kibbutzing along

(this is from yesterday)
day 4 on the kibbutz, and i'm finally starting to feel a bit settled. i've also finally found some answers to my many questions about this kibbutz, here's what i've learned so far.

Kibbutz Beerot Yitzhak is about 50 years old, it is religous, which means that it is shomer shabbat, observant of shabbat, also men must cover their head and women can't wear tank tops. it also means that the family is the basic unit. there's probably more but i'm not sure what...its pretty laid back as far as religiosity. the main industries are packaging sandwhiches (like for selling in gas stations or at large, catered events), milk and dairy products (which are also for kibbutz consumption) and coating pipes with some kind of metallic coat. there's also a spice factory and a grocery store here that they used to own. as you probably already know, this kibbutz like most others is moving more and more towards greater privatization, hence the selling off of businesses. there are folks who resist this and folks who are pushing for it, but as esther (ulpan manager) said, its ultimately inevitable.

30 percent of the kibbutzniks work outside, and 70 percent work on the kibbutz, in one of the industries (or domestic stuff, i think). there's a daily "quota", everyone works at least 6.5 hours/day. on shabbat, no one works. hours are 7 30am -4pm generally, but managers, etc often work much more then this. there is no compensation for overtime. everyone gets a budget from the kibbutz for things like clothes, food, travel, personal needs etc. larger expenses like medical and dental are covered by the kibbutz. folks eat breakfast and lunch together in the main dining hall, dinner they eat in their houses. i think the only food production is the dairy. also, apparently it is quite difficult to join--you must be deemed a very good fit by the kibbutz members, which is difficult to do.

i also found out more about the ulpan, basically they are programs run through many kibbutzim but also in cities, a 5 month course of intensive hebrew study. if you make aliya (if you are jewish and move to israel), you are guaranteed 1 free ulpan, to help with "absorption" as they call it (they don't like to say assimilation). so, many of my fellow ulpanistas have recently made aliya. which is another whole fascinating topic--the demographic of the ulpanistas. i feel like i'm in sociologist/anthropologist heaven here--everyone has a different, fascinating story of how they got here and what they are doing here. the standard first question is, did you make aliyah? if the answer is no, then this means that you are a tourist. that's me of course.

i want to interject a brief note about the kibbutz/ulpan relationship--for you oakers, its very much like the member/visitor relationship. some kibbutzniks are warm and open and friendly, and some are rude and closed off and don't want outsiders on the kibbutz. sound familiar?

i've been pretty much interrogating everyone i meet that made aliyah, asking them why and how they came to decide this. the most interesting to me is a guy from south africa who will do the ulpan for 1 month, and then join the israeli army. he hasn't made aliya, he just wants to join the army for a couple of years and then return to S. africa. we also have 2 brazilians, a swede, a bellarussian, siberian, ukrainian, a canadian, several virginians, 2 frenchies... and morris from long island. morris is about the dorkiest person i've ever met--when i met him, he turned bright red and looked like he was going to pee his pants with excitement. endearing. morris is from long island, of course.

all together we are about 25. so far, the kibbutz feels very cold and regimented. luckily, a friend put me in touch with his moroccan/jewish family who randomly happen to live in a tiny villiage that is a 2 minute walk through the neighboring fields. i walked over there yesterday, and just asked around til i found the house. it was such a beautiful experience. the mother welcomed me in with open arms (oh! you are girlfriend of my little doodle!!) and forced me to eat a giant plate of absolutely delcious food--very welcome after the oily and mass produced kibbutz fare. she is a gourmet cook and was in the middle of making guava jam and donughts for a neighbor. her son was there too, as well as the father and an adorable little neice. it was such a welcome experience after the cold impersonality of the kibburtz. they were warm and open and welcoming, and very real and sincere, too. the son had me in stiches with tales of all the hijinks they used to pull on the kibbutz as kids- sneaking in to swim in the pool at night, letting all the chickens out, driving the tractor around........they sent me off with a giant bag of homemade gourmet cookies, a jar of guava jam, and invited me back anytime. tomorrow we start regular class/work schedule. apparantly its very fast paced, but i feel ready to jump in.