Kibbutz

A kibbutz (קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. In recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle. A member of a kibbutz is called a kibbutznik (קִבּוּצְנִיק / ; plural kibbutznikim or kibbutzniks). In 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel with population of 126,000. Their factories and farms account for 9% of Israel's industrial output, worth US$8 billion, and 40$1.7 billion. Some kibbutzim had also developed substantial high-tech and military industries. For example, in 2010, Kibbutz Sasa, containing some 200 members, generated US$850 million in annual revenue from its military-plastics industry. Currently the kibbutzim are organised in the secular Kibbutz Movement with some 230 kibbutzim, the Religious Kibbutz Movement with 16 kibbutzim and the much smaller religious Poalei Agudat Yisrael with two kibbutzim, all part of the wider communal settlement movement. The kibbutzim were founded by members of the Bilu movement who emigrated to Palestine. Like the members of the First Aliyah who came before them and established agricultural villages, most members of the Second Aliyah planned to become farmers; almost the sole career available in the agrarian economy of Ottoman Palestine. The first kibbutz was Degania Alef, founded in 1910. Some founders of the Kibbutz movement in Israel were influenced by the ideals of Ancient Sparta, particularly in education and communal living. Yosef Baratz, one of the pioneers of the kibbutz movement, wrote a book about his experiences. We were happy enough working on the land, but we knew more and more certainly that the ways of the old settlements were not for us.