Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tus, and resent religious, right-wing, or “too Middle Eastern” compatriots, whom they blame
for ruining the country or throwing away chances for peace. This accounts for the strong leftist
tinge in many areas of culture, although this situation also characterizes many other Western
countries.
If many changes come from abroad, some are also internal— specifi cally, changes in the
role of and attitudes toward the kibbutz, whose decline can been seen as signifi cant. The kib-
butz, which is both a community and a collective economic cooperative stressing egalitarian-
ism, symbolizes the socialist Zionist ideals that directed the early years of the country. Today
only a small minority of Israelis live on a kibbutz, a situation with more of a symbolic than a
material effect on the country.
As Israeli society has changed, the kibbutz has lost its privileged position in the Israeli social
consciousness for several reasons. Mizrahim, who formed many of the later waves of immi-
grants, had little interest in this way of life. Over time, too, the economy shifted away from
agriculture. Building up a kibbutz and maintaining it proved to be very different kinds of
activities, and the fi rst or second generations born on kibbutzim often wanted to leave to
determine their own lifestyle. The experiment of communally rearing children also met with
many criticisms after years of experience, especially from those who grew up on kibbutzim.
Kibbutzim are spread throughout the country, with the majority located in away from the
major urban centers. The kibbutz prototype is secular, but there are also a few religious kib-
butzim. Typically, a kibbutz has several hundred members, each admitted by a vote of the
membership. The grounds include a residential area with very modest homes, a post offi ce, a
dining hall, an industrial zone, a cowshed, and agricultural fi elds. Traditional kibbutzim also
have children's homes, schools, and a small service center for technicians such as electricians.
All automobiles are owned by the kibbutz and available for use by members who need them.
This collectivist framework is far less common now.
Kibbutz residents traditionally saw themselves as the embodiment of society's values of
equality and working the land: they were pioneers settling the new land. Other Israelis admired
them, sometimes envied them as privileged — although those privileges were based on very
hard work— and made fun of them as naive. For the most part, they no longer feel that they
are at the forefront of an important movement but rather that they have chosen a way of living
with low stress and high quality of life.
The decline of the kibbutz was accelerated in the 1980s by the economic crisis that hit the
entire country. Having borrowed funds in previous years, many kibbutzim were forced to
sell off assets and adjust to changed circumstances. The more successful kibbutzim turned to
making income from tourism and went into high technology and a wide variety of specialized
enterprises. The most successful were those in good locations for engaging in innovative enter-
prises. One kibbutz, formerly a poor place relying on fi shing, parlayed its location on the Tel
Aviv -Haifa road into prosperity by establishing and running a huge shopping center —where
stores can stay open on the Sabbath since it is private property — a water park, and a zoo. Other
kibbutzim on the periphery remain in fi nancial trouble.
The other type of agricultural community, the moshav, has adjusted to changes over time
more easily. On a moshav, property is privately owned but machinery may be owned and
