Download or read book The Mystery of the Kibbutz written by Ran Abramitzky and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the kibbutz movement thrived despite its inherent economic contradictions and why it eventually declined The kibbutz is a social experiment in collective living that challenges traditional economic theory. By sharing all income and resources equally among its members, the kibbutz system created strong incentives to free ride or—as in the case of the most educated and skilled—to depart for the city. Yet for much of the twentieth century kibbutzim thrived, and kibbutz life was perceived as idyllic both by members and the outside world. In The Mystery of the Kibbutz, Ran Abramitzky blends economic perspectives with personal insights to examine how kibbutzim successfully maintained equal sharing for so long despite their inherent incentive problems. Weaving the story of his own family’s experiences as kibbutz members with extensive economic and historical data, Abramitzky sheds light on the idealism and historic circumstances that helped kibbutzim overcome their economic contradictions. He illuminates how the design of kibbutzim met the challenges of thriving as enclaves in a capitalist world and evaluates kibbutzim’s success at sustaining economic equality. By drawing on extensive historical data and the stories of his pioneering grandmother who founded a kibbutz, his uncle who remained in a kibbutz his entire adult life, and his mother who was raised in and left the kibbutz, Abramitzky brings to life the rise and fall of the kibbutz movement. The lessons that The Mystery of the Kibbutz draws from this unique social experiment extend far beyond the kibbutz gates, serving as a guide to societies that strive to foster economic and social equality.

Download or read book One Hundred Years of Kibbutz Life written by Michal Palgi and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The years 1909-2009 mark a century of kibbutz life—one hundred years of achievements, failures, and challenges. It is undeniable that the impact of kibbutzim on Israeli society has been substantial. During its one hundred years of existence, the kibbutz as a concept and as a reality underwent many changes, as did Israel as a whole both before its establishment in 1948 and since then. One Hundred Years of Kibbutz Life describes a host of changes that have occurred and describes their meaning. The kibbutz population has increased in terms of demography and capital, a point that frequently is overlooked in the debate about the institution’s viability. The kibbutz has become a very attractive place for young people who want community life. Like the founders who tried to establish a particular society grounded in certain principles, so too, newcomers to the kibbutz want to establish a new idealistic society with specific social and economic arrangements. The combined voices of the contributors to this volume discuss the ideals, hopes, frustrations, disappointments, and reconstruction efforts that brought a few solutions to the fading kibbutz ideals. These solutions are not always popular among kibbutz members, but they demonstrate growth and development of the kibbutz. Through the inclusion of a variety of studies, this book clarifies the role of this dynamic institution.

Download or read book The Kibbutz written by Daniel Gavron and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the human story, journalist Daniel Gavron movingly portrays the fears, regrets and hopes of members of kibbutzim ranging from traditional to modern and agricultural to urban.

Download or read book A Living Revolution written by James Horrox and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the influences on Israel's early kibbutz movement.

Download or read book The Kibbutz Movement A History Origins and Growth 1909 1939 v 1 written by Henry Near and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-21 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Notably thoughtful and scholarly . . . he has succeeded in putting together an admirably coherent and clearly written account of the kibbutz movement’s history, an authoritative narrative account of which has long been needed . . . is sure to serve as the standard text on the subject for years to come.’ David Vital, Times Literary Supplement ‘Long and scholarly volume . . . Near brings us every primary source on the topic, making this material available to the non-Hebrew reader for the first time . . . a treasure trove of information.’ Sara Reguer, AJS Review

Download or read book Where Community Happens written by Henry Near and published by Peter Lang Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 2011 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In reaction to the spread of globalization, the number of collective communities has grown apace. In this collection of articles and lectures the author, a leading authority on the history of the kibbutz, analyzes various aspects of the philosophy of the kibbutz, and draws parallels with other societies and trends.

