Living in an Israeli Kibbutz

Esther was nine years old when her rabbi father and mother moved from New York City to Israel. Israel is a small country, far away from New York. It is desert land that is full of sand. Esther missed her old neighborhood in New York. She had enjoyed walking to the butcher shop with her mother and to the grocery store where shelves were stacked with kosher food that Jewish people ate. She loved to pick out some of her favorite foods and place them in their shopping cart—items like bagels, borscht (beet soup), lox (smoked salmon), cream cheese, and sometimes egg matzahs and gefilte fish. On Saturdays all the stores were closed and most of the Jewish people went to the synagogue.

When her parents decided to move to Israel, they went to a farm to begin a new life. The land or kibbutz (a community farm) they lived on was once a desert. However, the Jewish settlers had dug deep into the land to bring water to the surface so they could grow fruits and vegetables. Esther and her family lived in a small house, but they ate in one large dining room with the other 50 settlers. Each family was assigned certain duties and everyone pitched in to make the farm successful. Esther’s family and neighbors worked very hard on the farm from Sunday to Friday. On Saturday they all walked to the synagogue to pray.

But all was not perfect. As Esther was working in the field, she often heard the familiar sound of gunfire. She worried that the shooting would come close to her home and family. It seemed like the Jews of Israel were always fighting with the Arabs of Palestine. Her father explained that the Palestinians used to live on this land, until a war in 1967.

One day, as Esther was working in the field, she noticed some movement between the houses. She sat perfectly still and saw a young boy dressed in Arab clothes leaning up against one of the buildings. The boy was younger than Esther, and he appeared tired and frightened. Esther walked slowly over to the boy and held up her finger, telling the boy to be quiet. The boy was a bit smaller than Esther. Esther spoke very little Arabic, so she tried English. The boy did not reply. Next, Esther spoke in Yiddish, the language of many Jews, but still no answer. Finally she asked the boy his name in Hebrew (an old language in that part of the world) and the boy answered that his name was Amil.

He told Esther that he left his small village to hunt wild birds, but he went too far and he was lost. Esther took Amil to the leader of the farm, and the boy was given food and water. After sunset Esther, Amil, and the leader of the kibbutz drove to the tiny village and delivered Amil to his parents. Esther and her new friend hugged each other, promising that they would visit again some day. As Esther drove back to the kibbutz, she hoped that one day all Jews and Arabs would live in peace and friendship.

Map of Israel. Jerusalem is the capital.

Click here to close this window

http://www.coedu.usf.edu/Culture