Once Upon a Time on a Kibbutz…
Coronavirus hit and all my shows cancelled at once. Suddenly I had a whole lot of time to wander around the kibbutz and wonder about what my next stop would be. This is it. Welcome to kibbutzvisit.
Elad Shippony, The Wandering Israeli
The Kibbutz changed my life.
Hi and welcome! I’m Elad. I’m an actor and storyteller. I tell stories for a living. Here’s how my way of living turned into a story and ultimately evolved into this Kibbutzvisit project.
I grew up in Los Angeles and after high school packed my bags and made aliyah to enlist in the Israeli Defense Force. As a lone soldier (a soldier without a family), the army arranged for me to be “adopted” on a kibbutz. Adopting lone-soldiers is just another example of how kibbutzim have always been at the forefront of building the country and supporting its troops.
I was given a small apartment on the kibbutz and an adopting family. It didn’t take much time for me to adopt the kibbutz way of life – barefoot, carefree and embraced by a supportive community.
Now, years later, I still live on a kibbutz together with my wife and three daughters.
Since 2004, I’ve been performing “The Wandering Israeli” stage show. The show depicts my travel stories with a special Israeli twist and a resonating love of Israel. One of the stories I share is about my Kibbutz life.
Several years ago, following a performance in English, I got a message from one of the people who saw the show asking how she could visit a kibbutz.
I invited her to my kibbutz. Of course.
Throughout my travels, sometimes to the remote corners of the world, it has been people who have intrigued me most. I love to tour the world, but I prefer not to be a tourist. I still hitchhike once in awhile with no specific destination – just to meet random people on a random journey. I often couchsurf to absorb an inside, upfront, couch-view of where I’m at. And a local “must” attraction for me is the attraction to meet people and get a taste of their lives.
Now it was my turn to give someone else a taste of my life, not only on stage, but my real life on the kibbutz – a unique community, that although has changed from its original communal days, is still what I consider to be a living, breathing, beautiful human nature reserve.
After that initial visit, the word started to get around that I was hosting people on my kibbutz. And after a few more visits, I wrote a page on my site explaining what I’d be sharing. Travellers from all corners of the world came to experience my Kibbutz life. And not only did I truly enjoy sharing my life with them, I was also traveling vicariously to all corners of the world through them. They brought the world to me!
Hosting people on my Kibbutz has been such a privilege. It’s fun, rewarding and also a nice way to earn an extra income. And it’s what I love to do most – meet people and share with them my love for Israel.
But I’m not a professional guide and since I’ve got so many projects I’m working on, I just can’t host that much. And I hate turning people down. So I thought to myself, with so many special people living in Kibbutzim all around Israel, and so many intriguing Kibbutz stories to be told, why not invite other Kibbutz-dwelling storytellers and people-persons like myself to open before you the doors to their Kibbutz lives.
This was only a thought… until the Coronavirus came along.
With all my shows cancelled at once, I suddenly had a whole lot of time to wander around the kibbutz and wonder about what my next stop would be. This is it.
Browse around, reach out, chat, or even better, call to hear a real voice, and set out on an adventure to meet a special person living in one of the most unique communities in the world – the Kibbutz.
And don’t forget to look up “The Wandering Israeli” next time you’re in town.
