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, 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.[1] In 1964, four villages - Magdiel, Ramatayim, Hadar, and Ramat Hadar - merged to become Hod Hasharon.[2]

The place "name is symbolic Meged El (= the oil of God)"[3] 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.[4] Other schools there include a comprehensive secondary school and a technical vocational boarding school of the ORT educational network.

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, Vol. 8, p. 802, "Hod Ha-Sharon"
  2. ↑ Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, Vol. 8, p. 802, "Hod Ha-Sharon"
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/101906/moSurvivorDescribes.html