My first time in a Kibbutz...

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My first time in a Kibbutz in Israel, January 1981.

Some time, while I was beginning to plan my first backpacking adventure I heard about the Kibbutz from a friend of mine who had some Jewish friends in Mexico.
I'd never heard anything about them before and had no idea what they were, and probably you hadn't either until now...

So, let me tell you a little bit about what a Kibbutz is...
It is mainly a collective community, traditionally based around agriculture but they also have some other farming projects including commercial fishing from their own artificial fishponds and some have some sort of industrial plants. Many of them also have cows and chickens. (mine did)

A kibbutz is run by its members and some duties are rostered every now and then. There are still around 250 Kibbutzim (plural) operating in Israel quite effectively, though I hear some things are changing lately.

Their production is for their community and the workload and profits are shared. They all work, even the elderly while they still can, they simply want to be of help and continue contributing to their community.
The kids go to school or daycare where some of the ladies look after them while the rest are working out there.
It is nearly like a utopia of a socialist society, you might say, where all have work, duties, responsibilities and modest housing with all the modern commodities you'd have in a 'western world' house...

Within the 'mini village' there are a several houses, scattered throughout the living grounds, where the members live with their families and some other houses are used by the volunteers and some young soldiers who also go to work in a kibbutz as part of their military service for some time.

We even had a great swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, and a library and once or twice a month we'd all go to the local cinema to watch a movie, together with members and volunteers from other nearby kibbutzim...all free!

You practically don't need any money while you are there, as you get everything you need, food, clothing, entertainment, and you can get a few bits and pieces from the little store within the kibbutz, where you use tokens to buy stuff like chocolates and beer, and you were allowed to have about 7 packs of free 'Noblesse' cigarettes a week (a local brand), maybe that policy has changed by now...

We all had meal breaks and met up in the huge dining room at the same meal-times. They always had great fresh food, primarily from their own produce and from other kibbutzim nearby. It was a self-service buffet where you would gather your meal, as much as you wanted, and take it to your table and afterwards, you'd take your dishes and tray to the massive dishwashing machine.

Everyone goes to work every morning, 6 days a week, from Sunday morning to Friday afternoon when everything stops to celebrate Shabbat. That starts at sunset on Friday and ends on Saturday at sunset...

Friday nights were always very special in my Kibbutz, everyone got cleaned up and dressed up for Shabbat Dinner. Everyone came to the dining room including children, which you rarely see during the week. They set the tables up beautifully with white tablecloths and nice cutlery and, on that night, we all get served dinner at our table. At my kibbutz there was normally some delicious roast beef with gravy and vegies and we got to have some special bread for Shabbat called Challah bread, they even served us wine, although it was a special Shabbat wine, a bit too sweet, but it made that dinner very special.
And, for dessert, we had a delicious cheesecake...Best ever!
They would say a little prayer before dinner and they'd light up the Shabbat candles... It was really quite something every Friday night...
Well, now you have a brief idea of what a kibbutz is, although there's much more to it than that...

Before going there I frankly could not believe such places existed nowadays and I was extremely curious to see one for myself!
Then I was told that they accepted volunteers to go and work there in exchange for food and accommodation, and many people flocked there every year to live a "Kibbutz Experience" and to learn some new skills you'd probably never learn back home.

The only requirement is that you have to be in good health and fit enough to do some physical work, you have to be between 18-30 years old and speak some basic English..
and I said...Hey, that's me! (I was 20 years old then).

After spending that New Year's Eve at the Youth Hostel in Tel-Aviv, watching the 'Blues Brothers' movie, as I mentioned on my previous post, I went the next business day to the Kibbutz Organization Office, where you can apply to volunteer in a kibbutz, it must've been January 2, 1981.

I had to pay a small fee, just a few dollars, and had to take a medical test.
After doing that I was interviewed by a man who asked me a few questions like... "where would you like to go?"...I had no clue, "what kind of work would you like to do?"... no clue there either..."Never mind" he said...
"How long would you like to stay?...It is a minimum of one month"
Yup, one month is good for me, I said (although I ended up staying for 3 months!)
"I have the perfect Kibbutz for you", he said, "it is not too big and not too small, and has a good reputation amongst volunteers, it is called NEVE-EITAN..."

Cool!... and when can I go? ...I asked...thinking I may need to wait a week or so..
and he said promptly, "RIGHT NOW!" with a big grin on his face...
I'll give them a call now and I'm sure they'll be looking forward to seeing you there."
Excellent! 

I went back to the Youth Hostel where I had left my stuff and quickly got on my way...
I first had to go to the Bus Terminal, in order to get on a bus to the nearest town to my Kibbutz, this town is called Beit-Shean, close to the 'Sea of Galilee'. (see map below)

When I got to the terminal it was all a bit confusing, there were lots of "Egged Buses" (the largest transportation company in Israel) they all looked the same, red and white, and I kept wondering , why is it called Egged?... weird name for a bus company...("never mind" as they day in Israel all the time...)
​After a while I found my bus and got on it. 

There were also a lot of young soldiers walking around with their guns over their shoulders, although they looked quite relaxed. I actually sat next to one on the bus and he had his gun, a big rifle next to him..so I asked...

What's the story? How come there are so many soldiers all over the place?
He said, "Oh, we are on leave and going home, we actually get some time off while we are doing our military service..." and why the guns? ...I asked.
"We are all given a gun when we start and we are responsible for it at all times and if we lose it we may go to jail"... 
In Israel, all men have to do 3 years and the women 2 years of compulsory military service.
They do take very seriously their defense duties and there's never a dull moment in Israel.

Anyway, after a 2 hour or so ride I arrived in Beit-Shean, where I had to find out about any buses going to my Kibbutz and there was going to be a long wait for the next one, so I decided to hitchhike to my kibbutz.
In no time at all I got a lift on the back of a small ute, (a small pick up car) and it happened to be a member of my kibbutz, so he drove me all they way in, lucky me!

He suggested I went to the dining room to look for the volunteers' leader, her name was Dudda.
Dudda was a young mum, in her 30s, with extremely curly red hair and a big smile.

I found her in the kitchen and said - Hello, are you Dudda? I'm Hector...and she said... "Yes, Shalom shalom...Welcome to Neve-Eitan! 
I've been waiting for you, where are you from?
I said, Mexico... Oh, Mexikani (Mexican in Hebrew)… glad to have you here, we've never had a Mexican volunteer before...
Let me show you to your house.

We walked through the nicely landscaped gardens, no body was around, they were all working somewhere, then at the end of a path she said, there is your new home!

She walked me into my room, there were 2 beds, and she said "Here's your linen for your bed, you haven't got a roommate yet but you may get one soon... (that story on my next post) 

That door there is the toilet and the shower is over there at the other end, you get to share that with the guys in the other room next to yours...."

Cool, thanks so much! I was truly quite excited about the whole deal!
"Get set up and I'll see you in the dinning room when you are ready so we can talk about work and all that, ok?"
Excellent, no problem I'll be there soon, I said...
I had really no idea what I was in for, but I was really looking forward to this experience whatever it might be.

I immediately made my bed, not sure why, maybe I wanted to make myself at home and claim my bed! Put all my stuff in the small wardrobe and tucked my backpack under the bed, placed my cassette tapes and Walkman on the bedside table and I was all set...
I sat on a chair that we had in the room and had a look around the room, it was fairly spacious and clean enough, and there was a small window at the back of the room between the beds looking towards the back garden and other houses...

Then, I took a deep breath and said to myself...
​Welcome to My First Home Away From Home...

I headed back to the dining room and when I got there I said...
Shalom Dudda, where to from here?
More on this in my next posts...