סמל המועצה לשימור אתרי מורשת בישראל

ה"מכניקה" והנפחיה
The Workshop
בבתי-מלאכה אלה יוצרו ותוחזקו כלי העבודה החקלאיים של בית-הספר.
ה"מכניקה" נוהלה במשך שנים רבות, לפני קום המדינה, על-ידי דוד ליבוביץ’ אשר בה יצר כמה דגמי נשק, שהידוע והחשוב שבהם הוא ה"דוידקה".

The sign shape is rectangle but its head is designed according to the silhouette of the old building of the Gymnasia Herzliya, which serves as a logo of the Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel

The workshop was photographed that day Click for a larger image

Inside the workshop is a display of weapons made on site Click for a larger image

And a poster exhibition dedicated to David Leibowitch, the inventor of the Davidka:
D. Leibowitz, a pioneer of the military industry in Israel
From the day he immigrated to Israel, David joined the ranks of the "HaHagana" ("the organization") and devoted the best of his free time to it.
During the events of 1929, he was a company commander on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa front, where he learned to recognize the great shortage of weapons for defense, and indeed, most of his thoughts revolved around weapons production problems and their refinement.
In 1933, the IMI Committee was established. David and his friends at IMI invented, among other things, a machine for "healing" bullets whose production had broken down, plates for a Lewis-Gan machine gun, mopeds - an aid to rifle grenades, silencers for pistols and more.
Much of his secret work was done here, in "Mechanics,"
David accompanied the Hebrew arms industry - until the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces.
[Photos:
Israel Security Award given to David Leibowitz after his death.
Picture of David Leibowitz and Davidka]
Click for a larger image

A selection of shells, and a picture of David Leibowitz with one of the weapons he developed.
Click for a larger image

[Photo: Probably a picture of David Leibowitz explaining the principles of one of the tools to one of the trainees]
"... days could not decide what draws him more to the dim and pungent-smelling machine garage - the tractors themselves or the person on them. The mechanics teacher. The best in his teachers and friends ...
Wise-fingered was the veteran mechanic. And not only in the machinery of the Meshek he had a business, but in everything that required clear thought, the ability of analysis, the ability to perform and a broad knowledge of many details and details in all the professions of human action, work and science. "
From "With His Own Hands" by Moshe Shamir

For half a century he worked at Mikve Israel and was loved by his friends and students for his simplicity, dedication, company, pleasant demeanor and willingness to provide help anywhere and anytime.
David Leibowitz died in 1969
Click for a larger image

The Davidka - "The Secret Weapon"
It took part in the battles of the War of Independence in Jaffa, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed.
[Pictures of newspaper headlines: Yedioth Maariv - "The Old City was shelled with a Jewish" secret weapon "/ One hundred mortar shells fell last night within the Old City walls"
Davar - Great attack on Jaffa and its suburbs / Manshiya and the villages of Puaim were captured - British army and planes to help the gangs]

"... it was decided that I should build the mortar according to the idea I proposed. On the same day we went to engrave the mortar barrel from a cannon barrel we obtained in scrap iron. Within a few days we went to Holon for a first try. The shell was huge, 37 kg and the vessel was small compared to it. The attempt was successful. Israel Shchori Commander of the Southern Front immediately demanded the construction of two more mortars.
A zero time was set for the first operation.
On the night of March 13, 1948, I fired a first shell at the Arab village of Abu Kabir. A huge explosion was heard, the enemy abandoned his positions and fled in panic. Jaffa was surrounded by the horror of death. Legends have been told in Jaffa about the "atomic bomb" - the new secret weapon of the Jews.
The first mortar operation outside Tel Aviv was in the conquest of Colonia, in Operation Nachshon. Then the conquest of Mount Zion, Haifa, Safed and Tiberias. "
Recorded by David Leibowitz
Click for a larger image

David Leibowitz was born in the city of Tomsk in Siberia. In addition to general education and technical education, David received a Jewish education at home. At the age of 13, he joined the Zionist youth and was one of the founders of "Maccabi" and "Hechalutz" in his hometown.
In 1927 he arrived in Israel and began working as a laborer and tractor driver in Mikveh Israel.
When Eliyahu Krause, the director of the institution, noticed his technical qualities, he instructed him in 1928 to establish the agromechanics branch of the school.
Here, in the "mechanics" structure, Leibowitz engaged in educating generations of students and developing various inventions.
He devoted most of his time as a "member of the Defense Organization" to the development of weapons.
[Photos with David Leibowitz]
Click for a larger image

The Davidka can be seen in the Devika Square in Jerusalem Click for sign's details and in the courtyard of the "Hosmasa" site in Holon Click for sign's details
A memorial plaque is located on the site of David Leibowitz’s home in Holon Click for sign's details

Translation of the text on the sign:
Symbol of the Council for the Preservation of Israeli Heritage Sites

The Workshop
In these workshops the school’s agricultural tools were manufactured and maintained.
The "mechanics" were conducted for many years, before the establishment of the state, by David Leibowitz, in which he created several models of weapons, the best known and most important of which is the "Davidka".