Hundreds of people attended the sixth Be'erot BaNegev (Negev Wells) Convention, which took place this year at Kibbutz Alumim under the title “Negev Fields – Tales of Immigration and Settlement in the Moshavim of the Western Negev.” Two separate sessions at the event dealt respectively with immigration, settlement and agriculture, and with cooperative living, education and technology. Afterwards the participants set out on a variety of excursions through the area to view local agriculture, flowers in bloom and water-related and accessible sites.
Beerot BaNegev is a heritage center established at Kibbutz Alumim at a site landscaped with the support of Friends of KKL Switzerland. The center reviews the history of the religious kibbutz Beerot Yitzhak, which was founded in 1943 and destroyed in the fighting during Israel’s War of Independence. The heritage site includes a visitors’ center and the original water tower of the kibbutz.
KKL-JNF, the Religious Kibbutz Movement, Kibbutz Beerot Yitzhak and Kibbutz Alumim joined forces with the Council for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel and other bodies in order to restore the site.
KKL-JNF's Western Negev Forest and Community Coordinator Galit Buzaglo has extended KKL-JNF’s activities to include the Kibbutz Alumim project. “KKL-JNF has restored the water tower, provided the infrastructure necessary for visitors and helped to build the heritage center and render it accessible for everyone. In addition, KKL-JNF is involved in memorialization projects in Givat Yehuda and on Derekh HaShisha [the “Trail of the Six” that leads from the fields of Kibbutz Alumim towards the Gaza Strip; it is named after the six IDF soldiers who were killed there in 2002 when their tanks blew up after driving over explosive charges]. KKL-JNF’s Western Negev staff conducts ongoing community activities in Shokeda Community Forest, adjacent to the kibbutz, and within the kibbutz itself, too,” she said.
Chairman of the Beerot Association Tzviki Porat and Sarit Okun, Director of Guiding and Heritage at Beerot BaNegev, organized the convention in conjunction with KKL-JNF. The proceedings were opened by the Sdot Negev children’s choir, and speeches of welcome followed.
Secretary General of the Religious Kibbutz Movement Amitai Porat, who presided over the convention, told those present: “Passing on our heritage from generation to generation is a mitzva. This current convention is designed to cast light upon a uniquely important period in our history: Israel’s first decade as a state, during which dozens of newly founded moshavim helped to make the desert bloom.”
Sdot Negev Regional Council Chairman Tamir Idan quoted David Ben-Gurion: “‘It is in the Negev that the Israeli nation and its state will be tested – because only by a united effort on the part of a volunteering nation and a state that plans and implements shall we accomplish the great task of populating the wilderness and making it bloom.’ That is what David Ben-Gurion said, and it is what the Sdot Negev settlers did. They took his words and put them into practice. They made the wilderness flourish and transformed a neglected area into an important site of prosperity. A group of young national-religious people for whom Zionism burned like fire in their hearts and eyes established sixteen new communities in the Negev and overcame all the obstacles that lay in their path towards the realization of the Zionist vision,” said Tamir Idan.
Omri Shalmon, Director General of the Council for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, said that he regarded the convention and the spirit of the place as a unique phenomenon. In his speech he talked about the restoration of the Beerot Yitzhak water tower: “This water tower, as it stands here bullet-riddled and alone, is a huge story. It is a story of victory,” he declared.
Danny Ben David, Director of KKL-JNF's Western Negev Region, told the participants at the convention: “KKL-JNF people are true friends to Alumim in general, and to Beerot BaNegev in particular. Apart from bringing in bulldozers and paving access routes to the site, they ensured that the old Beerot Yitzhak water tower would be accessible to visitors. Largely because of this accessibility, the site and the heritage center together attract more visitors than they would have otherwise. KKL-JNF is deeply involved in our area and its development work can be observed in every footpath and in every road, woodland and recreation area in the region.”
He added that KKL-JNF was also a partner in numerous projects underway in the region before the State of Israel was founded. Among them, he said, were “the establishment of the three outposts, the eleven settlements and other communities that eventually ensured that the Negev would become an integral part of the state. KKL-JNF was here right from the start, it is here now and it will be here always. We are proud and delighted to be partners in all the activities underway to develop the Negev.”
