{"id":940429,"date":"2024-10-30T21:24:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T19:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch10.co.il\/?p=940429"},"modified":"2025-08-05T17:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:01:52","slug":"%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%9b%d7%97%d7%95-%d7%9e%d7%9b%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%a3-%d7%96%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%a9%d7%9d-%d7%94%d7%97%d7%93%d7%a9-%d7%a9%d7%9c-%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%a8-%d7%94%d7%97%d7%a8%d7%93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch10.co.il\/en\/news\/940429\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget 'Kasif' \u2022 The new name of the Haredi city in the Negev: 'Menorah in the South''"},"content":{"rendered":"The government naming committee in the Prime Minister's Office published its conclusions and minutes today (Wednesday) - from which it emerges that it was decided not to call the new Haredi city in the Negev 'Kasif', but rather a new and refreshing name from the sources: 'Menorah in the South'. The city, which has been called 'Kasif' until now, is in advanced planning stages. It will have a Haredi character and is planned to be established near Tel Arad in the Negev. The city is planned to cover an area of \u200b\u200bapproximately 7,000 dunams and is intended to house approximately 100,000 residents from the Haredi sector, in approximately 20,000 housing units. Alongside the apartments, commercial and employment centers, educational institutions and synagogues, playgrounds and green parks will be built in the new city. The settlement is intended to be built at the intersection of Highway 80 and Highway 31, known as the Tel Arad Junction. The person who has been working hard to promote the city on all levels since 2007 is Rabbi Moshe Leibowitz, one of the founders of Beitar Illit. According to a report on the COL-Chabad website, after the committee rejected the original name 'Ksif', due to its similarity to the name of a fish, several suggestions were made: At one of the committee's sub-meetings, a suggestion was made to call the new city 'Kosef', inspired by the words of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi in \u200b\u200bthe book 'HaKozari', "When the children of Israel gather, the purpose of the collection will be," but the name was rejected due to concerns that the name would be associated with 'money' and not with the collection. Another suggestion made by the committee was to call the city 'Ovadia' after the prophet Ovadia, who prophesies about the end of the exile and the settlements of the Negev. However, this suggestion was also rejected due to a deviation from the committee's regulations not to name settlements after individuals.\r\n\r\n