Why a Booktrail?
1950s – Ever wanted to live on a kibbutz or at least read about what it feels like? These short stories describe life, the people that live there and the type of people you’re likely to meet.
Between Friends
What you need to know before your trail
Amos Oz knows what it’s like to life on a kibbutz for he used to live on one and eight stories chronicling the nature and essence of these collective communities .
Daily life on a kibbutz is described via daily episodes through character studies, descriptions of weather and lifestyle, food, social activity and so much more. How these people lived and worked and how they got on with each other. Life in the collective community is the thread which interweaves each one.
‘On the kibbutz it’s hard to know. We’re all supposed to be friends but very few really are’
Travel Guide
“In our kibbutz, Kibbutz Yekhat, there lived a man, Zvi Provizor, a short fifty-five year old bachelor who had a habit of blinking. He loved to transmit bad news: earthquakes, plane crashes, buildings collapsing on their occupants, fires and floods.”
As the first story opens, we are pulled straight in to the heart of the Kibbutz community. Whether you know of or have experienced this unique form of living, this is a fine introduction from a renowned Israeli writer Amos Klausner. Amos changed his surname to OZ when after the death of his mother at age 14, he was adopted by the Huldai family and lived on the Hulda Kibbutz. Oz means strength in Hebrew and this seems an apt description of the people and characters in his work.
The Kibbutz is a form of community in Israel which dates back many many years and was originally set up as homes for people employed in agriculture. The idea behind them seems to have been social and economic equality for those living there. Of course as with any community, there are tensions, difficulties and a myriad of characters.
The stories take place after WW2 and the effects on this world event in the quiet and remote Kibbutz families is remarkable. The changes they have faced and gone through and everyday life in minute, fascinating and illuminating detail.
In “Little Boy”, for example, Yoav who is only five years old doesn’t understand the rigid kibbutz rules. There is a night watchman who patrols the area, an errant young girl who goes off in search of a dubious relationship and a man who has survived the Holocaust.
Life on a kibbutz is as varied and a study of human nature
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