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The Communal Dining Hall 7When it snowed all over Israel in February 1950, a Jerusalem Post correspondent sent some impressions from the Jordan Valley: In town, the “scientific explanations” of the snow can be spread over a large area. In the kibbutzim, they concentrate in the dining halls. Everyone has his own private and personal theory—the Atom—the H-bomb in preparation—American influence over the Panama Canal—political disturbances in the vicinity of the Suez—gulf streams—jet planes—artificial rain—D.D.T. sprayed from the air—the seal who crossed the English Channel—Ingrid Bergman’s having a son—the searches for Noah’s ark at Ararat—the Mapam [pro-Soviet Israeli party] giving the Russian winter a foothold. Enough of all this. The dining hall was a cosy place to be during the storm—meals were lingered over—and what would one talk about if not to explain—meteorologically speaking—the snow.1 Whereas the snow was a singular event in the otherwise warm Jordan Valley , the centrality of the communal dining hall was typical of kibbutz reality. The kibbutz was a voluntary society: members could leave whenever they wished, and nonmembers could join at any time, provided their candidacy was approved by a stated proportion of the existing membership. The means of production were owned communally, and production was carried out collectively. The first kibbutz was founded in 1909, and during the 1920s and early 1930s the kibbutz movement was firmly established. The 1930s and 1940s saw the movement’s most rapid growth, as thousands of Zionists who immigrated to Palestine either joined existing kibbutzim or founded new ones. By 1951 there were 203 kibbutzim with a total population of 65,000.2 Kibbutz founders attempted to translate socialist principles into everyday practices and to build a new society based on freedom, equality, mutual help, tolerance, and brotherhood. Their main ideal and motto was Marx’s “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Kibbutz mem- The Communal Dining Hall ■ 141 bers were paid no wages, and the kibbutz provided for their basic needs— education, health care, food, social services, and so on. In the 1950s some kibbutzim gradually introduced a personal allowance to all members on an agreed, equitable basis. With a small kibbutz population of tens to hundreds, all permanent adult residents knew each other personally, enabling kibbutz society to rely heavily on informal social control. The machinery of kibbutz decision making was based on a network of committees, headed by the general assembly, an ultimate source of authority that consisted of all adult members and met regularly.3 After the founding of the state, Israeli kibbutzim faced numerous difficulties . Many young immigrants spent the first years of their absorption and “training” on kibbutzim, but only a few stayed on as permanent members. Many veteran members, on the other hand, left for the cities in search of a higher standard of living. In the early 1950s most kibbutz members were still poorer than the general Israeli population, but kibbutzim received from the state more lands and subsidized water, and modernized agriculture and successful industries were making some kibbutzim wealthier. This increased wealth, and the improved standard of living that came with it, exposed these kibbutzim to external accusations of neglecting their vanguard Zionist role. Some kibbutz members, too, defined the change as a betrayal of their original goals and ideals. In prestate Palestine the kibbutzim were regarded by their members and by the Jewish population at large as embodying the Zionist pioneering ideal, but the general postwar relaxation and dwindling of the pioneering spirit affected the kibbutzim, which gradually lost their former elevated status. Correspondingly, they no longer received the same government support as they had from prestate Zionist institutions. Ben-Gurion reacted angrily whenever kibbutzim disagreed with his policies or did not execute his demands, and he reprimanded them for taking what he considered a puny share in absorbing the mass immigration. In 1951 the main kibbutz movement was divided between the supporters of Ben-Gurion and the West, on one side, and the supporters of the Mapam opposition party and the Soviet bloc, on the other. This painful partisan and ideological conflict, reflecting local politics as well as wider Cold War issues, tore families and entire communities apart.4 Despite this crisis, and although demographically a small minority in Israeli society, the kibbutzim still held a relatively dominant political, ideological ,military,andculturalstatusinthestate.5Theywerestillwidelyregardedas the pinnacle of...

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