After almost a century in existence, the oldest kibbutz in Israel has given in to the pressures of the modern age and decided to privatize. Degania Aleph is a kuvtza (a small kibbutz) southeast of Lake Kinneret where the Sea of Galilee meets the river Jordan. The decision to privatize will not completely undo the community’s way of life. Measures are in place that will guarantee equitable standards of living for all workers, who will begin to earn private incomes for the first time in the community’s history.

Salaried employees. Degania has been a symbol of Zionism and home to poets and ideologues—it is the last Israeli kibbutz to begin privatization. The first child born in Degania was Israeli general and ex-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. The vote to privatize was taken last Saturday following a test period, during which workers received salaries for the first time. Before that, salaries of all 320 workers in the kibbutz would be deposited into a communal account in exchange for free services and stipends based on individual need and number of family members. Now workers will be compensated according to the type of work they do and they will be allowed to keep the money they earn. In return, they will be responsible for paying utilities like water and electricity, as well as local taxes, which will be calculated by income. The new law will allow for salary grades that may vary by up to 85% and privately owned apartments to be parceled out among workers. The “renewed kibbutz,” as these privatized entities are known, will maintain a system of social security that guarantees a reasonable quality of life even for the lowest wage-earners. Representatives for the kibbutz are eager to point out that the decision to privatize was taken from a position of economic and social solidarity, not necessity.

Nostalgia for the past. The overwhelming majority of community members voted for privatization, but it wasn’t an easy decision. “I feel a little sad in some ways,” explains Allan Shapiro, a retired law professor who has lived in Degania for 50 years. “I am a bit nostalgic for the traditional kibbutz. But what really counts is that there are Jews working the land with their own hands and that if they ever need anything, they will need it as a collective.” There are approximately 260 kibbutzim in Israel, two-thirds of which have been experimenting with similar forms of privatization in recent years in an effort to preserve a communal lifestyle while facing the changes of the modern market economy. “Degania has been a model for the social values of the Israeli kibbutz movement,” explains Shai Shoshani, head of the administrative committee. “It’s very important for us to show respect for those who have worked their entire lives and given their all to create this amazing community. But at the same time, we want there to be good opportunities for the young people who live here and for the next generation. We’re certain that the quality of life here after privatization will prove to be a worthy outcome for all those who worked so hard over the years for this place.” At present, approximately 117 thousand Israelis live in kibbutzim, but in recent years it has become increasingly common for residents to work outside the collectives, which have seen an exponential increase in workers hired from outside, often foreigners coming from abroad, many from southeast Asia.