Midreshet Sde Boker in the Negev

David Ben-Gurion, one of the driving forces who led to the establishment of the State of Israel and its first Prime Minister, joined Kibbutz Sde Boker in 1953 and divided his life between Tel Aviv and the Negev.

In an article on the significance of the Negev, published in 1955, he wrote: “It is in the Negev that the people of Israel will be tested - for only with a united effort of a volunteering people and a planning and implementing State will we accomplish the great mission of populating the wilderness and bringing it to flourish. This effort will determine the fate of the State of Israel and the standing of our people in the history of mankind”.