Day 8

03/17/2023

Shabbat Shalom!

On Friday, we spent the first full day with the Israelis. After (more or less) getting a good night's sleep, we met in the morning at Kibbutz Yagur. There, we met Marise, a German woman who met her current husband during her volunteer year and has been living with him and their daughter in Kibbutz Yagur for four years now. She told us a lot about the kibbutzim in Israel in general. These were founded by people who often came from Russia and Poland and did not have the opportunity to own their own land there.

In the past, there was a strong emphasis on socialism in the kibbutzim. People shared everything and were all equal. They worked as much as they could, but did not earn their own money. In return, everything was free. There was a dining room where everyone ate together, and a children's house where the children lived and were taken care of by educators so that the parents could work. The parents only saw their children for 2-4 hours a day. Nowadays, life in the kibbutzim is more individualistic, but the sense of community is still very strong. We had the opportunity to visit the kindergartens, which are divided into different age groups. The children usually start going to kindergarten with the age of 6 months, because that's how long the parents are financially supported by their employers. The children in the facilities can move around the kibbutz to some extent, but the area is fenced off for older children.

What is also significant for the kindergartens there is that the children play a lot with old everyday objects to unleash their creativity. They also spend a lot of time in nature and go on many excursions. After visiting the kibbutz, we had free time. Some went to the beach in Haifa and relaxed there. We went to a food market in Haifa in a small group. There were several fruit and vegetable stands, as well as various spices and grains to buy. It was also a good place to have lunch. We sat down in a small restaurant and Amit ordered various typical Israeli dishes for us to share, so we could try a little bit of everything. There was couscous with vegetables, fennel salad, soup, moussaka, and bread with a dip. Very delicious!! Even though we were already quite full, we couldn't resist the Knafe dessert! Highly recommended ;) After that, we split up and each went to our exchange partner's house to get ready for the Shabbat dinner.

After the Shabbat dinner, some of us met up and spent the rest of the evening together.