The Kibbutz
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
I'm a Kibbutznick- which is a unique way of life only to be found in Israel. This entry is mainly about the Kibbutz as I know it, some background and history, and the way things are right now.
Well- 1st thing's 1st- History: the word Kibbutz means collecting, joining. I believe that this name originates in the big waves of immigration from different countries, that had been coming to Israel since the 19th Century, and are called Kibbutz Galuyoth- joining people back in Israel, after exhile in foreign countries.
There were two main reasons for creating Kibbutzim-
1. Putting people from different countries together, in a community that supports its own members, and thereby helping them heal from the oppression in their homelands and from the big, dramatic change in moving to a different country with a different culture.
2. The Zionistic Vision, which sums up in the sentence "Hebrew labour in a Jewish country", that is all about the salvation of the land. In Europe, from which the 1st waves of immigration came, Jews were usually working in White-Collar jobs: Bankers, Lawyers,
Phisicians and more... They were haunted for that, mainly because they were rich, and so the Zionists wanted the Jews of Israel to work in more common jobs, like farming, fishing, portering etc.
Another motivation to the Kibbutz idea was Communism, which was brought to Israel with the Russian immigration. People have actually live in a Commune, and shared EVERYTHING- all private possesions were donated to the group on the arrival of the new member. Clothes, books, bike, pianos, plates and silverware, even children were given names that were accepted by the Kibbutz assembly! The 1st Kibbutz was Kinnereth (Sea of Gallilee). Nowadays, there are about 320 Kibbutzim.
I was born on a Kibbutz named Gilgal, which is a biblical name. It was established on 1972, 5 years before I was born. As a baby, I lived in a children's house untill the age of 6. I slept, played, ate and grew up in that house. Every day, at 16.30, we used to go to our parents' house, to see them and be with them for a couple of hours. After supper, at about 20.30- 21.00 o'clock, they would get us back to the children's house, so we could go to sleep in our beds with 6 other kids in the room. It sounds terrible, I know, but it really wasn't. Being the young Kibbutz that it was, we used to help packing watermelons in the summer, so that the job will be done on time. Nothing comares to throwing a juicy watermelon on the floor after work and eating the inside with your hands (mind you, in August it's 40-45 degrees Celsius outside, even under a tree!) On our birthdays, our parents gave a gift to the children's house ( my dad made a pegions cage, for example) and to the child itself.
Today, many Kibbutzim have fallen apart over financial losses, or massive leaving of young people. The ones who are still standing, went through many changes- people have their own cars, electricity bills are being paid by each family, we earn the money that we make- not the same wages for different jobs, as it used to be- we buy our own clothes, furniture and maintain our own way of life. The children, of course, live with their parents, untill the age of 15, when they should choose either to go live in their own very small apartments, or stay at home untill highschool's over and military service begins.
The Kibbutz is still very unusual- I have no idea on how to do my laundry in the machine, because it's done for me, I don't know how much is the Kibbutz paying for my life insurence, and the internet connection's practically free, but I do pay for lots of other things... I think the change is good and needed, but I don't like the thought of the Kibbutz coming to an end, which is what's happenning right now.
Well- 1st thing's 1st- History: the word Kibbutz means collecting, joining. I believe that this name originates in the big waves of immigration from different countries, that had been coming to Israel since the 19th Century, and are called Kibbutz Galuyoth- joining people back in Israel, after exhile in foreign countries.
There were two main reasons for creating Kibbutzim-
1. Putting people from different countries together, in a community that supports its own members, and thereby helping them heal from the oppression in their homelands and from the big, dramatic change in moving to a different country with a different culture.
2. The Zionistic Vision, which sums up in the sentence "Hebrew labour in a Jewish country", that is all about the salvation of the land. In Europe, from which the 1st waves of immigration came, Jews were usually working in White-Collar jobs: Bankers, Lawyers,
Phisicians and more... They were haunted for that, mainly because they were rich, and so the Zionists wanted the Jews of Israel to work in more common jobs, like farming, fishing, portering etc.
Another motivation to the Kibbutz idea was Communism, which was brought to Israel with the Russian immigration. People have actually live in a Commune, and shared EVERYTHING- all private possesions were donated to the group on the arrival of the new member. Clothes, books, bike, pianos, plates and silverware, even children were given names that were accepted by the Kibbutz assembly! The 1st Kibbutz was Kinnereth (Sea of Gallilee). Nowadays, there are about 320 Kibbutzim.
I was born on a Kibbutz named Gilgal, which is a biblical name. It was established on 1972, 5 years before I was born. As a baby, I lived in a children's house untill the age of 6. I slept, played, ate and grew up in that house. Every day, at 16.30, we used to go to our parents' house, to see them and be with them for a couple of hours. After supper, at about 20.30- 21.00 o'clock, they would get us back to the children's house, so we could go to sleep in our beds with 6 other kids in the room. It sounds terrible, I know, but it really wasn't. Being the young Kibbutz that it was, we used to help packing watermelons in the summer, so that the job will be done on time. Nothing comares to throwing a juicy watermelon on the floor after work and eating the inside with your hands (mind you, in August it's 40-45 degrees Celsius outside, even under a tree!) On our birthdays, our parents gave a gift to the children's house ( my dad made a pegions cage, for example) and to the child itself.
Today, many Kibbutzim have fallen apart over financial losses, or massive leaving of young people. The ones who are still standing, went through many changes- people have their own cars, electricity bills are being paid by each family, we earn the money that we make- not the same wages for different jobs, as it used to be- we buy our own clothes, furniture and maintain our own way of life. The children, of course, live with their parents, untill the age of 15, when they should choose either to go live in their own very small apartments, or stay at home untill highschool's over and military service begins.
The Kibbutz is still very unusual- I have no idea on how to do my laundry in the machine, because it's done for me, I don't know how much is the Kibbutz paying for my life insurence, and the internet connection's practically free, but I do pay for lots of other things... I think the change is good and needed, but I don't like the thought of the Kibbutz coming to an end, which is what's happenning right now.
