Urim

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URIM

URIM (Heb. אוּרִים; "Lights"), kibbutz in Israel's western Negev 7½ mi. (12 km.) W. of Ofakim, affiliated with Iḥud ha-Kevuẓot ve-ha-Kibbutzim. Urim was founded as one of the 11 settlements established on the same night in the South and Negev (Oct. 6, 1946). Its members included Israeli-born settlers and immigrants from Bulgaria and the United States. Its farming was irrigated in part by water from the National Water Carrier and was based on field crops, citrus groves, poultry and dairy cattle. Noam Urim Enterprises Ltd. was the largest non-woven needle punch processing plant in the Middle East. Its products included finished wipes and rolled fabrics and waddings for different industries. In 1970 the kibbutz had 384 inhabitants; in the mid-1990s the population rose to 545, but then dropped to 413 in 2002.

[Efraim Orni /

Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]