![Mikveh Israel class room](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Mikveh_Israel_class_room.jpg)
![Theodor Herzl and German Emperor Wilhelm II at the main entrance of Mikveh Israel in Palestine, 1898](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Theodor_Herzl_and_German_Emperor_Wilhelm_II_at_the_main_entrance_of_Mikveh_Israel_in_Palestine%2C_1898.jpg)
Mikveh Israel ( he, מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, 'Hope of Israel') is a
youth village
A youth village ( he, כפר נוער, ''Kfar No'ar'') is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pionee ...
and
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
in the
Tel Aviv District
The Tel Aviv District ( he, מָחוֹז תֵּל אָבִיב; ar, منطقة تل أبيب) is the smallest and most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewi ...
of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
school in what is now
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and indeed the first modern Jewish settlement in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
outside of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, heralding a new era in the history of the region.
History
Mikveh Israel was founded in the
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem ( ota, مُتَصَرِّف قدسی مُتَصَرِّفلغ, ; ar, متصرفية القدس الشريف, ), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status e ...
,
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in April 1870 by
Charles Netter
Charles Netter ( he, יעקב 'קרל' נטר; 14 September 1826 – October 2, 1882), was a founding member of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. In 1870, Netter founded Mikveh Israel, the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement in the Land ...
, an emissary of the French organization
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU; he, כל ישראל חברים; ) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jew ...
, aiming to be an educational institution where young Jews could learn agriculture and leave to establish villages and settlements all over the country and to make the desert blossom. It was established on a tract of land southeast of
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
leased from the Ottoman Sultan, who allocated to the project.
[Mikve Israel Agricultural School](_blank)
Go Israel The name is taken from two passages in the
Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...
, Jeremiah 14:8 and 17:13, and was proposed by Wolf Grinstein, one of the school's first students, who later taught there.
Netter, the first headmaster, introduced new methods of agricultural training, with Baron
Edmond James de Rothschild
Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...
contributing to the upkeep of the school. Netter pioneered progressive educational methods and a new way of life and agricultural training to the future farmers of this land. There were only about 20,000
Jews in the country at that time, mostly established in the
traditional cities of Judaism: Jerusalem, Tiberias, Safed and Hebron.
Beginning in the early 1880's the school was used to train the first group of farm workers in order to ready an eventual self sustaining village in the area. The project was mostly funded by the French Baron de Rothschild who would only purchase the land in loan, after the farmers had proven that they were properly trained. The men were each established farm workers who were from the Russian village of Pavaluka, and on November 7, 1883 the ten chosen farmers had moved to Palestine and plowed the first rows of earth, at what was known as
Rishon le-Zion
Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan a ...
, or first to Zion, in English.
In 1898,
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...
met the German Emperor
Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
at the main entrance of Mikveh Israel during Herzl's only visit to
Eretz Yisrael
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Israe ...
. The meeting, a PR event engineered by Herzl to publicly meet the Kaiser, was misinterpreted by the world media as a legitimization of Herzl and
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
by
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Today, entrance to the school grounds is via the city of
Holon
Holon ( he, חוֹלוֹן ) is a city on the central coastal strip of Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the metropolitan Gush Dan area. In it had a population of . Holon has the second-largest industrial zone in Israel, after Haifa. ...
.
For many decades (until the establishment of the
Volcani Center and the Faculty of Agriculture in Rechovot) the school served as the research center for the country. Their teachers wrote the first study books about agriculture and served as field advisors. Most of the agricultural know-how of the first 50 years was collected and published by Mikve Israel. After finishing their studies, the thousands of graduates left Mikve Israel to start agricultural settlements of all kinds, villages and kibbutzim, moshavim, farms and agricultural schools; or serving in management positions; or continued their agricultural studies in institutions of higher learning and filling positions in research and development, the export branches, marketing and agricultural management.
![מקוה ישראל - תלמידים-JNF021474](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%94_%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C_-_%D7%AA%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D-JNF021474.jpeg)
In 1938–1939, at the request of the
Youth Aliyah
Youth Aliyah (Hebrew: עלית הנוער, ''Aliyat Hano'ar'', German: Jugend-Alijah, Youth Immigration) is a Jewish organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis during the Third Reich. Youth Aliyah arranged for their r ...
, a section for religious youth was built to house the religious and traditional youngsters who fled western Europe just before the start of
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
Geography
Mikve Israel is located on a strategic crosspoint on the road connecting
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Part of the only green space in Tel Aviv District, it has been used as an organizing point for the convoys and up to the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
.
