This week’s lecture was relatable for me because when I heard the discussion on communes, I immediately thought back to my time spent in Israel last summer. I went on a trip called Birthright, which is a 10 day trip throughout Israel, in which you learn more about Judaism; however, my trip leader decided to make this a more personal experience for us and took us to her kibbutz that she grew up on and where she still lived today. A kibbutz is synonymous with a commune, and it is defined as a communal settlement in Israel, typically a farm. This definition is very accurate; we were given a tour of the large lands and fields, as well as the houses that people lived in, where they worked, and what their kibbutz produced, which in this particular case, was milk and carrots. It was a shock to me that my trip leader had grown up here; she spoke so fondly of this place, but I was having trouble understanding how a place where you share everything, from responsibilities to money, could work. It almost seemed that she was brainwashed. However, just as in the end of the lecture when it is discussed how communes aren’t solely bad, I also got to hear my leader’s perspective on why she loved growing up on this kibbutz. She said everyone was equal, and everyone living there was her family. She felt like the entire community took care of one another. Thus, speaking from experience, it seems that while communes seem weird to many, good things such as a tight knit community and good values can come out of them.
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