Fitting with the 100th anniversary of the kibbutz establishment, Toby Perl Freilich has produced a documentary of the kibbutz. It was placed on the website Tablet and is reproduced here.
Inventing Our Life examines the kibbutz movement at 100 years old, facing a rocky past and a promising future.
This was one comment: “This was absolutely beautiful …. and gut-wrenching. I can’t wait to see the rest of Toby’s adventure into the past and how I wish that the kibbutz movement never dies …. perhaps with a little updating. What a beautiful dream.”
This Sunday 18th April, we hope to see those of you living in Sydney at the NSW Yom Ha’Atzmaut function at Randwick Racecourse. For more information, see the State Zionist Council website
This years Yom Ha’Atzmaut is celebrating 100 years of the kibbutz. So let’s pick a Kibbutz!
Kibbutz Eilon in the north, close to the Lebanon border, was one that I spent an enjoyable few days at some years ago. The Kibbutz was founded by the Shomer Hatzair Movement in October 1938 as part of the Tower and Stockade settlements in the Western Galil. What is Kibbutz Eilon up to these days?
The internet provides a glimpse .. first with this video of the Mosaic Garden Sculpture of Ruth and Meyer Davidson as described here. Also Eilon Mosaics has been creating art mosaics for over 45 years, and their creations are found throughout the world.
The kibbutz features the Keshet Eilon Music Centre and Violin Mastercourse. with an international reputation for nurturing gifted young violinists. The next performance on June 4 is listed here. For a wonderful musical overview of the Violin experience see here and here which includes a feature of Asil, a young Arab Israeli violinist who attends the course, and a Bach concerto for 2 violins
Edna Paz at the Kibbutz has developed the Nefertiti Paz range of clothes sold in many stores in Israel.
I recently finished a book about the Sorek Valley and surrounding area - and the important role it played in the Israel War of Independence. Its location made it a stategically important link to maintain supplies between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Now more than 60 years on, there is much to see in this area which was the stomping ground of Samson - for instance here is a biblical look at Israel
One of the successes of the area is Kibbutz Tzora which contains many successful industries, high quality wine production, and a B and B.
One of nearby Moshav Eshtaol’s residents is Uzi-Eli Chezi, known as the Etrog Medicine Man.
Next Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Jewish communities will celebrate 100 years of the Kibbutz movement. It provides a great opportunity to visit some of the kibbutzim on the way.
With the need for a sustainable environment uppermost in our minds, let’s look at the shining example of Kibbutz Lotan in the Southern Arava desert, beginning with its Centre for Creative Ecology - which features a live-in Green apprenticeship program.
The program includes practical instruction in Alternative Building with Geodesic Domes. Also organic gardening and creative recycling is taught. The Kibbutz participates in a sustainable waste management program in a joint European Union venture.
Kibbutz Lotan is a member of the European branch of the Global Ecovillage Network and in 2006 received the organization’s award for Ecovillage Excellence in recognition of its work in promoting ecological building, waste management and environmental education, and also for promoting sustainability through the building of bridges between different ethnic groups in Israel. You can learn more about the Kibbutz through the video below - and also its community ethos here. The site also provides some insight into Kibbutz ideology.
- “For Martin Buber the collective commune based on mutual responsibility between its members, a strong striving for an egalitarian economic ethic, and the conscious commitment to create Jewish community, made it a potential framework for the achievement of dialogue, of the “I-Thou” relationship within a contemporary Jewish setting. Buber asserted in his “Paths to Utopia” that the kibbutz was an experiment that had not yet failed, i.e. the kibbutz had not succeeded in realizing its utopian aims, but it was still, in spite of the exigencies of every day life, concerned with striving towards this goal. More recently, another kibbutz member, Muki Tsur, has put it succinctly: “The kibbutz is not an ideal society, but it is a society built on ideals.
“ From Michael Livni (Lotan member), ” Reform Kibbutz and Religious Pioneering”
Kibbutz Lotan provides a guide to an ecologically friendly future that is very relevant for Australia and elsewhere.
The JNF is playing a major role in promoting a green Israel; with support for Kibbutz Lotan as well as other important projects through JNF Australia
Inventing Our Life examines the kibbutz movement at 100 years old, facing a rocky past and a promising future.
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