Download or read book Our Hearts Invented a Place written by Jo-Ann Mort and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We thought we were living in a society of the future, showing how people can live together in a way that the human being is not a product of society where you have to put somebody down so that you are up.... Suddenly we [find] that people want to be more like outside, and we are disappointed." "When people say to me, 'We're so sorry to see what's going on in the kibbutzim because we are losing the most important thing that happened to the State of Israel,' I say to them, 'Listen....' The government lost interest in the kibbutz movement, and we had to find another way. The State of Israel slowly but surely became a normal state, and the pioneers finished their job. We are living in a new era. We have to make the adjustment."--from Our Hearts Invented a Place One of the grand social experiments of modern time, the Israeli kibbutz is today in a state of flux. Created initially to advance Zionism, support national security, and forge a new socialist, communal model, the kibbutzim no longer serve a clear purpose and are struggling financially. In Our Hearts Invented a Place, Jo-Ann Mort and Gary Brenner describe how life on the kibbutz is changing as members seek to adapt to contemporary realities and prepare themselves for the future. Throughout, the authors allow the members' often-impassioned voices--some disillusioned, some optimistic, some pragmatic--to be heard. "The founders [of the kibbutz] had a dream," an Israeli told the authors in one of many interviews they conducted between 2000 and 2002, "[which] they fulfilled... a hundred times." The current generation, he explains, must alter that dream in order for it to survive. After tracing the formidable challenges facing the kibbutzim today, Mort and Brenner compare three distinct models of change as exemplified by three different communities. The first, Gesher Haziv, decided to pursue privatization. The second, Hatzor, is diversifying its economy while creating an extensive social safety net and a system of private wages with progressive taxation. In the third instance, Gan Shmuel is attempting to hold on to the traditional kibbutz model. In closing, the authors address the new-style urban kibbutz. Their book will provide readers with a deeper understanding of the kibbutz--and of Israel itself--during an era of dramatic social, economic, and political change.

Download or read book Family and Community in the Kibbutz written by Yonina Garber-Talmon and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1974 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some fundamental questions about the individual and the family in communal life are raised in this first collection of essays in English by Israeli sociologist Yonina Talmon. The author, who hitherto has been known to students of revolutionary and collectivist societies mainly through her journal articles, was engaged in an extensive study of the kibbutz at the time of her death in 1966. The decade of research conducted in representative kibbutzim, in cooperation with the Federation of Kevutzot and Kibbutzim, included interviews with kibbutz members as well as observation of kibbutz life. The author gives here a general report on the findings, followed by the results of seven specific investigations that shed light on major problems of many societies: social structure and family size; children's sleeping and family eating arrangements; occupational placement of the second generation; mate selection; aging; social differentiation; and secular asceticism. "This collection of essays," writes S. N. Eisenstadt in his Introduction, "represents a landmark in the development of the sociological study of the kibbutz movement." Yonina Talmon's "work not only opened up the kibbutz to sociological research, but put the research on kibbutz life in the forefront or sociological thinking and analysis."

Download or read book Women in the Kibbutz written by Lionel Tiger and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. This book was released on 1976 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Our data show that although some 10 to 15 per cent of the women in the kibbutz express dissatisfaction with their sociosexual roles, the overwhelming majority not only accept their situations but have sought them. They have acted against the principles of their socialization and ideology, against the wishes of the men of their communities, against the economic interest of the kibbutzim, in order to be able to devote more time and energy to private maternal activities rather than to economic and political public ones. Obviously these women have minds of their own; despite obstacles, they are trying to accomplish what women elsewhere have been periodically urged to reject by critics of traditional female roles." -- from the book

Download or read book Like Dreamers written by Yossi Klein Halevi and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Powerful. . . . beautifully written . . . . There is much to admire . . . especially Mr. Halevi’s skill at getting inside the hearts and minds of these seven men” —Ethan Bronner, New York Times Following the lives of seven young members from the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the unit responsible for restoring Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, acclaimed journalist Yossi Klein Halevi reveals how this band of brothers played pivotal roles in shaping Israel’s destiny long after their historic victory. While they worked together to reunite their country in 1967, these men harbored drastically different visions for Israel’s future. One emerges at the forefront of the religious settlement movement, while another is instrumental in the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. One becomes a driving force in the growth of Israel’s capitalist economy, while another ardently defends the socialist kibbutzim. One is a leading peace activist, while another helps create an anti-Zionist terror underground in Damascus. Featuring eight pages of black-and-white photos and maps, Like Dreamers is a nuanced, in-depth look at these diverse men and the conflicting beliefs that have helped to define modern Israel and the Middle East. “A beautifully written and sometimes heartbreaking account of these men, their families, and their nation.” —Booklist, starred review “Halevi's book is executed with imagination, narrative drive, and, above all, deep empathy for a wide variety of Israelis, and the result is a must-read for anyone with an interest in contemporary Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Mr. Halevi’s masterly book brings us into [the] . . . debate and the lives of those who live it.” —Elliott Abrams, Wall Street Journal

Download or read book The Israeli Settler Movement written by Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-03 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Israeli settler movement plays a key role in Israeli politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict, yet very few empirical studies of the movement exist. This is the first in-depth examination of the contemporary Israeli settler movement from a structural (rather than purely historical or political) perspective, and one of the few studies to focus on a longstanding, radical right-wing social movement in a non-western political context. A trailblazing systematic assessment of the role of the settler movement in Israeli politics writ large, as well as in relation to Israel's policy towards the West Bank, this book analyzes the movement both as a whole and as a combination of its parts (i.e. branches) - institutions, networks, and individuals. Whether you are a student, researcher, or policymaker, this book offers a comprehensive and original theoretical framework alongside a rich empirical analysis which illuminates social movements in general, and the Israeli settler movement in particular.

