The three of us have temporarily adopted a socialist lifestyle.
Kibbutz Bar’am, our current location, is about three hours north of Tel Aviv and minutes from Lebanon. When we drove up here about two weeks ago we had no idea what to expect; all we knew was that we would probably be working with fruit, and that we would be staying about 300 meters from the Lebanese border. For those who don’t know what a kibbutz is, Wikipedia can clarify: ”A kibbutz (Hebrew: קיבוץ, קִבּוּץ, lit. “gathering, clustering”; plural kibbutzim) is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture…a form of communal living…Kibbutzim began as utopian communities and have gradually embraced a more ’scientific’ socialist approach.” What this means in real-life terms is that Liz, Sophia and I can live and eat at Bar’am in return for our own contribution to the community: work.
What kind of work are we doing?
Sophia works in the dining hall. She makes sure everything is out, clean and ready for each meal. Liz spent the first two weeks cleaning bathrooms in the plastic factory we have here. She has moved to the fruit packing factory this week, where I started out working. This is not the most exciting of jobs. It involves d 8 1/2 hours every day, from 6:30 am to 4 pm, standing next to a conveyor belt and packing apples (although she says she’s currently working with nectarines) into boxes. You have a lot of time to think while doing this, and you’re in trouble when your iPod runs out of battery. I’ve been working in the kitchen for a week now, preparing vegetables, salads and doing whatever odd jobs Judah or Hannah, the two chefs, throws at me over the course of the day. This can be anything from slicing a box of dried apricots (what for? I still have no idea) to peeling the skin off cow tongues (eeek).
We don’t walk around calling our fellow volunteers “comrade”–with the exception of one enthusiastic Swede–but we do appreciate that we can eat, drink, live and be taken care of in this place for an unlimited amount of time, without touching a shekel. Liz and I plan on staying for two more weeks, then leaving to travel around the country for our remaining time (which is running out!). Sophia, evidently a communist at heart, will stay a couple of weeks later, possibly to reunite with us at the end of the month in Egypt. Nothing is certain yet. We only bought the “Lonley Planet Israel” guide yesterday.
That’s all for now. Liz has just returned from her first day fruit packing and wants to recount her experience as a factory slave.
11 responses so far ↓
lizfox13 // May 25, 2009 at 1:38 pm |
Thanks Ariana,
I will gladly write about being a fruit factory slave but not now, I am far too mentally numb..
Ariana // May 26, 2009 at 12:46 pm |
Liz,
Ariana // May 26, 2009 at 12:46 pm |
Before you undermine the value of factory work, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?_r=1&em.
Ion // May 27, 2009 at 1:58 am |
Clearly one of the most interesting episodes of your adventurous travels. When I told our friend Pol Quentin you were working on a kibbutz he said: “Excellent. Absolutely worthwhile. I wish I had done the same.” He was referring to the utopian ideal of happiness in togetherness that inspired the foundation of these Israeli communities—an ideal that still finds an echo at Baram according to your title “Communal Living” and your description of a “socialist lifestyle.” It says something about all three of you that you are liking it and enjoying it. I respect your willingness to do all the hard work—including cleaning bathrooms—that comes with this very special experience. I was so impressed by your mention of cow tongues that I googled them and learned that human consumption of said item dates back to the days of Paleolithic hunters. In France it is a delicacy and called “langue de veau” or “langue de boeuf.” Alors voila!
carol fox // May 27, 2009 at 8:28 pm |
Delighted you gals are gaining a real appreciation of capitalism. When you get back to America this experience of ’socialism’ as maybe not the way to go, will be helpful.
The Times article worth reading.
tote that barge – lift that bale
Madame Pachetti // May 28, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
Before you posted this last entry, Mme Taran and I debated on the kind of chores you could be assigned while at the kibbutz. While cleaning toilets never came up, we had guess right with food packing and kitchen chores. You are so brave ladies! But please, try to convince Sophia to follow you on your next travels.
Langue de boeuf? Yikes! All of a sudden, flashback images popped in my head: cafeteria, école Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc in Dourdan, Thursday lunch… It was no delicacy, Mr. Collas, I can assure you.
mother fox // May 29, 2009 at 11:14 pm |
Bathrooms I can clean……..peel a cow’s tongue….NEVER !
Ion // May 30, 2009 at 12:16 am |
Mille excuses, Madame Pachetti, I take it back.
Merope // May 30, 2009 at 2:44 pm |
Perhaps the three of you will bring your recently acquired labor skills to NY? (I have bathrooms and a kitchen but, alas, no tongues for you Ariana. ) I am excited to learn of your future adventures in Israel and Egypt–especially Alexandria. I’ll look up an address for Cavafy’s home which you must, must visit. (I am truly envious.) Here’s a taste–I hope you can open the link:
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/cavafy.html
love you.
Ion // June 1, 2009 at 12:42 am |
Bravo Merope for mentioning Cavafy and for your felicitous choice of “The god forsakes Anthony” at a time when all of us–players in the field and cheering supporters—are on the verge of saying goodbye to the gap year that is leaving. I am sure it will give pleasure to Sophia and Ariana and to a classicist such as Bill Fox (who can read Cavafy’s ancient Greek sources in
the original) to be acquainted with the poem’s Greek title. It is: “Απολείπειν ο θεός
Αντώνιον” [this is a truncated sentence from Plutarch's Anthony: "Εδόκει δε τοις αναλογιζομένοις το σημείον απολείπειν ο θεός Αντώνιον"---it seemed to those reflecting on the portent that the god was abandoning
Anthony]. Also I would like to quote a couple of lines from the poem in Cavafy’s modern Greek:
Σαν έτοιμος από καιρό, σα θαρραλέος
αποχαιρέτα την, την Αλεξάνδρεια που φεύγει
(Αs one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving).
Merope // June 3, 2009 at 2:15 pm |
an amazing poem in Greek– of course– and it survives beautifully inn translation.