Kibbutz Shaalvim is a privatized religious kibbutz near the city of Modi’in that has a large educational complex with a yeshiva, a high school yeshiva, an Ulpana seminary for girls, and ongoing involvement in education and Torah study. And as such a kibbutz, it also has several “angels”. Shaalvim is the only religious kibbutz located next to the Israel Trail, and in addition to the many community and charity activities, the kibbutz also has several “Trail Angels” who open their homes to “Trailists” walking the trail, giving them a taste of religious kibbutz life as they make their way up or down the Israel Trail.
Visit Kibbutz Shaalvim
Those who want to visit Kibbutz Shaalvim outside the Israel Trail, can come during the summer months with the whole family to an “Experience in the Vineyards” – an agricultural experience site where there are tours to get to know more than 40 types of fruit trees, treading grapes in the winepress, making a bottle of wine, ecological construction from mud, wheat harvesting, making pitas in the oven and more. In the kibbutz it is also possible to visit the Ayalon Winery (by prior arrangement) where the wine is produced and aged in an underground bunker.
The Sadot Ayalon Deli offers ready-to-eat food and you can order baked goods in advance from Dvora’s cakes.
Finally, a short tale about the “Tractor War” – one of the most interesting (and strange) battles that took place in the fields near Kibbutz Shaalvim (then, in 1965, the fields were in no-man’s land). The Jordanians wanted to annex the demilitarized zone by plowing the area, and planned to do so by surprise on a Saturday. The plan was uncovered, all the tractors in the kibbutz were recruited and tractors from neighboring kibbutzim also came to support and take part in the opposite plowing. But to plow on Saturday? The kibbutz Rabbi, backed by the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, ruled that it was possible to plow on Saturday, and so dozens of Israeli tractors plowed against dozens of Jordanian tractors and eventually all tractors withdrew and the threat of annexation was removed.
Photos: Kibbutz Shaalvim
