Want to learn about organic agriculture and how it’s done in the Middle East? Maybe you’re interested in making cheese from goat’s milk? Or perhaps letting come what may — being the assistant to an eccentric Kibbutznik’s experiment or mindless work on the production line.

A number of Israeli kibbutzes are now privatized, leaving no opportunities for foreign volunteers to come and work. Despite the fact that fewer jobs are on offer, managers at the Kibbutz Program Center in Israel, the national center that coordinates volunteer experiences in Israel, are seeing a surge of volunteers from all over the world this year. There is even a waiting list.

And today it’s not just for the globetrotting hippy: “It’s a great experience for young people, who come to Israel for over half a year,” says Rina Keren, manager of volunteers at the center.

“Of course there are students in the field of agriculture who come; there are also the ones who are specifically looking for the real organic farms too,” she says. Like at Kibbutz Lotan, the only true organic kibbutz in Israel: “But most of the people are not coming for something special – just a unique way to visit and get to know Israel,” says Keren.

With an abundance of kibbutz volunteers from all over the world — the United States, Europe (England and Germany especially), South Africa and Korea, the kibbutz volunteer experience is also an enjoyable international one, Keren points out. Today about 30 kibbutzes in Israel are accepting volunteers and this past year some 500 people submitted applications.

Kibbutz tracks of Bob Dylan and Seinfeld

Bob Dylan did it. So did Jerry Seinfeld who was only 17 when he came to the kibbutz. He told the Associated Press: “I would be in the fields, and nobody wanted my autograph and nobody wanted to take their picture with me,” he said, joking. “They just let me hack away at those banana leaves, and no, I didn’t meet the prime minister even once.”

Like Seinfeld once did, in exchange for several hours work a day, volunteers get free lodging, meals and some pocket money amounting to about $100 a month. But anyone who has ever lived or volunteered on a kibbutz will know, there is really no need for money. The kibbutz is truly a communal space, where services such as laundry and entertainment come as part of the package.

In recent years the kibbutz volunteer experience is seeing a revival, because it’s an authentic way for Jews and non-Jews to experience the Holy Land. It’s also a good way to get to know Israelis firsthand and to learn Hebrew.

The first kibbutzim in Israel were founded decades before Israel became a state. Groups of new immigrants came to settle Israel with an ideal that they would develop and work the land in a communal style.

Kibbutz Lotan is a good starting home

“It’s a great idea that helped make the kibbutz and Israel itself a home away from home,” says Rebecca Fiala who volunteered at Kibbutz Lotan in the south. In a local newspaper she said, “I felt as if I could finally break through the tourist route and meet the people, as well as know that I always have a place to stay.”

Finding a great kibbutz is often a matter of luck. And while the volunteers have come and gone over the years (there are those who do stay and marry Israelis), to further enhance the experience, some kibbutzim organize special trips to further enrich their volunteers’ time in Israel.

Most volunteers, at the end of their trip will usually agree, that the six short months at a kibbutz leaves them wanting more.

For more green volunteering opportunities in Israel see:
WWOOF: Organic Farm opportunities in Israel
Study Abroad at Kibbutz Lotan
Adam and Eve: An Eco-Farm Paradise in Modiin

The post The Kibbutz Movement from Israel Revival appeared first on Green Prophet.

“Lifeline” to be hung in every office and school in America; funds raised to rebuild a kibbutz community that terror ripped apart

It was 6:25 in the morning Oct. 7, and Gal-Lee Maroodi’s husband Omer put his ear to the window as dozens of rockets fired from Gaza hit his agricultural village, 3 miles from the Gaza Strip: “We were used to hiding in the safe rooms to protect us from rockets,” says Maroodi, 25, from Kibbutz Reim. “But this time it sounded different because there were rockets raining down on us non-stop. I told him it’s not safe by the window, but coming from a special guerilla unit in the IDF, he told me something doesn’t sound right. He heard AK-47s, machine guns that Israel would never use. He told me to take the baby and run.

