Friday, June 4

A little change of pace, I want to talk about our meal tonight. Our directors are good friends with an Israeli couple who live on a nearby kibbutz. They invite the staff over for a meal each year, a banquet really, and square supervisors are fortunate enough to be included.

I had a conversation with their son, a third generation kibbutznik, who is a film studies student (and whom I also met in January when I was here). He's written a script of a film he plans to make this fall about kibbutzs (kibbutzim actually). In recent years there have been a many changes in kibbutzim, as they move away from the socialist/communist model to what he describes as being just small towns or suburbs, really. His story focuses on a middle aged man who has grown up on and still lives on a kibbutz. But, now, with the communal features disappearing and no family around he lives a lonely, isolated life, as the film will detail. The film maker's insider view of current kibbutz situations was most interesting. Not a new theme, perhaps, but I look forward to seeing it on YouTube.