Page 17 - C.A.L.L. #32 - Summer 2010

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

A Hundred Years of Kibbutz

When the first group settled Degania in the Jordan Valley, one of the hottest places in Israel (then
Ottoman Palestine), they were warned by some contemporary health experts that in this climate
they themselves may have a small chance of surviving, but they will certainly never be able to
raise children. But their pioneering spirit precluded them from giving in: the first group of six
absorbed six more chaverim (members), later on another eight, but when they reached the huge
number of twenty-four, they decided that this would be too big for "the new family" they intended
to create, and hence split into two, Degania A and Degania B. Today both Kibbutzim (which are
located very near to each other) count hundreds of members and many, many children, (some of
them nearing the age of 100 and some their fifth generation!) that they stopped counting.

Today, whilst everyone celebrates the 100th
birthday of the first communal settlement in
Israel, which has developed into a large
movement of over 270 Kibbutzim, we are obliged
to take note not only of their power, growth and
endurance, but also of the recent developments
that have shaken the Kibbutzim to their very
fundaments. Many of them have abandoned some
of their founding and integral principles of life,
which were "No private property" and "Your
income unrelated to your work", meaning that the
mechanic got the same monthly budget as the
Degania in the early days director of his factory - and more if he had more
children. This trend of the last 25 years is called
"privatization". We have to admit that many, especially of the younger Kibbutzniks, are happy with
this profound change and are ready to work more or harder in order to earn more.

This is, of course, a very superficial description of the broad, on-going reforms, which have
"conquered" most existing Kibbutzim. They will have a profound influence not only on each
Kibbutz in Israel, but also on the theory and praxis of all who live (or research) the communal
way-of-life the world over.

Trying To Foresee the Future

"…The very fact that the crisis of the Kibbutzim has not destroyed even one of them, and many
have actually managed to consolidate their economy, can give us hope that they will find the way
of living Kibbutz, though in a different style, in the future too".

This will be the main subject of the international conference of communes and communities,
which will take place this June in Israel, in the Yizre'el Valley College. Of course: all are invited!

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