A fresh baby

September 18^th, 2007

Today was so much fun – I met up with some friends from the United States who were visiting their daughter and son in-law who lives here in Israel. The daughter had just had a baby 8 months ago and the baby was very fun to play with. We ate lunch and looked at photos and I was so pleased at how comfortable we all felt with each other. Amazing that we were all in Israel of all places at the same time. They took me to an incredible Organic grocery store called “Teva” which means “Nature” in Hebrew. It sold all kinds of dried fruits and teas and chocolates, cheeses, ice creams, juices, breads…mmm Then they showed me the Kibbutz that they all grew up on. A kibbutz is a small community of homes with a grocery store, doctor’s office, children’s center, cafeteria and agriculture. The people that live there never really need to leave the kibbutz because they have everything right there. It is especially good for children and the elderly because one would never feel lonesome there.

Kibbutzim used to be very communist. People used to live there for free even with a small salary while they worked during the day either in agriculture or livestock. Each meal was eaten at the main cafeteria and the children ran around all day playing. The only problem with this community was that everyone was paid the same amount – even the lazy people. Which I was told was extremely irritating for the people who worked in the field all day. So the structure changed quite a bit, and now you pay rent to live on a kibbutz – working agriculturally is optional, and most people leave during the day to go to work. But the sense of community is still there, and it is not uncommon for the elderly to live into their late nineties is this environment.

I loved seeing everyone today and it was very special to be around a new person seeing the planet for the very first time. He has so much to see!