Beit Midrash Migdal Oz was founded in 1997 in cooperation with and under the auspices of the Har Etzion Yeshiva. The Midrasha students benefit from a wide choice of Torah learning including: Talmud, Tanach, philosophy, Halacha and Chassidut, with an emphasis on chavruta learning.
The Midrasha offers a program for girls before and after military or national service, a dedicated program for girls from abroad and a teacher’s college.
Kibbutz Migdal Oz was built in 1977 in the exact same location where in 1927 Migdal Eder, the first Jewish settlement in Gush Etzion in modern times once stood. Migdal Eder stood only for a short time. The living conditions were very difficult and immediately after the arrival of the first families a serious snow blizzard almost brought disaster to the settlers who were completely disconnected from the outside world. Thanks to the help of the nearby Arab village and of the Jewish settlers of Hebron, their lives were saved. Two years later during the infamous Tarpat (1929) riots, their lives was again saved from the wild mob by some of their Arab neighbors. This time however, they decided not to go back.
The initiators of the settlement were residents of the religious Mea Shearim quarter of Jerusalem who sought to establish a religious colony outside of the city.
To construct the community, a small company was created named “Zichron David”. After 1929 it was led by a Jew named Shmuel Zvi Holtzman who bought the abandoned lands of Migdal Eder. The name of the entire Etzion bloc stems from his name (translated from German – tree man – Etzion).
