Teaching and Working at Kibbutz Shomrat

With all my blogging about my teaching, I was thinking about my time at Kibbutz Shomrat in Israel. I have been lucky to have various teaching experiences all over the United States and outside the USA too. My experiences in Israel were incredible. My parents took me there originally when I was 17 years old. We were there for a tour of the country, and it was like being a time traveler and going back thousands of years into the past. I loved it so much that I did my third year of college at the University in Jerusalem.

Then I went back to America and completed my fourth year at Temple University. I had completed my first two years at Penn State University Anyways, after I finished college, I went to Israel to teach in Ramat Aviv and got married to an Israeli...It was the marriage from hell. I will not say anything further about that, as it was the worst time of my life, except for my time at Kibbutz Shomrat.

I was teaching part time in the school there, and also working in the dairy with the cows...I have to say that I enjoyed that. You should have seen me with my boots on and overalls working with the cows. I, of course, named each and every one of the cows. I loved teaching the children, but enjoyed the farm work even more. I then got trained in the factory where I did quality control and repaired computers ...I was even going to be sent to Germany for advanced training there. I fell in love with kibbutz life. We got up each morning, had a wonderful breakfast at the communal dining room with all the residents, then I taught a few hours in the children's school, had lunch, and then worked in the dairy in the afternoon. I was switched later on from the dairy to the factory.In the evenings, we all met in the community hall, and there was music, food and lots of chatting.

The children lived in the children's house...a weird concept, but they loved the freedom, and yes, the children had a wonderful life on the kibbutz.The celebrations were incredible, and there were people working on the kibbutz who came from all over the world to experience kibbutz life. Shomrat was located near the Lebanon border, and a few times, our kibbutz was under attack. Even though we occasionally had tense situations, it was a good life there. We were given a home, shared everything, and there was no concern over bills or anything.The people there were wonderful, and it was an incredible experience, and everyone was like a big family. As, I never had a large family, it was amazing for me to have so many people care about me. The kibbutz was originally started by holocaust survivors, and as my parents were survivors, I was accepted very quickly.

My parents visited me on the kibbutz during the Passover celebration, and they loved the whole kibbutz life too. My dad was very sick ... I didn't know it at the time... and that was the last time I saw him. He died a few weeks after he returned to the States of a massive heart attack. I remember my brother calling me telling me that our dad had died, and as I was daddy's little girl, my world was shattered. After I attended the funeral, I returned to Israel, and I found out from a friend on the kibbutz that my ex had an affair while I was at the funeral. My ex was abusive, so he had honestly done me a favor. The kibbutz had asked me and my son to stay as permanent members, as they really liked us , and also because I had been a good teacher and worker in general, and I had made friends quickly. After the divorce, I decided not to stay and returned to the USA, as I wanted to help my mom, and also I didn't want my son entering the Israeli army.Mostly, I wanted to go home.

I am glad that I had the experience on the kibbutz. I do want to return to Israel one day and visit, if possible. Joe would love to see it, and I would love to see the country again, visit the kibbutz, see Jerusalem again,and just see how much Israel had changed.My mom wrote a diary of the holocaust while she was hiding, similar to Anne Frank, and I would love to see her original diary on display at the Yad Vashem Museum. We shall see if we are able to visit, as it is a long ways from Ireland. It would be nice to go back and see the country again with my soulmate Joe, as I know we would both love to see it together. Anyways, hope you enjoy some of the pics of the kibbutz and my wee story about my life there.