In this episode, Unpacked Explainers explores one of the founding elements of Israeli society — the kibbutz. Founded in the early 20th century, these collective settlements helped shape the country’s identity.
Based on the idea that everything — from food to children — should be shared, the young immigrants who set up the first kibbutzim threw out the old European way of living and sought to create a system of complete equality.
But why were the kibbutzim founded, how did they work (did they work?) and what is left (if anything) of these communal utopias?