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Kibbutz - a collective farm owned by its members;
children are reared collectively...
(Webster English Dictionary)
So, what exactly is it?
The
definition by the Webster Dictionary brought here (courtesy of the
Merriam-Webster), is short and even illusive. most of the "kibbutzim"
(more than 1 kibbutz...) are no longer based on agriculture and farming,
but rather on sophisticated industry. In most cases, children are not "reared" collectively
anymore. The kibbutz has changed dramatically over the past
15 years. So, how does it look now? What kind of changes have been made?
Why? This page contains a short historical overview on this strange phenomena,
and a short description of kibbutz-life today.
THEN...
The conception of the kibbutz as a cooperative system of collective ownership
over property and means of production was developed by the Israeli new-comers
from middle and eastern europe (mainly Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria
etc.) at the start of the 20th century. These guys were heavily influenced by the
communist viewpoint and by the Zionists thinkers who called for a "new
kind of jewish people" that will defend themselves, work its new/old land and
will flourish from the fruits of their work. The basic idea was simple: each
and everyone invests everything he owns and all his/her efforts in the
collective, and takes back only his/her needs, as long as equality was
preserved... I know, it sounds EXTREMELY naive, but hey, it was a "new
kind of people"... The kibbutz ideology also induced the idea that the
kibbutzim should "settle the country of Israel" and thus, the further away you
got from the urban areas (at that time, Jerusalem, and some parts of the
shore strip of the Mediterranean sea), the better it was.
The first kibbutz ever was Degania,
established in 1910, on the southern edge
of the Sea of Galilee. Conditions were extreme. Lots of the settlers
suffered malaria, typhoid and other disease, as well as attacks from the
arab population. The collectivity was also extreme. one was not even allowed
to have a personal knife and fork, and fierce debates took place over the
issue of marriage, and whether a 'kibbutznik' is entitled to have his "own"
woman (and vice versa: the kibbutz female members were equal to men in
everything)... in short, it wasn't a walk in the park to be a 'kibbutznik'
those days. Children were considered to be part of the property, and parental
gestures were discouraged severely. The kibbutz, in general was non-religious,
and let alone a few religious kibbutzim, still maintains this agnostic line.
Kibbutz members were not paid for their work, since they were the
owners anyway; instead, they got food, residence, and other utilities from
the kibbutz, in equal shares; everyone got the same house (or room, as
it is still referred to in most of the kibbutzim. In practice, it was actually
a tent, or a stone-house with one room). showers were public. meals were
served in the dining-hall, at no charge. Yes... those were the days...
A lot of changes took place over the years. First to go was the "private
property" prohibition. It probably started with a "private" coffee pot,
or a "private" tablecloth... (clothes, mind you, were public! you were
not allowed to have your own private clothes.) By the mid-seventies, you
could own your private stereo system, and by the mid-eighties, most of
the kibbutzim already allowed the purchase of a TV set. since the eighties,
most kibbutzim started to move the kids from the "children houses" to the
family-homes. When I was growing up during (until 1983 or so), children
were sleeping in a special "children-house" and spent most of the days there,
studying, doing some recreational work (we had a small 'zoo' we took care
of), and so on. We went to our parents 'rooms' for only 4 hours, roughly
from 4 pm until 8 pm, when we returned to the children house to sleep.
My sister, who was born in '76, was living with my parents since she was
10 or so, and the whole system of the children houses was abolished completely
in my kibbutz (Yakum) by 1985.
Kibbutzniks had always been evaluated in Israel as very reliable, resourceful, and
honest people. Educated in their own kibbutzim, they were considered good
soldiers (very important in Israel), and devoted workers, who will treat
the workplace as part-owners, do whatever is needed and worry about the
money later. They are also considered to be 'snobs', 'lefties'
socialist by nature, and naive. There is much more to be said
about the kibbutzim, historically and socially, but this is only my private
(yes, private) overview, and i'd humbly guess that if you read that far, you'd
probably got the idea by now. so we can move on to the
introspection commonicativa:
...NOW
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