Post: #1

Hey guys,

Ive gotten a lot of good info from here since I joined so wanted to make a contribution about a topic I haven't seen on here: volunteering on a Kibbutz in Israel.

Kibbutz Life in Israel.

A kibbutz is basically a small, self sustaining community in Israel with a population of about 400 people give or take. There are many Kibbutzim in Israel (40+?) It is self-sustaining in that each Kibbutz has its own source of income ; whether it is a factory, winery, cow farm, or a combination of many other things ; everybody who lives on the Kibbutz works to produce a product which is sold to fund life on the community. However, Kibbutzim are also a cornerstone of life in the state of Israel so they are heavily subsidized by the government.

Kibbutz constantly accept, and take care of, a number of volunteers.

Now, every Kibbutz has a number of different types of people living there:

There are the Kibbutz natives, basically Israelis who live on the Kibbutz - it is their home, their children go to school there, and their homes are there. They often have the higher end positions at the Kibbutz facilities such as management, or scientist, run the factories, etc...

There are Israeli soldiers ; In Israel you can serve (dont quote me) 2 years in the military as a soldier, or you can do a program where you serve 1.5 years as a soldier and 1.5 as a volunteer on the Kibbutz. Kibbutzim are very chill so there are a lot of soldiers enjoying the life here - service in Israel is mandatory for men as well as women, so its basically a bunch of 18-21 year old kids who want to mess around, have fun, and unwind from the stressful military life.

There are volunteers ; These are people who receive a 6 month visa from the State of Israel (easily renewable) to work on the kibbutz as a volunteer. Kibbutzim take about 5-30 volunteers depending on the size of the kibbutz and the availability of work. This is who you would be. You will be compensated about $100 per month and provided with a room, food, friends, and amazing experiences.

Refugees - Some Kibbutzim have random refugees who have been accepted by the state of Israel and are now living there and work with you. (a lot from Africa)

Work on the Kibbutz

Like I mentioned, each Kibbutz has different kinds of work. The most standard work is usually factory work - for instance I worked in a factory where we manufactured screws. It was extremely boring but dull and easy - I usually listened to music while working and would bring a book to read for the long stretches of time when the machines would break down.

Some examples of work on the kibbutz: Working in the kitchen (helping the cook, working at a zoo, on a winery, construction work, kettle, farm work, garden work... & pretty much any other kind of menial work that you can imagine)

The hours - You will work 6 days a week, 8 hours a day. The hours can be irregular - there would be times when I had to be at the factory at 4am, and other times where I would start at 12am. You will generally fall into some kind of work shift after you live there for a period of time. Sundays are off.

If you absolutely hate your job it is ok to request a transfer to another type of work, but it may be frowned upon if you continually try to do this - you are there to help, and you will need to work. Although the work is hard work, you will often be working side by side with many other people, so you are constantly socializing and talking to natives. Most positions only take a few volunteers, so you will be completely immersed in Kibbutz life when you are working. A lot of interesting coversations will take place. Many cute girls, (especially military) but generally you will work with people of all ages men and women.

Work can be very physically demanding but you get 1-2 breaks.

Housing

Housing on Kibbutzim tends to be random but volunteers generally always live together. The Kibbutz that I lived on had a housing complex for volunteers at the back end of the village - a series of bungalows with a common area in the center. The bungalows were pretty much like large studios and housed 1-2 people. I lived with a roommate, but I knew a few people who lived by themselves - however, even if you do live with a roommate because everybody's work schedule is so different you may not see them very much. However, I did not meet one person on the Kibbutz who I thought was boring. I always enjoyed sitting around and chatting with my roommate when we were at the place together.

You have your own bunk bed, and a separate rooom with a toilet, sink, and shower. Its basically like a bachelor pad - they also provided us with a hot plate for cooking.

There was also an old ass computer running on 36.6kbs for all the volunteers to send emails and check facebook. I hear that usually there are more computers. Also, if you can get in with a native, they will let you use their computer.

