The city of Be'er Sheva (בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע)is called the "Capital of the Negev". It is the seventh-largest city in Israel. It is the biggest city in the South. The Mayor of Be'er Sheva is Ruvik Danilovich.
History
Abraham is the Patriarch of the Jewish people. Be'er Sheva is known as the place where Abraham lived at the time of the ‘Akeida’. During this time Abraham offered spirituality and charity to the area. While living there, he made an agreement with King Avimelek who lived in Gerar. Additionally, Isaac and Jacob, the two subsequent Patriarchs, lived in Be’er Sheva.
After being exiled, the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt in the 12th century BCE as Be'er Sheva became territory of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:28 and 19:2) . Later Be’er Sheva is known as the place where the prophet Elijah found refuge after Jezebel, the wife of king Achav, (king of the 10 tribes), ordered to kill him (I Kings 19:3). The sons of the prophet Samuel were judges in Be'er Sheva (I Samuel 8:2). Shaul (Saul), Israel's first king, built a fort on the place what now is called Tel Sheva. He used it for his campaign against the Amalekites (I Samuel 14:48 and 15:2–9). David also built a town in Be'er Sheva. At the end of the 10th century it was destroyed, probably in the invasion of Israel by the Egyptian pharaoh Shishak in 925 BCE. In his temple in Karkak, Egypt, Be'er Sheva is mentioned as a conquered town by the name of Fort Abram. From the 9th century BCE, Be'er Sheva was rebuilt and became prosperous. Its inhabitants practiced a heathen cult. The prophet Amos mentions Be'er Sheva in regard to idolatry (Amos 5:5 and 8:14). It was likely during the religious reform of King Hezekiah that the altar was destroyed and its stones were re-used (II Kings 18:4).
Be'er Sheva was completely destroyed in 701 BCE by the invasion of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. It was built up again but was merely a struggling village, which came to an end with the Babylonian conquest of Judah in 587 BCE. In later centuries, the Persians built a fortress, followed by an Arab fort in the 7th - 8th centuries CE. Later, Be'er Sheva was completely abandoned, until the Turks built a Police station, as well as a new town on the present location of the Old city in modern Be'er Sheva, which administrated southern Israel from 1900. Be'er Sheva was also the scene of heavy battle in World War I against the British under General Allenby who took it in 1917. Allenby, alongside 800 soldiers armed with only horses and bayonets, charged the Turkish trenches, overran them and captured Be’er Sheva. It was the last victory of the British Empire.
Old Turkish Railwaystation in Be'er Sheva
From 1950 till present
In Israel's Independence War, Be'er Sheva acted as the headquarters of the Egyptians, until they were ousted. After 1949 many Jewish immigrants settled there and it became the new capital of southern Israel. Be'er Sheva has grown considerably since then. A large portion of the population is made up of Jews who emigrated from Arab countries after 1948, and has been significantly boosted since 1990 by immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.
In the 1950s, Be'er Sheva expanded northward. Soroka Hospital, serving all of south Israel, opened its doors in 1960. The Negev University, later renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was established in 1970. Be'er Sheva is known because of the Hospital and University, both of which have a very good reputation.
Be'er Sheva is divided into seventeen residential neighborhoods in addition to the Old City and Ramot, an umbrella neighborhood of 4 sub-districts. Many of the neighborhoods are named after letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which also have numerical value, though descriptive place names have been given to some of the newer neighborhoods.
Be'er Sheva has now a population of some 200,000. In the 1990s, the population was substantially increased by a large influx of Russian and Ethiopian Jews. In 2001, the ethnic make-up of the city was 98.9% Jewish and other non-Arabs, with no significant Arab population. Many people live in Be'er Sheva for short periods of time, e.g. while studying at the university or working at the nearby army bases.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Soroka Medical Center
The largest employers in Be'er Sheva are the municipality, Israel Defence Forces, Ben-Gurion University and the Soroka Medical Center. There are also a number of electronics and chemical plants, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, in and around the city. A large high-tech park is also built near the Be'er Sheva North Railway Station. A major Israel Aerospace Industries complex is located in the main industrial zone, north of Highway 60. Additionally, the 2nd International Airport of Israel will probably be located at a current Air Force Base near Be’er Sheva.
Mayors of Be’er Sheva since 1950
Name
Took office
Left office
Years
1
David Tuviyahu
1950
1961
11
2
Ze'ev Zrizi
1961
1963
2
3
Eliyahu Nawi
1963
1986
23
4
Moshe Zilberman
1986
1989
3
5
Yitzhak Rager
1989
1997
8
6
David Bunfeld
1997
1998
1
7
Yaakov Turner
1998
2008
10
8
Ruvik Danilovich
2008
Ruvik Danilovich, currect Mayor of Be'er Sheva
Views of Be'er Sheva
Twin towns — Sister cities of Be'er Sheva
The following are cities and towns with which Be'er Sheva has a town twinning agreement:
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