Education
The village has about 1,800 pupils from the age of 12 to the age of 18; 800 in the General section, 320 in the religious school, 380 in the French-Israeli college and high school. Around 280 students are boarders and the site also hosts four Montessori and holistic pedagogy kindergartens, and a Montessori elementary school.
In 2007 Mikve Israel and the
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU; he, כל ישראל חברים; ) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jew ...
inaugurated an experimental bilateral Israel-France high school, with half of its pupils studying for the French Baccalauréat and half for Israeli
Bagrut
Te'udat Bagrut (, ''lit.'' "maturity certificate", Arabic: شهادة بجروت) is a certificate that attests that a student has successfully passed Israel's high school matriculation examination. Bagrut is a prerequisite for higher education ...
. It is the Collège-Lycée franco-israélien Raymond Leven ( he, בה"ס ישראלי-צרפתי ע"ש רמונד לאוון. It serves up to the final year of senior high school.
[SECTION FRANCAISE]
" Collège-Lycée franco-israélien Raymond Leven. Retrieved on 22 January 2015.
Agriculture
The agricultural grounds of Mikve Israel cover over 2,200 dunams (out of a general area of 3,300 dunams). Most of the fields are irrigated using wells and include field crops, industrial crops, vegetables, fruit trees, orange groves and greenhouses. The school also raises animals including milk cows, chickens and honey bees, as well as having auxiliary branches including computerized agriculture.
One dunam (0.1 hectares) is covered by greenhouses. The aim of the greenhouse production branch is to teach students and allow them to research greenhouse issues and technologies. A
rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...
system allows efficient re-use of water collected from the roof for growing of vegetables in greenhouses.
Gardening and landscaping activity over 100 dunams (10 hectares) includes woods, lawns and beauty & leisure gardens and spots throughout the village. The gardening and landscaping is maintained by the students supervised and coached by the manager of this production branch.
The botanical garden was established in 1930 in order to adapt and acclimate trees and species to the Israeli climate. Plants were imported from all over the world. It now covers now 70 dunams (7 hectares).
The dairy farm covers as genetics, computers, milking parlor and cooling, product quality control, feeding, herd health, udder health, artificial insemination and embryo transfer and implants.
The stable has the following breeds of riding horses: Hanoverian, Holland and quarter-horse breeds suited to all types of horseback riding: western, sports, and therapeutic riding.
Notable alumni
*
David Tabak
David Tabak ( he, דוד טבק; August 5, 1927 – July 21, 2012) was an Israeli Olympic runner who specialized in sprinting.
Early and personal life
Tabak was born in Moshav Beit Oved, Mandatory Palestine. He studied in Mikve Israel, outside of ...
(1927–2012), Olympic runner
Avraham Yoffe(1913-1983), Soldier, Head of the Nature Preservation Society, politician
See also
*
Education in Israel
The education system in Israel consists of three tiers: primary education (grades 1–6, approximately ages 6–12), middle school (grades 7–9, approximately ages 12–15) and high school (grades 10–12, approximately ages 15–19). Compulsory ...
*
Aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
*
Bilu (movement)
Bilu ( he, ביל"ו; also Palestine Pioneers) was a Jewish movement whose goal was the agricultural settlement of the Land of Israel. Its members were known as ''Bilu'im.''
Etymology
"Bilu" is an acronym based on a verse from the Book of Isai ...
*
Joseph Niego
Joseph Niego (1863–1945) also known as Yosef Niego was born in Adrianople (modern-day Edirne, Turkey).
Joseph Niego was one of the leading figures in the creation of the state of Israel. He was instrumental in the political, agricultural, and e ...
*
Education in the Ottoman Empire
The education
The first stage of elementary education and teaching in the Ottoman Empire has been called as Sibyan Schools (Sibyan Mektepleri). The education system of Ottomans founded on Sıbyan Schools. Sibyan Schools was the first and the las ...
**
List of schools in the Ottoman Empire
Notable primary and secondary schools during the Ottoman Empire included:
Adana Vilayet
* Tarsus
Adrianople (Edirne) Vilayet
* Adrianople (Edirne)
** Bulgarian Men's High School of Adrianople
The Petar Beron, Dr. Petar Beron Bulgarian Men's ...
References
External links
Official websiteAn Agricultural School and Pioneer Settlement: Mikve-Yisrael in 19th Century Palestine, Ran Aaronsohn
{{Authority control
Agricultural schools
Boarding schools in Israel
Educational institutions established in 1870
Jews and Judaism in Ottoman Palestine
Schools in Israel
High schools in Israel
Zionism
1870 establishments in Ottoman Syria