My experience last summer with Kinneret, near Detroit, aided me in formulating and developing certain ideas with regard to the basic principles of Kvutza.
Those of us who drew up plans for Kinneret last summer were alike in one respect-we were all inexperienced. We had ideas, however, and we were probably aided by the fact that because of our inexperience we made plans which we might otherwise have rejected as too ambitious. Experience, if anything, would have cramped our style last year, and for this reason, I should not hesitate to give the campers considerable liberty.
I am sure that, given the opportunity, the campers will decide to do the right thing at Kvutza meetings. For example, even such a measure as common fund, which no Kvutza f,hould be without, can be discussed at a Kvutza meeting and will undoubtedly be passed with very little opposition. Problems such as bedtime, programs, morning exercise, work, handicrafts, kitchen duty, can certainly be handled in this manner. The campers may talk about staying up late, but if a discussion of the benefits of an earlier day and the harm done by late hours is carefully conducted, no one will want to stay up past a reasonable hour.
To my knowledge, work and handicrafts are not being neglected in our Kvutzot. Work, of course, should play a major role in Kvutza activities and, if planned properly, will receive much enthusiasm on the part of the campers. Habonim are builders, and we should certainly be given an opportunity to build, even at the expense of a more professional job. The dining room at Kinneret is by no means a pro- fessional job, but it means a great deal to about ten boys who had a band in building it. The best way to give the camp back to the campers is not by merely giving them a voice in their own government, but by giving them an opportunity to be instrumental in the actual building of the Kvutza. Our camps present a golden opportunity for us to put some of the concepts of halutziut into practice, and such a principle as the "conquest of labor" should be exploited to its limit.
Arm in arm with work goes gardening. This may be difficult to carry through in some Kvutzot because of unfavorable natural factors, such as poor soil conditions or extreme drought. However poor these conditions may be, they can be counteracted by artificial means, and the cost and effort expended on such a project will be repaid if plans are carefully laid out and executed.
Gardening can and sbould be of two kinds-vegetable aud floral culture. In the case of a permanent Kvutza, it miglit also be wise to plant trees for ornamental purposes as well as for fruit. Both vegetable and flower gardening must be begun in April or May, and in order to carry out this project successfully, it is necessary to take a trip to Kvutza every week and put in several hours of work. On the surface this may seem a disadvantage, even to the extent of killing the idea of a garden. On second thought, however, this is a decided advantage since the Kvutza with a garden begins not in July but in April or May. Those who work on the garden in the spring will naturally be more interested in Kvutza than those whose first connections with camp begin when the season opens. Gardening also furnishes a permanent work project during the season. Other projects can be postponed from day to day, but postponing work on the garden spells failure. In short, gardening entails certain responsibilities which every camper should experience.
It is unreasonable to expect a crop for consumption from the vegetable garden the first season. This should rather be spent in gaining experience and learning which crops grow most successfully. Little by little, however, the garden should develop, and there is no reason why it cannot supply a substantial part of the Kvutza's fresh food products during the latter part of the season after a few years of experience. The garden might even be developed to such an extent that after a few years, one or two vegetables could be grown in larger quantities to be sold to neighboring markets.
Flowers and landscaping are also of great significance. A feeling for aesthetics should be inculcated in Habonim, and here is a grand opportunity. Flowers and shrubs can transform a barren piece of land into a beautiful scene, and labor is of little significance if it does not go hand in hand with a desire for beauty and freshness.
Danny Ginsburg, 1940