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From the Bulletin of the International Communal Studies Association – Nov 2002

Psychosozial, no. 87, 2002 (German)

This issue of Psychosozial, edited by Maria Foelling-Albers and Werner Foelling, is wholly dedicated to “Life on the Kibbutz”. It includes six articles
which discuss various aspects of life and activity in kibbutz society of recent years:
Michael Nathan, the transition from communal sleeping arrangements to parents’ home; Arza Avrahami focuses on orientation and behavior of
kibbutz youth, compared with those of youth living in general society; Benyamin Beit Halachmi, collective education and personality development, the
outcome of kibbutz experience; Avraham Pavin discusses social stratification in a society of equals; Michal Palgi asks the question: Emancipation of
women in a just society? She discusses the case of kibbutz women; Uriel Leviatan discusses ageing in the kibbutz, social institutions, life expectancy
and feelings.
The introduction by Maria Foelling-Albers introduces the reader to the development of the kibbutz movement up to recent years, the transition from
a very loaded ideological society, especially concerning educational issues, to a society in which adaption to the general society and its values
becomes dominant. This issue of Pasychosozial presents a summing up of the discussed issues and also presents ideas for the future.

Chaim Seeligmann

An Israeli Scholar Visits the Hutterites – Ran Aaronsohn

During August, 2002, for academic purposes, I visited the collective Hutterite settlements (The Hutterian Brethren) in the United States and Canada.
This was the last in a series of visits I had made over the last ten years in the framework of field research, funded by the Fullbright Foundation in
North America, each encompassing at least ten cooperative settlements. Previous visits took place at the Society of Brothers’ communes (known to
many Israelis as The Bruderhof), and the Schmiedleut communes, which form the biggest group of the Hutterian Brethren. During my last trip this
summer, I visited the Dariusleut and Lehrerleut Hutterite communes in the states of Washington and Montana in the North-west United States and
the central Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

In total, I visited over twenty two communes, some of which were return visits. In approximately half of the communes these were visits of a few
hours, while the other visits extended over a period of two to five days. The field research, the focus of the visits, employed a dual method: on the
one hand, direct collection of various types of internal material (such as letters, photographs and maps, telephone books and internal advertising
materials). On the other hand, this included participant observation, taken in a continuous manner throughout my stay in the communes – beginning
with meals in the general dining room, including participation in the various work branches and traveling to neighbouring settlements for work
purposes. Furthermore, the research process also included attending community events and participating in personal discussions. It should be
emphasized that this research method is most effective, in particular for a study of Hutterite settlements.

The small Bruderhof communities publish an internal newsletter, ‘The Plough’, in addition there exists an extensive bibliography of writings on the
Bruderhof. However, the Hutterites, with 465 communes (!), do not publish a newspaper or brochure for external purposes. Almost no archival,
research or current information is available on the Hutterites. The only possibility of visiting their communes is to receive a written invitation from a
Hutterite member, and to stay with a family in one of the rooms of the family dwelling.

Hutterite research has become increasingly problematic during the last decade, since members relate with suspicion to academics (following what
they describe as “problematic studies” in the past), an accumulation of internal difficulties (as a result of a growing controversy amongst Hutterite
members and waves of members leaving the settlements), as well as problems of granting insurance to visitors during their stay (following a very
large disability claim submitted by a visitor who had been injured during a visit). This increased Hutterite reticence to visitors in general, and
academics in particular.

To my pleasant surprise I not only managed to visit each of the Hutterite groups, but I was also accepted warmly as a visitor at all of them.
Exceptional cooperation was extended to me, even from the most introverted communes. One of the reasons for this open attitude, in my opinion, is
the deep love of Israel expressed by the Hutterites, which extended to me as a visitor from Israel – the first Israeli, it appears, to have visited them.
This attitude perhaps arose from their appreciation of the Kibbutz, and primarily from their religious belief in the Bible, including the Old Testament
and the Children of Israel as the Chosen People. The Hutterites are devout Fundamental Christians.

The anticipated result of these visits and the collected findings will be the publication of a book that will explore geographic elements per settlement
in terms of commune development in the United States (referring also, of course, to the existing bibliography). This volume will focus on questions
such as the character of the constructed landscape and changing functions, the realistic expression of cooperation in daily life, and extending circles
of relations with the human surrounding. These factors will be explored in light of long term changes and in comparison with other cooperative
movements – including the kibbutz.

Dr. Ran Aaronsohn is a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His main fields of interest include: Historical geography, with
emphasis on stages of development and settlement in Israel; rural settlements in the past and present, in particular cooperative settlements
throughout the world; the preservation of historical sites and local settlement museums.

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