Research Article: The Hippie Colony of Rosh-Pina – Appropriation and Design of Buildings and Scenic Elements for Creating an Alternative Spiritual Milieu

This article examines the source of Rosh-Pina’s spiritual-alternative image and relays the history of the first hippie colony in Israel and its picturesque upper street, from the 1960s onwards. Up a steep cobblestone road, between deserted houses, old orchards and flowing spring water, dwells an unvisited chapter in history of the local-Israeli adoption of counterculture within a sort of “bubble” outside of Israeli time and space, on the eve of the Six-Day War in 1967.

The study emphasizes the functional infrastructure appropriated by hippie settlers, as well as the advantage they found in the absence of other infrastructures, and which enabled their unique way of life. This historic tale is presented in three acts: the first wave, during which the old Rosh-Pina was settled with individuals who invaded its houses in the spirit of hippie squatting; the second wave, during which the expanding community’s artistic and spiritual activity was established and deepened; and the third wave, in which the site became a tourist attraction branded as a Zionist narrative, silencing the alternative hippie episode. The colony elders’ joy at the revival of abandoned buildings soon turned to hostility, as this renewal thrived beyond expectations. A struggle of consciousness then slowly developed around the symbolism of the Upper Street, unbeknownst to most visitors to the restoration site colony at Rosh-Pina.