Kibbutz

A Voluntary and Democratic Association

The kibbutz is a voluntary association of individuals. Each person declared his or her wish to be a member, then had to be accepted by a consensus of the members. This also applies to children born in the kibbutz; they must declare their own decision to join when they reach maturity and be accepted by the other members of the kibbutz.

At the beginning of the 20th century, groups of young and single individuals, usually educated, formed the first kibbutzim after they arrived at what they considered to be their ancient homeland after escaping persecution faced by those in Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. With time, the groups expanded in number and size as youngsters from the Zionist youth movements and refugees from World War II joined.

A strong sense of mission guided the founders; they believed they were creating a better “world order” of justice and solidarity, at least for the Jews, if not for the universe. Their nightly discussions gradually mutated into a general assembly, in which all members of the kibbutz were expected to participate. All decisions were brought to the assembly, including decisions that some might consider private, such as whether or not an individual should pursue higher education and what field the individual should study.

Equality was the name of the game. The decision-making body that discussed all issues and brought [Page 408]them to the assembly included the secretary general (Mazkir), the treasurer (Gizbar), the economic coordinator (Merakez Meshek), and representatives of the community. These decision makers were elected to serve for a two- to three-year term. No one was expected to specialize in or stay in a management job for long.

...