“We dodged rockets and sped off down the road, warning others from the community that we are being attacked by terrorists. If we had been two minutes later on the road, we would have been shot,” says Maroodi, whose kibbutz is a community of 400 people that farm and run a factory for laser cut machine parts. Five people from the kibbutz were murdered; there are 6 hostages now in Gaza. She is the spokesperson for Lifeline –– an art print and historical project to document the painful communication between the kibbutz members on Oct. 7. They hope to raise money through sales of the prints to rebuild the kibbutz.

They are coming closer. They are in my backyard. Urgent, urgent to Dvir’s house. Daria and Levi are alone. Dvir was murdered. Urgent. Please! Friends, lock the house and stay inside. Urgent, urgent. Please. The children are alone. Please.

These words are a sample from several hours of Whatsapp messages during the morning of the Hamas attack. They are inscribed on a high-quality art print, written in cursive Hebrew by kibbutz member Adi Drimer. She created the unique pattern, a mandala, as a form of therapy after the terror attack and now Kibbutz Reim members are hoping this historical print will be hung in every office, school and community center in the United States and Canada.

Mandala means ‘circle’ in Sanskrit. They are used as a spiritual guidance tool, in meditation or for creating a sacred space. For Kibbutz Reim and Jews everywhere, this mandala will be a symbol of not standing for terror, and as historical evidence that Oct. 7 will never be forgotten. All proceeds raised will go to rebuilding the kibbutz.

Art that is also an historical document

The name is Lifeline because the WhatsApp group chat was the actual lifeline for kibbutz members each in their own homes. Through the app, they managed to save two kids whose father and partner were murdered right in front of them. It helps the members tell their story: how they warned each other about invaders, about the heroic acts of men who ran through hellfire to rescue children who couldn’t close the door of the bomb shelter –– because their dad’s dead girlfriend’s arm was in the way.

While memories of the horror are still fresh, kibbutz members know they will need to rebuild their homes, and businesses, and Lifeline proceeds will help them do that: to repair factories, rebuild homes and educational centers. Every dollar raised will go towards rebuilding the community ripped apart by fire, grenades, looting and machine gun fire.

“It’s a strange situation now because we are terrified about going back to the kibbutz, but we also miss it terribly because it’s our home,” says Maroodi whose home was used as a command center by Hamas. When her husband went back he found blood on the floor, pictures broken. “They went through everything. We heard them through our baby monitor.”

We won’t forget. We won’t let them win.

“It is such a beautiful area and we can’t let them win. If we don’t go back and rebuild the kibbutz, then they’ve won. So we need to rebuild even if it’s painful,” says Maroodi. “ She considers herself lucky as she wasn’t burned out of her safe room or murdered in front of her child:

“We could hear them tormenting people in their homes. Smacking their safe rooms and laughing. Burning their houses waiting for them to come out. One family stayed in the bomb shelter. They said, ‘We’d rather burn to death than, God knows what they will do to us, if we come out’.”

Lifeline is not an easy object to hold but it is essential:  “We must never forget,” says Maroodi. “People risked their lives helping each other here. That’s the beauty of the kibbutz. We are really family. Everyone feels the pain of the other. As a Jew, or even non-Jew standing by our side, Lifeline is art that every single one of us should have; it looks like a fingerprint and it’s to make sure we will never forget Oct. 7,” she concludes.

::Lifeline

The post Fine art print Lifeline documents Hamas horror – buying one supports a kibbutz appeared first on Green Prophet.

Since the foundation of the first Kibbutz in Israel, which today is a modern commune with various democratic, socialist or anarchistic systems in place (or not), nations around the world have looked to the Israeli model for communal living. You’ve seen American style communes and the problems there in the 60s in Mother Nature News, but Israel started differently as it was building up its newly established country.

I’ve lived in a kibbutz in Israel for one year when I was 29 and it was life-changing. Great for someone single, yes. Great for someone with young kids? Yes. Great for old age. Most definitely. But in the end, I chose the freedom of the city and owning my own home in the country.

There are religious kibbutzes in Israel, ones based on ecological and social experiments including open love and organic food. You can find one for all walks of life. But what if you are not in Israel and are thinking about making your own intentionally community in Portugal? In Costa Rica and which is not at Pacha Mama?

