Kibbutz Life
Back at the hostel, two more busloads of Israeli young people in a very happy and festive mood have arrived. Sunny and I share a room with five of the kibbutzim and we ask them to tell us about their lifestyle.
Two young American kibbutzim say their kibbutzes are very large with 1500 adult workers and about 400 children being cared for in the kibbutz nurseries. Young women are encouraged to have lots of babies, (the girls call the kibbutz “a baby factory”). The natural mothers only care for their babies for a few weeks; as I understand, then go back to work while their offspring are raised in the nurseries where they are indoctrinated into life as an Israeli.
This is the only country I have visited that encourages women to have more babies and early child care is free as a matter of national security.
Each kibbutz has “members”, “guests” (not members but valued workers who are given better living quarters and refrigerators) and “part-time workers” like these Americans, who live in dormitories.
There is no “unemployment problem” in Israel. There is more than enough work for everyone.
But life in a kibbutz seems highly organized and restrictive. It doesn’t appeal at all to me—even for a short time, but Sunny wants to spend the winter in one for the experience.
Sunny and I take a midnight leisurely walk toward the Dead Sea shore but are intercepted by a searchlight-equipped tank filled with Israeli soldiers. The shore of the Dead Sea is off-limits to strollers at night.
A few lights are visible across the lake from Jordan.
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