Elifaz () is a
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
in the
Arava valley, near
Eilat
Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, 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 as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...
, in the far south of
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. It is under the jurisdiction of the
Hevel Eilot Regional Council
Hevel Eilot Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Hevel Eilot'') is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel, near the city of Eilat. It is the southernmost regional council in Israel.
Only about 5,300 people live in the council in ...
. In it had a population of .
History
Elifaz was founded in January 1983 by a group of
Nahal
Nahal () (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 in entrepr ...
members from
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Bat Yam
Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of .
History
British Mandate
Bat Y ...
,
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
and
Nahariya
Nahariya () is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. As of , the city had a population of .
The city was founded in 1935 by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.
Etymology
Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton River, Ga'aton (riv ...
. The kibbutz is affiliated with the
Kibbutz HaArtzi movement. The name "Elifaz" was inspired by
Eliphaz
file:Facial Chronicle - b.01, p.243 - Jacob kills Esau.jpg, Isaac kills Esau
Eliphaz ( "My Elohim is gold", Standard Hebrew Elifaz, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlîp̄az / ʾĔlîp̄āz) was the first-born son of Esau and his wife Adah (biblical figure) ...
in the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...
(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 ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
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
Arava Power Company (APC) Arava Power is a utility-scale renewables Developer-IPP that pioneered Israeli utility-scale PV market. The company founded in 2006 on Ketura in the Arava Valley. On June 5, 2011, APC inaugurated Israel's first medium- ...
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
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