Start research on communal living with CALL

One of the cornerstones to learn about the foundations of the new commune and kibbutz movement is CALL (Communes at Large Letter), a free seasonal magazine that reports on intentional communities in Israel and the rest of the world. It’s a great resource to connect with offering a sober and realistic take on what building a commune entails? What about millennials? The last issue offers some very handy resources.

For those interested to know more about intentional communities, you can subscribe to CALL. It is a modest magazine that explores all ways of community living, and includes information on international conferences and events. This link here takes you to the latest 20/21 issue.

And a film worth checking out on the Israeli kibbutz movement is Apples and Oranges (2021), about sex, love, drugs and volunteering at a kibbutz in the 60s:

Communal living and how do we do it right is a particularly relevant concept in today’s world where some of us strive to build homes that are less impacting on the environment. We are seeing hundreds of queries of people looking to move to the nature in Portugal for instance (or to Texas – check out this course that helps you build straw bale homes) , but it’s happening anywhere and everywhere there is nature to be explored.

COVID accelerated the desire and need for people to find a new way of living.

CALL the organization itself, was started in 1976 at the initiative of the late Mordechai Bentov, a kibbutz member and cabinet minister.

Today their headquarters are at the Yad Tabenkin Institute, on the campus of Seminar Efal, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Check out their website and newsletter. Intentional communities are not just a kibbutz thing. There is also social permaculture, a way for people to farm and better the land with the support and interest of like minds all around. See our post on regenerative farming for more and check out the CALL newsletter in the link below.

::CALL

The post Want to Start Your Own Commune? appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s a sign of the times: a vegan cheesemaking company in Israel is considering listing on the TASE – or Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Two meat or animal product substitute companies already list there and now Vgarden, which makes vegan cheese is looking to raise capital. A report in the local paper Haaretz says the kibbutz-based company plans to list next year at a valuation of $102 million. 

Israel has more vegans per capita than anywhere in the world. And the company already has dozens of companies looking to offer a plant-based alternative to meat or animal based products. 

Yofix in Israel already sells its soy-free yogurt alternative made from oats, legumes and seeds. The fermented, cultured products contain protein, fiber, calcium and iron, have no added sugar or preservatives, and are pre- and probiotic.

Vgarden produces sliced cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, and feta –– all without milk of any kind. And it’s marketed under the brand Mashu Mashu, which means “wow, that’s something” in Hebrew. I have tried the sliced cheese and it’s a satisfying and convincing alternative. It’s firm and tasty and has a cheesy smell and flavor likely from yeast – which the African Israelites have been using as a seasoning for decades. They are an all-vegan village in Beersheva. 

The transition to complete veganism hasn’t been difficult for mainstream Israelis because as part of the Jewish lifestyle and dietary laws it is already known if a food product contains traces of animal products as it’s not allowed to eat meat and milk together, for those who observe the customs and traditions known as kashrut.

They are similar to the Muslim dietary laws called halal but are more restrictive – except for one – Jews are allowed to drink alcohol, Muslims are not. 

Israelis taking bite out of meat substitute markets

MeaTech in Israel 3-D prints meat alternatives and its shares have risen 120% on the TASE over the last year according to the Marker, an Israeli financial paper. SavorEat is developing a plant-based meat alternative using 3D printing and plant cellulose. 

Impossible Burgers have been on the Israeli grocery shelves for a couple of years already. But they cost about $8 a piece, which is more than double the price of a burger bought at a butcher. McDonalds in some locations in Israel is selling vegan burgers and for those observing dietary laws can for the first time order a cheeseburger from the famed fast-food chain. 

Redefine Meat from Israel says it is making the world’s first plant-based steak created using 3D printing technology. The Rehovot-based company said it will start testing the beef, which it calls Alt-Steak, at select high-end restaurants in Israel later this year.

Israelis are thrilled with the rollout of Beyond Meat and are clearly trying to take a bite out of this enviable market. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026, “the global meat substitute market size was valued at $4.1 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $8.1 billion by 2026.”

RilBite is ambitiously positioning itself as the basis for “The burger that saves the world.”

Founded by Barak Melamed and incubated in The Kitchen FoodTech Hub of the Strauss Group in Ashdod, RilBite is developing a “minced plant” product using only six ingredients: onions, tomatoes, textured vegetable protein (TVP) from soy, lentils, rice and spices.

