It’s a sight that the group of pioneers dreamed of for 11 years: bulldozers plowing through the land, preparing for construction.
“It’s an overwhelming happiness,” says Chaya Hendel. “I’ve been waiting to see this for so long—and now it’s begun!”
Hendel, a young mother and automation engineer, is a member of the 30 family community who have been working together to establish a Chabad-Lubavitch town in southern Israel. The community has a thorough vision for the new town, which they named Ohr Chabad.
“In today’s modern lifestyle, there is so much to gain from stepping out into nature and connecting with our roots,” says Hendel. “In this town, we will have our close-knit community, Chassidic warmth, a family-oriented lifestyle—and a way to share that with the whole world. It’s everything I ever dreamed of for how I want to raise my children.”
The town’s blueprint has plans for 500 family homes, community buildings and a hotel—all atop a hill surrounded by a beautiful forest and biblical archeology.
“We have three main goals,” says Bruria Efune, who co-directs the project with her husband, Rabbi Mendy Efune. “We’re going to build a warm and supportive community, develop an essential part of Israel and build a luxurious vacation spot where visitors from all over the world can rejuvenate while connecting with their roots in an impactful way. Or, as our slogan puts it: ‘Where Chassidic wisdom comes to life.’”
A Decade of Hurdles Overcome
Rabbi Mendy and Bruria Efune set out to establish the town more than 11 years ago after learning that the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, had expressed a strong wish for Chabad to build towns in Israel, in addition to the existing Kfar Chabad, which would be centered around the goal of sharing Judaism with the world.
Chabad has a long and rich history of purchasing and developing land in Israel. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe of Chabad, established the Colel Chabad fund and encouraged Chassidim to donate money for their impoverished brethren living in the Land of Israel. His son, Rabbi Dovber, the second Rebbe, purchased land in Hebron, and his own daughter, Menucha Rochel Slonim, led a group of Chassidim from Russia to settle the ancient City of the Patriarchs. This tradition continued through generations, and in 1949, Chabad Chassidim, at the directive of the Sixth Rebbe—Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory—established Kfar Chabad. The Rebbe guided the development of Kfar Chabad, and as it grew, requested that more be built around a clear vision to inspire. In the late 1960s the Rebbe established Nachalat Har Chabad, in Kiryat Malachi, as a neighborhood to welcome the waves of Soviet Jewish immigrants he said would soon be arriving in Israel.
But Israel is not an easy place to get any form of development off the ground.
“We didn’t understand why no one else was doing it,” says Bruria. “Now, after years of working through the bureaucracy and climbing over hurdle after hurdle … we get it. But thank G‑d, we’ve had many blessings along the way, and many of them in the form of good people who helped us make this happen and our incredible community who never gave up.”
The war, especially the first six months, put a brief pause on development. Not only were most of the Ohr Chabad community’s men now on reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces, but so was the head of the regional council, as well as most of the government’s engineers and project managers.
“Eventually, we all had to learn how to juggle war-life on one hand while still building our homeland with the other,” says Efune.
After years of pushing to get the blueprints approved and budgets passed, the Ohr Chabad community suddenly faced a new hurdle: they were asked to prove that they were the group ideally suited to develop the specific piece of land, which is surrounded by the Yatir Forest, about 40 minutes east of Beer Sheva.
Today, after six months of research and hearings, Settlement Minister Orit Strook announced the decision: The community had proven themselves. They could now prepare to move in.
“I see it as both a great privilege and no less of a duty to promote the establishment of new towns, especially in areas where settlement also creates true Israeli sovereignty,” Strook told Chabad.org. “I am amazed to encounter the great spirit of pioneering and love for the land that appears exemplarily in the Ohr Chabad community—in their aspiration to take part in the challenges of developing the land, and in their seriousness and responsibility regarding this important mission. I wish them a Mazel Tov, and I have significant faith that they will do a wonderful job building this new yishuv.”
World Mizrachi’s Chairman of the Chativa Hityashvut, Gael Grunewald, played a key role in getting the community off the ground, providing crucial support throughout the process. His involvement was instrumental in enabling the Ohr Chabad community to move forward with both authorization and initial implementation. He noted, “It is wonderful Chabad that is building another town in Israel.”
