Intentional Communities in Israel—History

Degania, the First Kibbutz

The kibbutz (in the plural, kibbutzim) has a quite different genealogy. Throughout its history, its members have seen it as part of the Zionist enterprise, and its special way of life has been regarded both as an end in itself and as a means of realizing the aims of Zionism: the return of Jews to Palestine and to productive, particularly agricultural, labor. By 1907, when the founders of the first kibbutz arrived in the country, there already existed some thirty Jewish villages, based on smallholdings (small farms) owned by Jews but largely dependent on Arab labor. Degania, the first kibbutz, came into existence in 1909–1910 as the culmination of a series of tentative experiments in communal life and labor whose short-term aim was the creation of a Jewish working class and whose long-term aim was the eventual establishment of an independent socialist Jewish society in Palestine. By the end of World War I, Degania had evolved the social structure of the classic kibbutz: It was a close-knit community, living on “nationalized” land (that is, land owned by the Jewish National Fund, which held the land in trust for the Jewish people), but controlling its own society and economy, and subsisting on the labor of its members alone. It was governed by all its members gathered in their weekly meeting; meals were eaten in common in the central dining hall (which also served as a social and cultural center), and other items of consumption were distributed freely, or in accordance with the principle “to each according to his/her need.” In its early stages, all decisions were made in common by all the members. From the mid-1920s onward, administration was devolved onto a growing network of committees and elected part- and full-time (unpaid) officials serving in rotation. But the weekly general meeting remained sovereign in all spheres of kibbutz life. Degania became the model for the network of kibbutzim that developed from the end of World War I onward.

Kibbutz Society to 1936

The nuclear family was a recognized element in kibbutz society. Women worked a full day, and from a few weeks after birth, children were cared for in small groups; this was seen as a means of practical education for kibbutz life. Each group was looked after by a metapelet (caregivers) and, as the children grew, was absorbed into a kindergarten and, later, a school. The children spent several hours in their parents' home after working hours, but in most kibbutzim returned to spend the night in the children's house.

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