Sde Boker

Sde Boker
Basic data
hebrew :	שדה בוקר
State :	Israel
District :	south
Founded :	May 12, 1952
Coordinates :	30 ° 52 '  N , 34 ° 48'  E Coordinates: 30 ° 52 '28 "  N , 34 ° 47' 32"  E
Height :	474  m
Residents :	464 (as of: 2018)
Community code :	0885
Time zone :	UTC + 2
Website :	www.sde-boker.org.il
Sde Boker

Sde Boker ( Hebrew שדה בוקר, in German "Field of the Shepherds"), also Sede Boker , is a kibbutz in the central Negev (in the desert region of Zin ) about 50 kilometers south of Be'er Scheva on the road to Mitzpe Ramon . The kibbutz had 464 inhabitants in 2018.

The house of David Ben Gurion

The Kibbutz Sde Boker is one of the best known. This is because the Israeli founder and former Prime Minister David Ben Gurion had a house here; his grave is south of the kibbutz at the "Ben Gurion Academy" ( Midreshet Ben Gurion also known as Midreshet Sde Boker ). This “Negev University”, founded by Ben Gurion, deals primarily with the question of the use and development of desert areas. It forms part of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva. Midreschet Ben Gurion is about three kilometers south of the kibbutz and is considered a separate village.

Sde Boker was founded on May 15, 1952 by former soldiers. Ben Gurion entered the kibbutz the following year after resigning from office. Behind Ben Gurion's decision to join the desert kibbutz was the Zionist dream of " making the desert bloom". Especially after the founding of the State of Israel in May 1948, a number of such settlements emerged, through which the desert should be made usable for agriculture. After a few months, however, Ben Gurion initially returned to politics and only finally retired to Sde Boker in 1963, where he died in 1973.

Today the kibbutz lives from agriculture ( viticulture , fruit growing , chicken breeding). He also runs an adhesive tape factory. Today, Sde Boker is a few hundred meters from the original hut community and belongs to the regional association of Ramat HaNegev , a group of rural settlements in this region of the Negev. Tourist attractions in the area include the Nabataean ruined city ​​of Avdat and the oases of En Avdat and En Aqev .

National park

Graves of Paula and David Ben Gurion at Sde Boker

The graves of Paula and David Ben Gurion are a few kilometers south of the kibbutz on the southern edge of Midreshet Ben Gurion . They are freely accessible in the center of a small national park managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority . The location above the Nahal Zin offers a magnificent view of this valley.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 . 
2. ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Ben-Gurion's Tomb National Park ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Sde Boker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : David and Pola Ben Gurion graves  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Sde Boker  - Travel Guide

• Website of the Kibbutz Sde Boker (Hebrew)
• Sde Boker at Tourist Israel (English)