Construction Begins on New Chabad Town in Israel

In a historic moment for the Chabad movement and the future of Israel’s south, construction officially began this week on Ohr Chabad, a new Chabad town in the Yatir region. This groundbreaking follows a decisive step by Settlement Minister Orit Struk, who signed the government decision selecting the Ohr Chabad community as the official founders and developers of the new town.

World Mizrachi’s Chairman of the Chativa Hityashvut, Gael Grunewald, played a key role in advancing the community. He noted, “It is wonderful Chabad that is building another town in Israel.”

Part of the plan is to include a hotel, Grunwald explained, “this will build a bridge between Chabad in Israel and communities across the globe.” Bruria Efune, co-founder of the new town explained, “Gael provided essential support throughout the process. His involvement was instrumental in enabling the Ohr Chabad community to move forward with both authorization and initial implementation.”

“This is an overwhelming happiness,” said Chaya Hendel, a founding member. “I’ve been waiting to see this for so long—and now it’s begun!”

Led by Rabbi Mendy and Bruria Efune, and supported by a group of 30 pioneering families, the Ohr Chabad community has worked for over a decade to realize this vision. The town is inspired by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s call for the establishment of Chabad towns across Israel—centers of Jewish life rooted in chassidic warmth and outreach.

Minister Orit Struk, who played a critical role in advancing the project’s governmental recognition, announced her decision after a rigorous six-month review process.

“As the Minister of Settlement, I see it as both a great privilege and no less of a duty to promote the establishment of new towns, especially in areas where settlement also creates true Israeli sovereignty,” said Struk. “I am amazed to encounter the great spirit of pioneering and love for the land that appears exemplarily in the Ohr Chabad community—in their aspiration to take part in the challenges of developing the land, and in their seriousness and responsibility regarding this important mission. The selected community has the strength and abilities to meet the challenges of settling the Negev.”

She added, “The community also enjoys excellent guidance from the OR Movement, and I trust them to succeed in their mission to turn a great vision into reality.”

Following the minister’s decision, the Chativa Hityashvut (Settlement Division) began on-site preparations, and this week, the first construction trucks arrived to begin clearing land for a temporary pioneer neighborhood. This initial phase will allow the core community to move in, take responsibility for on-the-ground development, and oversee the building of a full town that includes 500 family homes, a hotel, schools, a mikvah, and public infrastructure. The town, named Ohr Chabad, is nestled in the hills a half hour from Beer Sheva near the community of Meitar. Meny Efune noted, “it’s a beautiful location on the crest of the hills.”

Minister of Housing and Construction Yitzchak Goldknopf, who helped advance budgeting and planning for the project, offered his congratulations:

“Upon taking office, I set as my main goals the strengthening and establishment of settlements in the Land of Israel and the commitment to settlement, especially in areas of national priority. We were all very impressed by the representatives of the Ohr Chabad community and their deep commitment and dedication to the success of the new town—and I congratulate them for that.”

As bulldozers rolled in, the emotional weight of the moment was not lost on those who had given so much to reach this stage.

Sruly Lazerson, a computer programmer and AI developer who moved from Buffalo, New York, to southern Israel for the project, reflected: “Some villages are made up of individuals leading their own lives. Some villages are made of individuals joining a larger cause. The Rebbe’s vision for the Chabad villages in Israel were neither; he desired a place where its entire gestalt from top to bottom would be a larger cause—namely, a place that spreads the wellsprings of Chassidus to the entire Jewish people.”

He added, “To see the construction of this holy place finally begin, after years of delays, is inspiring; a message, as it were, to prepare ourselves spiritually for the upcoming responsibilities.”

The OR Movement, which has supported the community throughout the process, emphasized the spiritual and national significance of the initiative.

“In these awe-inspiring and extraordinary days, the importance of bringing forth light has grown,” said Roni Flamer, CEO and founder of OR Movement. “Together with the Ohr Chabad core community, we are privileged to connect heaven and earth, meaning and essence, past and future, the sacred and the mundane—like light, which contains both the physical and the metaphysical. Settling the Land of Israel is the mitzvah that can reconnect us anew, and the pioneers of the Ohr Chabad community will act and witness salvations and wonders.”

Flamer added: “Soon, in our days, they will ascend to the land at the very place where the journey of the Jewish people began 4,000 years ago. The ember continues on—the light is revealed once more. The eternal flame shall not be extinguished.”

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, Chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, praised the community’s resolve to fulfill the Rebbe’s vision:

“The vision of Agudas Chasidei Chabad is to fulfill the Rebbe’s instructions to Chabad in Israel, including the directive to ensure communities and housing locations for Chabad community members in the Holy Land.”

He continued: “It is moving to see young families with a clear ideology, who choose to fulfill the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s will even when there are significant challenges involved. The pioneering families, especially the family of Rabbi Mendy and Bruria Efune, teach us what true devotion to a goal means—an intense desire to align with the Rebbe’s will, which creates a channel for the Rebbe’s blessing for establishing the new town, and making the desert bloom.”

Pointing to the town’s planned centerpiece, he added: “The planners placed a magnificent hotel at the center of the town, which is the heart of the entire community. The town, as its name suggests — ‘Ohr Chabad’ — is designed to shine the light of Chabad and love of fellow Jews throughout the entire country. It’s no coincidence that a hotel was chosen to be at the heart of the town; it’s a clear declaration that this town, first and foremost, is a place of hospitality, a place that wants to welcome more and more Jews, who will merit to taste the light of Chabad.”

With Minister Struk’s decision in hand and construction underway, the Ohr Chabad community is turning its long-held vision into reality—laying the physical and spiritual foundation for a town that seeks to illuminate southern Israel and beyond.