Word of caution: I heard that about a month prior a volunteer discovered a black scorpion under his bed. One morning I was walking to work alone (had a shift at 4am) and was approached by a camel spider that started running after me. Luckily I outran it. I also came home extremely drunk one time and saw a giant cockroach on the wall, which I proceeded to chase around my room and eventually kill. Fucking disgusting, but be forewarned.

Food

I ate the better than I have ever in my life - all the food is natural, usually locally grown on the Kibbutz, and delicious. A lot of Mediterranean style food, everything is cooked there for you in the kitchen. There is a LOT of variety, and a lot of food. Since I worked in the kitchen I would often be eating food that I had prepared myself

Everybody eats in the cafeteria during breakfast and lunch. Work never interferes with lunch, but if interferes with breakfast, you make breakfast with your coworkers during break.

Dinner is generally not provided but you can take home food from breakfast and lunch because there is generally so much, and if thats not enough you can also purchase more food from the Kibbutz store (which is hella cheap).

A lot of socializing takes place during the eating breaks - waiting in line to get food, and then sitting down with everybody to eat. Think military / high school cafeteria style.

Social Life
This is where its at. Generally nobody works from 5pm-12am so a lot of chilling goes down during this time. Most work nights are spent hanging out with other volunteers, smoking hookah, drinking tea, drinking beer, and socializing. A lot of people also smoked hash.

Most of the chilling goes down in the common area of the volunteer barracks - people would set up a bonfire, make food, and do the things I listed above. A lot of great conversations and many friendships formed during those hours. 90% of the people here are traveling alone so everybody wants to meet, socialize, and become friends. 6 years later, I still keep in touch with some friends that I made there. Although you mostly hang out with volunteers, a lot of times soldiers or kibbutz locals drop by to chill. Dont forget, every volunteer on the kibbutz is foreign so there was not one person who was not interesting. Out of the 20 or so people that lived with me (and people are always coming / going), only 2 others were from the USA. Of the nationalities represented there were a lot of koreans, japanese, south american, european (french dutch etc). There were no Eastern European volunteers there, although a lot of the natives were Russian jews. Unfortunately, there were more guys than girls (I think we had like 14 guys and 6 girls), but there are more than enough young locals and soldier girls to keep you satisfied.

Aside from the usual night chilling, the Kibbutz also threw bar night twice a week - There was a bar on the kibbutz where everybody would go Tuesdays and Saturdays and get very very drunk. A lot of times this bar would host comedy shows with the locals or theme parties. This is the best change to mingle and drink with the Kibbutz Natives. There were always pre / after parties etc.

Sundays were spent chilling at the beach, travelling to a near-by location (Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv) or hiking in nature with other volunteers.

Although everybody comes from a different background, the language spoken was English. All Israelis speak English as well.

Also a word about the Kibbutz natives & soldiers: Because volunteers typically stay about 2-6 months the natives and soldiers have seen hundreds of volunteers come in and out of the Kibbutz. For this reason they are often not too excited to meet volunteers. However, with some patience you can get to know some of the natives and form great relationships.

Girls on the Kibbutz

Like I said, the ratio of women in the volunteers was not that great because women generally dont travel alone as much as men. Still, I think we had around 5-7 girls out of the 20 volunteers throughout the few months that I was there. Keep in mind that people are always leaving and coming to the kibbutz, so every few weeks you got a fresh supply of p. One of the volunteer guys who came a few weeks before me pulled his first night there when one of the french chicks took him to her bungalow. (volunteers always arrive on bar night and dont work until 2 days in)

There was a LOT of talent amongt the soldier girls. However, a lot of these girls had boyfriends in the army so were not available. Also, some of them kind of looked down on you because you were a volunteer and thus not a permanent member of the kibbutz. However, everybody was generally nice and Im certain that people score with soldier chicks all the time.

The same thing goes with natives - they see a lot of volunteers come and go so kind of look down on people who are not members of the kibbutz. However, there are all kinds of kibbutz natives (age 16-50+) and one of the other volunteers hooked up with two natives in the course of 3 weeks. (took a 18 year old's virginity too).

Israeli girls are generally BEAUTIFUL and are usually eastern european / semetic looking. Many many beautiful olive skinned girls with green eyes.

