For 7 weeks on Limmud we have the opportunity to experience a real Israeli lifestyle by living and working on a kibbutz. We stayed up north on a Kibbutz called Ein Hanatziv. A typical day on kibbutz started bright and early at 6 am to a mixed smell of cows (my roommate worked in the refet), dirt (my other roommate worked in the gadash) and chickens (my job ☺ ). There were always discussions about which job was the best, the people who did gardening said Moshe was the best boss who gave them Ice-cream, everyone in the field argued that they only had to work hard for 2 hours and then they were done, and people working with chickens didn’t stop showing off their dance moves or their hour breaks with a barista making them coffee. But one thing everyone agreed upon, nobody wanted to work in the factory or the gan.
Because it was 40 degrees every day, for most of our work ended pretty early and there were always different things going on before lunch. People would swim in the ma’ayan, pool, go buy snacks from the makolet or catch up on much-needed sleep. At around 1 everyone was together again for mincha and lunch in the moadon (we couldn’t eat with the kibbutz because of covid). Every afternoon was slightly different, we always had some form of activity; external people or teachers of the midrasha on kibbutz came and taught us lessons, our mads would run fun and interesting activities or we would have ulpan (Hebrew learning). As a way to get everyone involved, we had va’adot (committees such as food, vibes, sport, shabbas etc.) this was a great way to share the workload with the mads and prepare us for independent living. Every night 4 different people cooked dinner which was always followed with a fun night activity run by the mads, the vibes committee or just those who wanted to show off their country’s culture (Brazilian night was the best).
On Fridays we didn’t work and instead we got to explore the areas around the kibbutz. We went on water hikes, discovered different ma’ayans and went to aqua keff (an inflatable water park). To sum up; kibbutz was an experience filled with learning, fun, and unforgettable memories. 