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Ellis Shuman's "" is a collection of short stories that questions whether the kibbutz's days are numbered.
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| By israelinsider staff May 13, 2003 |
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Nearly 120,000 Israelis make their home on a kibbutz - Israel's unique collective society. The kibbutz, a 94-year-old social experiment that has resulted in 268 communities dotting the Israeli landscape, is based on common ownership of the means of production and consumption, with each member having an equal vote. A new book by Israel Insider Editor in Chief Ellis Shuman questions whether the kibbutz's days are numbered.
According to journalist Jon Fidler, a member of Kibbutz Beit Ha'emek, triple-digit inflation and exorbitant interest rates in the 1980s "caused near economic ruin for many kibbutz factories (along with their non-kibbutz counterparts) and for the communities they supported."
In an article posted on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Fidler writes, "This macro-instability caused great problems for the kibbutzim as they had borrowed heavily to develop industry and to change their internal structure. By 1985, one-third of the kibbutzim were in financial difficulties."
Fidler's "then and now" comparison of kibbutz life, ideology and industries, emphasizes the "unparalleled wave of soul searching, re-examination of basic principles and values, and change" taking place on kibbutzim today.
The Virtual Kibbutz - a new book by Israel Insider Editor in Chief Ellis Shuman explores the modern-day kibbutz, and in particular changing kibbutz society, raising the question whether the kibbutz is an endangered species.
The Virtual Kibbutz (iUniverse April, 2003) is a collection of stories depicting the hopes, dreams and challenges of kibbutz members, residents of Israel's unique society as it evolves towards an uncertain future.
The book raises questions about the kibbutz's future, as Israel's unique, egalitarian, social, democratic experience struggles to adapt to new realities. The kibbutz has changed, but has it lost the utopian innocence of its youth? Is the modern kibbutz still guided by its founders' dreams and beliefs? Is the kibbutz an idea that has lost its way? Or is the kibbutz a society that, despite the changes it is undergoing, will continue to play an important role in the Israeli landscape?
The members of the kibbutz confront the violence of the Intifada, cope with the Internet, and struggle to have more control over their lives
In his stories, Shuman draws on his experiences as a founding member of Kibbutz Yahel, where he lived with his family for seven years and worked in agriculture, tourism, and industry, and his twenty years at Moshav Neve Ilan, where he served as general secretary during a period of social upheaval.
"The stories are fun, yet they deal with a serious subject - the future of the kibbutz," Shuman says. "Is the kibbutz an endangered species? I won't tell you the answer here. You will have to read the book to draw your own conclusions."
Order The Virtual Kibbutz.
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