Ketura (Kibbutz) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ketura is a kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

north of Eilat in the Arabah

Arabah

The Arabah , also known as Aravah, is a section of the Great Rift Valley running in a north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea and continuing further south where it ends at the Gulf of Aqaba. It includes most of the border between Israel to the...

rift valley

Rift valley

A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. This action is manifest as crustal extension, a spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion...

. "Ketura" is the name of a hill nearby and the name of the second wife of Abraham (Genesis 25:1). It has approximately 130 members and 150 children (including adult offspring). About one third of the members are native Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

is, with the rest coming from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, and the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

History

Ketura was founded in November 1973 by a group of young Americans

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, most of whom had graduated the Young Judaea

Young Judaea

Young Judaea is a peer-led Zionist youth movement that runs programs throughout the United States for Jewish youth in grades 2-12. In Hebrew, Young Judaea is called Yehudah Hatzair or is sometimes referred to as Hashachar, which means the dawn....

Year Course in Israel program within the previous decade. Difficulties in the early years frustrated many of the inhabitants of the kibbutz, causing many of the founders to leave rather soon. At the same time, more Young Judaeans joined the community, along with a variety of other immigrants as well as Israeli Scout movement

Hitachdut Hatsofim Ve Hatsofot Be Israel

The Israel Boy and Girl Scouts Federation is Israel's national Scouting organization, known in Hebrew as Tzofim. Some 90,000 boys and girls belong to Tzofim in Israel.-History:...

graduates, and it grew. This growth resulted in a more stable lifestyle for the inhabitants of Ketura.

Tradition

Ketura is unique among kibbutzim for its religious pluralism. Although the Kibbutz is not considered a religious kibbutz, Kashrut

Kashrut

Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...

and Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

are observed in the dining room, public areas, and at social and cultural events. There is a functioning synagogue. However, individual members are free to practice or ignore religious traditions in their homes as they see fit. The population of the kibbutz is composed of observant, masorati, and secular members - an unusual situation for an Israeli kibbutz. Ketura received the Speaker of the Knesset Prize for religious tolerance as a result of its religious progressiveness.

Economy

Agricultural enterprises of the kibbutz include a date orchard and a dairy herd. The kibbutz has a large cow shed for milk production, but it is most famous for its guest house and educational center (Keren Kolot) and its Algae plant. The algae plant (Algatech) processes haematococcus algae through a filtration system in order to extract natural astaxanthin

Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid. It belongs to a larger class of phytochemicals known as terpenes. It is classified as a xanthophyll, which means "yellow leaves". Like many carotenoids, it is a colorful, lipid-soluble pigment. Astaxanthin is found in microalgae, yeast, salmon, trout, krill, shrimp,...

. The extract is then sold around the world as a natural high-quality ingredient for fish food; as a natural pigment for use in cosmetics, and as a nutraceutical.

There is cooperation with other kibbutzim in the area in additional pursuits such as the regional date-packing plant and Ardag, a large fish hatchery near Eilat. Ketura also operates a carpentry shop. Many members do, however, work outside the kibbutz in professional fields such as teaching, accounting, and bookkeeping.

Environmentalism

Ketura is part of the Green Kibbutz movement. It has pioneered many new ecologically sounder practices, as well as adopting more common environmentally friendly habits.

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is an accredited academic program for undergraduate and graduate studies located at Kibbutz Ketura on the Israeli side of the Arava Valley. It seeks to train future leaders of the Middle East in environmental issues so that they will be able to...

(AIES), is also located here. The institute promotes regional cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians, and residents of other neighboring Arab countries in environmental matters. It also researches and draws attention to some of the ecological problems in the region, as well as researching the desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

ecosystem.

Kibbutz Ketura is also the site of Ketura Sun, a 4.95 megawatt solar field run by the Arava Power Company

Arava Power Company

David Rosenblatt of New Jersey, Ed Hofland of Kibbutz Ketura, and Yosef Abramowitz founded the Arava Power Company on Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava Valley in 2006. APC has declared that its mission is to supply Israel with 10% of its energy needs through clean, renewable solar energy. On June 5,...

External links

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