palestine in 1898, and accompanied him for the duration of his stay here. Moshe David Schub's books and other works represent an important historical source – on some matters, the lone source – with regard to the first years of modern Jewish settlement in the Galilee region.

Some 155 handwritten pages (roughly 120 tied together by a string). Size and condition vary (most leaves approx. 27 cm., some smaller). Overall condition good to good-fair. Stains and creases. Closed and open tears to edges (some reinforced with adhesive tape). Punch holes.

Also enclosed: • Four handwritten pages: biography of the physician Dr. Hayim Ya'akov Schub, son of Moshe David Schub, apparently handwritten by the latter. • Letter written by the editor Shlomo Avigdori, with a request to print excerpts from his book, in a booklet titled "BiSha'arei HaGalil" ("At the Gates of Galilee, " Tiberias, 1937).