Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'Emek

Recently my family and I spent a few days at kibbutz Mishmar Ha'Emek. The kibbutz has 1,000 residents.  Every member contributes in the decision making to run the kibbutz through voting during meetings. The kibbutz members all rely on each other to work.

The members in the kibbutz might work in the cafeteria, the factory, or the dairy farm, but they don’t receive income. The money made by the industries is put straight into the kibbutz account. The kibbutz gives you a home to live in and serves three free meals a day from the cafeteria. Everybody receives a monthly allowance from the kibbutz. How much money you receive depends on how many people are in your family and other things.

The kibbutz offers chicken eggs from their hatchery, milk from their cows, cotton, and plastic from their factory. My family actually witnessed a calf being born! That was amazing but a little disgusting.. You get at least one job to work when you reach 6^th grade as well as going to school, and the jobs get progressively harder until you reach adult age.

While in the kibbutz I learned how to juggle, with my brother, which made me very proud. We also saw a unique puppeteer perform and enjoyed several other activities in the kibbutz. Overall, I think staying in the kibbutz was a good experience and was lots of fun. In daily life most people live very independently but in the kibbutz you can make a lot of close friends and it’s easy to be entertained.