I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world”
Struggling and adapting, what failed categorically in Russia and China has nevertheless survived in the unexpected Land of Holies. Kibbutzim in Israel, however, are not what they used to be. Community members mostly eat their meals at home, receive salaries according to contribution, and the commune may now be professionally managed. Palmachim, 30 minutes southwest of Tel Aviv, is a typical example of the present day kibbutzim.
I was greeted by 80-year-old Mr. Zvi who looked like Jack Lemon’s twin brother. One of the founding members of Palmachim in the late 1940s, Mr. Zvi spoke with nothing short of great pride and confidence. The first place we went was the dinning hall which is at the heart of the kibbutz. Communal meals were essential and necessary to kibbutz living at the beginning when most of the members were in their youth and owned no personal properties. As community has grown, most people now choose to spend their private time with their family members. The dinning hall still serves meals, and a simple lunch costs less than 30 shekels (or US$ 8.60)
On a land of dirt and sand, Palmachim was built from scratch on the Mediterranean coast. Today it looks like a resort cluster near Caesarea that may cost US$ 10,000 per square meter.
There are a few different building types in this 500-member community: single family homes close to the entrance, two-level multiplexes along the beach, and various two- to four-unit apartment buildings in the middle. The kibbutz has an expansion plan to virtually double its current size, but most of the new buildings will be up for sale.
This “new” capitalistic management system as almost all kibbutzim in Israel are desperately adapting seems to have turned the original socialistic ideal right on its head. “The new system”, as Mr. Zvi tactically put it, is expected to save the financially struggling utopia. People now receive salaries and are paid differently based on their individual contribution. With advancement in agriculture and relocation of the cow ranch, many people work in the nearby city of Rishon LeZion during the day, and return at night. Some of the buildings are current rent out to outside companies. The kibbutz can no longer provide free housings, so the new condos will need to be purchased by the community members. These are just a few examples.
“We all voted for it”, said Mr Zvi. The despair and disappointment were as evidently poignant as the hot and salty Mediterranean breeze. China has been doing the same transmorphing for almost 30 years. The otherwise long extinct Marxist mammoth is now the world’s most coveted commercial paradise and is hosting the spectacular coming-out-of-Commie-closet extravaganza this August. So, Mr. Zvi, everything will be sababa, but I didn’t say it to him.
Nurseries are located between the dinning hall and the living quarters. In such way, the kids are safe and not likely to wander into the sea without being noticed. Kibbutz children are raised together. The parents don’t give up their newborns but share the responsibility of taking care of all the children in the commune. This is similar to how cubs are raised in hyena packs. Lactating hyenas feed any needy cubs in the pack, and spoil is also shared with no discrimination. Despite hyenas’ deceivingly lowly appearance, I have the highest respect for them, probably the most efficient and tenacious survivalists in Serengeti. I don’t know any kibbutz kids, but I bet almost all Israelites know this kibbutz boy. His name is Ben Gurion, the founder of the modern state of Israel. When the national airport in Tel Aviv is named after him, I guess he must have done something right in his life.
The last stop was the kibbutz museum. When building the community, people discovered many items of archaeological importance. Right at the crossroad of culture highways, the Judea Hills witnessed and, many times, endured the coming and going of many great peoples: Phoenicians, Canaanites, Israelites, Egyptians, Syrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzentiums, and Arabs. The list is of course not exhaustive. When the dust settles, millennia of dynastic changes, gruesome conquests, massive losses of human lives, all seems to amount to little more than a few fragmented potteries, eroded coins, and cracked skulls buried deep in the dirt.
Greed, probably the greatest motivation in human history, has propelled us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, yet with an equally staggering price tag. I suspect with confidence that the renunciation of greed for personal gains was part of the reasons that the ideal of kibbutzim was developed and implemented on this restless land. Sadly, the world is not ready for it, neither was it kind to Russia and China in the 20th century. Change is inevitable for survival, but may not be a betrayal. The question whether to die for an ideal or to live another day trying to fulfill it later has been answered, both in Masada some 2,000 years ago and in present day Palmachim.
Shalom, Mr. Zvi and Palmachim. Behatzlacha!
