back on the kibbutz

I spent the weekend on the kibbutz, my first visit back since moving to Jerusalem. It was wonderful. I realized that I never really talked about it before, so I thought I would describe it a bit more...

Well I'll actually start with the bus ride there. I was sitting next to this woman who is from New York, enlisted in the (US) army when she was 17, and is now coming back to her Judaism (at age 31) and going to seminary. So she was pretty hardcore. Just before she got off, we got onto the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and it was not good. She has "no sympathy" for the Palestinians because of the terrorist activities that some of them have been involved in, and thinks that they "deserve whatever they get." When I pointed out that not all of them are like that she wouldn't hear it. And maybe she had never heard of Gandhi or the idea of nonviolent methods of creating change. But let's just say I was glad she was getting off the bus. I might have had to get seriously hippie on her ass.

Anyhow, back to the kibbutz. I don't know if I have explained, but the kibbutz is a uniquely Israeli phenomenon, originally socialist/semi-communist communities established all over Israel (Palestine) as self-sufficient, agricultual and etc. communities based on the idea of collective living. There was no money, no personal property; members got what they needed, ate at the dining hall, worked for the community, the kids lived at the childrens' houses where they also went to school, etc. Today, there is a privatisation process that I think is sad, because it means that there aren't real kibbutzim anymore. People own their homes, they buy their food at the local store, and they may or may not work within the community. It is still a special place though. While many families have cars, most of the roads within the kibbutz are too narrow to drive on - when the kibbutzim were built, hardly anyone had cars so there was no need for space to accomodate them. The kibbutzim are still surrounded by fields and orchards that they maintain, although many also have factories of some kind. They are generally quiet, idyllic places, universally recognized as special. Even the people: although kibbutzniks (people from kibbutzim) make up something like 4% of the Israeli population, they rise to the top army ranks in a much larger proportion.

My visit was really great. I got to sit around and enjoy the quiet, the freedom (kibbutzim tend to be almost secular - as opposed to the oppressive religiousness of Jerusalem, I was in heaven, hah), and the family. I ate tons of home-cooking, visited with aunts and uncles and cousins, and that's about it. On Friday there was a special dinner, but not religious. More about family and togetherness, all the kids and grandkids and etc. That is Shabbat, kibbutz-style. On Sat, one cousin took me to the nearest town where I had Jachnoon, a Yemen food that was really yummy. It's almost like a bubble, being on the kibbutz - there's no pressure, no worries, no rushing anywhere. Of course that's part of why I was afraid I would get lulled to stay there, but it is also nourishing to visit an environment like that.

the kibbutz

the dining hall

Oh and I got a bike! It is yellow and kind of beat-up looking, but it is obvious that someone loved it. It has custom handlebars, shocks, and pedal-thingies. AND, I bargained the price down 125 shekels (about $25 or $30)!