CITY

This month, our teacher Adina takes us on a journey through the Western Negev—an area that has faced unimaginable pain since October 7th and is slowly beginning to heal and rebuild. Amid the heartbreak, life persists. From a hidden-away coffee spot surrounded by fruit trees to a local pizzeria with live music, Adina shares the places that make her corner of Israel feel like home. Along the way, she takes us through rolling hills, an indie film haven, and the artistic influences that shape her world. Here’s how she experiences life in the South Negev. 🌿☕

Hi, my name Is Adina; I’m a teacher at Citizen Café; I live in a small moshav in the South Negev area of Israel with my husband and four children.

1. Where do I get my coffee? 

📍The 12point, Ha-Dekel St, Sde Tzvi, 85340 I’m very particular about my coffee, which is straight-up black Turkish. In Hebrew, we call it קפה בוץ, which literally means “mudd coffee.” I prefer making it at home on my own. The only other place I drink coffee is with Rotem – a friend who owns a set of beautiful cottages צימרים for rent in a moshav nearby. We talk about poetry and drink coffee surrounded by fruit trees, grape vines, and endless pieces of avant-garde art made by their family. A little hidden away paradise.

2. Where do I go when I’m feeling fancy?

📍Hapundak – Pizza restaurant, 54, Nir Akiva I don’t like “going out” per say, so thankfully when I feel like eating out or seeing friends, we have a Pizza place right here on our Moshav. It’s called הפונדק – “Hapundak.” It could be a long wait as Yoav takes his time crafting a thin-crust, crunchy pizza in the Tabun, but it’s so worth it. He plays his favorite music, such as Cat Stevens or Neil Young, and on Thursday evenings or Friday afternoons, there’s often live music by local musicians.

3. Cultural hub

📍 Sderot Cinematheque, HaDegel St 4, Sderot I usually go to the Sderot Cinematheque to see a good foreign/indie film. Once a year the cinema also hosts The Cinema South International Film Festival which is a huge event.

4. My go-to outdoor spot

📍Bitronot Ruhama Reserve I always say that the Northern Negev landscape is a simple modest one but then I walk 3 minute out behind my house to the open fields and the rolling hills of the Ruhama badlands reveal themselves and I feel like I’m in a fairytale. This is where I take my morning walks or runs.

5. A place that I don’t like in the city

On my morning walks, I often pass by piles of junk, garbage, and broken furniture that people have dumped in open fields or woods. As long as it’s out of their own space, they don’t seem to care where it ends up. It’s a common Israeli trait that I’ve never been able to come to terms with.

6. A significant person for you who was born in the city or currently lives there

There are so many artists, musicians, poets of this area but I will choose two: The one closest to me would be my husband, David Nipo, a Painter. We’ve lived in the North Negev for the past 20 years and have fallen in love with the landscapes, in particular as my husband would point out, with the specific light. He often paints the landscape he sees from his studio door such as this one: Or out in the fields on a misty day: Another artist I’d like to highlight is the poet Andad Eldan, who was born in Poland and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1930. In 1960, after getting married, he moved to Kibbutz Be’eri. Over the years, Andad published 15 books of poetry, and his work became increasingly shaped by his own unique, rich linguistic style. He received an award for “the richness of his work and his long-standing, unique contribution to Israeli culture.” Many of the poems in his latest book, Six Hours of Dawn, published in 2016, eerily foreshadowed the massacre that took place in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. Andad and his wife survived the attack.