Neve Michael


Neve Michael also known as Roglit, is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Adullam region and built upon an eminence in the far south-east end of the Elah Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of.

Background

Archaeology

Archaeological finds range
from the Early Hellenistic period to the Umayyad period with evidence of a Jewish settlement in the first century CE.
Near the moshav are the ruins of Adullam and Hurvat Itri.

Arab village

The moshav was preceded by the Palestinian Arab village of Bayt Nattif, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The place where the moshav stands was known in the 19th century as ''Khirbet Jurfah.''

Moshav history

Roglit

The village of Roglit was established on 29 July 1958 by a group of Jewish immigrants from Iranian Kurdistan, on farm land that had belonged to Bayt Nattif. In 1958, the newly restructured Jewish National Fund, working in concert with the Hitahdut HaIkarim agricultural organisation, settled new immigrants on the site giving to the place the name Roglit, meaning "tiller ". The new immigrants were initially employed as laborers for JNF land reclamation. The founders were joined by immigrants from North Africa, mainly Morocco.
An Israel Border Police outpost was also built in Neve Michael, which was later abandoned in 1962.
After the JNF-related years, the village economy was based on agriculture and poultry, which phased out in the late 1980s.

Neve Michael

A newer regional community center built alongside it was given the name Neve Michael, in memory of American philanthropist, Michael M. Weiss, who was a donor to the JNF. The newer section had a regional elementary school which catered to children from the surrounding communities of Roglit, Aderet and Aviezer, but closed its doors in the early 1980s. Today, the grounds of the old school serve as a home for the mentally and physically disabled.

1983 merger; new Neve Michael

When the new settlement of Neve Michael failed to attract new residents, it was merged with Roglit in 1983.
In 2005 the village started an expansion plan attracting many younger families to the moshav. The moshav has a mixed population with people of different ages, ethnic background and Jewish religious observance.