There is Kinoko Tech developing a vegan protein with a meat-like texture and slight umami flavor. The secret ingredient is an edible mushroom tissue called mycelium.

FFW is creating a yeast-based meat alternative. Founder Leonardo Marcovitz says that yeast contains 50% protein and has all the essential amino acids. It’s cheap and easily available. But until now, no one has been able to create a textured product out of yeast or temper its strong umami flavor.

“For the past year, our food technologists have been working on solving those two challenges,” he says. “We’re deciding whether our first product will be in the form of pulled chicken, chicken nuggets or Bolognese.”

Taking on the humble chickpea, a staple of the Middle East diet: InnovoPro and ChickP have developed proprietary technologies for extracting neutral-tasting protein from chickpeas for use in the food industry. Although hummus everywhere unless it’s organic contains high amounts of cancer-causing Roundup. 

Sometimes, unless it’s my daughter begging to try a vegan bacon one day, I just have to hope: maybe we should just stop trying to create substitutes? The next generation of vegans won’t hunger for milk, cheese or anything that resembles meat if we educate them properly. Food grown simply from a garden and made into a homemade spread without a printer or complicated enzymes in a lab is really the healthiest and more sustainable way we can consumer our food. These foodtech companies may both help and hinder a meat-free transition. What do you think?

The post Vegan cheesemaker eyes IPO appeared first on Green Prophet.

We urge you to peruse the fruits of Amalia’s landmark investigation, but in the meantime, we’ve digested a fast scorecard of the cowsheds, goat farms and a buffalo farm she visited in her quest to find dairy that can be consumed with a clear conscience.

Amalia arranged her story so that the dairy industry’s worst offenders appear first.

In so doing, she is able to delineate exactly what makes this business so unnatural and so inhumane so that once you reach Neot Semadar, the kibbutz whose goats receive the best treatment of them all, you’re emotionally invested in their relative freedom.

Ronen Bar from Anonymous for Animal Rights told Amalia that “reducing the suffering of animals” takes precedence over protecting their right to live a pain-free, natural life, and she unveils to what extent each facility is willing to forego profits in order to prevent the suffering of sentient beings in their care.

We followed Amalia’s extraordinary journey from enormous commercial cow sheds to boutique goat farms and pulled out some of the main differences between each facility, as outlined by Amalia.

Kibbutz Sa’ad

Near Gaza, this cowshed is home to Harata, a cow named regret who has produced 18,208 liters of milk in her life.

This facility separates calves from their mothers immediately. They are fed colostrum the first day to build up their immunity, after which they are fed cow milk for one week and then milk powder.

Allowing the calf to drink their mother’s milk poses a hygiene risk, so the argument goes.

This kibbutz uses a freeze brand to mark each cow, and prevents the growth of horns with an ointment that would kill the animal if it reached the brain.

Each dairy cow starts producing calves when they are roughly two years old and typically give birth to four each, through artificial insemination controlled by ‘genetic improvement’ that optimizes milk production.

Cows are not put out to pasture. In fact, not a single cow in all of Israel, according to Amalie, is put out to pasture.

Rosenberk & Ashkenazi Goat Farm

Northwest of Safed, this goat farm has 2,000 milk goats that are kept in giant, overheated hangars.

Kids are separated from their mothers immediately, which is so distressing to the mothers that they cry. They go through this four or five times in their lifetime.

Horns are shorn off using a serrated knife and soldering iron, which puts the animals into ‘crisis mode’ for an hour. During this time they sit in a corner, where they reject food until they are able to recover from the trauma of this painful experience.

The billie goats, as well as the mothers that perform poorly, are usually sold to the local Druze community for goat meat.

Harduf

This Galilee kibbutz is an organic dairy farm, where each cow produces on average about 10,500 liters of milk each year.

They are not branded and they are allowed to keep their horns and this is the only cowshed that Amalia encountered that gives expecting mothers a break so that they can gather strength to give birth. Other cows are fed antibiotics at this time.

