The village was established in 1927 on the land of the Hadid factory by Siegfried Lehman. Lehman had previously intended to establish the village in the Harod Valley,[2] but decided against it after learning that Anopheles mosquitoes in the marshes could pose a deadly hazard to future students.[2] Joseph Jacobson, uncle of the philanthropist Eli Broad, was one of the community’s early founders.[3][4]
Its aim was to endow children with a Zionist ethic, teach them to work the land, and install an appreciation of responsibility.[2] Lehman instilled that the students should respect their Arab neighbours and their culture.[5] Most weekends, the students attended trips to the neighbouring Arab villages.[5] In addition, Arab performers such as musicians and dancers participated in Ben Shemen’s festivals.[5] Arab rural civilization was also studied and celebrated as part of an Orient fair.[5] Upon Lehman’s instructions, the youth village’s medical clinic also provided care to neighbouring Arabs that sought it.[6] Lehman also built a fountain at the gates to the village, for the benefit of Arab villagers.[6]
The school's first students were from Kaunas in Lithuania.[2]The youth village began with an enrolment roll of 15 students in 1927, increasing to 220 in 1931, and around 600 by 1946.[2] A swimming pool and sports fields were also developed.[2] Long red-roofed dormitories were built for the students.[2] The village also became home to a sheep pen, a horse stable, chicken coops, apiaries, a vineyard, a cowshed, a vegetable garden and wheat fields.[2]
In January 1940 British forces found an arms cache at the village.[7] In 1947 it had a population of roughly 1,000.[8] In June of that year, it was visited by the 11-person United Nations inquiry commission prior to their endorsement of a partition plan.[9] During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the isolated village was under siege by the Arab Legion; eleven youths were killed in one attempt to bring in supplies.[8] In February 1948 around four hundred students were evacuated from the village.[9]
In June 1957 the Elsa and Albert Einstein Agricultural School was opened in the youth village. At the time, the school anticipated serving 700 day students and 300 attending night school.[10]Albert Einstein allowed his name to be used and sent a message of greeting to the cornerstone ceremony in May 1954.[11]