I decided to give myself a break from over-thinking - which is hard when you’re in Palestine. But I was going to see a good friend and I was quite set on enjoying my weekend. Hence, the weekend rule: I’m a regular bloke who knows nothing about reality, hasn’t read any politics since, hmm, the 19th century. I am tourist Lambda; I will have fun and snap photos like a Japanese tourist with a brand new camera and an unlimited memory card.
The weekend was spent in a kibbutz in Israel, which was quite something! My dear Tally was home for a few days and invited me to experience the quintessential building block of the establishment of the state of Israel. (See? I even kept myself from writing ‘the occupation of Palestine :-).
Now a kibbutz is the socialist experiment par excellence. Shared property, communal work, self-sustainability, “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs” kind-of-thing. By definition, a kibbutz is a secular place - it served primarily for very earthly needs (you know, survival and stuff?) and it’s generally a-religious.
(Ein Harod kibbutz. Pretty, huh?)
Today’s kibbutniks (kibbutz inhabitants) are often new immigrants, older people who have always been living there, young people who have either been too lazy, too incompetent, or too zany to leave.
“Anyone who does something worth anything gets out of there”, said Tally. Surrendering your salary in exchange for 400 euros of credit a month isn’t too exciting I guess.
Aaaaanyways. We went to two kibbutzim - Gan Shmuel and and Ein Harod.
Gan Shmuel was probably as tacky as expected: some of the people actually lived in trailers (think FEMA trailers), the place smelled of cow shit and the trees were unkempt. Nothing to write home about (despite the fact that I just did. Right, Kristen?)
Ein Harod, however, was pretty as a touristic village by the beach: great sun, fantastic views, pretty cottages with a red roof, the whole shebang. It was hard to think of a communist mode of living when walking around between the families taking a picnic - unless it was the houses of the party leaders...
Tally’s kibbutz father is a tour guide - and the man reads hieroglyphs like I read Arabic. It’s impressive. And did you know that one of the judges who convicted innocent peasants to death in 1906 in the infamous Denshwai incident was Boutros Boutros Ghali’s grandfather? Yep, yep...
A relaxed weekend in a great setting, nice walks in the countryside, great conversations, a bit of biblical history (this battle happened over there, King something took a dump by this hill, etc.).
My favourite story was about how King Saul wanted to select his knights; he brought the men by a river, and told them to drink. Those who knelt and put their faces in the water, drinking like horses, were sent home; those who brought the water up to their mouth were recruited.
A giant sign in the grass, celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary (next May) somewhat snapped me back into reality. I looked away quickly.
3 comments:
I'm all for religious tolerance and stuff... but I'm just wondering how you went from "how to break a child's spirit" to hanging out in a kibbutz??
Now I know you said its a-religious, how how do people who would seem to be free-thinking outside of the box kind of people reconcile their presumed paceful ideas with a country that is systematically dispatching another race?
Which as I was writing it made me wonder how I, as an American living IN America, deal with American policies. But I don't, and if given a chance would fight them.
Maybe its the same thing, what do you think?
Perhaps because I'm schizophrenic, and that it wasn't really me last weekend?
Joke aside - I don't try to reconcile them, because I, effectively, have no viable explaination. I'm the first to admit that. You're right - the transition is very, very awkward.
I guess my only excuse is that I am insanely curious, and I couldn't resist the opportunity. Think crazy war reporter.
Or perhaps this is just how I justify it to myself?
As for how they reconcile their "presumed peaceful ideas", well, allow me to pause at the 'presumed'.
I think we give the mainstream Israeli left wing (save for the serious peaceniks and other B'tselem activists) more credit than it deserves. Within the political spectrum, they are probably those with whom one can engage a dialogue BUT I feel that their basic ideological premises aren't that distant from the right wing.
Refugees? Hmm, nope. Jerusalem? Not really, perhaps just the Arab neighbourhoods. Settlements? No one's touching the big ones.
Etc.
I guess you know that your back is against the ropes when the only people you can actually converse with are still pretty far from what international law would suggest.
I guess my only excuse is that I am insanely curious, and I couldn't resist the opportunity. Think crazy war reporter.
I totally understand because thats exactly what I am. I once went to a diwali celebration fro the heck of seeing it.
Anyways, its just seemed to random to go from one spectrum ton another
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