regevdl Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 Hi! I'm Dana. I'm an American living in Israel for the last 3 years. I'm not Jewish nor a Zionist nor Muslim or Arab, so feel a but like an outsider ---especially the more I shed my old ideologies. I always feel I'm in the right place at the wrong time. But honestly, I'm starting to think this is exactly the place I need to be in this moment with the hellfire war going on. A lot of philosophical enlightenment is needed in this region. I've been listening to Stefan for at least 2 years. My first introduction to him was "Story of your enslavement". It was so elequently accurate! I couldn't refute. Lol Most of my "social" encounters outside of my children/hubby that I find most enjoyable are philosophical discussion that lead to practical solutions or possible solutions. (Not just say how broken the world is) lol But at times I feel it's an escape or a crutch from my loneliness here, unable to really connect with people here. I am female and there are great women around but none I find intellectually stimulating. I can't tell of it's the culture or sometimes age or gender gap among me and some men but many don't feel comfortable when I speak about certain philosophies. There are few exceptions, of course The language barrier is also an issue. I speak with proficiency but could not carry on a philosophical conversation in Hebrew. Not yet at least. ;-P So, I don't know what to add. I find Stefan's shows interesting and useful and I share them often.
Sir Exotic Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 Welcome! (I just recently joined aswell)"The story of your enslavement" was actually the first video I've ever seen about freedom/anarchy (Not sure how to generalize the specific topic) and I watched it over and over again along with other similar videos until I started watching more of Stef's videos, then I was hooked! And another thing, you mentioned you're sometimes lonely where you are right now, do you mind me asking why you moved to Israel, and why you're not going back?
regevdl Posted July 25, 2014 Author Posted July 25, 2014 Hi! Sure. I'm happy here overall. I didn't mean to come off dismal. Lol My hubby and I started a good life together in the US and in 2008 the economy nearly took everything we worked for. So we needed a game plan. My family is spread out across the US and after having 2 kids, I realized I wanted to be close to family in some capacity. Israel is a small country, I've visited many times and saw great potential. I'm the adventurous type. And after 4 years thinking/planning the move, we did it. We live in the middle of nowhere in a tiny desert village and we farm. So I see a future to build here. The kids are happy. I'm happy too, just adjusting on a few different levels simultaneously, if that makes sense. At this point we just got here (3years is nothing) and I don't have a real desire to go back. I miss certain aspects but they are only superficial. My family and I have had long distance connections for many years anyway based on our geographical locations in the US, so thanks to technology that was nothing new to deal with. And as I mentioned, we are working on our future with farming so we are committed to it and I am excited about it.
SamuelS Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 Welcome :)I'd love to hear more about the farming in the desert thing -- like what crops are you growing, what challenges do you face (aside from the obvious, to me, short supply of water)?
Sir Exotic Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 That sounds much better than my first impressions To have your own land and farm sounds great, and good to hear that your kids are happy there too!
regevdl Posted July 25, 2014 Author Posted July 25, 2014 Lol. Thx all. Nope, not a Kibbutz, actually, rather a Moshav. Kibbutzim started as communistic/communal living. Many have stepped from that but still are socialized in farming profits. A moshav is each farmer is privatized but all have roughly same amount of land. One can rent or partner in order to farm land. Also I the moshav you can live here but the point is to become a member (by being voted in). My hubby is originally from this village but we still had to go through the formalities, testing to make sure we fit their standards etc. So we have about 10 acres of dates we literally just planted two days ago. "Only" about 900 trees. Lol. In 130degree weather. And we use his father's land plus rent other land (so about another 20 acres) of watermelon and cantaloupe. We live on the southernmost tip of the Dead Sea so the tap water and water on farm and the soul is actually salty! Lol Everyone has a second faucet in the kitchen for drinking water. Ooh. Sorry in advance for silly typos. The water supply isn't a huge problem because we use non drinking water. There are actually a lot if fresh water underground springs in this area. But the salty soil makes it undrinkable. But there is our own treatment mechanism that cleans the water. No chlorine! They call it "sweet water" in Hebrew. And it actually is! I cannot drink water in the US anymore. It's so toxic I can literally smell it. So each farmer is allowed 80,000 liters of water each year per plot of land. (If we rent, then it's doubled so on and so forth). Some farmers cheat and steal. If you use more, you pay a penalty. (Tax). But many farmers grow tomatoes, sweet peppers are very popular...export to the US even, eggplant, herbs like basil, thyme etc, asparagus. It's actual food. I rarely need to buy at the store when the season is in full force. Just trade with other farmers. I grew up in Indiana where corn, soy, wheat, hay was all you saw. Fillers...not food as I say.
PatrickC Posted July 25, 2014 Posted July 25, 2014 Yeah my bad.. I'd probably be only useful in weeding of course, given my knowledge of farming.
jacbot Posted July 26, 2014 Posted July 26, 2014 Preeching anarchy in a warzone,,,, thats like preeching anarchy on the beaches of Normandy on D-day with all the bullits wizzing around. Well,.., could work, but honestly i think it has a low propability of success. How did you end up in Israel btw? Edit: you answered this question already. Its funny on the vote-in/buy-in, you described. There are still some places in Switzerland that require your fellow villagers a positive vote for you to gain Swiss citizenship (after going through all the formalities and pre-requisites). I think immigration might look like this in future "state-less" communities.
regevdl Posted July 27, 2014 Author Posted July 27, 2014 Yes the village I live in is very much "self organized". Very unique. I like it. Of course some People still fall into "politics" against each other but in the end, volunteerism wins. We don't even have police. A resident is voted as "security" but he's more like a sheriff without the badge. If situations occur (rarely) that needs police (after seeing how police deal, I will never feel inclined to use them!) we first call the "sherif" guy and if he feels he cannot handle it then the police are dispatched. (About an hour away). I agree, it's a good model for stateless societies. It's self organized with our own parliament. (Or several parliaments that handle various aspects) every member has a voice. We have a huge date farm that is a share holding enterprise. So only if you are a member can you choose to buy shares of the farm. When you buy shares the farm expands. Revenues go to buying /planting more trees. Then, come harvest, the share holders split the profit. I don't necessarily go around preaching anarchy per say. Lol People in Israel, whether they realize it or are willing to admit or not, are very nationalistic. Especially now with the war. :-/ But I do make casual observations to get the conversation going. I never use the term anarchy. It's a useful word but often reacted on like a political buzzword. So I paint a picture with words and of they like it, I may explain that is an anarchist society or stateless. Etc. In Israel's current situation I think they should eventually be a non-religious state for starters. Technically it's secular but the gvt deems Jewish state. They can still be a secular democracy without the Jewish state identity/laws. They haven't even finished writing their constitution! I think this could be one way to diffuse tensions ...not all but a step tat no one talks about. Jews can still live here and believe it's their g-d given land but not use a military to impose that ideology on those who disagree.
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