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fttfcy. An,. 10, IW1
Decline In Kibbutz Members Creating
Danger To Agricultural Communities
By Eliahu Salpeter
For generations of Zionist
pioneers, the return to the land
was both the ideal and the real
ization of their dream of life in
Palestine. It meant the rehabil
itation of the Jewish people
twisted by centuries of discrim
inatory social existence and of
the Jewish individual whose
body and soul were believed to
have been crippled by ghetto —
or at least urban — life. Tilling
the soil was the great healing
process of Jewish national re
habilitation.
The idea — and the ideal —
still prevails to a large extent,
though the percentage of Jews
living on the land in Israel is
growing smaller and smaller
with the constant expansion of
towns and cities. Bv now, only
about 11 percent of Israel’s
Jews live in agricultural com
munities and 89 percent live in
towns, cities and urban areas.
Only the traditional-type of
halutz immigrants go to kibbut
zim or moshavim; most of the
newcomers want to live in
urban communities.
Now, however, there is a dan
ger that even existing agricul-
t u r a 1 communities will lose
some, or even much of their
population. Israeli villages face
It is a long way from Atlanta,
Georgia, to Ashdod, Israel, but
Rick Blue has made the trans
ition with startling success.
Rick is spending the year in
Israel on the Sherut La’am—
Service to the People—College
Graduate Volunteer Work Pro
gram. - - —
"In the eyes of the people,
I am not a tourist or new im
migrant from the absorption
center, but a person who lives
and works in the community.
Sherut La’am have given me a
chance to be placed in a setting
or milieu like that of the citi
zens of Israel.’’
Rick received his BA in
psychology from the University
of North Carolina and in 1970
he got a master’s degree in re
habilitation counseling from
Georgia State University. He
explains that he has been “peo
ple oriented” since early child
hood, that he found social serv
ice a rewarding field, but that
there was still something miss
ing. “Just helping people is not
enough," he maintains. “I want
something that can provide the
personal satisfaction of commit
ment and I believe that work
ing in Israel will help me find
that commitment.”
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the threat of flight of farmers
because of the constant drop in
agricultural incomes. The warn
ing was sounded by Agriculture
Minister Haim Gvati when he
presented his Ministry’s annual
budget to the Knesset.
While incomes in all other
sectors of the economy .in
creased steadily in recent years,
farmers’ incomes were going
down. In 1970 average agricul
tural income was down to an
all-time low of 69 percent of
non-agricultural income that ex
isted four years ago
The volume of farm produc
tion had, in fact, risen by 7.7
percent last year. But prices of
produce dropped by 2.2 percent
on the average. This intensified
the impact of soaring production
costs. Fuel, materials and ma
chinery went up; but the main
increase was in two items:
wages to farm laborers—up to
11 percent, and cost of credits
—up more than 10 percent.
Citrus production, one of the
mainstays of Israeli farming
and its traditional number one
agricultural export item, fared
worst in this process, Mr. Gvati
said. The glut of oranges (but
not grapefruits) on European
markets last year created a
severe cut in citrus earnings.
This, despite an overall 78,000
Rick, whose parents are Dr.
and Mrs. Irving Blumenthal of
Atlanta, lived all his life in
the South. He had assimilated
into a culture that was com
pletely void of Jewishness. “I
could have lived my whole life
in this manner, but Israel has
brought a new eonpeiousneea to
me. The whole experience has
made me much more aware of
my Jewishness.”
Upon arrival in Israel, Sherut
La’am volunteers participate in
a three month ulpan (intensive
Hebrew course). “As I knew
absolutely no Hebrew before
coming to Israel, the ulpan was
a necessary and rewarding ex
perience for me. Not only were
all our needss taken care of,
but we were taken on trips,
given the chance to attend lec
tures and were even given
spending money. I would def
initely say that my Hebrew is
sufficient, especially since I now
have the opportunity to study
four days a week in Ashdod.”
In Ashdod, Israel’s second
largest port and a development
town inhabited mainly by Jews
from North Africa who are
facing problems integrating into
a modern technological Society,
Rick is doing social work for
the Welfare Department. “To be
honejt, I had no idea of what
to expect. I didn’t realize that
I would be exposed to so many
varied experiences—so natural
ly I was and am very pleased.
Naturally, I cannot function in
the same capacity that I did in
America because of the language
barrier, but as the Israelis say
‘slowly, slowly’. And even now,
I can certainly say that the
work is definitely rewarding.”
ton increase in crops. Conse
quently, farmers’ incomes from
citrus orchards fell drastically.
For example, on the “shamuti”
brand of oranges, net income
fell from $61 to $48 per dunam.
Still, because of hopes for bet
ter prices in Europe in the fu
ture, and for more efficient cul
tivation on harvesting methods,
plans call for a 20 percent ex
pansion of citrus production in
the next five years. But these
plans are not accepted without
some worry and hesitation by
many citrus growers There are
repeated warnings in the trade
press not to misread the diffi
culties that momentarily hit
some competing citrus indus
tries, for example, in Spain. Ef
forts to reorganize Israel’s Eur
opean citrus marketing network*
that have been going on for
the past three years, have not
yet produced fully satisfactory
results.
Another problem that needs
solution is the shortage of cit
rus pickers. The current crop,
which promises to be one of
the biggest would be in great
difficulty without the employ
ment of seasonal workers from
Arab territories. Of the 22,000
pickers, men and women, em
ployed this year, over 7,000 are
Arabs from the Administered
territories. Most of the others, of
course, are also seasonal work
ers on a year-round basis.
Under existing agricultural
development plans, other
branches of farming should ex
pand much more than citrus
production. The overall increase
of agricult ural production
should be 35 percent in the next
five years. Moat of this should
be achieved by more intensive
cultivation and better yielding
crops.. There should be no sub
stantial increase of cultivable
land areas. The amount of water
used for irrigation should go up
\>y only about one percent,
asitr
while farm manpower should
increase by about 22 by
1975.
All this should be achieved
by huge investments in more
efficient cultivation methods
and by the development of new
irrigation systetas.
Copyright 1971, JTA ^
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Atlantan ‘Rick’ Blue Works
With Youngsters in Ashdod