Ovnat - Your Legacy in the Land of Israel

Ovnat - Your Legacy in the Land of Israel Be a partner to Torah and Judaism flourishing in the Judean Desert Now is the perfect time to invest in the future of vibrant Jewish life in the Judean Desert of Israel.. A time for expansion through the establishing young vibrant communities, A time to strengthen our ties to our ancestral homeland and create a living bridge between Jewish communities worldwide. We would like to invite you to be a part of history in the making at Ovnat, a new and exciting Yishuv overlooking the Dead Sea and the Judean Hills. As one of the only religious communities in the area, Ovnat is a warm, spiritually uplifting community of 45 families with over 150 children under the age of 13 and still growing. While many synagogues find it difficult to make minyanim because of depleting demographics, our small community has tripled in size over the past 5 years!!! We’d love for you to come see for yourself how Ovnat has quickly become a source of inspiration for young Religious and Zionist Jewish families in Israel. To join a minyan and participate in Jewish programming for travelers, religious Jews, and spiritual seekers who live in the area. In fact, there is interest from families in Israel and abroad to join our unique Yishuv in the next year! Outgrowing Our Space To accommodate our growth and maintain this incredible momentum, we seek your help with a pivotal building project to expand the heart of our community - the Beit HaKnesset. Ovnat is the ONLY place within an hour’s drive to have a fully functioning Beit Knesset with 3 Minyans every day + Shabbat! However, our synagogue is so much more than that. As a house of worship, it defines who we are as a community. We currently run the following programs out of our temporary building: A preschool Lifecycle events for residents (brit milah, bar/bat mitzvah, weddings) A Mikvah which is open to secular and religious people alike Mother-daughter bat mitzvah classes Hadrachat kalot (preparation courses for brides) Jewish meditation workshops Jewish music classes and concerts A Community Garden for growing and meeting together A Children’s theater A recognition of that’s "gift basket" for the soldiers who guard our community day and night all year round. That’s quite amazing for an outpost in the desert that opened its doors just 15 years ago! If this is what we manage with a small caravan serving as our Beit Knesset, can you imagine what we could do with a large and thriving Beit Knesset? Our community is not just growing - it is bursting at the seams! Thank G-d, currently there is standing room only on Shabbat and High Holidays. Our preschool needs more space; we need more classrooms for the programs that we offer. A Yishuv of National Importance It is also important to note that Ovnat serves a very important role in the security of the State of Israel. Ovnat is one of a few communities that along Israel’s “border” with Jordan with Jericho, the third largest Palestinian city, just down the road. Ovnat is filling a rather empty space and pioneering new Jewish life in and area full of remanence of historic and biblical Jewish life. Just a short drive north of Masada, there are so many ways in which Ovnat is essential to establishing a Jewish presence while rolling back the desert in our ancestral Jewish homeland. We’re Here to Stay The young pioneers making their lives in Ovnat share a love of the Land of Israel, the state and Torah. Together we have a fierce commitment to building a sustainable spiritual community in the middle of the Judean desert. We are here to stay and are planting roots where others just see resorts and vacation villages. Our goal is to bring traditional Torah Judaism back to the place where it once flourished over 2,000 years ago! Our Plan for Expansion We want to share our little town, situated in the lowest place on earth, our own contribution to Am Yisrael, with you. We hope that you will be inspired to help us expand our physical home to support our spiritual mission and that you will see the eternal value of your giving. We seek your help to with our vision to expand our small building into a beautiful multi-purpose Beit Knesset and community center. Our community needs a building that will serve as a Beit Midrash and social hub for prayer, Jewish learning, social gatherings, communal services, early childhood, and youth programming. A beautiful and fully functioning Beit Knesset means a flourishing Ovnat. A flourishing Ovnat means a strong Jewish presence in the land of Israel! Imagine children saying Tehillim under the tree that you planted or a Sefer Torah being taken out of the beautiful Aron Kodesh that you helped to build. Imagine a bride-to-be learning how to prepare for her wedding and going to the mikveh that you renovated right here in the Dead Sea. What a legacy! Our History 15 years ago Ovnat started as a high school for kids from ultra-orthodox and religious Zionist communities who had lost their direction in life. The idealistic educators who came here to the desert repurposed a handful of abandoned British Army barracks and turned them into a refuge for these teens. Today, the high school in Ovnat is thriving and has over 500 graduates who have gone on to enroll in the IDF, colleges, and even start their own families. Many of the residents of Ovnat work as teachers and social workers at the high school. Just a few years after its founding, the children of our teachers and graduates now run through the streets of Ovnat and attend preschool in the Beit HaKnesset building. Everything that we are building is geared toward them and for their future generations. We Need You Despite our success, we cannot do this alone. Our community needs are growing much faster than what our families can support. We need partners like yourself who share in our vision of developing strong Jewish values, pride, passion, and Jewish identity for generations to come. Help us to build on the momentum and spread Torah and Jewish Life to every part of Israel. For those of you interested in donating to a specific cause, please see our needs below. Synagogue Sponsorship Opportunities Requested Donation needed US $ Be a pillar of Ovnat with a dedication on the building $150,000 Expand our early childhood and social hall facilities $50,000 Sponsor community and Torah programs for a year $36,000 Plant trees and an irrigation system around the Shul $30,000 Sponsor kiddush on Shabbat for 1 year $25,000 Build the kosher meat and dairy kitchen $18,000 Renovate and re-model the women’s mikvah $10,000 Fund mechitzas and mezuzot in the Beit HaKnesset $8,000 Sponsor the coffee corner open to all $5,000 Fund new chairs for the Shul $2,500 Sponsor children’s Tefilah for 1 year $25,000 Sponsor children’s Tehilim reading on shabbat 1 year $25,000 Sponsor Night Security Team - 1 year $50,000 *You can sponsor an entire project or contribute any amount to the project of your choice. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE , as it is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible organization.