Elifaz ( he, אֱלִיפַז) is a
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
in the
Arava valley, near
Eilat
Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...
, in the far south of
Israel. It is under the jurisdiction of the
Hevel Eilot Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
Elifaz was founded in January 1983 by a group of
Nahal
Nahal ( he, נח"ל) (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training ...
members from
Jerusalem,
Bat Yam,
Haifa and
Nahariya
Nahariya ( he, נַהֲרִיָּה, ar, نهاريا) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In it had a population of .
Etymology
Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is ''nahar'' in Hebrew), which bisects it.
Hist ...
. The kibbutz is affiliated with the
Kibbutz HaArtzi movement. The name "Elifaz" was inspired by
Eliphaz in the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...
(f.e. Job 2:11). In the Negev there are also kibbutzim with the names of the two other "friends" of Job; former Mahane Bildad, since 2001 named
Tzukim, and
Tzofar.
In 2012 it became the first kibbutz in Israel to accept
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
residents; Haza and Nibal Tafesh were unanimously approved as full-fledged members, making them the first Druze in Israel to join a kibbutz.
In 2014, the solar energy developer
Arava Power Company inaugurated six solar fields in the Arava and Negev, generating a total of 36 megawatts of electricity. One of these solar fields is in Kibbutz Elifaz.
See also
*
Solar energy in Israel
The use of solar energy began in Israel in the 1950s with the development by Levi Yissar of a solar water heater to address the energy shortages that plagued the new country.Petrotyranny by John C. Bacher, David Suzuki, published by Dundurn ...
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Nahal settlements
Populated places established in 1983
Populated places in Southern District (Israel)
1983 establishments in Israel