South

Be'er Sheva

The largest city in the Negev and the hub of southern Israel, home to Ben-Gurion University and Soroka Medical Center. It grew fast with immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, has five ulpanim at its absorption centres, and an English-speaking community centred on the Hey and Tet neighbourhoods.

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What draws people

Ben-Gurion University and Soroka, the central hospital of the south (1,191 beds), are in the city. source ((opens in a new tab))
Five ulpanim for new immigrants at the city's absorption centres (Ministry of Education list). source ((opens in a new tab))
ESRA runs an English-speaking branch with a monthly lecture, clubs and volunteering. source ((opens in a new tab))

What to weigh

About 1 h 13 min to Tel Aviv by bus 369 or by car. source ((opens in a new tab))
About 1 h 23 min to Jerusalem by bus 446. source ((opens in a new tab))

The facts

Region: South
Population: 223,587 (2024 estimate)Figure as given on Wikipedia.source ((opens in a new tab))
English-speaking community: Small (2 out of 5)· judgment call
French-speaking community: Unknown
Russian-speaking community: Large (4 out of 5)· judgment call
Religious mix: MixedMixed: according to an oleh writing for Nefesh B'Nefesh, most shuls are Sephardi (mainly Moroccan) and English speakers gather in Mizrachi or Young Israel shuls; the city also has a large secular population.source ((opens in a new tab))
Rent (family-size apartment): No reliable figure found
To Tel Aviv: About 1 h 13 min to Tel Aviv by busAbout 1 h 13 min by bus 369 or by car (Rome2rio estimates); an oleh's account on the NBN site puts the train at about an hour.source 1 ((opens in a new tab))source 2 ((opens in a new tab))
To Jerusalem: About 1 h 23 min to Jerusalem by busAbout 1 h 23 min by bus 446 (Rome2rio estimate).source 1 ((opens in a new tab))source 2 ((opens in a new tab))
Train station: Yes
Light rail: No
For families: High (4 out of 5)· judgment call
Quiet: Fairly low (2 out of 5)· judgment call

Why these scores

English-speaking community: NBN: a 'very nice' English-speaking community, mostly in Hey and Tet; ESRA has a branch. No size given. Judgment call. source ((opens in a new tab))
French-speaking community: No source opened mentions French speakers. Left blank. source ((opens in a new tab))
Russian-speaking community: Wikipedia: large waves of Russian-speaking immigrants since 1990; the city became Israel's chess capital thanks to them. Judgment call. source ((opens in a new tab))
For families: Judgment: about 300 kindergartens and 99 schools (CBS 2022), and a 90% bagrut rate. source ((opens in a new tab))
Quiet: Judgment: a big, busy regional city of about 224,000. source ((opens in a new tab))

Some spellings of this name in other languages aren't confirmed by a source yet.

Sources

Checked 11 November 2026

Be'er Sheva Local

Listings, guides, neighborhoods and Shabbat times for Be'er Sheva, on the city's own site.

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