The final speaker in the welcoming session was Gilad Fischbein, secretary of Kibbutz Alumim. “Over the years this convention has dealt with numerous topics related to settlement, heritage and security issues. This year, however, we have decided that we want to deal with the legacy of settlement and Zionism,” he said.
First session: Immigration, settlement and agriculture
Master of Ceremonies Meir Ben Yishai launched the proceedings by telling his listeners: “Everyone who has spoken so far has focused on activities in the present. I should like us all to remember that the commandment to farm has existed since the world was created. All sixteen communities of our Sdot Negev Regional Council are engaged in practical agriculture on a day to day basis.”
Historian Dr. Tzvi Tzameret spoke of the miracle of the great aliya that took place between 1948 and 1952 and enumerated the multiple difficulties that ensued as a result of this enormous spurt in population growth. He described immigration under the austerity regime (tzena) and explained why the influx of newcomers had dried up.
Land of Israel researcher and lecturer Dr. Zeev Zivan gave a talk on Levi Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, who was responsible for settling so many of the new immigrants in the Negev. He reviewed the objectives of Israeli settlement in the wake of the founding of the state; recalled the debate over immigrant settlements; and described the farming communities and the planning of the Negev moshavim.
Gili Lax presented a project entitled Rishonim BeEin HaMatzlema (“First [Pioneers] in the Eye of the Camera”), which focuses on Sdot Negev’s veteran pioneers. This project requires schoolchildren to produce short documentary films about the older members of their community as they recount the history of local settlement. The assignment helps to strengthen bonds between young and old and gives the early pioneers an opportunity to tell their stories.
The first session concluded with a general debate presided over by Itzik Elia, chairman of the Moshav Communities of the Negev, with the participation of Shalom and Amitai Nahshon, and Nissim and Gadi Bitan. The participants recalled their personal experiences of farming past and present, discussed early settlement in Sdot Negev and talked about growing up with agriculture as the sons and daughters of farmers.
Second session: Cooperative living, education, technology
Dr Nahum Bruchi of Beerot Yitzhak opened the session by reminding his listeners that Kvutzat Saad is celebrating the seventieth anniversary of its founding this year, and he spoke of the kibbutz’s unique qualities – of the arrival of the first religious groups, the establishment of Kvutzat Bnei Akiva, relations between Bnei Akiva and the Religious Kibbutz Movement, the formation of the Garin Torani (“Torah-based group”) and of Kvutzat Alumim, the wave of community development in the Negev and the founding of Kibbutz Saad.
Former Minister of Education Rabbi Yitzhak Levi said in the course of his speech: “I have been asked to speak about how education has contributed to community development. However, I should like to talk about the process in reverse – how community building has contributed to education – because I think that that is more appropriate.” In his review of events, Rabbi Levi focused on two different periods: the period of kibbutz ideology and the period in which kibbutz education opened up and exercised a positive influence in a large number of spheres.
Gilad Fischbein chaired a debate on education in Sdot Negev, with the participation of educators and teachers Efrat Efroni, Ilana Madmoni and Sara Cohen. Topics ranged from the memories and experiences of young female soldier-teachers and discussions of cultural differences between students, to recollections of past education trends, the changes that have occurred and reflections upon challenges and achievements.
The second session concluded with a lecture by Moti Edri, Director of the Sdot Negev Regional Council's Education Department, who spoke about the use of agricultural research as a means to connect young people with their community. From an early age, local children take part in activities in the science garden, and local farmers cooperate by hosting schoolchildren and involving them in agricultural processes and problem-solving.
After the debate, the participants set out on excursions around the area. We joined the agricultural tour, during which we were shown modern farming techniques and growing methods in use in the Northern Negev while we heard about the challenges that confront local farmers.
At Kibbutz Saad we visited a site where amaryllis flower bulbs are cultivated, and on Liraz Cohen’s farm we observed the cultivation of grafted tomatoes and aubergines.
At Moshav Beit-HaGdi’s Kol Shtil Nursery, we learned how seeds are sown and how saplings are grafted. Other groups took part in flower- and water-related tours, a time challenges tour and an accessible tour.