Ben Shemen Youth Village כפר הנוער בן שמן‎
Ben Shemen Youth Village
Coordinates: 31°57′32″N 34°55′40″E / 31.95889°N 34.92778°E / 31.95889; 34.92778
Country	Israel
District	Central
Council	Hevel Modi'in
Founded	1927
Founded by	Siegfried Lehmann
Population  (2021)[1]	667
Website	www.ben-shemen.org.il

Ben Shemen Youth Village (Hebrew: כפר הנוער בן שמן, Kfar HaNo'ar Ben Shemen) is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in central Israel. Located near Ben Shemen and Ginaton, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 667.^[1]

History

The village was established in 1927 on the land of the Hadid factory by Siegfried Lehman. Its aim was to endow children with a Zionist ethic, teach them to work the land, and install an appreciation of responsibility. The school's first students were from Kaunas in Lithuania.

In January 1940 British forces found an arms cache at the village.^[2] In 1947, it had a population of roughly 1,000.^[3] 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.^[3]

Notable graduates include Shimon Peres, Shulamit Aloni, Moshe Katsav, Dan Ben Amotz, Ze'ev Gur-Arie (Wolfgang Lotz), Micha Tomkiewicz, Amitai Etzioni, and Haim Saban. Today, it has around 1,000 students, of which 400 live in the village.