On May 12 a group of Hadassah-Israel women had the pleasure of day out at Mikve Israel. Mikve Israel is a youth village and boarding school, established in 1870 by Charles Netter from the French organization Alliance Israelite Universelle (“Kol Israel Haverim”) for young Jews to learn agriculture. Today the grounds hold multiple educational frameworks including kindergartens, elementary and 3 high schools. In addition it is a recognized National Heritage Site with a Visitor's Center.
The central building was completed in 1895 and includes the synagogue which has continuously functioned ever since. The ark, painted ceiling and marble floor are all original. Our guide grew up in Holon, he celebrated his bar mitzvah there. The dedication stone over the main entrance is in 6 languages: Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, English date, Roman (numerals).
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One building is named for Henritta Szold who was instrumental in bringing students there as part of Youth Aliyah starting in 1938.
In 1898 Herzl met the German Emperor Wilhelm II at the main entrance which resulted in the famous photograph of the two men. However, we learned that the photograph was a very early work of photoshop where 2 images were combined into one.
A stunning Bengali ficus tree, surrounded by a multitude of offshoots, stands in a little garden located in front of the synagogue. Brought from India in 1888, it was planted in the garden and thrived to become a marvelous sight. It is said that just as the tree scatters its roots, so does Mikve disperse – through its pupils – agricultural and Zionist ideals.
