Kibbutzim are mainly agricultural/light industrial communities. Yes, they are more ‘socialist’ than most Americans can stomach, but a lot of other countries around the world don’t have such a negative view of small-scale socialism (as opposed to Totalitarian States) as the US does.
They work well, because they are small and if you really don’t take to the life (many don’t) you aren’t forced to stay.
Amazingly, much of the fruit and vegetables sold in Europe – especially in winter – come straight from kibbutzim, and thier more capitalistic sisters, moshavim.
Most people live on a kibbutz because they like the lifestyle – work hours normally don’t stretch much beyond 8 hours a day, and if you’re a member (rather than a volunteer like I was) you normally find a job that you enjoy and stay at for years.
In return – housing, food clothing, job security, a sense of community.
Its not the life for everyone – many youngsters leave to go and work/live in cities – but a surprising number of them return once they have families and want a quieter life.
If you define your life by how much money you have, or how big your ‘toys’ are, then kibbutz living would be anathema. Still, more ‘other directed’ people like the emphasis on commonality and working for the greater good of all.
As for ‘open’ marriages…I couldn’t tell you, though my gut feeling is that its no more common than it is anywere else.
Common rearing of children? Yes, kids are sent to school (on the kibbutz, taught by teachers who are kibbutz members) and when they get older (teenage) they will go and live in single-sex dormitores.
But, as they all live in the same place, the whole family will sit down together for meals in the Dining Hall, or around the parents table. Most of them get to see more of thier parents than many American kids with two working parents do. Plus, any kind of emergency, one or both parents can be with thier kids within minutes.
Its been a long time since I was on a kibbutz, so I don’t even know if the older kids still live away from the parents anymore.
When I was there, most of the kids really liked having the experience of living away from home (what teenager wouldn’t?), and were comforted by the fact that their parents were never more than 1/2 mile away.
Add into that the rural setting, the sense of knowing each and every person on the kibbutz, a sense of value and personal repsonsibilty towards yourself and others, and you have a pretty good place to grow up.
Having said that, I think anybody sending their kids over to Israel at the moment is insane. My old Kibbutz is 1.5 miles south of the Lebanese border, was busy evacuating everybody they could to all points south, last I heard.
