Magdiel

Restored hut of Magdiel pioneers
Magdiel soldiers during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Magdiel (Hebrew: מגדיאל), founded in 1924 in the Yishuv of Mandate Palestine. According to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Magdiel had a population of 740, in 184 houses.[1] Magdiel is one of the four original communities of Jewish agriculturalists that combined in 1964 to form Hod Hasharon, Israel.

Magdiel was established as a moshava, starting on 4,000 dunams of land purchased near the Arab village of Biyar 'Adas. The initial population included Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Lithuania, later joined by a group from the Netherlands.[2] In 1964, four villages - Magdiel, Ramatayim, Hadar, and Ramat Hadar - merged to become Hod Hasharon.[3]

The place "name is symbolic Meged El (= the oil of God)"[4] and appears in the Tanach/Old Testament. Magdiel was the name of an Edomite clan (possibly the name of an eponymous chieftain) mentioned in Genesis 36:43. Its invocation of El may show that that deity was worshipped in Edom, along with Kaus and others.

Magdiel is the location of a Youth Aliyah boarding school of that name that took in young survivors of the Holocaust.[5] Other schools there include a comprehensive secondary school and a technical vocational boarding school of the ORT educational network.

References

  1. Mills, 1932, p. 14
  2. Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, Vol. 8, p. 802, "Hod Ha-Sharon"
  3. Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, Vol. 8, p. 802, "Hod Ha-Sharon"
  4. Place names in Israel. A Compendium of Place names in Israel compiled from various sources. Translated from Hebrew, Jerusalem 1962, p.106 (Israel Prime Minister’s Office. The Israeli Program for Scientific Translations) (Location of the book: Ben Zvi Institute Library, 12 Abarbanel St., Jerusalem; in the online-catalogue
  5. http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/101906/moSurvivorDescribes.html

Coordinates: 32°09′41″N 34°54′10″E / 32.1613°N 34.9027°E / 32.1613; 34.9027

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