A Picture a Day -- Agriculture in the Holy Land

circa 1890. Photograph was hand-colored

It is fairly certain that the 1890 picture (right) is not of a Jewish farmer. (Also pictured here.) The method of plowing is strictly prohibited in the Bible:

"Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together." (Deuteronomy 20:10) 

(לֹא תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו (דברים פרק כב

The next set of photographs are undated but they were certainly taken very early in the 20th century. According to the Library of Congress collection, they show "Harvesting at a Jewish colony."  These "colonies" were usually collective farming communities built on land purchased by Jewish philanthropists or the Jewish National Fund.

Harvesting in a "Jewish colony"

Harvesting in a "Jewish colony"