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A New Chapter in

Binyan HaAretz

Rabbi Aron White

id you hear about the to keep up. These are remarkable figures, On the other end of the spectrum, Givot
new project in Carmei equivalent to building a new Ra’anana, Eden (Eden Hills) is a new yishuv 15 min-
Gat?” “I hear there’s a Modi’in and Efrat every year for the next 20 utes from Beit Shemesh in the hills of
“Dnew Anglo shul opening years! Israel’s population is about to reach Judea. Initially planned in the 1990s, it
in Neve Shamir.” “There’s a group of fam- ten million, and it is forecast to reach fif- is now under construction, and the first
ilies trying to start a new community in teen million by the time Israel turns 100, families will move there this summer.
the north.” and building must keep pace. There will ultimately be 400 families on
the yishuv, many of whom are Anglos.
For anyone living or visiting Israel in the This sustained building spree is creating
last few years, these snippets of conver- fertile ground for new opportunities, and These two developments also tell another
sation about new construction and new it is against this backdrop that many of the story through their contrasts. Harish will
communities will be familiar. While there new Anglo communities are developing be a city with tens of thousands of homes,
have long been established Anglo com- in new cities, new neighborhoods, and the majority of which will be in apartment
munities in Yerushalayim, Beit Shemesh, renewed cities. buildings, and due to the larger supply the
Gush Etzion, Modi’in, Ra’anana and more, housing prices are relatively low. Givot
it seems that there are no end of new proj- New cities Eden will be a town with a few hundred
ects, opportunities and Anglo communi- mostly private homes, and due to the lower
ties taking root across the country. Israel is a young country, and it is still supply, prices are very high. This is the
establishing entirely new cities and towns. story of recent Israeli construction where
Each of these new Anglo communities Even cities like Modi’in that are now well
is only one sentence in the new chapter established are less than 30 years old! In in the past few years the construction of
private homes has dropped as a percentage
of Israel’s development, and one needs recent years, two new locales that have
to take a step back to see the larger pic- developed Anglo communities are Harish of homes being built. Due to Israel’s need to
construct so many homes in so little time
ture. Israel is engaging in a remarkable and Givot Eden. in a small country, the policy preference is
construction spree that is quite literally undoubtedly for more apartments, making
reshaping the country. Israel is con- Harish is a new city in northern Israel, private homes less common today.
structing homes at a rate that may be located next to Israel’s central Highway
unparalleled in the Western world; one 6. The aim of the new city is to help The development of new cities and yishu-
out of every six homes in Israel today spread Israel’s population more broadly vim is what we most associate with Israeli
was constructed since the year 2012. The away from the center of the country. history. From the building of the kibbutzim
main driver of this construction is Israel’s Despite being only ten years old, there before the foundation of the State to the
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remarkable demographics. Israel’s fertility are already 35,000 residents living there, 1950s development towns, the story of
rate of 3 is almost double that of the OECD with all the developing aspects of a city – Israel has been the story of new towns
הבוט הנש
average of 1.6. Combined with consistent schools, malls, parks and even government and cities being built by pioneers. There
!הקותמו
Aliyah from around the world, this means approval this year for a hospital. In con- are plans for more of these in the future,
Israel’s population continues to grow, and struction terms, it was the fastest grow- including new yishuvim and a major city
Israel needs to construct between 50,000 ing city in Israel in 2022, and is likely to called Kasif in the Negev. Long-term,
and 60,000 homes a year until 2040 just continue growing over the coming years. however, there are not likely to be many

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