Kibbutz, Israel
Amiad Kibbutz, Sea of Galilee Region
For our next jaunt, we visited a working kibbutz called Ami’ad. The kibbutz is a unique settlement in Israel. The first Kibbutz was established in 1910 by groups of young Jews who wanted to build a community for themselves. Their idea was to make a living through agriculture. The basic idea was diversified for the kibbutz to function in a capitalistic manner and move with the times. They established different enterprises and now are a large part of the economy.
At Ami’ad we received all the details of how the kibbutz functions as we walked around the buildings in the compound. Giving us an insight into the communal living where everyone was given a job and adults lived, and worked in a communal system. Everyone ate in a common dining room. Kids lived separately and they were the responsibility of caregivers, and they only saw their parents for a short time every day. There is a huge artwork on one of the walls which is a large mosaic of leaves, and each leaf was done by one family depicting their own version of life in the kibbutz. It was a creation for the 60th anniversary of Amiad. The communal theme was obvious as the individual pieces were put together to create one large mosaic.
Since a war in Israel is a constant threat, they have bomb shelters in the kibbutz areas. They say that having those gives people strength, and a sense of security to have a semblance of normality.
We stopped at a winery where the wines were made from the excess fruits grown at the Kibbutz. There were several flavors, even a liquor with chocolate flavor was offered, and that turned out to be the most popular one with our group. Everyone got a taste of all the varieties they had in tiny wooden Shot Glasses. The host was a very pleasant and funny young man. He made the experience enjoyable for everyone. These Shot Glasses below were given to us as souvenirs.
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