The Road So Far and the Road Ahead

Well hello there all you Hagshamaniacs,

Sorry to have been absent for this long, but Hagshama is a tough business and we’ve been busy with all that Tikkun Olam and Tikkun Adam stuff.

We’ve been settling in nicely on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’Emek. We’re getting used to the house that we live in which has an amazing ability to keep freezing air from escaping making it crispy-cold at all hours everyday. Of course it’s all good, because we have Kvutza to warm us up. The Kibbutz is a nice place to be. We have a car which keeps us from getting too stir crazy here. We are able to stay ‘awake’ and connected to the rest of the country. We just had a meeting to decide what sort of activities we want to do with the Kibbutz. We are going to be attending lectures, do some hikes in the area, meet Kibbutzniks and their families, and learn about the economics here.

The Kvutza life is going well. As you can imagine it is hard, but we are learning a lot about living as a group, and a lot about each other in particular. It’s really amazing to live in this way, reflective of our ideology, and examine a text by Martin Buber who wrote long ago about many of the ideas we are experimenting with today in our Kvutza.
We are all starting to figure out our individual projects now too. Some of us are starting to work with Pardes, an educational organization that sprouted from the movement here. Some are working with Arabs and Jews at Givat Haviva. Some are working with young Arab students at an after-school program. Some are working with the North American Shnat Kvutza. All of us meanwhile are finding time to explore creative outlets such as drawing, photography, or writing.

Many of us are beginning to explore our Judaism. We’ve been meeting with an Orthodox Rabbi in Jerusalem. We are beginning with this viewpoint and will shortly be moving into other Jewish perspectives on the long road to better understanding of ourselves as Jews. This search, we hope, will lead us towards a better understanding of ourselves as Socialists, as Zionists, as a Kvutza, and as individuals... Oh and as Jew… But we just explained that…

Okay, moving on.

Our work in Barta’a is going really well. We are learning more and more about the students that we are working with, and the community that we are working in. It is hard. It takes its toll. We tried to have a Sycha after a day at Barta’a, but within a few minutes the discussion broke down into huffs, puffs, and rude comments. We were tired and tired of each other. This is the truth though. We are humans, we struggle, we get tired, and we are sometimes rude to those we love most. We are getting closer and closer to understanding what we have to offer that will help in strengthening their community, and each of them as individuals. It seems that we are already in a reciprocal relationship: Teaching and learning, learning and teaching.

Importantly, we are also doing. The idea for our Kvutza has been, in the broadest sense to examine ourselves and our world, and to fix ourselves and our world. While getting settled into our home we are also getting settled into our work, study and Kvutza. It’s often a struggle, but it’s worth it.

Until the next post,

Chazak V'Ematz

Kvutzat Orev

The Ball is Rolling

Kvutzat Orev can now offically claim to have a permanent home in Israel! After some intense bureaucratic deliberation not uncommon in the old kibbutz movement, kibbutz Mishmar Haemek has finally agreed to let us stay there for as long as we would like. This is welcome news to a kvutza that has led a nomadic lifestyle from cold floor to cold floor for the last three weeks.

In other news, we are pleased to announce that our first meeting with the prinicpal and English teacher of the school in Barta'a was a great success. We were given the green light for even our most ambitious comminuty development projects and will begin work on Monday. We also received a tour of the school and met basically all of the students, who giggled and waved with excitement whenever we entered a room.

As we made clear to the principal, we intend to teach English with the educational methods we have cultivated in Hashomer Hatzair, i.e., with an emphasis on cultivating the innate curiosity of each child and empowering the group to take responsibility for its own education.

After meeting the children at the school, we are confident that they have the curiosty and discipline to enjoy such an education to its fullest extent.

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-Kvutzat Orev