Page 17 - C.A.L.L. #27 - Summer 2006

Welcome to “Kibbutz Shorts”, where we
discover what’s new on the Kibbutz in an
KIBBUTZ SHORTS
update from around Israel.

Compiled mainly from the Kibbutz
weeklies by Yoel Darom,

Kibbutz Kfar Menachem

It Started With A Radio

During the Second World War, many Kibbutz members volunteered for active service in the British Army,
not so much for a love of Britain but out of a deep-seated drive to fight the Nazi forces. When they came
home after the war, some of them brought home a little present: a simple, small radio-set. Some saw in
it an advance from the most primitive conditions of Kibbutz life of that era, but others were up in arms.
The introduction of private property has
only one meaning: this is the end of the
Kibbutz!

As Fritz Vilmar writes (p 24), this was only
the beginning of a chain of constant
change, especially as the young
communities came slowly out of their state
of poverty and became more "affluent":
from tents to wooden barracks and (much
later) real concrete houses, from meager
meals to a rather decent menu in the
common dining room, and a vast increase
in the monetary budget that each member
received. Is this the reason for the gradual
abandonment of the basic principles of
complete sharing and equality and of comprehensive mutual responsibility? For 60 years the Kibbutz
used to be the shining example of "realizing a socialist society", but then the third and fourth generation
steered the Kibbutzim in a different direction and have managed to carry with them a large number of
Kibbutzim. How and why? This should be a great subject for research. Who is going to take this upon
him/herself?

New Trend in The Israeli Communes Movement

On the other hand, something different is happening in Israel, on the opposite extreme of social
development: hundreds of young people (only partly Kibbutz children) banding together to form new
communes. Some of them go the" "traditional" way of building new rural settlements, but most choose
to settle in towns, in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, to become central in the spheres of
education, social consciousness and activity for young and old, while they themselves keep studying, at
least one day a week, education or art, philosophy or linguistics, dancing or photography. Most of these
communities are still in their first years of existence and we do not know where they are heading, but
the beginnings are very promising and many Kibbutzniks identify deeply with this trend, help them where
they can and wish them every success.

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