Children's homes in Kibbutzim

A unique experience in the history of the Jewish people, and indeed, in the history of humanity, was the kibbutz method of child rearing. Children were raised in a children's home, whether they ate, slept and played. This arrangement freed up their parent to work for the good of the kibbutz. Also, it was believed that the women who worked in the children's homes were better qualified to care for children than their untrained parents.

The kibbutzim themselves collapsed under the weight of capitalism about 15 years ago. In order to survive, they became private enterprises, where employees receive compensation commensurate with their skills. The classic institutions of the kibbutz disappeared or were modified. One of the first institutions to go was the children's home. Today, children in kibbutzim live at home with their parents.

Yael Ne'eman wrote a memoir about her experiences growing up in a kibbutz in the 1960s. Her book is called We Are the Future. She expressed her frustration with the way she was raised:

We felt that we were unworthy of the doctrine. The output had no end, for initiative could always find more and more things to do. . . . We failed to satisfy the doctrine, mute and gentle as it seemed, asking nothing for itself, seeking only considerateness, with no demands: "to each according to his need." But who knows what need truly is, it has no bound or limit. Our doctrine was never satisfied. We felt guilty.

In the entire history of the Jewish people there has never been an idea so ambitious. At the same time, there has never been an idea so doomed to failure. Nature has provided for children by giving them parents and has provided adults with the nurturing instincts to care for their children. No progressive idea can change that, and this is what led to the demise of the children's homes in the kibbutzim.