From December 6th to December 17, my kvutza, along with the Brits, was split up into three groups. Each of us was asked to choose from three activities: a tiyul in the Negev, Binah (study at a secular Yeshiva in Tel Aviv), and working on the mata'im (plantations) at Kibbutz Ravid. I chose the last option. Thirteen of us arrived on Ravid on Saturday night, the sixth. Itamar, a man in his early thirties and actively involved in Hanoar Ha'Oved, gave us a tour of the kibbutz and then told us to go to bed because we would be expected to be ready the next morning by 6:15.
We awoke Sunday morning at 5:45, grabbed a small bowl of cereal, packed a hearty breakfast, and met Itamar outside to get a ride to the mango mata'im. Upon arrival we were given a short tutorial on how to chop and prune the mango trees so that they would provide a plentiful harvest next summer. Our first task was to make a "door" so that we could enter the tree. This usually involved sawing off one large branch at about chest height. Then, we were to climb up into the tree and make "windows". To do this we would look at the bushing around the tree and if no sunlight reached the center of the tree we would take off a couple branches. The final step was to climb down out of the tree and go around it, sawing off branches that were too close to the ground and using clippers to get rid of any "porcupines" (branches from which more than three or four other branches split off) and heavily bushy areas.
We had three madrichim in the mata'im: Itamar, Ret, and Choul. Ret and Choul were Sudanese refugees. About seven years ago, they had fled Sudan and traveled through Egypt into Israel. However, as soon as they entered Israel, they were put in a detainment center in southern Israel. Luckily, Ret and Choul were still minors at the time (fourteen and sixteen) and so Hanoar Ha'Oved (our sister youth movement) was able to gain custody over them and brought them to live on Kibbutz Ravid (a movement owned kibbutz by the Kinneret) with a couple of families living on the kibbutz. The Israeli government, however, has not given Ret and Choul citizenship nor refugee status which means that if they leave Kibbutz Ravid and travel to Tel Aviv, for example, they risk being arrested and detained yet again.
Anyway, for the entire week we worked in the mango mata'im. Our goal each day was to cut approximately twenty trees. The last three days that we worked in the mata'im were different though. We were given the opportunity to harvest the clementina (clementines) instead of pruning and cutting the mango trees. This avodah (work) required quite different work. Instead of climbing the trees, we were instructed to pick three baskets of large, very orange, ripe fruit from each tree, and then pick all the fruit on the tree that was below our knees. Our goal for each day was to pick three dolavs (huge crates) for every three people. Each day, no matter whether we were working in the mango or clementina mata'im, at about 9:30 am, we would break for our breakfast and enjoy the company of each other and our madrichim. By 10, we were back at work until 1 or 2 pm. The hardest time of the day was during the 11 am to 12 pm time period. We had already been working for hours and if was very difficult to keep ourselves motivated at this time. During the first half of the day before breakfast, I usually was quiet and used the time for personal reflection, whereas by 11 am, I needed to be interacting with someone. I learned quite a few new songs and I had some very interesting conversations with my fellow workers about life.
After we finished in the fields for the day, three people would make lunch (based on rotation) and then we would just hangout with each other or nap for a couple of hours. Everyone got really into playing Set and Resistance while we were there. Following nap time, we usually had a peulah. We talked heavily about labor Zionism and read many texts from early labor Zionists. The one I found most fascinating was a woman recounting the discrimination she faced working the land because of her womanhood. She explained how she felt like she constantly had to prove herself to the men. A partner and I discussed the reading and asked ourselves if we felt that we had ever experienced discrimination based on our gender within Habonim settings, and, unfortunately, we both had at some points. We spoke about ideas we had to lessen the discrimination and most of our thoughts came back to education. We still have a lot of thoughts on the topic that we need to work out, but I hope to engage with these thoughts more in the near future.
On one of the days, Phia ran a peulah for us on blessings and thankfulness. We read an English translation of a poem by an early labor Zionist, Chaim Nachman Bialik. The poem follows:
Who saves us from hunger? Who gives us bread? And who gives us milk?
Whom do we thank?
Whom do we bless?
Work and skill!
Who covers us in the cold? Who turns the dark to light? Who hauls water from the well?
Whom do we thank?
Whom do we bless?
Work and skill!
Who plants trees for fruit and shad in the orchard, with a spade? Who sows grain across the fields?
Whom do we thank?
Whom do we bless?
Work and skill!
Who builds a roof to keep us dry, fences the garden and the vine? Who takes the trouble, every time for the Sabbath and festive days?
Whom do we thank?
Whom do we bless?
Work and skill!
And all week long we work, and so we toil. The yoke is hard, the yoke is sweet! And when we stop, we sing out loud
Songs of thanks
Songs of praise
To work and skill!
The first stanza of this poem is said (in Hebrew) before every meal at Tavor and has become a very meaningful blessing to me and my life. One aspect about this poem that I really appreciate is the fact that it can be interpreted that the whole human race comes together to be a "we". "We work" and "we toil", and so we thank each other and ourselves.
Although I struggled (and am still struggling) with questions about the use of pesticides in the mata'im and the significance of labor Zionism in regard to Israel today, all in all my time spent on Ravid has been a very special part of my Workshop experience thus far.
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