An Evening of Socialism

Last night, I spent an evening at a kibbutz, which is the modern day Israeli version of a socialist utopian society.

It was the third night of Hanukkah. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the holiday, we light one additional candle each night until the 8th and final night. So, according to tradition and custom, we would have lit 3 candles in addition to the “lead” candle called the “Shamash.” However, this was a pretty untraditional kibbutz…they paid no attention to custom and instead, chose to light all of the candles in order to “bring more light to the world.” Well, traditional or not, the whole process was sort of inspirational. As the menorah was lit, each candle was lit ceremoniously by a member of the kibbutz with the following symbolisms:

1.) For the Maccabee brothers – and the victory of good over evil; the weak over the strong;
2.) For Love – Because love makes all of our lives more valuable;
3.) For children – the children of the kibbutz and the children of the world;
4.) For emergency services – for their help during the war last summer;
5.) For the kibbutz – because we wouldn’t be here otherwise;
6.) For hope – Because even in the worst of times, we must hold on to optimism that times will get better;
7.) For light – On this, the holiday of light, we must remember that there is always light in the world; you just have to look for it!
8.) For peace – We look to the future and hope peace will come to our region of the world.

It’s no surprise that I heard these idealist things at an idealist utopian kibbutz, where the idea of socialism continues to live on.

Still, it was inspring to see such optimism in a place where negativity abounds. This is the attitude of most Israelis. No matter how tough life gets or how much violence and death occurs, they continue to live on, fight on, breathe on, MOVE ON.

We could all take a lesson from this.

Let there be light in this world!