Midreshet Sde-Boker
|
|
Midreshet Sde-Boker is an educational seminary and institute, also with a complex of schools for children in nearby isolated towns, near the kibbutz Sde-Boker in the Negev desert of Israel.
Both the kibbutz and the Midreshet were inspired and guided by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding prime minister who had a vision of building a thriving Jewish culture in the previously arid Negev:
- "Many institutions are consolidated at Sde Boker under the double sign of the desert and of the cultural heritage of Ben Gurion. An Arid Zones Research Institute is entrusted with promoting models for the development of the desert. The Ben Gurion Institute, which is charged with the study and the dissemination of his writings, offers visitors a multi-media program about the man and his work. The Environmental Center includes a college and a high school where the curriculum emphasizes a concern for the environment." [1] (http://www.jafi.org.il/education/moriya/negev/DavidBenGurion.html)
Ben-Gurion carefully chose the exact spot at Midreshet Sde-Boker where he and his wife were to be buried overlooking a wide valley. Both David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula Ben-Gurion are buried side by side in the library grounds of the Midreshet that he chose for them.