MembersMikve and the Hope of Israel

You’ve probably never heard of it, but this school bearing one of the names of God, was crucial to Israel’s rebirth

By David Lazarus | | Topics: Agriculture
Photo: Mikve Israel

“Without Mikve Israel we would not have a country,” declared Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion at the birth of the nation in 1948.

What is so important about a place that most of us have probably never heard of?

Mikve Israel was the first school of agriculture that started in 1875 – that’s 150 years ago – long before there was a state or even that many Jews in the Land! Yet this small seed of a dream to grow a nation in a barren land that would be loved by Jews and people around the world sprouted up from this tiny farming community dedicated to raising a nation with it’s feet on the ground, hands in the earth and hearts holding on dearly to this God-given promised land.

That is the dream that came true, as Ronen Tzafrir, Director of Mikve, told Israel Today in an exclusive interview to help us understand the crucial role this 150-year-old school of agriculture played in creating the Israel we know today.

“Mikve produced the famous Halutzim, or pioneers, who built the...

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