For now, babies are taken from their mothers and fed colostrum the first day, but then for the next 70 days they are fed mother’s milk instead of powdered milk. After that they receive hay and silage grown on the grounds of Harduf.

No chemicals or hormones are used at all.

Eventually this kibbutz, which is staffed by men and women undergoing some kind of rehabilitation, hopes to experiment with allowing the mother to feed their babies after giving birth. While this would have both health and psychological benefits, there is a chance that the separation of the calf from its mother after two weeks might be more traumatic.

These cows are not put out to pasture because it’s too “hot.”

Moshav Bitzaron

East of Ashdod, this buffalo farm is run by a very compassionate family.

The buffalos are harder to control than cows, and therefore have an easier time. They are neither branded nor dispossessed of their horns.

They live twice as long as cows but their birth experience is distressing. Buffalo cows will spend three days in a similar crisis mode after they give birth and their babies are taken away from them, which poses a danger because they need to stand up and express their milk so that their uterus can shrink.

Baby buffaloes will refuse artificial teats if they so much as catch a whiff of their mother’s teat, and the male calves are sold to a slaughterhouse within three days.

They are given mother’s milk for three days, following which they are fed with with powdered milk for two months.

Neot Semadar

We have espoused the greatness of this desert kibbutz on several occasions, but we didn’t realize they are also rock star goat farmers.

240 Milk goats, 60 young females and 10 billies are given plenty of open space in which to roam each morning during the milking process. Thereafter they are put to pasture for two hours.

Since it is hot in the desert, this depletes the goat’s energy and therefore its milk production, but it’s a loss the kibbutz is willing to accept just to hear mama goat bleat and have her kids come running.

Their horns are not shorn off.

Still, only one quarter of the goats that are born are able to stay at the farm. The rest are sold to the local Arabs or Bedouins for meat.

And that’s a wrap. Please read Amalia’s full story here for a deeply illuminating look at the inner workings of Israel’s dairy industry. This is a surprising tale of supply and demand, which puts the cruelty and suffering almost squarely on the consumer’s shoulders.

Image credit: Goat udder being milked, Shutterstock

The post A Scorecard: Who Milks Israel’s Animals Humanely? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Remember the good old days when it took decades to build major monuments? Historians estimate that 30 years passed before the back-breaking pyramids of Giza came to glory, for example, and more than a century after construction began in 1882, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is still not finished.

Although laborers might disagree, there’s something honest about the kind of construction that requires slow extraction, transportation and re-assembly of the earth’s materials – especially compared to our current obsession with erecting buildings as fast as possible. In China, a 15-story building was supposedly built in a record-breaking six days.

Fortunately, not all people are beguiled by speed. We recently visited the renowned Kibbutz Ne’ot Semadar and talked to one of its founders about their iconic, passively-cooled community arts center that took 15 long years to build. Step-by-step, a group of like-minded nature-lovers learned the skills necessary to construct a landmark, structurally-sound earth building in the heart of Israel’s Negev desert.

Our guide Dalit was one of the original six people who decided, 23 years ago, to close up shop in Jerusalem and build a sustainable, creative and conscious community in the middle of the desert. While such communities are increasingly common now, at the time this was a very bold move. And it wasn’t easy.

To begin with, the Israeli government wasn’t so keen on approving a building made of earth.

“At the time, adobe construction was not considered normal,” Dalit explained. “So we built the interior walls using earth and used concrete on the outside.”

Nobody knew how to build an earth building or grow food in the middle of nowhere, but the will to succeed was strong.

“It took two years just to learn how to build the floor,” said Dalit. While one can imagine that these were hard, hot and difficult years, our guide spoke wistfully about the spiritual benefits of this kind of cooperation.

“You learn how human beings an cooperate and you get to know your soul very deeply,” our guide told us. “At first we kept the glates closed, while we were still learning, but then we opened them to visitors. It’s very delicate here, so we had to prepare for them.”

Many of the members traveled far to learn about earth construction, including Egypt, and an engineer was brought in to ensure that the crafts center was strong.

In addition to 40 cm thick adobe walls that provide excellent insulation and trap heat in cold winters, the building has a unique pastel-colored mosaic cladding that features penguins, peacocks, and other tributes to the natural world, along with a 46 meter tall wind tower that naturally cools the entire center.

