Ninth-grade students in the Religious Kibbutz Movement are preparing to lay the foundations for a new kibbutz in the western Negev this Sunday. But, as if establishing a new a community from scratch was not enough of a challenge for these ardent student activists, the young Zionists decided to adopt the style of the pioneering tower-and-stockade settlements: They plan to lay the cornerstone and build the foundations in one night, just as the pre-1948 pioneers did during the British Mandate period. The students, hosted by Kibbutz Alumim, are planning to begin their journey to the site of their new settlement at twilight on Sunday. Once there, they will spend the night hours working to establish their new community. If all goes according to plan, the students will conduct a groundbreaking ceremony at dawn on Monday, raise an Israeli flag on the highest tower, dedicate a Torah scroll and then conduct the Shaharit morning prayer service at the site. "Aside from the educational value of the competition with the generation of founders, we are asking to prepare the land for the tens of thousands of youth who want to renew the values of Torah and labor, and establish settlements all over Israel -- especially in the Negev and Galilee," Religious Kibbutz Movement head Nehemia Rappel said.
Tower and stockade settlement, 2013
Students from the Religious Kibbutz Movement will try to lay the foundations for a new kibbutz near the Gaza Strip by building in the tower and stockade style of Zionist pioneers. And like the founding generation, they plan to do it in one night.
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