Revivim is a kibbutz.
What is that exactly? A commune where most of the property is shared. Kibbutzim used to be different; in some, absolutely everything was communal, even clothes from a shared pile.
The population of kibbutzim nowadays makes up only 2% of the country's population, but their influence is huge: many command positions in the army and political posts are held by people from kibbutzim.
We had an hour left until sunset, and Mike gave me a quick tour, but he managed to cover all the essentials.
The citizens of the kibbutz number about 400 people, the hired workers – about 300. In the kibbutz, a plastic parts factory smokes and hums, a factory with many partners around the world. Parts produced by the industrial group “Reviv” are in 20% of the world's cars. There are a lot of immigrants from the ex-USSR at the factory, because they have a good technical education.
On the exit door from the shop floor hangs a sign exclusively in Russian: “THE UNIT IS WORKING. Close the door, f@@@k”!
The kibbutz's dairy farm produces the most milk in Israel, it's equipped with ultra-modern milking machines, shit-scrapers, and other marvels, so that just a few people can run it.
According to Mike, the cows are of exceptional breeds, a single cow yields more milk in a day than five cows from his home village.
The kibbutz grows olive trees using slightly salty water, a fault line with which runs through all of Israel at a depth of 700 meters (understandably, there is a well). To use the water for other plants, it has to be desalinated, but for olives it's fine as is (or with minimal intervention). The oil they press here has repeatedly won prizes at exhibitions.
The chicken farm has just gone into operation, but will produce several million eggs a year, it was manufactured in New Zealand, the equipment is state-of-the-art, there's nothing like it anywhere else yet.
Sunset
The horses, understandably, are for recreation, not for work
When we saw kids learning to ride horses, the conversation with Mike turned to the standard and quality of life. These are different things; in Mike's understanding (which is close to mine) standard of life is more about the level of luxury, the quantity and quality of objects and property you use and own. While quality of life is the benefit and joy that your surrounding reality brings you, and you don't necessarily have to own anything for that. Quality of life depends on your health, good relationships with those around you, environmental conditions, and other things that are arranged much better in a kibbutz than in a megalopolis.
For example, the settlement has a dining hall, a community center, a museum, a cactus garden, a post office with free postcards, a kindergarten, lots of greenery, fruit orchards, and other cool perks. People don't have private houses or cars, a house is allocated to you, and the kibbutz's cars are communal; if you want to go somewhere, you can rent one.
People live in a tight-knit, cohesive community – no one is forgotten, everyone will receive help and socializing.
Of course, you are also allocated a monetary allowance, but it doesn't really depend on how much money you bring to the kibbutz, meaning even if you're a super-expert genius, you'll have as much money as everyone else. However, they seem to dish out enough dough, since Mike has two very high-quality bikes, and he recently returned from a cycling trip across North America.
At Mike's place it is very beautiful and tidy, on the ceiling of the kids' room – stars made of glow-in-the-dark plastic
Their own garden with grapefruits, mandarins, avocados, and a million other plants
There are pomegranates too
The cheeses, naturally, are from the local farm
If you have enough enthusiasm, you can launch your own product line
Mike was a farmer, then they needed managers, so he had to become one
The boss lifestyle didn't do Mike any favors – he started smoking, drinking more, as a result of which, already at a mature age, he caught a heart attack. This started his passion for running, and later for cycling. Now he is known around the area as the “most kilometers in a day” guy.
Mike and Yael raised four kids
One of the kids is an architect, decorated the clock like this
A huge cactus park made by one person as a hobby
He also bends trees
The remains of the first kibbutz
The next morning we visited a museum dedicated to the emergence of the kibbutz. In short, its story goes like this.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Jewish immigrants from different countries around the world were infected with Marxist ideas of social equality, or as we'd say now, egalitarianism. All this was non-religious in nature; there are still few kibbutzim for the Orthodox today.
Settlements in the Negev desert were forbidden, except for experimental farms, under the guise of which Revivim was founded, which, by the way, means “Dews”. When a UN commission arrived in Revivim, they were amazed by the blooming garden they discovered there. With a minimum amount of financial resources and huge water problems, fruit groves and flowerbeds were created – the labor of the pioneers on this harsh land is hard to overestimate. This played a big role in the fact that when the independent state was formed in 1948, the Negev desert (making up a third of the country's area) was also given to Israel.
The pioneers fought not only against nature, but also against the Egyptian army, which tried to wipe them off the face of the earth; the original barbed wire is still visible in the photo. The struggle, as one might guess, was crowned with success. Supplies during the war, by the way, were delivered only by airplane.
The museum has a cinema where they show a film about the history of the kibbutz, there's a Russian translation in the subtitles
Mike joked that the film is propaganda, but so convincing that he bought into it himself, having come here 40 years ago from South Africa, first as a volunteer in the army; then he stayed as a farmer.
Legend or truth, but they say this is the very same flowerbed that impressed the UN commission
The pioneers lived in a cave, now there's an exhibition here, but in winter the floor is too slippery because of the floods
The ant is huge, probably three centimeters in diameter, if not four
In Revivim they make their own wine and grape vodka, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn't take any with me – it's heavy to carry, and the chance of breaking it is too high. I also really remember the herbal tea: made from sage, lemon sorghum (lemongrass) and other plants; Mike gathers them in the desert himself.
At the museum I wanted to buy a postcard, but as Mike's guest, they gave it to me for free. In general, the reception I received from Mike, Yael, and other residents of the kibbutz was as warm as humanly possible. Mike's stories about his life, the structure of the kibbutz, his wisdom, experience, and knowledge about cycling routes were absolutely invaluable. You couldn't buy a “tour” like this for any money, everything here is based on trust, mutual aid, and faith in the better sides of human nature.
I feel that the kibbutz lifestyle is right up my alley; I've never strived to possess a ton of money or luxury items, and my views are quite economically leftist. The idea that an individual's needs are not that great, and everyone should live in relative equality, has always appealed to me. Here this dream was realized, but it turned out that young Israelis are no longer so inspired by it: the population of kibbutzim is slowly but surely shrinking. It seems that the American dream of endless consumption thanks to globalization has finally completely taken over the minds of our planet's inhabitants.