{"id":1458,"date":"2014-05-20T21:01:14","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T21:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1458"},"modified":"2014-05-20T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T21:06:22","slug":"farming-israeli-style-visit-and-work-on-a-kibbutz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/farming-israeli-style-visit-and-work-on-a-kibbutz\/","title":{"rendered":"Farming Israeli-style: Visit and Work on a Kibbutz"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Brennan<\/p>\n

One of the characteristics of the first Zionist settlers in what was to become Israel was their establishment of the system of Kibbutz farming. Centuries of benign but corrupt Ottoman rule had discouraged the Arab villagers and city dwellers from developing the lands of what was called Palestine by map makers and the post Great War British Mandate. Although hard scrabble farmers worked to grow basic crops, no one saw the need to develop things beyond a subsistence level. Poverty and discouragement walked hand in hand to the fields each day. Jews had come to Palestine and been tolerated and were even good citizens\u00a0 by Ottoman standards. By\u00a0 the time\u00a0 Herzl and the early Zionists began to pressure for a Jewish homeland many decisions had been made. One was that Hebrew would be the official language. The other was that settlement was to be a communal activity. These were turn of the 20th century socialists and the collective farm was their tool for productivity. The collective farm became the Kibbutz system<\/a> and it worked.<\/p>\n

\"Communal-Kibbutz-<\/a>

Communal-Kibbutz- Dining<\/p><\/div>\n

The first Zionists to enter were young idealists from Europe after 1900.These were energized, 18 and 20 something\u2019s, men and women were mostly secular and profoundly socialist. The Kibbutz was an agricultural settlement set up on a dormitory and common property mentality. The first Kibbutz was Degania in 1909. The energy levels and productivity of the kibbutzim had an influence on the landscape that was not quite an overnight sensation. Dust and brown went to green and irrigated. Living in barracks, eating in common dining halls, he or she who didn\u2019t work went hungry. These were not the hippie communes of the 1960\u2019s but labor intensive experiments with a point to prove and an axe or two to grind.\u00a0 After years of pogroms , displacement, ghettoes and deportations the Jews were back and the world would soon know it. The movement surged and everywhere settlers came in and the deserts bloomed, fruits and vegetables surged into markets and more from Europe came to live where they could work, study and feel free from forced deportations, and confiscations. The Jews were a growing presence and the Grand Mufti in Jerusalem saw an opportunity. Foreshadowing the future he began to associate himself with anti-Semites in Germany sowing Al-Fatah seeds for the harvest to come.<\/p>\n

After 1948 the liberated and shell-shocked camp survivors tried to go to the haven they felt was theirs. The British Mandate was uneasy after the war and wanted to keep the lid on a delicate balance of Jew and Muslim. The hardy Kibbutzniks were the core of resistance and soon their discipline and creativity began to be felt. Surreptitiously war surplus weapons made their way in and plans to break free into nationhood were being put to paper. The rest is history, literally. In 1989 about 2% of Israel\u2019s population lived on 270 Kibbutz\u2019s throughout the nation this about 129,000 people. High inflation and interest rates forced many of the Kibbutz\u2019s into bankruptcy and many Kibbutzniks left or sought other lifestyles. Increased individualism and opportunities called stronger than the communal ideals of 1909.<\/p>\n

Today most of the remaining Kibbutz\u2019s are privatized and members pay fees at graduated income rates.\u00a0 A communal sense still exists and the membership fees pay for such things as healthcare, care for elderly and for those legitimately unable to work and for education. The Kibbutz has been revitalized and re-energized and today items other than agricultural ones are produced at many of them. Kibbutz tourism is flourishing as well. Urban Kibbutz\u2019s are popular and the old cooperative atmosphere flourishes. Much has changed or adapted but a sense of \u201cus\u201d has been revitalized.<\/p>\n

Family life has a vital role and children are still a focal point. Children spend much time with the working parents and still develop high social skills. The movement has many who look to it for direction and community. We can learn much from them. Scripture says: \u201cIt is not good for the man to be alone\u201d (Genesis 2:18). We were made to relate to others and the Creator placed that within us in many ways. Our first dependence is on Him and He expects us to share life with others. The drastic differences between the current non-Biblical state of the world and its divisiveness and the world of the Bible are painfully obvious. A community of a shared value and inter-relationship of family friend and neighbor, care of widows and orphans and kindness to strangers is totally Biblical. We can learn a lot from a kibbutznik.<\/p>\n

There are Kibbutz educational tours, volunteer opportunities and of course, a chance to live and work on one. But many have waiting lists. The system has adapted to a more sophisticated, but still motivated population that is less ideological and more outwardly minded toward the wellbeing of others. Private property is respected but not coveted and people see value in others. Caring has overshadowed ideology. The Kibbutz system looks forward to years of success and growth. A visit or tour will be a valuable experience.<\/p>\n

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By Tom Brennan One of the characteristics of the first Zionist settlers in what was to become Israel was their establishment of the system of Kibbutz farming. Centuries of benign but corrupt Ottoman rule had discouraged the Arab villagers and city dwellers from developing the lands of what was called Palestine by map makers and more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136,28],"tags":[208,75,625,201,631,207,125,202],"class_list":{"0":"post-1458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israeli-culture","8":"category-israeli-life-culture","9":"tag-farming","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israeli-news","12":"tag-israeli-agriculture","13":"tag-israeli-life","14":"tag-kibbutz","15":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","16":"tag-the-land-of-israel","17":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1464,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions\/1464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}