Mikveh Israel

Mikveh Israel is an agricultural school and youth village in the Tel Aviv District that spreads across more than 550 acres (220 hectares) with crop fields, greenhouses, animal pens, and a botanical garden founded in 1930. The campus combines classrooms with working farms and research facilities under a single large green complex.

Charles Netter opened the institution in 1870 with support from Alliance Israélite Universelle as the first Jewish agricultural school in the area. The site grew over generations into a center for rural education and youth development in the region.

The institution maintains a bilateral educational program with France, educating 1,800 students aged 12 to 18 in both general and agricultural subjects.

The campus includes specialized laboratories, working farms, and research areas where students learn modern farming methods and environmental management. Visitors can tour parts of the site by prior arrangement and see a working agricultural school in action.

The Jerusalem Gate entrance displays a statue marking the 1898 meeting between Theodor Herzl and German Emperor Wilhelm II. This symbolic gateway marks one of the earliest diplomatic moments of the Zionist movement on this historic ground.