Until Friday morning, the only thing that I had seen regarding the 75th (and a bit) anniversary of the kibbutz founding was the three songs that I am accompanying. Not particularly impressive.
But on Friday morning when I went shopping, the foyer to the shop and the concert hall had an exhibition of large photographs: half from 'the old days' and half from current days, in which the subject matter of the old photo would be mimicked. Most of the old pictures featured members who are no longer with us; the modern picture would have the member's son/daughter/grandchild in the same position. The resemblance was uncanny. Other old pictures featured members who are still alive, although of course they were much younger in the original pictures (many from the 1980s); the modern pictures showed how these members had aged. Very impressive.
At 11 am we had what these days is referred to as the sound-check; the acoustic guitars were connected to DI boxes and the recorder miked up. The singers now had microphones, so rehearsing the songs also allowed a balance to be struck between the singers and the musicians. We saw a bit more of the evening's contents, with a few skits resurrecting memories. We specifically did not see any of the filmed videos, for these need no rehearsing and not showing them would save time.
So like almost everyone else, my first exposure to these interviews was when they were shown, and they were extremely impressive and moving. Many of them featured members who are no longer alive, and that was moving in itself. My wife came home extremely impressed, saying that the videos had told her many things that she had not known previously about the kibbutz.
The above picture (taken by my wife) shows the three musicians and two singers. I have my back half turned against the audience so that I can watch the singers (the one in black has a tendency to change rhythms in the middle of a song) and also to avoid any of the spotlights that caused me optical distress in the morning. The flag - for non-Israeli readers - is the national flag of the hostages being held in Gaza.
At the end of the evening, a mention was made of the upcoming 100 years of Tzora celebration. A quick calculation showed that I would be 92 years old when this happens; I'll be lucky to be able to hold a guitar if I'm even alive at this time.
But then I wondered about 50 years of Tzora - the celebration would have been held in December 1998 but I have no memory of this. At the time I think that I was in my period of 'kibbutz opposition'; I was not at all happy with decisions that were being made on the kibbutz regarding our way of life. My emails at the time have no mention of celebrating 50 years but they do talk about something else. I've slightly edited what I wrote at the time and I've added some comments [in square brackets] in explanation.
We are currently having a month's trial before the privatisation of food
starts on the 1st of January; food is priced in the dining room and the tills
are working, but it's not compulsory to go through them. Also, all the milk,
bread, vegetables and eggs are still free and unpriced, so no one can get a
clear picture of how much they're spending. I'm sure that we'll save money
(and my dear friend M. will save a great deal of money as she and her family
hardly ever eat in the dining room - only Friday evenings). [This makes no mention of the fact that each family will be given a food budget, which is how one can save - paradoxically by not eating in the dining room!]
Now that the above subject is a fait accompli, the "committee for change" tried to bring the work covenant onto the public agenda . Apart from the basic idea that each member is responsible for finding a place to work, either on or off the kibbutz, it was suggested that we each be debited by one shekel for each hour that we are supposed to work, and then credited by one shekel twenty five for each hour that we do work. This was termed "knas/pras" [fine/prize]; unfortunately the fine isn't much of a fine, and the prize isn't exactly a great stimulus. There was also talk about rewarding overtime - but only overtime which brings in money.
There was an open discussion screened on the video, in which people phoned in questions and a panel answered. I asked where it would be possible to work overtime, as to the best of my knowledge there is not one place on the kibbutz where an extra hour's work would bring in any extra income. The panel kept on saying that members could work in the factory, but I didn't have the chance to say that as it happens, the day of the broadcast was the day that the production manager of the factory was proud to announce that not a single worker was doing any overtime that day (in other words, the state of the factory was not so marvelous, although it's picked up a bit since). The whole country is economically depressed, and there isn't that much demand. All the ideas are fine in an economy where demand exceeds supply, but that isn't the case in Israel 1998. Everyone with whom I spoke was dismissive of the ideas raised, and the subject seems to have been taken off the public agenda. [December 16, 1998]
The entire evening can be seen here.
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 851 | Florence log 4 - ICSE 2015 | DBA, Holiday, Florence, Italy | |
| 1134 | A long term mystery solved | Computer | |
| 1218 | Batsi (Greece 2) | Holiday, Andros, Greece | |
| 1219 | Chora (Greece 3) | Holiday, Andros, Greece | |
| 1618 | Headphones sorted! | Headphones |
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