Despite the hot desert sun, the temperature inside the building was very comfortable.

Almost all of the materials used for the structure were gathered locally and slowly. Inside the gallery there are images depicting how the team built mud bricks by hand. Dalit called the process primitive, but we call it sustainable.

“We each put our energy into the building. But in the end the energy of the building is larger than the sum of our energies. It has become the energy that moves us forward.”

For more information about Ne’ot Semadar, please visit their website. Visits can be arranged in advance and the nearby cafe sells and serves locally-grown organic food that will warm your heart and soul. All images via Tafline Laylin for Green Prophet.

The post It Took 15 Years to Build This and That’s a Good Thing appeared first on Green Prophet.

Once no more than a ramshackle caravan, a pitstop between the developed north and the country’s dry southern expanse, Pundak Neot Semadar has since evolved into a charming all-organic restaurant that also sells jam, soap, dates and other goods produced at the nearby kibbutz. 

Respected for its commitment to community and ecology, Neot Semadar is particularly famous for its spectacular earth architecture.

When it was first established in 1989, the kibbutz was accused of cultish behavior because a self-proclaimed “guru” used to live there. However, among the women who run the restaurant, Yosef Safra is remembered more fondly as a “charismatic man” than any kind of spiritual leader.

The post Pundak Neot Semadar – An Improbable Organic Oasis in the Arava Desert appeared first on Green Prophet.

Last week Kibbutz Naan sold 50 percent of its stake in the irrigation technology company NaanDanJain Irrigation Ltd. to its Indian business partner, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. Representatives from both groups met in Tel Aviv for the Agritech 2012 Conference and Exhibition in Israel. The joint company currently employs 120 workers at Kibbutz Naan. Jain director, Amnon Ofen, said that the company’s operations in Israel would “not be effected” by the transfer. The deal has an estimated value of around $35 million USD.

This move comes as part of a larger movement to bolster relations, particularly in agricultural and environmental fields, between Israel and India.

After the success of the 2008-2010 agriculture support plan, both nations decided to embark on a multifaceted agreement that would include the exchange of expert agricultural training, farm materials, and 20 joint agriculture and water-related projects, with $25 million contributed from each nation.

Israeli innovators developed a green toilet for slum dwellers in 2011, and have more recently been involved with an effort to clean the heavily polluted Ganges river, considered holy by many Indian faiths.

Over 2,000 Indian farmers came to Israel for the 2012 Agritech convention to learn and swap expertise. In September, Israel Export Institute and many other contributors plan to reciprocate by hosting a cooperative Agritech Israel convention in Gandhinagar, India.

::NaanDanJain

The post NaanDanJain’s Irrigation Technology Strengthens Ties Between India and Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

VIP barbecue by the pool. Champagne. Red carpets. Internationally recognized musicians. No, it wasn’t a glitzy awards show, just the launch of Kibbutz Ketura’s solar field, the first of its kind in Israel. It marked a turning point for renewable energy in Israel.

We all know that Israelis love to boast how green their country is–after all, they say, every home has a solar panel on its roof! “We heat all our water with the sun!” they cry earnestly. However, in most other environmental areas, Israel has been lagging behind other countries. Indeed, it took Arava Power Company roughly five years to make their dream of a solar field a reality.

Yossi Abramowitz, co-founder of APC, recalls that he was shuttled between twenty-four different government offices before getting the necessary permits to open a solar field.

Cutting the ribbon includes and is not limited to (left to right) Yossi Abramowitz, Dr. Einat Wilf, Dr. Wolfgang Bischoff, MK Orit Noked, Udi Gat, Dr. Uzi Laundau, Ed Hoffland, and David Rosenblatt

The launch itself was an incredibly festive event, including tours of the kibbutz, champagne, international rapper Shyne, and fireworks. Our day started in the early afternoon, when nothing much was really going on. There were schoolchildren visiting the kibbutz, students from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies handing out hats to visitors, and a red carpet covering the dusty desert ground.

We were given a tour and shown some of the other innovative ventures that Kibbutz Ketura is involved in, including a small-scale algae farm, and according to kibbutzniks, the best coffee and cheesecake in Israel.

