The Kibbutz between the Past and the Present
in Israel Studies Review
Focusing on Israeli works of fiction and cinema that deal with the kibbutz, this article explores the various options for writing its history: as a linear chronology that displays the historical progression of events through the presentation of particular, isolated time segments within the kibbutz's evolvement, or as a sort of kaleidoscope that looks at periods, moments, and events that shaped the kibbutz's history. Some recent works, such as Ran Tal's film Children of the Sun and the books Between Friends by Amos Oz and Home by Assaf Inbari, examine periods, moments, and events within the kibbutz's development through their relation with the past, present, and future. Searching for fragments of the past within the present, they attempt to locate traces of the socialist truth so that, in their aftermath and from their remnants, a new truth—a new human relationship—can emerge.