Additionally, Minister of Housing Yitzchak Goldknopf was essential in advancing the developmental plans and budgets for construction. “Upon taking office, I set as my main goals the strengthening and establishment of settlements in the Land of Israel and the commitment to settlement, especially in areas of national priority,” he says. “We were all very impressed by the representatives of the Ohr Chabad community and their deep commitment and dedication to the success of the new town—and I congratulate them for that.”
The Huge Responsibilities Ahead
Seeing the first trucks arrive to work this week was an emotional moment for the community, and also a jolt to reality.
Sruly Lazerson, a computer programmer and AI developer, is a founding member of the community, who, together with his wife and children, moved from Buffalo, N.Y., all the way to Beer Sheva in southern Israel, to take part in building Ohr Chabad.
Seeing construction finally begin, he expressed the powerful feelings: “Some villages are made up of individuals leading their own lives. Some villages are made of individuals joining a larger cause. The Rebbe’s vision for the Chabad villages in Israel were neither; he desired a place where its entire gestalt from top to bottom would be a larger cause; namely a place that spreads the wellsprings of Chassidus to the entire Jewish people.”
The Ohr Chabad community credits Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, chairman of Tzierei Agudas Chasidei Chabad in Israel, as an essential guide and force in bringing the project to life.
“The vision of Agudas Chasidei Chabad is to fulfill the Rebbe's instructions to Chabad in Israel,” says Rabbi Aharonov. “Including the directive to ensure communities and housing locations for Chabad community members in the Holy Land.”
Turning the credit to the Ohr Chabad community, Rabbi Aharonov continued: “It is moving to see young families with a clear ideology, who choose to fulfill the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s will even when there are significant challenges involved. The pioneering families, especially the family of Rabbi Mendy and Bruria Efune, teach us what true devotion to a goal means—an intense desire to align with the Rebbe’s will, which creates a channel for the Rebbe’s blessing for establishing the new town, and making the desert bloom.”
Sitting with community members, you’ll hear endless bustling of plans and ideas. Each person has an initiative that they are leading, tied to the community’s vision for the town.
“We’re situated in an underdeveloped but essential area,” explains Rabbi Efune. “We now have the privilege of strengthening the Land of Israel by developing our area’s economy, improving its security, tending to the surrounding nature, and returning the historical life and vibrance of our forefathers.”
He talks about how recent events brought Jews worldwide to feel more connected to their historical homeland in Israel. “People are waking up to their roots and want more. They want to visit Israel and find what it is that makes the land so essential to who they are—to feel themselves standing in the footprints of their forefathers and mothers. Experiencing that is far more revitalizing than any other vacation can be.”
The entrepreneurs in the community have plans for innovative tourist attractions that combine fun and Chassidic inspiration. “The potential is endless,” says the rabbi. “With our motivated community, the scenic forest hills and historic significance, there’s just so much to do, so much to leverage.
“Even the kids are involved,” he adds. “They talk about having a kosher farm, building forest clubhouses and want to be tour guides for our future guests.”
Roni Flamer, CEO and founder of OR Movement, has stood at the side of the Ohr Chabad community for over a decade, and waxes poetic about the mission ahead. “In these awe-inspiring and extraordinary days, the importance of bringing forth light has grown,” he says. “Together with the Ohr Chabad core community, we are privileged to connect heaven and earth, meaning and essence, past and future, the sacred and the mundane—like light, which contains both the physical and the metaphysical. Settling the Land of Israel is the mitzvah that can reconnect us anew, and the pioneers of the Ohr Chabad community will act and witness salvations and wonders.”
Wistfully, he adds, “Soon, in our days, they will ascend to the land at the very place where the journey of the Jewish people began 4,000 years ago. The ember continues on—the light is revealed once more. The eternal flame shall not be extinguished.”
There is still a long journey ahead for the community with many steps towards bringing their vision to life. In a few more months they’ll be moving into small prefab homes and begin shaping sidewalks and playgrounds, a synagogue and mikvah, schools and visitor’s center. They’ll need to walk through many more challenges involved in every step of building the larger town and its hotel.
But today, they pause to gather for a barbecue and celebrate the most meaningful milestone yet: The first steps of taking the dream off the paper and into the real world.
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