Who Put the Zvi in Tirat Zvi?
- Gedaliah Borvick
- Oct 21, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 28
Kibbutz Tirat Zvi holds a special place in my heart. In 1984, I spent an unforgettable month of Nissan working there. While the other volunteers spent the month doing one or two jobs, I asked to rotate among several, giving me an insider's perspective on the scope of running a kibbutz. At the time, I gave little thought to its name. Only years later did I find myself wondering: Who put the "Zvi" in Tirat Zvi?
Located in the Beit She'an Valley, just west of the Jordan border, Tirat Zvi was established in 1937 as part of the "tower and stockade" movement. During the Arab Revolt of 1936–1939, the British sought to appease the Arabs by restricting the establishment of new Jewish settlements. Jewish pioneers responded by exploiting a legal loophole. They would arrive before dawn with prefabricated building materials and, by nightfall, erect a complete settlement surrounded by a defensive wall and watchtower. Once the roof was in place, British law prevented the authorities from demolishing it. Nearly fifty communities were established in this remarkable fashion, strengthening the Jewish presence and helping protect the Yishuv during this tumultuous period.
Like many of the "tower and stockade" settlements, Tirat Zvi's name tells a story. The "Zvi" honors Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer (1795–1874), one of the earliest leaders of religious Zionism. More than a dozen streets across Israel also bear his name.
Rabbi Kalischer lived decades before Herzl and long before political Zionism became a movement. A student of some of the greatest rabbinic scholars of his time, including Rabbi Akiva Eiger and Rav Yaakov of Lissa, known as The Nesivos, he spent his life as a communal rabbi in Prussia, where he taught and wrote on a broad range of Jewish issues. At a time when most rabbis preached waiting passively for the Messiah, he argued that Jews should begin returning to the Land of Israel, as redemption would begin through human initiative, with Divine assistance following in its wake.
Rabbi Kalischer envisioned a Jewish homeland as a haven for Eastern European Jewry, where Jews would cultivate the barren land and once again fulfill the mitzvot hatluyot ba'aretz, the commandments unique to Eretz Yisrael. His ideas helped inspire the Hovevei Zion movement and contributed to the establishment of the Mikveh Yisrael Agricultural School in 1870, one of the first institutions dedicated to training Jews to work the land. He was invited to serve as the school's spiritual leader, but his doctors forbade him from making the journey to Eretz Yisrael because of his deteriorating health.
More than sixty years after Rabbi Kalischer's passing, pioneers established Tirat Zvi. The pioneers who founded the kibbutz could hardly have imagined that it would become one of Israel's great agricultural success stories. Today, it is Israel's largest grower of date palms, renowned worldwide for its Medjool dates and lulavim. It also operates a successful meat-processing business and cultivates wheat, cotton, and other crops.
Tirat Zvi was the first religious kibbutz established in the Land of Israel. That distinction makes its name especially fitting. Rabbi Kalischer devoted his life to the ideals of Torah, Jewish settlement, and cultivating the Land of Israel. More than 150 years after his passing, Tirat Zvi remains a living testament to his vision.
Looking back on that month more than forty years ago, I now understand the significance of the name Tirat Zvi. I wasn't just volunteering on a kibbutz; I was witnessing Rabbi Kalischer's vision brought to life.
Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home, a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com. Please visit his blog at www.myisraelhome.com.
