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As violence erupted in Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas militants infiltrated several communal settlements known as kibbutz near the border with Gaza. Kibbutzim (plural) were fundamental to the founding of Israel and still hold a deeply symbolic position in the history of the country.
The attacks ravaged communities up and down the border with Gaza — Kissufim, Kfar Azza and Holit, among others. Be’eri Kibbutz, a traditional commune that has existed since before the state of Israel was founded, was hit particularly hard, with more than 100 bodies recovered and an unknown number of people abducted.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, a hostage released this week, put a spotlight on the devastation in the communes when she described the “unimaginable hell” she endured after Hamas militants kidnapped her from Nir Oz kibbutz. As of last week, about 100 people were estimated dead or missing out of a population of about 400 in the kibbutz, a Nir Oz resident told the Associated Press.
Released Hamas hostage was held in ‘spiderweb’ of damp tunnels under Gaza
Organized communities unique to Israel, kibbutzim were once known for their collectivist culture and agrarian lifestyle, though most have since been privatized. And even as many such communities become synonymous with tragedy, kibbutzim maintain a legacy as one of the most successful socialist experiments in history, with as many as 270 at their peak.
“No other movement has had 270 communities following such a similar philosophy” over such a long period of time, said David Leach, a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada and author of “Chasing Utopia: The Future of the Kibbutz in a Divided Israel.” “Part of their longevity is their willingness to evolve.”
Ran Abramitzky, a professor at Stanford and author of “The Mystery of the Kibbutz: Egalitarian Principles in a Capitalist World,” likened a typical kibbutz to a “picturesque village in the countryside,” with small apartments, lush walking paths and amenities, the kind of a place where children roam freely. They are built on principles of “communal and cooperative living, equal sharing and mutual assistance,” he said.
Named for the Hebrew word for “gathering,” kibbutzim first emerged in the early 1900s, with the development of the farming commune Degania around 1910. Jewish settlers behind the movement envisioned the kibbutzim as a place where Zionism met Marxism.
Israeli soldiers spoke to Post reporters on the ground about what they witnessed in Kfar Azza as they collected civilian bodies Oct. 10. (Video: Jon Gerberg, Zoeann Murphy, Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)
Kibbutzim and kibbutz culture were originally dominated by Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews of Eastern European descent, and were seen as less inclusive of those of Middle Eastern descent.
These communities ranged from 50 residents to 2,000 and cropped up in places such as the border with Lebanon, the Jordan River and around the Gaza Strip, and many were originally built on what was then Palestinian land.
Early kibbutzim were founded on a socialist vision and relied largely on agriculture. Kibbutzniks, as they called themselves, shared the land, had equal wages and did not own property. In some early communities, the children were raised by the collective and lived in a house where their parents visited them. Leach said philosophical debates would erupt over matters such as whether everyone should have a teakettle in their own room or use a shared one to facilitate more social interaction.
“It was often described as the purest form of communism in the Western world,” Leach said. “It’s not state socialism. It was like a radical democracy in which everybody, including women, had a vote.”
Many kibbutzim eventually industrialized to find new ways to make money. HaGoshrim Kibbutz in northern Israel was struggling financially until the community invested in producing a tool for women’s hair removal in the 1980s. Be’eri, one of the kibbutzim that was attacked over the weekend, relies on its successful printing company, which was founded in 1950, for much of its income.
While kibbutzim thrived during the mid-century, their power and prevalence waned in the 1970s, particularly after a right-wing government was elected in Israel in 1977, and with the 1980s financial crisis.
Still, they’ve managed to stick around, and in recent decades, new twists on the kibbutz have popped up. Some have privatized and turned into mostly regular communities with some social benefits. Young idealists have also started urban kibbutzim to further social causes. And a few, such as Be’eri, have maintained the traditional, collectivist approach dating back to the early 1900s.
The kibbutz has had a “profound” impact on Israeli society, Leach said, both in establishing the country and in shaping the early lives of prominent politicians, military officers, artists and writers, Leach said. There was “a kind of willingness to take risks and experiment,” he said.
“Idealism, team spirit and culture helped kibbutzim survive,” Abramitzky said. “The kibbutz was a way of life, a social unit that was created to fulfill a wide array of ideals.”