| Ayanot | |
| Meaning: | Springs |
| Founded By: | Ada Maimon |
| District: | center |
| Council: | Gan Raveh |
| Pushpin Map: | Israel center ta#Israel |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Coordinates: | 31.9158°N 34.7681°W |
| Website: | ayanot.org.il |
Ayanot (he|עֲיָנוֹת||Fountains) is a youth village in central Israel. Located near Ness Ziona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gan Raveh Regional Council. In it had a population of .
The village was named after the numerous springs in the area, though other sources claim it is taken from Deuteronomy Deut 8:7; "For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills."[1] The Jewish National Fund wrote in 1949 that the name is derived from the Arabic.[2]
The foundation of the village began with the purchase of 140acres of land by Ada Maimon as a girl's training farm[2] in 1926. The village was established on 30 March 1930, though no-one lived on the site until Maimon, ten girls and a guard moved in on 12 January 1932; until then they had lived in nearby Ness Ziona.[2]
During World War II, the village became an agricultural school and took in young Holocaust survivors who had succeeded in immigrating. Today it is home to a boarding school for 180 pupils. A few years ago, the agricultural school opened a miniature horse farm and one of its horses was a runner-up in the 2008 world championship for miniature horses.[3]
In 2010, the village celebrated its 80th anniversary.[3]