Vintage photographs of life on a kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutzim were founded some 40 years before the establishment of the State of Israel. During the 1920s, the idea of the kibbutz, which means "communal settlement" in Hebrew, appealed to the many tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants fleeing rising antisemitism in Eastern Europe and seeking a new life in a new land.
Click through this gallery for a fascinating reminder of how life on a kibbutz looked like in the first half of the 20th century.
First agricultural settlement
Degania was the first kvutza-type agricultural settlement established by Zionist pioneers, at a location south-west of the Sea of Galilee. Pictured is the original wooden shack at Umm Juni, a Palestinian Arab village.
New land, new challenges
Difficulties confronting these new Jewish immigrants included a lack of agricultural know-how, scarcity of water, and limited funds. The land was desolate and neglected and would require hard physical labor to manage.
Ancient homeland
During the 1930s, kibbutzim expanded throughout the Land of Israel, the traditional Jewish name for an area of indefinite geographical extension in the Southern Levant. Young pioneers had come not only to reclaim the soil of their ancient homeland, but also to forge a new way of life.
