NEGEV Education & Recreation Center

What We Believe In

A deep connection with both people and the environment is possible in a place and time where we disconnect from our routine. A visit to Nitzana invites encounters that offer a perspective on the place we come from. It opens us up to reflection and openness towards what is beyond us – the natural environment and people who are different from us.

Yearly private visitors experience Nitzana

Yearly Meals Served

Yearly Schools visit Nitzana

Yearly Visitors

What We Do

In Nitzana, social-environmental experimental journeys are tailor made for each visiting group, catering to their specific needs and educational goals. These journeys are designed for a wide range of groups and ages, focusing on various themes such as multiculturalism, ecology and modern sustainability, social activism, group dynamics and cohesion, leadership, and empowerment of both the group and the individual. All the experiences we offer share a common emphasis on fostering human to human connections and human to nature ones.

OUR IMPACT

The journeys in Nitzana provide participants with inspiration to reexamine, from a different perspective, their connection to themselves, to society, and the environment. Thanks to these meaningful experience, graduates of these journeys become ambassadors who promote complex dialogue and social and environmental leadership.

OUR STORIES

David Tobias was born in France to a Protestant family, where he inherited a love for Israel and a connection to the Jewish people from his grandfather and father. Already at the age of five, it was clear to David that one day, like those before him, he too would come to Israel. In 2008, the Tobias family (David, Laure, Yigal, Ilan, and Leah) sold all their belongings and moved to Israel. Since then, the family has lived in Nitzana, where the parents volunteered in establishing a program to welcome Christian volunteers, built a Biblical desert park and expanded their family with two more children. In 2019, the family received residency status in Israel, and since then, David has been in charge of running the “chan” at Nitzana.

“Many times we are asked why we came here. I answer that it’s because we are Christians and Christian Zionists. We want to show that the role of Christians has always been to stand with Israel, no matter what. Although Christians quickly abandoned this mission, it nonetheless remains vital. We want to participate in the restoration of the State of Israel. I am a French Christian, and I want to show a different face of Christianity and of France, which must become a true friend of the State of Israel.”

David Palmach, former manager of Nitzana, wrote about David and his family: “They always give to others, to those in need, and only at the end do they take care of themselves.”