Diamond Cutting in Israel’s Desert
June 30th, 2009 at 7:51 pm (Mini Museums)
Close your eyes and imagine a desert with some brush. For miles that is all there is. Drinking water is as remote as the nearest city.
The time is 1943, the place the Negev. The people, a group of young Jewish men seeking to create a settlement in the Negev on land that the Jewish National Fund had bought from the local Beduoin. In the course of learning if the land was suitable for agriculture, these idealistic young men who had come from Europe, learned survival skills through trial and error.
Their sole contact with the established Jewish community living further north, came in the form of a weekly supply van that, in addition to staples, brought mail and visitors. The van would arrive at Kibbutz Gvulot after a five to six hour drive through Gaza and Rafiah and return the following morning.
Located near the Besor stream, the watercourse that drains the Negev, the kibbutz is built on loess, a clay-like earth, and is located 30 km east of the Mediterranean Sea and 35 km south of Be’er Sheva.
Kibbutz Gvulot, together with Kibbutz Revivim and Kibbutz Beit Eshel were the first three communities funded by the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency.
The kibbutzniks at Gvulot found that while the loess was suitable for farming, the lack of water was a serious issue, as it continues to be today.
Then, as today, water collection became an important key to survival and growth. Water was collected in cisterns, which visitors can see today. The meager 100-130 ml of annual rainfall provided drinking water for the kibbutz. The remaining water was recycled and combined with sewage water to grow crops on the experimental farm.
What began as a dream in 1943 grew into a community. Today Kibbutz Gvulot continues to operate in the traditional manner, where the meals, laundry and children’s education all take place in a communal setting.
The original buildings are now restored, enabling visitors to imagine what the original kibbutz looked like.
Among the original buildings was an entrance or receiving hall known as the madafa. Rather than impose European customs on the area, the young men adopted the Beduoin model of hospitality. The madafa was a sheltered space used to greet visitors and offer refreshment and shade from the desert sun.
The medial clinic, operated by Dr. Diamant, was located there as well. As word of the new kibbutz and the doctor spread, local Bedouin would come for medical treatment. Additionally there was a bakery which was later used to supply bread to the fighting soldiers in the area during the War of Independence. Yeast supplies were dropped onto the grounds of the outpost each day. One of the pilots was none other than Israel’s past president, Ezer Weizman.
A heavily locked room was once the diamond cutting and polishing workshop of Avraham Rabinovitch. A certificate of his memberhsip in the Israel Diamond Exchange hangs on the wall and the original equipment is on the work table. The photographs on the wall of the people of Gvulot from the 1940s and 1950s are particularly interesting.
Tucked away in an agricultural settlement in the Negev desert in Israel are two unique and perfectly outfitted Japanese cabins, complete with Zen gardens. Principles of feng shui are incorporated into the design and layout of each cabin. Waters flow under the Japanese style bridge creating a feeling of calm and serenity. Each cabin has a double jacuzzi for soaking after a day of touring the Negev sites.
Pre-arranged tours of desert agriculture facilities, wine tasting of desert wines, visits to Beduoin communities, jeep trips, camel rides, and visits to Negev Highland farms are available.
Can you imagine a honeymoon yurt in the desert? You do not have to be honeymooners to stay in this 
