Pioneer Recounts Founding Mixed Religious-Secular Israeli Settlement

Dina Fried, a co-founder of the Alon community settlement in the Benjamin region, has shared her experiences establishing the mixed religious and secular town as part of a project documenting the history of Israeli settlements. The "Documentation of Settlement Pioneers and Founders" initiative, run by the Ministry of Heritage and the Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, aims to record the stories of early settlers across various regions of the country.

Fried recalled the initial challenges in 1990 when trying to establish Alon as a settlement intended for both religious and secular families. She explained that potential religious settlements were hesitant about admitting secular members, while secular groups were similarly reluctant to include religious families. "Everyone told us, 'Join something existing.' We approached several places, but the very religious settlements were very frightened by the idea of secular people coming, and the secular settlements were very frightened by the idea of religious people coming," Fried stated.

Initially, the founding group was predominantly religious, as they lacked connections with secular families suitable for cohabitation. The situation changed when they discovered a group of secular families in Ma'ale Adumim interested in joining. This led to the formation of a new core group, and the settlement was officially established on its current hill in April 1990.

Fried described how the practicalities of running a mixed community presented unforeseen difficulties. For instance, an early rule requiring ten religious families to remain for Shabbat services to ensure a minyan, and a prohibition on driving within the settlement on Shabbat, proved unrealistic. "It was funny to set such a thing when you don't have a settlement yet. It didn't stand the test of reality over time, and we understood that it wasn't reasonable. It's hard to understand what a mixed settlement is until you live in it," she reflected.

The interview is part of a larger project that includes hundreds of interviews conducted in the Jordan Valley, Judea, Samaria, Benjamin, the Golan Heights, and the Galilee.