This year's harvest was especially merry in many kibbutzim across Israel, where the agricultural holiday of Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, is celebrated by presenting both the first fruits of the harvest and the newborn babies. At Kibbutz Nir am near Sderot, the community celebrated the birth of 14 children, a relatively large crop of babies. One after another the newborns were presented by their mothers to the kibbutz members and their guests during the annual harvest festival. Tractor-carts carried children and fresh crops past stacks of hay. At Kibbutz Ruhama in the southern Negev, kibbutz members donned white cloths and flocked to the fields where the tractors and plows paraded and fellow kibbutz members danced on stage. Twenty-five years ago, kibbutzim seemed all but doomed. The pioneering socialist and Zionist spirit that drove the movement in the 1950s, '60s and '70s ran head-on into the consumerist, free-market 1980s and came off worse. The kibbutzim were hit hard by financial crisis that gripped Israel in the mid-1980s, and youngsters abandoned the communal dream and headed to cities. Kibbutzim found themselves graying and failing. But the last few years have seen a surprising turnaround, with young families seeking to escape the high cost of living and alienation they find in cities for a cheaper, rural lifestyle in a closely knit community. "The kibbutz has been changing during the last 20 or 30 years. It is now more individualistic, less socialistic in a way, closer to the capitalist way of life but still retains its high level of communality and of mutual responsibility between members. And the young generation is attracted to that way of life that on one hand gives them more freedom as individuals, and on the other hand gives them a sense of communality that they lack in the cities," said sociologist, Shlomo Getz, of Haifa University's Institute for Research on the Kibbutz. In some cases, the new "kibbutzniks" are those who left to try something different only to return later in life. Others include career city folk who want a complete change of lifestyle. Sagi Gavri, a 47-year-old physician who was born in Nir Am, said he returned to the kibbutz with his family from Jerusalem due to the high cost of living in Israeli cities. "It is economical and the houses are cheaper. It is cheaper to buy here, in the periphery of Israel, a house and a land than to buy in the center, which is impossible," Gavri, who still works in Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital, told Reuters. At Degania Alef, Israel's first kibbutz, founded in 1910 on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, 11 children were born this year, its largest crop of babies in a quarter-century. The kibbutz's absorption director, Tamar Gal-Sarai, said that a vast majority of kibbutz-born people who leave for school, travel, or to taste a different way of living, eventually return home. "I can't say that only teachers come back or only these come, or only those come, no. Cross-ages, cross-occupations, cross-ages of children, they come back," she said. Bosmat Viner-Shwarzbard, 38, a pastry chef, left Degania for the Tel Aviv suburbs when she was 16. She returned with her husband 17 years later and became one of the kibbutz's 350 members in May, along with 16 others, another record high. In the courtyard where the kibbutz founders built Degania's first barn, Viner-Shwarzbad's spouse, Oded, runs a restaurant that looks like any high-class dining spot in the city of Tel Aviv. "There's no stress, there's no fear when your child is going outside to the yard, or roaming around in the kibbutz. Everything is very safe, very protective, the neighbor knows your children, and the other neighbor also knows your children, so everyone takes responsibility. It is sort of a commune, one big family, a community," he said. "If there were times when the only thing on wheels was old people's mobility scooters, now there are suddenly so many baby's pushchairs rolling along," added Bosmat, as she nursed her baby daughter. "It has brought a spirit of renewal to the kibbutz and I can say that... I am very happy that what my grandparents began here will go on." There are 274 kibbutzim in Israel, and their population is growing rapidly, at 3% last year versus 1.1% a decade ago. The national population growth average is 1.9%. "The impact of coming back of young people, mainly kibbutz-born children, to the kibbutz is tremendous," said Getz. "They are taking roles that their parents are not doing anymore because they are starting to get older and older. They are reviving, they are bringing with them many children, their own children, and the children's houses are full again. They are contributing to the culture of the kibbutz and in all they are reviving the kibbutz." Kibbutz residents make up less than 2% of Israel's 8.3 million population. But the communities have spawned much of the country's political, military and cultural elite, and account for more than 40% of national agricultural output. Addressing their economic problems a decade ago, kibbutzim began a process of "privatization," incorporating free market structures while retaining a strong social safety net, including attractive health, welfare and education benefits. In 2007, after years of demographic stagnation, the trend turned with more people moving into kibbutzim than leaving. Some became members while others rented or bought homes in new neighborhoods built on kibbutz land to generate income. The number of kibbutz newcomers has been growing since, spiking in 2011 when a social protest swept the country and hundreds of thousands of middle-class Israelis took to the streets to demonstrate against soaring living and housing costs. Though some kibbutzim are still struggling financially, most are stable, if not thriving. Their main income now comes from industry, including from leading companies in Israel. Some communities have grown rich selling off land. The privatization changes in kibbutzim and housing prices that can, in certain areas, be half those in the center of Israel, have made moving there more attractive. In most of the communities, members no longer have to work largely in kibbutz-assigned jobs for modest monthly allowances. Instead, they can pursue their own professional paths and earn their own wages, a portion of which may go back to the kibbutz. About a third of kibbutzim are still mainly collectives. Kibbutz Ortal on the Golan Heights, which has fruit plantations, advanced dairy technology and a small winery, is one of them. Salaries go to the kibbutz and members either get half the sum back or an allowance based on family size and seniority.
Credit: Reuters
Kibbutzim get new lease on life as Israelis flee urban rat race
As astronomical costs of living drive young families out of central cities, the traditional agricultural communities -- a third of which still operate as cooperatives -- benefit • Numbers of babies born, new members at decades-high levels.
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