Kibbutz nostalgia
Tuesday night we went to see an Israeli-made movie at our AACI club, a nostagic film entitled "The field of green peas," about kibbutz life as it was in the 1950s soon after the founding of the State. It included the recorded reminiscences of a group of nine Israelis who met in 2004 as they turned 60 and returned to their original kibbutzim, Dalia, Ein Hashofet and several others nearby. They all went to the same school back then, but now are scattered over Israel and the world. The film was conceived and directed by Yigal Tabon, and included a Netanya resident, Melik Shochat, who had been their gym instructor. Of the nine people featured, eight were Israeli-born, but one was a Holocaust survivor and of the nine, eight had stayed in Israel and one lived in Tucson, Arizona.
Since the kibbutz had been a Hashomer Hatzair ("Young guard") kibbutz, the children were expected to adhere to strictly socialist values. They lived as well as studied together, and their time spent with their parents, which was supposed to inculcate bourgeois values, was strictly limited. As a result they grew up with a sense of both arrogance (they were the new leaders of a new society) and loss, the absence of the warmth of their parents. Although the concept of boys and girls living together was supposed to free them from "old thinking," nevertheless there was a taboo on inter-personal relationships (that would show weakness), although what they spoke about mostly was how they pined for a certain "loved" one and how they missed the warmth of the human touch. The "field of green peas" was where they would sneak out to carry on illicit relationships.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first kibbutz, Degania, in the Galilee. These disciplined kibbutzniks were a great asset to the young State. They were very studious and serious and fought very well in the many battles that Israel faced. But, they tended to romanticize the Arab enemies, regarding them paternalistically as poor natives, much the same as the left today. Although many of those featured in the movie still live on kibbutzim, some were eventually disillusioned by the experience and moved in the opposite direction. Although the film was not overtly political, there is no doubt that this kind of way of life has been resoundly rejected by society at large, but obviously the participants showed great sentimentality for their past experiences.
Since the kibbutz had been a Hashomer Hatzair ("Young guard") kibbutz, the children were expected to adhere to strictly socialist values. They lived as well as studied together, and their time spent with their parents, which was supposed to inculcate bourgeois values, was strictly limited. As a result they grew up with a sense of both arrogance (they were the new leaders of a new society) and loss, the absence of the warmth of their parents. Although the concept of boys and girls living together was supposed to free them from "old thinking," nevertheless there was a taboo on inter-personal relationships (that would show weakness), although what they spoke about mostly was how they pined for a certain "loved" one and how they missed the warmth of the human touch. The "field of green peas" was where they would sneak out to carry on illicit relationships.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first kibbutz, Degania, in the Galilee. These disciplined kibbutzniks were a great asset to the young State. They were very studious and serious and fought very well in the many battles that Israel faced. But, they tended to romanticize the Arab enemies, regarding them paternalistically as poor natives, much the same as the left today. Although many of those featured in the movie still live on kibbutzim, some were eventually disillusioned by the experience and moved in the opposite direction. Although the film was not overtly political, there is no doubt that this kind of way of life has been resoundly rejected by society at large, but obviously the participants showed great sentimentality for their past experiences.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:27 PM
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