The United Synagogue of America has undertaken what it describes as an historic venture as it launches the first agricultural settlement in Israel under the auspices of the Conservative movement.
Modeled along the lines of the successful Moshav Sde Nitzan in the Negev, the new settlement will also be in the Negev. Like Sde Nitzan, it will be conducted on a cooperative basis with the traditional family structure maintained and personal property privately owned. However, unlike any other moshav currently in existence, this one will have a homogeneous Conservative religious orientation.
Within a few years, the United Synagogue of America hopes to establish several additional moshavim in adjoining areas. The developments will be clustered around a common area which will service them with educational, health and other facilities, so that they will ultimately become a substantial community of moshavim. Immediate plans call for recruitment of 50 young couples, Conservative Jews, “who want to seize this unusual opportunity for aliya,” the USA said. Dr. and Mrs. Leonald Fickan, chairmen of the United Synagogue of Israel’s Committee to Establish a Moshav and leading members of Sde Nitzan, are recruiting in the United States.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
