‘Mayanot’ nation

Over the past two decades, an interesting subculture around springs has grown here and has been primarily developed by religious Zionist youth.


Seth J. Frantzman
Terra Incognita/JPost
26 May '10

One of the most interesting subcultures within Israeli society consists of people who spend their free time hiking to, discovering, cleaning up and relaxing at the hundreds of springs (mayanot) scattered throughout the countryside. This mayanot culture consists of people of all ages and backgrounds, but is primarily made up of young men and women from a national-religious (those modern Orthodox Jews who wear the crocheted kippot) persuasion. One Facebook group devoted to mayanot has more than 18,000 members.

Strictly speaking, a spring is anywhere that water flows to the surface of the earth from below. In the land of Israel, springs have historically been connected to settlement, especially in places where water is scarce, such as the Negev. It is not a surprise that they appear in the Bible. Isaac met Rebecca by a spring. God promised the people of Israel a land “of springs and underground water coming forth in the valley and mountain.” David wrote in Psalms of the Lord who “turned the hard rocks into springs of water.” The New Testament records that John the Baptist was born in the village of Ein Kerem, named after the spring there.

During the British Mandate, famous springs were a subject of newspaper articles. The Palestine Post included numerous discussions of the beauty of Wadi Kelt east of Jerusalem, and descriptions of the “the secret of Ein es-Shifa” – the only spring to exist inside the Old City walls.

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