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companies. Be%u2019eri runs one of Israel%u2019s most high-tech printing operations, producing specialized items like passports and government documents, while Chatzerim runs Netafim.I traveled to Chatzerim with Gael Grunewald, one of Mizrachi%u2019s representatives in the World Zionist Organization (WZO), who is intimately involved with the project. Gael currently heads the Rural Growth and Development Division (Chativa LeHityashvut) of the WZO, which for decades has developed villages and towns in Israel%u2019s periphery %u2013 the Negev, the Galilee, and Judea and Samaria. Following the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, this division was also involved in building new towns to house the 8,500 Israelis forced from their homes. As a department experienced in building towns across Israel, it was tasked by the government with constructing seven temporary neighborhoods across Israel in the past few months to temporarily house kibbutzim. The town of Ruchama is housing Nir Oz. The town of Mishmar HaEmek is housing Nir Oz. And the kibbutz of Chatzerim is hosting Be%u2019eri.Arriving in Chatzerim, we were met by two members of Kibbutz Chatzerim who have been leading the project. Ran Shivek heads the economic side of the kibbutz, so all construction projects run through him. Osi Moritz is a school principal in the nearby kibbutz of Beit Kama, who was taking a sabbatical last year. She has spearheaded the communal aspect, preparing Kibbutz Chatzerim for welcoming Be%u2019eri into their community.The new neighborhood is on the outskirts of Chatzerim and contains 300 homes built in the past few months. It is so large that we used a golf cart to tour the area. Driving around, it%u2019s almost impossible to believe that only a few months ago this was literally empty desert. Ran explained how the project began: %u201cOur first meeting about this project in the kibbutz was on October 11th,%u201d he says. %u201cTwo members of our kibbutz said that these kibbutzimin the envelope won%u2019t be able to return home for a long time, and we have to build them somewhere temporary to live. A few days later, we had our first meeting with members of different kibbutzim. By October 15th, we had an architect%u2019s rendering of what the new neighborhood might look like. We didn%u2019t have a budget, didn%u2019t know how we would build something like this, but we had started to make a plan for what it would look like.%u201d To me, it is mind-boggling that anyone had the presence of mind to think about this plan in the first week of the war, when the whole country was still reeling, and the IDF had only just finished neutralizing the terrorists in the Gaza envelope.Osi described some of the conceptual underpinnings that also began to take shape. %u201cAt every turn, there are many sensitivities, even in terms of how we frame this project. Are we %u2018hosting%u2019 Be%u2019eri? %u2018Adopting%u2019 them? These were terms that didn%u2019t seem fitting %u2013 we had to get the balance right between respecting the independence and integrity of Be%u2019eri while recognizing that this was a community that had been deeply wounded and traumatized. We decided on %u2018Kehillot Shechenot, Neighboring Communities.%u2019 Here in Kibbutz Chatzerim, we have built a neighborhood called Shechunat Be%u2019eri, where the community of Be%u2019eri can live and have much of its own communal life. We have built them their own play areas, kindergartens, and are now building them their own dining room, which serves as the beating heart of a community, especially in a collectivist kibbutz. We created a dynamic that maintains the independence of Chatzerim and Be%u2019eri in many aspects while bringing us together in others.%u201dOsi also explains the huge amount of work done within Chatzerim to prepare people for the influx of a new community to their %u201cThe Chativa LeHityashvutthat I lead has played a critical role in building up Israel and building towns throughout the country. Mizrachi is at the forefront of yishuv Eretz Yisrael, and this now translates into the reconstruction after October 7. It is also a tremendous kiddush Hashem for us as a religious movement to be involved in the rebuilding of diverse communities, in spite of our differing outlooks.%u201d%u2014 Gael Grunewald | 17