Golan Heights • A Day in the Life of Kibbutz kfar haruv
Today we’ll experience A Day in the Life of Kibbutz Kfar Haruv. For more than a century, kibbutzim have played and continue to play a very important part in the development of modern Israel. The communal-living collectives, originally established on farms, support themselves with a mixture of agriculture and other business. Kfar Haruv was founded in 1973 and reflects that blend, with its operating dairy farm and hydraulics plant. 400 residents live here, including some of the children from the first generation of settlers.
Our visit begins with an informal discussion with a kibbutz member, who will warmly welcome us and answer any preliminary questions we may have. We’ll then stop by the community’s kindergarten, where we’ll meet its youngest residents. For lunch, we will work together to prepare a meal in the communal dining room and then dine with members of the kibbutz, which affords us a wonderful opportunity to learn more about their lives and experiences in this setting. After a short guided walk of Kfar Haruv— featuring an enlightening sojourn within its dairy farm—we’ll bid farewell. By the end of our visit, we’ll come away with a richer understanding of the kibbutz tradition.
This afternoon, we’ll have time at leisure before dinner in Kibbutz dining room.
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Thursday September 14
After a good night's sleep we get ready. It's nice and not hot yet. But it's hazy and we do not have a clear view. Still lovely though.
Breakfast is delivered promptly at 7:30 am to each cabin in a basket. We used the cover cloth as tablecloth. Seemed to be meant for it since it was the perfect size.
We had a kettle in our kitchen to make tea. Everything else was in the basket. Really really nice.
After breakfast we all meet a member from the kibbutz who showed us around, explained and answered any questions. She had grown up in a kibbutz, is now a grandma and still very enthusiastic about this way of living.
First we saw a movie about it though.
Then we went to the dairy buildings.
The first two photos are in the wrong order because the calves are definitely cuter then the old milk cows.
The calves were wanting attention and were happy to be scratched.
It was stressed how the animals were cared for, that they get daily refreshing showers. Hygiene is most important and their health is monitored by computer. Still, I really didn't enjoy this part that much and have to evaluate my thinking.
The "helping in the kitchen" part was a bit of a joke. Not sure how much we helped but it was fun.
Then we continued our walk around, seeing mainly the day care places but only from the outside. The playground she called junk yards and explained that they like for the children just to handle ordinary things.
I really liked the tree in the park place in the middle. "Leaves" were attached with the family names.
Yael found seeds from the carob tree. All the seeds are so uniform in size and weight that these were used to measure the weight of things like precious stones giving it the name carat.
We are walking back to the cafeteria for lunch.
Here is a beautiful overlook to the Sea of Galilee.
There was a lot to choose from off the buffet. Here is my selection.
After lunch we have free time. Some are taken to the river Jordan and a date farm. Some go for a swim in the pool. We just chill and after some rest James and I decide to go for a walk before dinner. It was a hot day and when we set out it was still 101°F but have got somewhat used to the heat after 2 weeks.
One way to the next kibbutz.
And back.
We spot cows trotting towards their home below us on the flat part.
This is called the cliff walk and warnings about the steep drop everywhere.
Oh, and then we spotted some wild boars. We had been told that there might be some.
Dinner at the cafeteria again.
Afterwards we enjoyed some red wine which was provided in the cabin.
Another very nice day.
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