Location / Season
Kibbutz are all around Israel. I recommend something in the north because it is green, lush, and cooler in the summer. Very beautiful. The south is all desert, but on the plus side its closer to the Eilat where you can party your ass off. Still, you will have a great time no matter where you are, and most Kibbutz plant grass / trees everywhere, so even in the dessert you feel like you are in the forrest.

The summers get very hot. (Up to 105F). Winters are cool, sometimes you see snow. However, Kibbutz life is a bit more slow in terms of volunteers, so I think you will have much more fun if you stay in the spring / summer.

Compensation / Vacation
Every month you get about $100 to spend at the local store on food / supplies / drinks at the bar.

You also get 4 vacation days a month in addition to your Sundays off. These days can be compiled. I took a week off after a few months to travel around Israel and chill on the beach in Eilat. Great times.

Application for Kibbutz
As the years go by fewer and fewer Kibbutz take volunteers. (there are still plenty of volunteer options open though, dont fret) However, due to high demand the Kibbutzim did not take reservations when I applying! You had to visit the Kibbutz center in Tel-Aviv and apply in person. I went there and the woman told me that they had no positions, that she did not know when positions would open, and that I could call everyday and see if any positions were open. I called every day for 5 days while staying in a hostel and on the 5th day they had a spot for me in the North.

I think now things are different and they take reservations - inquire directly @ http://www.kibbutz.org.il/volunteers/

Some Kibbutz require you to submit an HIV / drug test prior to acceptance. My Kibbutz required neither, although they made one of the volunteers submit to a drug test after natives complained that he was coming to work blazed out of his mind. He ended up being kicked out.

Applicants must be 18-35 years old and in good physical health.
You are required to stay 2 months minimum (so they have time to train you etc) but I often heard of people coming and bouncing after a month - there was no penalty for leaving early except you lose a mandatory $200 deposit.

Life in Israel

Im not going to go into detail here as there is already a data sheet on Israel. I will say that I had an amazing time in this country - the people were all interesting, friendly, diverse, and there are a lot of foreigners travelling here. Jerusalem is a beautiful city in history and culture and I think everybody should experience it at least once in their lives.

I also hit up the West Bank (Palestine) and I recommend that you do too - the church of nativity (where Jesus Christ was born, supposedly) is here, but many tourists dont visit because Palestinians get a bad rap. I may post a data sheet on Palestine sometime in the future.

Hit me up with further questions.

Post: #2

Let's go work for evil zionists surround by guys for sweet fa money and in prison like conditions, only a total mug would swallow that.

Post: #3

The trolls come out to play... Get back in your cubicle.

Regarding the data sheet kibbutz is a great way to get out in the world and meet like minded people while getting a small provision for it. It's not for me but if you're young and not have a solid bankable talent, knowledge or degree you could defintely do worse. Weather in Israel is pretty sweet.

Post: #4

Given how offensive the very existence of Israel is to civilised people posting crap like the OP just has is ridiculous , all it will do is start an argument and the thread will be shut. This is a forum about game not volunteering to be a slave surrounded by cock.

Post: #5

(12-04-2012 07:14 AM)billy Wrote:  Given how offensive the very existence of Israel is to civilised people posting crap like the OP just has is ridiculous , all it will do is start an argument and the thread will be shut. This is a forum about game not volunteering to be a slave surrounded by cock.

Here is a crazy idea. If you're so offended by some words on a computer screen, then don't read them. It's much better than shitting all over the OP's thread.

Post: #6

(12-04-2012 07:14 AM)billy Wrote:  Given how offensive the very existence of Israel is to civilised people posting crap like the OP just has is ridiculous , all it will do is start an argument and the thread will be shut. This is a forum about game not volunteering to be a slave surrounded by cock.

I think you're the only one who is starting arguments in the thread,nobody else. I didn't see you in the North Korea thread saying anything about that regime so you obviously have an anti-Israel agenda. That is your right but if you want to make those views known please do so in the 'Everything Else' forum.

Post: #7

Billy - you are one racist hater.

Keep your vitriolic hatred and political agenda off this thread.

