Young opt out of the kibbutzim

Press, 6 December 1983, Page 8

Young opt out of the kibbutzim

By

Jacqueline Steincamp

Fundamental changes are happening in Israeli kibbutzim, according to a Christchurch primary teacher, Jo Barker, who has just returned from 14 months in Israel.

Aging memberships, young people who are opting out, pressures for private ownership of personal assets — these are taking some of the shine off principles aimed at providing absolute security and refuge for the damaged, the homeless, and Zionist idealists, she says. “Grey heads predominate in many formerly dynamic communities. Many of the older kibbutzim are switching to tourism and light industries to find suitable light work for the elderly.

Many formerly thriving kibbutzim can only keep up productivity with labour provided by international volunteers and paid local workers, often Arab.”

Almost four million Israelis crowd into an area half the size of Canterbury, with agricultural frontiers that are expanding continu-

ally as new kibbutzim are set up.

Today, more than 100,000 people live in 229 of these communally owned and managed farms. Another 135,000 live in moshava, cooperative settlements where people own their own houses, have small holdings, and farm on a collective basis, she says.

Miss Barker has had an extensive insight into different types of kibbutzim.

Her first five months were spent at the Hulata kibbutz, in the green and fertile Hula valley in the north; at Matsuva, only four km from the border with Lebanon; ten months at the well-known, Ramat David kibbutz in the fertile Jezreel valley; and at Rosh Hanikra, on the coast adjoining Lebanon.

Tall and dark, with expressive eyes set in a

mobile face, and a striking dress sense, Jo Barker has the air of a sabra — a native-born Israeli.

But she says that there her casual clothes marked her as a tourist every time.

"Israelis are really sharp dressers,” she says. “Girls will jump straight from their army uniforms to high heels, really stylish well-cut clothes — they look really good.”

As much as Jo Barker personally enjoyed kibbutz life, she says she is not surprised that so many of the young are voting with their feet. “There’s a tremendous mental and emotional strain in maintaining a normal, everyday life in the face of everything that goes on — the war, military service, the struggling economy, a lower standard of living — the whole works!

“Living in Israel is hard enough, and it’s even worse if you’re not totally committee to the kibbutz life.”

The military service, plus a year working in cities after kibbutz children leave the army, gives them money to travel and a taste for the sort of life not found on a kibbutz, she says. “So many young Israelis are living out of Israel now.”

Technological gadgetry is also forcing changes to the original principles of communal ownership. Young people are insisting on private ownership of videos, stereo systems, personal computers, and cameras which they purchase with money earned outside the kibbutz, she says. The trend is being further accelerated by changes in kibbutz policy allowing members to retain ownership of money willed to them, or (in some cases) earned outside the kibbutz, she says. What did Jo Barker think of the communal type of

child-rearing practised in kibbutzim? She is adamant that the quality of the end product — the young adult — indicates that something must be right.

She notes: “A seriousmindedness; an ability to be joyful; wholesome values; low dependence on alcohol.”

She also thinks that the two to three years military service for all 18 year olds does wonders for some young people.

“But some find it a bind, and will even leave Israel to escape conscription.”

Jo Barker believes that, generally speaking, there are fewer pressures on parents than on our individualistic world of “little boxes.”

“Kibbutz children spend their days with dedicated, caring people. The time spent with parents is one of total good will. The whole set-up fosters tremendously good and loving relationships.”

Mothers have six weeks off after having a baby, then the babies are cared for in a “babyhouse,” with mothers coming in to feed and cuddle them.

But this arrangement is increasingly not to the liking of today’s young marrieds. Many mothers want to stay home to look after their babies. Some kibbut-

zim are catering to this trend by building more family homes, she says. Jo Barker was impressed with what she saw of the children’s houses, where teenagers share spacious twin rooms.

“Living with other children integrates them into their peer group — and that’s very important in Israel. At the same time, adolescents seem to have such good relationships with their parents. They can go home whenever they want to, and really have a built-in bolt-hole. Young adults are encouraged to be free-think-ing.”

The aura of “Brave New World” has always surrounded the kibbutz experience in the eyes of outsiders. Jo Barker found, however, that sex roles are highly traditional, often to the exasperation of leaders. Men work in the fields; women run the babyhouses, the children’s houses, kindergartens, schools, kitchens, and dining rooms.

Jo Barker thinks New Zealanders have a lot to learn from the Israelis, such as tolerance of cultural differences, differences in attitudes and approaches.

“We’re intolerant towards people with problems — whether they’re emotional, physical, or financial.”