Visiting a fascinating "religious" kibbutz in the Jordan Valley

housing at Sde Eliyahu

Yesterday, we visited a "religious" kibbutz, Sde Eliyahu, just south of the Sea of Galilee in the Jordan Valley, and spent a fascinating 3 hours there with Benny, an "observant" Jew from New Jersey who has lived on the kibbutz for 40 years, since he was 25.  He explained his own life and the workings of the kibbutz, both politically and economically.  There are kibbutzim that are religious or "observant" (we would call Orthodox, but Benny doesn't like that term) and others that are much more casual about religious practices.

date palm orchard

Sde Eliyahu was started by a group of teenagers from Europe in 1937 who had managed to get by the British blockade of Jewish immigrants.  In order to start their own religious community as a kibbutz, they had to build a stockade and a tower--sufficient to qualify the land as theirs and to keep the British from kicking them out.  They claimed the Bedouin were not there, and they probably weren't right then since they moved around with their flocks.  But, the Bedouin returned to find a small Jewish establishment on lands they had always used.

kindergarten play yard

There was already one small "religious" kibbutz in the area; soon there were three.  All started the same way, with a couple of teenagers milking a cow and raising some chickens and probably planting a little wheat along with some vegetables.  Soon, someone started making cheese and butter with the milk, bread from the wheat, and so on, until they had established a modicum of self-sufficiency.  Meanwhile, they built rudimentary housing for themselves and began to plan a future with families, homes, schools, a clinic and a multi-faceted agricultural complex of fields and orchards.

dining hall and "commons"

Sde Eliyahu now has 700 residents, 280 of whom are "members" who can vote and make all the decisions for the entire community.  For example, there was only 1 phone for many years and the members decided no one should have a private phone.  Same with televisions.  But, of course, mobile phones and the internet came along and now everyone has a cell phone, a computer and a TV.  The members decided that no one would have a car; residents can rent one from the kibbutz' pool of cars.  Houses are all 1100 square feet.  Within those external walls, a family can do whatever it wants in terms of interior design and furnishings.  It is a bit less regimented now, but the kids still find it too restrictive and most are moving away when they reach 18.  This is a big problem for the future of the kibbutz, but, so far, the members have held to their structure despite the desire of young people for more individual choice.

harvesting carrots

We visited the primary school which has a schoolyard literally full of discarded stuff.  As a former school board member, I looked at it and saw enraged parents and lawsuits resulting from kids getting hurt on all the junk.  But, the kibbutz thinks the mass of stuff encourages the children to be creative, trying out all kinds of inventions and stories supported by the old chairs, wastebaskets, mattresses, etc. that fill the schoolyard.  They are probably right.  And parents probably can't successfully sue the kibbutz members if their child gets hurt.
This kibbutz is partly organic.  They ship produce to Europe, which has much stricter rules about what can be used on fruits, vegetables and animals than the US does.  They have fought insect pests by finding and now raising the predators who destroy the pests that destroy the crops.  One key "good" insect is the red spider mite, which they grow in large greenhouses.  Once the "bad" pests have all been destroyed, the spider mite starves to death, so does not become a nuisance itself.  To keep the population available for killing the harmful insects, the kibbutz also raises some of the damaging bugs to feed to the spider mites and other predators so they can maintain a population of them.

greenhouses (hundreds of them) for growing insects and crops

They also raise bumblebees.  These bees are good pollinators and don't suffer from hive collapse.  They don't make honey, so have to be fed, but they pollinate 30% more flowers than a human pollinator (which the kibbutz used in the past) in the same amount of time.  The bumblebees are raised in the now unused bomb shelters on the kibbutz which provide an even temperature and clean environment.
The kibbutz has a dairy, olive and date palm orchards, fields of wheat, greenhouses of herbs and vegetables, feed corn for the dairy cows, reservoirs full of tilapia and carp, fruit trees, and so much more.  They make their own herbs and spices to sell to tourists right on the kibbutz, in large, long warehouses with cleaners, driers and packagers.  The olives go to a central processing plant owned by all the kibbutzim in the area.
Everyone who wants to live on the kibbutz and eventually become a member (a 3 year wait) has the opportunity to work in all the many units of the operation.  The members vote on whether to invite someone to join them.

fish farm

Everything is run by committees, with all decisions eventually coming back to the members.  It sounds like these weekly meetings can go on a long time as everyone, including non-members, has the opportunity to voice an opinion, without time limits.
Benny talked to us about his love for this land, how he gets a thrill every time he drives down off the hills above the Jordan Valley and sees his kibbutz with its fields and orchards.  He believes God gave Jews this land and that it is their responsibility to use it well and to take care of it.  He raised his 6 children on this kibbutz (none will remain there) and has held most of the leadership posts in the community, currently being the Fire Chief.

bumblebees in hive

No one earns a salary, but everyone gets a monthly stipend of about $900 (for people without kids at home--families with young children get more) per month.  Bennie saves his money for his twice a year visit to his elderly father in New Jersey.  Housing, food in the dining room (a huge cafeteria), health care, education and all basic needs are met by the kibbutz.  Only about 2% of Israelis now live on kibbutzim.  For our host, this is the life he chose and the life he cherishes.