Post: #8

Bill has been put in the sandbox for 3 days.

Post: #9

That´s not fair I did nothing

Post: #10

se7en, very unique and interesting data sheet, thanks for sharing your experience there, +1 from me. Bill, you're a dickhead, enjoy the sandbox.

Post: #11

Chill. You can have your issues with the Government but you can't paint the people or lifestyle with the same critical brush. Even for me myself a harsh critic of their Government I still hope to make a visit over there one day to experience the culture. Thanks for the sheet OP I enjoyed it a lot.

Post: #12

Thanks se7en, interesting datasheet!
I wanted to ask if you know something about the Sar-El program? Maybe you heard something about it or met people who participated?
I´ve been thinking of applying for that (or maybe a kibbutz) for quite a while now, for a variety of reasons, and would be glad to get some additional insights.
Besides, I always wanted to spend a summer in Israel. Preferably a little tour like Lebanon (Beirut nightlife) - Cyprus - Israel...

Post: #13

(12-04-2012 07:56 PM)Celtic_Austrian Wrote:  Thanks se7en, interesting datasheet!
I wanted to ask if you know something about the Sar-El program? Maybe you heard something about it or met people who participated?
I´ve been thinking of applying for that (or maybe a kibbutz) for quite a while now, for a variety of reasons, and would be glad to get some additional insights.
Besides, I always wanted to spend a summer in Israel. Preferably a little tour like Lebanon (Beirut nightlife) - Cyprus - Israel...

Hey, sorry but do not know anything about that program. Israel is a great home base from which to travel to Egypt & Lebanon, though.

Post: #14

Nice.

Another way to volunteer abroad is working on farms, babysitting, or as a waiter/receptionist/gardener/repairman/assistent at a hostel or B&B. Usually the employers give you a place to stay for the duration of the work they need to get done, and many of them will also provide the food. Most of the work requires about 5h each day with one or two days off, so you can have a lot of time to do whatever you want.

You can check out many options worldwide at HelpX. There's offers from Thailand, Argentina, Nicaragua, Canada, Spain, Senegal, South Africa, everywhere, really. They have all kinds of jobs there, too. The terms are different for each place, though, and you have to pay a registering fee if you want to create a profile to contact the employers.

I intend on doing it for a couple of weeks in january or february, so I'll report back if I go through with the idea.

Post: #15

Can an English speaker get by or is it mostly in Hebrew? Do they mainly take jewish applicants or is it a mix? What percentages did you see?

Post: #16

(12-05-2012 04:43 PM)Van Zandt Wrote:  Can an English speaker get by or is it mostly in Hebrew? Do they mainly take jewish applicants or is it a mix? What percentages did you see?

Hey, the language spoken among the volunteers was only English. Some of the French guys spoke french when nobody was around but whenever I was hanging out with them they switched to English.

While you are working you may meet some Kibbutz natives who only speak Hebrew, but there are usually enough other people around to translate. I would say 75% of Israelis speak English - if one doesnt you can ask somebody else to translate. I spoke no Hebrew and it was never an issue, even when buying tickets @ a bus station to travel etc. Finally, most Israelis love America and really want to practice their broken English, so people will really try to make an effort to converse with you.

In terms of religion / nationality - Like I said all the volunteers were very diverse. I only met one Jewish volunteer - most of the volunteers were non religious and probably of Christian background. There were a few very religious Korean girls there who came to visit Jerusalem for religious reasons and liked Israel so much that they wanted to spend some time volunteering on the Kibbutz.

Israel, especially now, is very concerned with the way that other Westerners view it. For this reason, it may even be a plus if you are not Jewish - part of the reason that Kibbutzim take foreign volunteers is to expose them to Israeli life and convince them that it is the gem in the middle east.


Finally, most non-Israeli Jews who wanted to volunteer in Israel usually do so by making Alliah and spending 6-12 months in the military. If not that, then they usually just do a birth right program and stay an extra 2 weeks (month in total). Not too many volunteer on the Kibbutz and it seems to mainly be a thing for foreigners to enjoy Israel, learn the Kibbutz way of life, and travel/live for without spending their own cash money.