Caribbean Kibbutz: How Racism Saved Hundreds of Jewish Refugees
The bustling Dominican beach town of Sosúa belies an almost-forgotten Jewish history
11
Feb
15
Nov
The New "New Jew"
By Lily Hoffman Simon
A new kibbutz movement is sweeping Israel. Most often, it is comprised of irbutzim (city kibbutz), which are collectivist structures based on the original ideas of the agricultural kibbutz. Instead of creating an alternative community on the fringes of everyday Israeli life, however, these communities are placing themselves in the heart of Israeli cities, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Just as the kibbutzim were centred on the idea of creating an ideal society to influence the greater Israeli society, so do irbutzim, which like their predecessors share communal bank accounts and emphasize youth leadership. This adaptation represents a hopeful future for the kibbutz movement and Israel itself.
The traditional agricultural kibbutzim were based on socialism, egalitarianism, environmentalism, hard work, interpersonal relationships and the liberation of the Jewish people through a Zionist revolution. The...
08
Nov
The Fallen Kibbutz: A Microcosm of Israeli Society
By Lily Hoffman Simon
This year marked the centennial birthday of the Kibbutz. However, the structure of these unique societal experiments has changed so dramatically that, today, their original founders would barely recognize them. The values of a Jewish and Zionist social revolution, which birthed the kibbutz movement, don’t exist in the modern kibbutz. With all of these shifts, are the kibbutzim still a relevant force for Israeli and Jewish life?
A kibbutz is a collective settlement in Israel, traditionally based on communal life, agriculture, and an emphasis on physical labour. This ideology emerged in Eastern Europe in the 1900s, when Jewish youth began to question the value in a self-victimized, oppressed, and religiously observant Jewish lifestyle, a lifestyle which dominated the Jewish narrative and experience throughout Europe. These idealists, frustrated by the lack of Jewish autonomy,...