David Rosenblatt, Yossi Abramowitz and Ed Hoffland addressing the crowd.

The most unique thing, to me, was the familial atmosphere of the launch. Everyone was happy and excited to be there. You could tell that these weren’t businesspeople out to make some money–they were there in hopes of making the world a better place.

And indeed, there was a large emphasis on “tikkun olam,” the Jewish concept of fixing the world. “This is the worlds first solar field with a neshama (soul),” said co-founder of APC David Rosenblatt. One such example is the tithing of the solar field.

According to the traditional Jewish law of “pe’ah“, the owners of a field must leave the four corners of his field unharvested so that the poor may take from his field.

Similarly, the corners of Ketura Sun’s solar field have been dedicated to four different non-profit organizations, who will, over the next twenty years, benefit from the funds earned by each corner. The organizations are Jewish Heart for Africa, Bustan, the Elie Weisel Foundation for Humanity, and the Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center. Aside from that, Ketura Sun is committed to working with the local Bedouin communities, who hope to build the next solar field on their land.

Every good party needs a scandal, however, and this one was certainly no different. Rumors of SBY Solar blocking the event were flying, however, they weren’t taken all too seriously. “It’s a shame,” said Yossi Abramowitz, co-founder of APC.

“There’s doing business in good faith, and then there isn’t,” said an APC rep. Neither seemed to perturbed by the allegations, and were content to enjoy the days events, which culminated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony where Dr. Uzi Landau, minister of National Infrastructure, Dr. Wolfgang Bischoff, CEO of Seimens International, and singer David Broza, among many others, addressed the crowd with words and songs of goodwill.

The final event of the evening? International hip-hop artist Shyne performing his new single, “Solar Energy.”

Shyne’s performance.

The post Here Comes the Arava Sun at Kibbutz Ketura appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Kibbutz Movement celebrated its centenary in 2010, but the last decades of the 20th Century were not kind to Israel’s collective settlements. The shift in Israel’s economy, politics and society beginning in the late 70s stripped the kibbutzim of their status and pioneering role, and brought harsh economic realities to their doorsteps. Being the pioneer elite for Zionism was no longer enough; kibbutzim were now required to pay their own way as well.

The patient has now stabilised, but in many cases this has meant kibbutzim having to abandon their socialist ideals and privatise their internal economies. While kibbutzim still offer an attractive lifestyle, based on their bucolic setting and community orientation, they have not managed to regain their sense of mission and purpose and leadership role in Israeli society. They are moving into the business of clean tech, Bloomberg reports.

There are signs, however, that the cleantech sector could become the engine that drives a revival, both of the kibbutz economy and of its status within Israeli society and the Green movement globally. The cleantech sector offers the benefits of profitability plus altruism, dividends plus saving the planet (or at least making parts of it a better place to live or work).

While the allure of socialism has waned, the kibbutz itself still has much to offer. If kibbutzim are to survive and thrive, though, the movement needs a new sense of purpose, a new vision and new markets. Cleantech may well provide those ingredients.

“The partnership works well for both sides,” said Eliezer Tokman, chief executive officer of Siemens Israel in the Bloomberg report. “The guys at Arava are the entrepreneurs. They initiate projects and deal with regulation, and we design, build and maintain the projects.”

See video on Arava Power’s Yosef I. Abramowitz below:

Think this may be stretching things a bit? Have a look at this list of familiar Israeli cleantech enterprises, all featured on Green Prophet. As well as Israel and cleantech, they all have something else in common; a healthy kibbutz upbringing!

• Amiad
• Arad Group
• Arava Power
• Bio-Bee
• Car2go
• Chromagen
• Netafim
• Sunday Energy

::Israel’s Kibbutz Collectives Find New Purpose in Green Ventures – Bloomberg

Further reading on Israeli kibbutzim:
5 Must-See Green & Tech Travel Stops at Israeli Kibbutzes
Israel’s cleantech kibbutzim pioneers

Image credit: Uriel Sinai/Bloomberg Businessweek

The post Israel's Kibbutzim: Renewal through Cleantech? appeared first on Green Prophet.