David Ben-Gurion

Shmirat ha-Teva Hero: David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion was born in Poland. He became the first prime minister of Israel. In 1906 he was inspired by the Zionist dream and moved to Palestine.

Isra eli Leader

During the time of the Holocaust, 1936 to 1947, while millions of Jews were rounded up and murdered by the Germans, Ben-Gurion worked in two different directions. On one hand he got tens of thousands of young Jews from Palestine to join the British army to fight the Nazis. At the same time he created an underground agency to sneak past the British (who ruled Eretz Yisrael) and illegally bring Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. On May 14, 1948, in accordance with a U.N. resolution, Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel’s independence. He became the first prime minister of Israel.

The Negev

The Negev is the southern sixty percent of the state of Israel. It is a beautiful, difficult, stony desert. While Abraham spent time in the Negev and kings David and Solomon had copper mines there, it was never a place where many people lived. When Ben-Gurion was founding the state of Israel the people in the Negev were primarily Beduoins who wandered with their flocks from place to place. Ben-Gurion believed two things about the Negev. First, it was a good place for Jews to settle because it was wide open and few people lived there. Second, he believed that the Jewish people would become stronger if they made the desert bloom. He set a personal example by choosing to settle in a kibbutz at the center of the Negev. Ben-Gurion worked to establish the National Water Carrier, a huge engineering project to bring water to the area.

His Lat er Years

In 1953, David Ben-Gurion was exhausted by years of public service, and he resigned from the government. He settled in Kibbutz Sde Boker. In 1955 he returned to politics. Finally, in June 1970, Ben-Gurion retired forever and returned to Sde Boker. He was known for writing a great deal, for having a unique philosophical outlook, for being an activist and an optimist, for being stubborn and for being an old man who cared about physical fitness. Because of the fitness commitment he stood on his head a lot. BenGurion died in 1973. While Ben-Gurion’s public life was devoted to the political challenges that faced Israel, his private life was lived in the desert. He was really concerned with shmirat ha-teva and with working with the environment to turn the desert into a place where people could live.

Shmirat ha-Teva text: The Magic of the Negev

David Ben-Gurion said these things about the Negev:

“The Negev is one of the Jewish nation’s safe places.”

“It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneering energy of Israel will be tested.”

“The desert gives us the best opportunity to begin again...

When I looked out my window today and saw a tree standing before me, the sight awoke in me a greater sense of beauty and personal satisfaction than all the forests that I have crossed in Switzerland and Scandinavia. For we planted each tree in this place and watered them with the water we provided through much effort. Why does a mother love her children so? Because they are her creation… The trees at

Sde Boker speak to me differently than do the trees planted elsewhere. Not only because I participated in their planting and in their maintenance, but also because they are a person’s gift to nature.” 1. For Ben-Gurion, what makes a tree at Sde Boker different from other trees? 2. H ow does the desert give us the chance to start over? What is special about the desert? 3. H ow was shmirat ha-teva a big value in Ben-Gurion’s life?

in The Negev

Ben-Gurion’s dream of making the Negev bloom is coming true in Israel today. The Negev is a major center for ecological experimentation. Among the things they are working on are:

Br ackish Water : Brackish water is water that has a salt content that is not as high as the ocean, but that is much higher than ordinary groundwater. Farmers in the Negev are growing organic and specialty crops such as cherry tomatoes, melons, peppers, wine grapes, olives, pomegranates, jojoba (used in cosmetics), and strawberries, all irrigated with brackish water.

Des alinatio n: Desalination is taking the salt and minerals out of sea water and turning it into fresh water. Israel is one of the world’s leaders in this technology. The world’s biggest desalination plant is in Ashkelon, and much of its water is used in the Negev.

Olive Orch ards : Olive trees require minimal irrigation, so they are a great crop for cultivation in the Negev.

Growi ng in Sand Dunes :

Large quantities of sand were trucked into the Negev. Now there is huge success with sand used instead of soil for plant cultivation.

Aquaculture : Aquaculture is the commercial farming of marine animals. The farming of fish is growing in the Negev.