Page 17 - C.A.L.L. #29 - Winter 2007

Welcome to “Kibbutz Shorts”,

where we discover what’s new
on the Kibbutz in an update
KIBBUTZ SHORTS from around Israel.

Compiled mainly from the
Kibbutz weeklies by Yoel Darom,

Kibbutz Kfar Menachem

Searching for kibbutz values

"Ten years ago”, said Avi, “I left my former Kibbutz, not only because they were in the
process of changing to a fully privatized society, but a majority of opponents made life
sour and the impasse created an impossible social situation for all. So I joined this one,
and in the course of time my new community also started to take the path of paying
"differential wages". But there is a huge difference: my ‘new’ Kibbutz sticks to the former
key principle of ‘mutual responsibility’ and keeps under its control large sums of money -
mostly from progressive taxes on members' salaries - to guarantee the continuation of the
many communal services for all."

"But a second reason for my staying here with my family, rather happily, is the way our
Kibbutz approached the whole issue. The ‘new order’ was carefully mapped, worked out
and decided upon step by step, so that at every stage a large majority was well
persuaded and voted step by step in favour of the proposed changes."

Avi went out to study and now fills the central role of the farm manager. He manages to
find the right way of combining economic efficiency with the old Kibbutz values.

Israel absorbs refugees

Even before its independence, the State of Israel took in thousands of Jewish refugees. It
absorbed millions during and after the holocaust. Now a new refugee problem has
appeared: people fleeing Darfur, the genocide-ridden district in Sudan, infiltrate into
Israel. Many of them are being accepted, even if only temporarily, and are trying to find
work and shelter. Quite a few Kibbutzim have taken in a number of Sudanese as a
humanitarian gesture.

Teachers approved by pupils

One of the Kibbutz-based High Schools in the Galilee,
introduced a new, probably unprecedented interpretation of
"democracy at School": the students have to approve of each
teacher. This includes not only the well-known teachers of the
last years, even the newcomers to the teaching body will be
interviewed by students before the students' delegates give
their O.K. Some teachers gave their blessing to this new venture, others rejected it right
away and refused to co-operate, seeing it as a kind of insult and an unfair infringement
on their authority.

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