Download or read book Architecture and Utopia written by Michael Chyutin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are more than 450 Moshavim settlements and about 270 kibbutzim in Israel. While there is a range of communal and cooperative kibbutz movements, all with slight ideological differences, they are all collective rural communities, based on an ideal to create a social utopian settlement. Placing the kibbutz within the wider context of utopian social ideals and how they have historically been physically and architecturally constructed, this book discusses the form of the 'ideal settlement' as an integral part and means for realizing a utopian doctrine. It presents an analysis of physical planning in the kibbutz through the past eight decades and how changes in ideology are reflected in changes in layout and aesthetics. In doing so, this book shows how a utopian settlement organization behaves over time, from their first appearance in 1920 on, to an examination of the current spatial layouts and the directions of their expected future development.

Download or read book For the Land and the Lord written by Ian Lustick and published by Council on Foreign Relations. This book was released on 1988 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Harvest of a Decade written by Walter Laqueur and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a selection of essays written during the first decade of the twenty-first century, by a figure widely acknowledged as the conscience of European liberalism. In Walter Laqueur’s lifetime, there have been more acutely dangerous situations, such as the coming of a world war or the seemingly unstoppable march to victory of totalitarian regimes, than in any other previous epoch. Such immediate dangers may not exist at the present time. But long-term trends are equally or even more threatening, as we now see in the ability of small groups of people, unprecedented in history, to inflict enormous damage. This is the underlying essence of Laqueur’s thinking, as expressed in this new volume. As Laqueur observes, one learns from long experience that the worst does not always happen, and if it does, probably not in one’s lifetime. Ideas and intellectual fashions emerging from the groves of academe, particularly in America can seem wrongheaded and often out of touch with the real world. This growing isolation causes growing bitterness, alienation, and a feeling of impotence on the part of intellectuals, which turns into greater radicalization and farfetched thinking. Laqueur fortunately does not fall into this trap. The articles and essays selected for this volume deal with a variety of topics. They do not entirely reflect Laqueur’s interests, which during this period were more in the cultural field than in politics. However, politics intrude irrespective of the author’s predilections. Laqueur deals with unpleasant truths in concrete geopolitical settings, but poignantly takes his stand with the men and women who strive to overcome self-censorship in the search for accurate judgment.

Download or read book Chasing Utopia written by David Leach and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating, non-partisan exploration of an incendiary region Say the word “Israel” today and it sparks images of walls and rockets and a bloody conflict without end. Yet for decades, the symbol of the Jewish State was the noble pioneer draining the swamps and making the deserts bloom: the legendary kibbutznik. So what ever happened to the pioneers’ dream of founding a socialist utopia in the land called Palestine? Chasing Utopia: The Future of the Kibbutz in a Divided Israel draws readers into the quest for answers to the defining political conflict of our era. Acclaimed author David Leach revisits his raucous memories of life as a kibbutz volunteer and returns to meet a new generation of Jewish and Arab citizens struggling to forge a better future together. Crisscrossing the nation, Leach chronicles the controversial decline of Israel’s kibbutz movement and witnesses a renaissance of the original vision for a peaceable utopia in unexpected corners of the Promised Land. Chasing Utopia is an entertaining and enlightening portrait of a divided nation where hope persists against the odds.

Download or read book The Kibbutz Movement A History Crisis and Achievement 1939 1995 v 2 written by Henry Near and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Accessible . . . As a narrative, it should keep readers intrigued . . . useful for novices and for those moderately familiar with the topic. . . . the perspective and the range of topics addressed are broad . . . the strength of this volume is the way in which it places the trends and conflicts within the kibbutz movement and between the kibbutz movement and the Jewish world into perspective. This is Near's main task, and he does a fine job of it.’ Alan F. Benjamin, H-Judaic ‘Of great importance . . . The most comprehensive history of the kibbutz movement to date.’ Yuval Dror, Zmanim

Download or read book Paths in Utopia written by Martin Buber and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 1996-11-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this work, Buber expounds upon and defends the Zionist experiment - a federal system of communities on a co-operative basis. He looks to the anarchists Proudhon, Kropotkin and Gustav Landauer, but selects only that part of their doctrines appropriate to his case.