Yotvata is a
kibbutzA 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...
along the
AravahAravah can refer to:*Arabah, a section of the Great Rift Valley on the border between Israel and Jordan, south of the Dead Sea and north of the Gulf of Aqaba.*Aravah , a willow branch, one of the Four Species used on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot....
road in the southern
NegevThe Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The indigenous Bedouin inhabitants of the region refer to the desert as al-Naqab . The origin of the word Negev is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. It has approximately 280 members and 700 total residents. The ancient copper mines of
Timna valleyThe Timna Valley is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arabah, approximately 30 km north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the town of Eilat...
are located nearby.
Yotvata started in 1951 as a
Nahal settlementNahal settlements were settlements established by Nahal soldiers in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories. Supporting Jewish settlement growth and expansion throughout Israel was once the main focus of the Nahal military brigade. The goal for every Nahal settlement was to become a civilian...
named "Ein Radian". In 1957 it was established as the first kibbutz in the southern Arabah region by HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. The kibbutz is named after an
IsraeliteIn the Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
encampment mentioned in
NumbersThe Book of Numbers or Bəmidbar is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.This book may be divided into three parts:#The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for resuming their march...
and
DeuteronomyDeuteronomy or Devarim is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament, and the fifth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch....
.
They decided to start a dairy that would provide milk to
EilatEilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. Home to 65,000 people, the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava...
, which was expected to grow rapidly.
Yotvata is a
kibbutzA 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...
along the
AravahAravah can refer to:*Arabah, a section of the Great Rift Valley on the border between Israel and Jordan, south of the Dead Sea and north of the Gulf of Aqaba.*Aravah , a willow branch, one of the Four Species used on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot....
road in the southern
NegevThe Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The indigenous Bedouin inhabitants of the region refer to the desert as al-Naqab . The origin of the word Negev is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. It has approximately 280 members and 700 total residents. The ancient copper mines of
Timna valleyThe Timna Valley is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arabah, approximately 30 km north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the town of Eilat...
are located nearby.
Yotvata started in 1951 as a
Nahal settlementNahal settlements were settlements established by Nahal soldiers in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories. Supporting Jewish settlement growth and expansion throughout Israel was once the main focus of the Nahal military brigade. The goal for every Nahal settlement was to become a civilian...
named "Ein Radian". In 1957 it was established as the first kibbutz in the southern Arabah region by HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. The kibbutz is named after an
IsraeliteIn the Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
encampment mentioned in
NumbersThe Book of Numbers or Bəmidbar is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.This book may be divided into three parts:#The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for resuming their march...
and
DeuteronomyDeuteronomy or Devarim is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament, and the fifth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch....
.
They decided to start a dairy that would provide milk to
EilatEilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. Home to 65,000 people, the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava...
, which was expected to grow rapidly. Breeding milking cows in the desert was considered an impossible mission. In 1962 the dairy was founded, with four cows. The members tried to get funds from the Jewish Agency, but failed. Eventually, they received funding from the Israeli Trade and Industry Minister, Pinhas Sapir. In the first year, the dairy produced 500,000 liters of milk. By 2008, it was producing 62 million liters a year and controls 63% of the Israeli dairy market (making
NISNiS may refer to:*Nickel sulfide NiSNis or NIS may refer to: * Niš, a city in Serbia. * Ness, Western Isles , a village in the Outer Hebrides islands.In politics and government:...
400 million a year), and 49% of the fortified milk market (making NIS250 million a year). It employs 130 workers and has 700 cows. The dairies of Kibbutz
YahelYahel is a Reform kibbutz in the Arava or Arabah in the Negev desert in the southern part Israel, 60 miles from the city of Eilat. It is the first kibbutz founded by the Reform movement.The name of the kibbutz is symbolic and means " will put up a tent"...
,
LotanLotan is a Reform kibbutz in the Arabah Valley in the Negev desert in southern Israel. It was founded in 1983 as Yahel Bet by twenty Israeli and twenty American youths. It currently serves as location for eco-tourism and birdwatching for tourists...
, and
KeturaKetura is a kibbutz north of Eilat in the Arabah rift valley. It has approximately 130 members and 150 children...
provide
milkMilk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce...
for Yotvata.
Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature ReserveThe Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve is a 3,000 acre breeding and reacclimation center administered by the Israel Nature Reserves & National Parks Authority, situated in the Southern Arabah near Yotvata....
is dedicated to reintroducing extinct species mentioned in the Bible, as well as other endangered desert animals, to the wild. It has three parts: a park for herbivorous animals; the Predators Center that displays reptiles, small desert animals and large predators; and the Desert Night Life Exhibition Hall to observe
nocturnal animalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The opposite, diurnality, is associated with human lifestyle and most familiar animal species. The intermediate crepuscular schedule is also common. Some species are active both during...
s during their active hours.
Southwest of the kibbutz lies a
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
fortress built during the reign of the Emperor
DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from 20 November 284 to 1 May 305. Born to a Dalmatian family of low status, he rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the emperor Carus...
as part of a line of border fortresses (limes) in the Negev, in order to protect the trade route from marauding Arab nomads.