What is a kibbutz
Maybe you know the word kibbutz or have you at least heard it once? Kibbutz is Hebrew and means “community” or “assembly”. In a kibbutz many people live together like in a family. So they live together, eat together and also work together. These kibbutzim, that is the majority of kibbutz, only exist in Israel and nowhere else in the world.
Everything belongs to everyone in a kibbutz. So there is no such thing as private property. Everyone has to work and everyone is entitled to the profit. In return, the kibbutz ensures that all residents are taken care of. The children were also brought up together in the past. The first kibbutzim are more than 100 years old. But now the number is decreasing. Today there are arguably fewer than 250 kibbutzim in Israel. The rules are no longer as strict as they used to be. But the basic idea of a community is still there.
What is kosher
The food law of the Jews is called Kashruth and explains exactly which animals are to be eaten, how and with what. It is only allowed to eat what is kosher, i.e. what is allowed for consumption.
For example, it says: “You shouldn’t cook the kid in its mother’s milk”. But what does that mean? A strict separation between milk and meat products was derived from this regulation. Schnitzel with cream sauce or a milk coffee are therefore excluded. That would be unkosher. You can only drink or eat milk or dairy products again six hours after eating meat. Even the dishes have to be separated. Pork is also generally prohibited. Many Jews adhere to the dietary laws, others are not so strict.
Kosher gummy bears?
If you want to eat kosher, you must also eat kosher gummy bears. Because usually gummy bears are made with gelatin, which can also come from pigs. Kosher gummy bears are then made with fish gelatine, for example. By the way, there are now gummy bears that completely dispense with animal ingredients.
Why do Palestinian children throw stones?
Parts of Israel where the Palestinians live have been occupied by Israel for more than 40 years and are guarded by Israeli soldiers. So it happens that Palestinian children see the Israeli soldiers as a threat. Children throw stones at the soldiers and abuse them. Often they are supported by the adults. So it happens that Israeli soldiers point their weapons at children too. What began as a game then becomes bitterly serious. But the soldiers are also afraid. Often enough, children are now being abused as explosives bombers. Nobody can be sure that a child will not become a murderer.
Are the Children a Hope for Israel and Palestine?
All over the world and wherever there is conflict, adults hope that the children will one day do better. But in Israel it is becoming more and more difficult for many people to look to the future with hope. Almost all Palestinians, like most Israelis, want peace. But those who live in the Gaza Strip, for example, have felt threatened by the war over and over again for the last ten years of their life. Many families have lost their livelihood. So it is not easy to convey to the children that the Israelis are not their enemies. But do friends shoot children with rockets?
And for the Israeli children, who fear suicide bombers or a rocket fire by Hamas on their way to school, it is not easy to understand that only a small fraction of the Palestinians are capable of such acts. That not all are their enemies. Do friends shoot children with rockets?
There are many different attitudes. Some believe that the Israelis are only defending themselves and are right. Others see a difference between the Hamas terrorist attacks and the Israelis’ ultimate state-ordered attacks on Palestinians, in which completely innocent people – including many children – die.
Lands of contrasts
Distrust on both sides
Life between Jewish and Arab Israelis is usually strictly separated. They live in different neighborhoods, shop in different shops and their children attend strictly separate schools. Many people on both sides don’t want it any other way or they don’t know it any other way. Sometimes they also work against efforts to bridge the rifts between population groups.
Nevertheless, there are always efforts on both sides to build bridges between people, to get to know each other and thus to break down prejudices. But this is difficult in a country where one side mistrusts the other as much as Israel does.
The same is often not the same
As a country located in Middle East according to relationshipsplus, the country is divided by the great differences between the Jewish and the Arab population. If you lived as an Arab in Israel, your life expectancy would be five years less than that of the Jewish population. But why is that? Don’t the people live in the same country?
Yes and no. They live in the same country and may have the same passport, but their lives are very different. The health care of the Arab Israelis is much worse than that of the Jewish one. Child mortality is even twice as high. So more Arab children are dying. The schooling of the Arab Israelis is also worse than that of the Jewish. Exceptions are the schools where both groups are taught together.
Israel is a member of OECD countries and has the highest child poverty rate within these countries. What is true of the adults continues with the children. The poorest children are the Arab children and the children of the ultra- Orthodox Jews. These are the Jews who interpret the rules of faith very strictly and live by them. Many children are affected by poverty.
