Degania Aleph, Israel’s oldest and largest kibbutz, had decided the time has come to end its 18-year-old policy of accepting foreign volunteers. The reason, according to Eitan Peretz, secretary of the kibbutz which was established by Jewish pioneers in 1909, is that the volunteers have a negative influence on kibbutz youth and their presence has led to intermarriage and emigration.
The volunteers work in the kibbutz fields and factories for months at a time in return for room, board and small amounts of pocket money, and an opportunity to tour Israel at little expense. Israel’s 200 kibbutzim play host to about 20,000 volunteers a year, half of them non-Jews.
Many of the latter are West Germans or Scandinavians. They have been coming to Israel in large numbers since the 1967 Six-Day War and, at that time, were welcomed both as staunch friends of Israel and much-needed volunteer labor.
ATTITUDES HAVE CHANGED
But attitudes have changed. One Degania member was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying, “We noticed that over the past few years the volunteers had become the dominant factor in the children’s education and social life. The volunteers’ attitude was, live for today, for tomorrow may never come. They had no obligation either to the kibbutz or to the country and that was what our children were absorbing.”
Peretz said several kibbutz children left Degania to live in South Africa, Australia, Europe and North America with volunteers they had met at the Kibbutz. There were eight cases of intermarriage recently. But the welcome mat is being pulled from Jewish as well as non-Jewish volunteers because of the incidence of emigration.
Degania members say the volunteers’ influence negates kibbutz ideals and patriotism. None mentioned the introduction of drug use to kibbutz youngsters as a reason for the decision, but it is believed to be a factor.
Two other kibbutzim — Sha’ar Hagolan and Lehavot Habashan — have also stopped accepting foreign volunteers. But spokesmen for the Kibbutz movement say this policy is not mandatory. Each kibbutz will make its own decision. In Degania, according to Peretz, the members are much happier now that the volunteers have gone, although they must work harder. They admit the youngsters miss the volunteers.
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